VEETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES VŨ THỊ THANH HƯƠNG |A STUDY ON THE PROBLEMS IN TEACHING ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS TO} THE 10™ FORM STUDENTS AT PHU LY B HIGH SCHOOL, HA NAM AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS [im hiễu những khó khin cña giáo viên wong viée day ki nang nghe hidu cho hoc sinh lop 10 Trường THỊPT B Phả Lý, Hà Nam và một số giải phúp khúc phic) MENOR PROGRAM THESIS: FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 11410 Hanoi - 2012 VIETNAM NATIONAT, UNIVERSITY, HANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES tibet eee VU TH] THANH HI A STUDY ON THE PROBLEMS IN TEACHING ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS TO THE 10" FORM STUDENTS AT PHU LY B HIGH SCHOOL, HA NAM AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS (Tim hiéu nhOng khé khan cita giáo viên trang việc dạy kĩ năng nghe hiểu cho học sinh lớp 10 Trường THPT B Phũ Lý, Hà Niưn vừ một số giải pháp khắc phục) MINOR PROGRAM THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 601410 SUPERVISOR: KIM VAN TAT, M. Hanoi - 2012 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration Acknowledgements Abstract Table of contents List of abbreviations List of tables and charts. G2: 20 th th Hee L. Rationale of the stuổy.
Aims and objectives oŸ the study. Scope of the study. Methods of the study. Significance of the sludy 6.
Design of the sLudy PART U: DEVELOPMENT 3 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW L1. Definitions of lisleninys 5 1. Common methods of teaching ELS 5 1.3 Stages ofa listening lesson 6 1. Pre-lstening SiAgE.2, While-listening stage .3, Post-listoning stage.4, Strateges of listening, eorprehetsioh.
Problems with lstcning aetivitics. Problems from the listening ralerizls 12 1.3, Speed of speech. Problcms from student factors 1.1 Students’ low motivation.3 Students’ low level of proficiency. Students” limited vocabulary and structures .5 Sturderts” lack of backround knowledge.
15 CHAPTER2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.1 Introduction of language teaching and leaming conditions in PB school 16 21. Teaching and learning conditions.2 The new “Tieng Anh 10" textbook 17 3. Fom 1Ô listening objectives. is cesesrserrrrrrereeees LỄ 3.
Dala collecion msirumienils. Instrument one: Questionnaires - -. Instrument two: Interviews. CITAPTER 3: DATA Al DIS! IONS.
Quecstionnaires for studenfs. Questionnaires for teachers. Results of the mlerviewsố - - - - 30 —3. Summary - 3 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND SUGGESTED SOLLSIONS.
Teachers’ attitudes towards teaching HLS iy 6 41. Students’ attitudes towards learning ELS. Students’ difficulties in learning ELS 32 Al 4. Teachers’ difficulties in teaching ELS to grade 10 students 3 4.
es ssseesssareseeanissensiseasseseessesuiseeesnnssaesiseen làlà 4. Doïng pre-listenine activities effectively. Encouraging students to practice ELS outside the class. Giving support and cucouragemert! Es lR vii 4.4, Uperading teaching sids.
Adapting and ro-designing the tasks. Equipping students with listening strategies 38 43. Summary 39 PART I: CONCLUSIONS 40 L. Summary of the study 40 2.
Limitations of the study, 40 3. Recommendations for further study. - T Appendix 1: Questionnaire for students. I Appendix 2: Questionnaire for teachers.
Appendix 3: Interview questions for teachers. Appendix 4: Four teachers” answering interview questions. Appendix 5: Topics of the listening texts in English textbook 10. VIE Appendix 6: Contents of some listening lessons.
Ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS PR school Phuly B high school ELS English Listening, Skills LIST OF TABLES Tables Titles Pages Table 1 | Students’ altitudes towards the importance of listening skills 20 Table 2 | Teachers’ techniques of encouraging students 3 Table 3. | Factors affecting students in learning DLS 24 Table 4 | Students’ suggested techniques to belior caching ELS 25 Table 5 | Teachers’ assessment of listening tasks in “Tieng Anh 10” textbook | 25 ‘Table 6 | Teachers’ opinion of students’ attitudes Lawards lisLonimg lessons 26 Table 7 | Difficulties encountered by the teachers 2? ‘Table 8 | The frequency of teachers’ using techniques ina listening lesson 2B Table 9 | Teachers’ suggested solutions ta improve listening teaching 29 LIST OF CHARTS Charts Titles Pages Chart] | Students’ assessment. of tasks m the “Tieng Anh 10” textbook 21 Chart 2 | Stuđents' attimdes towarcb the time for learimp ELS 2 Chart 3 | Students’ frequency of listening to English outside the class 22 PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale af the study In Vietnam, in the recstd yoars, the teaching end leaming of English have been gaining significance fixstly because it is an international language; secondly it is also seen as a means to promote nmtual understanding and cooperation between Viet Nam and other countnes.
Thore have been an increasing number of peuple desiring to know English with the hope of keeping up with the latest modern technology in the world, English has now been taught not only al all universilies and colleges, bul also at almosl every senior high school and it is considered as a compulsory subject at secondary schools. At PB school, where the author studies, English is a compulsory subject in the curriculum and it is considered as a major subject for the high school examination, It is taught with the purpose that studenls have some basic knowledge of English in order lo communicate and to use it as a key to science and technology. However, there still exist many difficulties facing English language teachers at PB school, especially in Leaching listening skills to students, The teachers of English at PB school tind it difficult to teach listening lessons successfully, Listening has long been considered a difficult and boring subject by many second language Joamners. TL takes much lime and energy to make progross in this skill, For listening teachers, it is a difficult task to get students involved in listening lessons.
At my school, teaching listening is really a problem. In addition to the lack of well-equipped facilities, teaching listening methads are not satisfactory. Another problem is students? low level of proficiency in tems of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, skills and so forth. It is the reason why students find it difficult and tough to listen to and they are not confident cnough to do listsning tasks successfully.
Morcovar, learning habits do not hetp mach to improve their Listening in classroom. All of the above reasons have inspired the author to do the research “A Suedy on the Problems in Teaching English Listening Skills to the 10” form Students at Phu Ly B High School and some Suggested Solutions” with the hope to make a small contribution to the quality of teaching and learning listening skills at PB school 2, Aims and objectives of the study Within the framework ofa minor the the study is aimed at - Clarifying the practices of teaching and leaming ELS in 10 form in PB school. - Finding out the difficultics teachers and students in 10 form in PB school have had to undergo. - Suggesling some feasible solutions to the teaching of BLS for 10! form sturtenis, It may appear contradictory that in the first two concentrations, the study aitempts to investigate both Isaching and learning of FT.S whereas the main topic raised in the titke of the study is only about the teaching, However, according to Brown (2007), it is not a contradiction “if we look at the teaching process as the facilitation of learning.
Scope of the study Learning a second language as a scholar once said “is a long and complex undertaking”. ‘Therefore, teachers ofa second language certainly have many problems during their teaching In the scope of this research, however, the re archer onty has ambition to investigale the difficulties that teachers in PB school have been facing when teaching listening skill for 10" graders, Hopefully, they will have more smooth and successful listening lessons. Also, it is not expocted that thhe situty cam bring solutions fo the ELS teaching for students of alt lovels 4, Methods of the study ‘The study is designed to use both qualitative and quantitative methods. Besides, many resource uch as hooks, maguzines, artich spapers: and some sour on the Toler have been read by the researcher.
In order Lo gain the most reliable rasults, the quantitative data will bo collected through two survey questionnaizes, One survey questionnaire is for 180 students tiom four different groups in grads 10 in PR school and the other survey is for 7 teachers. The data, then, will be processed and analyzed to yield conclusions for the study. Along with the quantitative method, the qualitative data has been obtained by informal interviews with some teachers to collect further information about the real situations of icaching and lcurning FSI. in grade 10 al, PR schoot 5, Significance of the study ‘This research provides an insight into the problems that are often met by teachers teaching English for 10 form students in PB school.
In addition, this rescarch also points out some feasible solutions which are beneficial for both teachers and students, Tlopefidly, the findings and recommendations of this siudy will be of some help to the improvement of the teaching and learning ELS of Vietnamese students in general and of PB school students in particular. The study also gives some guidelines for teachers to help their students overcome their listening comprehension problems. The results of this study may also ‘be useful for those who are interested in this field. Design of the study ‘The study is divided into three parts: the Introduction, the Development and the Conclusion.
Part |: INTRODUCTION- deals with the rationales, aims, methods, scope, significance and design of the sludy. Part Tl: DEVELOPMENT -— consists af three chapters Chapter 1: Literature review — provides some theoretical background about listening comprehension, loaching listening skill and problems with listening activities, Chapter 2: Methodology — presents the current situation of teaching and learning Tisterring at PR school This chaptsr also deals wilh the introduction of the rescareh methads which cover rescarch questions, the participants and data collvetion instrament, Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussions — presents the data results, analysis collected from two questionnaires as well as the interviews. Chapter 4: Findings and suggested solutions — concludes the findings the researcher has from the study and proposes some sobations lo the tzaching of FLS to 10" form students in PB school. Part IM: CONCLUSION- gives @ brief description of the study and states the limitations as well as recommendations for further research.
PART II: DEVELOPMENT CIIAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Definitions of listening ‘There appear many different points of view on the definition of listening Underwood (1989, p.1) describes listening in a simple and easily understandable way: “Lastening is the activity of paying attention to and trying io get meaning from something vou hear”. As a matter of fact, to succeed in listening, the duty of listeners is not only to understand of the words given, but also seek the real meaning hidden in words.3) asscrts listening in communicative approach: “Listening comprehension is the result of an interaction between a number of information sources, which include the acoustic input, different types of linguistic knowledge, detail of the context, and general word knowledge, and» so forh, and listeners use whalever information they have available, or what ever information seems relevant to help them interpret what the speaker is saying”. In this definition, Buck aims to highlight the active role of the leamers who act as the negotiators and integrators in the process of learning listening.
In this proccss, Jearers activate hoth linguistic cues and nonlinguistic knowledge to achieve the meaning. In olher words, listening is the active combination of new input gained by what, the listeners get and their prior knowledge and experience. This view is valuable and worth considering in setting up listening syllabus in the sense that it aims to build commmmnicative competence 1o The leamers in Histening lessons To conclude, listening demands many skills. It is an active process in which Icarners use their prior knowledge to infer the message of the listening text.