ACKNOWLEDGEMENT In the process of completing my graduation paper, I have received a great deal of help, guidance and encouragement from many teachers, friends and my family. First of all, I would like to express my deepest thanks to Mrs. Nguyen Thi Huyen, my supervisor, who has given me with her whole-hearted assistance, precious advice, valuable guidance, constant support and cautious correction which help me much in finishing each step of this paper. Second, I am indebted to Mrs.
Tran Thi Ngoc Lien, The Dean of Foreign Language Department with her useful advices and ideas. My sincere thanks also go to other teachers of Foreign Language Department, Hai Phong Private University for their valuable lectures and instructions during the four years which help me much in completing my research. Next, my special thanks send to all the first year students as well as five- 2nd and 3rd -year- students of English majors at HPU for their enthusiasm in finishing the survey questionnaires and interview questions. Especially, I am grateful to my family and friends who always beside and encourage me during the time I carry out this study.
Finally, I wish to thank all those who have kindly given their advice and helped me with material sources during the writing of my graduation paper. Hai Phong, June 2010 Student Vu Thi Huyen Trang 1 PART I: INTRODUCTION I. Language is a tool of communication between people and people. Especially, English is becoming a common language in the world.
As a matter of fact, English now is not only a subject in the educational circumstance of Asia countries but also a need for everybody. However, how to learn English effectively has raised a difficult question for us. Until now, many researchers found other ways as well as methods which could help learners learn English best. Nevertheless, because of the development trend of society and information technology, it is necessary to find a more innovative thing for English learning.
It seems to be that learning online can bring many benefits for our English learning. As can be seen, the introduction of computer and internet has apparently changed our life. Indeed, they brought benefits for various fields of social life such as: economy, politics, culture, health and especially education. Now, computers have assisted learning via Internet has become increasingly indispensable components of mainstream education.
Therefore, language learning in general and English learning in particular could have special improvements. As a matter of fact, there are several reasons why we should learn English online. These reasons are related to technological advancements, English learning methodology, and pedagogical considerations. First of all, recent technological advances support the reason why we should look more into ways of learning English via the Internet.
The Internet can now be used for providing rich opportunities whereby students can start learning English on their own. Moreover, students generally have positive feelings about learning English via the Internet, for example, Kung and Chou (2002) conducted a study of student attitudes towards learning English through websites. Secondly, the Internet facilitates individualization of instruction and introduces a more interesting platform to learn by incorporating multimedia into the process (Soboleva & 2 Tronenko, 2002). Thirdly, it enhances the accessibility of information, language materials in this case, as well as offering various ways to connect with the target speech community (Warschauer, 1996).
Unlike traditional textbook-based learning, language material on the Internet can be updated periodically. Obviously, recent literature on methodological and pedagogical considerations requires English learners to become active participants in the process rather than passive recipients of information. In this age of information explosion, English learners are encouraged to be explorers and creators of language, and assessors of their own linguistic progress (Brown, 2001; Su & Kinshuk, 2002). Two other important aspects are the issues of learner autonomy and motivation.
Learner-oriented online language teaching materials demand that the individual background of learners, their needs, and learning styles are accommodated (Soboleva, &Tronenko, 2002). So that, given the technological advancements, methodological and pedagogical considerations mentioned above, I strongly believe that learning online is an effective way to improve your English ability. The Internet makes it possible to incorporate rich learning opportunities for presenting, practicing and improving English skills as well as to have extensive access to socio-cultural knowledge which cannot readily be found on traditional language learning teaching media such textbooks, audio cassettes, workbooks, etc. To learn English well, we have to improve all four English basic skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing).
However, as for me, as same as other students, listening seems to be a difficult skill to practice. Students often meet many difficulties when listen English because they do not understand what they are listening to or what information they have to get? Especially with the traditional listening media such as audio cassettes, CD disc, etc, students become fed up with listening English. These things motivate me have to study on new method which inspires interest and ambition for English listening learners. Besides, the fact that all English skills listening, speaking, reading and writing can easily to be taught via the Internet but because of limitation of time, 3 I only concentrate on listening skill.
In short, with the hope that students have positive feelings about listening English and improve their listening English skill, I have decided to carry out the study on “ listening online - a way to improve listening skill for English majors at Hai Phong private university”. Aims of the study. The study is carried out to research: The literature review of learning online, listening and listening online The real situation of learning English- listening skill in English major at HPU The students‟ attitude toward a listening English and listening English online The suggested ways to listen English online effectively that students can apply for their self-studying III. Scope of the study.
Obviously, to learning English well, we have to improve all four basic skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing). However, I have no ambition of researching all these skills, I only concentrate on researching listening English online. Besides, with the hope that my graduation will get good result in standard scope, I only focus on follow parts: -Finding out the reality of learning English listening skill of students in foreign language department at Hai Phong Private University. - Offering suggestions for English majors on learning English listening online.
Methods of the study. First, reference books related to listening and methodology are reviewed to get background knowledge of what listening is, what online learning is, successful and interested techniques in learning English listening online. Second, the survey questionnaire created for students in English major at HPU to find out information necessary for creating the type of online activities learners would find effective. 4 Third, more information about students‟ attitude, recognition, and difficulties they meet will be gathered from interview with the surveyed students.
Design of the study. The study consists of three main parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion. Part I: Introduction shows the reasons, the aims, the scope, the methods as well as the design of the study. Part II: Development includes three chapters: Chapter 1: Literature review aims to answer the questions related to listening, listening online that introduce the listening skill and its features.
Chapter 2: “A study on how do students in English major at HPU learn listening skill” is referred to the analysis and findings information from survey questionnaires made to the first year students and interview for other students. These help examine the real situation of learning listening skill as well as difficulties students meet and their expectations of using listening techniques to improve their English listening skill. Chapter 3: “Ways to listen English online effectively” are suggested with the hope that students can try and have positive feelings to learning listening skill. And then they could enhance self-study ability and improve their listening skill.
Part III: Conclusion summarizes the discussed parts in the paper and some suggestions for further study. Consequently, Part I has shown the introduction of the study. In the next part, the author will present the focus of the study containing her literature review on the understanding of listening skill and the survey questionnaires for the first-year students in English major at HPU which help examine the real situation of learning English listening skill. Besides, part II also introduces some ways to listen English online which can be applied to improve students‟ listening skill as same as their self-studying.
5 PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter I: Literature review I. Listening skill: An overview. Beginning in the early 70‟s, work by Asher, Dostoevsky, Winitz and, later, Krashen, brought attention to the role of listening as a tool for understanding and emphasized it as a key factor in facilitating language learning. Thus, listening has emerged as an important component in the process of second language acquisition.
Definition of listening. Listening is the skill that students will be judged most in real life situations. It is an important part of everyday interaction. And, in each person‟s opinion, listening is understood differently.
According to Howatt and Dakin (1974), 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. Besides, Thomlison‟s (1984) definition of listening includes “active listening” which goes beyond comprehending as understanding the message content, to comprehension as an act of empathetic understanding of the speaker.
Furthermore, Gordon (1985) argues that empathy is essential to listening and contends that it is more than a polite attempt to identify a speaker‟s perspectives. Rather more importantly, empathetic understanding expands to “egocentric prosocial behavior”. Thus, the listener altruistically acknowledges concern for the speaker‟s welfare and interests. In the view of Ronald and Roskelly(1985), listening as an active process requiring the same skills of prediction, hypothesizing, checking, revising, and generalizing that writing and reading demand; and these authors present specific exercises to make student active listeners who are aware of the “ inner voice” one hears when writing.
Significance of listening. We just find out definitions of authors about listening and partly know more what listening is. And entering to this part, we can know how meaningful is listening to our daily communicate and language learning? Language learning depends on listening since it provides the aural input that serves as the basic for language acquisition and enables learners to interact in spoken communication. Listening is the first language mode that children acquire.
It provides the foundation for all aspects of language and cognitive development, and it plays a life-long role in the process of communication. A study by Wilt (1950), found that people listen 45% of the time they spend communicating. This study is still widely cites (e.Wilt found that 30% of communication time was spent speaking, 16% reading, and 9% writing. That finding confirmed what Rankin discovered in 1928, that people spent70% of their walking time communicating and that three-fourths of this time was spent listening and speaking.
According to Bulletin (1952), listening is the fundamental language skill. It is the medium through which people gain a large portion of their education, their information, their understanding of the world and of human affairs, their ideals, sense of values, and their appreciation. In this day of mass communication, much of it oral, it is of vital importance that students are taught to listen effectively and critically. Basing on second language acquisition theory, language input is the most essential condition of language acquisition.
As an input skill, listening plays a crucial role in student‟s language development. Krashen (1985) argues that people acquire language by understanding the linguistic information they hear. Thus language acquisition is achieved mainly through receiving understandable input and listening ability is the critical component in achieving understandable language input .Given the importance of listening in language learning and teaching, it is essential for language teachers to help students become effective 7 listeners.