The use of authentic online resources for self study in learning listening by first year fast track students at felte ulis vnu

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER THE USE OF AUTHENTIC ONLINE RESOURCE

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

THE USE OF AUTHENTIC ONLINE RESOURCES FOR SELF-STUDY IN LEARNING LISTENING BY FIRST YEAR

FAST-TRACK STUDENTS

AT FELTE, ULIS, VNU

Supervisor: Ms Phạm Thị Thanh Thủy Student: Nguyễn Ngọc Mai

Course: QH2012.F1.E1

Hanoi - 2016

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁC NGUỒN TÀI LIỆU THỰC TRÊN MẠNG CHO VIỆC TỰ HỌC NGHE CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT, HỆ CHẤT LƯỢNG CAO KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH,

ACCEPTANCE PAGE

I hereby state that I (Nguyen Ngoc Mai, Group QH2012.E1), being a candidate for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accepts the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan and reproduction of the paper

Signature

Nguyen Ngoc Mai

June 8, 2016

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is my pleasure to thank those who made this thesis possible

First, I hold my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mrs Pham Thi Thanh Thuy, whose guidance and support from the initial to the final stage enabled me

to develop an insight into the subject

Second, I am heartily thankful to Mrs Dinh Hai Yen, who gave me continuing encouragement and initial suggestions for my research topic

Thirdly, the thesis would not have been possible without the enthusiastic participations of teachers at Fast-track Division and first year fast-track students at Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, ULIS, VNU Fourthly, it is an honor for me to acknowledge the facilitation and support from the department while I managed to finish the paper

Lastly, I offer my regards and blessings to all of those who supported me in any respect during the completion of the study

Nguyen Ngoc Mai

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ABSTRACT

The concept of authentic sources as supplementary materials has long been introduced and applied in English language teaching field, which raises much interest in researchers, especially teachers However, the use of such sources by students for self-study to develop listening proficiency has not been widely and meticulously investigated Thus, this paper seeks to explore first year fast-track students’ understandings and evaluation of authentic online resources as well as their ways to utilize these sources for listening self-study purpose The paper begins by reviewing the current literature on listening learning, authentic online resources, learners’ self-study and related fields The investigation then involves the participation of three teachers and 57 fast-track students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU, with the triangulated data collection methods of survey questionnaire, interviews and observation of documents The research results demonstrate how favorable authentic online resources are among the students for their self-study in learning listening despite some misunderstandings of the sources and the difficulties they encounter while exploiting the sources In addition, it shows students’ different ways of employing internet-based authentic listening materials and reveals the significant role of teachers in guiding, scaffolding and motivating their students to have an exhaustive exploitation of the sources for their listening self-study as independent, life-long learners

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Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I ABSTRACT II LIST OF TABLES, CHARTS AND ABBREVIATIONS VI

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY 1

1.2AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 2

1.3SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 3

1.4.SCOPE OF THE STUDY 3

1.5AN OVERVIEW OF THE PAPER 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1LISTENING 5

2.1.1 Definition of listening 5

2.1.2 The importance of listening skill in L2 teaching and learning 6

2.2.AUTHENTIC ONLINE RESOURCES IN LEARNING LISTENING 7

2.2.1 Authentic materials 7

2.2.1.1 Definition of authentic materials 7

2.2.1.2 The importance of authentic materials in L2 teaching and learning 9

2.2.1.3 Problems when using authentic resources 11

2.2.2 Online resources and the application of online resources in L2 teaching and learning 12

2.2.3 Authentic online listening resources 14

2.2.4 Suggested ways of utilizing authentic online resources 15

2.3.SELF-STUDY 15

2.3.1 The concept of self-study 15

2.3.2 The importance of self-study in L2 teaching and learning 17

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 18

3.1SELECTION OF SUBJECTS 18

3.2RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS 18

3.3PROCEDURE OF DATA COLLECTION 19

3.4PROCEDURE OF DATA ANALYSIS 20

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS, DISCUSSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 22

4.1.OVERVIEW OF THE BACKGROUND INFORMATION 22

4.1.1 First year fast-track students’ capability of English listening skill 22

4.1.2 First year fast-track students’ level of interest in learning listening 23 4.1.3 First year fast-track students’ attitudes towards the importance of listening skill 24

4.1.4 First year fast-track students’ attitudes towards the importance of their self-study of listening skill 25

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4.2.RESEARCH QUESTION 1-HOW DO FIRST YEAR FAST-TRACK STUDENTS

DEFINE AUTHENTIC ONLINE RESOURCES 26

4.3RESEARCH QUESTION 2:WHAT AUTHENTIC ONLINE RESOURCES HAVE FIRST YEAR FAST-TRACK STUDENTS FREQUENTLY USED, HOW ARE THESE SOURCES UTILIZED, WHAT ARE THEIR ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES? 28 4.3.1 Research Question 2.1: What authentic online resources have first year fast-track students frequently used for their self-study in learning listening? 28

4.3.2 Research Question 2.2: What are the students’ ways of utilizing these sources for their self-study to develop listening proficiency? 29

4.3.2.1 Listening-speaking course guide 29

4.3.2.2 Students’ own ways of exploiting authentic online resources for listening self-study 30

4.3.3 Research Question 2.3: What are the benefits and difficulties students encounter while exploiting these sources for their listening self-study? 32

4.3.3.1 The popularity of authentic online resources for listening self-study among first year fast-track students 32

4.3.3.2 The benefits of authentic resources as perceived by first year fast-track students 34

4.3.3.3 The difficulties when exploiting authentic resources as perceived by first year fast-track students 39

4.3.3.4 Considerations when utilizing authentic sources, as perceived by first year fast-track students and their teachers 42

4.4RESEARCH QUESTION 3:IN WHAT WAYS HAVE TEACHERS OF FIRST YEAR FAST-TRACK STUDENTS ORIENTED THEM TO UTILIZE AUTHENTIC ONLINE RESOURCES FOR THEIR SELF-STUDY IN LEARNING LISTENING? 45

4.4.1 Teachers’ different kinds of support 45

4.4.2 Students’ expectations of Teachers’ Support 47

4.4.3 Teachers’ roles in orientating students to make use of authentic online sources to self-practice listening effectively 48

4.5PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 49

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 52

5.1SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS 52

5.2LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH 54

5.3SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER STUDIES 54

5.4CONTRIBUTION OF THE RESEARCH 55

REFERENCES 57

APPENDICES 62

APPENDIX 1:STUDENT SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 62

APPENDIX 2:QUESTIONS FOR SEMI-STRUCTURED: 67

APPENDIX 3:QUESTIONS FOR SEMI-STRUCTURED 68

APPENDIX 4:STUDENT INTERVIEW A 69

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APPENDIX 5:STUDENT INTERVIEW B 72

APPENDIX 6:STUDENT INTERVIEW C 74

APPENDIX 7:STUDENT INTERVIEW D 76

APPENDIX 8:STUDENT INTERVIEW E 78

APPENDIX 9:STUDENT INTERVIEW F 80

APPENDIX 10:TEACHER INTERVIEW A 82

APPENDIX 11:TEACHER INTERVIEW B 84

APPENDIX 12:TEACHER INTERVIEW C 86

APPENDIX 13:STUDENT INTERVIEW A(VIETNAMESE VERSION) 89

APPENDIX 14:STUDENT INTERVIEW B(VIETNAMESE VERSION) 91

APPENDIX 15:STUDENT INTERVIEW C(VIETNAMESE VERSION) 93

APPENDIX 16:STUDENT INTERVIEW D(VIETNAMESE VERSION) 95

APPENDIX 17:STUDENT INTERVIEW E(VIETNAMESE VERSION) 97

APPENDIX 18:STUDENT INTERVIEW F(VIETNAMESE VERSION) 99

APPENDIX 19:LISTENING-SPEAKINGCOURSEGUIDE2B* 101

Table 3: First year fast-track students’ attitudes towards the difficulties

when exploiting authentic sources for their listening self-study 39-40

Charts

Chart 1: The result of first year fast-track students’ final scores of their

Chart 2: The extent to which first year fast-track students like learning

Chart 5: First year fast-track students’ frequency of self-practicing listening 26

Chart 8: First year fast-track students’ ways to utilize AOR to self-practice

Chart 9: First year fast-track students’ use of different kinds of sources to

Chart 10: First year fast-track students’ reasons for using Internet-based

Chart 12: Students’ level of satisfaction towards teachers’ support for their

exploiting authentic online resources to self-practice listening 47

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Abbreviations

AM: Authentic Materials

AOR: Authentic Online Resources

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This initial chapter justifies the reasons for this research to be carried out Research questions, aims, objectives, significance, scope of the study and an overview of the paper are also presented

1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

Over the last two decades, in the educational context where learners are assumed to take greater responsibility for their own learning, the concept of self-study has become a driving force behind life-long learning As a student of fast-track program at FELTE, ULIS, VNU, which is ―designed for the best students and focuses on attaining a high standard of proficiency and competency‖ and in which ―learner autonomy is a defining feature‖ (Bachelor Degrees- Fast-Track Programs, n.d.), the researcher is fully aware of the significant role of self-study for fast-track students’ academic development and achievement

As a means of communication, listening plays a vital role in people’s

life From a linguistic perspective, according to Brown (2008), listening ―lies at the heart of language learning’’, however, it is ―the least understood and least researched skill in language learning, and the listening process is often disregarded by foreign and second language instructors‖ (as cited in

Bozorgian, 2012, p.658) Particularly in Vietnamese educational context, since the focus of the national entrance exam is reading, writing with grammatical aspects and there is no section to test students’ listening ability, little attention

is paid to listening When students enter university, although the emphasis is put equally into four skills, in-class practice time for listening is still insufficient This creates a need for student to consider the self-study of this skill seriously for the sake of their own language development As the purpose

of aural English teaching is ―to cultivate students’ abilities of understanding authentic materials‖ (Huang, 2009, p.214), the use of authentic online resources (AOR) has been considered a worthy supplementary source to improve learners’ listening proficiency

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In an attempt to investigate this topic, the researcher has decided to conduct a study on ―The use of authentic online resources for self-study in learning listening by first year fast-track students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU‖ The researcher hopes that this study will bring out a real picture of the current situation of student’s exploitation of AOR for their listening self-study

1.2 Aims and objectives

The study is expected to draw an overall picture of first year fast-track students’ understandings and evaluation of AOR Through this picture, the most frequently-used AOR by students, the benefits and difficulties which they may encounter while using AOR to self-practice listening are identified Secondly, the study also aims at giving students a real situation of their learning, which is their ways of exploiting these sources for self-study in learning listening Lastly, the study seeks teachers’ and students’ responses on teachers’ role of orientating students to make use of these sources to self-practice listening effectively

In brief, the study would seek to answer the following questions:

1 How do first year fast-track students define authentic online resources?

2 What authentic online resources have first year fast-track students frequently used, how are these sources utilized, what are their advantages and disadvantages?

2.1 What authentic online resources have first year fast-track students frequently used for their self-study in learning listening?

2.2 What are the students’ ways of utilizing these sources for their study to develop listening proficiency?

self-2.3 What are the benefits and difficulties students encounter while exploiting these sources for their listening self-study?

3 In what ways have teachers of first year fast-track students oriented them to utilize authentic online resources for their self-study in learning listening?

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1.3 Significance of the study

The findings of this study will redound to the benefit of language teaching field considering 1) how popular and favorable of authentic online resources for students’ self-study in learning listening, 2) how AOR are understood and utilized by students and 3) the vital role of teachers in orientating and motivating students for a sufficient exploitation of AOR To be specific, first and foremost, the study benefits students by giving them a reflection of their learning It is also a chance for them to learn from experience, to be aware of their active role in the learning success, and make better future decisions on their own The study also becomes a valuable source

of information for teachers as well as policy makers to make more informed decisions regarding the syllabus, teaching methodologies, materials and on-going guidance to help students make use of AOR in an effective and meaningful way

1.4 Scope of the study

The scope of the research has been made clear from the research title,

which is “The use of authentic online resources for self-study in learning listening by first year fast-track students at FELTE, ULIS, VNU”

The research focuses on two main elements ―authentic online resources‖ and ―students’ listening self-study‖ To be more specific, it investigates the current situation of students’ exploitation of AOR for their listening self-study The research areas include 1) students’ understandings of authentic sources, 2) their frequently-used AOR and the ways they utilize these sources to self-practice listening; and 3) their evaluation of AOR for listening self-study, regarding benefits and difficulties they encounter while exploiting the sources Besides, the vital role of teachers in instructing and encouraging students for a sufficient exploitation of AOR for self-study in leaning listening is also an area

of the research

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Secondly, it is noteworthy that the subjects of the study are restricted to first year fast-track students (FYFS) at FELTE, ULIS, VNU Therefore, all the generalizations just serve to apply to the direct context

1.5 An overview of the paper

The paper includes five chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 – Introduction – justifies the reasons for the study, presents research questions, aims, objectives, significance, scope of the study and an overview of the paper

Chapter 2 – Literature Review - provides the background of the study, including definition of key concepts, theories, current application and discussions of related study

Chapter 3 – Methodology – describes the participants, data collection instruments, data collection procedures, data analysis methods and data analysis procedures

Chapter 4 – Results, discussions, implications and recommendations – presents, analyzes and discusses the collected data in order to answer the research questions Also, in this part, pedagogical implications and recommendations are presented

Chapter 5 – Conclusion – summarizes the main issues in the paper, the limitations of the research, suggestions for further studies and contributions of the study

Following Chapter 5 are References and Appendices

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides a brief overview of the literature on the research topic which forms the theoretical basis for the whole study Moreover, related studies will also be reviewed to contextualize the research, discover the research gaps and; hence, justify the implementation of this study

2.1 Listening

2.1.1 Definition of listening

Various definitions of listening have been offered by many scholars Tracing back to the early 1970s, one of the simplest definitions of listening provided by Howatt and Dakin (1974) is ―the ability to identify and understand what others are saying‖ These researchers also add that listening process includes clear understanding of ―speaker's accent or pronunciation, the speaker’s grammar and vocabulary, and comprehension of meaning‖ (as cited

in Malkawi, 2010, p.771) The same viewpoint on the concept of listening can

be found in Rubin (1990, as stated in Suvorov, 2008), who asserts that

―listening consists of processing information which the listeners gets from visual and auditory clues in order to define what was going on and what the speakers are trying to express‖ (p.6) Providing the definition from a new perspective, notably, during 1980s, a series of writers reach the consensus on the idea that listening is an ―active process‖ (Ronald & Roskelly, 1985) and an act of ―empathetic understanding of the speaker‖ (Thomlison, 1984, as cited in Islam, 2012, p.206) To be more specific, listening is active because the process

of listening involves essential skills such as ―prediction, hypothesizing, checking, revising, and generalizing‖ (Ronald & Roskelly, 1985, p.30) On the other hand, Gordon (1895) associates listening with empathy in which empathy

is ―essential to listening and more than a polite attempt to identify a speaker's perspectives‖ (as cited in Islam, 2012, p.206) Regarding 1990s’ studies on listening until now, the interactive feature of listening is highlighted by many researchers Murphy (1991) describes listening as an ―interactive, interpretive process in which learners engage in a dynamic construction of meaning‖ (p.56)

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and it involves four main components, which are linguistic knowledge, background knowledge, meaning construction and responding Thanajaro (2000), who shares the same view, also points out the interactional relationship between speaker and listener when ―a listener receives speech sounds…in order

to interpret the intended message of speaker or the oral text so that he can respond effectively to oral communication‖(p.11)

2.1.2 The importance of listening skill in L2 teaching and learning

Obviously, listening plays a significant role in human’s lives Friedman

(n.d) shows his agreement on Nichols’ s The lost art of listening that claims ― if

someone listens to another with full attention,… the speaker feels affirmed and important and has a sense of his/her value and the validity of his/her feelings‖ (p.1) It is clearly inferred from Friedman’s the vital impact of listening skill on human relationship

While Friedman and Nichols place listening in the relationship among human beings, from a linguistic perspective, Thanajaro (2000) regards listening

as ―one of four major areas of communication skills and language development—listening, speaking, reading and writing‖ (p.1), and Devine (1982) believes listening is the first language skill to be developed and even comes before the other three language skills, which are reading, speaking and

writing More importantly, in The importance of listening ability by Rankin (1928), listening is also regarded to be the most frequently-used means of communication among human beings Other statistics that the researcher has found also back up the prominence of listening not only in social but also in academic setting For social setting, Rankin (1928) found out that 41.1% of time is spent on total verbal communication time in listening by adults while there is only 31.9%, 15%, and 11% of time spent on speaking, reading, and writing respectively For academic setting, the amount of time that ―students are expected to listen in the classroom‖ ranges from 42% to 57.5 % of their communication time (Wolvin & Coakley, 1979, as cited in Jimmy, 2013) In

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short, it can be seen from the figures that listening takes up a larger percentage

of human’s daily communication time in comparison with other forms of verbal communication

In second language teaching and learning, the importance of listening as

a skill was not recognized until "the early 70's, [when] work by Asher, Postovsky, Winitz, and later Krashen, brought attention to the role of listening

as a … key factor in facilitating language learning" (Feyten, 1991, p.173) Thanajaro (2000:13) assures that because ―children listen and respond to language before they learn to talk‖, when students first learn a language, they generally ―have to listen to the words several times before they are able to recognize and pronounce those words‖ Other theorists also highlight the importance of listening in language learning by linking listening with other skills Cayer, Green, and Baker (1971) show the close and direct relationship between listening and speaking, writing in which ―students' ability to comprehend written material through reading as well as to express themselves through speaking and written communication are directly related to students' maturity in the listening phase of language development‖ (as cited in Syam and Rahman, n.d., p.60) Curtain and Pesola (1988) also argue that not only are listening skills ―the basis for the development of all other skills‖ but they are also ―the main channel through which students make initial contact with the target language and its culture‖ (p.89)

2.2 Authentic online resources in learning listening

2.2.1 Authentic materials

2.2.1.1 Definition of authentic materials

Authentic materials (AM) seem to raise much interest in scholars and theorists since there are a number of researches discussing their definition and their usages in language learning and teaching First of all, the majority of researchers contend that AM are not produced for teaching purposes Nunan (1988) defines AM as any materials ―which have been produced for purposes

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other than to teach language‖ (as cited in Azri & Al-Rashdi, 2014, p.249); or

―real-life texts, not written for pedagogic purposes‖ (Wallace, 1992, p.145) or materials ―for a non-pedagogical purpose‖ (Bacon & Finnemann, 1990, p.459) Secondly, there is also an agreement among researchers towards the subject of

AM Mousavi and Iravani (2012) claims that authentic texts are ―unaltered texts that are generated by native speakers and for native speakers‖ (p.21) Rogers and Medley (1988:468) shares the same idea that AM are ―oral and written language used in daily situations by native speakers of the target language‖ It can be clearly inferred from these perspectives that the target language used by its native speakers should be one of the main criteria to ensure the authenticity in materials Thirdly, some also regards AM as ―real‖ Jacobson et al (2003:1) advocates that AM should be used in the classrooms

―in the same way they would be used in real life‖ Stubbs (1996:2) sees authentic materials as ―actual, attested, and such that they have real authentic instances of use‖ and Richards (2001) affirms ―the language which the learners are engaged with in classroom, must represent the language used in the real world‖ (as cited in Azri and Al-Rashdi, 2014, p.250) These researchers’ perspectives all mention real language in real world, in contrast with ―artificial‖

or non-authentic materials, which have three main features listed by Adams (1995) and Miller (2003) as follows:

1) They are specially designed for learning purposes;

2) The language used in them is artificial They contain well formed sentences all the time; and

3) They are useful for teaching grammar

(as cited in Musallam, 2007, p.3)

In short, based on different opinions from different scholars, authentic materials can be understood as the materials generated by native speakers and used for native-speakers with non-pedagogical purposes and must represent the target language in the real-life

her article The role of materials in the language classroom: Finding the balance (as stated in Saraph (2011), there are three main reasons for the use of

AM in second language teaching and learning Firstly, she believes that because language is ―functional‖ and ―must be contextualized‖ (p.39), it is impossible to understand thoroughly the real meaning of any interactions

―without knowing who the participants are or their social distance from the event referred to‖ (p.39) Secondly, she emphasizes the learners’ motivation with the ―purpose of the use of the language‖ in their language development For example, learners study the structures of past tense to make a sentence expressing what they did in the past, which turns out to be ―a meaningful context‖ (p.39) Lastly, the author states that as language should be ―realistic‖

to satisfy students’ needs, they desire to seek the materials which are ―the role model for a specific topic in their future education‖ (p.40) These reasons are clearly stated with the author’s aim of encouraging the exploitation of AM in language classrooms

Regarding the merits of using authentic materials, Kilickaya (2004); Mcknight (1995); Wong, Kwok, and Choi (1995); Berado (2006) point out nine advantages of authentic materials namely:

Authentic materials have a positive effect on learner motivation

They provide authentic cultural information

They provide exposure to real language

They relate more closely to learners ' needs and interests

They support a more creative approach to teaching

They provide a wide variety of text types, language styles not easily found in conventional teaching materials

Unlike traditional teaching materials, authentic materials are continuously updated

They have a positive effect on comprehension and learner satisfaction

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(as cited in Musallam, 2007)

Martinez (2002) in her work Authentic Materials: An Overview also listed

the following benefits of authentic materials

Students are exposed to real language

There is factual acquisition from most of them

Textbooks do not include inaccurate language

Authentic materials may be inspirational for some students

One piece of text may be used for various activities and tasks

There is a wide choice of styles, genres and formality in authentic texts

They can motivate students to read for pleasure

Combining those advantages listed by different scholars, the benefits of exploiting AM could be highlighted as realness, accuracy, variety, recentness, motivation and rich cultural content There is another categorization of AM’s advantages by Guariento and Morley (2001); Wilcox and Oaks (1999); Weyers (1999) in which they state that exploiting AM has linguistic and non-linguistic advantages Actually, advantages listed by these authors also share the same nature with the ones listed above Linguistic advantages basically refer to the realness, accuracy, variety and recentness of authentic materials, while motivation and rich cultural content belong to the non-linguistics category Sherman (2003) states that the importance of AM stems from the fact that "it is

a window into culture" (p.47) Likewise, according to Shanahan (1997:168) cultural content provides ―exposure to living language that a foreign language student lacks‖ Therefore, culture is ―not something consisting of facts to be learnt, but a helpful tool to make learners feel the need to speak and use the target language‖ In other words, culture content included in authentic materials can be a source of motivation for learners while studying the language, making

it a non-linguistic advantage of authentic materials

From a variety of researchers’ viewpoints, we can see the role of AM in language teaching and they are believed to scaffold learners' learning of a target language more effectively Dickinson (1987) believes that AM are valuable sources for ―self-instructed learners‖ in which they allow the learner to meet

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his needs accurately and economically and to choose materials that best suit their requirements

2.2.1.3 Problems when using authentic resources

The advantages of exploiting AM have been recognized as a noticeable contribution in second language teaching and learning However, how to utilize authentic resources appropriately and effectively, especially in listening is still

a question to many researchers and scholars Guariento and Morley (2001); Martinez (2002) and Kim (2000) are against the use of this kind of materials because of the following reasons

Authentic materials often contain difficult language, unneeded vocabulary items and complex language structures, which causes a burden for the teacher

in lower-level classes and demotivate low level students

Authentic materials may be too culturally biased, that "authentic texts from one culture may give a false impression to students from another, unless they are presented in an authentic context which makes it clear precisely what they exemplify."

Many structures are mixed in such materials; causing lower levels have a hard time decoding the texts

The use of authentic materials is time consuming for the teachers

Authentic materials may not expose students to comprehensible input at the earliest stages of acquisition

(as cited in Musallam, 2007)

Kilickaya (2004) also believes that using AM with weak learners frustrate and de-motivate them, because they lack the required skills and vocabulary to deal with presented text successfully Guariento and Morley also share the same view

At lower levels… the use of authentic texts may not only prevent learners from responding in meaningful ways, but can also lead them to feel frustrated, confused and… de-motivated (p.347)

From the above demerits of AM, it is implied that students should take the difficulty of language, unfamiliarity of culture content, complexity of language structure into consideration because they may de-motivate the students while utilizing authentic resources However, these disadvantages can be eliminated

if learners are aware of their ability Regarding the students’ level to match

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with the difficulty level of AM, there are opposite viewpoints from different scholars Kim (2000) and Kilickaya (2004) believe that AM can be used with advanced and intermediate level learners only (as stated in Azri & Al-Rashdi,

2014, p.252) In stark contrast, Miller (2005) and McNeil (1994) claim that AM can be used ―even with lower level learners‖ (as stated in Azri & Al-Rashdi,

2014, p.252) The suggested solution is the AM that are used in the classroom must be ―in the same context they were designer for, in the real world‖ because

"a text can only be truly authentic in the context for which it was originally written." (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987, p.159, as cited in Taylor, 1994)

Conclusion:

As learners will learn better and benefit much from the use of authentic materials and due to the fact that they have to encounter certain problems when exploiting authentic resources, it is vital that they should be fully aware of those difficulties to obtain the maximum benefit from exploiting these sources Besides, they should receive sufficient support from teachers on how to effectively make use of the sources Teachers should really ―consider them [authentic sources] seriously as a successful aid in teaching a foreign language‖ and they "need to have a clear pedagogic goal in mind: what precisely they want students to learn from these materials." (Senior 2005, p 71, as stated in Azri and Al-Rashdi, 2014)

2.2.2 Online resources and the application of online resources in L2 teaching and learning

Undoubtedly, the use of the Internet has been pervasive in recent years and it has imposed a tremendous impact on every aspect of human’s life Especially, the role of Internet resources in education is steadily increasing and has become a powerful supplement to teaching and learning, benefiting not only teachers but also students around the world

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Traditionally, the most familiar and reliable teaching material that the teacher could use is published materials, written by experienced textbook writers The reason for this choice is stated by Nunan (1991) that because they are prepared for the majority to use, there must have been intensive and extensive research on learners’ needs and motivations in advance Nunan also points out that published materials can help ―lessen the burden of the teachers

in designing the materials from scratch‖ However, when the fact that these materials are ―theory-laden‖ and ―emphasize product rather than process‖ is realized, a need to make appropriate adaptations to the materials by incorporating sources from the Internet with the ready-made materials is advocated and well-supported (as stated in Azri & Al-Rashdi, 2014, p.252)

According to Lipponen et al (1999), the Internet and its' resources can

be utilized ―to support a large scale of learning activities‖ (p.18) They also claim the advantages of the internet-based resources as language teachers can make use of online resources for a variety of purposes, for instance,

―development, updating language, skills, finding materials,…teaching, working

on class projects and activities, and just having fun‖ (p.20) Another scholar, Kida (2009), also praises the merits of online sources as it can ―support education in versatile ways: they can be used as cognitive means, among others, in learning through discovery and problem-solving; education through experience thanks to their interactive capacities, as well as learning through practice‖ (as cited in Gil, 2015, p.396) In the same view, Jin (2013:515) advises that foreign language educators ―must address the use of digital resources…and understand how their language learning and educators’ own teaching may benefit from such tools‖ Needless to say, the application of online resources and its advantages in learning in general and language learning in particular is obvious, hence becomes a trend in teaching and learning now

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2.2.3 Authentic online listening resources

In previous parts, the terminology of authentic resources is seen to be perceived by different scholars Regarding one of the key component of this study, which is authentic online resources (AOR), the researcher acknowledges that AOR are authentic materials that come from the Internet This part gives examples of different kinds of authentic sources in the Internet specifically to serve the purpose of learning listening

According to Ianiro (2007), there are two main categories of authentic materials, which are print materials and auditory materials For the intention of learning listening, the auditory materials should definitely be exploited

Examples of authentic auditory materials include ―phone messages; radio

broadcasts; podcasts; E-books; movies; videos and DVDs; television programs‖

Another researcher, Gebhard (1996), classifies authentic materials into three categories, which are authentic listening-viewing materials; for example:

TV commercials, quiz shows, cartoons, news clips, comedy shows, movies, soap operas, professionally audio-taped short stories and novels, radio ads, songs, documentaries, and sales pitches (as cited in Oura, n.d p.67); authentic

visual materials and authentic printed materials According to Lingzhu and

Yuanyuan (2010) in their work The Use of Authentic Materials in Teaching

EFL Listening, phrases such as ―real speech‖ , ―the spontaneous speech‖, ―live

or natural language‖, ―genuine instanced of language use‖, ―natural conversation‖, ―what people say in real life‖ or ―what native speakers say when talking to each other‖ have been used to define authentic listening materials As a result, they think that authentic listening materials ―should be unscripted, natural and spontaneous spoken language materials, such as

interviews, lectures, dialogues, discussions, and conversations etc‖

These are authentic sources and most of which can be found in the Internet

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2.2.4 Suggested ways of utilizing authentic online resources

According to Ghaderpanahi (2012:151), the most efficient way to develop listening comprehension is ―to listen, test, and receive feedback‖ The author claims that for students living in a non-English speaking country, it is vital for them to be exposed to AM She suggests different ways of utilizing

AM to help learners ―learn to hear English everywhere around them‖ For students’ self-study, the writer recommends ―listening to the radio in English to improve comprehension‖; ―expanding the ability to understand spoken English

by listening to the news in English‖, to name a few For teachers who aim at incorporating the use of AM with different in-class activities, Ghaderpanahi suggests ―playing music in the foreign language for the students to listen to‖ while ―providing the lyrics to the music in combination with the music itself‖;

or ―choosing a familiar play, show or movie script, distributing the script in the foreign language and assigning parts to the group and having them act out the play or scene‖

Interestingly, the writer reminds that choosing the materials which are relevant to ―students’ experiences‖ can help ―promote comprehension in listening activities‖ As a result, teachers should select intriguing topics and

―regularly vary the topics‖, which can ―reduce the likelihood of students becoming bored and losing concentration‖(p.151)

2.3 Self-study

2.3.1 The concept of self-study

There is a considerable body of work concerning the concept of study by different scholars In this part, the researcher puts self-study in the relation with other related concepts to perceive the concept of self-study more clearly and more comprehensively Basically, while mentioning self-study, most researchers agree that the essence of self-study is taking charge of one’s own learning According to Dickinson’s (1987), self-study is defined as ―the situation in which the learner is totally responsible for all of the decisions concerned with his learning and the implementation of those decisions‖ (p.11)

self-16

Interestingly, some researchers associate the concept of self-study with ―learner autonomy‖ Teng (1997:509) points out a common inherence of self-study and learner autonomy which is ―learn by oneself‖ However, these two concepts are different in terms of the support that the students receive while they learn by themselves To be more specific, self-study means that learners undertake responsibility ―for a part or all of their learning process without the direct intervention of the teacher‖ (p.509) This is tough because learners have to build up their own learning methods and exploit their learning conditions

successfully to achieve their goals without teachers’ direct intervention On the

other hand, ―learner autonomy‖ is interpreted by Scharle and Szabo (2000) as being aware of sources around learners instead of avoiding these sources and recognizing ―what they have to offer in different situations‖ (p.5) In other words, being an autonomous learner also means that having greater awareness

of what he/she is doing, hence being able to modify the learning method or studying strategies to obtain the goals and objectives It can be seen that

―learner autonomy‖ is a broader term in comparison with students’ self-study Self-study can also be regarded as a required element/branch of autonomous learning In short, self-study and learner autonomy is closely interrelated in which self-study with clear purposes and strategies is a way to boost the autonomy among learners

The concept of self-study is also related to self-direction learning, which are defined in a variety of ways by different researchers Brockett and Hiemstra (1991) claim that:

self-direction in learning refers to both the external characteristics of an instructional process and the internal characteristics of the learner, where the individual assumes primary responsibility for a learning experience (p 24).

Kasworm (1983) stated that self-directed learning can be viewed as:

a set of generic, finite behaviors; as a belief system reflecting and evolving from a process of self-initiated learning activity; or as an ideal state of the mature self-actualized learner (p 1)

Knowles (1975) described Self-Directed Learning (SDL) broadly as:

a process in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of other,

to diagnose their learning needs, formulate learning goals, identify resources for

2.3.2 The importance of self-study in L2 teaching and learning

It can be clearly seen that over the last two decades, in the educational context where learners are expected to assume greater responsibility, students’ self-study has become a driving force behind life-long learning It is also believed that students who get hold of the way to study strategically see learning more intriguing, hence feel more motivated in their own learning process, especially in learning a second language Dickinson (1987) indicates that language learning does not necessarily presuppose that the students be taught in a classroom In fact, learners play a vital role in language learning process Learning will not occur even if the teacher has provided all the necessary circumstances or scaffoldings unless learners are willing to become a participant in the process According to Scharle and Szabo’s (2000:4), ―success

in learning very much depends on learners having a responsible attitude‖ Richards & Schmidt (2002) also encourage learners to assume a ―maximum amount of responsibility for what they learn and how they learn it‖ (p.297) All

of these researchers’ opinions underline the importance of students’ self-study

in the process of second language learning, which directly affects their overall achievement

Summary: In short, this chapter has laid the theoretical background for

the whole study through defining the key terms, proposing important theories and reviewing related international as well as national studies

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides a detailed picture of the methodology of this study by describing and explaining the research design, sampling, participants, data collection instrument, data collection as well as data analysis procedures

3.1 Selection of subjects

For the accomplishment of the study’s purpose, 57 first-year students from three fast-track classes (15E1, 15E2 and 15E3) and three teachers teaching these students listening skills in Fast-track Division, FELTE in the second semester were chosen to be the participants of two data collection methods: survey questionnaires and semi-structured interview Besides, observation of document, which is the listening-speaking course guide 2B*

also serves as an important data collection method

3.2 Research Instruments

Survey questionnaire designed for students proposed a combination

of 26 closed-ended and open-ended questions which were employed to obtain information from 57 students The researcher expected: 1) to know how they understand about authentic sources; 2) to get a list of AOR that are frequently used by first year fast-track students to self-practice listening and the ways they use these sources to listening self-study; 3) to see how they evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of these sources based on the given criteria; 4) to see what difficulties they encounter when exploiting AOR to self-practice listening; and 5) to know how the teachers have oriented them to utilize these sources for their self-study purpose to improve listening skill Personal information of all participants was kept confidential and anonymous for ethical reasons

Meanwhile, semi-structured interviews were conducted among teachers and

particular students to provide a comprehensive insight of the matter

For teacher interviews, three teachers teaching listening skills for

three first year fast-track classes in the first semester were chosen The researcher’s intended purpose is 1) to see how the teachers guide students to

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utilize these resources for self-study purpose to develop their listening skill and 2) to seek teachers’ responses on their role of orientating students to make use

of these sources to self-practice listening effectively

For student interviews, the researcher decided to opt for a

non-probability sample with purposive/judgmental sampling The researcher chose

four freshmen students of fast track classes who scored at least 8.0 for listening skill in the IETLS test and two students who scored at least 29 for

listening skill in the TOEFL IBT Test As these students got really high scores, which implied his/her high level of English proficiency, much effort on learning, especially self-study must they have put in studying English The researcher’s intention is to know 1) what sources they have exploited to self-practice listening; 2) the ways they have used to utilize AOR to better listening skills and 3) what they think they need to take into consideration when choosing appropriate authentic online resources to exploit

Both teacher interviews and student interviews were conducted with ended questions to maximize the information collected through greater

open-flexibility and control for the interviewers and interviewees

Lastly, through the observation of the 2B* course guide, the researcher

wished to analyze how first year fast-track students conducted their listening assignment by exploiting AOR and through which the roles of teachers would

of questionnaire was piloted to four volunteering students to identify

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ambiguous, repetitive items then make appropriate adjustments to the content and format of the questionnaire

Phase 2

After being piloted and edited, the questionnaires were sent directly to

57 students in their break-time For avoidance of misunderstanding, all of the participants were asked if they were in doubt about any questions

Phase 3

Semi-structured and open-ended interviews were carried out among three teachers and six students to retrieve missing information in the questionnaire, to obtain more in-depth data for the study and to gather further information about their thoughts and expectations All of the interviews were recorded with the respondents’ permission and in the form of informal talks The language used in the teacher interview was English while the language used in the student interviews was Vietnamese to help better the mutual understanding between the interviewer and the respondents

Phase 4:

The researcher investigated the listening-speaking course guide 2B* to identify 1) the listening project which required students to exploit AOR for their later performance; 2) the ways students exploit AOR to fulfill their assignment and 3) the role of teachers in the assignment

3.4 Procedure of data analysis

First, for qualitative questions related to rating scales, descriptive analysis was used to organize and summarize the results in the student

questionnaire under each category for mean and standard deviation Besides, for open-ended questions, the responses of students were summarized in the form of quotations to provide more insights into the study Data collected from the questionnaires were input in a Google form to be synthesized and illustrated

by charts For the purpose of content analysis, the listening assignment

described in course guide 2B* was quoted; recordings of both teacher and

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student interviews were transcribed to use for reference and support the results

and findings

Summary: So far, this chapter has justified the methodology employed

in this paper by elaborating the research setting and the participants involved

in the data collection process Furthermore, the combination of three data collection instruments was also classified in the process of data collection and the process of data analysis in this paper These justifications of the methodology would make the way to the discussion in the next chapter

4.1 Overview of the background information

4.1.1 First year fast-track students’ capability of English listening skill

Overall, as shown in Chart 1, most of the participants have a good command of English listening skill with 64.9% scoring from 8.5 to 10 and no one scored less than 7.0 in their end-of-term listening test There are also 14 students getting at least 7.0 in IELTS listening and two students who got 29 and 30 out of 30 in their TOEFL IBT Listening test Most of the students’ high scores in their end-of-term listening test may result from the fact that they have been exposed to English for a long time 51 out of 57 responses reported that they had at least 8 years studying English

Chart 1: The result of first year fast-track students’ final scores

of their end-of-term listening test last semester

Mean = 3.84

Chart 2: The extent to which first year fast-track students like learning listening

Chart 3: First year fast-track students’ attitudes towards the difficulty level of listening skill

4.1.3 First year fast-track students’ attitudes towards the

importance of listening skill

Most of the participants agreed with the importance of listening in both social and academic settings As for social setting, Chart 4 shows that 89% agreed or strongly agreed that ―listening skill is important to have a successful real-life communication‖ To be more specific, student A, C and E contended that only when a person was able to listen and comprehend what the other was saying, he/she could react accordingly (see App 4, 6 & 8) Likewise, from an academic perspective, 82% claimed that ―listening is important to enhance the learning of other language components (e.g.: structure, vocabulary) and language skills (e.g., speaking, writing and reading)‖ This statement raised interesting discussions between the researcher and the interviewees Most of the interviewees said that while learning listening, they could acquire background knowledge, interesting vocabulary items or sentence structures, which would be helpful for their reading and speaking performance Particularly one admitted that when she had trouble with reading skill, listening was ―the fastest way‖ for her ―to get access to information‖(Student B, App 5)

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Chart 4: First year fast-track students’ attitudes towards the importance of listening skill

4.1.4 First year fast-track students’ attitudes towards the

importance of their self-study of listening skill

For the above reasons and explanations, listening must have been placed

as a very important language skill by first year fast-track students As shown in Chart 4, 91% acknowledged that they should self-practice this skill more Not only students but teachers also agreed on the significance of listening self-study According to a teacher, the fact is due to the limitation in class time for listening, ―the students only have about 4 periods to study listening, and not just listen, we [the class] have a lot of different activities like warm-up activities so the time for listening is not that much‖ (Teacher A, App 10) Other teachers also reached an agreement on the need to self-practice listening

by calling it ―an on-going process‖ and advised the students to practice listening ―on a daily basis‖ (Teacher C, App 12) In short, listening requires ―a lot of effort for students to self-study‖ (Teacher B, App 11) However, as shown in Chart 5, the student questionnaire’s result reveals that less than half

of the participants (45%) conduct self-study listening regularly (at least 2-4 times a week) while the other half confessed that they self-practiced listening only once a week or even once a month

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Chart 5: First year fast-track students’ frequency of self-practicing listening

4.2 Research Question 1 - How do first year fast-track students define

authentic online resources

Research’s results reveal that freshmen do not have a thorough

understanding towards AM First of all, they have trouble identifying which

sources are considered authentic Only 2 out of 57 students were able to find

correctly four authentic materials out of five given ones On one hand, the only

option which is not authentic- the English textbook designed by Ministry of

Education- was chosen by up to nearly 40 percent of the participants (see Chart

6) On the other hand, English songs, supposed to be authentic, were regarded

as authentic by only around one-fourth of the respondents

Chart 6: Question 8- Student Questionnaire

To clarify the matter, the surveyed group was also asked to select the

characteristics of authentic materials In Chart 7, nearly 70% of the participants

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believed that AM were ―oral or written language generated by native speakers‖ and ―contextually rich and culturally relevant‖ There is no doubt that authentic sources mean sources produced by only native speakers, thus they open ―a window to culture‖ (Sherman, 2003) and provide learners with ―exposure to living language‖ (Shanahan (1997)) as discussed in the literature review Surprisingly, only a few (12.3% of the population) thought AM were not

―geared towards teaching purpose‖ and just half of them claimed that those materials had to ―represent the target language in the real life‖ Linking these results with those of question 7 in the Student Questionnaire, the researcher could reason why the nature of ―authentic‖ has been misinterpreted Since the students believed that ―authentic‖ sources were generated to serve pedagogical purpose, they might think of these materials as ―model‖ rather than ―genuine‖

or ―real‖ sources As a result, these materials do not always have to represent the target language in real-life situation Similarly, 16 out of 57 students, which accounts for up to nearly 30% of the population, held the belief that ―authentic materials contain well- formed sentences all the time‖ In fact, as mentioned above, authentic sources are ―real‖ rather than ―correct‖, they contain ungrammatical features, which means they do not follow strictly standard grammar rules

Chart 7: Question 9- Student Questionnaire

4.3 Research Question 2: What authentic online resources have first year fast-track students frequently used, how are these sources utilized, what are their advantages and disadvantages?

4.3.1 Research Question 2.1: What authentic online resources have first year fast-track students frequently used for their self-study in learning listening?

In general, when students go online, they can find authentic sources in various forms The most popular genre is movies The majority of the surveyed group (80%) used this type of entertainment to sharpen their listening skill By subscribing to the channel of HBO or Star Movies, for instance, they could watch their favorite movies and improve listening skill at the same time Secondly, up to 75% of the participants self-practiced listening through authentic sources which are in form of talks or talk shows such as TED talks or Ellen Show Another genre (which accounts for 65%) is news from renowned broadcasters or channels The most favorable are BBC, CNN, VOA, Sky News Live, National Geographic…where the students updated the latest news or learned more about their favorite topics Fourthly, audio books and podcast (occupying 35% of the population), which are normally preferred to be downloaded into portable media player such as mobile phone or MP3, are also

4.3.2 Research Question 2.2: What are the students’ ways of

utilizing these sources for their self-study to develop listening

proficiency?

In this part, the researcher investigates two elements The first element is the listening course guide 2B* for FYFS to know how they exploit AOR to fulfill their assignment based on given criteria and teachers’ guidance The second element is the results of student survey questionnaire on how they employ AOR on their own (without teacher support)

4.3.2.1 Listening-speaking course guide

According to the 2B* course guide, because students are the ―center of all teaching and learning activities‖, they are supposed to have ―greater responsibility for their own learning‖ Assignments, which play a role as an assessment tool, also show the importance of students’ self-study in learning listening in which they have to both actively be involved in in-class tasks and finish supplementary listening exercises or listening projects at home By investigating the 2B* listening and speaking course guide of first year fast-track students, the researcher seeks how students are encouraged, or required to exploit AOR to fulfill their assignments This is, after all, a means for every student to have a chance to self-practice listening to sharpen this language skill

A remarkably important project that first year fast-track students have to

do in semester 2 is the Forum, which makes up 30% of the total score for the course This is a listening integrated with speaking project, in which students have to deliver a presentation and discussion to ―showcase their language of formal meetings about certain topics‖ (2B* Course guide, 2015-2016, see App 19) In order to do that, in their groups, they have to ―find at least four reliable news videos/audios and other sources which must be relevant to the forum

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topic‖ Obviously, the listening task in this project is a chance for students to find the input for their speaking practice later on Accordingly, they have to work independently, exploit reliable authentic sources for their assignment To

be more specific, they have ―to listen to them, note down important

information, new words, and the sources of the videos/audios‖

The researcher believes that this assignment is beneficial for students on the grounds that they have an opportunity to seek a wide range of authentic sources for their assignment More importantly, they have a real purpose on what they are looking for based on the requirements; and the criteria to choose the sources which creates motivation for students to get access to AOR for their self-study purpose, thus improves their listening skill

4.3.2.2 Students’ own ways of exploiting authentic online resources for listening self-study

After surveying the most frequently-used AOR by FYFS, the researcher wants to discover the ways the students utilize the sources to self-practice listening The result in Chart 8 shows that the most popular ways of using authentic sources for self-practicing listening among the participants are

―Watch movies with/without English subtitle‖ and ―Watch TV news/programs

or reality shows of native speakers with/without subtitle then take notes interesting vocabulary or ideas‖, which account for nearly 90% of the population Ranking the third and the fourth in terms of popularity are ―Listen

to English songs and fill in the missing words‖ and ―Listen to a lecture from a website and transcribe or take notes interesting vocabulary or ideas‖, occupying over one-third of the respondents Lastly, ―Do exercises from websites that train English listening skill‖ seem to be least favorable with only 24% of the participants chose this way to self-practice listening The survey’s results back up the supposition that students are often more intrigued by sources with entertainment purposes (such as movies, talks, or reality shows)