History Of Importance Of Listening Comprehension

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Chapter 1

The first and earliest skill that each person learns and uses to learn about the world around him is listening. Atwater (1992) declares that in the first years of formal education at school, students spend 50% or more of their communication time listening, followed by speaking, reading and writing in that order. One’s grammar enhances if he or she learns to listen to the language before speaking it (Benson and Heilt, 1978). Thus, when approaching any foreign languages (English, for instance), learners should begin their acquisition with this skill. However, in most Vietnamese educational institutions in general and at Quy Nhon University in particular, English teachers focus on reading, writing skills and grammar and pay much less attention to building and developing students’ listening abilities. Therefore, the low outcomes in listening exams are not surprising. What are the obstacles blocking students’ listening comprehension? What strategies do the students should use to improve this situation?

Many previous studies issue the listening obstacles and that’s a fact. Concretely, Flewerdew and Miller (1996: 25-26) states that the listening comprehension’s difficulty has three sources: speed of delivery, new words and concepts not met before, difficulty in concentration, and those related to physical environment. Other obstacles including the message, the speaker, the listener and the physical setting are identified by Yager (1994 in Hassan, 2000: 139). In addition, listening strategies are also mentioned in other research studies. Specifically, for Rubin (1975), "strategies" are "techniques or devices which a learner may use to acquire knowledge" (p.43). Also, Anderson (2003) takes the term further: "strategies" are "conscious actions that learners take to improve their language learning" (p.3). According to Oxford Advance’s Learner Dictionary, this term is defined as "a plan that is intended to achieve a particular purpose".

In this thesis, a book by Paul Edmunds, Nancie McKinnon, Jeff Zeter, titled Building Skills for the TOEFL iBT Second Edition is used as a tool for research purpose. As you know, TOEFL iBT is a useful measure to judge learners’ ability on using and understanding English at the university level. In listening TOEFL iBT in particular and other listening materials in general, although many students learn that it is necessary to utilize strategies in listening skill, how to use those strategies systematically is a problem. Others do not care much about listening strategies and do not learn how useful and effective these strategies are. As a student of English at Quy Nhon University, I set myself targets that the thesis could identify the difficulties encountered in listening TOEFL iBT and could provide students with specific strategies. As a result, the thesis title goes as An Investigation into Listening Obstacles and Strategies in TOEFL iBT for Third-year English Major Students at Quy Nhon University.

1.2 AIMS OF THE STUDY

The main purpose of this study is to make an investigation into the listening obstacles and strategies that English Majors K33 can have. This study focuses on several specific purposes:

To refer to particular theoretical background relating to listening TOEFL iBT (based on the book titled Building Skills for the TOEFL iBT Second Edition by Paul Edmunds, Nancie McKinnon, Jeff Zeter)

To identify and analyze obstacles the students have

To provide useful strategies to help students to become an effective listener.

1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Due to limited time, ability and research conditions, the scope of this study is confined in its population, only on English major students in General English K33. Therefore, the study’s generalization should be limited and its results may not be representative of a larger population of students at Quy Nhon University.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Towards the aims of research, the researcher supposes several research questions as follows:

What are the obstacles blocking students listening comprehension in TOEFL iBT?

What strategies do the students use to overcome in listening TOEFL iBT?

How can the strategies help students get achievement in listening?

1.5 METHODS OF THE STUDY

In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, quantitative and qualitative methods will be carried out and the following tasks have to be done:

Carry out a survey on the English listening scores of English major students in General English K33 by collecting data.

Use questionnaires, listening test(s), and as a means of qualitative methods to find out the students’ obstacles and their learning strategies for listening TOEFL iBT.

1.6 DESIGN OF THE STUDY

To accomplish the objectives of the study, this graduation thesis is divided into five main parts:

Chapter1: Introduction presents introduction including the rationale for the research, the aims, the scope, the research questions, the methods used, and design of the study.

Chapter 2: Literature review consists of a review of previous studies related to the problem mentioned in the study and some theoretical knowledge. Also in this chapter, some definitions of terms that used in this study are presented.

Chapter 3: Methodology gives the aims and objectives of the study. The chapter presents the research design as well as research method, data collection and data analysis.

Chapter 4: Findings and discussion discusses the results of the investigation basing the results of the survey and data analysis. The analysis mainly focuses on solving the research questions.

Chapter 5: Conclusion draws the conclusions and provides some solutions to improve the habit of using strategies of third-year English Major Students at Quy Nhon University.

Chapter 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 PREVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDIES

In the past, there were some reliable materials and sources. The studies provide a body of information which will be of interest to us who work in the fields of foreign language researching. Here is a description of what has been done in the past

2.1.1 Research related listening obstacles and strategies

Studies made in listening barriers and strategies have gradually become a popular issue associated with second language acquisition. Indeed, the variety range of difficulties and strategies have been studied.

2.1.1.1 Obstacles

The difficulty in second language listening is classified into seven obstacles (Underwood, 1989): (1) lack of control over the speed of delivery, (2) inability to have words or expressions repeated, (3) having limited vocabulary, (4) failure to recognize: the signals, discourse markers, gestures, pauses…, (5) lack of contextual knowledge, (6) difficulty in concentration, and (7) certain learning habits (i.e. a wish to understand every single word heard). The speed of delivery and difficulty in concentration are also mentioned by Flowerdew and Miller (1996). Furthermore, they (1996) state two more obstacles: new words as well as concepts not met before, and those related to physical environment.

Goh (2000) notes problems encountered by learners. First, learners forget what is heard. Additionally, forming a mental representation from words heard is unable to achieve. Then, they do not comprehend "subsequent parts of input because of earlier problems".

2.1.1.2 Strategies

Nancy Gallagher (2005) gets mention in strategies before and while listening. Concretely, before listening, it is necessary to focus on widening vocabulary, practicing in a variety of academic tasks, enhancing efficient note-taking skills, making the question types similar with listeners and learning to employ TOEFL tools (i.e. practicing the mouse to click on and drag text). Then, listeners should give attention to "general meaning and purposes" while listening. Other things that should be done are writing down only "external terms and concepts" and having quick-minded. To solve multiple choice questions, furthermore, the process of elimination is recommended to apply. The test is played one time and listener can not return the previous question if he (or she) clicks OK button, so it’s important to concentrate.

In Listening Effectively, to become an effective listener, learners are expected to "prepare to listen". Preparation has three phases: long term, mid-term and short term. First, two things should be done for the long-term: practice listening to difficult materials which can challenge listeners’ listening ability and require high concentration (i.e. congressional debates, lectures, sermon…) and enriching vocabulary. Second, in mid-term, "you do the necessary background study before the listening begins". Finally, in short term, it’s a good way for listeners to be ready immediately to listen. It is the time that listeners are in "the spring-loaded position to listen".

Chamot (1995) claims that in terms of a conceptual framework (O’Malley & Chamot, 1990), listening comprehension behavior can be explained that classifies behavior into three types of strategies: metacognitive, cognitive and socioaffective.

2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.2.1 Listening Comprehension

In most methodology manuals listening and listening comprehension are mentioned with nearly the same meaning. So, what is listening comprehension? It is said that hearing is an act of perceiving sound with ears while listening is the act of conscious hearing that can be understood when the brain processes the sounds. Besides, researchers and scholars gave out their opinions. Mendelsohn (1994) considers listening comprehension as the ability to understand the spoken language of native speakers. Gary Buck (2001: 31) says that listening comprehension is an active process of constructing meaning and it can be done by applying linguistic knowledge as well as non-linguistic knowledge to the input sound. Underwood (1989) says that listening requires paying attention to and trying to grasp meaning from something what you hear.

2.2.2 The Importance of Listening Comprehension

Wilson (2008, p. 9) declares that getting information and seeking pleasure are the main causes for listening in the real life. Plus, Galvin states that people listen is to engage in social rituals; to exchanging information; enjoying yourself; sharing emotions and exerting control (Hedge 2000: 243).

Feyten (1991) declares that in 70% of verbal communication that an adult used by an adult during his typical working day, 45% of that is on listening acts. In a study by Wilt (1950), he finds that 45% of the time people spend communicating, 30% on speaking, 16% on reading and 9% on writing.