BANKING ACADEMY OF VIETNAM FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATION THESIS TOPIC: A STUDY ON LISTENING COMPREHENSION PROBLEMS OF ATC FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS AT BANKING ACADEMY Student : Nguyen Huong Quynh Class : K20ATCC Academic year : 2017 – 2021 Student ID : 20A7510150 Advisor : Dr. Can Thuy Lien Hanoi, May 2021 17014125810811000000 CETIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I hearby declare the graduation thesis entitled "A study on listening comprehension problems of ATC first-year students at Banking Academy" submitted to the Banking Academy of Vietnam is a work carried under the guidance of Ms. Can Thuy Lien. I futher affirm that this work has not been submittied in any other institutes for any purpose.
Hanoi, 20 May, 2021 Author Nguyen Huong Quynh i ACKNOWLEDGMENT First and foremost, I would like to express all my gratitude and respect to my supervisor of the Foreign Languages Faculty at the Banking Academy – Mrs. Can Thuy Lien for supporting and accompanying with me during the period of proceeding this graduation thesis. Special thanks to my supervisor, who helped me with her dedication and infinite knowledge, she guided me from the first steps when starting up the study until I built and completed this graduation thesis successfully. Secondly, I would love to express sincere thanks all of the lecturers of the Foreign Languages Faculty at the Banking Academy for their deliberate instructions and support during 4-year period.
Last but not least, I want to send my thankfulness to my parents and friends who have followed and accompanied with me to complete this dissertation despite their busy business. They help me both mentally and physically by giving me encouragement, and useful suggestions. ii TABLE OF CONTENT CETIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY. ii TABLE OF CONTENT.
iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. v LIST OF FIGURES .vi LIST OF TABLES. iii CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION. Background of the study.
Objectives of the study. Significance of the study. Scope and limitation of the study.6 Definitions of Terms. 6 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE .2 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework.
18 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Locale of the study. Data gathering procedure. Population and Sample description.
Reliability and validity. 26 iii CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .1 Subjective problems during Listening comprehension process.1 Problems related to self-practice .2 Problems related to vocabulary master .3 Problems related to pronunciation .4 Problems related to psychological characteristic .5 Problems related to concentration .2 Objective problems during the Listening comprehension process.1 Problems related to Listening materials .2 Problems related to the speaker .3 Problems related to the physical setting. 41 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION .1 Summary of Findings .1 For Banking Academy. 58 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ATC Faculty of Foreign Languages at Banking Academy ULIS University of Languages and International Studies VNU Vietnam National University v LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page Figure 2.1 Theoretical Framework 16 Figure 2.2 Conceptual Framework 18 Figure 3.1 Data gathering procedure 21 Figure 3.2 Statistical analysis 25 vi LIST OF TABLES Table Page Table 3.1 Fundamental anthropological information of participants 23 Table 4.1 Problems related to self-practice 28 Table 4.2 Problems related to listening topic 29 Table 4.3 Problems related to searching for socio-cultural, factual, 30 and contextual information Table 4.4 Problem related to pronnunciation 31 Table 4.5 Problems related to psychological characteristic 32 Table 4.6 Problems related to concentration 33 Table 4.7 Problems related to the speed of listening materials 34 Table 4.8 Problems related to the density of information 35 Table 4.9 Problems related to the appearance of unfamiliar words or 36 jargon or idioms in the recording Table 4.10 Problem related to complex grammatical structure 37 Table 4.11 Problem related to the signals 38 Table 4.12 Problem related to the native speaker's accent 39 Table 4.13 Problem related to the speaker's stress or information 40 Table 4.14 Problem related to poor quality equipment and facilities 41 Table 4.15 Problem related background noises, the large and 42 crowded classroom vii Abstracts A study on Listening comprehension problems of ATC first-year students at Banking Academy.
Author: Nguyen Huong Quynh Keywords: Listening comprehension problems Supervisor: Dr. Can Thuy Lien Listening is defined as the ability to understand knowledge when engaging in listening tasks. Although students have been learning English since they were preschool children, listening is still viewed as challenging skill. As a result, the aim of this research are to explore students' difficulties in listening subjects, their perspectives on listening comprehension, and the factors that contributed to their progress in listening.
Following that, the questionnaire was sent out. The research draws certain conclusions about students' attitudes toward listening skills as well as some of the more typical issues they encounter when learning listening after gathering and analyzing the data. The outcomes suggest that the majority of the participants have mutual listening comprehension problems such as lack of practice and vocabulary, pronunciation, psychological characteristics, concentration, listening materials, the speaker and physical setting. Consequently, learners will recognize the significance of listening skill, and teachers can support students during the teaching activities.
iii CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION 1. Introduction No one can deny that English is viewed as a global language and currently the most often taught language in various nations in the world. In modern life, the English language teaching method has adjusted immensely recently. Learners are able to use English for communicative purposes becoming the goal.
To use English effectively, learners need to flourish in communicative competence. Additionally, they should be assisted to improve four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Among those mentioned skills, listening is an irreplaceable tool to convey information to listeners via five steps: receive, understand, evaluate, remember and respond. We normally interact with others in our daily life through two significant elements such as speaking and listening.
Nadig (2013) supported the theoretical point "Speaking is only half of the communication process needed to be effective between individuals. The other half is listening and understanding what others convey to us." Furthermore, listening is commonly recognized as a vital tool in supporting language learning among the aforementioned skills. It is said that an average of 45% is spent time on Listening compared to 30% Speaking, 16% Reading, and 9% Writing (Adler, R. 2001), which denotes the influence of listening in our society.
Nevertheless, many students (and even teachers) often fail to pay enough attention to Listening, which makes students say that listening is the most challenging of all skills. Being aware of all the challenges that students cope with and enhancing their listening comprehension is of great significance. If the listeners have a good listening capacity, they have competence to understand information during the listening comprehension process or transfer it in written or oral form. It is also the relevant ability to understand, communicate, and respond to what is listened to.
Therefore, to master the communication process, the learner needs to have good listening skills as it closely relates to communication. In other words, communication will not be effective if the capacity for listening does not support it. 1 To have good English listening skills, listeners need to cultivate basic language skills, such as vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and other aspects of the language elements. (2001) claims that "There are two types of knowledge used in listening; linguistics and non-linguistic knowledge." In terms of linguistic knowledge in listening, comprehension is related to students' ability to understand phonology, syntax, vocabulary, semantics, and discursive structures.
In contrast, non-linguistic knowledge is knowledge of topics, contexts, and general knowledge. Both are extremely necessary for the process of perceiving audio information because listening is a complex process. Although many previous studies have been conducted on the Listening activities of university students, few seem to discover whether first-year English students experience different Listening comprehension obstacles. Therefore, it remains an urgent need for "A study on listening comprehension problems of ATC first- year students at Banking Academy" to investigate some of the current academic Listening problems faced by first-year English majors at Banking Academy.
However, since ATC first-year students are still confused with the university's format and Listening teaching method, which are entirely different from high school; therefore, the discouragement in learning is understandable. Thus, students cannot listen effectively. This becomes a solid inspiration to have a study in the Listening comprehension problems both objectively and subjectively, interprets kinds of listening problems, and gives solutions to each difficulty. This would help both ATC teachers and students to work out feasible solutions to help improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning listening comprehension at Banking Academy.
Background of the study For a long time, English has been commonly used as a significant language in daily life and at several levels of education globally, in both native and non-native English-speaking countries. According to the British Council (2013), English has been used by a quarter of the world's population currently, and it has become a tool that allows speakers to access new sources of knowledge and ideas. 2 It is no coincidence that more people use English as a second language than native speakers. According to a study by Nunan in 2013 on "The Impact of English as a Global Language on Educational Policies and Practices in the Asia-Pacific Region" shows that almost all jobs are required to use English language, and even English proficiency is seen as a criterion for career advancement.
Since Vietnam is in the stage of development and integration with the world, English has become an advantage for young workers in the process of searching new jobs because many foreign investors are expanding their markets in Vietnam. Learning English in particular includes many skills that are difficult to master, and one of them is listening. Listening comprehension is becoming increasingly critical in learning a foreign language, as well as understanding information presented in lectures. Despite the importance of listening in learning English, the state of teaching and learning listening skills has long been overlooked and given little thought.
Additionally, Vietnamese educational system places a greater emphasis on coaching tests, with a strong emphasis on grammar, reading, and vocabulary. The inability to understand what native speakers say due to a lack of listening comprehension is the most serious explanation. To be more specific, Vietnamese people are afraid to practice this skill because rarely do they communicate with native speakers or practice directly to improve their knowledge. The same goes for first-year ATC students at Banking Academy.
Despite having learned Listening at the beginning of stage - primary till university, English learners, especially first-year students at Banking Academy, face numerous challenges. Students coming to the university from various regions may have different English levels due to the different teaching methods used by schools and educators. As a result, understanding the challenges that each student faces might be complicated. In order to assist them in improving their English, successful teaching methods that are appropriate for students' abilities are needed.
Students receive excellent English instruction in high school, but the school has yet to establish an ideal environment for students to practice listening in an active English atmosphere. Moreover, this is supported by Helgesen (2003), who states that "Listening is an active, purposeful processing of making sense of what we hear". If first-year ATC 3 student's Listening comprehension is active by the surroundings, unlike sitting in a classroom and concentrating on answering some questions in the Listening text, the results will be different. Listening should depend on their self-awareness, turn it into human hearing sense, not wrap in the grades reflected by the test.
Also, Faculty of Foreign Languages often ignore those factors of students, still assessed by scores, so the ability of students to listen to foreign language, mainly English, is challenging to develop comprehensively. Consequently, listening improvement needs to be a priority. This research is intended to develop students' listening comprehension either at home or at school.