HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --------------- NGUYEN THI TU OANH TEST-TAKING STRATEGIES FOR LISTENING TESTS BY SECOND-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, University of Foreign Languages, Hue University THUA THIEN HUE, 2021 HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --------------- NGUYEN THI TU OANH TEST-TAKING STRATEGIES FOR LISTENING TESTS BY SECOND-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 8140111 SUPERVISOR: ASSOC. LE PHAM HOAI HUONG THUA THIEN HUE, 2021 ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ --------------- NGUYỄN THỊ TÚ OANH CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC LÀM BÀI KIỂM TRA MÔN NGHE CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM HAI CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH TẠI ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ, ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 8140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS. LÊ PHẠM HOÀI HƯƠNG THỪA THIÊN HUẾ, 2021 STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree in any university. I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, my thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself.
Signed: ………………………… Nguyễn Thị Tú Oanh Date: ……/ ……/……… i ABSTRACT This study was conducted to explore the awareness of English majors from a university regarding their employment of test-taking strategies during listening tests and to identify their most frequently used test-taking strategies. Two hundred forty-two sophomore English majors participated in the study. The data were gathered through two main instruments: questionnaire and interview. The findings indicate that the majority of participants had a favorable attitude toward using test-taking strategies in four areas: test performance, listening comprehension, degree of concentration, and anxiety.
It was also found that employing test-taking strategies had the most significant impact on students‟ test performance among the four factors considered. Besides, metacognitive strategies were reported to be the most frequently used among the six groups of strategies that adhered to Oxford's (1996) taxonomy. However, students held an inconsistent view regarding the use of L1 during listening tests. Based on the findings of this study, some implications concerning test-taking strategy use were suggested for students taking listening tests and for teachers preparing their students for these tests.
ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Assoc. Le Pham Hoai Huong for the continuous support of my study and research, for her patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge. Her guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis. I could not have imagined having a better advisor and mentor for my Master's study.
Incredibly, her "beginner's mind" attitude in tackling academic projects has motivated me a lot during the process of writing. I am indebted also to several students from the University of Foreign Languages, Hue University, who so generously took time out of their schedules to participate in my research and make this project possible. Last but not least, I would like to thank my family, friends, and Thầy who have supported me mentally and spiritually throughout my life as always. iii List of Tables Table 2.
Listening test-taking strategies (adapted from Cohen & Dörnyei, 2002) Table 2. Formats of the listening test for second-year students at University of Foreign Languages, Hue University (adapted from Unit Description of Listening 3 course) Table 4. Reliability statistics Table 4. Students‟ perception of employing listening test-taking strategies Table 4.
Reliability statistics Table 4. The mean score of listening test-taking strategies Table 4. Pre-listening memory strategies Table 4. While-listening memory strategies Table 4.
Before-listening cognitive strategies Table 4. While-listening cognitive strategies Table 4. Before-listening compensation strategies Table 4. While-listening compensation strategies Table 4.
Before-listening metacognitive strategies Table 4. While-listening metacognitive strategies Table 4. After-listening metacognitive strategies Table 4. Before-listening affective strategies Table 4.
While-listening affective strategies Table 4. While-listening social strategies iv List of Figures Figure 2. Classification of language learning strategies (adapted from Oxford, 1990, p. 17) v List of Abbreviations HUFL …………………… University of Foreign Languages, Hue University VSTEP ………………….
Vietnamese Standardized Test of English Proficiency vi Table of Contents Statement of Original Authorship. iii List of Tables. iv List of Figures. v List of Abbreviations.
vi Chapter 1: Introduction. Scope of the Study. Structure of the Study. 3 Chapter 2: Literature Review.
Strategies and Test-taking Strategies. Test-taking Strategies. Taxonomies of Language Learning Strategies. Test-taking Strategy and the Listening Skill.
Listening Tests at HUFL. Studies in other Countries. Studies in Vietnam. Gaps in the Literature.
Data Collection Instruments. Data Collection Procedure. Research Reliability and Validity. 31 Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion.
Second-year English Majored Students‟ Awareness of Employing Listening Test-taking Strategies. Data from Questionnaire. Data from Interview. The Frequency of Test-taking Strategy Use by Second-year English Majored Students to do Listening Tests.
Data from Questionnaire. The Results of each Type of Test-taking Strategy. Data from Students‟ Interviews. Discussion of the Research Findings.
53 Chapter 5: Conclusion and Implications. Summary of the Key Findings. Limitations of the Study. Suggestions for Further Studies.
58 Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 ix Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Rationale Tests are commonly regarded as the most widely utilized assessment method in the educational systems throughout the world. Particularly concerning the tertiary level, this form of assessment generally seems to carry the highest amount of the grade for students. The significance and employment of tests have expanded beyond the boundary of schools and currently influence many crucial and consequential decisions of test-takers. Whether the goal is university applications, certifications, detection of specific behavior, or personal preference, decisions related to an individual's ability have been made based on their results on specific tests (Mohammed & Abidin, 2011).
Examining numerous studies in the field of language testing over a thirty-year period, Cohen (2006) asserts that five primary concerns in terms of language testing are level of difficulty, test reliability, intercorrelation of subtests, the relationship between the test and other variables, and impacts of various test methods. The behavioral attributes of test-takers during the process of test-taking, according to Cohen (2006), are inclined to be overlooked. Thereby, there is a knowledge deficiency of how the respondents' mental process operates while taking the test (Cohen, 2006). In other words, what the test-takers actually adopt to generate the responses to the questions remains unobtrusive.
In some prior studies, the notion of strategies that respondents employ to handle language tests has been put much emphasis on to serve some particular purposes; namely determining the sort of test-taking strategies utilized to validate testing formats, appraising the relationship between learners' characteristics and test-taker strategy use, and investigating how strategy instruction influence learners' performance on large-scale tests (Cohen, 2006). Nonetheless, test-taking strategies from learners' viewpoints receive much less attention in the majority of strategy-related studies. Furthermore, based on the research conducted by Rogers and Harley (1999), test-taking strategies enable learners to use the characteristics and format 1 of a test to boost their performance on a test. Therefore, more studies in test-taking strategies to assist students in identifying the strategies and their benefits seem significant.
In the context of the University of Foreign Languages, Hue University (HUFL), listening skill is one of the four skills: listening, reading, speaking, and writing that second- year students are expected to practice to achieve level 4/6 as in VSTEP (Vietnamese Standardized Test of English Proficiency), which is equivalent to level B2 in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Second-year English majors' listening course in the second semester plays the foundation role for students before taking the listening test to achieve level 5/6 in the VSTEP, which is one of the compulsory requirements for graduation outcome for English majors at this university. During my initial years of university teaching, a number of students have explicitly acknowledged that notwithstanding their L2 listening proficiency level accommodates the test requirements while practicing listening, with respect to the actual listening tests, they occasionally encounter poor performance. From a teacher's perspective, interest has been aroused in terms of whether students are aware of the missing piece "what they were actually doing to produce answers to questions" (Cohen, 2006, p.89), which could be an indispensable factor to bridge the discrepancy between students' listening ability and their performance.
Therefore, all of the motives above promote this research to be carried out. The research is entitled "Test-taking strategies for listening tests by second-year English majors at University of Foreign Languages, Hue University.2 Research Objectives This study aims to: - explore the perceptions of second-year English majored students at HUFL towards the effectiveness of employing test-taking strategies in their listening tests. 2 - identify the reportedly used test-taking strategies by second-year English majored students at HUFL.3 Research questions The study is set out to answer the following research questions: 1. What are HUFL second-year English-majored students‟ perceptions about the effectiveness of test-taking strategy use in their listening tests? 2.
What test-taking strategies are reportedly employed by HUFL second-year English- majored students to do listening tests? 1.4 Scope of the Study This study primarily concentrates on examining the effectiveness of test-taking strategies from second-year English majored students‟ viewpoints and determining their frequently used test-taking strategies in listening tests. Other aspects of English listening skills, such as how to self-study listening or teaching the listening skill, are beyond the scope of this paper.5 Research Significance This study addresses an issue that has not been thoroughly investigated at the research site: test-taking strategies for listening tests. Furthermore, the research may contribute test- takers‟ perspectives on employing listening strategies to the current literature. This study's insights could provide a humble source for language learners preparing listening tests and English teachers instructing their students to do listening tests.
The gap in the current literature in terms of test-taking strategies is to some extent bridged together with some pedagogical implications related to the employment of test-taking strategies of English majored students at HUFL are likely to be drawn for future-related topics.6 Structure of the Study 3 The research comprises five chapters, namely introduction, literature review, methodology, findings and discussion, and conclusion. Chapter 1 introduces the background, the rationale, the objectives, the research questions, the scope, the significance of the study, and the structure of the study. Chapter 2 presents the literature review relevant to the research, mainly focusing on the related studies to test-taking strategies. Chapter 3 provides the research methodology, including information about research participants, data collection, and data analysis.
Chapter 4 displays the findings and discussion of the study. Chapter 5 presents the summary of research findings, the implications for English teaching and learning, the study's limitations, and the suggestions for further research. 4 Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Introduction This chapter presents the notion of strategy in general, subsequently narrows it down to the scope of test-taking strategy. Principal taxonomies of language learning strategies together with listening strategies are also introduced.
Furthermore, this chapter reviews some studies related to test-taking strategies and language skills with a focus on the listening skill. Eventually, the justification to conduct this thesis is provided.2 Strategies and Test-taking Strategies 2.1 Strategies Over five decades ago, the field of second language instruction theoretically witnessed the shift from investigating teaching methods to addressing learning processes, which results in stress on an increasing quantity of studies about the process of learning among students (Purpura, 1997). Strategies, due to this transitional phase, served as the primary factor in the learning process to attain learning objectives. The interpretation of the notion of strategies differs according to several researchers' approaches.