- - VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES TÔN ANH ĐÀO A STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE APPLICATION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF GRADE 10 ENGLISH LISTENING SKILL AT HERMANN GMEINER SCHOOL-VINH (Nghiên cứu tính hiệu ứng dụng công nghệ thông tin việc dạy häc kỹ nghe tiếng Anh 10 trường phổ thông Hermann Gmeiner -Vinh) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 HANOI – 2011 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES - - FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES TÔN ANH ĐÀO A STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE APPLICATION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF GRADE 10 ENGLISH LISTENING SKILL AT HERMANN GMEINER SCHOOL-VINH (Nghiên cứu tính hiệu ứng dụng công nghệ thông tin việc dạy häc kỹ nghe tiếng Anh 10 trường phổ thông Hermann Gmeiner -Vinh ) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 Supervisor: Dr Đỗ Tuấn Minh HANOI – 2011 - - TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv List of abbreviations vii List of tables viii List of figures ix List of pictures ix PART I – INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of the study Research questions Scope of the study Method of the study Significance of the study Design of the study PART II – DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 How is technology intergrated into education? 1.1.1 What is educational technology? 1.1.2 How is computer intergrated into education? 1.2 Computer-Assisted Language Learning 1.2.1 Definition of Call 1.2.2 The development of Call 1.3 CALL and language teaching and learning 1.4 Computer as an IT tool in language teaching and learning 1.5 CALL and listening skill 12 - - CHAPTER II: THE APPLICATION OF THE SOFTWARES IN TEACHING LISTENING TIENG ANH 10 14 2.1 Procedure of a listening lesson 14 2.1.1 Pre-listening 14 2.1.2 While-listening 15 2.1.3 Post-listening 15 2.2 The application of the softwares in designing activities 16 2.2.1 Pre-listening 16 2.2.2 While-listening 18 2.2.3 Post-listening 19 21 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 3.1 The context of teaching listening skill to 10 th form students at Hermann Gmeiner School – Vinh 21 3.2 Participants 21 3.2.1 Students 22 3.2.2 Teachers 22 3.3 Instruments 23 3.4 Procedure 23 3.4.1 Data collection procedure 23 3.4.2 Data analysis procedure 23 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS 24 4.1 Findings 24 4.1.1 Teachers and students’ background 24 4.1.1.1 Students‘ listening habit relating to computers 24 4.1.1.2 Teachers‘ background of using computers in teaching English 24 4.1.2 25 Research question 4.1.2.1 Students‘ assessment on the effectiveness of using the softwares in learning listening skill 4.1.2.2 Teachers‘ assessment on the effectiveness of the softwares in teaching listening skill 4.1.3 Research question 4.1.3.1 Teachers‘ opinions about using the softwares 25 29 33 33 - - 4.1.3.2 Students‘ opinions about using the softwares 34 4.1.4 Research question 35 4.1.4.1 As for administrators 35 4.1.4.2 As for teachers 36 4.1.4.3 As for students 36 4.2 37 Implications PART III – CONCLUSION 40 Conclusion 40 Limitations 40 Suggestions 41 References 42 Appendix I Questionnaire for teachers I Questionnaire for students V Screenshots of main teaching listening activities in unit – English 10 XII - - LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AECT Association for Educational Communications and Technology CALI Computer Assisted Language Instruction CALL Computer Assisted Language Learning CMC Computer Mediated Communication EFL English As Foreign Language ELT English Language Teaching ESL English As Second Language IT Information Technology MPS Multimedia Presentation Software PDA Personal Digital Assistant - 10 - LIST OF TABLES Pages Table 1: Students‘ marks in the previous listening test 22 Table 2: Students‘ learning English experience 22 Table 3: Teacher‘s teaching experience 23 Table 4: Students‘ listening habit relating to computers 24 Table 5: Teachers‘ ability of computer skill 24 Teachers‘ teaching listening habit relating to computer 25 Table 6: Table 7: Students‘ general assessment on the effectiveness of the softwares in 25 learning listening skill Table 8: The usefulness of the softwares in listening stages 28 Table 9: Uses of the softwares in Pre-listening stage 28 Table 10: Uses of the softwares in While-listening 29 Uses of the softwares in Post-listening 29 Table 11: Table 12: Teachers‘ general assessment on the effectiveness of the softwares in teaching listening skill 29 Table 13: The usefulness of the softwares in teaching listening stages 31 Table 14: Uses of the softwares in Pre-teaching listening 32 Table 15: Uses of the softwares in While-teaching listening 32 Table 16: Uses of the softwares in post-teaching listening 32 Table 17: Teachers‘ opinions about the advantages of the softwares in teaching 33 listening skill Table 18: Table 19: Table 20: Teachers‘ opinions about the disadvantages of the softwares in teaching listening skill Students‘ opinions about the advantages of the softwares in teaching listening skill Students‘ opinions about the disadvantages of the softwares in teaching listening skill 34 34 35 - 11 - LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Students‘ assessment of the effectiveness of the softwares in sub- 26 skills of listening ( from sub-skill to sub-skill 5) Figure 2: Teachers‘ assessment of the effectiveness of the softwares in sub- 30 skills of listening ( from sub-skill to sub-skill 5) LISTS OF PICTURES Picture 1: Screenshot of the pre-listening crossword designed with 17 HotPotatoes – unit Picture 2: Screenshot of pre-listening picture matching designed with 17 HotPotatoes – unit 14 Picture 3: Screenshot of pre-listening picture matching designed with 18 Question Tools Editor – unit 16 Picture 4: Screenshot of while-listening gap fill designed with HotPotatoes – 19 unit Picture 5: Screenshot of while-listening gap fill designed with Question Tools 19 Editor – unit Picture 6: Screenshot of post-listening sentence building designed with 20 Hotpotatoes–unit 15 Picture 7: Screenshot of post-listening sentence building designed with Question Tools Editor- unit 20 - 12 - PART I: INTRODUCTION Rationale Information technology (IT) has brought about many revolutional changes in the development of the global society Education is considered the foundation for the development, however, IT is used as powerful tools in every subject, especially, in teaching and learning foreign languages It is obvious that English has been taught in Vietnam as an important foreign language for a long time but due to grammar - translation method of teaching, Vietnamese students seem to be better at grammar than communicative competence Therefore, according to a large project to investigate the English teaching reform in northern parts of Vietnam, only 5% of students are able to communicate in English after graduation (Hoang et all, 2005) This fact gives rises to the need for nationwide innovation in the teaching methodology, as a result, three new textbooks for 10 th, 11th and 12th form students were designed and used in the light of communicative approach However, to use the new textbooks effectively, teachers and students need approach various types of IT tools such as some popular softwares in teaching like: Power point, Word processor, Window media The powerful tools, which can help teachers to expand the four walls of the tradditional classroom and rebuild the class with many useful controlled and free activities for communicative competence, are increasing in both quality and quantity Many articles have discussed the effectiveness of IT tools in SLT in the world In Vietnam, the application of IT tools in ESL was set forth by Nguyen Lan Trung and Ngo Van Nghiem (1997) who suggested the use of CD-ROM The recent focus on technology in language study has been on the use of MPS ( Multimedia Presentation softwares), emails, Internet, Class websites ( Nguyen Thi Lan Huong (2004), Nguyen Thu Hoai (2005), Pham Thi Ngoc Phuong (2006), Nguyen Thi Anh Nguyet (2008), Nong Thi Khanh Van (2008), Duong Thi Hong An (2009)) Despite many useful studies on IT tools in teaching and learning English, there are a limited number of studies on the authoring softwares which help teachers to design activities in their classroom - 13 - As a teacher of English in a small high school in Vinh, Nghe An, the author would like to carry out this research called ―A study on the effectiveness of application of information technology in the teaching and learning of grade 10 English listening skill at Hermann Gmeiner school - Vinh‖ to help herself and her colleagues in foreign language teaching IT tools, which are mentioned in this study, are two softwares: HotPotatoes and Question Tools Editor The author was introduced the way of using and applying these softwares in the course of applying IT in foreign language teaching Aims of the study This study aims to measure the effectiveness of the utilization of two authoring softwares: Hotpotatoes and Question Tools Editor in teaching listening skill in English 10 at Hermann Gmeiner school in Vinh Firstly, the author would like to investigate the influence of utilizing those softwares in teaching and learning listening skill in Hermann Gmeiner School - Vinh Secondly, the teachers and learners‘ opinions about advantages and disadvantages of those softwares in teaching and learning listening skill will be collected and analysed Thirdly, the author wants to find out the difficulties that teachers and students meet during the course and the solutions to advance the effectiveness of the authoring softwares in teaching listening skill Tieng Anh 10 at Hermann Gmeiner School - Vinh Research questions In order to achieve the aims of the study, the following research questions were raised: To what extent does the employment of the authoring softwares have influence on the effectiveness of teaching and learning listening skill in Tieng Anh 10? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the utilization of the two authoring softwares: HotPotatoes and Question Tools Editor in teaching and learning listening skill? What should be done to raise the effectiveness of the authoring softwares: Hotpotatoes and Question Tools Editors in teaching and learning listening skill at Hermann Gmeiner School ? - 53 - REFERENCES I Books and articles Berne J.E (1995), How does varying pre-listening activities affect second language listening comprehension?, Hispania 78, 316-29 British Council English site at http:// searchenglish.britishcouncil.org Chapelle (1997), ‗CALL in the year 2000: still in search of research paradigms?‘ Language learning and technology 1/1: 19-43 David Barr (2004), ICT- intergrating computers in teaching, Peter Lang AG, European Academic publishers English now ( Issue 9, November 2004), The magazine of Vietnam‘s English teachers and trainers network - supported by Bristish Council and The Ministry of Education and Training Fenrich (1997), Instructional Multimedia Applications, Harcourt Brace & Company, USA Garrett N (1991), "Technology in the service of language learning: trends and issues", Modern Language Journal 75, 1: 74-101 Hasan A.S (2000), Language Culture and Curricilum, Vol.13, No.2, 2000 Learners‘ Perceptions of Listening Comprehension Problems Hammer J (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching, rd ed, Longman, Harlow 10 Herron C (1994), An investigation of the effectiveness of using an advanced organizer to introduce video in the foreign language classroom The modern Language Journal 78, p190-198 11 Hoang Van Van et al (2005), Nghien cuu doi moi phuong phap giang day tieng Anh o cac truong THPT thouc mot so tinh dong bang Bac Bo (OD 0225) Hanoi: VNUCFL 12 Hoang Van Van, Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa, Do Tuan Minh, Nguyen Thu Phuong, Nguyen Quoc Tuan (2006), Tieng Anh 10 Hanoi: Education Publishing House 13 Krashen S.D.(1995), The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications New York: Longman - 54 - 14 Nguyen Lan Trung, (2002), ― The classrooms of Tomorrow‖, Ky yeu hoi thao quoc te: Giao duc ngoai ngu – Hoi nhap va phat trien, p61-65 15 Phillip M (1986), CALL in its Educational Context, in LEECH, G and CANDLIN, N.L Computers in English Language Teaching and Research London: Longman, 2-10 16 Richards J.C (1997), Tactics for Listening, New York: Oxford University Press 17 Rost M (1994), Listening London: Longman 18 Taylor R (1980) The computer in the school: tutor, tool, tutee, New York: Teachers College 19 Vicky Sharp (2006), Computer education for teacher (www.mhhe.com/sharp5e) 20 Warschauer M (1996), Computer-assisted language learning: an introduction In S Fotos (Ed.), (pp.3-20) Tokyo: Logos International II Websites: Hot Potatoes at http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/halfbaked/ Http://www.questiontools.com/downloadinstaller.html Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-Assisted-Language-Learning/ Definition - 55 - APPENDICES APPENDIX I: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS This survey questionnaire will be used for the topic ―A study on the effectiveness of the application of information technology in the teaching and learning of grade 10 English listening skill at Hermann Gmeiner school - Vinh‖ ( Nghiên cứu tính hiệu ứng dụng công nghệ thông tin việc dạy học kỹ nghe Tiếng Anh 10 trường phổ thông Hermann Gmeiner Vinh) Your assistance in completing this questionnaire is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is reserved for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation! Ton Anh Dao The questionnaires is in four parts, please put a tick in the appropriate box or give short answers in the space provided I Personal information: Your gender: male female How long have you been teaching English? Your age: years Your computer skill: Do you own a computer? Yes No How you rate your internet skill? Very good good normal , bad very bad How you use your computer in your teaching of English language listening skill? - prepare the full presentation on computers and present it at the end - prepare the draft then present at the end - using computer and screen instead of the blackboard - using computer, screen and the blackboard if neccessary - 56 - II Your assessment about using two authoring softwares HotPotatoes and Question Tools Editor for teaching listening skill in the computer-assisted classroom How can you assess the effectiveness of these two authoring softwares in: a Assissting you in your general teaching of English listening skills to grade 10 students: - very effectively - quite effectively - effectively - not very effectively - not effectively at all b assissting you in your teaching of English listening sub-skills to grade 10 students in terms of following: Very much Much Not much Not at all Prediction ( guessing ahead what is going to be listened) Extracting specific information ( recognition of isolated words) Getting the gist ( having general understanding of the text) Extracting detailed information (students gain a deeper understanding of the text) Guessing meaning from content (unfamiliar words from the contextual background and scenario can be guessed at) c Useful in various stages of teaching listening process Very useful Pre-teaching listening While-teaching listening Post-teaching listening Useful Not very useful Not useful at all - 57 - To what extents teachers use the authoring softwares to teach listening skill in English? Before-teaching listening skill: - Design activities using pictures, photos, clips relating to the topic - Pre-teach vocabulary and structure - Design many kinds of games While-teaching listening skill: - Design many kinds of exercises - Design exerxises with marking - Design exercises with explanation Post-teaching listening skill: - Design many kinds of games - Design prompts to help students to practise - Design prompts to help students to practise writing at home III What are the advantages and disadvantages when you use these two softwares to teach listening skill for students of grade 10 at Hermann Gmeiner school? Advantages: - Design a lot of types of exercises - Design a lot of types of activities - Easy and simple use - Develop teacher‘s creation - Few technical errors - Make the lesson more attractive with inserting audio and video files - Help students to understand the lesson better with clear instructions - Motivate students to practise - Other: - 58 - Disadvantages: - Some certain files can‘t be opened with these softwares - Take a lot of time to prepare the lesson - Require the computer ability - Depend on the computers Other…………………………………………………………………… IV Do you have any suggestions for the use of the softwares in lessons in the multimedia classroom to be more effective? - To the administrators: - To the teachers: - To the students: Thank you very much for your cooperation! QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS - 59 - This survey questionnaire will be used for the topic ―A study on the effectiveness of the application of information technology in the teaching and learning of grade 10 English listening skill at Hermann Gmeiner school Vinh‖ Your assistance in completing this questionnaire is highly appreciated Thank you very much for your cooperation! The questionnaires is in four parts, please put a tick in the appropriate box or give short answers in the space provided a Personal information: Your gender: male female How long have you been learning English? Your age: years How you use your computer in your learning of English language listening skill? - listen to the tape once in advance at home - listen to the tape many times in advance at home - listen to the tape three times at class - use other listening softwares II Your assessment about using two authoring softwares HotPotatoes and Question Tools Editor for teaching listening skill in the computer-assisted classroom How can you assess the effectiveness of these two authoring softwares in: a assissting you in your general learning of English listening skills to grade 10 students: - very effectively - quite effectively - effectively - not very effectively - not effectively at all - 60 - b assissting you in your learning of English listening sub-skills to grade 10 students in terms of following: Very much Much Not much Not at all Prediction ( guessing ahead what is going to be listened) Extracting specific information ( recognition of isolated words) Getting the gist ( having general understanding of the text) Extracting detailed information (students gain a deeper understanding of the text) Guessing meaning from content (unfamiliar words from the contextual background and scenario can be guessed at) c Useful in various stages of teaching listening process Very useful Useful Not very useful Not useful at all Pre – listening While – listening Post – listening 2.To what extents are the authoring softwares used to learn listening skill in English? Pre-listening skill: - provide activities using pictures, photos, clips relating to the topic - provide new vocabulary and structure - provide many kinds of games While-listening skill: - provide many kinds of exercises - provide exerxises with marking - provide exercises with explanation Post-listening skill: - provide many kinds of games - 61 - - provide prompts to help students to practise - provide prompts to help students to practise writing at home III What are the advantages and disadvantages when you use these two softwares to teach listening skill for students of grade 10 at Hermann Gmeiner school? Advantages: - More motivative when playing activities - Provide various exercises and activities with feedback and marking - Easy and simple use - Develop students‘s creativity - Few technical errors - Suitable for pairworks - Motivate students to practise speaking - Develop students‘ prediction skill - Well-designed - Other……………………………………………………… Disadvantages: - Some technical errors - Not suitable for groupworks - Need combine with others to make a fully-made lesson - Depend on the computers - Other…………………………………………………… I Do you have any suggestions for the use of the softwares in lessons in the multimedia classroom to be more effective? - To the administrators: - To the teachers: - To the students: Thank you very much for your cooperation! - 62 - APPENDIX III SCREENSHOTS OF MAIN TEACHING LISTENING ACTIVITIES IN UNIT – ENGLISH 10: GAME: CROSSWORD - 63 - PRE-TEACH VOCABULARY: - 64 - - 65 - CHECKING VOCABULARY: TASK I: - 66 - TASK II: - 67 - SENTENCE BUILDING: PICTURE OF MULTIMEDIA ROOM: ... - FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES TÔN ANH ĐÀO A STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE APPLICATION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF GRADE 10 ENGLISH LISTENING SKILL AT HERMANN. .. Learning and it is related to the use of computers for language teaching and learning CALL may be defined as "the search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning" ... and learning listening skill in Tieng Anh 10? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the utilization of the two authoring softwares: HotPotatoes and Question Tools Editor in teaching and learning