VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI College of Foreign Languages Post-Graduate DEPARTMENT ------ ------ ĐẶNG NGHIÊM THU NGA The Use of Video-Assisted Instruction for Second-Year English-Majors at THE People’s Security Academy in Listening Class – An Action Research (Nghiªn cøu hµnh ®éng vÒ t¸c ®éng cña viÖc d¹y häc cã sù hç trî cña b¨ng h×nh ®èi víi sinh viªn chuyªn ng÷ n¨m thø hai t¹i Häc viÖn An ninh nh©n d©n trong giê häc nghe) Field : English Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Course: K15 MA.Minor Thesis Supervisor: ĐỖ TUẤN MINH, Ph.D Hanoi, September 2009 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements .ii Table of contents. iv List of figures, tables and charts.vii List of Abbreviations. viii Chapter 1: Introduction. Rationale of the study.
Significance of the study. Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Design of the study.
4 Chapter 2: Literature Review. Definition and benefits of using video in language classroom. Theories of listening comprehension. Introduction and definitions of listening comprehension.
Listening in language learning and teaching. The application of video in language teaching. Previous studies and fitness of the present study into the field. The context of teaching and learning listening skills to English majors in the PSA.
23 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Classroom observation checklist. A description of the Research Process. Plan of action.
Data collection procedure. Data analysis procedure. 32 Chapter 4: Results and Evaluation. Teachers’ perception and evaluation toward students’ listening competence and video-assisted instruction.
Teachers’ evaluation toward students’ listening competence. Teachers’ perception of video-assisted instruction. Teachers’ evaluation toward video-assisted instruction. Teachers’ perception of difficulties in teaching listening using video.
Reflection on the implementation of action plan in the first half of the second semester. Students’ performance in the first half of the second semester. Teacher-researcher’s self-evaluation toward the teaching process and students’ attitude in the first half of the second semester. Final reflection and reporting the outcomes.
Students’ initial assessment on their listening skill. Changes in students’ attitude toward learning in video-assisted instruction. Students’ assessment on the role of video-assisted instruction. Changes in students’ perceived learning and performance.
46 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com vi Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusion. Major findings and discussion of the research. Limitations of the research. Suggestion for further studies.
I Appendix 1: Interviews for teachers. I Appendix 2: Questionnaires for students. III Appendix 3: Findings from interviews .XI Appendix 4: Classroom Observation Checklist. XIX Appendix 5: Sample of lesson plan using video.
XXIII TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com vii LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS Tables Table 1: Classroom observation checklist before and after mid-term test Figures Figure 1: Comparison between the listening result of the first semester and that of mid-term test in the second semester Figure 2: Most favourite video programs Figure 3: Most favourite video-assisted classroom activities Figure 4: Change in percentage of students’ retention after using video Figure 5: Change in percentage of students’ comprehension after using video Pie charts Chart 1: Final listening mark of second-year English majors in the first semester Chart 2: Result of mid-term listening test using video Chart 3: Students’ assessment on the importance of video-assisted instruction Chart 4: Students' assessment on the necessity of video-assisted instruction Chart 5: Result of final test of second semester TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS The PSA: The People’s Security Academy L1: first language L2: second language HULIS: Hanoi University of Language and International Studies IT: Information Technology Ss: Students ESP: English for special purpose TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Technology is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s classrooms in Vietnam and a part of the classroom as an instructional and research aid for teachers and students. However, there are not many studies on the effect that technology such as video or Internet in the classroom has on students’ attitudes towards learning. There are a lesser number of studies on the effect of video to support teaching and learning listening skill in the classroom.
Many questions have arisen from the use of technology in general and video-assisted instruction in particular in listening class but so far without satisfactory answers. Do students’ attitudes about learning change when using video in the classroom? Does it motivate students to learn more? Does it affect a student’s academic listening comprehension in the classroom? What impacts do technology in general and video in particular have on a student, when they view the challenges of a listening lesson? How should video-assisted instruction be designed and used in listening class? In the process of acquiring foreign language in the light of Communicative Approach, listening seems to be the most challenging for learners at the People’s Security Academy. Second language (L2) listening comprehension is a complex process, crucial in the development of second language competence. Knowing the context of a listening text and the purpose for listening greatly reduces the burden of comprehension.
However, students still often have difficulty in comprehension and lack concentration as well as attraction in listening class. They try hard to hear every single word, to interpret any minutiae of spoken English and totally collapse at the end. Such a fact shows the necessity and an urgency to provide students with a new and effective listening setting. Video materials have long been used in the classroom as an important tool for teaching listening and speaking in the world.
In recent years, combining video with IT – information technology (computer-based streaming audio and video) – is being developed. It allows teachers to transport virtually the target language environment into the classroom so that live or prerecorded news, music, sports from all over the world can be viewed by students in real time. The main advantage of using video as a technology for language TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 2 teaching is considered to be its ability to present and immerse learners into complete communicative situations (Lonergan, 1984). Another greatest advantage is the ability of video to cover non-verbal aspects of communication and its cross-cultural comparison potential (Stempleski & Tomalin, 1990).
It may be said that video is the best means of demonstrating native speakers’ natural fluent communication and their natural behavior in the process of communication. Learners can not only hear how native speakers speak, they can observe and learn how they behave when speaking. It also gives materials for oral communication because learners may brainstorm and discuss what they have seen and heard, role-play it, enact it, develop and transform it in their own speaking, etc. They can do that in pair intercourse, small group communication, whole-class discussions actively involving everyone present in the classroom.
The observed native-speakers’ behavior may be imitated in such communication so that cultural components of communicative competence are acquired together with its linguistic components. In this study, the researcher would like to investigate the use of video-assisted instruction for second-year English majors at the PSA in listening class. This study will describe an action research project for video-assisted instruction as well as collaborative teaching and learning. It also gives an account of how the teacher-researcher reflected on her teaching and modified her teaching methods, followed by a description of the changes in students’ listening comprehension and their attitudes toward learning listening skill compared with traditional audio-only version.
Significance of the study Although listening skill has always been given a significant position in language teaching, the questions of how to teach and learn listening skill effectively often pose great problems to both teachers and students. This study primarily explores how the use of video-assisted instruction affects second-year English majors at the PSA in listening class. It, therefore, serves as a valuable resource for teachers to gain a deep insight into the practice of video-assisted instruction at the target university. More importantly, an inventory of video-assisted instruction as well as practical evaluation and modifications in teaching methods aims at assisting teachers to effectively teach listening skill to English majors.
Placing second-year English majors at the center of analysis, the study intends to TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 3 help the target population to succeed in improving listening comprehension. On a larger scale, the study can be beneficial to teachers of English and English majors at other universities, who may undergo the same context of teaching and learning this skill. Aims of the study The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of video-assisted instruction on enhancing second-year English-major students’ learning at the PSA in listening class. Based on the findings, an action plan is implemented to evaluate the effectiveness of this instruction as well as the students’ improvement in their listening comprehension To achieve this purpose of the study, the following research questions are addressed: Research Question 1: How does video-assisted instruction affect students’ learning (i.e comprehension and retention) in listening lessons? Research Question 2: Does the use of video in teaching listening change the attitude of second-year English-majors toward learning listening skill? Research Question 3: Do students’ learning (i.e comprehension and retention) and motivation (i., attention and satisfaction) in video-assisted instruction differ from that in traditional audio-only instruction? Research Question 4: Does the use of video in listening class improve students’ listening competence? 1.
Scope of the study The research limits its scope to listening skill and to its participants of second-year English-majors of intermediate level at the People’s Security Academy. Of four skills of language teaching, I choose listening skill to deal with as I have tried out some listening lessons using video and I have found that listening in the classroom derived from the use of video is very interesting and hopeful. Also, I realize changes in my students’ attitudes toward learning listening skill. Furthermore, this issue in language teaching has not been exploited sufficiently so far.
The choice of participants is simply a matter of convenience as I am teaching listening for second-year English-majors at the People’s Security Academy at the moment. TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 4 Personally, I suppose that students at this level are more suitable for the application of this teaching method. Hence, audio-visual lessons are very demanding to most students, and require them relevant background knowledge to comprehend. The materials for my listening lessons are collected from several sources such as movies, films, news, documentaries or video clips downloaded from the Internet.
However, as Underwood (1989) pointed out that what determines the difficulty of a teaching material is not just the material itself but also what the students are asked to do with it, the selection of authentic materials is still limited due to several reasons. Firstly, the preparation for the lessons is very time-consuming. Secondly, teachers always find it difficult to design appropriate exercises and tasks for their students. Finally, not all teachers are competent in IT (information technology) so that they can cut, record, edit the video and apply it into their listening lessons.
Design of the study The thesis is divided into six parts: Chapter 1 introduces the research problem and rationale of the study. It also states the significance, aims, scope and methods of the study. Chapter 2 not only provides an overview of background to the study, including key concepts and theories relating to the research topic but also discusses previous studies of this field to reveal the research gap which needs filling. In addition, the chapter enlarges upon the context of teaching and learning listening skill at the PSA and exposes the problem formulation.
Chapter 3 presents the methodology applied in the study including participants, instrumentation, research process and plan of action. In addition, the procedure of data collection is also embraced.