VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ****** ĐỖ THỊ THÚY A STUDY ON PROBLEMS 10 TH GRADE STUDENTS AT HUNG YEN HIGH SCHOOL ENCOUNTER WHEN DOING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH LISTENING EXERCISES AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS (Nghiên cứu về những vấn đề học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Hưng Yên gặp phải khi làm những câu hỏi nghe hiểu trong phần bài tập nghe tiếng anh và một số giải pháp khắc phục) M.A. Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.140.111 HANOI - 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ****** ĐỖ THỊ THÚY A STUDY ON PROBLEMS 10 TH GRADE STUDENTS AT HUNG YEN HIGH SCHOOL ENCOUNTER WHEN DOING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH LISTENING EXERCISES AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS (Nghiên cứu về những vấn đề học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Hưng Yên gặp phải khi làm những câu hỏi nghe hiểu trong phần bài tập nghe tiếng anh và một số giải pháp khắc phục) M.A. Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.140.111 Supervisor: Prof. Nguyễn Hòa HANOI - 2014 i DECLARATION I - Đỗ Thị Thúy, a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts (TEFL) hereby state that I accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master‟s Graduation Paper deposited in the library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper. Signature Đỗ Thị Thu ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This section brings me a favourable chance to express my profound indebtedness to a number of people whose invaluable support and encouragement were of great help in the completion of my thesis. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Nguyen Hoa, for his insightful guidance, constructive advice as well as critical comments during almost one year of the research process. Without his tireless support, this thesis could not have been completed. Secondly, my special thanks go to my respected colleagues at Hung Yen high school for their kindness of saving me much time to pursue the study. I would also like to acknowledge forty tenth graders at Hung Yen high school for their full participation and cooperation during the data collection process. Last but not least, my special words of thanks are sent to my beloved family and my roommates in the hostel of ULIS, VNU for their constant encouragement, inspiration and unconditional love. iii ABSTRACT The present study entitled “A study on problems 10 th grade students at Hung Yen high school encounter when doing comprehension questions in English listening exercises and some suggested solutions” was conducted to examine the difficulties of tenth graders at the local high school when dealing with English listening comprehension questions in the course book 10 and also give some pedagogical implications for the teachers at the research site. The study used questionnaires and interviews for the collection of quick, valid, and updated data from the respondents. There were four prevailing problems which coincidentally emerged from both questionnaires and interviews namely new words, fast speech rate, speakers‟ unclear pronunciation and inability to recognize words that students already know. From these findings, some suggestions were given to help the teachers improve their teaching of listening comprehension skills at high school. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv List of abbreviations vii List of charts viii INTRODUCTION 1 1. Rationale 1 2. Aims of the study 2 3. Significance of the study 3 4. Scope of the study 3 5. Method of the study 3 6. Design of the study 3 DEVELOPMENT 4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1. Definition of key terms 4 1.1.1. Listening 4 1.1.2. Listening problems 4 1.1.3. Listening exercise 5 1.2. Listening comprehension questions 5 1.2.1. Basic comprehension 6 a. Gist questions 6 v b. Detailed questions 6 1.2.2. Pragmatic understanding 7 c. Pragmatic understanding questions 7 1.2.3. Connecting information 8 d. Organization questions 8 e. Relationship quesions 8 1.3. The process of listening comprehension 10 1.4. Review of previous studies 11 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODS 2.1. Context of teaching and learning English at Hung Yen high school 14 2.2. Participants 14 2.3. Data collection methods 15 2.3.1. Questionnaires 16 2.3.2. Semi-structured interview 17 2.4. Data collection procedures 17 2.5. Data analysis methods and procedures 19 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1. Data from the questionnaires 20 3.2. Data from the interview 30 CONCLUSION 36 1. Summary of the study 36 2. Pedagogical implications 37 3. Limitations of the study 39 vi 4. Suggestions for further studies 39 REFERENCES 40 APPENDICES I vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS L2: Second language EFL: English as a Foreign Language MOET: Ministry of Education and Training viii LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1: Message-related problems Chart 2: Speaker-related problems Chart 3: Listener-related problems Chart 4: Physical setting problems [...]... subject of the passage? - What is the topic of the passage? - What is the main idea of the passage? - What is the purpose of the passage? b Detailed questions Detailed questions ask about specific pieces of information that are stated in a passage, exemplified by the two questions below 6 - What is stated in the passage? - What is indicated in the passage? 1.2.2 Pragmatic Understanding Questions at the level... organization of the ideas They may specifically ask about how the heard information is organized, or they may ask students to fill out a chart that shows the organization It is noteworthy that this type of question is based on an understanding of the main points and how they are organized rather than on a single point, as demonstrated below - How is the information in the passage organized? - Please... of the speaker? - Select the sentence that best expresses how the speaker feels - What does the speaker mean? 7 1.2.3 Connecting information Questions about connecting information involve a number of ideas rather than a single detail These questions are categorized into two types encompassing organization questions and relationship questions d Organization questions Organization questions ask about the... minimize the participants‟ anxiety 18 2.5 Data analysis methods and procedures In terms of the data obtained in the questionnaires, they were analyzed statistically by means of calculating the numbers of responses and the percentages respectively Then, these statistics were arranged according to different categories and displayed in charts and table for better illustrations and explanations As for the... procedures of data collection, accompanied by data analysis methods and procedures at the end 2.1 Context of teaching and learning English at Hung Yen high school Hung Yen high school is a public educational institution located in the centre of Hung Yen city In the school year 2013-2014, there were eleven tenth grade classes encompassing seven natural science oriented classes (from 1 0A1 to 1 0A7 ), another two... was of average rating None of them was below average The main reason for choosing those students was that 1 0A2 was one of the two tenth grade classes that the researcher was in charge during the past school- year Hence, it would be easier for her to raise the students awareness of the important role of the participants in the study and ask them to complete the questionnaires seriously and responsibly... information that the predecessors have not found out 2 Aims of the study The research is conducted to pinpoint most common difficulties, underlying reasons and then generate pedagogical implications for the local teachers to overcome the existing drawbacks With these aims, the study finds answers to the following research question: What are the problems that 1 0th graders at Hung Yen high school encounters... level of pragmatic understanding consist of one question type, called pragmatic understanding questions c Pragmatic understanding questions Pragmatic understanding questions may ask students to identify either the purpose or the stand and attitude of the speakers To deal with the former, students need to understand not just what the speaker said but why the speaker said it In other words, they must... Briefly, the study was conducted among forty tenth grade students at Hung Yen high school The data were collected within one day by two instruments: questionnaires and semistructured interviews After that, they were analyzed carefully to seek out the answers to the research question The findings will be demonstrated in the following chapter, Chapter Three: Findings and Discussion 19 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND. .. fill in the gap, the current study is conducted on problems that 1 0th grade students at Hung Yen high school encounter when doing comprehension questions in English listening exercises and some suggested solutions Specifically, the study will pinpoint common difficulties of English learners when they deal with short-answer questions This kind of listening task is chosen because it is one of the three . (Nghiên cứu về những vấn đề học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Hưng Yên gặp phải khi làm những câu hỏi nghe hiểu trong phần bài tập nghe tiếng anh và một số giải pháp khắc phục) M.A. Minor Programme. (Nghiên cứu về những vấn đề học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Hưng Yên gặp phải khi làm những câu hỏi nghe hiểu trong phần bài tập nghe tiếng anh và một số giải pháp khắc phục) M.A. Minor Programme. PROBLEMS 10 TH GRADE STUDENTS AT HUNG YEN HIGH SCHOOL ENCOUNTER WHEN DOING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH LISTENING EXERCISES AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS (Nghiên cứu về những vấn đề học sinh