MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH OPEN UNIVERSITY ------------------------------------- THE EFFECT OF METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES ON LISTENING COMPREHENSION ON NON- ENGLISH MAJOR FRESHMEN A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) Submitted by PHAM THI KIEU TIEN Supervisor Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thu Ho Chi Minh, September 2016 Tai Lieu Chat Luong STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this MA thesis submitted today entitled “The effect of metacognitive strategies on listening comprehension of non- English major freshmen” is my own work. Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma. No other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis.
This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution. Ho Chi Minh, August 2016 Pham Thi Kieu Tien i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Apart from my effort, it would not be possible to complete this thesis without the guidance of my supervisor, help from friends, caring and encouragement from my family. Foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Thu, for his patience, enthusiasm, extensive knowledge and motivation.
I have been extremely lucky to have a supervisor who cared a lot about my work, and who responded to my questions as well as supporting me to the completion of my thesis. I also would like to thank my friends at Van Lang University who were willing to help, give their best suggestions and share experience. Special thanks go to the sixty students who kindly accepted to participate in this thesis. Finally, I am most grateful to my family members, especially my husband, who were always a source of understanding, support and inspiration.
ii ABSTRACT The thesis aims to find out the effect of metacognitive strategies on listening comprehension of non-English major freshmen at Van Lang University. Both qualitative and quantitative data analyses were employed in this study. Sixty first year non- English major students at Van Lang University participating in this study are divided into experimental group and the control group. Listening tests, questionnaire and interview were used as tools for data collection.
The study found that metacognitive strategies enhanced non-English major freshmen‟s listening comprehension at Ho Chi Minh University. Besides, students employ more problem- solving strategies and directed attention strategies, planning and evaluation strategies and person knowledge strategies, except that they do not use mental translation strategies when listening. The majority of students use metacognitive strategies when they listen because they have good attitude about using these strategies in listening comprehension. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Statement of authorship……………………………………………………………….iii Table of contents…………………………………………………………………….iv List of tables and Figures…………………………………………………………….xi Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION.
Background of the study. 7 Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Overview of listening comprehension. Definition of listening skill.
Concept of listening comprehension. Stages of listening comprehension. Potential problems in learning listening comprehension. Overview of learning strategies.
Classification of learning strategies. The concept of metacognition. Components of metacognition. Classification of metacognitive strategies.
Importance of metacognitive strategies on language learning. The relationship between metacognitive strategies and listening comprehension. Summary of Chapter 2. Data collection process.
The listening program of experimental group and control group. Intervention of experimental group. Listening guide sheet. Listening lesson plan for experimental group.
Listening process of control group. Listening lesson plan for control group. Data analysis approach. Validity and reliability issues.
Summary of Chapter 3. 63 Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Participants‟ performance at pre- test and posttest. Independent samples t-test of control group and experimental group in Pretest.
Pair samples t- test of control group in Pretest and Posttest. Pair samples t- test of experimental group in Pretest and Posttest. Independent samples t- test of control group and experimental group in Posttest. Questionnaire data analysis: Participant‟s response to the use of metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension.
Participants‟ response to their individual information. Participants‟ response to using planning and evaluation strategies in listening comprehension. Participants‟ response to using directed attention strategies in listening comprehension. Participants‟ response to using person knowledge strategies in listening comprehension.
Participants‟ response to using mental translation strategies in listening comprehension. Participants‟ response to using problem- solving strategies in listening comprehension. Discussions of findings. Summary of chapter 4.
Implications for teachers. Implications for students. Limitations of the study. Recommendations for the further research.
177 vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLES Table 3.1: Questionnaire of Vandergrift et al.2: Listening instruction stages and related metacognitive strategies, by L.3: Listening guide sheet (Fahim, M.4: Main teaching stages and procedures for the experimental group…………55 Table 3.5: Main teaching stages and procedures for the control group………………. Group Statistics on pretest of control group and experimental group……. Results of Independent Samples T- test on Pretest of Control Group and Experimental Group…………………………………………………………………. Paired samples group statistics for control group Pretest and Posttest…….
Results of paired samples test for control group in Pretest and Posttest…. Paired samples group statistics for experimental group Pretest and Posttest………………………………………………………………………………. Results of paired samples test for experimental group in Pretest and Posttest. Group Statistics on posttest of control group and experimental group….
Results of Independent Samples T- test on Posttest of Control Group and Experimental Group…………………………………………………………………. Students‟ response to using planning and evaluation strategies in listening comprehension………………………………………………………………………. Students‟ response to using directed attention strategies in listening comprehension………………………………………………………………………. Students‟ response to using person knowledge strategies in listening comprehension……………………………………………………………………….
Students‟ response to using mental translation strategies in listening comprehension………………………………………………………………………. Students‟ response to using problem- solving strategies in listening comprehension……………………………………………………………………….85 ix FIGURES Figure 1: Illustration of data analysis of question 1………………………………….72 Figure 2: Illustration of data analysis of question 10……………………………….73 Figure 3: Illustration of data analysis of question 14……………………………….74 Figure 4: Illustration of data analysis of question 20……………………………….74 Figure 5: Illustration of data analysis of question 21……………………………….75 Figure 6: Illustration of data analysis of question 2………………………………….79 Figure 7: Illustration of data analysis of question 6………………………………….77 Figure 8: Illustration of data analysis of question 12……………………………….78 Figure 9: Illustration of data analysis of question 16……………………………….89 Figure 10: Illustration of data analysis of question 3……………………………….80 Figure 11: Illustration of data analysis of question 8……………………………….81 Figure 12: Illustration of data analysis of question 15……………………………….81 Figure 13: Illustration of data analysis of question 4……………………………….83 Figure 14: Illustration of data analysis of question 11……………………………….83 Figure 15: Illustration of data analysis of question 18……………………………….84 Figure 16: Illustration of data analysis of question 5……………………………….86 Figure 17: Illustration of data analysis of question 7……………………………….86 Figure 18: Illustration of data analysis of question 9……………………………….87 Figure 19: Illustration of data analysis of question 13……………………………….88 Figure 20: Illustration of data analysis of question 17……………………………….88 Figure 21: Illustration of data analysis of question 19…………………………….89 x ABBREVIATION VLU : Van Lang University MALQ : The Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire TOEIC : Test of English for International Communication xi Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1. Background of the study Under the effect of globalization, each individual needs to improve themselves to be competent in foreign languages. Among many languages, it is estimated that more than 50 countries of the world use English as their official language and most of others use it as a foreign language (Crystal, 2003), including Vietnam.
Vietnam‟s open door policy has ushered into a new era, which attracts foreign direct investment (FDI) in many industries, where English is used as a major means of communication. For that reason, English becomes more and more necessary for students as well as workers in particular, and all people in general to use and be able to communicate with foreigners. To meet that demand, English in Vietnam is now introduced to 3rd graders at school, and such a shift shows how important English is. Besides, English is considered the important subject that is taught together with maths, literature, physics, biology, etc.
and is an ever- increasingly essential requirement for students to enter high school or university. However, using English is not easy because it requires users to master many skills, such as listening, speaking, reading, writing skill. Obviously, for language learners, listening is perhaps considered the most difficult skill (Huang, 2003). Of the four macro skills, listening is a very important skill in acquiring a language.
“L2/FL listening is the most fundamental macro skill” (Rost, 2002; Richard, 2005). “Listening accounts for 40- 50% of communicating, with speaking at 25- 30%, reading at 11- 1 16%, and writing at 9%” (Mendelsohn, 1994). People use listening action nearly twice as much as speaking and four to five times as reading and writing (Rivers, 1981; Morley, 1991). The major role of listening is to provide input information for understanding and remembering to apply it into other communicative skills (Gass & Selinker, 2008).
Moreover, Huong (2011) reported that according to the results of a survey conducted by prestigious English centers- British Council and Apollo Vietnam, Vietnamese learners are placed at the eighth position in reading and writing, but at the eighteenth position in listening and speaking among twenty countries examined. So, teaching English listening is an important concern in Vietnam educational tendency, especially in university to prepare undergraduates for real communication in their workplace. Teaching English listening requires teachers not only teach students the content of the passage but also teach them the ways to learn listening better. Strategies are one of the effective ways for students to learn listening themselves.
According to Oxford (1990), knowledge of strategies is important for language learners because of two reasons. Firstly, strategies are essential tools for active self- directed involvement to develop communicative competence. Secondly, learners with appropriate learning strategies have greater self- confidence and learn more effectively. “Having knowledge and the use of effective strategies in listening comprehension can help learners to understand most of language input to which they listen to” (Fateme, Aliakbar, & Akbar, 2012, p.
Furthermore, many authors have proved the importance role and good effect of listening strategies, especially metacognitive strategies. Previous research indicated that more- skilled learners use more metacognitive strategies than less- skilled learners (Baker & Brown, 1984; O‟Malley & Chamot, 1990; Rubin, 1987). “Metacognitive learning strategies help learners to know what to do when they come across difficulties” (Zahra Ratebi & Zahra Amirian, 2013, p. Problem statement It is very difficult for students to get high score in listening tests because of many reasons.
Learners cannot know the familiar words and pay attention to next part when they think about the previous part. They have the tendency to forget the spoken discourse and miss the listening text as soon as they start listening. Other reasons are that they immediately forget information they received before they misunderstand subsequent parts because of previous problems. Last but not least, they cannot recognize key points in the text as well as pay attention to intended message.
These reasons make listening comprehension problematic for not only Chinese students but also Vietnamese students and all English learners all over the world as well. According to Tran (2014), there are two reasons for failing the listening course. Firstly, proficiency students lack sufficient knowledge about vocabulary and pronunciation so that they do not listen well enough. Secondly, when listening, they lack of the so-called strategies.
“These very strategies are the ways or the methods to make the best use of available knowledge to get high score” (p. In fact, the strategies are important as the knowledge because they can help learners get good results in not only learning but also listening. The above reasons are problems which Vietnamese learners frequently face with. Besides, in Vietnamese condition, English training curricula at university levels mainly focus on vocabulary, grammar structure and reading comprehension skills (To Minh Thanh, 2006).