MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH OPEN UNIVERSITY - THE EFFECT OF METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES ON LISTENING COMPREHENSION ON NON- ENGLISH MAJOR FRESHMEN A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) Submitted by PHAM THI KIEU TIEN Supervisor Dr Nguyen Dinh Thu Ho Chi Minh, September 2016 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this MA thesis submitted today entitled “The effect of metacognitive strategies on listening comprehension of non- English major freshmen” is my own work Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma No other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution Ho Chi Minh, August 2016 Pham Thi Kieu Tien i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Apart from my effort, it would not be possible to complete this thesis without the guidance of my supervisor, help from friends, caring and encouragement from my family Foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Dinh Thu, for his patience, enthusiasm, extensive knowledge and motivation I have been extremely lucky to have a supervisor who cared a lot about my work, and who responded to my questions as well as supporting me to the completion of my thesis I also would like to thank my friends at Van Lang University who were willing to help, give their best suggestions and share experience Special thanks go to the sixty students who kindly accepted to participate in this thesis Finally, I am most grateful to my family members, especially my husband, who were always a source of understanding, support and inspiration ii ABSTRACT The thesis aims to find out the effect of metacognitive strategies on listening comprehension of non-English major freshmen at Van Lang University Both qualitative and quantitative data analyses were employed in this study Sixty first year non- English major students at Van Lang University participating in this study are divided into experimental group and the control group Listening tests, questionnaire and interview were used as tools for data collection The study found that metacognitive strategies enhanced non-English major freshmen‟s listening comprehension at Ho Chi Minh University Besides, students employ more problemsolving strategies and directed attention strategies, planning and evaluation strategies and person knowledge strategies, except that they not use mental translation strategies when listening The majority of students use metacognitive strategies when they listen because they have good attitude about using these strategies in listening comprehension iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Statement of authorship……………………………………………………………… i Acknowledgment…………………………………………………………………… ii Abstract…………………………………………………………………………… iii Table of contents…………………………………………………………………… iv List of tables and Figures…………………………………………………………….viii Abbreviations……………………………………………………………………… xi Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 Problem statement 1.3 Research aims 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Research significance 1.6 Thesis structure Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview of listening comprehension 2.1.1 Definition of listening skill 2.1.2 Concept of listening comprehension 11 2.1.3 Stages of listening comprehension 12 2.1.4 2.2 Potential problems in learning listening comprehension 17 Learning strategies 18 2.2.1 Overview of learning strategies 18 iv 2.2.2 2.3 Classification of learning strategies 19 Metacognitive strategies 21 2.3.1 The concept of metacognition 21 2.3.2 Components of metacognition 22 2.3.3 Metacognitive strategies 23 2.3.4 Classification of metacognitive strategies 24 2.4 Importance of metacognitive strategies on language learning 25 2.5 The relationship between metacognitive strategies and listening comprehension 27 2.6 Empirical studies 28 2.7 Summary of Chapter 35 Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY 36 3.1 Research design 36 3.2 Research site 37 3.2.1 Research setting 37 3.2.2 Research participants 38 3.3 Data collection 39 3.3.1 Instruments 39 3.3.2 Data collection process 46 3.4 The listening program of experimental group and control group 47 3.4.1 Materials 47 3.4.2 Intervention of experimental group 48 3.4.3 Listening guide sheet 51 3.4.4 Listening lesson plan for experimental group 55 3.4.5 Listening process of control group 57 3.4.6 Listening lesson plan for control group 57 v 3.5 Pilot study 59 3.6 Data analysis approach 60 3.6.1 Validity and reliability issues 60 3.6.2 Mean 62 3.6.3 t- Test 62 3.7 Summary of Chapter 63 Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 64 4.1 Participants‟ performance at pre- test and posttest 64 4.1.1 Independent samples t-test of control group and experimental group in Pretest 64 4.1.2 Pair samples t- test of control group in Pretest and Posttest 66 4.1.3 Pair samples t- test of experimental group in Pretest and Posttest 67 4.1.4 Independent samples t- test of control group and experimental group in Posttest 69 4.2 Questionnaire data analysis: Participant‟s response to the use of metacognitive strategies in listening comprehension 71 4.2.1 Participants‟ response to their individual information 71 4.2.2 Participants‟ response to using planning and evaluation strategies in listening comprehension 71 4.2.3 Participants‟ response to using directed attention strategies in listening comprehension 76 4.2.4 Participants‟ response to using person knowledge strategies in listening comprehension 79 4.2.5 Participants‟ response to using mental translation strategies in listening comprehension 82 4.2.6 Participants‟ response to using problem- solving strategies in listening comprehension 85 4.3 Interview 91 vi 4.4 Discussions of findings 103 4.5 Summary of chapter 111 Chapter 5: CONCLUSION 112 5.1 Conclusion 112 5.2 Implications 113 5.2.1 Implications for teachers 114 5.2.2 Implications for students 116 5.3 Limitations of the study 116 5.4 Recommendations for the further research 118 REFERENCES 119 APPENDICES 131 APPENDIX 131 APPENDIX 131 APPENDIX 138 APPENDIX 3A 146 APPENDIX 3B 147 APPENDIX 151 APPENDIX 4A 158 APPENDIX 4B 159 APPENDIX 163 APPENDIX 164 APPENDIX 7A 165 APPENDIX 7B 168 APPENDIX 171 APPENDIX 177 vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLES Table 3.1: Questionnaire of Vandergrift et al (2006)…………………………………43 Table 3.2: Listening instruction stages and related metacognitive strategies, by L Vandergrift and C Goh (2012)……………………………………………………… 49 Table 3.3: Listening guide sheet (Fahim, M., & Fakhri Alamdari, E., 2014)…………52 Table 3.4: Main teaching stages and procedures for the experimental group…………55 Table 3.5: Main teaching stages and procedures for the control group……………….58 Table 4.1 Group Statistics on pretest of control group and experimental group…… 65 Table 4.2 Results of Independent Samples T- test on Pretest of Control Group and Experimental Group………………………………………………………………… 65 Table 4.3 Paired samples group statistics for control group Pretest and Posttest…….66 Table 4.4 Results of paired samples test for control group in Pretest and Posttest… 66 Table 4.5 Paired samples group statistics for experimental group Pretest and Posttest……………………………………………………………………………… 68 Table 4.6 Results of paired samples test for experimental group in Pretest and Posttest 69 Table 4.7 Group Statistics on posttest of control group and experimental group… 69 Table 4.8 Results of Independent Samples T- test on Posttest of Control Group and Experimental Group………………………………………………………………… 69 Table 4.9 Students‟ response to using planning and evaluation strategies in listening comprehension……………………………………………………………………… 72 Table 4.10 Students‟ response to using directed attention strategies in listening comprehension……………………………………………………………………… 76 Table 4.11 Students‟ response to using person knowledge strategies in listening comprehension……………………………………………………………………… 80 Table 4.12 Students‟ response to using mental translation strategies in listening comprehension……………………………………………………………………… 82 viii Table 4.13 Students‟ response to using problem- solving strategies in listening comprehension……………………………………………………………………… 85 ix APPENDIX TEST RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTAL GROUP No 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Name Student Student Student Student Student Student Student Student Student Student 10 Student 11 Student 12 Student 13 Student 14 Student 15 Student 16 Student 17 Student 18 Student 19 Student 20 Student 21 Student 22 Student 23 Student 24 Student 25 Student 26 Student 27 Student 28 Student 29 Student 30 Pretest Posttest 18 20 19 14 19 18 20 22 15 19 15 20 21 12 21 29 10 15 11 16 12 28 13 12 14 17 33 164 21 24 25 12 11 18 24 22 24 24 18 23 18 23 25 12 12 21 33 13 17 13 18 14 35 17 20 19 24 38 APPENDIX 7A QUESTIONNAIRE Dear students, This questionnaire is designed to collect information for the study “The effect of metacognitive strategies on listening comprehension of non- English major freshmen at Van Lang University” I feel very grateful to your cooperation in completing the following questions The information collected will be kept confidential and used for research purpose only Please read the questions carefully and put a tick (√) in the box you choose Thank you very much PART 1: PERSONAL INFORMATION Please put a tick (√) in the suitable option in each question below 18 □ Age: 18- 23 □ more than 23 □ female □ Gender: male □ How long have you been learning English? Never before □ 1-4 years □ 5-7 years □ more than years □ Are you taking other listening classes while you are studying English in this University? Yes □ No □ PART II: QUESTIONS 165 Please put a tick (√) in the suitable option that describes how much you agree with the idea in each question = strongly disagree = disagree = neutral = agree strongly agree No 10 11 12 13 14 Before I start to listen, I have a plan in my head for how I am going to listen I focus harder on the text when I have trouble understanding I find that listening in English is more difficult than reading, speaking, or writing in English I translate in my head as I listen I use the words I understand to guess the meaning of the words I don‟t understand When my mind wanders, I recover my concentration right away As I listen, I compare what I understand with what I know about the topic I feel that listening comprehension in English is a challenge for me I use my experience and knowledge to help me understand Before listening, I think of similar texts that I may have listened to I translate key words as I listen I try to get back on track when I lose concentration As I listen, I quickly adjust my interpretation if I realized that it is not correct After listening, I think back to how I listened, and about what I might differently next time 166 Strongly disagree Strongly agree 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 15 I don‟t feel nervous when I listen to English 16 When I have difficulty understanding what I hear, I give up and stop listening 17 I use the general idea of the text to help me guess the meaning of the words that I don‟t understand 18 I translate word by word, as I listen 19 When I guess the meaning of a word, I think back to everything else that I have heard, to see if my guess makes sense 20 As I listen, I periodically ask myself if I am satisfied with my level of comprehension 21 I have a goal in mind as I listen 5 5 5 Thank you very much for your contribution 167 APPENDIX 7B BẢNG CÂU HỎI Các em học sinh thân mến, Bảng câu hỏi thiết kế nhằm thu thập thông tin cho luận văn Thạc sĩ “The effect of metacognitive strategies on listening comprehension of non- English major freshmen” Đại học Văn Lang” Cảm ơn em dành thời gian cung cấp thơng tin để trả lời câu hỏi Thông tin mà em cung cấp giữ kín sử dụng vào cho mục đích nghiên cứu mà thơi Xin đọc câu hỏi thật kỹ đánh dấu (√) vào ô mà em chọn Cảm ơn em nhiều PHẦN 1: THƠNG TIN CÁ NHÂN Vui lòng đánh dấu (√) vào lựa chọn phù hợp cho câu hỏi Tuổi: Giới tính: 18 □ 18- 23 □ nữ □ nam □ 23 □ Em học tiếng Anh rồi? Chưa học □ 1-4 năm □ 5-7 năm □ năm □ Em có tham gia khóa học nghe tiếng Anh bên học tiếng Anh trường Đại học khơng? có □ khơng □ PART II: QUESTIONS 168 Vui lòng đánh dấu (√) cho lựa chọn phù hợp để mô tả mức độ đồng ý em với ý kiến câu hỏi = hoàn toàn không đồng ý = dồng ý Stt 10 11 12 13 14 15 = khôngđồng ý = ý kiến = hồn tồn đồng ý Trước bắt đầu, tơi có kế hoạch đầu nghe Tơi tập trung kĩ vào đoạn văn không hiểu Tôi thấy nghe tiếng Anh khó đọc, nói viết tiếng Anh Tôi dịch đầu nghe Tơi dùng từ tơi hiểu để đốn nghĩa từ khơng hiểu Khi đầu óc xao lãng, tập trung lại Khi nghe, so sánh hiểu với biết chủ đề nghe Tôi cảm thấy nghe hiểu tiếng Anh thách thức với Tơi vận dụng kinh nghiệm kiến thức để giúp hiểu Trước nghe, nghĩ đến tương tự mà nghe Tơi dịch từ nghe Tơi cố gắng quay trở lại nghe tập trung Khi nghe, tơi nhanh chóng điều chỉnh lại nhận hiểu khơng Sau nghe, tơi suy nghĩ lại cách nghe, làm khác vào lần tới Tơi khơng cảm thấy căng thẳng nghe 169 Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Hoàn toàn đồng ý 16 17 18 19 20 21 tiếng Anh Khi không hiểu nghe, tơi từ bỏ khơng nghe Tôi dùng ý chung đoạn văn để giúp đốn nghĩa từ khơng hiểu Tơi dịch từ tơi nghe Khi đốn nghĩa từ đó, tơi hồi tưởng từ mà tơi nghe để xem tơi đốn có hay khơng Khi nghe, tơi tự hỏi có hài lòng với trình độ nghe hiểu hay chưa Tơi có mục đích đầu nghe 5 5 5 Chân thành cảm ơn đóng góp em 170 APPENDIX INTERVIEW Question 1: Do you give up and stop listening if you don‟t understand? Why? Student 1: If it was before, I would stop listen However, after studying metacognitive strategies, I not think so It is also because I find passion in studying English, so I love English now Student 2: Until now, I not give up and stop listening If I not understand the text, I will try to understand I feel so sad if I not understand when listening Student 3: Sometimes I stop listening I can guess the topic if I listen to some points Sometimes I feel so stressful, so I stop listening Sometimes I wait until I can concentrate to continue listening Student 4: Sometimes I stop listening If I not like the topics, I will stop immediately If I like the topics, I will check new vocabulary or ask teacher for more information Student 5: No English is very important because it is good for future I can apply metacognitive strategies in listening I need to try a lot in English Student 6: I have to try to listen because English is very important Thanks to English, I can communicate better, be successful in future and have a good job in future Student 7: I not stop listening I listen for the man idea I not stop listening because I can guess the topics of the text and already have vocabularies in my head Student 8: I still continue listening because learning English is very interesting and I also learn how to guess the idea and vocabularies I really love English Student 9: Of course not Studying something is not easy It is because of passion Studying English makes me feel happy and more confident 171 Student 10: No, Madame Before studying with these strategies, I feel so disappointed because I not know the way to listen Now I can analyze, guess the meaning and idea, so I will never stop listening Question 2: Do you translate when you listen? Why? Student 1: No, I think with basic level of English, I can have good reaction, so I not need to translate when listening Student 2: No Madame, I can control my reaction when listening to English, so I can listening tasks Student 3: Yes, because translating while listening helps me understand better However, I just translate the main key words Student 4: According to learning style of Vietnamese, it is a habit that they translate from English to Vietnamese For example, when they want to say something, they often translate from Vietnamese to English On contrary, when they listen, they also translate from English to Vietnamese to understand That is a habit People who study or communicate a lot can break that habit, so they not need time to translate About me, I listen a lot, so I not need to spend time to translate, but I can understand English Student 5: My answer is no because I watch English cartoon, so I not need to translate any more Student 6: If I listen once, I not translate, but if it is twice, I will translate It is because I want to understand clearly each word and each vocabulary of the text Student 7: I listen to the vocabularies of the text, so I can understand the idea of the text I not translate 172 Student 8: No, I not The first reason is that I am so lazy of translating The second reason is that if I translate, I will miss information in the text or be slower than the speed of the text So I just try to understand, not translate Student 9: I listen to some repeated information and I have good reaction Besides, I just listen to key words to understand and guess what the speakers want to say Student 10: When I listen, I not translate because it takes a lot of time and I will have bad reaction if I that Question 3: Do you think listening in English is difficult? Why? Student 1: Yes, I In the speech, the foreigners have pronunciation and tone which are difficult to listen They also have liaison, so I cannot listen well Student 2: Yes, I I not know many vocabularies Student 3: I think listening is difficult because I not have enough vocabularies and my pronunciation is not good Student 4: Yes, I think so Some speakers talk too fast, so I cannot follow their ideas and I not also have many vocabularies, so I cannot listen well Student 5: Yes, because English is not my mother tongue, so I not listen well Student 6: Sometimes I think listening is difficult, sometimes not If I like the topics, I can listen If the topics are difficult, I think it is difficult to listen Student 7: To me, listening is difficult because of many reasons I not know much about vocabularies I cannot listen to the foreigners’ voice because they speak too fast Sometimes they use idioms, so I cannot listen Student 8: I not know because if I concentrate, I can listen well If not, I cannot listen 173 Student 9: In my opinion, listening is difficult It is because pronunciation is the most important thing When I pronounce well, I can listen well Student 10: Yes, I Firstly, I not know vocabularies Secondly, some words I know but I have never listened to Thirdly, I easily forget English Fourthly, foreigners have liaison, so I think the sentences in the text are different from what I know After realizing these problems, I try to deal these by myself and start listening again Now I can listen better than before and I not feel so worried when I listen to English Question 4: Do you think metacognitive strategies can improve listening comprehension? Why? Student 1: I think metacognitive strategies can improve listening comprehension because I can learn many new skills such as predicting before listening, evaluating after listening I did not know these skills, so my results were not good Student 2: Metacognitive strategies are very helpful for improving listening Listeners can know the listening process as well as solve their problems while listening Student 3: I think students can apply metacognitive strategies for listening to answer different kind of listening exercise, so their results will be good Student 4: I think yes because they help students predict the questions before listening and be more confident while listening Student 5: To me, metacognitive strategies are good because they help me understand the text now and I also concentrate more on listening Student 6: Metacognitive strategies are good because listeners can be more active They have to a lot of activities 174 Student 7: Metacognitive strategies help learners become active in receiving information because they can predict the topics and vocabularies before listening So listening is no longer a passive process Student 8: Metacognitive strategies can improve listening comprehension because with these strategies, students can study by themselves, so they have more motivation to learn Besides, they not depend much on teachers but become independent learners Student 9: Metacognitive strategies help listeners know the listening process and know what they should in listening process, so their results are better Student 10: These strategies help listeners evaluate their listening Besides, predicting before listening is a good way for listeners to understand the text clearly Question 5: Do you use metacognitive strategies when you listen? Why? Student 1: Yes, I Predicting before listening and evaluating after listening are used most Therefore, I can evaluate which parts I cannot listen and what I should to listen better Student 2: Yes because I can improve listening as well as solve my problems while listening Student 3: I think metacognitive strategies are good for listening, so I use these strategies for my listening Before learning these strategies, I just listen but not have any idea in my head and sometimes I not understand anything after listening However, after learning these strategies, I can predict the content of listening text before listening to have general overview of listening text, so I feel familiar with the listening text Student 4: Yes, I I can guess what questions are like, so I can listen better Besides, I feel more confident than before 175 Student 5: Yes, I use these strategies in my listening They help me concentrate more because I have to write the information on the listening guide sheet Student 6: Yes, I I not feel sleepy while listening anymore because I have to a lot of activities in listening Student 7: I use these strategies As my answer in question 4, I am more active in listening and I am not afraid of listening anymore Student 8: Yes, I use metacognitive strategies, especially predicting before listening and evaluating after listening I have more motivation to study because I self- study a lot Student 9: Yes, I because I can know what listening process is and what I should in listening process Student 10: Yes Because I feel that it is very interesting if I predict vocabulary and idea of the text I will count how many correct ideas I have predicted Besides, I also like evaluating my listening level, so I think learning this way is very effective 176 APPENDIX LISTENING GUIDE SHEET Pre- listening A Write down vocabularies that you think they related to the text B Write down five main ideas that you think will be told in the listening text you are going to listen to C Compare and discuss your predictions with your partner and write down different ideas that your partner predicts and that you consider logical possibilities While- listening A Listen to the text Check and put a tick next to the predicted ideas that are similar to the ideas in the text Then write down other ideas in the text that you and your partner did not predict B Discuss your listening result with your partner Listen to the text again to check your results and to solve any differences in comprehension between you and your partner Write down new information and important details in the text that you may not have understood in the first listening 177 C Join in to class discussion to reconstruct the text main points D Listen to the text the last time to verify comprehension and check the information of the listening text Post- listening A I have predicted ideas that similar to the text B What did I not understand? C What will I for next listening? 178 ... whether there is any effect of metacognitive strategies on listening comprehension for non- English major freshmen and whether non- English major freshmen use metacognitive strategies in listening. .. overview of listening comprehension definition of listening skill, the concept of listening comprehension, and stages of listening comprehension The second part is about learning strategies, including... understand vocabulary and grammatical structures, interpret stress and intonation, retain what was gathered in all of the above, and interpret it within the immediate as well as the large social