The effects of scaffolding strategies on improving the tenth grader’s listening ability

Evaluating the effectiveness of the application of scaffolding strategies to improve listening comprehension skills of 10th grade students at high school.. It then discusses theoretical

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI PHUONG THAO

THE EFFECTS OF SCAFFOLDING STRATEGIES ON IMPROVING THE TENTH GRADER’S LISTENING

ABILITY

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG THẢO

THE EFFECTS OF SCAFFOLDING STRATEGIES ON IMPROVING THE TENTH GRADER’S LISTENING ABILITY

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

SUPERVISOR: Trần Bá Tiến Ph.D

Nghe An, 2017

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby acknowledge that this study is my own work The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission, and have not been published elsewhere

Author

Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao

ABSTRACT

This study aims to examine the effects of scaffolding strategies in improving the English listening ability of tenth graders at high school The problem of the study is the effectiveness of scaffolding interactive activities in improving tenth graders’ listening ability The subjects in this study were 60 tenth graders at Phan Dinh Phung high school They were assigned to two groups: 30 students in the control group and

30 students in the experimental group Each group studied the same lessons The experimental group participated in the scaffolding activities designed by the researcher

To determine which listening skills are included in the English textbooks taught

in the tenth grade in high schools, a listening skill list was selected Based on these listening skills, the content of the textbooks was analyzed and then a listening comprehension test was designed and used as a pre-post test Before the treatment, the first questionnaire was made to explore what difficulties students are facing and what they expect from the teachers The treatment was designed by the researcher to improve the listening comprehension skills of the experimental group The treatment was taught for one period a week over eight weeks At the end of the treatment, a post-test was administered to each group to find out the effect of the treatment on developing the pupils' listening comprehension skills And the second questionnaire was made to find out which scaffolding strategies are suitable for their listening skills The main statistical results of the study showed that:

1 There was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the pupils of the experimental and control groups in the listening comprehension post-test (as a whole) in favor of the experimental group

2 There was statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the pupils in the experimental group in the pre-test and their mean scores in the post-test (the total test) in favor of the latter

It was concluded that the proposed scaffolding strategies were very effective in improving the listening comprehension skills of tenth graders at Phan Dinh Phung high school in Hatinh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I gratefully acknowledge the encouragement and support of many individuals in assisting me to accomplish this study

First of all, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my beloved supervisor

Dr Tran Ba Tien for his valuable time, suggestions, guidance, and assistance in this study Without his help, the thesis would not have been completed

I would also like to thank the students of the classes I conducted the study in order to collect information for my research Without their help, this study could not have been successful

Finally, my thanks go to my colleagues, friends and especially my beloved family I feel greatly indebted to them for their essential help and encouragement

Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ii

ABSTRACT iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION……….……… 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the study 2

1.3 Scope of the study 2

1.4 Research Questions 3

1.5 Significance of the study 3

1.6 The organization of the study 3

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4

2.1 Introduction 4

2.2 Literature review 4

2.3 Briefing Communicative Language Teaching 6

2.3.1 The teaching of listening 8

2.3.1.1 The nature of listening 8

2.3.1.2 Listening and Hearing 8

2.3.1.3 Listening as a Receptive Skill 9

2.3.1.4 Listening as an Active Skill 9

2.3.1.5 Listening as a Complex Skill 11

2.3.2 The process of teaching and learning listening comprehension skills 11

2.3.2.1 The Bottom-up listening Process 11

2.3.2.2 The Top-down listening listening Process 12

2.3.3 Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and Scaffolding 13

2.3.3.1 Zone of Proximal Development 13

2.3.3.2 Scaffolding strategies 15

2.3.3.2.1 Activities Based on Visual Cues 17

2.3.3.2.2 Information-Based Activities 17

2.3.3.2.3 Game Activities 18

2.3.3.2.4 Following Instruction Activities 19

2.4 Summary 22

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 23

3.1 Introduction 23

3.2 Research methods 23

3.3 Participants 24

3.4 Research Instruments 24

3.4.1 Listening Comprehension Pretest 24

3.4.2 Interviews 25

3.4.3 Questionnaires 25

3.4.4 Listening Comprehension Posttest 27

3.4.5 Instructional material 27

3.4.6 Lesson Plans 28

3.5 Data Analysis 28

3.6 Data Collection Procedures 29

3.7 Summary 29

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 30

4.1 Introduction 30

4.2 The result of listening pretest of 10th graders at Phan Dinh Phung high school 30

4.3 Problems encountered by 10th graders in learning listening skills 31

4.3.1 Problems from the listeners 32

4.3.2 Problems from the listening material 34

4.3.3 Problems result from physical settings 37

4.4 Students’ expectations in term of teachers’ methodology 37

4.5 Effects of scaffolding on students’ listening skills 39

4.5.1 Effects on listening comprehension results 39

4.5.2 Effects on students’ motivation 44

4.6 Pedagogical Implications 47

4.6.1 For teachers 48

4.6.2 For students 50

4.6.3 For school administrators 50

4.7 Summary 51

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 52

5.1 Summary of the key findings 52

5.2 Limitations of the study 53

5.3 Suggestions for further research 54

REFERENCES 55

APPENDIX 1A 58

APPENDIX 1B 62

APPENDIX 2A 63

APPENDIX 2B 63

APPENDIX 3A 76

APPENDIX 3B 80

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

Being able to understand what one listens is important for learning in school and for life in general At Phan Dinh Phung high school, the tenth graders tend to have low levels of English, which makes listening comprehension challenging Often, instructional approaches promote listening as a product rather than as a process The former focuses on the text, while the latter explores the readers, their background knowledge and experience, predictions, and interaction with the text Additionally, listening comprehension skills are usually taught in school in one of two ways One method is to have students listen a text and then listen comments or answer questions about the text This method stresses important components of listening comprehension, but treats them purely as products (i.e., interpretations) rather than as processes (i.e., constructing interpretations) In particular, it does not teach students what to do when they have difficulty comprehending parts of the text; nor does it teach them how to construct and revise hypotheses about what is likely to occur in the text based on what they have already read Both of these aspects are important in constructing an interpretation of the text In an effort to find an effective method of teaching listening skills, recent researches emphasize learning by engaging learners in knowledge construction (Reiser, 2004) The conditions of meaningful learning require appropriate strategies, where students need to elaborate, or generate activities, such as activities based on visual cues, information-based activities, game activities and following instruction activities from a listening tapescript Such strategies can be considered effective in listening comprehension If provided with appropriate assistance, students can attain a goal or engage in a practice task that is beyond their reach Reiser (2004) points that with scaffolding strategies, learners receive support and assistance to successfully perform certain tasks and move to more complex ones Similarly, Vacca (2008) suggests that when guided, supported and provided with the necessary attributes, students become more responsible for their learning, more motivated, and more successful Scaffolding strategies are, therefore, effective for teaching listening, and such strategies influence the development of higher functions and skills beyond the confines of learner

With more than 15 years of experience in teaching English at high school, I found that the tenth graders face serious problems in comprehending information stated or implied in a listening They are unable to understand the long question after listening from the tape Moreover, they find themselves confronted with a vast variety of information, vocabulary, grammatical structures, culture aspects, and resources that make it extremely hard for them to pick their ways through Consequently, if the teachers do not teach scaffolding strategies, many students will find listening frustrating

All the aforementioned reasons urge the author to carry out the study entitled

“The effects of scaffolding strategies on improving the tenth graders’ listening ability” Hopefully, the results could serve as a useful source of reference for those

who are concerned about the subject matter for my thesis because this could be a contribution to my teaching profession on the continuum of its development, and with the hope that the study can be useful for students of English and also for those who at

the pre-intermediate level of English

1.2 Aims of the study

For the above reasons, the study aims at:

2 Evaluating the effectiveness of the application of scaffolding strategies to improve listening comprehension skills of 10th grade students at high school

3 Proposing some suggestions and recommendations to listening comprehension skills teaching and learning

1.3 Scope of the study

This research focuses on investigating how scaffolding strategies affect

Phan Dinh Phung high school They were assigned to two groups – thirty students in one class as the control group, the other thirty students in other class as the experimental group

The effects of scaffolding strategies were chosen for 10th graders for the following reasons First of all, they are not experiencing final examination pressure Second, the listening topics in the book “Tieng Anh 10” are basic and simple Finally,

the students have time to master listening skill step by step and consider listening as an essential skill in communication We also choose to focus on some scaffolding strategies: Activities based on visual cues, Information-based activities, Game Activities, and Following Instruction Activities

1.4 Research Questions

To achieve the above aims the research tries to answer the following questions:

2 Will scaffolding activities help to improve the 10th graders’ listening ability?

1.5 Significance of the study

The study is expected to be a good reference for teachers and students to improve students’ listening comprehension skills In addition, it is also hoped that the findings of this study will contribute to further understandings of scaffolding strategies

in improving this receptive skill Moreover, through this study, teachers, along with their students, will become more aware of the crucial role of scaffolding strategies, and

be able to use those strategies appropriately to their learning requirements

1.6 The organization of the study

The study includes five chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 – Introduction – provides the rationale, the aims of the study, the scope of the study, the research questions, the significance of the study, and the organization of the study

Chapter 2 – Theoretical Background – presents the review of previous studies related

to the thesis and some concepts as theoretical basis for the study

Chapter 3 – Methodology – describes the research design, instruments for data collection, data collection, data analysis, and research procedures, which gives details

of the research method and describes how the hypothesis of the thesis is interpreted and explained

Chapter 4 – Findings and Discussions – presents the results and discussions developed after the linguistic figures are analyzed

Chapter 5 – Conclusion and Implications – summarizes the main issues touched upon

in the research, the limitations of the research and some suggestions for further studies Following the chapters are the references and appendices

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Introduction

With the aim of providing a theoretical background to this study, the chapter also provides a literature review which focuses on previous studies related to the present research It then discusses theoretical issues most relevant to the research: communication language teaching approach, nature of listening, the process of learning and teaching listening skill, Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), scaffolding, and scaffolding strategies

2.2 Literature review

In the process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language, listening

is considered as an important component because it provides input language Listening

is crucial to people’s everyday communication Byrne (1984, p 78) suggests that

"communication is a two-sided process: a message cannot be communicated unless there is someone to receive it" In the case of oral communication, listening is the receiving process It is the basis for building up relationships, making others feel important, and for communicating understanding Rivers (1998), and Canale & Swan (1980) agree that more than forty-five percent of total communication time is spent listening, thirty percent speaking, sixteen percent reading and nine percent writing The importance of communication in different aspects of life urged Adrian (2002) to consider listening the queen of communication skills because the better listeners understand what they hear, the better they speak

Furthermore, different researchers have indicated that listening plays an effective role in social interaction For instance, Smith, Finn and Dowdy (1993) mention that social interaction, and even most jobs, require the ability to listen and to receive information They assert that without the ability to listen and to participate in verbal exchanges, individuals are at a major social disadvantage They add that individuals in a social setting will not be able to interact if they have limited listening skills Moreover, Schilling (2002) says that listening is an essential skill at work; it reduces errors and wasted time In the home, listening develops resourceful, self-reliant children who can solve their own problems Also, Johnson (1996) refers to the fact that when someone is willing to stop talking or thinking and begin truly listening

to others, all of his/her interactions become easier, and communication problems are

eliminated

In addition to its general significance, listening has a very effective role in the processes of language acquisition and learning Listening is considered the channel through which language is naturally acquired Through listening, children learn to imitate and produce the sounds that they hear from the people around them Then, in time, they construct their mother tongue and are able to communicate with others while deaf children cannot acquire this skill The Natural Approach pioneered by

not considered “just learning to talk, but rather learning a language is building a map

of meanings in the mind” (Nord, 1985, p 17) Hence, listening activities in classrooms should provide language input to the learner but without understanding this input at the

right level, any language learning simply cannot begin (Al-Hariree, 2004)

In addition, Hyslop and Tone (1988), Mee (1999) and Al Khuli (2000) support the previous view explaining that listening provides the foundation for learning and for all aspects of language and cognitive development, and it plays a life- long role in the process of learning and communication essential to productive participation in life Moreover, Al Khuli (2000, p 58) adds that "unless the learner hears accurately and understands correctly s/he will not be able to respond adequately" In this respect, Smith, Finn and Dowdy (1993, p 142) explain that any deficit in this important skill means a significant reduction in the cognitive ability of the student to process incoming information

It has also been proved that listening is a critical element in the performance of foreign language learners More precisely, it facilitates the emergence of the other language skills - speaking, reading and writing It provides the basis for developing them (Hassan, 1998; Saricoban, 1999; and Petrcion, 2003) Listening and speaking are two major parts of communication in the sense that communication involves the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of listening Also on this point, these authors assert that listening is the first step to achieving oral fluency and accuracy and is a way of developing speaking skills Moreover, Petrcion (2003) adds that if a learner can listen effectively, speaking will follow naturally, and if the learner cannot catch the incoming language, s/he will not be able to speak to the point with her interlocutors

Similarly, reading, particularly oral reading, is influenced by the learners' listening skill Being receptive skills, both listening and reading share some similarities; both of them require "the leaner to have a readiness for accomplishment and this includes mental maturity, vocabulary, ability to follow a sequence of ideas, and interest in language" (Lapp & Anderson 1998, pp 90- 92) Lemlech (1984) states that "the student who does not hear well will not learn to read well" (p 104)

Listening is also considered a basic element in the emergence of written expression It helps students take notes and activate their prior knowledge to use in writing activities Ronald and Roskelly (1985) indicate that if students have not learned to listen, they cannot write They explain that listening is an active process requiring the same skills of prediction, hypothesizing, checking, revising and generalizing that writing and reading demand According to these researchers, what people listen for determines the form, style and the content of the responses they write From another perspective, Hasan (1998, p.23) reveals that "both listening and writing skills can be used for supporting each other, in the sense that writing activities can be developed from listening activities and at the same time listeners need the help of the written form to comprehend listening tasks” Thus, it can be said that listening has a positive effect on the students' ability to write

It is now clear that listening is very crucial to communication, social interaction, language acquisition and the development of the other language skills - speaking, reading and writing Such significance has urged many researchers, including this researcher, to tackle further areas in the field of listening in general and of teaching, or more specifically scaffolding, listening comprehension in particular These areas include the nature of listening, and listening and language teaching

2.3 Briefing Communicative Language Teaching

Also called Communicative Approach, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages, emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language Historically, CLT has been seen as a response to the Audio- Lingual Method and the Situational Language Teaching method which were questioned by prominent linguistics like Chomsky (1957) during the 1960s This linguist rejected the structuralist view of language and demonstrated that there is a distinction between

performance and competence For Chomsky the focus of linguistics was to describe the linguistic competence that enables speakers to produce grammatically correct sentences Dell Hymes held, however, that such a view of linguistic theory was sterile and that it failed to picture all the aspects of language He advocated the need of a theory that incorporates communication competence It must be a definition of what a speaker needs to know in order to be communicatively competent in a speech community Later, Canale and Swain (1980) described four dimensions of communicative competence as follows:

 Grammatical competence: refers to what Chomsky calls linguistic competence,

in other words, the speaker is able to use a structured comprehensible utterance (including grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and spelling)

 Sociolinguistic competence: refers to an understanding of the social context in which communication takes place (role relationships, shared beliefs and information between participants …)

 Discourse competence: refers to the interpretation of individual messsage elements in terms of their interconnectedness and how meaning is represented

in relationship to the entire discourse or text

 Strategic competence: refers to the coping strategies that participants use to initiate terminate, maintain, repair and redirect communication

At the level of language theory, CLT has a rich theoretical base Some of the characteristics of this communicative view of language can be outlined as follows:

- Language is a system for the expression of meaning

- The primary function of language is to allow interactions and communication

- structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses

- The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structural features but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in discourse

Nunan (1989) gave a list of most recognized five features of CLT: First, An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language Second, the introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation Next, the provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on the learning process itself The fourth, an enhancement of the learner’s own experiences as

important contributing elements to classroom learning The fifth, an attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside classroom

In summary, CLT has gained widespread acceptance in the world of language study CLT can succeed, providing that teachers don not completely reject the need for the structure provided by grammar In other words, CLT, in the hands of a balanced teacher, can bring new life and joy to the classroom Its vitality makes it an important contributor to language learning approaches

2.3.1 The teaching of listening

2.3.1.1 The nature of listening

To understand the nature of listening, some points should be briefly explored - listening and hearing, listening as a receptive skill, listening as an active skill, and lastly, listening as a complex skill

2.3.1.2 Listening and Hearing

Listening has been misleadingly defined simply as hearing, but a more thorough distinction should be made between the two concepts Brown (2004, p 72) reveals that many people confuse the term “listening” with the term “hearing”, then he explains the difference between these two terms saying that hearing is merely a sense while listening is a learned behavior He adds that, just as decoding the written word is not the same as comprehending its meaning hearing a sound is not the same as understanding and correctly interpreting what is being said

Listening involves more than just hearing It is an active process involving perceiving and organizing oral language input The ability to attend to and recall these organized perceptions is required (Seedfeldt & Barbour, 1990, p 368) Widdowson (1996) provides definitions for both listening and hearing, highlighting the difference between them:

Hearing is the activity of recognizing the signals conveyed through the oral medium which have certain significance Listening is the activity of recognizing what function sentences have in an interaction, what communicative value they take on as instances of use (p 60)

Orwig (1999) considers hearing as a door for listening She states that listening comprehension is the receptive skill in the oral mode When we speak of listening, what we really mean is listening to and understanding what we hear According to

Lapp and Anderson (1988), listening comprehension is a complex process and this complexity is due to the general categories involved - hearing, listening and auding They conceptualize this complex process by describing these general categories as follows:

1 Hearing is the actual physical ability to hear; it is the act of receiving sounds through the ears without interpreting it

2 Listening is broader than hearing since it involves not only sensing but also interpretation and evaluation of the received message

3 Auding is a reproduction by students of a previously recorded story after listening to

it once or twice (Mitryaeva, 1989, p 43)

2.3.1.3 Listening as a Receptive Skill

Listening and speaking are known to be the two oral skills of any language; speaking is the productive skill while listening is the receptive one Widdowson (1996) points to the reciprocal relationship between these two skills saying:

It is perfectly true that speaking is active, or productive, and makes use of the aural mode Speaking as an instance of use, therefore it is part of a reciprocal exchange in which both reception and production play a part In this sense, the skill of speaking involves both receptive and productive participation (p 59)

Reception is preliminary to production, thus listening is necessary for productive language use (Saricoban, 1999) Speaking is not the only oral mode of responding to listening; there are other ways to respond to 1istening (El-Mutawa & Taisser, 1989) Here is where the role of teachers and course designers comes in - to work on training pupils to invest their receptive skills in the acquisition of the foreign language and to learn how to respond effectively Brown (2004) notes that: “It is essential to encourage active participation by the listener - to listen predicatively and critically, watching out for new information which fits neatly into already existing conceptual structures, and reacting sharply, and indeed even accusingly, when confronted with information which does not fit into the preconceived framework.” (p.171)

2.3.1.4 Listening as an Active Skill

The type of listening preferred in the field of applied linguistics and methodology is

effective listening Lapp and Anderson (1988, p.16) stress the active nature of listening and demonstrate the inadequate nature of the "listener as tape -recorder" view

of listening

Being described as receptive does not imply that listening is a passive skill

“The term is misleading Most listening requires a readiness and active cooperation on the part of the listener" (Discroll & Frost, 1999, p 70) Learners have to share and exert effort to listen; they are required to think while listening in order to be able to decode the encoded message and to respond correctly

As a way to make listening effective, it is recommended that teachers set a clear objective or objectives of listening for their pupils and for themselves as well Nunan (1989, p 23) suggests that "we do not simply take language in like a tape- recorder, but interpret what we hear according to our purpose in listening and our background knowledge” Listeners, then, are always making use of their mental abilities in order to work out what they are listening to; this is a recent trend in the research field that has caused an advancement in regard to tackling the receptive language skills - listening and reading (Stevick, 1994) Listening demands active processing to decipher the encoded message and to grasp its meaning in an adequate way; in order to carry this out successfully, the listener has to depend on his/her previous knowledge El-Sagheer and Levine (2003) summarize this operation in the following lines: “Current researchers believe that listeners use a wide range of knowledge to understand the spoken word They need what Widdowson (1996) calls semantic knowledge, which involves knowledge of phonological (sound), syntactic (grammatical), and semantic (meaning) aspects of the language system Listening also requires schematic knowledge, or knowledge of the world” (p.95)

Many linguists and methodologists stress the active nature of listening (Littlewood, 1984; Brown, 2004) Byrne (1984:103) emphasizes the importanc of paying attention for effective listening, and identifies the characteristics of an effective listener, saying that the listener should be mentally checked, supported, challenged, extrapolated to the stream of information contained in the discourse

More recently, Barna (l994) has defined the active listener as a good listener who “can sum up what has just been said, showing that he has concentrated on the

speakers’ words He may also ask questions” (p 77) In this definition, listening is viewed as a receptive skill that is essential for language production

2.3.1.5 Listening as a Complex Skill

Listening is not a simple skill Mee (1999) describes listening as a complex process which involves two basic levels: recognition and selection He explains such complexity as follows: When a learner is first confronted with a foreign language, s/he hears only a barrage of meaningless noise Gradually, after exposure to the language, the learner recognizes the elements and patterns like phonemes, intonation, words and phrases When the learner is able to recognize the phonological, syntactic and semantic codes of the language automatically, the learner has reached the level of recognition Next, the learner sifts out the message bearing units for retention and comprehension without conscious attention to individual components This is the level

of selection According to Rost (1991) and Aly (2001), listening is an interactive, integrative , interpretive and a creative process in which listeners play a basic role in constructing the overall message; learners construct meaning, predict topic development, anticipate what may be coming next, and analyze and relate the new information to what they already know or what they listen to constructing the overall message; learners construct meaning, predict topic development, anticipate what may

be coming next, and analyze and relate the new information to what they already know

or what they listen to Rivers and Temperly (1998) reflect this complex cognitive nature of listening which involves perception based on internalized knowledge of the language in the following figure

2.3.2 The process of teaching and learning listening comprehension skills

2.3.2.1 The Bottom-up listening Process

According to Catherine Morley, a trainer teacher from Mexico, the emphasis in EFL listening materials in recent years has been on developing top-down listening processes There are good reasons for this given that learners need to be able to listen effectively even when faced with unfamiliar vocabulary or structures However, if the learner understands very few words from the incoming signal, even knowledge about the context may not be sufficient for her to understand what is happening, and she can easily get lost Of course, low-level learners may simply not have enough vocabulary

or knowledge of the language yet, but most teachers will be familiar with the situation

in which higher-level students fail to recognise known words in the stream of fast connected speech Bottom-up listening activities can help learners to understand enough linguistic elements of what they hear to then be able to use their top-down skills to fill in the gaps The following procedure for developing bottom-up listening skills draws on dictogloss, and is designed to help learners recognise the divisions between words, an important bottom-up listening skill The teacher reads out a number

of sentences, and asks learners to write down how many words there would be in the written form While the task might sound easy, for learners the weak forms in normal connected speech can make it problematic, so it is very important for the teacher to say the sentences in a very natural way, rather than dictating them word-by-word

Some suitable sentences are:

I’m going to the shop

Do you want some chocolate?

Let’s have a party!

I’d better go soon

You shouldn’t have told him

What are you doing?

There isn’t any coffee

What have you got?

He doesn’t like it

It’s quite a long way

Why did you think you’d be able to?

Can you tell him I called?

Learners can be asked to compare their answers in pairs, before listening again

to check While listening a third time, they could write what they hear, before reconstructing the complete sentences in pairs or groups By comparing their version with the correct sentences, learners will become more aware of the sounds of normal spoken English, and how this is different from the written or carefully spoken form This will help them to develop the skill of recognising known words and identifying word divisions in fast connected speech

2.3.2.2 The Top-down listening Process

Do you ever get your students to predict the content of a listening activity

beforehand, maybe using information about the topic or situation, pictures, or key words? If so, you are already helping them to develop their top-down processing skills,

by encouraging them to use their knowledge of the topic to help them understand the content This is an essential skill given that, in a real-life listening situation, even advanced learners are likely to come across some unknown vocabulary By using their knowledge of context and co-text, they should either be able to guess the meaning of the unknown word, or understand the general idea without getting distracted by it

Other examples of common top-down listening activities include putting a series of pictures or sequence of events in order, listening to conversations and identifying where they take place, reading information about a topic then listening to find whether or not the same points are mentioned, or inferring the relationships between the people involved

Successful listening depends on the ability to combine these two types of processing Activities which work on each strategy separately should help students to combine top-down and bottom-up processes to become more effective listeners in real-life situations or longer classroom listenings

2.3.3 Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and Scaffolding

2.3.3.1 Zone of Proximal Development

The zone of proximal or potential development perhaps is the best known concept of Vygotsky socio-cultural psychology Vygotsky defines Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) as “the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peer” (1978, p.86) Initially, it was elaborated for psychological testing inschools (Vygotsky, 1962) Vygotsky stated that testing should be based not only on the current level of a child's achievements but also (and mainly) on the child's potential development The actual level of development (level of independent performance) does not sufficiently describe development Rather, it indicates what is already developed or achieved; it is a “yesterday of development” The level of assisted performance indicates what a person can achieve in the near future, what is developing (potential level, “tomorrow of development”, what a person “can be”) (Vygotsky, 1978) Thus, the zone of proximal development is the distance between what a person

can do with and without help The term proximal (nearby) indicates that the assistance provided goes just slightly beyond the learner’s current competence complementing and building on their existing abilities (Cole & Cole, 2001)

The concept of the ZPD can be fully understood only in the context and as part

of Vygotskian theory on the whole "In fact, failure to see the connections between the zone and the theory as a whole means that it is difficult to differentiate Vygotsky's concept from any instructional technique that systematically leads children, with the help of an adult, through a number of steps in the process of learning some set of skills" (Tudge, 1992, p 156)

There is a consensus that Vygotskian socio-cultural psychology and the notion

of the zone of proximal development are at the heart of the concept of scaffolding (Berk, 2001; Daniels, 2001; Wells, 1999; McDevitt & Ormrod, 2002) However, the interpretations and explanations of the exact ways that scaffolding relates to it have been different These range from understanding scaffolding as a direct application and operationalization of Vygotsky's concept of teaching in the zone of proximal development (Wells, 1999), to the view that the notion of scaffolding only partially reflects the richness of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (eg Daniels, 2001) Mercer and Fisher (1993, in Wells, 1999) view the ZPD characteristic of transfer of responsibility for the task to the student as the major goal of scaffolding in teaching In order to qualify as scaffolding, they propose, a teaching and learning event should: a) enable the learners to carry out the task which they would not have been able to manage on their own; b) be intended to bring the learner to a state of competence which will enable them eventually to complete such a task on their own; and c) be followed by evidence of the learners having achieved some greater level of independent competence as a result of the scaffolding experience (Wells, 1999, p 221) The emphasis of their definition is on the collaboration between the teacher and the learner in constructing knowledge and skill in the former

Field (2004) describes the relationship between scaffolding and ZPD as follow:

An adult provides help to a developing child by way of prompting his attention in a task, guiding him toward appropriate goals, marking prominent features of a task and showing related strategies Scaffolding has a significant role in supporting a child to progress into his ZPD ZPD provides educational experts a clear and a simple

guideline about how to support learners at each learning stage

2.3.3.2 Scaffolding strategies

In education, scaffolding refers to a variety of instructional techniques used to move students progressively toward stronger understanding and, ultimately, greater independence in the learning process The term itself offers the relevant descriptive metaphor: teachers provide successive levels of temporary support help students reach higher levels of comprehension and skill acquisition that they would not be able to achieve without assistance Like physical scaffolding, the supportive strategies are incrementally removed when they are no longer needed, and the teacher gradually shifts more responsibility over the learning process to the student

Scaffolding is widely considered to be an essential element of effective teaching, and all teachers—to a greater or lesser extent—almost certainly use various forms of instructional scaffolding in their teaching In addition, scaffolding is often used to bridge learning gaps—i.e., the difference between what students have learned and what they are expected to know and be able to do at a certain point in their education For example, if students are not at the listening level required to understand

a text being taught in a course, the teacher might use instructional scaffolding to incrementally improve their listening ability until they can read the required text independently and without assistance One of the main goals of scaffolding is to reduce the negative emotions and self-perceptions that students may experience when they get frustrated, intimidated, or discouraged when attempting a difficult task without the assistance, direction, or understanding they need to complete it

Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976, P.90) define scaffolding as “A process that enables a child or a novice to solve problem, carry out a task, or achieve a goal which would be beyond his unassisted efforts” They coin the term scaffolding as a metaphor

to describe the effective process by which an adult, a peer, or a competent person assists a child to perform a task beyond his or her current capability Since then, a great number of educational specialists and experts have used the concept to describe and explain the role of adults or more knowledgeable peers in guiding children’s learning and development (Stone, 1998; Wells, 1999; Hammond, 2002) Scaffolding, however, can be traced to Vygotsky’s (1978) concept of “the zone of proximal development (ZPD)”, which is the actual developmental level of the learner compared

with the level of potential development that can take place with guidance or collaboration with a more competent person It directs attention to the need for support

in the learning process, and does so in a way that emphasizes that excellence in teaching is necessarily responsive to the state of understanding achieved by particular learners In computer mediated technologies, a human tutor, peer students or intelligent agents can provide scaffolding so that learners could attain new skills, concepts and knowledge (Mc Loughlin, 2004)

Based on this review of the literature, it has been clearly noticed that scaffolding is a highly flexible and adaptable model of instruction that can be used to support learners at all levels Scaffolding engages the learner The learner does not passively listen to the information presented Instead, through teacher prompting the learner builds on prior knowledge and forms new knowledge In working with students who have low self-esteem and learning disabilities, scaffolding provides an opportunity to give positive feedback This makes them feel that they are capable of performing the task This leads to another advantage of scaffolding in that, if done properly, scaffolding instruction motivates students so that they want to learn It can minimize the level of frustration of the learner

However, scaffolding instruction has some disadvantages Rachel & Van Der (2002) mention that the biggest disadvantage of scaffolding is that if the teacher were

to present scaffolding lessons to meet the needs of each individual, this would be extremely time-consuming Implementation of individualized scaffolds in a classroom with a large number of students would be challenging

Another disadvantage is that, unless properly trained, a teacher may not properly implement scaffolding instruction and therefore will not see the full effect Scaffolding also requires that the teacher give up some control and allow the students

to make errors This may be difficult for teachers to do Finally, the teachers’ manuals and curriculum guides do not include examples of scaffolds or outlines of scaffolding methods that would be appropriate for the specific lesson content Although there are some drawbacks to the use of scaffolding as a teaching strategy, the positive impact it can have on students’ learning and development is far more important Teachers should be aware that what suits some learners does not necessarily suit others Each teacher should understand the nature of his/her students, what skills they have and

what they do not have, so that appropriate scaffolding activities can be well-designed and presented at a suitable time From my own experience in teaching English, I have found some useful scaffolding strategies which can activate and stimulate students in learning listening comprehension skills as follow:

2.3.3.2.1 Activities Based on Visual Cues

In these Activities Based on Visual Cues activities, the teacher asks the students to:

- choose the picture that corresponds to the oral description

- complete grids, pictures or sentences with missing information

- put the pictures into the right sequence after listening to a story There are the folowing activies:

Listen and Draw: Pupils always enjoy drawing Simple stick figures are modelled for

the pupils They listen to short sentences in English including the words in their lesson Then they draw what the teacher says in their notebooks After each drawing is completed, pupils are shown a picture of the target vocabulary so they can check their answers

Listen and Color: The pupils have a matrix with objects drawn on it Then they listen

and color the pictures according to the teacher's directions

Listen and Sequence: The pupils are given a group of pictures that tell a story or

illustrate a sequence They are asked to listen as the teacher tells the story then they arrange the pictures in the correct order

2.3.3.2.2 Information-Based Activities

These are listening activities aimed at developing pupils' skills in listening for information The students have to:

- indicate which word does not belong in a given sequence

- respond to questions about message content in a variety of formats

- supply possible titles for listening passages

- supply the missing portions of a telephone conversation

- supply the ending for a story

- participate in chain activities in which each person repeats what the preceding people said and then adds a detail

- indicate the number of words heard in a sentence

- indicate if they heard a particular statement in a passage

- repeat a description as accurately as possible

- categorize words heard

- distinguish sentences, questions and exclamations

- respond to possible, impossible and unlikely statements

-paraphrase what is said

- Jigsaw Listening: In this activity, each group listens to an audiotape There is

different information on each tape which all students will eventually need Each group takes notes about what they have learned Then the groups regroup to share the information they need

- Hands Up!: Pupils are given a set of questions based on a text The text is read

aloud and when the students hear the information that answers the question, they raise their hands The questions are in the order in which the information is given

- If You Are …….: This is a listening activity in which the students are required to

follow instructions depending on other information that relates to them

- Information Extraction Tasks: These are listening activities aimed at developing

students' skills in listening for key information

- Spot the Difference: This activity is aimed at developing students' skills in listening

for general information

- Listen and Classify: The pupils are provided with a table that is partially filled in

The table is designed according to the topic of the lesson Next, the pupils listen and look for the information they need to complete the table The first one is done for them

- Listen and Judge: For this activity, the teacher reads a text to the pupils The pupils

have some written sentences on a separate paper They are asked to listen and judge which sentence is right and which one is wrong Pupils will find this particularly interesting if the teacher uses sentences about them

- Listen and Match: A list of target vocabulary words are written on the board

The pupils are asked to listen as the teacher defines one of the words, then asks them

to write the appropriate word on their paper They are helped to check their answers at the end of the activity

2.3.3.2.3 Game Activities

- Describe and Draw: This is a barrier game that can be done as a teacher-directed

activity or between pairs of students or with one student directing the class:

Draw a circle in the middle of the paper

Draw a big triangle on top so that it touches the circle

Under the circle draw………

- Map Games: These are barrier games using incomplete maps that must be completed

through questioning, or games involving the giving of directions using the maps

- Matching Games: Students have several pictures, each labeled with a number

The teacher describes one of the pictures, giving each description a letter Students then match the pictures with the description saying which number goes with each letter

- Sound Bingo: This is based on the traditional Bingo game Children hear sounds

rather that words; for example, they may hear a baby crying or a dog barking As they hear the relevant word, they cover the appropriate word on the Bingo board, for

example, baby or dog

2.3.3.2.4 Following Instruction Activities

In such listening activities the pupils have to:

- act out what is said

- follow oral directions

- signal (by standing, raising hand, clapping, etc.) recognition of grammatical features (tense, gender, etc.)

- Listen and Do:

The pupils listen to the teacher and perform actions; for example: Put your hand on your head, Tap your feet, Close your eyes The teacher demonstrates the actions at the

beginning of this activity and later gives directions with no demonstration

- Obeying instruction: The commands are given to get students to perform an action

draw a shape or a simple picture The action, shape or picture makes the meaning of the command clear (James Asher, 1986, p 324) Asher suggests keeping the pace lively, it is necessary for a teacher to plan in advance just which commands she will introduce in a lesson He believes it is very important that the students feel successful Therefore, the teacher should not introduce new commands too fast It is recommended that a teacher present three commands at a time After students feel

successful with these, three more can be taught He also stated that grammar features can be taught through this activity Example:

The teacher could introduce students Past Simple Tense:

Teacher: Peter, walk to the blackboard (Peter gets up and walks to the blackboard.)

Teacher: class, if Peter walked to the blackboard, stand up (the class stands up)

Teacher: Peter, write your name on the blackboard (Peter writes his name on the blackboard.)

Teacher: Class, if Peter wrote his name on the blackboard, sit down (The class sits down)

- Ticking off items: This activity is useful to check students’ words The teacher

provides students a list, text or picture Students listen to a spoken description, story or simple list of items then mark or tick off words/ components that they hear, (Ngo Dinh Phuong, 2006, p 56) Le Van Su (2002, p 87) stated that on this activity the teacher should write the important items on the blackboard for students to copy down As they hear the words in the text they can tick/ mark/ cross them from their ring He gave an example to practice this:

The teacher writes on the board:

repair banks of plot

pump water pick up eggs

have dinner have breakfast

Key: repair banks of plot, pump water, have dinner

-True/ False statements: This activity is suitable to check both general and specific

information Le Van Su (2002, p 97) described this activity: The teacher writes some

True/ False sentences about the text on the blackboard The principle is that only half

of the statements are true, if the teacher writes these sentences before the PREDICTING activity, make sure they are covered up so that the students cannot see them The students read the sentences before they listen to the text the second time, and while they listen they decide if the sentences are true or false Ngo Dinh Phuong (2006, p 56) wrote “Students write ticks or crosses to indicate whether statements are right or wrong; or make brief responses (True or False for example); or they may stay silent if the statements are right, say “No” if they are wrong.” Le Van Su gave one example for this activity:

Northern textbook, Tieng Anh 10, lesson 1

Every morning we get up at 5.30 ( T)

We have breakfast at 6.30 ( F)

We have lunch at 11.00 (F)

-Detecting mistakes: This activity makes students have to think, evaluate and after that

they are able to response to instructions The teacher tells a story or describes something the class knows, but with a number of deliberate mistakes or inconsistencies Listeners raise their hands or call out when they hear something wrong (Ngo Dinh Phuong, 2006, p 56)

- Cloze: The teacher gives the students a written paragraph with several words

missing The teacher reads the paragraph aloud and the students attempt to fill in the missing items Principles are every blank must have the same width and each bank is only filled by one word This can be done with interesting descriptions, poems or songs (Rost, 1991, p 325) He gave one example:

The teacher gives students a paragraph:

“As soon as the sun rose next morning Mr Pickwick also rose and opened his (1) window, to look out upon the world Then he quickly shaved, (2) , drank his coffee and (3) some clothes into a bag With his bag in his hand and a notebook in his pocket, he went out into the street and soon found an (4) cab He got (5) , and ordered the cabman to drive him to the Golden Cross Inn.”( The Pickwick papers, Charles Dickens)

The teacher reads the text or play the tape and asks students to fill in each blank with one word they hear

Key: (1) bedroom, (2) dressed, (3) packed, (4) empty, (5) in

- Guessing definitions: The teacher provides brief oral definitions of a person, place,

thing, action or whatever; students write down what they think it is (Ngo Dinh Phuong, 2006, p 56)

- Skimming and scanning: A not too long listening text is given; students are asked to

identify some general topic or information (skimming) or certain limited information (scanning) and note the answers Written questions inviting brief answers may be provided in advance; or a grid, with certain entries missing; or a picture or diagram to

be altered or completed (Ngo Dinh Phuong, 2006, p 56)

2.4 Summary

This chapter has presented theoretical background to the teaching of listening skill as well as some scaffolding strategies which will be used in order to improve listening comprehension skills for 10th graders at high school These activities require different degrees of cognitive involvement and interaction from the pupils and different degrees of scaffolding from the teachers They should take into consideration the students’ language level, their age, their culture and their purpose of learning Hence, the present researcher has tried to select the activities that will be most suitable for the 10th graders at high school And, the next chapter will examine in detail the methodology to be used to carry out the study

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction

In the previous chapter, contextual and theoretical background has been summarized in order to support the study This chapter will explore the methodology

to be applied in the study by discussing in detail the participants, the instruments and the procedures of data collection and analysis

3.2 Research methods

The study aims at investigating the effects of scaffolding strategies on listening

quantitative and qualitative methods were used for this study in order to identify the

collected from the results of a KET listening test (Key English Test)- A2 level, questionnaires and interview Condelli and Wrigley (2003, p.1) points out that the best research design is a mixed design that integrates qualitative and quantitative research because “by using a rigorous design, the quantitative methods can tell us what works, while the qualitative can tell us how it works” Similarly, Bryman (1988) argued for a

“best of both worlds” approach and also suggested that qualitative and quantitative should be combined Weinreich (1996) contended that the advantages of the quantitative method are that it provides the researcher with quantifiable, reliable date that is usually able to be generalized to some larger population It is most appropriate for conducting needs assessments or for evaluations comparing outcomes with baseline date Besides, qualitative method is designed to provide researcher with the perspective of target audience members through immersion in a culture or situation and direct interaction with them in the research process The quasi -experimental design which consisted of two groups; experimental group and control group were also used The experimental group was taught using scaffolding strategies, while control group was taught without scaffolding strategies A pre -test before treatment was carried out for both group to ensure their equivalence on the dependent variable of the study (students achievement in listening comprehension) as well as to identify students’ difficulties in order to apply appropriate scaffolding reading strategies

The study included two variables The independent variable was the method of teaching listening skill with scaffolding strategies and without scaffolding strategies

The dependent variable comprised the students’ achievement on the listening comprehension posttest

Using the advantages of both methods, as well as a quasi-experimental design, the researcher expects to seek the answers to the research questions so that scaffolding

3.3 Participants

Sixty students, including 33 female and 27 male 10th graders at Phan Dinh Phung high school, in Ha Tinh province, Viet Nam, were selected and assigned into two groups The control group comprised 30 students, while the experimental group consisted of 30 students As the study is quasi-experimental, the participants in both groups, i.e., the members of the experimental and the control groups, should be approximately equal in terms of their English proficiency level The students’ averages

in the English placement test and their pretest scores in listening comprehension were statistically analyzed to form equal groups Moreover, the pretest results were analyzed and the two groups were found equal They are all 10th graders at Phan Dinh Phung high school, in Ha Tinh province, Viet Nam The students are 15 years old and most of them have been studying English as a foreign language for five years They are supposed to be at the pre-intermediate level Some students take additional English classes at certain English centers for 4 hours per week Some started learning English

at the age of eight

3.4 Research Instruments

In order to obtain a sufficient collection of reliable and valid data for the study,

a listening comprehension test at KET A2 level, questionnaires, and interviews were employed

3.4.1 Listening Comprehension Pretest

In this study, a listening comprehension pretest at KET A2 level was held at the first week of February The pretest consists of 5 parts with 25 listening questions aimed to assess the performance of the study groups in listening comprehension as well as to identify students’ difficulties in learning listening skills To meet the appropriate listenability level for students, the pretest was chosen from Cambridge Key English Test This assessment helps the researcher to apply appropriate scaffolding strategies and the pretest results were also utilized to compare with those

of the posttest to confirm the effects of scaffolding strategies on listening comprehension for 10th graders at high school

3.4.2 Interviews

Informal interviews and discussions with students were conducted after the posttest and the questionnaire B to get further information about the effects of scaffolding strategies From the interview, students’ motivation when learning listening comprehension skills were determined and this helped the researcher to confirm the effects of scaffolding strategies in order to improve listening comprehension skills for 10th graders at high school Newman (2002) points out that face-to-face interview may have the highest response rates Moreover, according to Nunan (1989), an unstructured interview is more like a natural conversation between the interviewer and interviewee Therefore, students were encouraged to talk freely and truly in a formal atmosphere

The researcher, by this way, could get some more reliable and specific information from students The interview was also conducted in Vietnamese so that students could understand fully and correctly the interviewer’s questions They could, therefore, find

it easy and comfortable to talk and express their though and ideas The interview was done during break time at school and was recorded for later analysis

3.4.3 Questionnaires

According to Mc Millan and Schumacher (1993, p.238), “the questionnaires is the most widely useful technique for obtaining information from subjects” Many researchers suppose that using questionnaire in language research has many advantages First, questionnaire can be given to a great number of students at the same time and it is self-administered Second, to protect the privacy and keep the fairness, the subjects’ names might not be appeared on the questionnaire So subjects tend to share the information more naturally, even some sensitive information Third, the data collected are more accurate because questionnaire is usually given to all the subjects at the same time Thus the survey questionnaire was intended to serve as one of the main sources of data collection It served as a valuable tool for the researcher to examine the effectiveness of scaffolding strategies There were two sets of questionnaires A and B

- Questionnaire A (see Appendix 1A) was completed by students of both experimental and control group The questionnaire composed of two parts The first part is personal

information such as students’ name (optional), age, gender, their time of learning English, and their mark of English in the placement test The second part has 6 questions among which 5 questions focused on students’ difficulties in learning listening comprehension skills namely difficulties with vocabulary, difficulties with grammar, with text discourse, with background knowledge and difficulties related to listening strategies and listening skills The last question, question number 6 aimed at investigating students’ expectations in term of teachers’ methodology Questionnaire

A was designed using both English and Vietnamese in order to ensure an accurate and full comprehension for the tenth graders

- Questionnaire B (see Appendix 1B) was completed by students of the experimental group The questionnaire includes two parts The first part is personal information such as students’ name (optional), their mark of English in the pretest and the posttest The second part focused on students’ appreciation for four scaffolding strategies that the teacher used in teaching listening skills As this questionnaire is quite simple in term of syntax and vocabulary, it was designed in both English and Vietnamese

The survey questionnaire, along with the posttest results, was an undisputable evidence which justified that scaffolding strategies were really effective for listening comprehension Another advantage is that the researcher could get information from a large population in a short time and it also made the date analysis simple as all the subjects answered the same questions Moreover, Newman (2000) states that using a questionnaire is effective, and response rates may be high for a target people who have

a strong interest in the topic or the survey sets organization That is the reason why the questionnaire as a tool was particularly employed in this study The questionnaire was completed by students of experimental group who had just passed 3 moths learning listening skill with scaffolding strategies as well as a KET posttest on listening proficiency The questions focused on students’ evaluation for scaffolding strategies, and the reasons why scaffolding strategies are useful for their listening comprehension skills

To ensure the reliability of the collected data, informants were questioned in their free time In addition, the questionnaire has been piloted on some students to see

if there were any problems in order to revise them The feedback from the students

provided valuable ideas on how to revise the questionnaire After the trial and the revision phases, the questionnaire was officially administered to the subjects of the study

3.4.4 Listening Comprehension Posttest

The post test was taken at the last week of May; this means 11 weeks after the beginning lesson Like the pretest, the posttest was chosen from Cambridge Preliminary English Test with four listening parts, 25 questions Students are required

to sit for this test for 30 minutes and as usual, the teacher does not forget to tell them that the results of this test will not affect the results of the test subjects The purpose of this work is the teacher’s expectation that all students do not copy each other, and help her get an accurate survey finding Both the pre and posttest are included in the appendix

3.4.5 Instructional material

In the era of integration and globalization, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training realized the important role of developing English use Language teaching and learning has witnessed a marked positive change Remarkably, since 2006- 2007 the change of the curriculum for high school students Instead of only reading and grammar sections the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”, “Tieng Anh 11” and

“Tieng Anh 12” cover four English skills In each unit reading skill comes first, and then speaking, listening, writing Language focus on which includes pronunciation and grammar is the last part Each period is in 45 minutes and focus on one topic Here are topics of 16 lessons also topics for listening ones in textbook “Tieng Anh 10”

Table 3.4.5 The listening topics of sixteen units in Tieng Anh 10

7 The mass media

In each semester, students have to take 5 tests: one oral test, one 15-minute test, two 45- minute tests and an end – of - semester test All of the test students are usually checked reading, writing and grammar and listening The materials used in the

research were six listening lessons from the syllabus of Tieng Anh 10, which is from

unit 10 to unit 15 in class book Each lesson is about different topics

The instructional material was taught using two methods, namely, the traditional method without scaffolding strategies by which the control group is taught, and the scaffolding instructional by which the experimental group is taught (See Appendix 3A, 3B for 2 sample lesson plans using scaffolding strategies)

3.4.6 Lesson Plans

The researcher designed a lesson plan for each unit (from unit 10 to unit 15) in class book, which was based on a through revision of literature about scaffolding strategies and the teacher’s book Basing on the content of each unit and the listening text, some appropriate scaffolding strategies were used

3.5 Data Analysis

Based on the feedback obtained from interviews and the questionnaire, data analysis was mainly used by qualitative and quantitative approaches The results of the listening pre and posttest and the data from the questionnaire were quantitatively

processed using statistical frequency based on percentage by means of tables or charts through Excel formulas The information collected from interviews were described and reported in words

3.6 Procedures

The researcher collected information in the academic year 2016-2017 The procedure of the research includes the following steps:

1 Gathering information and reviewing the previous research related to the study

2 Administrating listening pre test at Ket A2 level

3 Collecting the data from the results of the pretest, designing questions for the questionnaire A and then delivering the questionnaire to the students

4 Analyzing data from the results of the pretest and the questionnaire

5 Implementing scaffolding listening activities for 5 lessons from lesson 10 to

lesson 15 in Tieng Anh 10 for the experimental group for 2 months whereas the control group receives no treatment

6 Administrating listening posttest at KET A2 level, designing questionnaire B and then delivering questionnaire to students

7 Collecting and analyzing the data from the results of the posttest and questionnaire

8 Conducting statistical analysis and data tabulations

9 Explaining and interpreting the collected data presented in tables and charts

3.7 Summary

A detailed description of the research approach, the subjects and participants, data collection instruments, data collection procedures and data analysis procedures of the study has been presented The study was completed with the help of the tenth graders

at Phan Dinh Phung high school The analysis of data collected served as some important input for confirming effects of scaffolding strategies in teaching and learning of listening skills as well as improving pedagogical methods so that students can best improve their listening skills

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 Introduction

This chapter deals with an analysis of data collected mainly from the results of

questionnaires conducted with students The findings are presented with the researcher’s explanations and evaluations aiming to confirm the effects of scaffolding strategies on listening comprehension skill for the first class students

4.2 The result of listening pretest of 10 th graders at Phan Dinh Phung high school

The assessment of the students’ performance in listening ability was carried out

by using the reading test of KET The test consists of five parts, each of which assesses the ability to comprehend different types of listening material The maximum score achievable in this test is 25 (see Appendix) The test was delivered to the students of both control and experimental groups at Phan Dinh Phung high shool The scores of reading comprehension pretest of the control group and the experimental group are displayed in Figure 4.1 below:

30

25

20

Experimental group Control group

15

10

Figure 4.1: Listening Pretest Results by band scores

(Note: In Figure 4.1: 1-6= a poor score; 7-11= below average; 12-17: average;

17-20= good, 21-25: an excellent score)

As can be clearly seen from Figure 4.1, the results of the pretest on listening comprehension were quite poor For the experimental group, the figure shows that 59.61% of those taking the test achieved a below average score, only 34.61 % of the students achieved an average or good score For the control group, the percentage of below average was 64.58 %, a bit higher than that of the experimental group However, there were 45.83 % of students who achieved an average or good score, a bit higher than the experimental group with 36.43 % Surprisingly, while none of the students in the experimental group gained an excellent score, there was 5.76 % of students of the control group could achieve an excellent score, which means from 30-

35 marks Overall, the pretest results of the control and experimental groups are,

faced the common problem that they had difficulties with this listening skill although they have spent more than five years studying English, especially on listening This problem might prevent them from achieving A2 level that is required by the Ministry

of Education and Training of Vietnam In fact, according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), A2 listeners “can understand phrases and the highest frequency vocabulary related to areas of most immediate personal relevance (e.g very basic personal and family information, shopping, local area, employment) they can catch the main point in short, clear, simple messages and announcements” (Global scale- CEFR) As a basic user, “Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment) (Self-assessment grid- CEFR) Obviously, there is a big gap between the students’ level and the target A2 level, which requires scaffoldings so that the students can move

up to a higher level, B1 which is required for GCSE, high school diploma by the Ministry of Education and Training in Vietnam

The pretest’s result, therefore, urged the researcher to investigate the

order to propose appropriate scaffolding strategies

4.3 Problems encountered by 10 th graders in learning listening skills

frequency ranging from never to always Problems are classified into two different categories, namely problems from the listeners and listening materials and equipment Here is the result from questionnaires (Appendix 1A)

4.3.1 Problems from the listeners

In the questionnaire, the first question focuses on the problems from the listeners The response are calculated and displayed in the Table 4.3.1 below:

Table 4.3.1 : Problems from the listeners

Making prediction what the

Guessing unknown words or

The first problem students have is predicting what the speaker is going to say with 68.3% (often & always) In fact, the prediction brings about a number of advantages to students in their listening comprehension According to Hasan (2000), the problem is believed to cause by the habit of listening to word by word They do not focus on any particular cues which help them predict what is going to be talked about However, in every listening task, cues are provided indirectly that well-trained

or experienced listener could recognize it naturally For instance, the title of the task can help learners to guess the points coming next In addition, prediction can be made

by photos, maps, charts or anything that provided in the listening Besides, making questions relating to the listening topic would keep students motivated and improve their comprehension

There would be no worry if these questions do not match the next points in the listening task Creating predictions questions, as Berman (2003) thought, would maintain the students’ focus on their tasks Furthermore, the answers to these prepared questions in the pre-listening stage could be the actual main ideas of the listening task

In this way, prediction question is such a useful way for comprehension improvement