VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES -------------------------------------- NGUYỄN THỊ HÀ USING VIDEO TO REDUCE STUDENTS’ ANXIETY IN ENGLISH LISTENING LESSONS: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT THANH HOA MEDICAL COLLEGE Sử dụng phương tiện nghe nhìn để làm giảm sự lo lắng của sinh viên trong giờ học nghe: Một nghiên cứu hành động tại trường Cao Đẳng Y Tế Thanh Hóa M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Ha Noi – 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES -------------------------------------- NGUYỄN THỊ HÀ USING VIDEO TO REDUCE STUDENTS’ ANXIETY IN ENGLISH LISTENING LESSONS: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT THANH HOA MEDICAL COLLEGE Sử dụng phương tiện nghe nhìn để làm giảm sự lo lắng của sinh viên trong giờ học nghe: Một nghiên cứu hành động tại trường Cao Đẳng Y Tế Thanh Hóa M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Dr. Lê Văn Canh Ha Noi – 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION.iii TABLE OF CONTENTS.iv LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS.v LIST OF ABBREVIATION.vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.
Statement of the problem and rationale of the study. Research Aims and Research Questions. Significance of the study. Scope of the study.
Design of the study.3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Overview of anxiety and listening anxiety. Anxiety in listening comprehension. Causes of listening anxiety.
Effects of FLA on listening comprehension. Definition and benefits of using videos in learning English in general and in learning listening skill in particular. What is action research?. Rationale for the use of an action research.
The context of teaching and learning listening skill at THMC.18 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Data collection procedure. Data analysis procedure.23 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Students‟ initial attitude to listening skill.
Possible explanations for the students‟ listening anxiety. Changes in students attitude toward listening skill after using video. Impacts of video- based instruction on reducing students‟ anxiety in doing listening comprehension tasks. Video as a useful tool to solve the causes of the students‟ anxiety.
Changes in students‟ perceived learning (understanding and retention ) and performance………………………………………. Students‟ preference in doing listening activities. Students‟ preference toward video techniques used by the teacher in listening lessons. Students‟ assessment on the role of video.
Major findings and discussion of the research. The limitations of the research. Suggestion for further studies .I v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS Tables Table 1: Students‟ attitude toward listening before using video Table 2: Students‟ anxiety in listening lesson without video Table 3: The causes of the students‟ anxiety in the listening lessons Table 4: Students‟ attitude toward listening after using video Table 5: Students‟ anxiety in listening lesson using video Table 6: Students‟ preference in doing listening activities Table 7: Students‟ preference toward video techniques used by the teacher in listening lessons Figures Figure 1: Change in percentage of students‟ comprehension after using video Figure 2: Change in percentage of students‟ retention after using video Pie charts Chart 1: Students‟ assessment on the importance of video Chart 2: Students‟ assessment on effectiveness of video material vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS TMC: Thanh Hoa Medical College L1: first language L2: second language ULIS: University of Language and International Studies IT: Information Technology Ss: students ESP: English for special purpose FLA: Foreign Language Anxiety LC : Listening Comprehension vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Statement of the problem and rationale of the study Recently, technology has been recommended to be used in education with a view of providing learners with more learning opportunities.
Videos are among the technologies that are believed to have significant influences on second or foreign language learning. This type of technology is said to allow teacher to create virtually the target language environment into classroom so that live or prerecorded news, music, sports from all over the world can be viewed by students in real time. The advantages of using video in the language classroom have been recognized by many researchers in applied linguistics. The main advantage of using video as a technology for language teaching is considered to be its ability to present and immerse learners into complete communicative situations (Lonergan, 1984).
Another important advantage is the ability of video to cover non-verbal aspects of communication and its cross-cultural comparison potential (Stempleski & Tomalin, 1990). In addition, using video in the classroom allows differentiation of teaching and learning according to students‟ abilities, learning styles and personalities. Despite those benefits to language learners, the issue of how videos help to reduce the students‟ listening anxiety is not yet adequately explored. As a teacher I believe that anxiety inhibits students‟ participation in the learning processes, which affects negatively the students‟ acquisition of the target language.
Listening comprehension in foreign language learning causes a lot of anxiety among learners because of a variety of reasons. Therefore, efforts should be made to reduce the student anxiety as the first step towards a more learner- centered approach to foreign language teaching. One of the reasons that causes students‟ listening anxiety is that while listening to the recorded messages, students cannot see the speaker‟ face. This makes it impossible for them to use the non-linguistic cues such as facial expressions and other gestures to comprehend the speaker‟s message.
By using the video to visualize 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com the speakers and the communication settings, I believe that the teacher can help students to feel less anxious in doing the listening tasks. This is the rationale for this present study. Research Aims and Research Questions This action research is aimed to explore the impact of the teacher‟s use of videos on students‟ listening anxiety. To be specific, it is intended to gain understanding of the extent to which the use of videos helps to reduce students‟ listening anxiety.
So, the study is to find answers to the following research questions: Question 1: To what extent does the use of video in teaching listening change the attitude of second year English non-majors toward learning listening skill? Question 2: To what extent do the students’ changed attitudes to learning help to reduce their anxiety in doing listening comprehension tasks? 1. Significance of the study Although listening skill has always been given a significant in language teaching, the questions of how to teach and learn listening skill effectively often pose great problems to both teachers and students. This study primarily explores how the use of videos instruction reduces students‟ anxiety at THMC. It also serves as a valuable resource for teachers to gain a deep insight into the practice of video instruction at the college.
More importantly, an inventory of videos especially videos about medicine are very useful for nursing students. Because medical words are difficult and practical environments are not available. Videos can help them to understand the lesson, help them to be confident when performing listening tasks. Placing second-year students majoring in nursing at the centre of analysis, the study intends to help the population to succeed in improving listening comprehension.
On an other hand, the study can be beneficial to teachers of English at other colleges, who may undergo the same context of teaching and learning this skill. Scope of the study As an action research study, the study reported here is limited itself to the exploration of the extent to which the use of videos in teaching listening 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com comprehension helps to reduce their listening anxiety, thereby changing their attitudes towards listening comprehension. I believe that once the students feel more self-confident in listening comprehension and they have a positive attitude towards listening comprehension they will learn English better. After all, nobody can learn a foreign language well without the ability to understand the spoken language.
The results of this study will be used to deepen my understanding of how to use technology to reduce the my own students‟ learning anxiety. I do not intend to investigate other aspects of technology or the impact of video-based listening instruction on students‟ listening comprehension performance although this could be the focus of the second cycle of this action research project. Design of the study This study is divided into five chapters: Chapter 1, INTRODUCTION, presents the research problem and rationale of the study, the aims, scope, significance, methods as well as the design of the study. Chapter 2, LITERATURE REVIEW, deals with the theories involving anxiety in listening comprehension and the need of using video in listening comprehension.
Chapter 3, METHODOLOGY, presents the methodology applied in the study including participants, instrumentation, research process. Chapter 4, RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION, presents the results of the research and data analysis, from which major findings are revealed and discussed. Chapter 5, CONCLUSIONS, reviews the major findings and give conclusions, revises objectives and indicates some limitations of the study. And discussion and suggestions for further study are put forward.
3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter gives an overview of the literature in which key concepts, theories and previous studies in the field are presented. Overview of anxiety and listening anxiety 2. Anxiety Anxiety is quite possibly the affective factor that most pervasively obstructs the learning process. It is associated with negative feelings such as uneasiness, frustration, self-doubt, apprehension and tension.
Heron (1989:33) makes reference to what he terms existential anxiety, which arises out of a group situation and has three interconnected components that are relevant to the language classroom: “Acceptance anxiety. Will I be accepted, liked, wanted? Orientation anxiety. Will I understand what is going on? Performance anxiety. Will I be able to do what I have come to learn?” For acquisition to take place, the learner has to be able to absorb the appropriate parts of the input.
There can be “a mental block that prevents acquirers from fully utilizing the comprehensible input they receive for language acquisition” (Krashen, 1985, p. This block, called “ the affective filter”, might be because “ the acquirer is unmotivated, lacking in self-confidence, or anxious” (Krashen, 1985, p. The Affective Filter Hypothesis ascribes variation between learners to their psychological states. If the filter is “ up”, comprehensible input cannot get through; if it is “ down”, they can make effective use of it.
In particular the reason why younger learners are better at L2 acquisition over the long term is that “ the affective filter gains dramatically in strength at around puberty” (Krashen, 1985, p. Older learners are cut off from proper access to comprehensible input by the increased strength of the filter. In Krashen‟s words, “ comprehensible input and the strength of the filter are the true causes of second language acquisition” (Krashen, 1982, p.33), one positively, one negatively. 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com There are few, if any, disciplines in the curriculum which lay themselves open to anxiety production more than foreign or second language learning.
There is a great deal of vulnerability involved in trying to express oneself before others in a shaky linguistic vehicle. It is possible in some cases that the methodology used can contribute to furthering anxiety. With the grammar-translation method one might assume a reduction of the possibility of anxiety, since the learners have relatively little of themselves invested in the activities required. However, with the advent of methods which focus on communication, and especially communication involving more personal aspects of one‟s being, such as feelings, if care is not taken to provide emotionally safe atmosphere, the chance for the development of anxiety provoking situations can increase greatly.