MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND TRADE INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------ GRADUATION THESIS A RESEARCH ON LINGUISTIC FACTORS AFFECTING THE PERFORMANCES OF THE FRESHMEN WHO ARE NON-MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS ON TOEIC LISTENING TEST AT IUH STUDENT NAME : NGUYỄN THỊ QUỲNH NHƯ ID NUMBER : 17032981 CLASS CODE : DHAV13B COHORT : 2017-2021 SUPERVISOR NAME : ĐINH THỊ HOA, M.A HCMC, 06/2021 MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND TRADE INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------ GRADUATION THESIS A RESEARCH ON LINGUISTIC FACTORS AFFECTING THE PERFORMANCES OF THE FRESHMEN WHO ARE NON-MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS ON TOEIC LISTENING TEST AT IUH STUDENT NAME : NGUYỄN THỊ QUỲNH NHƯ ID NUMBER : 17032981 CLASS CODE : DHAV13B COHORT : 2017-2021 SUPERVISOR NAME : ĐINH THỊ HOA, M.A HCMC, 06/2021 Submitted by: Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Như ID number: 17032981 MINISTRY OF INDUSTRIAL AND TRADE INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES Student’s name: NGUYỄN THỊ QUỲNH NHƯ Student’s ID: 17032981 Class: DHAV13B Supervisor: ĐINH THỊ HOA, M. Student’s declaration: I declare that this graduation report is entirely my own works and does not involve in plagiarism or collusion. It also has not been accepted as part of a submission to another purpose elsewhere. I accept heavy penalty for any cheating or plagiarism.
Date submitted: June 20th, 2021 Signed:. Word length: 7284 words Supervisor: Đinh Thị Hoa, M.A Submitted by: Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Như ID number: 17032981 Title: A RESEARCH ON LINGUISTIC FACTORS AFFECTING THE PERFORMANCES OF THE FRESHMEN WHO ARE NON-MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS ON TOEIC LISTENING TEST AT IUH Supervisor: Đinh Thị Hoa, M.A Submitted by: Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Như ID number: 17032981 ABSTRACT In the process of learning a foreign language in general, and the TOEIC learning test in particular, listening ability, especially listening comprehension is plays an extremely important role. In recent years, research into learning and teaching English listening skills has piqued Vietnamese interest. However, there is still a lack of study on the key factors influencing the TOEIC listening test of non-major English students at IUH.
As a result, the aim of this research is to look into the linguistic factors that influence the performance of the freshmen who are non-major in English at IUH. Questionnaires are used as main instrument to collect data. Based on the findings, the researcher proposes some recommendations for teachers and students to help students develop listening skills and eventually improve TOEIC listening test scores as well as to help learners to overcome their listening problems. Keywords: Listening, Listening TOEIC test, Linguistic factors.
Supervisor: Đinh Thị Hoa, M.A Submitted by: Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Như ID number: 17032981 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I would like to express thanks to the School Board of the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City and the Faculty of Foreign Languages for generating chances me to know how to work on the final proposal. Secondly, I would like to express my endless thanks and gratefulness to my supervisor Mrs Dinh Thi Hoa. Her kind-hearted support and continuous advice went through the process of completion of my graduation report. Her encouragement and comments had significantly enriched and improved my graduation report.
The graduation report would have been impossible to complete without her enthusiasm and instructions. With deepest gratitude, allowing me to express my gratitude for their co-operation during the time I collected data and information for my research. Furthermore, I would like to thank my group members and especially are Tang Thi Kha Phuong who often shared my feelings and gave me timely advice during the internship. And she is also help me overcome all the difficulties to finish this internship report.
In short, I really thank to all people helping me to finish this graduation thesis. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the teacher's guidance, my colleagues, and my family for their unwavering help and encouragement over the past four years as I prepared for life. Supervisor: Đinh Thị Hoa, M.A Submitted by: Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Như ID number: 17032981 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .4 Scope of the study .3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.1 Definitions of key term/concepts. Listening TOEIC test .2 Results of previous studies.1 Listening Support in a Variety of Forms Reduces Listening Test Anxiety .2 A study of the major factors influencing the TOEIC listening test scores of freshmen who are not majoring in English.3 Factors affecting listening in L2 learning.
9 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN .1 Research site/context.3 Research methodology and research methods. 14 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .15 Supervisor: Đinh Thị Hoa, M.A Submitted by: Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Như ID number: 17032981 4.1 The current state of students' listening abilities .2 How are IUH freshmen’s attitudes towards TOEIC listening test .3 The linguistic factors affecting IUH freshmen’s performance on TOEIC listening test .4 Improve TOEIC listening results for IUH freshmen .1 How are IUH freshmen’s attitudes towards TOEIC listening test .2 The linguistic factors affecting IUH freshmen’s performance on TOEIC listening test .3 How to improve Toeic listening result for IUH freshmen .1 Summary of the research .2 Solutions to solving the cause of IUH's first-year students' who are non- major English difficulty listening to listening skills .3 Limitation of the study. 33 REFERENCES APPENDENCIES Supervisor: Đinh Thị Hoa, M.A Submitted by: Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Như ID number: 17032981 TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: The years that students have learned English.2: Student's opinion on the TOEIC.3: Student's opinion about the TOEIC listening test .4: Students' emotions when taking the Toeic listening exam.5: Students spend time practicing their listening skills on a daily basis .6: The most boring and difficult part of the TOEIC listening test .7: The factors that affected listening skills.8: Some activities students usually do to improve listening skills .9: Student's opinion the importance of need to have the strategies for listening test.10: Some activities students usually do before doing the TOEIC listening test .11: Activities students usually do while doing listening TOEIC test .12: Student's opinion about activities students usually do when they can not listen to the test.27 Supervisor: Đinh Thị Hoa, M.A Submitted by: Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Như ID number: 17032981 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Supervisor: Đinh Thị Hoa, M.A Page 1 Submitted by: Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Như ID number: 17032981 1.1 Rationale In today’s globalised economy, English is the universal language and it also has been widely spoken language in the world, it is considered our primary source of communication as well as it has long served as an international language of entertainment, science, business, information technology, travelling and so on. Moreover, Being able to communicate in a foreign language not only helps you find jobs, but it also help you to interact with people and learn more about different cultures, locations, and lifestyles.
The more professional you are, the more easily you can express yourself. Therefore, English is the most important foreign language that is most absolutely in the foreign language in Viet Nam. With all going on in our lives these days, learning English is becoming easier. We can study using the Internet, which also allows us to communicate with international friends and gather information.
We can go for a walk in the park and talk with other tourists. Learning English is divided into several parts, each of which addresses a distinct need. Formerly, the A, B, and C certificates were the most common in our country. However, the standards for English certificates have become more stringent in recent years as society has grown and international integration has increased.
As a result, an increasing number of degrees exist to determine a person's English proficiency, such as TOEFL, IELTS, and TOEIC. Depending on the goals of each individual that choose different study programs. Nowadays, many universities in Vietnam use English certificates to direct offer in the university such as Foreign Trade University, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Ho Chi Minh University of Technology and Education,. unclock thousands of doors for students.
Thus, learning English becomes more and more important. There are many factors get to learning English well, and language learners consider listening skill to be the most important factor in determining whether or not they know a language and it seems that the learner has had a lot of difficulty with this skill. Students have not discovered the causes for their difficulties in learning listening skills, as well as they have not found out methods that suitable for them. Recognize the importance of listening skills.
Consequently, the study aims to find out the factors affecting the performances of the freshmen who are non-major English Supervisor: Đinh Thị Hoa, M.A Page 2 Submitted by: Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Như ID number: 17032981 students on TOEIC listening test at IUH. and then based on the needs of the learners, make some suggestions for learning English language programs are suitable for them.2 Research Objectives This study aims to find out linguistic factors affecting the performance of the freshmen who are non-major English students on TOEIC listening tests at IUH. Based on the findings, the researcher proposes some recommendations for students to help them improve their Toeic listening test socres. How are IUH freshmen’s attitudes towards TOEIC listening test ? 1.
What are the linguistic factors affecting IUH freshman’s performance on listening TOEIC ? 1. What are solutions and methods to improve listening skills? 1.4 Scope of the study The scope of study is major factors affecting the performances on TOEIC listening test of the freshmen, the research occurred at Ho Chi Minh City's Industrial University. The main participants are non- majored English freshman who are studying at faculties and institutes. The research focused on non- majored English first-year because freshman must be have base English department and seem to they are facing with many difficulities in listeing skills, especically the listening skills of the TOEIC test that measures English incoming inspection at IUH.
The researcher will invite participants from each of class to complete the survey questionnaire and then know exactly situation that students have not understood or alarmed about in listening skills. The researcher hopes that this study will help first-year students in improving their listening skills while also assisting future studies in avoiding flaws and limitations. And based on the survey, give out solutions and methods to help students improve in listening skills, especially in TOEIC listening test Supervisor: Đinh Thị Hoa, M.A Page 3 Submitted by: Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Như ID number: 17032981 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Supervisor: Đinh Thị Hoa, M.A Page 4 Submitted by: Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Như ID number: 17032981 2. Definitions of key term/concepts: 2.
Listening: According to Howatt and Dakin (1974) [1], simplified the definition of listening to “Listening is the ability to identify and understand what others are saying. This process involves understanding a speaker's accent or pronunciation, the speaker’s grammar and vocabulary, and comprehension of meaning. ‘’An able listener is capable of doing these four things simultaneously’’ (Abbas Pourhossein Gilakjani & Mohammad Reza Ahmadi, 2011) [2] According to Conaway (1982) [3], listening is the most extensively employed language skill in the classroom, and it has a greater impact on academic success than reading ability or academic aptitude. Thomlison (1984) [4] defines listening as, listening includes "active listening," which goes beyond comprehending literally to an empathetic understanding of the speaker.
And “Active listening, which isvery important for effective communication”. Listening can be also defined as, “More than just hearing and to understand and interpret the meaning of a conversation”. It is a subject that is explored in the field of language arts as well as in the discipline of conversation analysis. Listening entails more than just hearing what the other person has to say in a conversation.
