VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ****************** LƯỜNG HẠNH NGÂN AN ACTION RESEARCH ON APPLYING A BLENDED LEARNING PROGRAM TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ TOEIC LISTENING PERFORMANCE IN A TOEIC CLASS (Nghiên cứu cải tiến sư phạm về việc áp dụng một chương trình học kết hợp công nghệ thông tin vào lớp học truyền thống để cải thiện khả năng nghe TOEIC của học sinh trong một lớp học TOEIC) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 HANOI - 2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ****************** LƯỜNG HẠNH NGÂN AN ACTION RESEARCH ON APPLYING A BLENDED LEARNING PROGRAM TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ TOEIC LISTENING PERFORMANCE IN A TOEIC CLASS (Nghiên cứu cải tiến sư phạm về việc áp dụng một chương trình học kết hợp công nghệ thông tin vào lớp học truyền thống để cải thiện khả năng nghe TOEIC của học sinh trong một lớp học TOEIC) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231. Dương Đức Minh HANOI - 2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I, Lường Hạnh Ngân, hereby certify that this thesis entitled: “An action research on applying a blended learning program to improve students‟ TOEIC listening performance in a TOEIC Class”, which is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, is the result of my own work.
I have provided fully documented references to the work of others. The material in this thesis has not been submitted for any other formal course of study. Hanoi, 2018 Lường Hạnh Ngân i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEGEMENTS This research paper would not have been completed without the help of many people to whom I would like to express my deep gratitude. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mr.
Dương Đức Minh, PhD for his wholehearted support, continuous motivation and precious guidance which was decisive factors to the completion of the thesis. I owe my parents their continuous support. Their patience and love have helped me go beyond what sometimes looks like an insurmountable task. I thank all my dear friends for their lifting my spirits at each turning point of this journey as well as for their great encouragement and valuable help during the data collection process.
Last but not least, I extend my special thanks to all the research participants. Without their valuable opinions and ideas in the questionnaires, the study would not have been accomplished. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This paper investigates the use of blended learning (BL) in an on-ground traditional face-to-face TOEIC course and seeks to determine the extent to which the blended TOEIC listening course significantly affects the improvement in students‟ TOEIC listening performance, how students experience the teacher‟s practice and behavior and measure the students‟ perceptions of the blended learning environment with respect to its effectiveness. The purpose is to explore how to prepare English teachers to create a productive BL environment for their students.
To carry out this study both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. In this case, the use of research may be directed by emphasizing on either quantitative or qualitative approaches in the mixed method research (Creswell, 2009). Qualitative and quantitative data were collected through the questionnaires at the end of the course. Quantitative data would also be collected and analyzed to evaluate the effect of the blended TOEIC listening course by continuous evaluation and the pretest and posttest at the beginning and the end of the course respectively.
The results from the data revealed that the Blended TOEIC listening course significantly affected the improvement in students‟ TOEIC listening performance. In addition, most of the students involved in the study are generally happy about the program and they recognize the benefits of the curriculum in enhancing interaction between them and their classmates as well as their teacher. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
vi LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES. vii PART A: INTRODUCTION. Aims of the study. Scope of the study.
Significance of the study .5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Overview of listening comprehension. Definition of listening comprehension. Significance of listening comprehension.
The listening comprehension process. Possible problems in listening comprehension. Overview of blended learning. Definition of blended learning .2 Features and possibilities of blended learning.
Challenges to implementation of blended learning. Blended learning and E-learning. Blended learning frameworks. Learning outcomes in blended learning.
Overview of the TOEIC listening test. The TOEIC test. TOEIC listening comprehension section. ICT tools and listening.
The blended TOEIC listening course .30 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .Context of the study .32 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Data collection instruments. Data collection procedures. Data analysis methods .39 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS, DISCUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.
Results and discussions. The level of the blended TOEIC listening course in the improvement of students‟ listening performance. Learners‟ attitudes towards the blended learning environment during their TOEIC listening course. Recommendations and suggestions for further studies.
Contribution of the study. I APPENDIX 1: TOEIC LISTENING COMPREHENSION TEST 1. I APPENDIX 2: TOEIC LISTENING COMPREHENSION TEST 2 .XII APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONNAIRE ABOUT BLENDED TOEIC LISTENING COURSE. XXII APPENDIX 4: REPLIES FOR OPEN QUESTIONS FROM LEARNERS XXV APPENDIX 5: TOEIC LISTENING SYLLABUS (12 Sessions).
XXVI v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BL : Blended Learning ESL : English as Second Language EFL : English as Foreign Language ICT Information and Communications Technology : TOEIC Test of English for International Communication : L2 Second Language : N : Number MOODLE : Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 2.1 The pretest results Table 2.2 The course procedures Table 3.1 Group‟s performance in the pre-test and post-test Table 3.2 Results of the Paired-Sample T-tests Figure 1.1 Khan‟s Octagonal Framework (adapted by Singh, 2003) Figure 1.2 The homepage of Blended TOEIC listening course Figure 1.3 Further practice web page Figure 1.4 Assigned homework Figure 1.5 Summited homework Figure 1.6 Further exercises/practice Figure 1.7 The learners check the results of excersies Figure 3.1 Periodical test results Figure 3.2 Students‟ satisfaction of BL TOEIC listening course Figure 3.3 Students‟ attitude of online assignments Figure 3.4 Students‟ opinion about their online listening assignments Figure 3.5 Students‟ perception of online assignments Figure 3.6 Technical difficulties Figure 3.7 The impact of online activities on listening skills Figure 3.8 The impact of online assignments on specific listening skills Figure 3.9 Reasons for not completing the online assignments vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale With the emergence of online technology, the modern classroom is changing, nobody can deny the effectiveness of applying information communication and technology and the internet in foreign language teaching; therefore, living in the 21st century with a lot of new technologies coming into beings, teachers of English need to make use of these new technologies to apply in their English language teaching. The computer with the internet is the one among the achievements of the new technologies and computers have had a great marvellous impact in English language teaching, so merging these two fields - computers and English language is inevitable in a world where many things are being automated and implemented into computer programs. Listening ability is one of the important skills in foreign language learning and no one can deny its important role.
However, listening skills in language learning have not received sufficient attention and listening remains one of the least understood processes in language learning. Hardly has anyone doubted nowadays that listening skills must be trained and practices regularly and continuously. The contemporary application of high technology in language teaching and learning is listening online which can also be consolidated into traditional classroom listening to audio from cassettes or CDs. Researchers and language practitioners have also perpetuated that listening skills could be chosen by the learners for a long period of time and the present advantages of high technology allow the use of a combination of learning techniques in which the method blended learning of listening skills in English classrooms is employed and applied effectively.
From the own experience as an English teacher in teaching English in general and listening skill in specific, the researcher has found that students encounter many difficulties when studying listening and since having a big gap in listening comprehension, when converging on the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) syllabus they 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com tend to be disheartened. Most students were not able to get the required passing mark for the listening part and the students only got an average score of 150 over 495. Therefore, the researcher focused on listening comprehension rather than other skills and this thesis attempts to examine the practice of blended learning approach in the sense of its classic definition and present some evidence of its positive contribution to the students‟ TOEIC listening performance. Aims of the study This study aims to provide English teachers and students with productive blended learning environment in an intensive TOEIC listening course.
More specifically, this study seeks to discover to what extent the blended TOEIC listening course affects the improvement in students‟ TOEIC listening performance as well as to find out the attitudes of students about the blended learning environment during their TOEIC listening course. Research questions In order to fulfill the above mentioned aims, the study tried to answer two following questions: 1. To what extent does the blended TOEIC listening course affect the improvement in students’ TOEIC listening performance? 2. What are the students’ attitudes towards the blended learning environment during their TOEIC listening course? 4.
Scope of the study The study is idiosyncratic to a TOEIC listening class (TOEIC 450) in Centre for Human Resouce Development for Foreign Language Studies in Thai Nguyen, Viet Nam and restricted to the exposure of a limited number (N:16) of students as participants. The course is titled “TOEIC Listening Skills” and it aims at improving the listening comprehension of the learners; therefore, it gives them the opportunity to practice listening to various types of listening materials. Through this training course, students are introduced to the basic practices and strategies in listening comprehension. In addition, all the participants certified that they have a sufficient 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com amount of background on the information technologies and most of the participants were students at colleges or universities in Thai Nguyen.
Significance of the study Findings from this study will contribute to the field of teacher training, computer assisted language learning, and the area of blended learning research. First, this study provides a methodologically well-found approach to preparing ESL teachers for teaching listening in a blended language learning environment via blending a traditional face-to-face class and online learning environment to enhance the quality of TOEIC listening teaching and learning process in Vietnam. Another possible contribution of this study focuses on evaluating the productiveness and learner attitudes of a blended learning environment towards the effectiveness of the implementation of blended learning procedures into the TOEIC listening courses in order to determine the changes for improvements in terms of teaching and learning methods. Last but not least, the study contributes to dealing with the investigation of how teacher practice and behavior may influence student‟s satisfaction of a blended language learning environment.