MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND TRADE INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------ GRADUATION THESIS AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE ATTITUDES OF THE SECOND-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS TOWARDS USING TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE THEIR RECEPTIVE SKILLS AT THE FFL OF THE IUH STUDENT’S NAME : LE THI KIM CHUNG STUDENT ID NUMBER : 10058691 CLASS : DHAV6 COURSE : 2010-1014 SUPERVISOR : LE THI THIEN PHUOC, M. HCMC, July 2014 Supervisor: Lê Thị Thiên Phước, M. Page i Date of submission: July 11, 2014 Student Name: Le Thi Kim Chung Supervisor’s Name: Le Thi Thien Phuoc M. “I certify that this work is entirely my own and has not been accepted as part of a submission to another purpose else.” Signed: …………………………………………………… Word length: 14.212 words DECLARATION I, Le Thi Kim Chung, declare that this research is the product of my own work and that all the sources of information I have used are listed in the references.
I also declare that this work has not been accepted as part of a submission to another purpose elsewhere. Le Thi Kim Chung Supervisor: Lê Thị Thiên Phước, M. Page iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. i TABLE OF CONTENTS.
iv LIST OF TABLES. viii LIST OF FIGURES. xi SUPERVISOR‟S REMARK. xii OPPONENT‟S REMARK.
xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .1 Rationale of the research .2 Context of the research .3 Purposes of the reasearch .5 Significance of the research .6 Scope of the research. 4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .1 AN OVERVIEW OF RECEPTIVE SKILLS .1 Definition of Receptive skills .2 Types of Receptive skills.3 Importance of Receptive skills .2 AN OVERVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY .1 Definition of Educational technology.2 Technology-enhanced language learning .3 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TECHNOLOGY AND RECEPTIVE SKILLS. 11 Supervisor: Lê Thị Thiên Phước, M.1 Technology and listening skill.2 Technology and Reading skill .4 IMPORTANCE OF USING TECHNOLOGY IN LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING .2 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT .3 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE .4 DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE. 19 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .1 SOME TYPICAL KINDS OF TECHNOLOGY BEING USED BY THE STUDENTS TO IMPROVE THEIR RECEPTIVE SKILLS .1 Technological devices have been used to improve the students‟ listening skill .2 Technological devices have been used for improving reading skill .2 THE EFFECTS OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL DEVICES USE ON THE STUDENTS‟ RECEPTIVE SKILLS .1 Students‟ evaluation about the importance of using technological devices in improving their receptive skills .2 Students‟ final Listening 4 and Reading 4 results in the last semester.3 The frequency that the students used technology to improve their receptive skill.4 The advantages of using technology to improve the students‟ receptive skills .3 DIFFICULTIES WHEN LEARNING RECEPTIVE SKILLS AND USING TECHNOLOGICAL DEVICES TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS‟ RECEPTIVE SKILLS.1 The problems that students faced when learning receptive skills in their classes.
40 Supervisor: Lê Thị Thiên Phước, M.2 The problems that students faced when using technological devices for the improvement of the receptive skills. 43 CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION .2 Recommendations for teachers .3 Recommendations for students .2 LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH. 1 Supervisor: Lê Thị Thiên Phước, M. Page vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS FFL: Faculty of Foreign Languages IUH: Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City No: Number Supervisor: Lê Thị Thiên Phước, M.
Page vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1:The number of students who have used technological devices and applications in listening skill. 21 Table 2: The number of students who have used technological devices and applications in reading skill. 22 Table 3: Students‟ final listening and reading results in last semester (%). 24 Table 4: Students‟ satisfaction about listening and reading results in last semester.
24 Table 5: The frequency that the students used satellite TV/Radio in their receptive skills. 27 Table 6: The frequency that the students used phone to improve their receptive skills. 28 Table 7: The frequency that the students used Ipod/Mp3 to improve their listening skill. 29 Table 8: The frequency that the students used online applications to improve their receptive skills.
30 Table 9: The frequency that the students used online dictionaries to improve their receptive skills. 30 Table 10: The advantages of Ipod and Mp3 players that support the students‟ English listening skill. 37 Table 11: Problems facing students in learning receptive skills. 41 Table 12: The problems being faced by the students in using technological devices to improve their receptive skills.
42 Supervisor: Lê Thị Thiên Phước, M. Page viii Student: LÊ THỊ KIM CHUNG ID number: 10058691 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The students‟ evaluation about the importance of using technical devices in improving their receptive skills. 23 Figure 2: The frequency that the students used computer to improve their listening skill. 25 Figure 3: The frequency that the students used computer to improve their reading skill.
26 Figure 4: How computer was used to improve the students‟ receptive skills. 32 Figure 5: How satellite TV helped the students improve their receptive skills. 33 Figure 6: How radio helped the students improve their receptive skills. 34 Figure 7: How mobile phones helped the students improve their receptive skills.
35 Figure 8: Students‟ improvement in using CD-players in their listening skill. 36 Figure 9: How the students used social media to improve their receptive skills. 38 Figure 10: Students' evaluation about using different kinds of online dictionary in their Receptive skills. 39 Supervisor: Lê Thị Thiên Phước, M.
Page ix Student: LÊ THỊ KIM CHUNG ID number: 10058691 ABSTRACT This study is an attempt to investigate the attitudes of the second-year English majors towards using technology to improve their receptive skills in Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City. The main purposes of the study are to find out: types of technological devices have been used to improve the students‟ receptive skills, the benefits that the students get from using technology, the difficulties that the students faced when using technology to improve their receptive skills, then give some suggested solutions for teachers to engage the students to learn listening and reading subjects in classes and give solutions for students to overcome the difficulties of learning two those skills and applying technical devices efficiently in improving their receptive skills. The study consists of five chapters. First of all, the writer gives an overall introduction of the research in chapter one.
The second chapter is the literature review which summarizes related theories and studies. Then chapter three presents research methodology. Chapter four continues with the findings from collected data, explanation and discussion. Finally, chapter five offers some recommendations and conclusion for the thesis.
Supervisor: Lê Thị Thiên Phước, M. Page x Student: LÊ THỊ KIM CHUNG ID number: 10058691 ACKNOWLEDGMENT In the process of completing this research paper, I have received a great deal of help, guidance and encouragement from my teacher, friends and my family. First of all, I would like to express my deepest thanks to Ms. Le Thi Thien Phuoc, my experienced instructor, whose passionate enthusiasm and precise guidance have come along my journey to fulfill this assignment on schedule.
Next, I am indebted to the class DHAV8. It was very kind of them to spend their precious time on my questionnaires, whose data were significant in this research. I also wish to express my appreciation to my friends who have given me numerous spiritual encouragements. Especially, I am profoundly grateful to all the members in my family.
They have been always beside me and given me their unconditional love which has been a greatest inspriration and driving force during my work. Last but not least, I wish to give a special thank to all those who have kindly given their advice and helped me with source materials during the writing of this thesis. Supervisor: Lê Thị Thiên Phước, M. Page xi Student: LÊ THỊ KIM CHUNG ID number: 10058691 SUPERVISOR’S REMARK Grade: .……………………… Supervisor: Lê Thị Thiên Phước, M.
Page xii Student: LÊ THỊ KIM CHUNG ID number: 10058691 OPPONENT’S REMARK Grade:. Supervisor: Lê Thị Thiên Phước, M. Page xiii Student: LÊ THỊ KIM CHUNG ID number: 10058691 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the research In recent decades, English has been more and more important in Vietnam. The importance of English is not only in how many people acquire the four macro skills in English: listening, speaking, reading and writing but also in the ways those skills are gained in the learning process of English language learners.
English is now widely known as the major language of intercommunication, international commerce and business, science and technology and so on. Thus, people with good English proficiency are extremely needed in any fields of society. As a result, there has been a positive trend of teaching and learning English across the country. The methods that teachers teach English as well as the ways language learners apply to learn English extremely affect their language skill acquisition.
With the rapidly advancing age of technology, language learners have more chances to improve their English skills with different kinds of technology. In other words, learners could consider technological devices as useful tools to support their language learning process. Besides, technology plays an important role in teaching language. It helps learners acquire their skills and enhance their motivation to learn English language skills which are divided into receptive and productive ones.
Efforts have been made by experts and researchers to find out effective teaching and learning methods through the use of technology as a learning tool to improve learners‟ language skills. Lacina (2004), Lin (2009), Scheffler and Logan (1999), Becker (1994), Hadley and Sheingold (1993) and some other linguists have studied the significance of educational technology. Their works reveal that technology is most valuable to teaching and learning once teachers integrate it as a tool into everyday classroom practice and into subject-matter curricula as well as learners apply it into their language learning process. Extracting meaning of language is the process of receptive skills including listening and reading.
Students need to receive and then understand language without producing it. In such a context, the researcher implements an investigation to look into the situation at Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City to see whether the English-majored learners have any benefits as well as any difficulties from the use of technological devices to improve their receptive skills. It is very essential to take a closer look at the effects of using technical devices in the improving students‟ receptive skills. Supervisor: LÊ THỊ THIÊN PHƯỚC, M.
Page 1 Student: LÊ THỊ KIM CHUNG ID number: 10058691 Above are the reasons encouraging the researcher to carry out the study entitled “ The attitudes of the second-year English majors towards using technology to improve their receptive skills”.2 Context of the research Today our world is increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse. Vietnam is on the way to integrate to the world trade, English is now rapidly appreciated. It becomes an international language in all fields from economy, politics, education to culture and society. To catch up with the rapidly advancing age of technology, learning English is extremely vital.
Hadley and Sheingold (1993) pointed that technology is most valuable to teaching and learning once teachers integrate it as a tool into everyday classroom practice and into subject-matter curricula. Technology makes it possible to overcome many different challenges in learning English language. Students learning English in colleges, universities or language centers are generally approached four basic skills, Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. Teaching strategies are important to engage students in learning second language.
Faculty of Foreign Languages (FFL) at IUH has been established for years to satisfy the need of learning English of students and got remarkable achievement. The faculty supplies learners with technology and essential facilities for teaching and learning English language. Especially, technology partly helps students improve their passive skills, Receptive skills including Listening and Reading one.