VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES ----- ----- ĐỖ KIM THUỲ A STUDY ON THE REALITY OF TEACHING LISTENING SKILLS TO SECOND-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY: RELEVANT PROBLEMS AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS Nghiên cứu thực trạng dạy kỹ năng nghe cho sinh viên không chuyên năm thứ 2 trường Đại học Công nghiệp Hà Nội: Khó khăn và một số giải pháp đề xuất M. Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HA NOI – 2015 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES ----- ----- ĐỖ KIM THUỲ A STUDY ON THE REALITY OF TEACHING LISTENING SKILLS TO SECOND-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY: RELEVANT PROBLEMS AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS Nghiên cứu thực trạng dạy kỹ năng nghe cho sinh viên không chuyên năm thứ 2 trường Đại học Công nghiệp Hà Nội: Khó khăn và một số giải pháp đề xuất M. Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: PhD. Mai Thi Loan HA NOI – 2015 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION I certify that the minor thesis entitled “A study on the reality of teaching listening skills to second-year non-English major students at Hanoi University of Industry: Relevant problems and some suggested solutions” is my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another degree to any other university or institution.
Hanoi, November 2015 Do Kim Thuy i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In the completion of this thesis, I have received valuable supports from many individuals and groups. First and foremost, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mrs. Mai Thi Loan, PhD. for providing careful guidance, thorough encouragement, valuable comments and constructive supervision throughout my study.
Without her deliberate help, my thesis would not have been completed. I would like to show my sincere thanks to all the lecturers who have been engaged in teaching K22 M. course for their precious lectures. My special thanks also go to my colleagues and students at Hanoi University of Industry for willingly participating in the study.
Furthermore, I owe my great acknowledgment to my parents, my husband, my son and my friends who unceasingly gave me encouragement and support throughout the study. Eventually, this research has been fulfilled to the best of my knowledge; however, mistakes and shortcomings are unavoidable. Therefore, I exceedingly appreciate comments and suggestions from any readers for the perfection of this work. Hanoi, November 2015 Do Kim Thuy ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT This study was conducted to investigate the reality of teaching listening skills at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI).
To collect relatively objective information, a combination of both qualitative and quantitative approaches was used. Data collection instruments consisted of questionnaires- one for teachers and one for students, and class observations. The findings pointed out that teachers and second- year non-English major students at HaUI were encountering many difficulties in teaching and learning listening such as students’ low listening competency, students’ limited vocabulary and students’ poor background knowledge. Some suggestions were made by the teachers and the students to improve the current situation of teaching listening skills at HaUI including using different motivating activities to motivate students; having students work in pairs/groups and do different tasks and guiding students what and how to do without understanding all the text.
At last, the researcher gave some recommendations for effective listening lessons. iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF ABBRIVIATION EFL: English as foreign language HaUI: Hanoi university of Industry iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Page Chart 1: The importance of teaching listening skills. 16 Chart 2: Teaching aids used in listening lessons. 18 Chart 3: Exercises often used at while-listening stage.
21 Chart 4: Activities often used at post-listening stage. 22 Chart 5: Teaching procedures followed by teachers. 22 Chart 6: Stages often omitted in listening classes. 23 Chart 7: Reasons for teachers' omission.
23 Chart 8: Students’ evaluation of the listening skill. 27 Chart 9: The importance of learning listening skills. 27 Chart 10: Students’ assessment towards listening topics in the textbook. 28 Chart 11: Level of difficulty of listening tasks in the textbook.
28 Chart 12: Students' favorite activities in listening classes. 29 Table 1: Listening strategies employed by teachers. 17 Table 2: Frequency of organizing pre-listening activities. 19 Table 3: Frequency of organizing while-listening activities.
20 Table 4: Teachers’ adaptation of listening sections in the textbook. 24 Table 5: Teachers’ difficulties in teaching listening skills. 25 Table 6: Teachers’ suggested solutions. 26 Table 7: Students’ difficulties in learning listening skills.
30 Table 8: Students’ suggested solutions. 31 Table 9: Teacher’s preparation. 32 Table 10: Teachers’ presentation. 33 Table 11: Teacher and students’ interaction.
34 v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. iv LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLE .v TABLE OF CONTENS. vi PART A: INTRODUCTION.
Rationale of the study. Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Methods of the study.
Significance of the study. Design of the study .4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definition of listening. Significance of listening.
Process of listening. Bottom-up listening process. Top-down listening process. Stages of a listening lesson.
Pre-listening stage. While-listening stage. Post-listening stage. Potential problems in listening .10 vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.11 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.
The English course and its objectives at HaUI. Data collection instruments. Data collection procedure. Data analysis method .15 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION.
Findings from questionnaire for the teachers. The importance of teaching listening skills. Teachers’ methodology and strategies of teaching listening. Teaching aids used in listening lessons.
Activities in listening lessons. Pre-listening stage. While-listening stage. Post-listening stage.
Teaching procedures of a listening lesson. Teachers’ adaptation of listening sections in the textbook. Teachers’ difficulties in teaching listening skills. Teachers’ suggestions for better teaching listening skills.
Findings from questionnaire for the students.27 vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Students’ attitudes towards listening learning. Evaluation of the listening skill. The importance of listening skills.
Evaluation and assessment on listening sections in the textbook. Listening topics in the textbook. Listening tasks in the textbook. Students’ difficulties in learning listening skills.
Students’ suggestions for better learning listening skills. Findings from class observations. Teacher and students’ interaction. Discussion of the findings.
For the school administrations. For the teachers. For the students. Limitations of the study.
Suggestions for further research. I Appendix A : Questionnaire for teachers. I Appendix B : Questionnaire for students (English version). VI Appendix C : Questionnaire for students (Vietnamese version).
IX Appendix D: Classroom observation checklist. XII viii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Listening plays an important role in everyday communication and educational process. In our daily lives, we spend far more time listening than speaking, reading or writing (Morley, 1991).
However, in many language classrooms, listening is somehow seen as a lesser skill. We must admit that speaking does not of itself constitute communication unless what is said is comprehended by another person. This shows the importance of listening comprehension, and implies that teachers need to distribute a considerable amount of classroom time to teaching and practicing it. In reality, in many universities in Vietnam in general and in HaUI in particular, teaching English listening skills has not been paid much attention to.
As a result, the qualities and effectiveness of teaching and learning these skills are not really as good and high as expected. In teaching listening, I encounter several difficulties such as large classes, learners with lots of different learning styles and diverse needs, etc. Besides, my colleagues also complain a lot about their problems. Hence, it is necessary to find out the effective ways for the teachers at HaUI to improve their teaching bringing better result in learning for students.
The above situations has inspired me to do the research entitled “A study on the reality of teaching listening skills to the second-year non-English major students at Hanoi University of Industry: Relevant problems and some suggested solutions” with the hope of making some contributions to improving the teaching and learning of English listening skills at HaUI. Aims of the study The study aims to investigate: The current situation of teaching English listening skills to the second-year non-English major students at HaUI; 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Teachers’ and students’ difficulties in teaching and learning listening skills; Suggested solutions for improving teaching listening skills for second-year non-English major students at HaUI. Research questions To achieve the aims of the study, we tend to seek answers for these questions: 1. What is the reality of teaching listening skills for the second-year non-English major students at HaUI? 2.
What difficulties do EFL teachers and students encounter in teaching and learning listening skills? 3. What are the solutions for improving the quality of teaching listening to the second-year non-English major students at HaUI? 4. Scope of the study This study is limited to the reality of teaching listening skills to second-year non-English major students at HaUI. Any investigation into other skills such as reading, writing or speaking is out of the scope of this study.
This study is conducted to a specific object at HaUI; therefore, it is not expected to be generalized to other school contexts. However, it may be a useful reference material for those who encounter the same problems in teaching listening skills. Methods of the study This study was designed to use both quantitative and qualitative methods. Firstly, the quantitative method was applied with the use of questionnaires delivered to teachers and students to find out the reality of teaching listening skills at HaUI, the difficulties of the teachers and the students in teaching and learning listening skills and their solutions for better teaching and learning this skill.
Together with this, qualitative method was conducted with classroom observations. This was a necessary step for the researcher to double-check what was actually happening in listening lessons. Besides, the researcher also reviewed related documents for the establishment of the theoretical background for the study. 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.
Significance of the study Listening is considered the most difficult skill to students of both English- major and non-English major. Therefore, enhancing listening skills is a crucial factor in raising students’ English proficiency. To gain such goal, it is necessary for teachers of English to realize the importance of how to make advance and feel interested in teaching listening skills. This study has been conducted with the hope of contributing to the progress in teaching English of the teachers at HaUI, which is expected to bring about brighter future for the students’ capacity of listening skills.
Furthermore, the results of the study may suggest ideas for later research in the same field. Design of the study This study is divided into three main parts: Part A: Introduction presents the rationale, the aim, the research questions, the scope, the methods, the significance and the design of the study. Part B: Development consists of three chapters: Chapter one presents the literature review; Chapter two shows the methodology of the study; Chapter three includes data analysis and discussion. Part C: Conclusion offers a summary of the study and some suggestions for further study.
Besides, the questionnaires for the teachers and students and the classroom observation checklist are included in the appendices.