Tài liệu An investigation into using video for out of class listening pactice among the 3rd year english majors at hanoi pedagogical university no.2

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY Nº. 2 =====***===== NGUYEN THI THANH MUOI AN INVESTIGATION INTO USING VIDEO FOR OUT-OF-CLASS LISTENING PRACTICE AMONG THE 3RD-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY N0. 2 (GRADUATION PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ENGLISH) SUPERVISOR: TA THI THANH HOA, M.A. Hanoi, May 2013 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to take this chance to express my greatest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms. Ta Thi Thanh Hoa, M. A., for her patience in providing continuous and careful guidance as well as encouragement, indispensable suggestions and advice. I am greatly indebted to the teachers of English at Hanoi Pedagogical University N0.2 for their help and guidance while I was carrying out the survey. I wish to thank all lecturers at Hanoi Pedagogical University N˚. 2, especially the lecturers in the Foreign Language Faculty for their instruction during my years of university work. I would also like to take this opportunity to express my deepest thanks to 3rdyear English majors at Hanoi Pedagogical University N0.2 for their help in completing the survey questionnaires, and for the willingness to share their relevant problems with me. I am particularly grateful to my close friends for their enthusiasm and kindness in sharing me valuable documents for my research. Last but not least, I owe a debt of gratitude to my beloved family, for their whole- hearted encouragement and endless support. ii ABSTRACT This study aims at surveying the benefits of using video in learning listening and suggests suitable techniques of using video which may help the students and teachers to improve the current situation. The thesis consists of the theoretical background about listening comprehension, the role of listening, and the benefits of using video in listening practice. Based on the data analysis and tests’ result analysis, the success of using video in English listening practice and the types of problems and causes have been found. Solutions to the problems have been suggested. iii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Title: An Investigation into Using Video for Out-Of-Class Listening Practice among the 3rd-year English Majors at Hanoi Pedagogical University N0.2 (Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in English) I certify that no part of this report has been copied or reproduced from any other person’s work without acknowledgements and that the report is originally written by me under strict guidance from my supervisor. Date submitted: May 2013 Student Supervisor Nguyen Thi Thanh Muoi Ta Thi Thanh Hoa, M.A. iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Tables: Table 1: The effectiveness of using video in listening practice Table 2: Some negative attitudes towards using video in listening practice Table 3: Students’ favorite while-listening activities Charts: Chart 1: Students’ difficulties in listening Chart 2.1: Students’ frequency of practicing listening English through video Chart 2.2: Students’ attitudes towards video listening Chart 3: Students’ while -listening activities Chart 4: Students’ application of effective techniques of using video for out-ofclass listening Chart 5: Raw marks in listening pre-test Chart 6: Raw marks in listening post-test v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................. i ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... ii LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS .................................................................... iii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP .................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... v PART ONE: INTRODUCTION I. Rationale ........................................................................................................... 1 II. Research presupposition ................................................................................. 2 III. Research objectives........................................................................................ 2 IV. Research scope ............................................................................................... 3 V. Research tasks ................................................................................................ 3 VI. Research methods .......................................................................................... 3 VII. Significance of proposed research ............................................................... 4 VIII. Design of the research work ............................................... ……………….4 PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND I.1. Literature review in brief .............................................................................. 6 I.2. General concepts of listening comprehension .............................................. 7 I.2.1. Definition of listening comprehension........................................................... 7 I.2.2. Listening comprehension process .................................................................. 8 I.2.2.1. Bottom- up process .................................................................................... 8 I.2.2.2. Top- down process ..................................................................................... 9 I.2.2.3. Interactive process...................................................................................... 9 I.2.3. Stages of listening comprehension .............................................................. 10 I.2.3.1. Pre-listening ............................................................................................. 10 I.2.3.2. While-listening ......................................................................................... 10 I.2.3.3. Post-listening............................................................................................ 10 I.3. The roles of listening in foreign language teaching and learning .............. 11 I.3.1. Language acquisition .................................................................................. 11 vi I.3.2. Speaking skill development......................................................................... 12 I.3.3. One of ultimate goals of learning a language............................................... 12 I.4. General concepts of video ............................................................................ 13 I.5. Uses of video in learning language ............................................................. 14 I.5.1. For its own sake .......................................................................................... 14 I.5.2. For comprehension of spoken language ...................................................... 14 I.5.3. As a language model ................................................................................... 14 I.5.4. Cultural values ............................................................................................ 15 I.5.5. As a stimulus for input ............................................................................... 15 I.5.6. As a moving picture book ........................................................................... 15 I.6. The effectiveness of using video in listening comprehension enhancement ... 16 I.6.1. Generating interest, motivation and concentration in listening .................... 16 I.6.2. Lowering anxiety in listening ...................................................................... 17 I.6.3. Helping learners study on-verbal and non-verbal aspects of communication .... 18 I.6.4. Providing the background of communication .............................................. 19 CHAPTER TWO METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH FINDINGS II.1. Survey ......................................................................................................... 20 II.1.1. Purpose of the survey ................................................................................. 20 II.1.2. Population of the survey ............................................................................ 20 II.1.3. Type of the survey ..................................................................................... 21 II.1.4. Construction of the test .............................................................................. 21 II.1.5. Presentation of the survey .......................................................................... 21 II.1.5.1. Test items................................................................................................ 21 II.1.5.2. Arrangement of the test items ................................................................. 22 II.1.6. Administration of the try-out ..................................................................... 22 II.1.6.1. Presentation of the try-out ....................................................................... 22 II.1.6.2. Try out .................................................................................................... 22 II.1.7. Method of data analysis ............................................................................. 22 II.2. Data analysis and discussion ...................................................................... 24 vii II.2.1.Data analysis ............................................................................................... 24 II.2.1.1. Students’ difficulties in listening practice ............................................... 24 II.2.1.2. Students’ attitudes towards the use of video in English listening practice.. 25 II.2.1.3. Students’ activities while practicing listening ......................................... 30 II.2.1.4. Students’ application of effective techniques of using video for out-ofclass listening ....................................................................................................... 31 II.2.2. Tests’ result analysis .................................................................................. 32 II.2.2.1. Analysis of the pre-test ........................................................................... 32 II.2.2.2. Analysis of the post-test .......................................................................... 34 II.2.3. Discussion of the findings .......................................................................... 35 II.2.3.1. Success in terms of applying video in listening practice.......................... 35 II.2.3.1.1. Developing confidence in listening ...................................................... 35 II.2.3.1.2. Improving pronunciation ...................................................................... 36 II.2.3.1.3. Motivating students’ interest in listening.............................................. 36 II.2.3.1.4. Increasing input comprehension ........................................................... 37 II.2.3.2. Problems ................................................................................................. 37 II.2.3.2.1. The mixed ability among the students .................................................. 37 II.2.3.2.2. The choice of unsuitable video in listening .......................................... 38 II.2.3.2.3. Inappropriate listening tasks designed from video................................ 38 CHAPTER THREE: SUGGESTED SOLLUTIONS III.1. Selecting video materials .......................................................................... 39 III.2. Some techniques of using video ................................................................ 40 III.2.1. Sound off/vision on (silent viewing) ......................................................... 40 III.2.2. Sound on/vision off (sound only).............................................................. 40 III.2.3. Sound on and vision on (normal viewing) ................................................ 41 III.2.4. Split viewing ............................................................................................ 41 III.2.5. Jumbled sequence ..................................................................................... 41 III.3. Varying tasks designed from video .......................................................... 42 III.3.1. Diagram labeling ...................................................................................... 42 III.3.2. Matching .................................................................................................. 42 viii III.3.3. Dictation ................................................................................................... 42 III.3.4. Gist listening ............................................................................................ 43 III.3.5. Note- taking .............................................................................................. 43 III.3.6. Predicting language .................................................................................. 43 III.3.7. Spotting activities ..................................................................................... 43 PART THREE: CONCLUSION CONCLUSION................................................................................................... 44 REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 46 APPENDICES .................................................................................................... 48 LISTENING PRE-TEST ................................................................................... 48 LISTENING POST-TEST ................................................................................. 49 SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE .............................................................................. 51 ix PART ONE INTRODUCTION I. Rationale English language has been recognized as a means of communication in the world. It is the official language of many developed counties and is taught as the second foreign language in most of the countries across the world. Today, knowledge of English language has become the basic requirement in most of the aspects such as economy, science, education, culture and so on. Therefore, mastering English will help people enrich their knowledge about the world. For its great importance, English has now a mandatory subject in all schools in Vietnam. In recent years, with the prevalence of the communicative approach, English are taught as a tool of communication. In this communicative process, listening comprehension plays an important role. Foreign language listening comprehension is a complex process and crucial in the development of second language competence, and the importance of listening in language learning has only been recognized recently (Celce-Murcia, 2001). Because the role of listening comprehension in language learning was either overlooked or undervalued, it merited little research and pedagogical attention in the past. But at present, some researchers have devoted some time to listening and believe it to be an important skill in teaching and learning. Videos have become more and more popular in language practicing for decades. Language skills, namely speaking, listening, reading, and writing, can be instructed with videos. Videos are not only used for entertainment, but they also can provide a great approach for language teaching and learning. In addition, videos can motivate students to engage in language learning. The availability of videos for use in practicing listening is increasing. Most often a video film is used to present communicative situations in context. The video is an important resource that may be used by teachers of English. Experience also shows that activities based on video materials encourage more communication among learners. When they watch a video, learners are able to understand that gestures, facial expressions, 1 postures and body language are generally more important for communication than verbal messages. Therefore, students can improve their comprehension if they pay full attention to sounds and meaning whenever they view videos. Unfortunately, using English video for listening comprehension enhancement seems to be the most challenging to many students. This is also a big problem that most students especially the 3rd-year students are encountering. Moreover, as a prospective teacher, I would like to make a contribution to the English teaching in Vietnam. In addition, the research available on secondlanguage comprehension is insufficient. Comparing with other skills, there are fewer insights about the process of listening and the way it is learnt. For all the things mentioned above, the researcher finds it necessary to carry out the investigation into “using video for out-of-class listening practice among 3rdyear English majors at Hanoi Pedagogical University N0. 2”. It is hoped that the results of this investigation will cast some light on this issue and pave the way for better listening. II. RESEARCH QUESTIONS Some questions are raised: 1) What problems of using video in listening practice are most often faced by the 3rd-year English majors at Hanoi Pedagogical University N0. 2 (HPU2)? 2) What are the causes of the problems of using video in listening practice faced by the 3rd-year English majors at HPU2? 3) What effectiveness of using video for out-of-class listening practice is achieved by the 3rd-year English majors at HPU2? Based on the questions above, I am eager to learn about the effectiveness and make a problem analysis so that the effective ways in using video for listening practice may be found. III. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of using video for listening comprehension enhancement among the 3rd-year English majors so 2 that some suggestions of how to use video in practicing listening skills in the classroom can be given to help students improve these skills. The specific aims are as follows: 1) Investigating the students’ attitudes towards listening through video. 2) Finding out the effectiveness of using video in practicing listening comprehension. 3) Suggesting some techniques of using video in practicing listening out of class. IV. RESEARCH SCOPE In this study, the researcher conducted a survey on using video in listening practice to find out how to improve students’ listening skills through video. The survey was conducted on thirty 3rd-year English majors at HPU2. The use of video lasted for the period of 8 weeks with the purpose of practicing the listening skills through video. Video is used outside classroom as an extra activity. The video materials were taken from the Oxford English VideoLifetime, by Tom Hutchinson (1999) and from website http://www.schoolstube.com/ V. RESEARCH TASKS The study involves fulfilling the following tasks: 1) To study the general concepts of listening comprehension. 2) To provide insight into significance of listening in language teaching and learning. 3) To study the uses of video in learning language and the benefits of using video in listening comprehension enhancement. 4) To conduct a survey to find out the effectiveness of using video for listening practice and the common difficulties in using video in the classroom. On the basis of the findings, some recommendations to the difficulties are sought to overcome these difficulties and take full advantage of videos. VI. RESEARCH METHODS In order to achieve the objectives of this study, both the qualitative and qualitative methods are used and the data for analysis in the study are collected from different resources as follows: 3  Survey questionnaires were designed for collecting data for analysis from the 3rd-year majors at HPU2 (these students had access to videos out of class).  Interviews: the researcher also interviewed some students to double check the information gained from the questionnaires. However, the interviews were sometimes applied if the author finds that the answers of respondents were not clear enough.  Tests for students (a pre-test and a post-test): the aim of the tests is to find out what progress videos help students to make in their listening skills. The tests were delivered to students at the first and at the eighth week of the study. VII. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH It is no doubt that using video in listening language practice, particular in English listening as a foreign language, brings advantages. However, several problems in using it in listening practice are sometimes predictable and sometimes unpredictable. It is, therefore, essential for teachers to have better treatment to anticipate problems. After the research, it is hoped that the results will be of great value: 1) For learners of English, the result of this study will have positive impact on the learning quality in listening practice through videos. 2) For teachers of English, the findings of this study will provide valuable information on problems and suggested solutions to the problems so that they can have effective methods of using video for listening practice. This study is also beneficial to anyone who is interested in using video for listening practice. VIII. DESIGN OF THE RESEARCH WORK The research has three main parts, namely: Introduction, Development and Conclusion. The part “Development” consists of two chapters. Chapter one is entitled “Theoretical background”. It includes two sections. Section one reviews literature review in brief. The second one deals with things related to listening comprehension such as definition, process and stages of listening comprehension 4 as well as the uses and the benefits of using video in practicing listening comprehension. Chapter two is named “methodology and research findings”. It has three sections. Section one is devoted to the survey. The second deals with data analysis of using video for out-of class listening practice. The last one is on some suggested solutions to the problems on using video in practicing listening comprehension. 5 PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND I.1. Literature review in brief Using video to learn a language has been described by many grammarians like Pano Michaelides (2004), Stempleski and Sand Arcanorio (1990), Arthus, P. (1999), Sherman, J. (2003), Katsiashviki (2010), Cooper, R., Lavery, M. and Rinvolucri, M. (1991), Barry Tomalin and Stempleski, S.(2001), and so on. They each have their own way to describe videos. Generally, they focus their attention on history, benefits of video and ways of using video in practicing listening language. Arthus, P. (1999) in Why Use Video? A Teacher’ Perspective describes the current theory on the use of video as an Education Medium of Instruction. He also gives ways of using video in the F/SL classroom. Moreover, he focuses on considerations for using video in the classroom with nonnative speakers. In the book using Authentic Video in the Language Classroom, Sherman, J. (2003) describes the reason for using video. He also focuses his attention in uses of video in language teaching. Furthermore, he introduces some ways of using video and understanding video. Pano Michaelides (2004) in the TESOL Video News mentions some of most basic practical techniques for using video. In addition, he introduces a collection of some specific activities focusing on language and literature, the storyline, comprehension and viewers. Katsiashviki (2010) in the book the Role of the Video in Language Learning mentions the history of using video. In addition, they focus on advantages of using video in EFL classroom. Besides, he pays his attention to the role of video in language learning. In the book Video in Action: Recipes for Using Video in Language Teaching, Barry Tomalin and Stempleski, S. (2001) focuses his attention to how to use video in language teaching. 6 Stempleski, Sand Arcanorio (1990) in the book Video in Second Language Teaching: Use, Selecting, and Producing Video for the Classroom describe the history of video. In addition, they concentrate on the ways of using and selecting video. Besides, they pay much attention on how to produce video for the classroom. In the book Video, Cooper, R., Lavery, M. and Rinvolucri, M. (1991) give the definition and benefits of using video. They also focus on the reality in the use of video as a TV- video image. Furthermore, they pay their attention to the effectiveness of using video recording in learning a language. Besides, they concentrate on some activities using video. In summary, much research has been done on video but very little research has been conducted to point out the effectiveness of using video for out-of-class listening comprehension enhancement. Considering the importance of this issue, it is essential to conduct a comprehensive investigation into using video for out-ofclass listening comprehension enhancement. I.2. General concepts of listening comprehension I.2.1. Definition of listening comprehension Many researchers agreed that language is the tool of communication, while listening is a great important part of language communication and it is the basic path to understand others. Listening is more than merely hearing words and comprehension is often consider to be the first goal of listening, and the highest priority of the listener. During the last few decades, scholars have been trying to find out the nature of listening comprehension and different definitions of listening comprehension have been proposed. According to Boyle (1981), “listening comprehension is defined as the process of understanding speech in a second or foreign language. When comprehending something, we can understand what is said. It is assumed that speaking and writing are the process of encoding messages while listening and reading decode them. Listening comprehension, therefore, is a perceptive skill involving identifying and retaining information orally perceived.” 7 In Buck’ point of view, “listening comprehension is an active process of constructing meaning and this is done by applying knowledge to the incoming sound “in which” numbers of different types of knowledge are involved; both linguistic knowledge and nonlinguistic knowledge.” (Buck, 2001) More specifically, Anderson and Lynch (1988) believe that listening comprehension requires both the linguistic knowledge and nonlinguistic knowledge in order to reach the final message of the speaker in communication. According to them, “listening comprehension means to understand what a speaker says: the listener has a crucial part to play in the process by activating various types of knowledge, by applying what he knows to what he hears and trying to understand what the speaker means.” In summary, listening comprehension involves multiple skills. It is a complex and active process of interpretation. I.2.2. Listening comprehension process Listening is different from hearing in the aspect of listeners’ paying attention. Paying attention leads to the fact that listeners actively process what they hear. To understand how people make sense of the stream of sound we all hear, it is helpful to think about how we process the input. A useful metaphor often used to explain reading but equally applicable to listening is “bottom-up” and “top-down processing,” proposed by Rumelhart and Ortony (1977) and expanded upon by Chaudron and Richards (1986), Richards (1990) and others. The distinction is based on the way listeners attempt to understand what they hear or read. I.2.2.1. Bottom-up process As Nunan, D. (1999) puts it, “bottom-up processing is a process of decoding the sounds that one hears in a linear fashion, from the smallest meaningful units (or phonemes) to complete texts. According to this view, phonemic units are decoded and linked together to form utterances and utterances are linked together to form complete meaningful texts.” For Hedge, T. (2000), “in the bottom part of the listening process, we use our knowledge of language and our ability to process acoustic signals to make 8 sense of the sounds that speech presents to us. In other words, we use information in the speech itself to try to comprehend the meaning. We segment speech into identifiable sounds and impose a structure on these in terms of words, phrases, clauses, sentences and intonation patterns. At the same time, we use whatever clues are available to infer meaning from the developing speech.” With bottom-up processing, students start with the component parts: words, the combination of sounds, and grammar that creates the meaning. I.2.2.2. Top-down process Top-down processing is opposite to bottom-up processing. Learners start from background knowledge, either content “schema” (general information based on previous learning and life experience) or textual schema (awareness of the kinds of information used in a given situation) (See Long, 1989). Nunan, D. (1990) illustrates that top-down processes “focus on the overall meaning of a passage and the application of schemata. Schemata are mental frameworks based on past experiences which can be applied to and help us interpret the current situation.” In top-down processing, listeners use their prior knowledge to generate hypothesis. Prior-knowledge includes the topic, the context, the cultural aspects and text type of the listening material. It is important for both teachers and students to recognize the existence of these two types of processing listening input as they both contribute to the development of listening skill. I.2.2.3. Interactive process Because neither bottom-up process nor top-down process alone is sufficient for comprehension, “these two processing intersect to develop an interactive processing” (Wu, 2008). In the interactive process, listeners use both prior knowledge and linguistic knowledge in understanding messages. The degree to which listeners use the process or the other will depend on their knowledge of the language and familiarity with the topic or the purpose for listening. Understanding how listening comprehension will provide students with a lot of ideas to listen more successfully. It is also necessary to consider the stages of listening comprehension in learning to listen to English. 9 I.2.3. Stages of listening comprehension Listening comprehension can be divided into three main stages: pre-listening, while listening, and post-listening. Each stage has it owns aims, activities and time location. I.2.3.1. Pre-listening This stage is carried out before students begin listening to the listening text. It plays a vital role in the whole process of a listening practice. Pre-listening stage is aimed at preparing students to listen and think about what they are going to hear. Moreover, the purposes of pre-listening activities are to prepare learners with everything necessary for listening and understanding the listening text. Normally, pre-listening stage is often five to ten minutes depending on each lesson. For Hedge (2000), “at the pre-listening stage, the teacher will need to tune into the context and the topic of the text, perhaps express attitudes towards that topic, certainly bring to the front of their minds anything that they already know about the topic and most probably hear and use some of the less familiar language in the text which would otherwise distract or create anxiety during listening.” I.2.3.2. While-listening This stage is the main part of a listening practice aiming at facilitating learners’ listening and checking their comprehension. Time location for this stage is nearly two thirds of the whole lesson. “The work at the while-listening stage needs to link in relevant ways to the pre-listening work. While they listen, learners will need to be involved in an authentic purpose for listening and encouraged to attend to the text more intensively or more extensively, for gist or for specific information.” (Hedge, 2000) Activities in while-listening stage relate directly to engagement with text, and students do them during or immediately after they are listening. I.2.3.3. Post-listening It is the final step of a listening practice. Therefore, it is the time for students’ production. The activities at this time are aimed at helping learners to use what they have had from the listening text. The teacher should make up and vary the 10 activities for learners to do depending on their level of English competence. This stage often lasts for ten or fifteen minutes. According to Hedge (2000), “postlistening activities can take students into a more intensive phase study in which aspects of bottom-up listening are practiced.” Post-listening work can be more successful if they are integrated with other skills through development of the topic into reading, speaking or writing activities. I.3. The role of listening in language teaching and learning I.3.1. Language acquisition In the book Teach English- a Training Course for Teachers, Adrian Doff (1996) states that listening to spoken English is an important way of picking up the structures and vocabulary. It is no doubt that listening can help learners build their knowledge of grammar and vocabulary that is the reason why listeners who are living in an English spoken country acquire the language much easily than the others because they hear it all the time. According to second language acquisition theory, language input is the most essential condition of language acquisition. As an input skill, listening plays a crucial role in students’ language development. Krashen (1981) illustrates that people acquire language by understanding the linguistic information they hear. Thus learners achieve language acquisition mostly through receiving understandable input and the ability of listening is the vital part in achieving understandable language input. Harmer, J. (1999) illustrates that one of the main reasons why listening is taught is that listening can help students to acquire language subconsciously even if teachers do not focus on its special features. In learning a language, exposure to the language is a fundamental requirement for everyone wanting to learn it. Listening to appropriate tapes provides such exposure and students get important information both about grammar and vocabulary as well as pronunciation, rhythm, intonation, pitch and stress. 11