The adaptation of authentic listening materials for promoting listening skill in classroom and the provincial contest for gifted students

Designing listenimg tasks using authentic listening materials for students partaking in the Provincial English Contests...10 1... The question of how to help learners develop effective l

NGHEAN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

DO LUONG 1 UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL

Họ và Tên: Nguyễn Thị Hải Lý

Tổ: Ngữ văn-Tiếng Anh

Academic Year 2020- 2021

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A INTRODUCTION 2

1 Rationale of the study 2

2 Aims of the study 3

3 Participants of the study 3

4 The scope of the study 3

PART B CONTENTS 4

I Theoreotical background 4

1 What are authentic materials? 4

2 Why should we use authentic listening materials? 4

3 Benefits of using authentic listening materials 5

II Ways of using different types of authentic materials 6

1 Radio 6

2 Video clips: 8

3 The Internet 8

III Designing listenimg tasks using authentic listening materials for students partaking in the Provincial English Contests 10

1 Exercise 1: 10

2 Exercise 2: 12

3 Exercise 3: 13

4 Exercise 4: 14

5 Exercise 5: 15

6 Exercise 6: 16

7 Exercise 7: 16

8 Exercise 8: 17

9 Exercise 9 18

10 Exercise 10 19

11 Exercise 11 20

12 Exercise 12 21

13 Exercise 13 22

14 Exercise 14 22

15 Exercise 15 22

16 Tapescripts 23

IV Performance results 42

V Implications for teachers when applying authentic listening materials into language classroom 43

1 Learner’s language proficiency level: 43

2 Learners’ interest of the topic: 43

3 Cultural appropriateness 43

4 Preparation 44

5 Staging the lesson 44

6 Exploiting the listening text 44

PART C: CONCLUSION 45

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Listening, the most frequently used form of language skill, plays a significantrole in daily communication and educational process In spite of its importance,listening ability development has received only slight emphasis in languageinstruction Nevertheless, English classrooms, where comprehensive listening serves

as a primary channel for learning, require that students function effectively aslisteners It is therefore important for English teachers to prepare students forsuccessful by implementing authentic listening materials in the classes

The question of how to help learners develop effective listening skills bringsattention to the methods we use and the type of materials we introduce our learners to.The aim of all listening lessons should be to allow learners a greater degree ofindependence when confronted with listening to the foreign language in a real worldcontext, and that means using authentic texts Authentic texts are any spoken textswhich have not been specially prepared for language learners, and they are oftendelivered via technologies like radio, television/video, and the Internet or CD-ROM

In the age of globalization today, preparing students for real life situations is ofgreat concern for many English language teachers and for students and their parents

as well For a motivating high level course for English major students at high school,using authentic materials is one of the mainstays which can help meet theexpectations In addition, authentic materials will bring students closer to the targetlanguage culture, and therefore will make the learning process overall an even moreenjoyable and thus, motivating Moreover, the use of authentic listening materials inthe test paper of the Provincial Contest for Gifted Students in recent years can bothchallenging and be rewarding for high school teachers and students

In the teaching context of our High School for Gifted Students, English majorstudents here can get access to a variety of listening materials However, most of thesematerials are specifically designed for testing purpose and may help students enhancetheir scores in listening exams like IELTS or TOEFL but not prepare them for the reallife communication challenges To solve this problem, one effective way is to applyreal listening materials in the classroom

With the growing availability of the Internet, TV programs both teachers andstudents have easy access to a broad range of authentic listening materials However,many teachers feel that such recordings are too difficult to be exploited for listeningactivities in the classroom Therefore, in this paper, I would like to suggest some ways

to devise activities which will help English language learners achieve an

understanding of authentic listening texts These activities are particularly helpful forEnglish major students.

2 Aims of the study

The study aims at:

- Giving an overview of authentic materials and sources to obtain them

- Suggesting some ways to design exercises from the authentic materials so as

to help English language learners develop their listening skills

- Introducing some websites and programs for teachers and students to exploitauthentic materials

3 Participants of the study

This study is based mainly on my teaching experience when applying authenticlistening materials into my teaching at our High School for Gifted Students duringschool years from 2016 to 2021 I use these materials in the morning lessons for 11thform students majoring in English I mainly use authentic listening materials as a kind

of listening practice for excellent students who take part in the Provincial Contest forGifted Students

4 The scope of the study

As the main aims of this study is to suggest some ways to adapt authenticlistening materials into the teaching curriculum, it will be helpful to acquaint highschool students with real-life communicative situations Accordingly, their languagecompetence will certainly improve

The study would like to suggest several sources from which materials can beadapted Thus, it may serve as a useful guideline for teachers who wish to explore theuse of authentic materials in their everyday teaching

The study also gives some suggestions for teachers to design some forms ofexercises so as they can use in their every day lessons

The topic is:

The adaptation of authentic listening materials for promoting listening skill

in classroom and the provincial contest for gifted students

PART B CONTENTS

I Theoreotical background.

1 What are authentic materials?

Authentic materials are print, video, and audio materials students encounter intheir daily lives, such as change-of address forms, job applications, menus, voice mailmessages, radio programs, and videos Authentic materials are not created specifically

to be used in the classroom, but they make excellent learning tools for studentsprecisely because they are authentic There are two main categories of authenticmaterials—print and auditory English as a second language (ESL), adult secondaryeducation (ASE), and adult basic education (ABE) students all can benefit from usingauthentic print materials ESL students often use authentic auditory materials,although ABE and ASE students also may find them useful

2 Why should we use authentic listening materials?

In the age of globalization today, students need to be exposed not only to varieties(not just one) of English such as British, American, Australian, Japanese orSingaporean English but also to the ‘real language’ in order to be able to cope withdifferent versions and real challenges awaiting them in the outside world

There are several reasons why teachers should use authentic materials, especiallyfor higher-level English major students at high school First, authentic materials textswill have a number of features that cannot be found in textbooks In fact, there is aconsiderable gap between authentic language and textbook language Gilmore (2007)claims that the language presented to students in textbooks is ‘a poor representation ofthe real thing’ The textbook language is modified from authentic language sources toencourage learning and accomplishment for the student Also, designed materials lackseveral elements present in authentic spoken English such as realistic intonation,natural rate of speech, or background noise, etc Therefore, students become betterprepared for the real world when authentic listening materials are used in classrooms

as textbook supplements

Another important reason is the students' motivation and interest Authenticlanguage helps students get closer to its speakers, and understand them better Itseems exotic and exciting with its flavour of everyday life Authentic materials arealso specially relevant for English major students many of whom have the aim ofstudying overseas So for students to actually be able to communicate and interactsocially in the target language environment, the use of authentic materials seems anessential preparation

3 Benefits of using authentic listening materials

Many teachers and students realize the role of authentic materials in languageteaching and learning They believe that authentic materials scaffold students' learning

of a target language more sufficiently (Guariento & Morley, 2001; Wilcox & Oaks,1999; Weyers, 1999 cited in Al Azri & Al-Rashdi, 2014) Authentic resources offergreat advantage over materials created for the purpose of language teaching andlearning, both linguistic and non-linguistic

3 1 Linguistic Advantages

Studies concerning the use of authentic materials have shown that they have

a positive effect on learners' achievement Otte (2006, cited in Al Azri & Al-Rashdi,2014) found that authentic materials successfully help develop students’ listeningskills and also their motivation Following are some benefits of authentic materialsdiscussed in various research papers and studies Authentic materials:

 guide learners toward the language they need for their particular

context;

 provide exposure to real language

 relate more closely to learners ' needs

 help learners to produce better language

 help learners to acquire the language faster

 motivate learners to communicate, because they help make

communication ‘real’

 provide words and constructions that students probably never see in

non-authentic formal materials.

 encourage teachers to adopt creative teaching approach

3.2 Non-linguistic Advantages

In addition to the linguistic advantages, authentic materials also have some linguistic benefits They make a positive contribution in the field of language teachingand learning in that they:

non- have a positive effect on learner motivation and encourage them to learn better

 makes learners more confident to deal with real life situations

 Help prepare learners for the ‘real’ world of communication;

 boost their confidence

 improve the learners' cultural awareness.

Students will learn better and benefit greatly from the use of authentic materials.Teachers can adapt their use of authentic materials to suit the language proficiencylevel of the students

4 Drawbacks of using authentic listening materials

Although the use of authentic materials is beneficial to students and theirlearning of a foreign language, there are many difficulties that teachers face in makinguse of such materials Even when they see it as desirable, many teachers arediscouraged from using authentic materials due to the practical difficulties theyencounter Finding appropriate authentic texts or audio recordings and designing tasksfor them can be an extremely time-consuming process It takes time to look for anappropriate text or audio recording in terms of relevant knowledge, language orinterest, etc Authentic materials may contain difficult structures and lexical items thatstudents have not been exposed to before or some cultural references uninteresting orirrelevant to students (Jennie, 2015)

What’s more, using authentic materials in developing listening skills is even moredifficult and time-consuming when the teacher need to listen to the recordings andcheck the transcripts (if any) or even worse, when there is no transcript available, theyneed to listen again and again (if necessary) to make sure they can catch the content,the important details and the language used before actually designing tasks

Many teachers just avoid using material from an authentic source because theylack knowledge of how to select an appropriate recording or how to exploit thematerial All these pitfalls discourage teachers and make them stick to the safer andless time-consuming course book

From the literature and overview, it is obvious that the advantages of usingauthentic materials outweigh the disadvantages Therefore, we teachers shouldconsider them seriously as a successful aid in teaching a foreign language

II Ways of using different types of authentic materials

1 Radio

Using real-time radio in class is one of the more easily accessible forms ofauthentic listening practice we can give our learners The airwaves are filled withprograms twenty-four hours per day, and the low cost of radios means that mostlanguage teachers can obtain a radio and take it to class Radio stations such as BBCWorld Service (BBC) and Voice of America (VOA) are constantly on-air Meanwhile,many non-English speaking countries also broadcast some programs, or even havededicated stations, in English Although radios are easy to access, they are perhaps the

most difficult of aural text for language learners to listen to The reason for this is thatall non-verbal information is missing, information which can aid in helpingunderstand the message, and the learner has to focus on the skill which is mostdifficult for him or her listening In order to use radio programs with learners, teachersneed to select a program at a suitable time for their class and decide on some globallistening tasks for the learners For instance, with an intermediate group of learnersabout to listen to a radio program on travel we might adopt the following procedure:

Activity 1: Fill in the blank with words or phrases: Teacher gets students to listen and

do the tasks designed.

Somewhere in the world a farmer plants many (1) into a field Thefarmer waters the fields Soon, after sun, water, and time, the seeds grow into _(2) They are fruits, or vegetables or grain The plants are full andready to be used It is time to take the fruit or vegetable or _(3) fromthe plant It is time for the (4)

Activity 2: Decide whether the following statements are True or False:

1 People have been celebrating the harvest for millions of years

2 During the festival, people celebrate and drink

3 They wish to have better crop next year

* Stage 3: Post-Listening

Groups of three have a short discussion about what you heard from theprogram Then each group make a presentation on what they have taken notes of thelistening Why or why not? In using the radio in the way suggested here we allowlearners access to native speaker models, something which might be missing fromtheir normal classroom experiences Also, we place the focus on extensive listeningfor pleasure and take the emphasis off testing what the learners hear (that is why weask the learners not to write while they listen)

2 Video clips:

Using video clips in the classroom allows the learners access to moreinformation when listening That is, the learners can now see what is happening aswell as listen to the text and learners can develop their listening skills in a richerlanguage context

For example in the lesson Unit 8: Celebrations ( English 11), I show a video of about 2 minutes about The Story of Thanksgiving day by SteelehouseMedia.com

what they think about those people in the video This listening activity is used as apost step in a lesson

3 The Internet

There has been a rapid increase in the development of Internet facilities Thishas been prompted, partly, by the more powerful computers we have these days andhas been partly driven by the users' demands for more interesting and innovativeapplications of the technology We are able to direct our learners to sites on theInternet where they can practice their listening as long as they have access to theappropriate computer software Below are some websites that can be used for theteachers tocreate listening tasks as well as for students to study themselves

3.1 BBC (Online): http://www.bbc.co.uk/

The news broadcasting site offers a lot news articles and reports Both teachers

and students may take full advantage of the BBC’s World News TV service, withhundreds of short videos and programs to watch The video page has one-minuteworld news reports, plus plenty of other short videos on business, science andentertainment I often download the One Minute World News for my advancedstudents as the speed of the listening is often a challenge for them Moreover, this isthe lastest news all over the world so students are so motivated and enthusiastic whenlistening to it

3.2 BBC (Radio): http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/

BBC Radio is a separate service that allows users to listen to radio programsonline There are countless radio programs to choose from, but I recommend startingwith the categories page There students will be able to choose from news, sports,entertainment or documentary programs to listen to

offers transcripts for some of these shows, giving students an additional resource toimprove listening skills with.

3.4 Earthwatch Radio: http://ewradio.org/

Earthwatch Radio was produced at the University of Wisconsin-Madison by

staff and students at the Sea Grant Institute and the Gaylord Nelson Institute forEnvironmental Studies The stories covered a wide range of subjects concerningscience and the environment, with special attention to global climate change, theGreat Lakes, and the oceans Recordings from this websites are effective in bothdeveloping listening skills and providing students with a wide range of scientificterms Regarding educational purpose, the extracts also help students become aware

of protecting the environment

3.5 Repeat After Us: http://www.repeatafterus.com/

Repeat After Us was created by a high school student with a true love ofliterature Here, students will find a variety of recorded texts, classified into threecategories: beginner, intermediate and advanced There is a lot of original material inthis site, so for listening practice, students should go to recorded texts, and from therechoose poetry, drama, prose or even children’s short stories if the previous categoriesprove to be too difficult

3.6 CBC Podcasts: http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/podcasts/

The Canadian broadcasting company has an astounding variety of news, sports,and entertainment programs – and a whole lot more Teachers and students maydownload the MP3 file or subscribe via iTunes so they won’t miss any of theirfavorites

3.7 NPR: http://www.npr.org/

Provincial Public Radio offers 24-hour Program Stream or Hourly Newssummaries which may be suitable for students Additionally, itoffers podcasts on topics that range from animals to world news

3.8 The British Council: http://www.britishcouncil.org/

There are some great podcasts that can be downloaded from the BritishCouncil’s website All of which feature native speakers and come with a script thatcan be exploited by both teachers and students

3.9 Newsy: http://www.newsy.com/

Of all of the websites that offer news reports on video, Newsy is my favoritebecause they offer the transcript directly below the video, a big plus for ESL

students Still, students may choose to display the transcript or keep it hidden formore challenging listening practice.

3.10 The Weather Channel: http://www.weather.com/video/

The Weather Channel provides a lot more than just the weather forecast onvideo The clips are short and the audio that is difficult to hear due to weatherconditions is subtitled

3.11 Breaking News: https://breakingnewsenglish.com

This is suitable for Intermediate to Advanced Students with News stories withvocabulary and comprehension exercises Recent stories have audio and are addedweekly You can choose stories from the theme (topic) list near the bottom of thepage

4 English movies/ TV programs

In fact, many language learners watch English TV programs, or movies outside

of class time, but few of them consider this as an opportunity to develop theirlistening skills Teachers, however, in the language classroom, can give somerecommendations about the English movies/ TV programs that students should watch

to develop their listening skills

In the lesson of Entertainment I ask students to watch a TV programs as

homework: "This weekend you are going to watch a TV game show on TV

( preferably in English channel).Then next week you have to report what you have seen to the whole class." Students have to make a report basing on the following

questions:

- What is the name of the game show?

- Who are the participants?

- What are the rules of the show?

- What is the award?

- Why do you like it? Why not?

When the next lesson comes, I collect students' ideas on the task "Who

watched game show last weekend? What can you tell us about it?" then the whole

class can have a discussion or a presentation on the show they have seen

III Designing listenimg tasks using authentic listening materials for students partaking in the Provincial English Contests.

1 Exercise 1:

Questions 1 -3

Complete the sentences below.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE words for each answer.

 Vital function of muscles (1) _

 Growth of muscles needs (2)

 Bigger challenge leads to the brain’s (3) _

Question 4-8

Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.

What THREE factors does the speaker mention to repair damaged muscle fiber?

Choose TWO letters A-E

Which aspects of meaningly muscular growth are mentioned?

2 Exercise 2:

Question 1-5

Complete the flow – chart below.

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

CRITERIA FOR A HEALTHY CITY

equal priority for all inhabitants

provide a (1) _ environment

satisfy (2) _

(3) are available and easily accessible

Local government ensures every (4) _ rights and the involvement of (5)

Question 6 -10

Complete the table below

Write NO MORE THAN ONE words for each answer.

Sri Lanka lacking (6)

Cairo girls with no (7) _ and job

old central (8) _ set up (9) a

KEYS

1 clean and safe

7 The great Pacific Garbage Patch floats from California to Hawaii.

8 Poisonous chemicals from plastics can affect our drinking water supply

9 Incinerating plastic is a feasible solution to tackle the problem

10 We can not prevent the plastic pollution from stretching and getting worse

Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D

1. What is part of his game day routine?

A He wears his kit

B He says a prayer

C He goes to the café for drinks

D He sits in the different spot

2. What does he say about the songs they sing?

A They often insult the other team

B There is a designated leader for the songs

C The songs are the same for every game

D The songs often reflect former events

3. What do they discuss about the derby game?

A Who wins the game

B How do the player play

C How it is pronounced

D Where it comes from

4. What does he say about the away game he went to?

A They won the game

B It took 7 hours to get there

C He was not satisfied by the result

D The opposition was a strong team

Complete the sentences with NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS

5. There is no (5) leader on this team, but a few of us have kind

of taken charge

6. He acts very _ (6) and you never know what he is going

to do next

7. Now is the time when the team members need their fans to

get (7) them and motivate them to win

8. When our team plays them, there is always a lot of _(8) between the supporters

9. It takes about _(9) to drive to my office fromhere

10. The team doesn’t _ (10) any of the songs

Listen to the news and answer the following questions

1 What fraction of all living things on Earth do humans represent?

2 What percentage of wild mammals have humans destroyed?

3 What did researchers find out for every class of creature on Earth?

4 What was a professor shocked not to find and estimate on?

5 What did a professor say plays a very dominant role on Earth?

6 What percentage of all living things on Earth are humans?

7 What do we share the same biomass percentage as?

8 What percentage of the world's birds is raised on farms?

9 What two animals form most of the world's livestock?

10.What does a professor hope we eat less of?

KEYS :

1 A tiny fraction

2 83%

Listen to the recording and decide if 1-8 below are true (T) or false (F).

1 Facebook's CEO has unveiled full details of a new crypto-currency

2 A blue paper will outline more details of the crypto-currency

3 The new crypto-currency will be called Virgo

4 The new crypto-currency will have very low fees.

5 The article says the new crypto-currency has no similarities with Bitcoin

6 The new crypto-currency will be backed by the dollar, euro and yen

7 A finance company said the crypto-currency could really help Facebook

8 The company said Facebook could create new ways of making money

1 A lawsuit has been filed to challenge the _ in the state of Alabama

2 The American Civil Liberties Union threatened _ if theirconstitutional right to reproductive system was attacked

3 The “Human Life Protection Act” bans all abortions in the state, except when it isneeded to prevent a _ to the mother

4 Doctors performing an abortion could be sentenced up to _ inprison.

5 One of the biggest points of contention with the bill is that there is no exceptionsfor _

6 President Donald Trump was not in favour of the ban because it lacked _

7 According to the two groups pushing the law to be reversed the ban was a

Listen to the recording and choose the correct answer

1 In what country might it become illegal to raise children on a vegan diet?

b) a balanced vegan diet

c) three meals a day

1 Nuclear fuel rods are being removed from Fukushima's No 3 plant

2 The removal of the fuel rods is five years behind schedule

3 There were problems with the devices that were made for the removal

4 One reason for the delay is high levels of radiation in the area

5 There are more than 1,500 rods at Fukushima's nuclear power plant

6 Work on removing the fuel rods will finish at the end of 2020

7 A power company worker said the company is in a hurry to finish

8 Japan's Prime Minister said the area would not be rebuilt

KEYS:

10 Exercise 10

Listen to the recording and write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS in each space.

1 A bill has been introduced to recognize the country’s ethnic Ainu _ as an “indigenous” people

2 Ainu people are recognized after decades of their _

3 The Ainu originate in Japan’s northern islands of Hokkaido, north-eastern Honshu,

4 It is estimated that there are about _ people in the ethnic Ainuminority group

5 According to Japan’s government, it is important to protect the _

of the Ainu people

KEYS:

1 minority group

2 lobbying and campaigning

3 Japan and Russia

4 200,000

5 honor and dignity

11 Exercise 11

For questions 1-10, listen to Theresa May resignation’s speech and supply the blanks with the missing information WRITE NO MORE THAN FIVE WORDS in each space provided.

1 In 2016, the British people _ the European Union

2 According to Theresa May, when you give people a choice, you

_ what they decide And she has tried her best to do that

3 She tried to negotiate the term of exit and a new relationship with their neighbors, but she failed to convince MPs to _ for three times

4 She took perseverance for granted, but then she realized that it’s time for a new Prime Minister to lead that effort for the _

5 She announces that she will resign as a leader of

2 have a duty to implement

3 back that deal

4 interests of the country

5 Conservative and Unionist Party

6 referendum

7 bringing an end to austerity

8 Security; freedom; opportunity.

9 fight the burning injustices

10 with enormous and enduring gratitude

3 Over time humans found various uses for some docile wolves that show less

aggression to them These animals helped to , and might guard camps and warn of approaching enemies

4 Proto-Dogs or Wolf-Dogs seem to have appeared around 33,000 years ago and were mainly different by their smaller size and a shorter snout full of

5 As the product of artificial selection, many of their aesthetic characteristics come with inborn health problems, such as breathing difficultly or being

_

6 Generations of selection for domestication have favored more

_ that were pleasing to humans

7 The diversity of breeds of wolves today is the result of a relationship that

_, agriculture, and even the disappearance of our Neanderthal

cousins

KEYS:

1 Canis lupus / the gray wolf

2 one bone – crushing bite

3 track and hunt prey

4 comparatively smaller teeth

5 prone to spinal injuries

6 juvenile and submissive traits

7 precedes cities

13 Exercise 13

From 1-6, listen to a piece of news about new transparency with healthcare prices and decide whether if the following statements are true (T) or false (F).

1 The public is quite satisfied with the contemporary surprise medical bills

2 Andrew Haymann found it insane to pay the medical bill of $5,000 for a plasticsurgery by a surgeon who’s not in the network

3 Donald Trump has a clear explanation for the problem

4 Elisabeth Rosenthal supports the transparency so that you can make consumerdecisions in elective surgeries, elective admissions

5 If one person is charging less, and they see that the company next door is chargingtwice as much, they will raise the price to that sticky ceiling It's called sticky pricing

6 Now doctors are employed by hospitals, so they can control what we charge

KEYS:

Keys:

14 Exercise 14

From 1-5, listen to a piece of sports new about the latest developments in the future

of Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba and decide whether if the following statements are true (T) or false (F).

1 Manchester United intends to sell Pogba next season

2 Manchester United released him to Juventus with 89 million pounds

3 Paris Saint German is one of the clubs that are interested in Pogba

4 Manchester has developed a different approach in their transfer strategy thissummer: building a younger and hungrier team

5 Manchester United intends to buy Daniel James, one of the young and preferablyhomegrown players