BARRIERS IN ENGLISH LISTENING COMPREHENSION OF THE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS AT YEN DINH 2 HIGH SCHOOL AND HOW TO BOOST THEIR LISTENING SKILL THROUGH THEIR OPTIONAL PERIODS

And teaching listening skill in classroom helps Sts make transition from classroom English to real-life English more easily and effectively.. Therefore, I would like to do this research

TABLE OF CONTENT

2.3 What are barriers when students listen

English

5

2.4

I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

Nowadays, listening plays a vital role in daily lives People listen for different purposes such as entertainment, academic purposes or obtaining necessary information Of the four language skills-Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing-that all language learners are supposed to acquire Listening is believed to be the most challenging due to the complex and subtle nature of listening comprehension in a second or foreign language

First of all, listening is the most important skill in communication in the real life Listening and speaking are two major parts of communication They are closely interdependent We are able to talk sensibly when we understand what is said to us If we fail to understand spoken language, we may miss important information and respond in a funny way Moreover, in learning a language, listening is a useful means of providing Sts with comprehensible input, which is an essential component of the whole language learning process And teaching listening skill in classroom helps Sts make transition from classroom English to real-life English more easily and effectively Therefore, I would like to do this research to help the students and teachers pay more attention to listening skill Secondly, learning listening skill is the most difficult

in learning a foreign language Listening, like reading, is a receptive skill but it

is often the most daunting for students When reading, a reader usually has more opportunities to refer back to the text to clarify understanding, which a listener can not do in most listening contexts such as TV programs, meetings, discussion, lectures or conversations Last but not least, many Sts are not interested in learning listening skill They find listening classes boring On the other hand, practicing listening skill is difficult and it takes long time That’s the reason I would like to present the thesis title “Barriers in English listening comprehension of the the tenth-grade students at YD2HS and how to boost their listening skill though their optional periods”

With the thesis I hope that I will contribute my little experience to help

my students like and improve their listening skill in the next courses and in the future

1.2 Objectives of the study

This major objective of the study is an attempt to identify problems faced by the tenth-grade students at YD2HS This research would concentrate on these matters below:

The way students self-study on their own

The most common problems they encounter

The strategies which help them to get over and succeed in listening

Research questions

a) What are the real situations of teaching and learning English listening skill for the tenth-grade students at YD2HS?

b) What are the difficulties/barriers for the tenth-grade students YD2HS? c) What are some solutions to improve their English listening skill?

1.3 Scope of the study

This study carried out among the 10C5 and 10C8 Sts at YD2HS during the school year 2020-2021

1.4 Methodology of the study

Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used

The study bases on teacher's main activities: teaching time in the class Secondly, class observation has been carried out with ss to find out barriers among sts while they are listening English Based on what I have collected, I would like to give some ways to improve this problem

Other sources of data come from listening tasks from the textbooks The analysis of the data hopefully will bring about reliable findings useful for the teaching of listening to students at YD2HS

I also find out some related thesis or some related information on the Internet and from my fellows

II DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Overview of listening

This second chapter provides readers with the overview of the study by introducing some key concepts necessary for the best understanding of this research, as well as the review of previous studies related to the topic There are some most crucial concepts chosen to be clarified in this part such as the definition of English listening skill and its importance in communication

2.1.1 Definition of listening

Listening is one of the primary tools in communication It is the act of taking in a message and actually understanding what is being said rather than just reacting to it Think of these definitions to the word listening, what do they have in common?

• “to pay attention to sound”

• “to hear something with thoughtful attention—give consideration”

• “to be alert to catch an expected sound”

All three definitions require active attentiveness, not just the passive act of hearing Listening involves more than your ears It involves your eyes, your

ears, and your heart Look at the Chinese character for listening Each component making up the character represents a part of the person involved in listening

Listening is not hearing and hearing is not listening Hearing is a physical process Sound comes into the ear, but there isn’t meaning taken from it It is the physical process of the sound waves hitting the eardrum Listening takes hearing

to a deeper level and applies understanding

Generally, we are great “hearers” but not very good at listening to comprehend meaning or understanding We “hear” sounds, words, music, instructions, and directions How often do you find yourself hearing the music but not interpreting the meaning the artist is trying to convey? Or you ask someone directions to a particular location, but you aren’t paying attention to the speaker and you still get lost You may refer to these situations as being zoned out or distracted

2.1.2 Importance of English listening skill for EFL learners

Listening is one of the necessary life skills which are defined as “skills which can provide you with a better perspective on life, skills which can allow you to maintain a higher awareness of both yourself and the world around you”

It is one of the most vital ways that human beings feel the life and live Everyone, in the real life, often listens more than speaks, reads or writes We listen everywhere and every time We listen to everything and everybody For instance, at home, we listen to the news, watch films or talk with others At school, students listen to the lecturers teaching At a meeting, the staff listens to the new plan from the director, etc Without listening, the man becomes backward in each minute of their lives It is obvious that listening is really important in the real life As it is mentioned in the differences between hearing and listening, hearing is a part of five senses (hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and looking) but listening is a choice to hear and understand it As an integrative skill, listening plays an important role in the process of language learning or acquisition and facilitating the emergence of other language skill `

Furthermore, listening is the way of learning the language It gives the learner information from which to build up the knowledge necessary for using the language When this knowledge is built up, the learner can begin to speak The listening-only period is a time of observation and learning, which provides the basis for the other language skills Most learners will spend more time listening to the foreign language than producing it themselves Failing to understand spoken language, people may miss important information presented

to them or respond in a funny way So training in listening is really necessary It helps students make the transition from classroom English to the real-life English more easily and effectively

2.1.3 Types of listening

According to some authors, there are two ways of listening in the real life They are casual listening and focused listening depending on the purpose of listening One type of listening, casual listening, means listening without a particular purpose When we listen, we do not pay much or even any attention to the information unless there is something that interests us Therefore, we hardly remember the content of what we hear Normally, we do this kind of listening when we listen to music, or listen to news on the radio or TV while doing some housework or chatting to a friend Another type of listening is focused listening That is when we listen for a particular purpose to find out information we need

to know It happens quite popularly in the real life In here, we listen with much more concentration and try to get as much information as possible However, we

do not listen to every word We know beforehand what we are going to listen so

we only catch the most important information from the speech or the lecture In classroom, learners also use this type of listening

2.2 The setting of the study

2.2.1 The setting of the study

The study was conducted at YD2HS Here, English is taught in classrooms with five parts: Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing and Grammar within 37 weeks

As we know, it is normal that there are about 38 to 42 students in peer classroom at high school They are different individuals in a class Different individuals may have different learning styles and different kinds of work They want to get different degrees of care and attention from the teacher It means that there are different reactions from students toward listening tasks From those If teacher realizes the differences among individuals in the class when they create

an activity, the students will take part in the lesson actively

2.2.2 The students’ background and their English levels

It can be easily seen that YD2HS is situated in Yen Truong commune, Yen Dinh district Most of the people here have medium living condition, so most Sts learn English with very simple ways They only learn English from their teacher at school These students have medium level, few also have low level Others, but not large amount of Sts with good living condition from their parents, find out some extra ways for learning English such as learning outside the school, using cassette, computer and cell phone to learn online or in an English center This group of the Sts has good knowledge It means that students' language level is different Therefore, teacher may have some

difficulties in choosing a suitable teaching method, language and activity which are used in a class

Besides, most of their families live on agriculture so that they do not have the best conditions to learn English Moreover, they don’t have the habit of practicing listening skill to improve their vocabulary and communication It is grammar that is focused so that Ss can pass the exams

2.3 What are barriers when students listen English?

2.3.1 Environment

The most obvious barrier to listening is the environment in which the listening is taking place If the environment is noisy or if there is a lot of background noise, it is going to be more challenging for the listener to hear what

is being said If they cannot hear, it will be impossible for them to interpret it into identifiable words

2.3.2 Emotions.

If the Sts are distracted or not paying attention, this has the same effect as

a noisy environment Similarly, if they are tired, upset, anxious or unmotivated Also, if they are not interested in the task or feel it is too easy or too difficult they won’t listen effectively

2.3.3 Habits

If the Sts develop bad habit when it comes to listening, it will be challenging to break them For example, Sts may listen intently to try to hear and understand every word Usually it is more beneficial to listen for the general idea and try to comprehend big chunks of language rather than individual words

2.3.4 Spoken word recognition

When a person speaks English, whole sentences can sound like one long word This make it almost impossible to process and understand This can be because of a mismatch between a spoken word and its written form or the speaker speaking very quickly As a result, listeners will mishear what is being said

2.3.5 Translation

Sts may rely on translation to try to understand a listening text In other words, as they listen they are translating what they hear This is a very time-consuming and ineffective strategy for comprehension

2.3.6 Language level

Listeners may not understand what they are hearing simply because of their level of English They may not be familiar with the words being spoken and so be unable to identify them as words

2.3.7 Accent

If a listener is not familiar with a speaker’s accent it will be very difficult for them to understand what they are hearing, even if the utilize effective listening strategies

2.3.8 Text length

The longer a listening text is, the more information and language there is

to process and the more difficult is to understand This is especially true if there are no breaks within the text

2.3.9 Topic

If a topic of a listening text is complex or unfamiliar to the listener, it will difficult to9 understand

That’s a lot of obstacles to prove that listening is a complex task and our Sts may not be successful because of these reasons

2.4 Suggestion for Sts

The Sts want to learn the listening better, they themselves ought to try their best to change their bad habits of listening and to improve their background knowledge Today there are many ways to learn English, to improve your listening skills

2.4.1 Listening every day

You should spend 5 to 10 minutes or more to listen to a short English news

2.4.2 Focus on the message - Don't check every word in the dictionary

According to the survey, most students had habits of listening to every word in the recording so they soon got tired and frustrated of listening As a consequence, they answered the listening tasks mainly by guessing but not by understanding the text It is not necessary for learners to understand every word

in order to understand the information they need from the recording Therefore, learners should learn to focus on the message When listening, the learners should summarize the ideas they listen to and take notes They had better not translate the listening text into the mother tongue, but try to understand it in the target language

2.4.3 Learn to use all contextual clues possible to help you with what's being said

For example, if watching a movie, think: Where are they? Who's there?

What mood are they in? What does their body language tell you? What's around them? This stuff is important – language doesn't exist in a vacuum and your surroundings heavily influence what you say Likewise a lot goes unsaid in real life if it is evident from the context

2.4.4 Practice to get acquainted with the native accent

Outside the listening class, students have to practice regularly such as listening to English songs, listening in VOA, watching foreign channels (such as: HBO, CINEMAX, you can watch the American films to improve your English listening comprehension) so as to get acquainted with the native accent

in normal speech In addition, they must enrich themselves with general knowledge of the English speaking countries, English language, and social and cultural knowledge

2.5 Suggestions for teachers

Given the importance of listening well to maximize success in and out of school, you might wonder if there are any guidelines for teaching it In reviewing research on listening comprehension, we have developed seven guidelines for instruction before, during, and after listening They are as follows:

2.5.1 Before Listening

2.5.1.1 Set a goal.

According to Funk and Funk (1989), it’s important to have a goal or purpose for every listening activity Stating a purpose will give students

guidance to know where to focus, enabling them to achieve success

2 5.1.2 Build Background.

Help Sts connect what they already know with what they will hear in the audio story by asking questions about their personal experiences with the topic Explain what students need to understand before listening, preview vocabulary words, invite them to think about relevant prior knowledge, anticipate the subject of the story, or otherwise engage actively in preparing for the story

2.5.1.3 Prepare the Environment.

If playing the story out loud to the whole class, minimize distraction by making the environment at home or in school as quiet as possible Use headphones for listening when possible

2.5.1.4 Introduce Listening Strategies: Introduce tools and strategies for

successful listening

2.5.2 While Listening

2.5.2.1 Scaffold Note-Taking.

Sts can use a listening organizer to help them focus on important ideas and details while listening to the story, which can help to deepen their understanding Listening organizers might include T-charts, Venn diagrams, or a blank page to keep track of a character’s actions in the story Such organizers can guide students in taking notes to help them focus their listening and teach them strategies to support comprehension in other contexts

2.5.2.2 Explain Problem-Solving Strategies.

If Sts do not understand a word or concept, they can use clues from the story to make a guess If they are listening independently, they can stop the audio and think or listen again as needed to ensure understanding They can be

“problem-solving listeners.” These strategies should be taught before Sts begin listening with reminders provided as needed

2.5.3 After Listening

2.5.3 1 Elicit the answer for the pre-assigned task.

2.5.3 2.Give some more exercises or activities to check Sts’ understanding of

the information included in the listening text

2.5.3.3 Ask some students to summarize what they have listened to (the main

ideas) either orally or in writing

Developing Sts’ listening comprehension is a challenge It depends both

on the teacher’s and student’s attention

Knowledge of the listening process and the steps to follow in teaching a listening lesson enable teachers to select, create and teach listening texts and activities in the way that meets the needs of their students

Teachers should adapt the listening activities set in the textbooks to achieve the balance that mirrors the real-world integration of listening with speaking, reading and writing

2.6 Applying suggestions

I began teaching class 10C5 and 10C8 since September, 2020 In some first lessons I taught listening skill based on the topics which are familiar to Sts

I also taught this kill with three main stages pre, while and post stage sometimes

I taught four stages consisting warm-up

In particular, my curriculum includes the following subjects (I only teach

10 optional periods for the 1st term We only have 3 English optional periods per week during the second term)

- Topic 1: Daily routines

- Topic 2: Activities at school

- Topic 3: Famous scientists in the world (Thomas Edison, Marie Curie, Newton…)

- Topic 4: Smart phone in daily life

- Topic 5: A visit to Ben En National Park (T designs and records on tape)

- Topic 6: Animals at the zoo

- Topic 7: Famous national parks in Vietnam

- Topic 8: Music in my life

- Topic 9: Cartoon films

- Topic 10: The 2018 world cup

- Topic 11: Facebook and its advantages and disadvantages

- Topic 12: SARS- COVID- 2 (watch for symptoms, when to check emergency medical attention, how to protect yourselves and others)

- Topic 13: SARS- COVID- 2 (What is the difference between Influenza (Flu)

and SARS-COVID-2?

MUSIC IN MY LIFE I/ Aims:

 To develop speaking, listening, reading skills on the topic "music"

 To encourage children to express their own point of view and their ideas

 To enrich Sts’ outlooks

II/ Equipment: ppt “Music in my life”, handouts, records, a poster.

III/ Procedure.

1min 1 GREETING Good morning, my dears I'm glad to see you Are

you in a good mood today? If you are ready, let's begin our lesson

So, the theme of our lesson is … MUSIC IN MY LIFE

1 min 2 PUTTING THE AIMS OF THE LESSON.

2 mins 3 WARMING-UP ACTIVITY

Teacher: So let’s the music begin

(Diana plays the violin)

 What sort of music is it? (Classical)

 Can you describe the music you have just listened to? (melodious, unforgettable, fascinating, relaxing…) each pupil give one word to characterize it

 Do you know who the author of this music is.

 Are you interested in classical music?

What kind of music are you really into?

What role does it play in your life?