VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ HẢI HÀ USING INTERACTIVE PROCESS TO IMPROVE FIRSTYEAR STUDENTS’ LISTENING SKILLS AT HANOI COLLEGE OF EDUCATION SỬ DỤNG TIẾN TRÌNH TƯƠNG TÁC ĐỂ PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NGHE CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG SƯ PHẠM HÀ NỘI M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI - 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ HẢI HÀ USING INTERACTIVE PROCESS TO IMPROVE FIRSTYEAR STUDENTS’ LISTENING SKILLS AT HANOI COLLEGE OF EDUCATION SỬ DỤNG TIẾN TRÌNH TƯƠNG TÁC ĐỂ PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NGHE CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG SƯ PHẠM HÀ NỘI M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc Prof PhD Trần Xuân Điệp HANOI - 2014 DECLARATION I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled: “Using Interactive Process to Improve First-Year Students’ Listening Skills at Hanoi College of Education”, which is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English Language Teaching Methodology at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, is the result of my own work I have provided fully documented references to the work of others The material in this thesis has not been submitted for any other university or institution wholly and partially Hanoi, 2014 Phạm Thị Hải Hà i ACKNOWLEDGTMENTS This research paper would not have been completed without the help of people to whom I would like to express my deep gratitude First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Assoc Prof Dr Tran Xuan Diep, my supervisor, for his wholehearted support, continuous motivation and precious guidance which were decisive factors to the completion of the thesis I would like to extend my special thanks to all the research participants Without their valuable opinions and ideas in the questionnaires, the study would not have been accomplished Last but not least, I owe my parents their continuous support Their patience and love have helped me go beyond what sometimes looks like an insurmountable task ii ABSTRACT This study was intended to investigate the impact of interactive process on first-year students’ listening skills at Hanoi College of Education More specifically, the researcher strived to (1) investigate problems related to interactive process the students may have while learning listening, and (2) examine the effects of using interactive process in teaching listening to the first-year students To achieve the above mentioned objectives, an action research was conducted with the participation of 60 first-year students from two classes at Hanoi College of Education The study included: (1) a pre-test and a questionnaire, (2) the instruction of interactive process, (3) a post-test and a questionnaire, (4) and students’ diaries Later, all the data were collected and analysed The main findings of the research were as follows: (1) Such problems as difficulties in new vocabulary and structures, background knowledge of the topics, the unfamiliarity of topics, the inability to catch up with what speakers said, the students’ limited ability of pronunciation as well as listening to stress and intonation were what caused the students troubles in listening (2) After interactive process had been applied, the students’ scores in the post-test were higher than in the pre-test Overall, the instruction of interactive process improved their listening skills iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, L2: Second language EFL: English as a foreign language iv TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Procedures of the Study 26 Table 2: Results of Question in the Questionnaire after the Pre-test 27 Table 3: Results of Question in the Questionnaire after the Pre-test 27 Table 4: Results of Question in the Questionnaire after the Pre-test 27 Table 5: Results of Question in the Questionnaire after the Pre-test 28 Table 6: Results of Question in the Questionnaire after the Pre-test 28 Table 7: Results of Question in the Questionnaire after the Pre-test 29 Table 08: Results of Question in the Questionnaire after the Pre-test 30 Table 9: Results of Question in the Questionnaire after the Pre-test 30 Table 10: Results of Question in the Questionnaire after the Pre-test 30 Table 11: Results of Question 10 in the Questionnaire after the Pre-test 31 Table 12: Results of Question 11 in the Questionnaire after the Pre-test 31 Table 13: Results of Question 12 in the Questionnaire after the Pre-test 31 Table 14: Results of Question 13 in the Questionnaire after the Pre-test 32 Table 15: Results of Question 14 in the Questionnaire after the Pre-test 32 Table 16: Results of Question 15 in the Questionnaire after the Pre-test 33 Table 17: Paired Samples Statistics 35 Table 18: Paired Samples Correlations 35 Table 19: Paired Samples Test 36 Table 20: Students’ Evaluation of the Learning Session 38 Figures Figure 1: Action Research Model 21 Figure 2: Comparison of Students’ Performance in the Pre-test and Post-test 34 Figure 3: Subjects’ Satisfaction with the Course 36 v PART A INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the Study 1.3 Objectives of the Research 1.4 Research Questions 1.5 Scope of the Study 1.6 Significance of the Study 1.7 Methodology 1.7.1 Approach 1.7.2 Sample 1.7.3 Instrumentatio PART B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Theoretical Background 1.1.1 Definitions of Listening 1.1.2 Listening Comprehension 1.1.2.1 Characteristics of Spoken Discourse 1.1.2.2 Bottom-up Processing and Teaching Bottom-up 1.1.2.3 Top-down Processing and Teaching Top-down 1.1.2.4 Interactive Processing 1.1.2.4.1 A Combination of Bottom-up and Top-dow 1.1.2.4.2 Teaching Interactive Processing 1.1.2.5 Listening Strategies 1.2 Review of Previous Studies Related to the Research Thesis vi 1.3 Summary CHAPTER 2: METHODS 2.1 Research Setting 2.2 Subjects 2.3 Research types 2.4 Research Approaches 2.5 Data Collection Instruments 2.5.1 Pre-test and Post-tes 2.5.2 Questionnaires 2.5.3 Diaries 2.6 Intervention: Instruction of Interactive Process in Clas 2.6.1 Listening Materials 2.6.2 The Instruction in Interactive Process 2.7 Data Collection Procedures 2.8 Data Analysis 2.9 Summary CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 3.1 Preliminary Investigation 3.1.1 Findings 3.1.2 Discussion 3.2 Evaluation 3.2.1 Research Question 3.2.1.1 Results from Questionnaire 3.2.1.2 Discussion 3.2.2 Research Question 3.2.2.1 Results from the Pre-test and Post-test 3.2.2.2 Results from Questionnaire after the Post-test vii TASK You will hear a conversation between a man, Marco, and his wife, Sarah, about a film they have just seen at the cinema Listen and decide if each sentence is True or False Sarah was expecting to enjoy the film Marco and Sarah agree that the city in the film was London Marco feels that the length of the film made it rather boring Sarah was upset about how some of the audience behaved during the film Sarah was disappointed with the way the main actor performed Marco thinks this film is the best the director has made END II APPENDIX Listening Posttest TASK You will hear a man called Paul Hart talking about his trip to Africa with a team of scientists Listen and circle the correct answers Why did Paul choose the part of Africa he visited? A It is good for walking B It will soon change C He had been there before What made the team’s journey slow? A clearing paths through the forest B finding somewhere safe to camp C carrying heavy equipment Paul says that the team didn’t have enough food because A some people ate more than they should B the walk took longer than expected C some of the food went bad too quickly How does Paul feel now he is back home? A He is planning to another trip B He misses the people in the team C He thinks the trip was a valuable experience III TASK You will hear two friends, a boy, Rolf, and a girl, Maria, talking about the jobs they would like to in the future Listen and decide if each sentence is True or False Maria would like to travel a lot as part of her job Maria is confident she will be able to work for an airline Rolf intends to a job connected with his degree Maria and Rolf agree it is important to have a good salary Maria hopes to work for a several different employers Rolf’s ambition is to manage his own company one day END IV APPENDIX Questionnaire After the Pretest Dear students, I am Pham Thi Hai Ha, an English teacher at Hanoi College of Education I am conducting my MA thesis titled Using Interactive Process to Improve FirstYear Students’ Listening Skills at Hanoi College of Education This survey questionnaire is designed to gather your precious opinion about this subject Your completion of this questionnaire is highly appreciated and the data collected are used in this research only, not for any other purposes Your personal information, therefore, will be kept strictly confidential Please give your answers truthfully for a guaranteed success of the investigation by circling the appropriate for the following questions Thank you very much for your cooperation! DIRECTIONS: Please put a tick next to the options that is the most appropriate for you (You can choose more than one option in question 6, 7, and 15) How was your listening result last semester? Very bad Bad Neutral Very good Good What you think of English listening? Very difficult Difficult Neutral V Easy Very easy How are listening skills important to you? A Very important C Little important B Rather important D Not important at How much experience related to English listening you have? A Have lots of experience B Have enough experience to study well listening skill C Have little experience D Have no experience at all How are the listening materials used in class? A.Difficult B.Interesting C.Boring D.Of unsuitable topics E Appropriate to learners’ level F Others: ………………………………………………………………… Which factors cause difficulties to you in learning listening? A Grammar B New vocabularies and structures C Different accents D Speaking speed of the speakers E Unfamiliar topics F Context G Poor listening equipment H Lack of background knowledge on the topic I Others: …………………………………………………………………… all VI Why could not you catch up with what the speakers said while listening? A They spoke too fast B You tried to listen to every word C You’d like to translate into Vietnamese D Their accent or pronunciation was different from your teacher In listening acquisition, how is your vocabulary? A Good C Not efficient enough B Efficient enough D Poor How is the vocabulary in the listening text? E Not new to you F So many new words and unfamiliar words G Long words H Colloquial words 10 While you are listening, what you often when there are unfamiliar words or structures? A Ignore them all B Guess the meaning C Ask the teacher for the meaning D Do not know what to 11 What you think of your pronunciation in listening acquisition? A Good enough to understand listening context B Not good enough to understand listening context C Too poor to understand listening context VII 12 What you think of stress and intonation of spoken language? C Help you understand the message of the listening context D Make it difficult for you to understand E Others: ………………………………………………………………… 13 What you think of connected speech (linking, elision) used in listening text? D Difficult to listen for information E Easy to mistake for other words F Unable to concentrate on listening G Make it easy to understand the listening text 14 What you think of the structures used in spoken language? A Understand all the speaker says B Don’t understand what the speaker says C Find it difficult and understand some of what the speaker says D Misunderstand what the speaker says E Others: ………………………………………………………………… 15 What you expect teacher of listening to to help you deal with listening difficulties? A Design suitable listening tasks B Provide you necessary words for listening C Apply more techniques in listening lessons D Provide more listening exercises E Others: ………………………………………………………………… VIII APPENDIX Questionnaire After the Pretest Dear students, I am Pham Thi Hai Ha, an English teacher at Hanoi College of Education I am conducting my MA thesis titled Using Interactive Process to Improve FirstYear Students’ Listening Skills at Hanoi College of Education This survey questionnaire is designed to gather your precious opinion about this subject Your completion of this questionnaire is highly appreciated and the data collected are used in this research only, not for any other purposes Your personal information, therefore, will be kept strictly confidential Please give your answers truthfully for a guaranteed success of the investigation by circling the appropriate for the following questions Thank you very much for your cooperation! DIRECTIONS: Please put a tick next to the option that is the most appropriate for you I Students’ satisfaction level after the – week experimental teaching Are you satisfied with the 6-week learning course? Dissatisfied Not really satisfied Rather satisfied Satisfied IX Very satisfied Are your listening skills improved throughout the learning sessions? A Yes B No How you value the effectiveness of this learning approach to the improvement of your listening skills? Not effective Little effective Quite effective Effective Very effective If the answer to question is “No”, please continue with question If the answer to question is “Yes”, please continue with question Why are you not satisfied with the outcome of the course? A I did not learn much B My listening skills are not improved C I see nothing new in the course It is just the same as other listening sessions I have learnt D I not care about it at all E Others (please specify) ……………………………………………… What makes you satisfied with the learning session? A My listening skills are improved B I gained more thorough knowledge which I did not know about before C I was motivated to learn listening D Others (please specify) ………………………………………………… X Evaluate the learning session by put a tick to state your opinion No Question Course clearly defined The was well-organized The informative The was of sufficient duration The provided opportunity participants to listen well The (lesson etc) useful The amount of practicing exercises was sufficient XI were What suggestions can you make to better the six- week teaching and learning session? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… XII APPENDIX Hints to write in the diary (Based on Sinanu et al (2007)) Date: ………………………………… Lesson: ……………………………… Topic: ………………………………… The listening comprehension activities done in the class Your feeling toward the class today and what made you feel that way The problems encountered Your plans to overcome similar problems in future ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… XIII ... study is to investigate to what extent the first- year students’ listening skills at Hanoi College of Education are improved by receiving instruction in interactive process Then, recommendations... Prof PhD Trần Xuân Điệp HANOI - 2014 DECLARATION I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled: ? ?Using Interactive Process to Improve First- Year Students’ Listening Skills at Hanoi College of. .. listening skills at Hanoi College of Education The research was restricted to the first- year Englishmajored students from two classes K39A, and K39B at Hanoi College of Education 1.6 Significance of