VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CURRENT SITUATION OF USING MULTIMEDIA IN LEARNING LISTENING SKILLS OF THE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE KHẢO SÁT THỰC TRẠNG SỬ DỤNG CÔNG NGHỆ ĐA PHƯƠNG TIỆN TRONG HỌC KỸ NĂNG NGHE TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TẠI HỌC VIỆN NÔNG NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM Student: TO THI THUONG Student code: 621276 Major: ENGLISH Supervisor: NGUYEN THI HUONG, M.A Hanoi – 2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled "An investigation into the current situation of using multimedia in learning listening skills of the first-year English majors at Vietnam National University of Agriculture" submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor in English Language. Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis. Hanoi, 2021 To Thi Thuong Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date: …………………… i ABSTRACT Listening comprehension plays an important role in the language teaching and learning process. In an attempt to enhance first year English majors' listening comprehension in English listening class at VNUA, this paper is practiced.
The study aims to find out the current situation of first-year English majors at VNUA in using multimedia tools in learning English; then offer solutions to improve students' listening comprehension. The author used questionnaire and interviews as the principal sources of data. Analyze of these data indicated that the multimedia tools really helped enhance students' listening comprehesion. The students were found to have been attracted to the listening when the teachers used multimedia tools in teaching.
Based on the findings of this study, some pratical recommendations in application of these tools for teaching listening skill were presented. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I: INTRODUCTION. Rationale for the study. Aims and objectives of the study.
Scope of the study. Significance of the study. Design of the study. 4 PART II: DEVELOPMENT.
5 Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. REVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDIES. DEFINITIONS OF LISTENING. FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS' LISTENING COMPREHENSION12 1.
The linguistic factors. The non-linguistic factors. DEFINITIONS OF MULTIMEDIA. THEORETICAL BASIS OF USING MULTIMEDIA TOOLS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING.
Krashen's Affective Filter Hypothesis. MULTIMEDIA TOOLS AND LANGUAGE TEACHING. Support for using multimedia tools in language teaching. Critiques of using multimedia tools in language teaching.
TEACHERS' ROLE AND STUDENTS' ROLE IN MULTIMEDIA ENVIRONMENT. MULTIMEDIA AT VNUA. RESEARCH GOVERNING ORIENTATION. Data analysis method.
RESEARCH SETTING/CONTEXT. DATA COLLECTING PROCEDURES. 32 Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. STUDENT'S REAL SITUATIONS OF LEARNING ENGLISH LISTENING SKILL.
FINDINGS OF A QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY. FINDINGS FROM INTERVEWS. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS. Limitation of the current research.
Recommendations for using multimedia tools in teaching listening effectively. Suggestions for further study. Rationale for the study As an international language, English plays a vital role in the modern society. It is needed for all areas in life.
In Viet Nam, English has been taught from primary school to higher education levels in recent years. It is well known that listening comprehension plays a key role in foreign language learning. Listening is one of the skills that form the basis of one’s communicative competence. Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) is a multidisciplinary training school, a key national university.
The English training program for students is one of the key and long-term strategies of VNUA. In the training program of VNUA, English is compulsory for each student. The first-year English major students are between the ages of eighteen and nineteen. They have learnt English for many years at secondary and high school.
However, they mainly focused on grammar and writing but not listening. They seem to feel unfamiliar with listening lessons and many students say that they feel difficult when doing the listening test on the computer. They only study listening in the class with the CD player and text and say listening is boring and hard to study. As a student in this school, the author questioned herself whether using multimedia tools will motivate the students in learning listening as well as improve their listening skills.
At VNUA, teachers use the textbook Starting Skills to teach English to English major students. Usually, teachers would come to class, play the CDs and students would listen and do the listening tasks in this book with no additional activities and exercises. Therefore, listening lessons are usually boring and students do not like these lessons. 1 Nowadays, information technology is developing faster and faster so the use of multimedia technology in learning English has many advantages.
For example, Gilakjani (2012) argues that "The use of multimedia in teaching and learning leads to higher learning ." Healey et al (2008) also assert that the use of technology for teaching and learning is moving their institution in the right direction. For all these reasons, the author would like to do the research on investigating the current situation and suggested solutions of VNUA first-year English majors' multimedia-based learning listening skills. Aims and objectives of the study 2. Aims The main aim of this study is to investigate the current situation of using multimedia in learning listening skills of VNUA first-year English majors.
Objectives The overall purpose of this survey is to investigate the following issues: • Investigate the current situation of using multimedia in learning listening skills of VNUA first-year English majors. • Propose some solutions to improve students' using multimedia in learning listening comprehension skills. Research questions This study is conducted to seek the answer to the following research questions: a. What is the current situation of using multimedia in learning listening skills of VNUA first-year English majors? b.
What are some solutions to improve students' using multimedia in learning listening comprehension skills? 2 4. Scope of the study - Research subjects: the first-year English majors at Vietnam National University of Agriculture. The total numbers of the first-year English majors: 139 Students • K65ENGA: 34 students • K65ENGB: 25 students • K65ENGC: 33 students • K65ENGD: 29 students • K65ENGE: 18 students - Research objects: Using multimedia in learning listening skills of first-year English majors at VNUA - Time: From January 2021 to July 2021. However, because the number of participants and time are limited, this study can not cover the whole issue of listening skill.
Moreover, the study could not touch upon all the students at VNUA. It is confined to the first-year students in English majors at VNUA only. Significance of the study This project will focus on researching and learning about multimedia-based learning listening skills. The researcher tries to find out the effectiveness of using multimedia tools in learning listening and through which learners will gain a deeper understanding of the meaning of using multimedia in learning listening skills, and how to use efficiently and improve students' listening comprehension.
Design of the study Apart from abstracts, references & appendices, the study consists of three main parts: PART 1: INTRODUCTION, presents rationale of the study, aims and objectives of the study, research questions, the scope as well as the significance of the study. PART 2: DEVELOPMENT is divided into 3 chapters: • Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW, provides theoretical background for the study including definitions of listening as well as multimedia tools. The difficulties of learning listening are provided in this chapter. The author also shows the relationship between multimedia tools and learning listening, the roles of teachers and students in multimedia environment.
Many previous foreign and Vietnamese studies are included in this chapter. • Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY, describes the methodology used in the research including the research governing orientation, data collection instruments, participants, the procedures employed to carry out the research. • Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS, reports and discusses the findings of the study. PART 3: CONCLUSION, summarizes the research and states the conclusion, the limitations of the study as well as the suggestions for further study.
4 PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW In this chapter, the author addresses issues relating to listening, multimedia tools, and the application of multimedia tools in language teaching. There are nine sections in this chapter. The first section is the previous research about the application of multimedia tools in language teaching and learning in foreign countries as well as in Vietnam. The second section is to examine different views on the definitions of listening; the factors affecting students' listening comprehension are mentioned in the third section.
In the fourth section, the definitions of multimedia are presented. Theoretical basis of using multimedia tools in language teaching is described in the fifth section. The author provides many ideas about applying multimedia tools in language teaching in the next section. The seventh section is designed to look at the teachers' role and students' role in multimedia environment.
The use of multimedia at VNUA is discussed in the eighth section. The chapter is closed with summary. REVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDIES Many studies about the application of multimedia tools have been conducted in foreign countries as well as in Viet Nam 1. Foreign research Smidt and Hegelheimer (2004) conducted a study to find the impact of web- delivered video and flexible listening strategy on students’ listening comprehension.
They gave the pre-test and post-test on vocabulary on a 15-minutes lecture about horticulture to twenty-four ESL students from a listening course. The result showed that the use of videotext and other visual materials like PowerPoint slides in a listening course helped improve student's listening. 5 Yang and Fang (2008) presented some advantages and eight principles for using multimedia tools in their study. They aimed to improve students' competence in thinking and practicing using multimedia and the creation of context in optimizing English-language teaching.
According to the authors, there are several advantages to employing multimedia to create a context in which to teach English. The researchers explored the characteristics of multimedia and how to use multimedia to optimize the context of English teaching. These authors also found that eight principles of systematization - authenticity, appropriateness, interactivity, coordination, interactivity, coordination, pluralism, intelligibility, and penetrability - are used for this purpose. Shuell and Farber (2001) examined the attitudes of over 700 college students towards the use of computer technology in twenty courses representing a wide range of academic disciplines.
Students were very positive about the use of technology in their learning. Joanna and Philip (1999) did a research at City University of Hong Kong which evaluated the effectiveness of a multimedia-based English language learning program. According to the findings, students who finished the curriculum in a multimedia-enhanced manner improved their listening abilities significantly more than students who completed the same syllabus in a traditional classroom mode. The results also demonstrate positive attitudinal changes for the multimedia-enhanced mode of learning.
Additionally, the article elaborates on the teaching-learning experience from the student and facilitator perspective. Hammadi conducted the research about "The effectiveness of using multimedia software in developing some listening skills among Saudi secondary school students". In order to measure the effectiveness of using multimedia software in developing some listening skills, he prepared a pre-test and 6 a post-test at the beginning and at the end of the experiment to measure the students' listening skills. The result of the pre-test shows that at the beginning of the experiment there were no statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups.
After using multimedia software in teaching listening, the researcher gave two groups the post-test and compared the differences between two groups. The result of post-test shows that there were significant differences in the post-test mean scores of the experimental and control groups on the total listening comprehension test in favor of the experimental group.