A study of difficulties in learning english listening skill for beginners in the asemlink of intrernational languages center and some suggested solutions

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGVINH UNIVERSITY  ---PHAN HUONG GIANG A STUDY OF DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH LISTENING SKILL FOR BEGINNERS IN THE ASEMLINK OF INTERNATIONAL LAN

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY



-PHAN HUONG GIANG

A STUDY OF DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH LISTENING SKILL FOR BEGINNERS IN THE ASEMLINK

OF INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGES CENTER AND SOME

SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

KỸ NĂNG NGHE TIẾNG ANH ĐỐI VỚI NHỮNG NGƯỜI MỚI BẮT ĐẦU TẠI TRUNG TÂM ANH NGỮ QUỐC TẾ ASEMLINK

VÀ MỘT VÀI GIẢI PHÁP GỢI Ý)

MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION

VINH, 2011

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY



-PHAN HUONG GIANG

A STUDY OF DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH LISTENING SKILL FOR BEGINNERS IN THE ASEMLINK

OF INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGES CENTER And SOME

SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

KỸ NĂNG NGHE TIẾNG ANH ĐỐI VỚI NHỮNG NGƯỜI MỚI BẮT ĐẦU TẠI TRUNG TÂM ANH NGỮ QUỐC TẾ ASEMLINK

VÀ MỘT VÀI GIẢI PHÁP GỢI Ý)

Field: Theory and methodology of english language teaching

Code: 60.14.10

MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION Supervisor: Dr NGO HUU HOANG

VINH, 2011

Honestly, the thesis has been resulted from my own interest as well as mydifficulties in teaching English to beginners in the Asemlink center I didobservation in English listening class for beginners I directly distributed thequestionnaires to the right beginner learners who are at the age of adults Also Iinterviewed five of my colleagues who have been teaching beginner level classes.Therefore, all the statistic given must be realiable Moreover, all the refferentinformation was quoted or summaried with the clear original sources which havebeen shown in the references part.

I truthfully assure that the thesis has been completed by myself

ABSTRACT

Listening skill is one of the most necessary skills to communicate in thereal life In learning a foreign language, it is more and more important to learn thisskill Everybody knows that in order to listen to a message is not as simple ashearing it, so the listener has to understand the message and responde in the rightmanner Realizing the problems from teaching experiences, the author would like

to do a research titled A Study of Difficulties in Learning English Listening Skill for beginners in the Asemlink of International Languages Center and Some Suggested Solutions The thesis will study the subjective and objective difficulties

of the beginning learners in learning the listening skill Then, it would like to findout the reasons for those problems and the sollutions for both teachers and learners

in teaching and learning the listening skill Therefore, the author applied thequalitative and quantitative methods and descriptive methods to do the research

So the collecting data instruments like questionnaires, interviews and observationwere used to do the study The results of the research will point out the difficultiesthat beginners meet when they learn the listening skill in the Asemlink center.More importantly, it helps the author find out the causes of those difficulties sothat she can work out the right solutions to the problems With the hope ofimproving beginner learners’ listening competence, the author has tried her best to

do this thesis by her own experiences and knowledge in English teachingmethodology

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My MA graduation thesis has been completed with a lot of encouragementand support from my teachers, colleagues and family.

First of all, I would like to express my deep great thank to my supervisor,

Dr Ngo Huu Hoang, for his indispensable and useful advice, suggestions andsupport for this thesis And I wish to thank many teachers for having taught me thesubjects in the MA TESOL course carefully and given me lots of useful advice sothat I could get more background knowledge to complete this thesis

In addition, I am grateful to all my friends in this MA TESOL class, whohave encouraged me a lot to finish the thesis and shared me useful information

Moreover, it is my pleasure to acknowledge my director who permitted me

to do the survey on his center I wish also to thank all my colleagues whoanswered all my interviews and let me observe their classes My thanks are alsogiven to the fifty learners who willingly completed the questionnaires

Finally, I am happy to acknowledge my family members, who alwaysapproved and encouraged me during doing the thesis

Vinh, October 20th , 2011 Phan Huong Giang

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1

LIST OF FIGURES 5

Chapter 1 - INTRODUCTION 6

1.1 Rationale 6

1.2 The aim of the study 7

1.3 Research questions 8

1.4 The scope of the study 8

1.5 The method of the study 9

1.6 The organization of the study 9

Chapter 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW 11

2.1 What are listening and the listening skill? 11

2.1.1 Definitions 11

2.1.2 The importance of the listening skill 12

2.1.3 Types of listening 13

2.1.4 Sub-skills involved in the listening 15

2.2 Difficulties in learning the listening skill 15

2.2.1 What makes listening difficult? 16

2.2.2 Why is listening difficult for learners? 17

2.2.2.1 Linguistics difficulties 17

2.2.2.2 Other difficulties 18

2.3 Factors affecting learners’ English learning skills 19

2.3.1 Learner motivations 20

2.3.1.1 Definition of motivation 20

2.3.1.2 The importance of motivation 20

2.3.1.3 Characteristics of motivated learners 21

2.3.1.4 Different kinds of motivation 22

2.3.2 Learner age 23

2.3.2.1 The effect of the age on their learning 23

2.3.2.2 Characteristics of adults in learning a foreign language 25

2.3.3 Heterogeneous classes 26

2.3.3.1 Definition 26

2.3.3.2 Problems and advantages of a heterogeneous class 26

2.4 Summary 27

Chapter 3 - METHODOLOGY AND FINDINGS 29

3.1 Research methodology 29

3.1.1 Participants 29

3.1.2 Data collection instruments 29

3.1.3 Data collection process 31

3.2 Finding and discussion 31

3.2.1 The overall view about the current situations of teaching and learning the English listening skill in the Asemlink of International Language Center 31

3.2.1.1 The difficulties in teaching and learning English in the international languages centers in Vietnam 32

3.2.1.2 The difficulties in teaching and learning English listening skill for beginners in the Asemlink of International Languages Center 34

3.2.2 The main reasons for difficulties in learning English listening skill for beginners in the Asemlink center 35

3.2.2.1 Subjective reasons 35

3.2.2.2 Objective reasons 36

3.2.3 Study of teaching and learning the English listening skill in the Asemlink center in Vinh city 37

3.2.3.1 The aim of the study 37

3.2.3.2 The results of the study 38

3.2.4 Summary 54

Chapter 4 - SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS TO TEACH ENGLISH LISTENING

SKILL TO BEGINNERS IN THE ASEMLINK CENTER 56

4.1 Introduction 56

4.2 Background knowledge in teaching the listening skill 56

4.2.1 Principles in teaching the listening skill 56

4.2.1.1 Principles of teaching English listening skill 56

4.2.1.2 Principles for designing listening techniques 57

4.2.2 Stages of teaching the listening skill 59

4.2.2.1 Pre-listening stage 59

4.2.2.2 While-listening stage 59

4.2.2.3 Post-listening stage 60

4.2.3 Types of listening activities 60

4.2.3.1 No overt response 60

4.2.3.2 Short responses 61

4.2.3.3 Longer responses 61

4.2.3.4 Extended responses 62

4.2.4 Types of listening classroom performance 62

4.2.4.1 Reactive 62

4.2.4.2 Intensive 63

4.2.4.3 Responsive 63

4.2.4.4 Selective 64

4.2.4.5 Extensive 64

4.2.4.6 Interactive 64

4.3 Some suggestions for beginners to learn the listening skill in the Asemlink center 64 4.3.1 Suggested solutions to solve difficulties in learning the listening skill 64

4.3.2 Suggested activities to motivate beginners to learn the listening skill 67

4.3.2.1 Pre-listening activities 67

4.3.2.2 While-listening activities 68

4.3.2.3 Post-listening activities 71

4.3.3 A sample of listening lesson plan 71

4.4 Summary 75

Chapter 5 - CONCLUSION 76

5.1 Summary 76

5.2 Limitation 77

5.3 Suggestion for further study 77

References 79

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 3.1 Purposes to learn English in the Asemlink center 39

Figure 3.2 The learners’ assessment of learning the listening skill 39

Figure 3.3 The leaners’ interest in learning listening skill 40

Figure 3.4 General factors affecting learners’ listening 41

Figure 3.5 The objective factors affecting learners’ learning the listening skill 43

Figure 3.6 The subjective factors affecting the learners’ learning the listening skill .45

Figure 3.7 Learners’ time distribution in practice four language skills 46

Figure 3.8 What the learners do before and while listening 47

Figure 3.9 Learners’ assessment on the listening tasks in the text book 48

Figure 3.10 Learners’ interest in different listening activities 49

Figure 3.11 Learners’ interest in extra listening activities 50

Figure 3.12 Factors motivating the learners’ learning the listening skill 51

CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

The main objective of learning a language is to communicate in thatlanguage fluently Hence, in order to obtain that aim, the learners do not only needlanguage knowledge sources such as grammatical system, lexical system,phonological system, but they also have to practice four skills: listening, speaking,reading and writing As an English teacher, with her own knowledge and experience

in teaching, the author finds interested in studying the difficulties in learning the

listening skill in English She would like to present the thesis title “A Study of

Difficulties in Learning English Listening Skill for beginners in the Asemlink

of International Languages Center and Some Suggested Solutions” She

chooses this matter due to the following reasons

First of all, listening is the most important skill in communication in thereal life Listening and speaking are two major parts of communication They areclosely interdependent We are only able to talk sensibly when we understandwhat is said to us If we fail to understand spoken language, we may missimportant information and respond in a funny way Moreover, in learning alanguage, listening is a useful means of providing learners with comprehensibleinput, which is an essential component of the whole language learning process.And teaching listening skill in classroom helps learners make transition fromclassroom English to real- life English more easily and effectively Therefore, theauthor would like to do this research so as to help teachers and learners pay moreattention to this skill

Secondly, learning listening skill is the most difficult in learning a foreignlanguage Listening, like reading, is a receptive skill but it is often the mostdaunting for learners When reading, a reader usually has more opportunities torefer back to the text to clarify understanding, which a listener cannot do in mostlistening contexts such as TV programs, meetings, discussions, lectures orconversations As Harmer said:

Whereas the written word stays on the page and can be looked at morethan once, the spoken word, unless recorded on tape or record cannot berepeated Of course in a conversation it is possible to ask someone to saysomething again, but the fact remains that while a reader can look back atsomething as many times as he wants, the listener cannot

(Harmer, 1991)What is more, in teaching and learning English listening skill in Vietnam ingeneral and in the Asemlink center in particular, teachers and learners cope with alot of problems and difficulties because of both objective and subjective reasons.Thus, the author chooses this topic to point out the main difficulties which thebeginners have met and to find the reasons for them

The last but not least reason for choosing this thesis title is that manylearners are not interested in learning the listening skill They find listening classesboring On the other hand, practicing listening skill is difficult and it takes longtime It is necessary for teachers to foster the passion for regular listening and tocater for some learners’ need to listen for relaxation and pleasure That is the reasonthe author would like to work out some suggestions so as to help teachers motivatetheir learners to study listening skill more excited and better

1.2

The aim of the study

The study is done with the following aims:

Firstly, most students find it difficult to learn listening skill so the author

of the study would like to find the common difficulties that the learners, who havejust started learning English, face when they learn English listening skill at theAsemlink of international languages center

Secondly, the study is carried out in order to survey the real state ofteaching and learning English listening skill in Asemlink international languagescenter so that we could work out the reasons for those difficulties

Finally, because of the difficulties, many learners are not interested inlearning and practicing this skill at the language class, therefore the study wouldlike to suggest some possible solutions to those difficulties They will be veryhelpful for the teachers of English in the Asemlink of international languagescenter, as well as for teachers in other English centers, to motivate their learners inlistening classes These suggestions also wish to help the learners catch up with thespeed of a normal conversation in the real life so that they can improve theircommunication competence

2 Why do beginnesr find it difficult to learn listening to English in the Asemlink

of international languages center?

3 How can the teachers improve beginners’ English listening skills?

1.4

The scope of the study

The study mainly focuses on the difficulties that the beginners cope with inlearning English listening skill

The objects, that the thesis studies are the beginner learners They are overnineteen years old and under the age of forty They are studying the first of fourlevels of General English program (GEP) in the Asemlink of internationallanguages center in Vinh city, Nghe An province In this center, the text book thatthe beginners follow is English for Life – Beginner (Tom Hutchinson (2007)Oxford University Press) This program develops for learners four skills: listening,speaking, reading and writing Most of the learners of this program are adults.Especially, at the first level, the mojority of the learners are at the age from nineteen

to forty Therefore, the author of the thesis would like to investigate their difficulties

in learning listening skills here

The main objective of the thesis is the difficulties that these beginners facewhen they learn English listening skill The difficulties are really various so in thisthesis the author would like to investigate the main problems and work out thepossible solutions to help students pass over or reduce those difficulties in learninglistening skill

1.5 The method of the study

To do this study the author uses both qualitative and quantitative researchmethods

Qualitative research method has its roots in social science and is moreconcern with understanding why people behave as they do: their knowledge,attitudes, beliefs, fears, etc In order to get information about learners’ motivation ortheir feelings when they learn English listening skill, the author has to observe theirstudying in the real classes The author by herself observes students’ responses inclasses as well as other first level GEP classes in the center that are taught by otherteachers Moreover, interviews were used for the teachers of English so as to gettheir ideas about teaching and learning problems in the Asemlink center

Quantitative research method is concerned with counting and measuringthings, producing in particular estimates of averages and differences betweengroups In this study, she utilizes questionnaires for learners to get informationabout the fact of teaching and learning listening skill in the Asemlink center

After collecting information, all the data will be analyzed and drawn intothe conclusion

1.6 The organization of the study

This thesis is organized with five chapters: Chapter 1 – Introduction,Chapter 2 – Literature Review, Chapter 3 – Methodology and findings, Chapter 4 –Suggested solutions to teach the listening skill to beginners in the Asemlink centerand Chapter 5 – Conclusion

Chapter 1 – Introduction will introduce the general information about thethesis First, the rationale is about the main reasons which enhance the author to dothis thesis Then, the purpose of the study introduces the aims to do the thesis Andthe scope of the study gives the details about the objects that the thesis studies andthe main content that the thesis covers Next, the methodology research issummarized in the method of the study Finally, the organization of the study brieflyintroduces the main parts of the thesis

Chapter 2 – Literature Review – will review some theories as well as theprevious researches that relate to the study

Chapter 3 – Methodology and Findings – First, it will introduce theparticipants, the data collection instruments, data analysis and research questions.Then, it will discuss the current situations of teaching and learning English listeningskill in Asemlink center in particular and in Vietnam in general Finally, the authorwill analyze the results of the survey, interviews as well as the teacher’s observation

in teaching in order to find out the real state of learning listening skill in the center

Chapter 4 –Suggested solutions to teach listening skill to beginners in theAsemlink center – will suggest the interesting activities to improve learning Englishlistening skill for beginners in the Asemlink of international languages center

The last chapter of the thesis is Chapter 5 – Conclusion It summarizesbriefly what the thesis has done and evaluates the results of the study Also, theconclusion would let some recommendation for further research in the future

In conclusion, the thesis will present all the results of the process ofstudying the theoretical background, then working out the real difficulties inlearning the English listening skill in the Asemlink center based on the theory.Finally, it would like to suggest some techniques that help teachers motivate theirlearners to learn this skill excitingly All the details of the thesis are presentedobviously in the following parts

CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW

When talking about the ability to use a language, it is normally thoughtabout speaking that language Not many people think about the capacity oflistening to the language In fact, however, a person can produce an utterance of alanguage that does not mean he understands it But if a person who can listen to asentence, he must understand it Thus, listening is an extremely important skill inlearning a language It can be used to evaluate a person’s language competence

2.1 What are listening and the listening skill?

2.1.1

1

1.1

Definitions

Listening, that is focused in this study, is listening comprehension It can

be defined as “the process of understanding speech in a second or foreignlanguage” (Richards, 1985, p.216)

According to Brown (2001), listening is “not merely the process ofunidirectional receiving of audible symbols” He supposed that one facet oflistening comprehension which is “the psychomotor process of receiving soundwaves through the ear and transmitting nerve impulses to the brain” (Brown,2001) is just the beginning of an interactive process in the brain Hence, listeningcomprises of three elements: the sender, the message and the listener The sender,such as the speaker, the television, the radio, the tape recorder, etc., gives out themessage The message is what is said And the listener receives the message Incommunication, listening is integrated with all other skills, especially withspeaking skill in real life conversations

Thus, listening skill can be understood as “the ability to identify andunderstand what others are saying This involves understanding a speaker’s accent

or pronunciation, understanding his grammar, recognizing his vocabulary andbeing able to grasp the meaning of what he says.” (Howatt and Dakin, 1974).

Listening is different from hearing Hearing is the act of perceiving soundand receiving sound waves or vibrations through ears Listening is the act ofhearing a sound and understanding what is heard Hearing is one of five senses and

it happens all the time, whether we like it or not, unless we have a hearingproblem But listening uses different senses, like the sense of hearing, seeing orsense of touch While hearing is a skill, where we use only ears, listening is a skillthat lets the sound heard go through the brain to process the meaning of it.Listening means also observing what we hear, like the speaker’s behavior andbody language, in order to better understand what the speaker is talking about Forexample, when we hear a child crying we only know that the crying is loud or soft.When we hear that sound but we know the child is scared or hungry that means weare listening Therefore, listening is a form of communication technique that lets

us understand, interpret and put meaning to what is heard Listening can build abetter relationship with others, while hearing is just merely receiving soundsthrough the ears [www 3]

2.1.2

The importance of the listening skill

Listening is one of the necessary life skills which are defined as “skillswhich 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” [www1] 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 listeneverywhere 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, studentslisten to the lecturers teaching At a meeting, the staff listens to the new plan fromthe director, etc Without listening, the man becomes backward in each minute oftheir 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) butlistening is a choice to hear and understand it As an integrative skill, listeningplays an important role in the process of language learning or acquisition andfacilitating the emergence of other language skill According to Nord (1980, p.17),listening is the way of learning the language “It gives the learner informationfrom which to build up the knowledge necessary for using the language When thisknowledge 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 languageskills” (Nation, 1990, p.12) Most learners will spend more time listening to theforeign language than producing it themselves Failing to understand spokenlanguage, 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 thetransition from classroom English to the real-life English more easily andeffectively

In psychology, listening is a necessary skill to facilitate autonomouslearning and encourage learner’s independence Listening is also the importantforms of communication As a saying said that “We were given two ears but onlyone mouth; this is because God knew that listening was twice as hard as talking”.People need to practice and acquire skills to be good listeners

2.1.3

Types of listening

According to some authors, namely Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo DinhPhuong (2006), there are two ways of listening in the real life They are casuallistening and focused listening depending on the purpose of listening

One type of listening, casual listening, means listening without a particularpurpose When we listen, we do not pay much or even any attention to theinformation unless there is something that interests us Therefore, we hardlyremember 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 somehousework or chatting to a friend.

Another type of listening is focused listening That is when we listen for aparticular purpose to find out information we need to know It happens quitepopularly 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 mostimportant information from the speech or the lecture In classroom, learners alsouse this type of listening

In the real life, there are various listening situations The following is a list

of some of the more common situations in which people could need to use theirlistening skill (McDonough and Shaw, 1993, p.127):

 Listening to announcements in airports, stations as a passenger

 Listening to the radio news, weather forecast, and sports report, songs to getinformation or entertain

 Participating in a face-to-face conversation, discussing work as a partner

 Watching a film, a play or a TV program to entertain

 Participating in a meeting, seminar or discussion as a member of them

 Listening to a talk, a lecture or taking part in a lesson as a student

 Making arrangements or exchanging news over the phone as a listener

 Receiving instructions on how to do something or get somewhere

 Being interviewed or interviewing

 Getting professional advice (from the doctor)

 Being tested orally in a subject of study

 Chatting at a party or other social gathering

 Shopping as a customer

Those situations are various in the type of ‘input’- in length or topic, forexample Moreover, in some situations we are listeners only such as watching TV

or listening to songs, in others our listening skills form just a part of a wholeinteraction, and an ability to respond appropriately is equally important such as in

an interview, oral tests The purposes to listen are also different, so the degree ofattention given and possibly the strategies used will differ Furthermore, whether

we are listening to a face-to-face situation or through another medium such as theradio or a station intercom system, there will be a certain amount of interference orbackground noise that may affect our ability to process what is being said Finally,

in many situations there is a visual element which gives important clues beyondthe words actually used (McDonough and Shaw, 1993, p.128)

2.1.4

Sub-skills involved in the listening

Listening is a language skill that involves a wide range of “sub-skills” Thefollowing sub-skills are synthesized by some authors namely Nguyen Thi VanLam and Ngo Dinh Phuong (2006)

 Recognizing differences between phonological sounds

 Comprehension of structures (parts of speech, sentence patterns, etc.)

 Guessing the unknown words or recognizing words that are unnecessary forunderstanding

 Recognizing discourse markers and cohesive words which help hold discoursetogether

 Ability to infer information that is not directly stated

 Skimming

 Summarizing

 Scanning

 Critical listening

 Recognizing different styles, emotional tones and varieties of language

 Predicting what a speaker will say next

 Listening for total comprehension

2.2

Difficulties in learning the listening skill

In learning a language, listening is always considered as the most difficult

of four skills for the learners What are the reasons for this problem? Firstly, theobjective reasons are the listening itself Secondly, the subjective reasons are thelisteners themselves Those difficulties make listening become a boring anddaunting skill for learners of foreign language as English

2.2.1 What makes listening difficult?

There are eight characteristics of spoken language which makes listeningdifficult (Brown, 2001, p.252)

1 In spoken language, due to memory limitations we break down speech intosmaller groups of words They are called clustering For examples ‘a lot of’,

‘a number of’, etc Therefore when listening, learners have to learn to pickout manageable clusters of words, avoiding trying to listen to every word ofthe speech It is not necessary and makes learners become distracted

2 Moreover, spoken language has a great number of redundancies They arethe result of rephrasing, repetitions, elaborations and some insertions such

as ‘As I have said ‘and so on At first, learners may get trouble with this.They are easy to be confused However, with some training learners cantake advantage of redundancies to have more time and extra information

3 On the other hand, spoken language also has many reduced forms It may

be phonological, morphological, syntactic or pragmatic like ‘you’re’instead of ‘you are’, ‘won’t’ instead of ‘will not’, or ‘can’t’ instead of

‘cannot’ These reductions are really significant difficulties to the learners,especially beginners when they start getting to know the full form ofEnglish language

4 The next characteristic of spoken language is performance variables As aresult of unplanned action, spoken language consists of a lot of hesitations

(‘er’, ‘uhm’), false starts, pauses and corrections They make the listenersconfused

5 Colloquial language is another problem that can interfere listeners in reallife listening because they are familiar with standard written language Inmonologues and dialogues, the appearance of idioms, slang, reduced formsand shared cultural language are common

6 In listening, learners need to comprehend language delivered at varyingrates of speed and delivered with few pauses because they do not haveopportunity to stop speaker and listen again many times

7 English is a stress-timed language so it is very important for learners tounderstand its prosodic features By stress, rhythm, and intonation, listenerscan interpret more subtle messages like sarcasm, endearment, insult,solicitation, praise, etc

8 The last but not least, interaction is also an element that plays a large role inlistening comprehension Language learners should be taught theinstruction in the two-way nature of listening They have to learn tocontinue the process of comprehending Some rules of interaction arenegotiation, clarification, attending signals, turn-taking, topic nomination,maintenance, and termination

In short, it is necessary for language learners to understand all of thesecharacteristics of spoken language in order that they get more ease in interaction ingeneral and in listening in particular

2.2.2 Why is listening difficult for learners?

2.2.2.1 Linguistics difficulties

First of all, in phonological aspect, the listeners always get trouble withsounds They cannot catch the actual sound of the foreign language since mostlisteners rely mostly on context for comprehension Thus, they are oftenthemselves unaware of inaccurate sound perception

Moreover, most learners cannot understand fast, natural native speech.Normally, in English classrooms, learners usually ask their teacher to speak clearlyand slow down So they can listen to the words or sounds in isolation However,learners have to listen to fast, natural native speech in the real life or in listeningrecording

Vocabulary is also a big problem for listeners In a listening text, there arenot few new and strange words which make listeners confused It is oftencolloquial such as they use “guy” for “man”, or “kid” for “child” Since thelearners always try to listen to and understand every word Therefore they getmore difficult to understand exactly what is said It is an unconscious result caused

by the teachers or listening materials which encourage the learners to believe thatevery word is important However, the effort to understand everything oftenresults in ineffective comprehension as well as feelings of fatigue and failure

Additionally, English grammar is too complicated for students to realizetheir meaning when listening Especially, beginners usually have poor knowledge

of grammar They cannot understand all the natural talk with a lot of differentstructures or modality Informal speech also tends to be somewhat ungrammaticalsuch as unfinished clauses or sentences are common

Finally, the learners’ background knowledge about the world is notheterogeneous, which causes difficulty in understanding the discourse of thelistening text It is not easy for the beginners to get it correctly

2.2.2.2 Other difficulties

It is unequal to blame all the problems on the learners and the languagethemselves In fact, there are many factors which affect to learning the listeningskill in a foreign language such as society, language teaching method, andlistening materials, etc

As it is known that “we cannot teach a language for long without comingface to face with social context factors which have bearing on language andlanguage learning” (Stern, 1983, p.191) In order to learn a language people first

must study its society and culture to understand the roots of that language Ifpeople learn English, they have to have definite background knowledge on Englishspeaking countries On the other hand, language only can live when people use it.

In the countries, where English is learnt as a foreign language, learning English isemerging dramatically However, the results of teaching and learning have notbeen heterogeneous because in some places people have not chances to use itregularly in the real life like in Vietnam

Another problem is language teaching method Language teaching has beendefined as “the activities which are intended to bring about language learning”(Stern, 1983, p.21) And foreign language teaching methodology can be defined as

“the activities, tasks and learning experiences used by the teachers within thelanguage teaching and learning process” (Richards, 1990, p.35) Teaching method

is necessary to motivate the learners to learn the language It should be appropriatefor each group of learners, who have different characteristics, and for differentskills Thus, teaching method should always be appreciated in teaching In otherwords, language teachers with their teaching methods, styles, accents andintelligence play important roles in instructing their students to learn a newlanguage item

Listening materials and learning equipment are also taken for granted inlearning the listening skill Listening materials are what learners use to listen andpractice listening They should be interesting and realistic and appropriate with thelearners’ proficiency of English so that it can stimulate their passion in listening

In order that students are interested in learning the listening skill, it cannot denythe assistance of the learning equipment If it is equipped well, it will facilitatelistening and vice-versa if it is poor, the listening activities will be hindered

2.3

Factors affecting learners’ English learning skills

“Learner populations differ according to various parameters” (Ur, 1996,p.273) It depends on the level of learners: beginner, intermediate or advanced;

learners’ age: young children, adolescents or adults; their objectives in learning thelanguage; their motivation to learn the language; their real life environmentlanguage; their language class is heterogeneous or homogeneous; the size of groupand so on

In this thesis, the writer would like to refer to three of those factors thataffect significantly to learners in learning a language in general and in learninglistening skill in particular Those factors are learner motivation, learner age andheterogeneous classes

2.3.1 Learner motivations

Learner motivation is one of five main categories of learner characteristics(motivation, aptitude, personality, intelligence and learner preference) indicated byLightbown and Spada (1999)

2.3.1.2 The importance of motivation

Motivation has been found that it is strongly related to achievement inlanguage learning in various studies (Gardner,1980) However, they have notspecified which the cause is and which is the result? In other words, does success

in language learning breed own motivation or does previous motivation lead tosuccess? There is no conclusive research-based evidence is whether motivation ismore, or less important than a natural attitude for learning languages, though atleast one well-known study tends towards the claim that motivation is ultimatelymore important.

The research gives out a significant message that is the sheer importance ofthe factor of learner motivation in successful language learning Motivation is notmeasurable, and even language aptitude is probably unanswerable, so theuncertainty of the question, motivation or success which comes first, does notentail any particular problems for teaching Therefore, the teacher’s job is toencourage the development of ability and enhance motivation, on theunderstanding that each will contribute to other

2.3.1.3 Characteristics of motivated learners

Penny Ur synthesized the conclusion that was given by the authors ofclassic study of successful learning that “the most successful learners are notnecessarily those to whom a language comes very easily”, but they are those who

“display certain typical characteristics, most of them clearly associated withmotivation” Some of those characteristics are:

 Positive task orientation: the learner is willing to tackle tasks andchallenges and has confidence in his or her success

 Ego-involvement: the learner finds it important to succeed inlearning in order to maintain and promote his or her own (positive)self-image

 Need for achievement: the learner has a need to achieve, toovercome difficulties and succeed in what he or she sets out to do

 High aspirations: the learner is ambitious, goes for demandingchallenges, high proficiency, top grades

 Goal orientation: the learner is very aware of the goals of learning,

or of specific learning activity, and directs his or her efforts towardsachieving them

 Perseverance: the learner consistently invests a high level of effort inlearning and is not discouraged by setbacks or apparent lack ofprogress

 Tolerance of ambiguity: the learner is not disturbed or frustrated bysituations involving a temporary lack of understanding or confusion;

he or she can live with these patiently, in the confidence thatunderstanding will come later

Learners personality is also one of the factors that effects dramatically tolearners’language learning Those good are characteristics of a learner that teachershould pay attention to build up Other personality traits have been studied, such asfield-independence or independence, empathy, introversion or extraversion, butresults have been less conclusive

2.3.1.4 Different kinds of motivation

Motivation is classified differently depending on different point of view ofthe researchers

A distinction between “integrative” and “instrumental” was introduced byGardner and Lambert (1972) Integrative motivation refers to language learningfor personal growth and cultural enrichment And instrumental motivation forlanguage learning is for more immediate and practical goals However, one otherstudy has indicated that it may be impossible in practice to distinguish between thetwo

Another distinction is between “intrinsic” motivation (the urge to engage inthe learning activity for its own sake) and “extrinsic” (motivation that is derivedfrom external incentives) Both of these have an important part to play inclassroom motivation and partially accessible to teacher influence

A third distinction which has been made (Brown, 2001) is that between

“global”, “situational” and “task” motivation Global motivation is the overallorientation of the learner towards the learning of the foreign language; Situationalmotivation has to do with the context of learning (classroom, total environment);and the third with the way the learner approaches the specific task in hand Globalmotivation may seem mainly determined by previous education and a multitude ofsocial factors, but it is also affected by the teacher’s own attitudes conveyed eitherunconscious through explicit information and persuasion And the third isprobably where most of our effort is invested in practice: in making the task inhand as attractive as possible, and in encouraging our students to engage in it,invest effort and success

2.3.2

Learner age

Age is one of learner’s characteristics that have influence on learner’slanguage learning This characteristic is easier to define and measure thanpersonality, aptitude, or motivation Nevertheless, the relationship between alearner’s age and his or her potential for success in foreign language acquisition iscomplicated and much debatable

2.3.2.1 The effect of the age on their learning

A lot of researchers have studied the relationship between the age andforeign language acquisition Many conventional assumptions about differencesbetween children and adults in language learning may turn out

One explanation for this difference is that, as in first language acquisition, there is a critical period for second/foreign language acquisition The Critical

Period Hypothesis suggests that there is a time in human development when the brain is predisposed for success in language learning (Harley, 1991)

Developmental changes in the brain affect the nature of language acquisition According to this view, language learning which occurs after the end of the criticalperiod may not be based on the innate biological structures believed to contribute

to first language acquisition or second language acquisition in early childhood Rather, older learners depending on more general learning abilities – the same one they might use to learn other kinds of skills or information It is argued that these general learning abilities are not as successful for language learning as the more specific, innate capacities which are available to young child It is most often claimed that the critical period ends somewhere around puberty, but some

researchers suggest it could be even earlier (Lightbown and Spada, 1999)

Of course, it is difficult to compare children and adults as second/foreignlanguage learners In addition to the possible biological differences suggested bythe Critical Period Hypothesis, the conditions for language learning are often verydifferent Young learners in informal language learning environments usually havemore time to devote to learning language They often have more opportunities tohear and use the language in environments where they do not experience strongpressure to speak fluently and accurately from the very beginning Furthermore,their early imperfect efforts are often praised or, at least, accepted On the otherhand, older learners are often in situations which demand much more complexlanguage and the expression of much more complicated ideas Adults are oftenembarrassed by their lack of mastery of the language and they may develop asense of inadequacy after experiences of frustration in trying to say exactly whatthey mean

The Critical Period Hypothesis has been challenges in recent years fromdifferent points of view Some studies of the second language development ofolder and younger learners who are learning in similar circumstances have shownthat, at least in the early stages of second language development, older learners aremore efficient than younger learners In educational research, it has been reportedthat learners who began learning a second language at the primary school level didnot fare better in the long run than those who began in early adolescence.Furthermore, there are countless anecdotes about older learners (adolescence andadults) who have reached high level of proficiency in a second language

A number of studies have researched on the relationship between age ofacquisition and second language development Mark Patkowski (1980) found thatthe age of acquisition is a very important factor in setting limits on thedevelopment of native-like mastery of a second language and that this limitationdoes not apply only to accent Experience and research have shown that native-likemastery of the spoken language is difficult to attain by older learners JacquelineJohnson and Ellisa Newport (1989)’s study further supports the hypothesis thatthere is a critical period for attaining full native-like mastery of a second language(Johnson and Newport, 1989) Nevertheless, Catherine Snow and MarianHoefnagel-Höhle concluded that their results provide evidence that there is nocritical period for language acquisition

The role of the critical period in second language acquisition is still muchdebated In general, the learner’s age is one of the characteristics which determinethe ways in which an individual approaches second or foreign language learning

2.3.2.2 Characteristics of adults in learning a foreign language

The learning of a foreign language of adults is different from that ofchildren Children acquire the foreign language as well as most other basicknowledge and attitudes at school Adults only take time to learn a foreignlanguage when they have a special purpose such as for business, for academicstudy and so on Therefore, it is easier and less stressful to teach adults thanchildren

In comparison with children, adults have some following characteristicsthat affect to their foreign language acquisition

Adults’ capacity for understanding and logical thought is greater, and theyare likely to have developed a number of learning skills and strategies whichchildren do not yet have Moreover, adult classes tend on the whole to bedisciplined and cooperative This may be partly because people learn as they getolder to be patient and put up with temporary frustrations in the hope of long-termrewards, to cooperate with others for joint profit and various other benefits of self-

restraint and discipline cooperation Another reason is that most adults are learningvoluntarily, have chosen the course themselves, often have a clear purpose inlearning and are therefore likely to feel more committed and motivated

Adults have a longer concentration span than children because they aremore self-disciplined Thus, it is easy to get adults to concentrate on certainlearning activities However, as a result of stability, older learners seem to bedifficult to be motivated by different activities

Another characteristic of adults in learning a foreign language should bementioned is the personal relationships That is the relationship between teacherand adult students Penny Ur [33] cited and synthesized some of thoserelationships such as authority – subjects to authority; assessor – assessed;transmitter – receivers; motivator – people to be motivated; activator – people to

be activated; counselor – clients; seller of services – buyer of services; or resource– users (Cambridge University Press 1996)

2.3.3 Heterogeneous classes

2.3.3.1 Definition

A ‘heterogeneous’ class is one that has different kinds of learners in it [33]

In fact, every class which has more than one student is a heterogeneous classbecause there are not two similar students Thus, for more particular, the termshould be defined as ‘classes whose members are particularly, or unusually,heterogeneous’ and which therefore present special problems for both learners andteacher

The learners in a heterogeneous class vary in many ways Penny Ur (1996)pointed out those differences as follows: language-learning ability, languageknowledge, cultural background, learning style, attitude to the language, mothertongue, intelligence, world knowledge, learning experience, knowledge of otherlanguages, age and maturity, gender, personality, confidence, motivation, interest,independence, self-discipline educational level and so on (Cambridge UniversityPress 1996)

2.3.3.2 Problems and advantages of a heterogeneous class

A heterogeneous class really produces various problems for both teachingand learning, especially learning listening skill Teaching problems inheterogeneous classes that are indicated by Penny Ur (1996) are effective learningfor all, materials, participation, interest, discipline, individual awareness andcorrecting written assignment However, these are more problematic in a largeclass

On the other hand, a heterogeneous class has its advantages as well, andsome of them can be used to help solve the problems The following advantageouscharacteristics of this kind of class are shown by Penny Ur (1996):

Firstly, such classes provide a much richer pool of human resources than doless mixed classes The individuals have more life experience and knowledge,more varied opinions, more interests and ideas all of which can be used inclassroom interaction

Next, there is educational value in the actual contact between very differentkinds of people-co-students get to know each other’s values, personalities andperhaps cultures, and thereby increase their own knowledge and awareness ofothers as well as tolerance and understanding

Moreover, the fact that the teacher is very much less able to attend to everyindividual in the class means that in order for the class to function well thestudents themselves must help by teaching each other and working together: peer-teaching and collaboration are likely to be fairly common, fostering an atmosphere

of cooperation

Finally, another helpful feature of these classes is their much morechallenges and interests to teach, and provide greater opportunity for creativity,innovation and general professional development

2.4 Summary

In conclusion, this chapter mainly summarizes the theories, ideas, opinions

or hypothesis related to teaching and learning listening skills for beginners whoare at the age of adults

First, the writer introduces some definitions of listening and listening skills.Listening skill is also considered as the most difficult as well as the most crucialskill of four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) There aresome types of listening in the real life such as casual listening or focused listening,but in classroom, learners mainly learn focused listening skills

Next, the reasons for difficulties in learning listening skills are pointed out.The objective reasons are spoken language characteristics They are, in fact, verydifficult to learn, especially for beginners who first get to know a foreignlanguage Another reason is the problems that come from learners themselves.Additionally, this thesis discusses the difficulties of learning English listeningskill, thus the sub-skills that involve in listening are showed They are extremelyimportant and useful for learners in learning listening

Finally, the main factors that affect learners’ learning English listening skillsare presented Those factors are learners’ motivation, learners’ age and thecharacteristics of heterogeneous classes

CHAPTER 3 - METHODOLOGY AND FINDINGS

at the different universities, colleges or vocational schools in and around Vinh city.Others are teachers, engineers, businessmen or the people who have intention to go

to work or study in English speaking countries, etc They are also in differentclasses Each class has at least ten and no more than twenty-five learners

The second group which were studied is the teachers in the center who areteaching beginner level classes of General English Program These teachers havebeen teaching here for more than two years They also have taught at least fivebeginners level classes so far These teachers are at the age from 26 to 34 years old.The two of them have M.A degree of English, the other two teachers have B.A.degrees graduated from Vinh university and another teacher graduated from HanoiUniversity of Languages and International Studies They are really active, creativeand enthusiastic teachers

3.1.2 Data collection instruments

In order to do this research the author used both qualitative and quantitativeresearch methods

Qualitative research is “a type of scientific research” , which “consists of aninvestigation that seeks answers to a question, systematically uses a predefined set

of procedures to answer the question, collects evidence, produces findings that werenot determined in advance, produces findings that are applicable beyond theimmediate boundaries of the study” (Trask, 2007, p.239) Qualitative researchshares these characteristics Additionally, it seeks to understand a given researchproblem or topic from the perspectives of the local population it involves It isespecially effective in obtaining culturally specific information about the values,opinions, behaviors, and social contexts of particular populations The strength ofqualitative research is its ability to provide complex textual descriptions of howpeople experience a given research issue It provides information about the

“human” side of an issue that is the often contradictory behaviors, beliefs, opinions,emotions and relationships of individuals When used along with quantitativemethods, qualitative research can help to interpret and better understand thecomplex reality of a given situation and the implications of quantitative data

The most common qualitative methods are participant observation, in-depthinterviews, and focus groups Each method is particularly suited for obtaining aspecific type of data ‘Participant observation’ is appropriate for collecting datanaturally occurring behaviors in their usual contexts ‘In-depth interviews’ areoptimal for collecting data on individuals’ personal histories, perspectives, andexperiences, particularly when sensitive topics are being explored ‘Focus groups’are effective in eliciting data on the cultural norms of a group and in generatingbroad overviews of issues of concern to the cultural groups or subgroupsrepresented The types of data these three methods generate are field notes, audio(and sometimes video), recordings and transcripts

Quantitative research seeks to confirm hypotheses about phenomena Incomparison with qualitative research, it focuses more in counting and classifyingfeatures and constructing statistical models and figures to explain what is observed.(Trask,2007, p.240) Quantitative research makes use of tools such asquestionnaires, surveys and other equipment to collect numerical or measurable

data The appearance of the data will be shown in the tables in the form of numbersand statistics Quantitative research methods tend to remain objectively separatedfrom the subject matter because it is objective in approach in the sense that it onlyseeks precise measurements and analysis of target concepts to answer the inquiry

This study makes use of both methods, qualitative and quantitative researchmethods It is because the study, first, find out the difficulties affected by learners’motivation, age and other factors At the same time, it also examine why thelearners find them difficult Thus, by making use of both methods, they wouldcomplete each other and help the writer have the most general view of the problem.Here, the interviews and participants observation are conducted as qualitativeresearch methods and the questionnaires are used as a quantitative researchinstrument

3.1.3 Data collection process

Both qualitative and quantitative research methods are conducted to do thisresearch beyond the descriptive methods

Firstly, the writer used questionnaires in order to gather learners’ ideas aboutthe ways they learn English listening skills and their attitudes, motivation and otherinformation about the text book, listening tasks or teachers’ teaching methods.These ideas will be shown in the form of numbers and statistics so as to analyzetheir states of learning listening skills in the Asemlink of international languagescenter The questionnaires will be done by fifty beginner learners of GeneralEnglish Program in the center

Moreover, the writer also visited ten classes at the first level of GeneralEnglish Program in the center to observe the students’ attitudes, motivation and theteachers ‘teaching methods The observation was taken in notes

Additionally, interviews were applied for the teachers Five teachers whohave been teaching the first level of this program were interviewed directly abouttheir own ways of teaching listening to the beginners, and their comments on theirstudents in learning that skill Also, the interviewer would like them to suggestsome of recommendations that are helpful to improve and to motivate students’learning the listening skill

3.2 Finding and discussion

3.2.1 The overall view about the current situations of teaching and learning the English listening skill in the Asemlink of International Language Center

3.2.1.1 The difficulties in teaching and learning English in the international languages centers in Vietnam

English is becoming more and more important in the era of development ofscience technology and globalization in over the world As a result of this state,English has been one of the major subjects in school systems in Vietnam in recentyears Children in most cities in Vietnam now start learning English in theirkindergarten English has become one of the most important subjects at schools,from primary schools to high schools as well as in vocational schools, colleges anduniversities At school, English is one of three compulsory subjects to be tested intheir school finals Moreover, students at tertiary education have to get definitedegree of English like TOEIC before they graduate Also, many companiesnowadays ask their employees to have capacity of English communication and thework itself demands men to use English This is the reason why these days a lot ofadults try to learn this foreign language in spite of their age

In order to meet the needs of a majority of people in the society, there aremany foreign languages centers established Most of them teach English in variouslevels, syllabuses as well as methods They become more and more popular fromthe big cities like Hanoi (for example: Language Link, Apollo, London English,etc.), Ho Chi Minh city (such as Major English center, ILA, etc.) to the local citieslike Vinh city (Asemlink, Neoling, Global, Apecco center, etc.) It is undeniablethat since the international languages centers appeared, English learning has beenimproved considerably However, they also might face a number of difficulties

Firstly, the international languages centers have been the new trend inVietnam in the past ten years However, the material facilities have not beenequipped adequately Children learners and adults learners share the same kind of

rooms and desks Children do not have equipment to practice English skills such aspictures, drawings, televisions, DVD players or computers Additionally, the roomsare not soundproofed each other so it makes classes noisy, the learners cannotconcentrate on the lessons The listening classes meet the most difficulties becausethere is no labs except for in the most modern centers In the meanwhile, the CDplayers are neither sufficient nor good Neither are the CDs It causes unnecessaryinterruptions for the teacher’s inspiration and makes students more stressful inlistening

Secondly, there are so many teachers of English but most of them are notwell-qualified enough to teach learners standard English Beyond the teachingmaterials, the quality of teaching English is also affected by the teacher’s method,style, voice The teacher’s method is the most crucial element in teaching,especially in teaching a foreign language In order to get a good method, the teacherherself has to own good knowledge on both of linguistics and methodology Goodteaching method would give students active atmosphere to acquire and practice thelanguage Moreover, the better method helps students absorb the language morenaturally and easier without stress However, teacher’s style and accent has a littleinfluence on learners With a modern style and clear voice, students will be moreinterested in learning than with a slow style and heavy local voice In a foreignlanguage center, it is vital to have at least a native teacher of that language ManyEnglish centers offer foreigners such as American, Canadian, Australian or evenFilipino, Singaporean people as teachers of English In fact, not all of them havebeen trained to be teachers Therefore, despite of their native English competence,some of them, who do not have teaching methodology, cannot teach well

Finally, the learners in the languages centers are also a big problem In theprivate centers, there is not any compulsory regulation to the learners beyond theirfee Thus, many students do not come to class frequently It makes the quality ofteaching and learning less effective Moreover, some centers divide the levels oflearners based on their English competence They are at different ages so they arereally heterogeneous They have different ways to learn, different ranges of

background knowledge Some other centers organize learners by following the age

or the need In those classes, learners usually have the similar backgroundknowledge and the same target But, their English competence is somewhatdifferent Therefore, in any cases, the international language centers meet a lot ofdifficulties so it is necessary to solve them appropriately in order to get the mosteffective classes

3.2.1.2 The difficulties in teaching and learning English listening skill for beginners in the Asemlink of International Languages Center.

As a rule of society, the Asemlink of international languages center wasopened in Nghe An in 2004 It is supposed one of the most prestigious and the bestEnglish centers in Vinh city and the whole Nghe An province It is famous forquality of leaners in communication in English Since the day it started, there havebeen millions of learners studying there Most of them and their parents feelpleasant with its quality of teaching and learning

Today, the Asemlink of international languages center is the most known center in Vinh city and NgheAn province It has more than twenty teachersboth Vietnamese and native English teachers and other officers The curriculumhere is classified based on the level of learners’competence General EnglishProgram, as introduced in the introduction chapter, has attracted the most number

well-of learners The General English Program consists well-of four levels: beginner,elementary, pre-intermediate and intermediate The main text book is “English forLife” by Tom Hutchinson, Oxford University Press The major purpose of thisprogram is to develop all four language skills such as listening, speaking, readingand writing and improve the knowledge of linguistic like phonetics, grammar andvocabulary for learners The learners of this program consist of majority ofstudents at colleges, universities; teachers; officers; engineers; and the people want

to go abroad to work They need to learn to communicate in English and to get toknow basic knowledge of English that is useful for their study and their jobs

Each classroom is equipped with a board, a television, a CD player, an conditioner, two fans and fifteen desks They are not new and modern any more.Each class consists of more than ten students and less than twenty students

air-Listening lesson is usually taught in the normal condition Each lesson lastsmore than thirty minutes It is often taught in combination with the other skillssuch as the reading, the speaking or the writing skill It seems that listening isalways the most difficult and frustrating for the learners As a consequence,practicing this skill always takes much time and requires the real concentrationboth from the teacher and the learners At first, listening to English seems to beimpossible for the beginners Because, here, they get started with Englishsystematically at the first time or their knowledge of English language is in theneutral position

3.2.2 The main reasons for difficulties in learning English listening skill for beginners in the Asemlink center