VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** ĐỖ THỊ NGÂN THE REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN GRADE 10 AT YEN MO B HIGH SCHOOL NINH BINH PROVINCE THỰC TRẠNG DẠY VÀ HỌC KỸ NĂNG NGHE TIẾNG ANH TẠI KHỐI LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT YÊN MÔ B, TỈNH NINH BÌNH M. Minor Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Hanoi - 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** ĐỖ THỊ NGÂN THE REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS IN GRADE 10 AT YEN MO B HIGH SCHOOL NINH BINH PROVINCE THỰC TRẠNG DẠY VÀ HỌC KỸ NĂNG NGHE TIẾNG ANH TẠI KHỐI LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT YÊN MÔ B, TỈNH NINH BÌNH M. Minor Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: ĐỖ BÁ QUÝ, M. Hanoi - 2012 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION.
iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. vii LIST OF TABLES. viii PART A: INTRODUCTION.
Rationale of the study. Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Method of the study.
Design of the study. 4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definitions of listening. Significance of listening.
Micro-skills of listening. Effective teaching of listening. Stages of a listening lesson. Pre-listening stage.
While-listening stage. Post-listening stage. Potential problems in listening. 11 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Related studies on listening. 13 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Overview of the current situation of teaching and learning English at Yen Mo B high school. The school context.
The new textbook English 10 (the standard textbook) and its listening section. Data collection instruments. Data collection procedure. Data analysis procedure.
19 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. Findings from questionnaires for the teachers and the students. The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of the importance of listening in language teaching and learning at school. The teachers’ and students’ opinions about the students’ listening competence.
The teachers’ and the students’ opinions about the listening sections of the textbook English 10. The teachers’ and the students’ ways of teaching and learning English listening skills. Teachers’ ways of teaching English listening skills. The teachers’ preparation before listening lessons.
22 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. The audiovisual support that the teachers use in listening lessons. The teachers’ classroom practices in listening lessons. The factors affecting the teachers’ ways of teaching in listening lessons.
The students’ ways of learning English listening skills. The students’ evaluation of the teachers’ ways of teaching English listening skills. The students’ preparation before listening lessons. The students’ favorite practices in listening lessons.
The students’ home practices on listening skills. Difficulties in teaching and learning English listening skills perceived by the teachers and the students. The teachers’ and the students’ suggested solutions to improve the current situation of teaching and learning English listening skills. Findings from classroom observations.
Discussion of the findings. Recommendations for more effective listening lessons. Limitations of the study. Suggestions for further research.
I Appendix 1: Survey questionnaire for the teachers. I Appendix 2: Survey questionnaire for the students. VI Appendix 3: Classroom observations. X vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS MOET: Ministry of Education and Training YMBHS: Yen Mo B high school viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 1: The teachers‟ and the students‟ perceptions of the importance of teaching and learning English listening skills at school Table 2: The teachers‟ and the students‟ opinions about the students‟ listening competence Table 3: The teachers‟ and the students‟ opinions about the listening sections in the textbook English 10 Table 4: The teachers‟ preparation before listening lessons Table 5: The audio-visual support that the teachers use in listening lessons Table 6: The teachers‟ classroom practices in the pre-listening stage Table 7: The teachers‟ classroom practices in the while-listening stage Table 8: The teachers‟ classroom practices in the post-listening stage Table 9: The factors affecting the teachers‟ ways of teaching English listening lessons Table 10: The effects of teaching and learning English listening skills on students‟ language ability Table 11: Students‟ opinions about listening lessons Table 12: Students‟ preparation before listening lessons Table13: The students‟ favorite practices in the pre-listening stage Table14: The students‟ favorite practices in the while-listening stage Table 15: The students‟ favorite practices in the post-listening stage Table 16: The students‟ home practice on listening skills Table 17: The teachers‟ difficulties in teaching English listening lessons Table 18: The students‟ difficulties in learning English listening skills Table 19: The teachers‟ and the students‟ suggested solutions to improve the current situation of teaching and learning English listening skills ix LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale for the study It is undeniable that English has become a common means of communication all over the world today. Being aware of its importance, Vietnam has felt an urge to train its citizens to have greater competence in the use of English for communication. That is the reason why the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has implemented a curricular change in schools since 2002. The new curriculum aims to enable school students to communicate in English at the basic level in all modes of communication i.
listening, speaking, reading, and writing (Van et al, 2006, p. In order to achieve this aim, a set of textbooks has been issued for students from grade 6 to grade 12. The textbook is claimed to be theme- based and skill-based, with the adoption of the “two currently popular teaching approaches, i. the learner-centred approach and the communicative approach.
A focus is on task-based teaching as the leading methodology” (Van et al, 2006, p. Obviously, the ultimate goal of the textbook is to develop students‟ communicative competence. However, as a teacher of Yen Mo B high school (YMBHS), I find that the teaching and learning here still focus too much on grammar, vocabulary and structures. Although the teachers and the students follow the English course book issued by MOET, in which each unit is designed to be composed of five parts - reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus; assessment and testing focus on grammar, vocabulary, reading and partial writing.
Therefore, listening skill is paid less attention to. Consequently, many students who may have mastered the basic elements of English grammar and vocabulary are weak at listening. The above situation has inspired me to do the research entitled “The reality of teaching and learning English listening skills in grade 10 at Yen Mo B high school, Ninh Binh province” with the hope of making some contributions to improving the teaching and learning of English listening skills in grade 10 at YMBHS. 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Aims of the study Generally this study aims to investigate the reality of teaching and learning English listening skills in Grade 10 at YMBHS. Specifically the study seeks to find out: The present situation of teaching and learning English listening skills in grade 10 at YMBHS; The teachers‟ and the students‟ perceived difficulties in teaching and learning English listening skills in grade 10 at YMBHS; and The teachers‟ and the students‟ suggested solutions to improve the current situation of teaching and learning English listening skills in grade 10 at YMBHS. Research questions To achieve the aims and objectives of the study, the following research questions were proposed: 1. What is the present situation of teaching and learning English listening skills in grade 10 at YMBHS? 2.
What are the difficulties in teaching and learning English listening skills in grade 10 at YMBHS as perceived by the teachers and the students? 3. What solutions do the teachers and the students suggest to improve the current situation of teaching and learning English listening skills in grade 10 at YMBHS? 4. Scope of the study This small-scale study is limited to the reality of teaching and learning English listening skills in Grade 10 at YMBHS. The investigation of teaching and learning other skills will be beyond the scope of this study.
This study is a detailed survey at YMBHS in Ninh Binh Province. Therefore, its findings are not intended to be generalized to other school contexts. Indeed the findings may not apply beyond the actual participants in this particular study. 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Method of the study The study was designed to use both quantitative and qualitative methods, involving two instruments: survey questionnaires and classroom observations. Besides, reviewing the related documents is also a method to establish the theoretical background for the study. Design of the study The study is divided into three parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion. The Introduction presents an overview of the study including the rationale, aims, research questions, scope, method, and design of the study.
The major part of the study, the Development, is divided into three chapters. Chapter one provides theoretical background for the study. Chapter two presents the methodology of the study and the last chapter is devoted to analyzing the data and discussing the findings of the study. The Conclusion part provides a brief summary of the findings in correspondence with the three proposed research questions and offers some recommendations for better listening teaching and learning.
The limitations of the study and suggestions for further study are also discussed in this chapter. Besides, the survey questionnaire for the teachers and students, and the classroom observation notes are included in the Appendices. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter gives an overview of the literature, including key concepts and related studies in the field in order to provide a theoretical background for the study. Definitions of listening No one can deny the crucial role of listening in our daily life in general and in acquiring a language in particular.
Therefore, many scholars have made effort to explore this skill. As a result, there exist a variety of definitions of listening in the literature. Listening, as Howatt and Dakin (1974, as cited in Yagang, 1993) define, 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. Ronald and Roskelly (1985) define listening as an active process requiring the same skills of prediction, hypothesizing, checking, revising, and generalizing that writing and reading demand. Underwood (1989) points out that listening is an activity of paying attention to the speaker and trying to get meaning from what we hear. She argues that hearing can be thought of as a passive condition, but listening is always an active process.
To listen successfully to spoken language, the listener needs to be able to understand not only the words themselves but also the meanings hidden in words. In short, although listening is viewed differently by different authors, the above definitions have one important thing in common: listening is a complex, active process of interpretation in which the listeners must actively make use of skills and knowledge from both linguistic and non-linguistic resources. Significance of listening Listening has been proved to be of great importance in communication as well as in language teaching and learning. 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Findings of research have demonstrated the significant role of listening in communication.
Wilt (1950, as cited in Guo, N., 2006) found that 45% of the communication time people spent listening, 30% speaking, 16% reading, and 9% writing. This clearly shows how important this skill is in communication.