Listening effectively for english learners at intermediate level khóa luận tốt nghiệp đại học

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES a HO CHI MINH CITY VIET NAM LISTENING EFFECTIVELY FOR ENGLISH LEARNERS AT INTERMEDIATE LEVEL A paper submitted in partial

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES a

HO CHI MINH CITY VIET NAM

LISTENING EFFECTIVELY FOR ENGLISH LEARNERS

AT INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

A paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Bachelor of Arts in English

Submitted by TRAN THANH TOAN Supervised by PHAN THI LE HOA

Ho Chi Minh City, October 2005

ABSTRACT

ne This thesis examines the influence of English listening of students 4 the intermediate levels For a very long time, people neglected listening or even excluded it from study program; people thought listening could develop by itself Yet it has the reputation of being very important for the enhancement of effective communication This study investigates the listening abilities and practices among the second year students of Faculty of Foreign Languages of the Ho Chi Minh City Open University This study also suggests a way in which student may listen to English for better results

This thesis consists of five main parts: the role of listening in our daily life, the review of literature, the common problems as well as the solutions, and a survey questionnaire of 82

students Moreover, the results revealed that (1) the effects of listening on our studies in

particular as well as the role of listening skills in daily activities in general; and (2) although a few of the students had good listening attitudes and strategies, the majority of them remained poor listening habits and did have improvement methods for study listening skills; and (3) the description of listening problems as well as the effective solutions have been proved partly The study also gives some recommendation for better learning listening skills

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

wat Page

Title Page: Listening Effectively for English Learners at Intermediate Leve Ỉ HH rihg 1

"ni 1n — GUt EGG G Te eet 224 ii

Acknowledgement .sssccesssssssessseseescsesssersnecersntsneercasenensancanenssenensins 1H

i10 00 ch .naẽnẽaẽaẽaẽẽnẽe.aauaan — iv

I.INTRODUCTTION 7-5 s teen trttrrtrtrtrnnttrntrtrrrrrr 1 1.1 The importance of listening in đaily le s - 1 1.2 The reasons for listening - sec cnnrnnhrtrntrrrrrtrrrrirrerdrrdrrtterttrrtrrrttrtrrrtrrrre 2

IL REVIEW OE LITERA TURE - - cà snenttttrrdtrdtrrrrdrrdrdetrrtrrrdrnnrrer 3 2.1 Problems in learning to listen in a foreign language teeter tetris 3 2.1.1 Slow speed of listening -.‹ ecreeerrerrrrrrrrrrrre À NT ky 1181251111 1k tre E 3

91.2 Lack of vocabulafÿ -csc+csttrttthhhtH tr rrrtrrreirrrrrtrrtrtrttrtrtdrrttttttrntftttt 4

2.1.3 Misunderstood g€§(UF€S ccrseerhrrhrhrrdrrrrrtdrtrrrrrirrrrriidttrtrrtdtrttreldrrtrndrrr 4 2.14 Lack of concentratiOn ‹ccesrrnnhhnthhớtHtrrrưtrrrtrrrrrdrrrdtrrttrnttrtrtrtrrrdrntree 5 2.1.5 Passive manner of listening -‹ -r+-cereerrreitrtrrrtrrerrrrtrttrrtrtrrnrtrrrrrdrrtrrntrre 5 2.1.6 SUmIHAFY cccc752ScSc22tzhhttthhhtt122221m11011n1n0ntnnrrrrrrrrrrrrirrrrir 6 2.2 Solutions to perfect our listening skillS -cr-eererrretrerrtdtrtrrtrrtrrrrrrrntrrrier 6 2.2.1 Fasten our speed of listening -. rseererrerrrrrerrdrrrrtrrdrdrtrterttrtrrdttftrntrroe 7 2.22 Enrich our vocabularY - -cccrscerneerrtrrrtrrttrrtrrtdtrrrtdtrttttrdtrdrtrrrerrrertrer 7

4.2.3 Undersiand gestUr€S -cccccsstnnhrnthrrrrttrrrrrirttritirtrrrrrrrdrrrrlimrndtrtrerret eed

224 Avoid distractiOn . cerrrrrrrrrtrrrrrrerdirrrtrdrtdtrdtrddrrritrrrre ghEn tre 8

9.2.5 Keep our mỉnd op€n . ecssterrerrtrrrtrttrrtrdtrrtrrtrdtrrrrrrdtrrrrdrrtrrrtnrrrrerntrrer 9 2.2.6 SummaArY cọc ccnertrttrrtetrrerirttttrtmtrrrrrrttrrtrltrdtrtrrrrtrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrer 10 IIL RESEARCH DESCRIPTIONS -. -cceenenrrrtrrrrrrtrtrrtrtrtrrtrrtrrrdtre 10 3,1 Research qu€stÏOnS -ccc+znsecrrtrrrtertrrirtdrrtrttrrrtrrrdttrrtiriltrrdtrrrrttrrrrrrtrrtrrrtrrrrrir 10

iv

3.2 Description of participans -cerhrirredrrrrirreeireirierdtdrrrrdrdtrdtrrttrrrretire 10 3.3 Instrument: questionnair€S -ccnhưrrHrrrrdrrtrrrrrrrrrrrrrererdre tờ tư 11 3.4 Data collection prOC€dUT€§ - net ritnhnrrrrererertererrrrire se 4 " 12

3.5 Summary — ceeceeehrerrhhrehrtrrrrrrdrrrdirrrrdrrrieiriiidirrritirntritltrrtrrt 13

IV DATA ANALYSIS AND EINDINGS nee "` 13 4.1 Responses fO survey qu©stÏOnnair€ «-«ccecererererrrrrrerrrrererdid ¬— 13 4.2 Dafa analySÌS cccceeceehhhhhhhhhdHt21 lndtrterrrrrdrttdtrrdtrrddrrrrrrer 13 4.3 Findings .«cceeeerrrrrrireerrrrrtrdrrriiirirtratirdtrdrrrrrrdrdirirhrerrir 20

4.4Summary .ằe mm : — 21

V.IMPLICA TION AND RECOMMENDATIONS -. -cằeneerrrertrrrrre 21 5,1 Implication§ .:crxccenherrhertrrrrdtrdrrrttdtrdtrdrrrdrrrrirrirrrdedrtdtrrrttrtrirdire 21 5.2 RecommendatiOTIS - - nh 2E22411411722 T2 th tt 1211121 n10120 E911 22 5.2.1 Radio 22 5.2.2 TV, vid€O, CẦ-TOOIN + ng 11211 tr 7211221110101 11081110 23 5.2.3 Cassetf€ pÏaY€T c che nnntrrnrr 25 5.2.4 Conversations with native speak€TS . -c -snhhrerhddrerrdrrrrrenirrirrrdirrrrrdrir 25

5.3 SUmIHAFY 55 S+tntt tt t2 tr t1 nes 27

VILCONCLUSION - 5Á 5-5 nàn 1222221212, e1 27

APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire in English -ccsnstenhrrnhhdtrrreeddrrrrrrdrrdtrrrterr 30

APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire in Vietname§€ - ch enernreitieeerrrrrrrrearrrrredrie 33

LIST OF TABLES

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Table 4.1: Studying English nowadays is diffiCult ác s Là He, 13 Table 4.2: Listening skills are very ImpOFEATIE Án HH cư tin 14

Table 4.3: Your listening skills are excel]eri + s+s<<xs2 — 14

Table 4.4: The regular of having listening problems -.- sec  KH HH ngư 15 Table 4.5: Students like to listened lectures in English for all the time -++- 15 Table 4.6: Practice with foreigners the best way to deV€ÏOD che 15 Table 4.7: The regularity of having conversation with foreigners TT HH HH ng kh ve 16 Table 4.8: Programs students use to practice listening English - sex 16 Table 4.9: By means students practice their listening English . . - c2 c2 16

Table 4.10: While listening to English lectures students used tO O - so sec 18

Table 4.14: Which factor is the most importance for listening skills? . - se 19 Table 4.17: The perception which techniques to improve your listening skills 19

Table 5.1: News in English on Vietnamese TV schedule cty ryn 24

Table 5.2: English Clubs / English Language School in HCM City <.-<c.e 26

vi

I INTRODUCTION

In the recent years, English is considered a very useful tool in most parts of the world such as business, culture, science, technology, and so on Although the amount of people using Chinese is more than using English, English seems to be the most wopular international language in the world However, the target to achieve the perfection of using English is not easy at all There are many difficulties in four main skills of using English: writing, reading, speaking, and listening, and listening skill seems to be the most difficult for people learning English as a second language Some people believe that good listening skill is easy to learn and it is a part of everybody’s natural abilities This is not the truth I am going to prove

listening skills have to be learned and developed by ourselves instead of leaving it to develop

by itself

1.1 The importance of listening in daily life

Several years ago, Matilda Bailey (1961, p.329) made a study to determine how much time adults spend in their learning skills including: reading: writing, speaking and listening In which of these skills would you guess that the average person spend most of time? Would you like to guess the percentage of time we spend in each skill in an order? According to a study

by Matilda Bailey, the total amount of time we spend in the four skills of communication is divided as follow:

“Writing 9% Reading 16% Speaking 30% Listening 45%”

From this statistics, we know exactly that most of the time we spend on listening and speaking The ability to speak and listen well is very important Once Mr William H.Armstrong, an author of the internet report “How to Listen Better, * said, “Listening is one

of the most important skills you can develop to do better in school It is the second most

difficult skill Reading is the most difficult.” I totally disagree with Mr William, reading is

not the most difficult because it takes only 16% of our time in school, but at the same time,

listening takes 45% Besides studying in class, we have to communicate with others in daily activities and expressing our wants, feelings, thoughts, and opinion clearly and effectively are only a half of communication process for interpersonal understanding Moreover, the other half is listening and understanding what others respond to us From the importance of

listening in studying and activity life, we may presume listening is indispensable to everybody for effective communication

1.2 The reasons for listening

First, listening is the first thing we have to be accustomed to sineé we were born We

start learning to listen very soon not until we go to school because according to Jami Ferrer

Handreddy and Elizabeth Whally (1996, p.256), “Speaking and listening are considered primary skills because a child learns to speak and listen several years before he goes to school to study how to read and write.” When a child grows up, he will go to school to study,

and Mr William H.Armstrong stated, “The classroom is the place to lear, and the classroom

is the place to listen.”

Second, one more time Jami Ferrer Handreddy and Elizabeth Whally (1996, p.256) said, “Communication can fail even when two people have the same native language.” Moreover, certainly, if the listeners do not have enough ability to receive the information from the speakers, that communication will fail Most people are poor listeners in everyday, everywhere from school activities to office activities While a speaker asks someone to concentrate on him, someone is busy thinking about his or her answers They tend to listen and think about another thing at the same time, and this happens frequently when the listeners conflict themselves When the listeners could not catch some ideas from the speaker’s message, they do not often confirm the meaning again and it frequently leads to misunderstanding

The last point, nobody wants to be misunderstood with other people while we communicate, so we must know how to deal with our important senses for a perfect communication in our life We are learning English as a second language and of course, we certainly face off with many obstacles not only in English but also in many other languages

such as Chinese, France, Japanese, Germany We had better deal with these troubles,

recognize them exactly, solve them and perfect ourselves

Actually, listening skill is not easy to attain With the desire to help English learners perfect their listening skills I chose the topic: Listening Effectively for English Learners at Intermediate Level In addition, what is the significiance of this topic? I presume this topic not only helps English learners recognize their common problems but also helps them solve

-2-problems effectively Moreover, I chose this topic because there has been a few researches

on listening, according to Professor Lindsay Miller who works as an associate professor at English Department at University of Hong Kong; he claimed that there has been a lack of research interest into listening Some of the reasons for this lack of redearch interest come from the fact that speaking was always considered such a "valuable" skill to focus in the classroom, and that researchers and teachers have often believed that listening was something to be improved itself and as researchers and teachers had not been taught listening themselves, they saw little need for developing a specific research agenda or approaches to teaching listening Furthermore, I chose this topic not because I am good at listening but it is related to the role of listening in daily life and the reasons why listening is important to us

II REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Part of the great challenge of our complex world is how to understand others and to

make ourselves understood Sometimes, we do this succéssfully and sometimes not In this

chapter, we will have a review of some former authors and researchers in the English listening skill All information they give us about the basic problems that we certainly encounter while we are listening and the solutions to solve it

2.1 Problems in learning to listen in a foreign language

We have many troubles in listening English but the first common trouble is the

difficulty of the speed of our listening

2.1.1 Slow speed of listening

“It is certainly a challenge to communicate with someone who speaks a foreign language”, said by Deborah Philip (1993), but listeners often feel confused with problems when they first attempt to listen to a new language Besides then they were daunted by the difficulties The normally speaking speed of most college lecturers is often about 120 words per minute (1984, p.226), which means that in fifty minutes we hear roughly six thousand words and that so hard for any intermediate English learner to capture “Listeners are lack of control over the speed, so they feel difficult when they listen,” confirmed by Kerr Gwendolyn (1984) Moreover, when the speakers say, they do not speak again and listeners: cannot get it through Sometimes, they are too busy to clarify what they could not capture and

they miss the next part Therefore, Kerr Gwendolyn (1984, p.83) also confirms, “English

language learners believe that the greatest difficulty with listening comprehension is that the

listener can not control how quickly a speaker speaks” (1984 p.93) Unless we have a tape

«

recorder, speakers always give a speech with fast intonation - a

2.1.2 Lack of vocabulary

One of the popular difficulties of foreign language learners (in every language) is lack

of vocabulary It is evident that no one knows all the words in English, even the native English speakers New words are created in many fields of life day after day such as Informatics Technology, Marketing, and Astronomy Most of us have a limited vocabulary It will be a big trouble if we do not have enough vocabulary in this life “When students read

social studies, math, and science texts, they often confront the language of historians,

mathematicians, and scientists for the times The vocabulary is unfamiliar because so many words are unique to certain subject areas,” said Richard Vacca (2004) an author of a report

on internet “Real World Vocabulary.” +

Richard Vacca also stated if our vocabulary was limited, we would miss the

experience of connecting words with the concept, and if we did not have enough vocabulary

to understand the text, how could we comprehend the message in listening and expressed our ideas? Remember that we do not have change to listen for times English, like other languages, a word has several meanings in each field and factor, using and situation The next part is the relationship between speakers and movement that listeners often do not understand They are gestures

2.1.3 Misunderstanding gestures

When we ate watching TV, we not only listen to the voices but also watch the

movement of actors and the movement of speakers Someone does not pay much attention to

it, so he/she does not get full of the information the speaker means Most of the time, while

speaking the speakers’ hands must move a little at least, and their movements explain more about what they mean Furthermore, Professor Goldin Meadow (2004) believes that

“comprehension of speech appears to depend on the gestures company it keeps” In addition, you know that according to the researchers, on average teachers produced 37 explanations, containing gestures during each of the session, which is only 12 minutes The teachers used in

-4-60 percent of their instructions with one-third of time their gestures conflict with their speech Moreover, in many cases gestures and speech of speakers are mismatched Gestures with speakers are very important It adds valuable information to their speech and when we listen

to them we will often misunderstand if the movement of their- handstdo" not fit with the speech, and how can we understand exactly the meaning at that time? Moreover, not only we encounter with the unfamiliar words and the rapid speed they usually speak but the effects of

environment also raise difficulties for us In addition, the difficulties from outside make us

lack of concentration

2.1.4 Lack of concentration

Thomas Sherma (May 2002) had defined concentration as “the ability to direct one’s

thinking in whatever direction one would intend” We all have the ability to concentrate

some of the time However, at sometimes our thoughts wander and Thomas reckoned that

“losing concentration is probably the second greatest reason for poor listening”

Not only we lose our concentration by ourselves but also we are “being distracted by the speaker’s appearance of delivery,” said by Thomas Sherma We do not listen to what a speaker is saying because we are focusing on his/her accent, speech pattern, postures, or their

clothing

In addition, Jack and David (1985, p.85) believed that we pretend to listen but our

thoughts are wandering somewhere else, we might look directly to the speaker and our heads nod many times to show the agreement while we are actually day-dreaming At that time, we think about our troubles, about what we are going to do at the weekend, or what we are going

to respond The speaker at that time believes we are polite and interested in what he is saying, but we are not paying any attention to his speech Furthermore, the surrounding usually distracts us We often look out of the window, look at another classmate, playing with our pencil or hair clip, or get mad with the narrow seat, hot environment, or uncomfortable position in class etc For all of that, we could pay less attention on our lectures and the information we get will certainly not enough

2.1.5 Passive listening manner

In company with the lack of concentration is the passive manner of most of English learners According to Mort Orman (2002), a Doctor of Medicine who works as a physician

and stress counselor believes that listening is not a passive activity In contrary with Orman

(1995), most of English learners often express their passive listening manner by doing nothing or not asking question Conformable to Larry Alan Nadig (1999), a clinical psychologist, he believes that not asking for clarification what Engh” learners do not

understand thoroughly is one of the common sources of difficulties from the listeners

Listeners often do not ask why or how it is like that they usually nod or turn their head away when lecturers look at them Moreover, we pretend to listen what we want to listen “The concentration on the lecture will be stopped if it is not our desires or there are many touchy

subjects ” said G Buck (2000) Buck also believes that when a lecturer uses inflammatory

words or phrases that cause an emotion eruption at that time listeners are likely to harbor evil thought or negative feelings, and it takes their concentration away Those words include abortion, feminist, sexual, pro-life, free-market, virgin, plagiarize etc As soon as we hear

those words, our feeling turn into “fire”, and we would not follow the lecture actively

Effective communication exists between two people When the listener interprets and understands the speaker’s message To become a proficient listener, we not only recognize our listening problems that we encounter but also we find out the effective solutions for ourselves

2 1.6 Summary

Listening is a difficult and complicated task For second language learners, listening often occur many problems restate them The section 2.1 has described the common problems that often happen including six matters Moreover, the next part is the solution to perfect our

listening skills

2.2 Solutions to perfect our listening skills

“Listening ability can only be developed by practicing listéning, to get all the necessary skill,” said D Mendelson (1995, p.46) We have known already about problems

caused by lack of listening skills when we learn English, so we would find out the keys to solve these troubles to improve and perfect our skills First, we had better improve our listening speed in English even when the speakers say more than at 150 words per minute

2.2.1 Fasten our speed of listening

Eugene A Nida (1983) confirmed there were many methods to fasten our speed of listening First, we must know the basic sounds systems It is so hard to understand a speech if

we do not know it The sounds of a word always change in fast- speakifg Or saying speed Nida added words were not spoken correctly as the original Furthermore, according the unknown author of the page “Theory to Practice” of website Englishlistening.com, “Fast pronunciation is very different from the dictionary form of the word” and it is said that the English sound system varies from place to place, from person to person Speakers decide how fast they will speak and most speakers speak very fast for many reasons (skillful, nervous,

low-tone, high-tone or speak to the end) Therefore, listeners have to listen fast, when

reading we can choose a suitable reading speed but listening Listeners must listen as fast as the speaker’s speed

The speed of the speech is called the “speech rate” It is very an important for

second language listeners: usually, as the speech rate increases, comprehension

decreases If the speech rate is too fast, comprehension stops

(Extracted from “Theory to Practice”, http://www.Englishlistening.com Available)

Eugene A Nida also states that speech is usually fast, we must get the main ideas quickly and correctly as soon as possible, There is no time to stop and wonder about language used, part of speech and grammar used That means listening must be flexible When having

a conversation with a native speaker, do not blame for their “speech rate” just because we are non-native English speakers After listening or having conversation with foreigners for times, we will be familiar with that rate and our listening speed will be enhanced rapidly as

we did not recognize it

2.2.2 Enrich our vocabulary

According with Watkins Floyde and Dilingham (1995, p.41), the authors of “A Speaking and Listening Skill” book, they believes that the listeners use their own vocabulary

to understand the meaning and they should use vocabulary more actively and flexibly Having enough vocabulary is so very important in all of languages including English Moreover, having a good reading habit will enlarge our vocabulary and knowledge By reading English books everyday, our vocabulary will increase rapidly and that words are

alike bricks to build up our house of English one day The way we enrich vocabulary will play

an important role in our English progress A well-built English vocabulary will effectively help us understand what people are saying and more comfortable to express our ideas Watkins Floyde and Dilingham (1995, p.41) also believes that a rich vocabulary could not develop instantly; it grows over a long period spent reading widely anf iganing new words, After reading English books everyday, we have to learn new words in “groups” For

example, the words which describe a kitchen like: a cooker, a span, a knife, a gas cooker,

electric stove, a pot, a pressure cooker, boxes of spices etc, then with another group

2.2.3 Understand gestures

“Gestures add valuable information to teacher’s lessons,” said Susan Goldin Medow (Chicago, 2000) According to Medow, she believes that we need to learn more about how

teachers make gestures and how students comprehend what to see Gestures are always

adding valuable information to teacher’s lessons For example, with their hands movement

we will understand easily what a rectangular box, a cross, the quality, the size of some things etc and hands could express anything Remember that always keep an eye on the

speaker’s hand movement, we will find a little bit information in his lectures Indeed, Susan

Goldin Medow (2000, p.11) added gesture’s power comes from the fact that its strengths are

different from and complementary to speech

confirmed, “Concentration does not mean thinking only one thought: Concentration means

holding a central issue in mind while you accept or reject ideas that are related to that issue.”

Moreover, to help you pay more attention herein the three suggested methods which extracted from “Listening Skill”, http://.www.google/wesminter.edu.com:

First, when we notice our thoughts wandering, say to ourselves “stop” this sounds very

simple, but it works and it brings our attention back to where we want to be Stop daydreaming, negative thinking etc.

Second, do not look for distraction For example, if someone is front of us moving or

coughing ignore them; do not look at them, and just only the link between us and the lecturer

Third, ensure that our environment aids concentration, reduce distractions, and do not

be so comfortable to nod off so many times To concentrate you must simtiear the front of the

class where you can see easily and clearly hearing the speaker If you are assigned a seat and

you could not hear well, for this matter just ask the teacher to move you right away “Sitting near the teacher allows you to focus more closely Briefly we must eye contact with the speaker, be quiet ourselves, focus on what speaker say or delivery Moreover, the coming next is the most important solution for most of English learner

2.2.5 Keep our mind open

Businessman and author Kevin J Murphy says in Effective Listening (1987, p28)

“Minds are like parachutes; they only function when open.” He adds listening is an active, not passive activity, to listen we must be thinking We all act and respond based on our understanding With active listening, if a misunderstanding has occurred, it will be known immediately, and the communication can be clarified before any further misunderstanding occurred The best way to let the lecturer know when we do not understand is “ask question”

and clarify unclear matters as much as possible Next, always go to class with a positive

attitude; pay attention; adjust to the lecturer’s speed and topic We can hear something but

we usually: ‘In one ear and out the other’ and to remember for a long time we had better not repeat it exactly every word or enough all sentences in a message We have to only remember its main ideas and relate it to what we have known and then keep moving with the next sentence of the message That best way is to avoid repetition; it could happen in few

seconds, but it works and we need a lot of practice regularly The last point, dealing with

emotion word or highly charged language is similar with a fear or-phobia The emotion impact of words can be decreased often through a frank and open discussion Keep our mind free and listen to the other points of view and we might learn something that we did not know before Always be kind and fair to other’s point of view Have no tendency to attack Inform ourselves of both sides of an issue and focus on facts rather than opinion In personal listening, our kind smile and relaxed attitude can help put the speaker at ease Do not make the speaker uncomfortable by being cold or impatient

2.2.6 Summary

The abilities to listen and to express one clearly and-effecttely contribute to a student’s success in school and in life Section 2.2 has described the main six solutions to perfect the weaknesses of section 2.1 However, even the most reliability, validity methods should be used appropriate to any purposes Most of these studies of listening either focused

on just one or two aspects of listening in general, without the carefully investigating into the

listening habits and obstacles of the students

Therefore, a further research about the habits and problems of listening is needed Using research descriptions that allows us having a carefully investigation of the listening

habits of students and utilize the data to analyze with an easy way

I RESEARCH DESCRIPTIONS

In the previous part, not only the common problems that often happen to second language learners were described but also the suggested solutions to solve it Moreover, using the research descriptions will reveal a clear and accurate information about student that learn English as a foreign language of Ho Chi Minh City Open University

3.1 Research questions

This study was designed to examine the weaknesses, the strengths, and the listening habits of students in Ho Chi Minh City Open University (HOU) Three questions guide to this study:

(1) What are the listening habits of HOU students?

(2) How far do HOU students recognize their listening weaknesses and strength?

(3) How can HOU students improve their listening skills?

3.2 Description of participants

The main subjects of this study are the second year students’ age 18 - 22 from two different classes of Faculty of Foreign Languages of Ho Chi Minh city Open University Moreover, almost of the subjects was learning for the first degree of university to ensure that

-10-other did not distract them Delivering 100 papers of a quiz test, the fulfilled responses were

82 Therefore, 18 students did not fill the paper quiz for many purposes Answering why the subjects were chosen for the study, the researcher thinks the second yeaystadents satisfy two

conditions

(1) Second-year students have learned all subjects and necessary skills of foreign

language learners (2) Second-year students have enough listening experienced by them

A summary of the characteristics of the total sample in terms of the following personal

attributes: age, gender, the length of learning English

Summary of sample characteristics

The majority of the subjects were 22 - 23 years old (87.9%) Almost students in the

Faculty of Foreign Language were female (81.7%) In addition, 54.9% of students have 7 - 10

3.3 Instrument: questionnaires

The survey was carried out by means of questionnaire, due to its flexibility, legible and easy to understand, The questionnaire was specifically built for collecting data on the

students’ listening habits, both in classroom and out of school The questionnaire was written

in Vietnamese to ensure that all the students could afford the meaning of the topic and did not

questionnaires, one in Vietnamese, and one in English translation that appeared in Appendices The questionnaire had 17 items separated in three parts

The first part was the about the personal information, in which the students were requested to give information about their age, gender and length of 4 ning English By

using these background information, we could build profiles of description of participants and

we could give appropriate recommendations for them

The main section to the questionnaire consisted of two parts, Part I and Part III, each

of which served a different purpose Part II contained four items concerning about the general information about student’s listening levels

(1) The recognition of study English (Question 1) `

(2) The importance of listening skills in daily life Question 2 consisted of 1.1 the

importance of listening in daily life and 1.2 the reasons for listening

(3) Student’s listening levels (Question 3)

(4) Troubles when students listening English Question 4 consisted of the 2.1 problem

in learning to listen in a foreign language

Part III of the questionnaire was designed to elicit information about the students’

habits of listening English as a foreign language only This part elicited information not only

how often students practice their listening skills but also the ways they practice

(1) The preference of listening English or Vietnamese of HOU students (Question 5) (2) The importance of practice with foreigners and native - speakers regularly, the best way to develop our listening skills (Question 6 and 7)

(3) The frequency of practice listening skills of HOU students (Question 8,9 and 10)

(4) By means HOU students practice their listening skills (Question 11,12 and 13)

(5) Factors that help students improve their listening skills (Question 14,15,17)

(6) Factors causing difficulties for students in listening English (16)

3.4 Data collection procedures

The administration of the survey by questionnaire was carried out for two different classes in their regular classrooms

The participation of students in the study was voluntary, which was made possible with the help of the teacher in charge The teachers and their students had been informed