VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES DUONG THI LAN DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS EXPERIENCED BY TEACHERS AND 10" GRADE STUDENTS AT DUONG TU MINH HIGH SCHOOL IN THAI NGUYEN, AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS 'NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC DẠY VÀ HỌC KỸ NĂNG NGHE TIENG ANH CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VẢ HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT DƯƠNG TỰ MINH THÁI NGUYÊN, VẢ MỘT SỐ GIẢI PHIÁP GỢI Ý M. MINOR THESIS Field: English teaching methodology Code: 60.10 Supervisor: Pham Thi Thanh Thay, MA. Ha Noi - 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGE ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF FINGURES ANT) TABL CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTIO! 1. Aims and Objectives of the SLUMY cs cesesisossescustsieeeeseestestistenesissiaenies 2 1.
Scope of the study. Methods of the study CITAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. The definition of listening and the nature of listening comprehension. Definitionof listening and listening comprehension.
The mature of listening comprehension 5 2. Process of teaching listening.1, Process of listening - 7 2.2 Stages of leaching listening skills 2. The importance of listening in tcaching and lcarning a foreign languag:. Listening difficulties for foreign language learafs.
Listening problems lo 2. Participants of the research 13 3. Data collection instruments -. Data collection procedures no 15 3.
Data analysis procedures. l§ CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Teachers and students’ attitudes to teaching and learning listering. Listening difficulties experienced by students 18 4.
Listening difficullias experioneed by teachers 23 4. Discussions of the findings no 33 4. Implivations 37 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 5. Summary of the findings no 3o 5.
Limitations of the study 40 5. Suggestions for fiuther research. sàn ne ereiriiaereereeeeue, đŨ REFERENCES. vi LIST QF FIGURES ANDTABLES Figure 1 The listening process.
7 Table 1: Teachers’ opinion about the importance of listening 16 Table 2: Teachers’ opinions about students’ interest (and motivation) in learning listening skill and lesson.16 ‘Table 3: Students motivation of learning listening lu Table 4: Students’ difficulties in general 18 Table § Factors affecting students’ participation and interests in listening lessons. 19 ‘Table 6 Classroom conditions - 19 Table 7: The use of teaching aids. 20 Table 8: Teacher’s roles 20 Table 9: Listening activities in the classroom 21 Table 10: Studenls? opinion about the Lextbouk 2 Table 11; Expectations of the students towards teachers of listening skilL. 33 ‘rable 12: I'he mumber of the teachers who participated in the listening course 24 Table 13: Factors have influones in students’ participation and interests in the listening lesson.
"Table 14: ‘Teachers’ employment of teaching aids Table 15: Activities in listering lessons. Table 16: Activities in Pre-listening stage .cescssasessensesuseiesissietanineeecana T7 ‘table 17: Techniques used in While-listening stage 38 Table 18 Activities in Post-listening stage 29 Table 19: Adaptation of the new textboOk cesses ssestestmseiesissieieniaeeencanas BO ‘Table 20: Teachers’ effort to have effective listening lassons. 30 Table 21: Teachers? need in having effective listening lesson 3 vi LIST QF FIGURES ANDTABLES Figure 1 The listening process. 7 Table 1: Teachers’ opinion about the importance of listening 16 Table 2: Teachers’ opinions about students’ interest (and motivation) in learning listening skill and lesson.16 ‘Table 3: Students motivation of learning listening lu Table 4: Students’ difficulties in general 18 Table § Factors affecting students’ participation and interests in listening lessons.
19 ‘Table 6 Classroom conditions - 19 Table 7: The use of teaching aids. 20 Table 8: Teacher’s roles 20 Table 9: Listening activities in the classroom 21 Table 10: Studenls? opinion about the Lextbouk 2 Table 11; Expectations of the students towards teachers of listening skilL. 33 ‘rable 12: I'he mumber of the teachers who participated in the listening course 24 Table 13: Factors have influones in students’ participation and interests in the listening lesson. "Table 14: ‘Teachers’ employment of teaching aids Table 15: Activities in listering lessons.
Table 16: Activities in Pre-listening stage .cescssasessensesuseiesissietanineeecana T7 ‘table 17: Techniques used in While-listening stage 38 Table 18 Activities in Post-listening stage 29 Table 19: Adaptation of the new textboOk cesses ssestestmseiesissieieniaeeencanas BO ‘Table 20: Teachers’ effort to have effective listening lassons. 30 Table 21: Teachers? need in having effective listening lesson 3 In the first place, situation analysis has a look at the background to the study including the description of the current contex! al Duong Tu Minh Tigh School and listening skill in the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10”. Secondly, for the theoretical basis, a lot of reférence matezials on listening teaching methods and problems have been gathered, analyzed and synthesized thoroughly with ths duc consideration for Icucher’s Leaching and sludonls” learning siluations Eventually, for the practical basis, questionnaires, class observations were carmied out with the teachers and students to gather the most reliable data for analysis to find answers to the research questions mentioned above 1. Aims and Objectives of the study The main purpose of the sudy was lo probe difficullies in leaching and tsarning listening among the teaching staff and the 10% form students at Duong Tu Minh upper secondary school, in Thai Nguyen Province.
With this purpose the three following central questionswars invesligaled 1, What are the difficulties experienced by the teachers and the 10 form students when teaching and learning listening skill in the new textbook “ ‘Tieng Anh 10°? 2. Whal are some factors affecting the sui of the listening process as perceived by DTM HS teachers and students DTM HS? 3. What are some effective ways to improve DIM HS students’ learning and teachers’ teaching methods of listening skills? 1. Scope of the study ‘This study points out difficulties in listening that teachers and 10 form students at Duong Tu Minh [igh School face, The sludy focuses ơn describing Ihe problems the leachers and students meet, and the factors causing such challenges, for instance, facilities, students’ English listening proficiency, and teachers’ methods, Due to the Limited time, the investigator contd nol imploment the + arch for a longer time and study on # larger population.
The sample population is only 6 leachers ont of 15 and 120 fteshmen from three obisses of the same English proficiency level.4, Design of the study The study is divided into five chapters which arc summarized as follows: The first chapter is the introduction of the rationale for the study, the aims, and the methods, scope of the study as well as the design of the study. The second chapter is the litcrature review discussing the thcorctical background, which is relevant to the purposes of the study. ‘Ihe third chapter shows the procedure of carrying out the research such as the participants, data collection instruments and methods of data analysis. The fourth chapler roporls and discus the finding oblained from the data.
Some suggested solutions arc also provided to help students overcome thew difficulties in learning listening skill. The fifth chapter summaries the whole study, followed by references and appendices. Methods of the study ‘The research is done by both quantitative and qualitative methods; it is carried out on the basis of situation analysis, material collection, survey questiommaires, class observations 1. Aims and Objectives of the study The main purpose of the sudy was lo probe difficullies in leaching and tsarning listening among the teaching staff and the 10% form students at Duong Tu Minh upper secondary school, in Thai Nguyen Province.
With this purpose the three following central questionswars invesligaled 1, What are the difficulties experienced by the teachers and the 10 form students when teaching and learning listening skill in the new textbook “ ‘Tieng Anh 10°? 2. Whal are some factors affecting the sui of the listening process as perceived by DTM HS teachers and students DTM HS? 3. What are some effective ways to improve DIM HS students’ learning and teachers’ teaching methods of listening skills? 1. Scope of the study ‘This study points out difficulties in listening that teachers and 10 form students at Duong Tu Minh [igh School face, The sludy focuses ơn describing Ihe problems the leachers and students meet, and the factors causing such challenges, for instance, facilities, students’ English listening proficiency, and teachers’ methods, Due to the Limited time, the investigator contd nol imploment the + arch for a longer time and study on # larger population.
The sample population is only 6 leachers ont of 15 and 120 fteshmen from three obisses of the same English proficiency level.4, Design of the study The study is divided into five chapters which arc summarized as follows: The first chapter is the introduction of the rationale for the study, the aims, and the methods, scope of the study as well as the design of the study. The second chapter is the litcrature review discussing the thcorctical background, which is relevant to the purposes of the study. ‘Ihe third chapter shows the procedure of carrying out the research such as the participants, data collection instruments and methods of data analysis. The fourth chapler roporls and discus the finding oblained from the data.
Some suggested solutions arc also provided to help students overcome thew difficulties in learning listening skill. The fifth chapter summaries the whole study, followed by references and appendices. Methods of the study ‘The research is done by both quantitative and qualitative methods; it is carried out on the basis of situation analysis, material collection, survey questiommaires, class observations “ potentially any characteristic of the speaker, the situation or the listener can affect the comprehension of [he message” While Brown and Yule (1983) list the four degrees of comprehension on which listening exercises can be constructed: (1) ‘The listener can repeat the text; (2) ‘Ihe students should have heard and understond the maaning of particular vacabutary items as hat are used in that text; (3) The student should be able to resolve anaphoric reference and to determine which was referred to, and (4) The student should be able to work out not only what is dircotly asseried in the text, but also what is implicd. On the other hand, Wolvin and Coakley (1985) state listening “the process of receiving, attending to and assigning meaning to aural stimuli”, his definition suggests that listening is « complex, problem.
The lask of listsuing is more than perception of sound; although perception is the foundation, it alse requires comprehension of meaning. This view of listening is in accordance with second-language theory which considers listening to spoken Janguage as an active and complex process in which Tisteners focus on selected aspects of aural input, construct meaning, and relate what they hear to existing knowledge (O’Malley& Chamot, 1989; Byrnes, 1984; Richards, 1985, Howard, 1983) Therefore, the oncepl of Tistening and listening comprehension can bz broadly defined as everything thal improves on the human processing which mediates bebween sounds and the construction of meaning. When listeners are expected to attend to what they hear to process it, to comprehend, to interpret, to evaluate and to respond to the incoming data, In order to do all these things, they have to get involved in the process and become active listeners. The nature of listening comprehension Traditionally, listening uscd to be considered as a passive language skill alongside with reading skill, Studemts, were expected to listen word by word, trying to draw the meaning fram the individual syntactic and semantic components of the utlerances or discourse.
Therefore, alhor important factors, uch as the context, the speaker's intention, intonation, stress, etc. were totally ignored, This point of view also resulted in the teacher’s methods. ‘Ihe teacher often conducted the lesson as a listening comprehension “test” rather than Izaching il. Students were asked to remember the fotat utterance they had just heard.
Recently, listening process has been thought of as an “active process”. The modern view points out that to become a suiccessfill listener, the listener must employ a combination 4 scvcral complicated processes at the same time.