Skkn improving 11th form students listening comprehension through modified listening fasks on the textbook english 11 at tinhgia4 upper secondary school

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
1. Introduction...............................................................................................1
1.1. Rationale for the study...........................................................................1
1.2. Aims of the study...................................................................................1
1.3. Scope of the study..................................................................................1
1.4. Research questions, methods and instruments.......................................2
2. Content......................................................................................................2
2.1. Theoretical background of listening skill...............................................2
2.2. English teaching and learning at Tinh Gia 4 Upper Secondary School. 2
2.3. Listening tasks at the 11th grade and MBA/MBT.................................3
2.4. Data analysis and findings......................................................................3
2.4.1. Initial data............................................................................................3
2.4.1.1. Results from pre-listening test..........................................................3
2.4.1.2. Results from pre-action stage observations......................................4
2.4.1.3. Results from students’ questionnaire 1............................................5
2.4.1.3.1. Students’ evaluation about listening skill and their own listening
competence
.......................................................................................................................
5
2.4.1.3.2. Students’ opinions about listening tasks in English 11.................5
2.4.1.3.3. Students’ feelings when doing listening tasks in English 11........6
2.4.1.3.4. Students’ evaluation about the effectiveness of listening tasks to
their listening competence.............................................................................6
2.4.1.3.5. Students’ preferences for listening tasks.......................................6
2.4.1.3.6. Students’ opinions about the way their teachers treat listening
tasks...............................................................................................................7
2.4.2. Results from document analysis..........................................................7
2.4.2.1. English 11.........................................................................................7
2.4.2.2. Listening tasks in listening sections of English 11...........................7
2.4.3. Conclusion...........................................................................................9

2.4.3.1. The hypothesis..................................................................................9
2.5. Data collected in the action stage.........................................................10
2.5.1. Results from action stage observations.............................................10
2.5.2. Results from Questionnaire 2............................................................10
2.5.3. Results from teaching diaries............................................................11
2.5.4. Results from post-test........................................................................12
2.5.5. Summary of major findings and discussions.....................................12
2.5.5.1. The unsuitability of listening tasks in the textbook and its effects
on students’ listening comprehension.........................................................12
2.5.5.2. Students’ preferences for listening tasks........................................13
2.5.5.3. Modified listening tasks could help improve students’ listening
comprehension.............................................................................................13
3. Conclusions and recommendations.........................................................13

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3.1. Conclusions..........................................................................................13
3.2. Recommendations................................................................................14
3.3. Limitations of the study........................................................................15
3.4. Suggestions for further study...............................................................15
References
Appendices
Appendix 1: Pre-test
Appendix 2: Điều tra nghiên cứu
Appendix 3: Phiếu điều tra nghiên cứu
Appendix 4: Observation sheet
Appendix 5: Teaching diary
Appendix 6: Post - test

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
- EFL: English as a foreign language
- AR: Action research
- TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

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1. Introduction
1.1. Rationale for the study
The years 2006, 2007 and 2008 marked a milestone in the ways of
teaching and learning English when the Ministry of Education and Training
(MOET) introduced the new sets of English textbook English 10, English 11 and
English 12 to school curriculum. The aim of MOET is to develop students’
communicative competence so as to meet the demand of integration and
globalization. That is the reason why in the new textbooks, four skills including
reading, speaking, listening and writing are put in priority and integrated.
Of the four skills mentioned above, listening is considered to be the most
challenging one. Most students find it hard to master this skill and soon feel
bored with listening periods. The reasons for this are various, such as
uninteresting topics, fast speed, students' poor pronunciation or lack of
background knowledge and cultural understanding.
Eleven graders at Tinh Gia 4 upper secondary school have encountered
such a lot of difficulties when dealing with listening lessons. However, after
eighteen years of teaching English 11, I also discover that the listening tasks
themselves are also a factor affecting students’ listening comprehension.
It is obvious that suitable tasks make students more interested in the

listening passages and then help them develop their listening skills.
Inappropriate tasks, on the contrary, can demotivate students. In listening
sections of English 11, some tasks are too difficult or too long and some are
boring. In this case, it is necessary for teachers to modify listening tasks to make
the tasks more suitable and interesting for learners, even though it is not an easy
job for the teacher as modifying tasks means having to take many things into
accounts such as the objectives, the criteria or the student’s needs. However, for
the benefit of students, it is worth doing so.
For the above reasons, especially for the researcher’s desire to help her
students better at listening, the choice of the study entitled “Improving 11th form
students’ listening comprehension through modified listening tasks of the
textbook English 11 at Tinh Gia 4 upper secondary school, Nghi Son” is not
accidental.
1.2. Aims of the study
The main purpose of this research is to study the effects of modified
listening tasks of English 11 on improving 11 th form students’ listening
comprehension at Tinh Gia 4 Upper Secondary School. The specific objectives
of the study are:
 To investigate students’ attitudes towards listening tasks in English 11
and the difficulties they face.
 To study whether the modified listening tasks could help students
improve their listening comprehension
1.3. Scope of the study
Due to the limited knowledge, energy and time, the researcher was
unable to carry out the investigation on a large scale. This action research was
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only conducted for only 8 weeks with the four listening lessons and in the
context of 42 eleventh-grade students at Tinh Gia 4 upper secondary school in
the academic year 2021-2022 only. Hence, the results of the study is only
limited to the above teaching context and participants.
1.4. Research questions, methods and instruments
In the attempt to achieve the afore-mentioned aims, the following research
questions are formulated so as to gather necessary information and data:
i)
What is the level of the 11th graders’ English listening skill, and
what difficulties they may face with in listening? Why?
ii)
What makes listening lessons in English 11 difficult and why?
iii) What additional activities can be designed to help the students
address those difficulties?
To seek answers to the three research questions above, I will apply
the following methods and instruments:
Question 1:
- Interviewing a number of 11th graders to find out what difficulties they
expect to encounter in listening lessons in the 11 th grade and causes of
those difficulties;
- Discussing with English teachers at my school to gather more information
on difficulties 11th graders have faced with, or may have to face with, and
their causes. Part of the information from teacher discussions will also
help answer question 2 below.
Question 2:
Analyzing listening tasks, texts and audio resources in English 11 to
identify problems and their possible causes, including new words,
pronunciation, speed, intonation, etc.
Question 3:
Designing supplementary activities and modifying listening tasks to help

address the difficulties identified so that listening tasks are easier, more suitable
and interesting to the students.
2. Content
2.1. Theoretical background of listening skill
In our daily life, outside the classroom, listening is used twice as often as
speaking, which in turn is used twice as much as reading and writing (River,
1981). Inside classroom, the two often used skills are listening and speaking
(Brown, 1994). Therefore, listening plays an important role in the processes of
learning and communication essential to productive participation in life.
In short, no matter how variously listening is defined, it is obvious that
listening is the most important skill for learning to speak a language. It provides
a foundation for all aspects of language and cognitive development.
2.2. English teaching and learning at Tinh Gia 4 Upper
Secondary School
As you know, Tinh Gia 4 Upper Secondary School is located in a coastal
area. Thus its English teaching and learning has several difficulties. Firstly, the
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class size far exceeds the standard number for a language class, with
approximately or more 40 students each. Secondly, the number of technologyaided classrooms is very limited; therefore, teachers cannot apply electronic
lessons to the extent that they desire for. Moreover students’ motivation in
learning foreign language is quite weak, especially listening skill. Finally, there
is lack of visual aids such as pictures and portable boards from the school.
Thus, the teachers and students are not offered the most convenient and
modern environment to the teaching and learning of English.
2.3. Listening tasks at the 11th grade and MBA/MBT
CLT underpins the design of English Textbook 11, so the structure of

each unit includes four skills: reading, speaking, listeningand writing. Linguistic
knowledge such as phonetics, vocabulary and grammar areconsidered the means
and condition to form and improve communicative ability. In fact, the learnercentered approach is also adapted in order to promote students' activeness and
creativeness, in which teachers act as theorganizer and facilitator in the class.
The content of the book is theme-based, with 16 units covering different
topicswhich were contextualized to be suited to Vietnamese students. Further,
learning is task-based, with the activities are designed in the way in which
students are offered opportunities to interact and co-operate.
In English Textbook 11, Listening is the most challenging and important
skill in each unit. It is put after two other skills due to its productive nature and
dependence on input from other skills. In the 11th grade, students are expected to
work on a variety of listening tasks, each of which goes with a particular topic.
2.4. Data analysis and findings
This section, first of all, analyzes the initial data collected from pre –
listening test, questionnaires and teaching diaries. Then, the hypothesis and
planning and action phases are presented. Finally, the researcher discusses the
techniques used for supplementary listening activities and modifying listening
tasks as well his attempts to evaluate the action research.
2.4.1. Initial data
2.4.1.1. Results from pre-listening test
As stated in Chapter 2, on the first day of week 2 students would do a test
to measure their level.
Below are the results of the test
Table 1: Results of the pre-test
Marks
Marks 1-2 Marks 3-4 Marks 5-6 Marks 7-8 Marks 910
Numbers
9
20
10

3
0
of students
Percent
21%
48%
24%
7%
0%
From the table, it can be seen that 69% of the students scored below
average, whereas students achieving average scores made up 24% and only 7%
could get from mark 7 to mark 10. The result of the test showed that most of the
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students were quite weak at listening skill. Students need to be helped to
improve this skill.
2.4.1.2. Results from pre-action stage observations
At pre-action stage, the researcher taught Unit 1 (Friendship) and Unit 2
(Personal experiences) with non-modified tasks. The lessons were observed by
another teacher. During the observations, this teacher took notes and gave the
total marks of students’ involvement in the tasks in the two periods. The
following is the description of one lesson:
 Class: 11B5
 Number of students in class: 42
 Time: 45 minutes
 Unit 1: Friendship
 Period 5: C - LISTENING

As usual, the lesson started with warm-up. The teacher asked her students
some questions
(Who is your best friend?, How long have you known each other?, What
qualities do you admire in your best friend?). Then, students worked in pairs to
ask about their best friends in 4 minutes. After calling one pair to ask and
answer in front of the class, the teacher introduced the lesson (Today we will
listen to two monologues of Lan and Long. They are talking about their best
friends). Before students listened to the passages to complete the tasks, teacher
introduced some words and phrases. Then students continued the lesson with
task 1 deciding True/False statements. They were asked to work individually,
run through the 11 sentences in task 1 and underline the key words. Then
teacher played the tape twice
After that, the teacher asked students to give answers. However, few of them
had all the answers. Some even paid no attention to the task. The teacher
stopped by each sentence for checking.
Students, then, came to task 2 in which they had to take notes of what Lan
and Long like about their friends and how and where they met. The teacher
again played the tape twice. However, this task seemed to be difficult for
students as almost no student noted down anything. The teacher had to provide
help. The lesson flew slowly.
Finally, the teacher gave some cues and asked students to work in pairs to
talk about Lan’s and Long’s best friends.
Here are the results from the observations. First, it should be mentioned
that the observation sheet had six items, but during unit 1 and 2 the observer
only used four items to observe students’ involvement in the tasks. The highest
mark for each item was 5 and the highest mark for the whole class in each lesson
was 20. The highest total mark for the observations during two lessons was 40.
Below are the concrete results:
Table 2: Students’ involvement in the tasks

Units
Marks of students’

Unit 1
(Friendship)
8
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Unit 2
(Personal experiences)
9


involvement in the tasks
Percent

40%

45%

It can be seen from the table that level of students’ involvement in the
tasks was quite low. In Unit 1 (Friendship), the percent of students who
involved in the tasks accounted for 40%, while in Unit 2 (Personal experiences)
was a bit higher with 45%. This figures showed that more than half of the
students paid no attention to studying listening. They barely participated in the
lessons. This may be resulted from two main reasons: the first one, maybe, is
that the tasks themselves are uninteresting; the second one is probably due to
students’ low level of listening competence.

2.4.1.3. Results from students’ questionnaire 1
2.4.1.3.1. Students’ evaluation about listening skill and
their own listening competence
(Questions 1 and 2)
When answering the first question about their evaluation about learning
listening skill, most of the students (96 %) admit that learning listening skill is
difficult, even extremely difficult.
Regarding to students’ self-evaluation about their own listening
comprehension ability, only 1 out of 42 students confidently said that her
listening ability was very good; whereas 78% thought that they were very bad at
listening. In listening lessons, they almost hear nothing.
2.4.1.3.2. Students’ opinions about listening tasks in
English 11
(Questions 3, 4 and 5)
When answering the question how often they completed listening tasks in
listening lessons, 2% of the students said that they always completed listening
tasks, 14% often finished, but 84% sometimes could finish the tasks. The result
also showed that 66% of the students confirmed that kinds of listening task in
the textbook were not very diversified.
Question No 4 tried to seek the frequency of listening tasks in listening
lessons. The results are clearly presented in the table below:
Table 3: Frequency of listening tasks in listening lessons
Answering Filling Decidin Numberin
openmissing g T/F
g the
ended
words stateme pictures
questions
(%)
nts

(%)
(%)
(%)
84%
24%
24%
10%

Multiple Completing Ticking
choice
missing
the
questions information things
(%)
in the table/ you hear
charts (%)
(%)
12%
4%
10%

As can be seen that the most frequently used tasks in listening lessons are
answering open-ended questions. Filling missing words and deciding T/F
statements rank second with 24% for each kind. Such kinds of task as
numbering the pictures, multiple choice questions and ticking the things you
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hear are sometimes present. Only the tasks of completing the missing
information in the table/charts are rarely used. The information in this table once
again confirmed that listening tasks in English 11 are not very plentiful.

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2.4.1.3.3. Students’ feelings when doing listening tasks in
English 11
Question No 6 examines students’ feelings when doing listening tasks in
English 11. The results can be seen in the following table:
Table 4: Students’ feelings when doing listening tasks in English 11

Very interested
(%)
2%

Interested
(%)
6%

Normal
(%)
38%

Bored (%)
0%

Very bored
(%)
54%

When asked to express their feeling when doing listening tasks in English
11, the majority of the students (accounting for 54%) said they felt very bored
with the listening tasks in the textbook. 38% of them felt normal and only a
small number of students were interested in the tasks.
It is obvious that listening tasks in the textbook dissatisfy most of the
students, which can not motivate students to participate in the lessons as well as
not to encourage them to develop their listening skill.
2.4.1.3.4. Students’ evaluation about the effectiveness of
listening tasks to their listening competence
Table 5: Students’ evaluation about the effectiveness of listening tasks

Very effective
(%)
6%

Effective (%)

Not clear (%)

8%

34%

Ineffective
(%)
52%

Table 5 presents that only 6% and 8 % of the students thought that
listening tasks in the textbook were very effective and effective, while 34% of
them spoke that they were not clear whether the tasks could help them improve
their listening comprehension. Especially, 52% believed that their ability for
listening comprehension was not improved. They claimed that the tasks were
totally ineffective.
2.4.1.3.5. Students’ preferences for listening tasks
Question 8 was used to collect information about the listening tasks that
students preferred. The results are shown in the table below:
Table 6: Students’ preferences for listening tasks

Answerin Filling Deciding Numberin Multiple Completin Tickin
g open- missin
T/F
g the
choice
g missing
g the
ended
g
statement pictures question informatio things
questions words
s
(%)
s
n in the
you
(%)
(%)

(%)
(%)
table/
hear
charts (%)
(%)
2%
36%
29%
30%
64%
16%
28%
According to the information in the table, the most preferred listening task
is multiple choice questions. The next one is tasks with filling missing words.
Tasks of deciding T/F statements rank third. Followings are such kinds of tasks
as ticking the things you hear and completing missing information in the
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table/charts respectively. The least favorite one is answering open-ended
questions.
2.4.1.3.6. Students’ opinions about the way their teachers
treat listening tasks
Table 7: Students’ opinions about the way their teachers treat listening tasks

In what way does your teacher teach listening tasks in the Textbook?
Options

Result (%)
a. The teacher always follows the given tasks in the
76%
textbook.
b. The teacher sometimes replaces difficult tasks for easier
8%
ones.
c. The teacher often modifies listening tasks to fit students’
16%
level.
Most of the students said that their teacher always follows the given tasks
in the textbook without any adapting, while 16% stated that the teacher usually
modifies listening tasks to help them listen better and 8% admitted that their
teacher occasionally replaces the difficult tasks for easier ones. These figures
clearly show that most of the teachers still depend too much on the textbook.
They hardly have any changes to fit their students’ level.
2.4.2. Results from document analysis
2.4.2.1. English 11
English 11 was officially in use in the year 2007. It is developed from a
theme-based syllabus. Like English 10, English 11 consists of 16 units. Each
unit presents a topic as shown in the below table:
Table 8: Topics in English 11
UNIT
TOPICS
UNIT
TOPICS
1
Friendship
9
The post office

2
Personal experiences
10
Nature in danger
3
A party
11
Sources of energy
4
Volunteer work
12
The Asian Games
5
Illiteracy
13
Hobbies
6
Competitions
14
Recreation
7
World population
15
Space Conquest
8
Celebrations
16
The wonders of the world
There are five parts in each unit arranged as follow: Reading, Speaking,
Listening, Writing and Language focus. Each part starts with the items: preactivities, while-activities and post-activities with a variety of activities and

tasks. All the tasks and activities are designed to help students develop
communicative competence
2.4.2.2. Listening tasks in listening sections of English 11
For listening sections in English 11, the main aim is to help students
improve their listening comprehension relating to the topics of the units.
Therefore, all the activities and tasks are designed with the hope of achieving
this goal fully.
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Normally, a listening section consists of two tasks. Task 1 often involves
filling in the gap, deciding True/False statements or choosing the best answer.
Task 2 often deals with comprehension questions. The table below shows more
clearly types of listening tasks in English 11:
Table 9: Types of listening task in English 11
Units
Types of listening
Units
Types of listening
Tasks
task
Tasks
task
Unit 1
Unit 9
Task 1
Task 1
True/False statements

Multiple choice
Task 2
Task 2
questions
Note-taking
Comprehension
questions
Unit 2
Unit 10
Task 1
Task 1
True/False statements
True/False statements
Task 2
Task
2
Gap-filling
Comprehension
questions
Unit 3
Unit 11
Task 1
Task 1
True/False statements
Multiple choice
Task 2
Task 2
questions
Comprehension
Gap-filling

questions
Unit 4
Unit 12
Task 1
Task 1
Gap-filling
Multiple choice
Task 2
Task 2
questions
Comprehension
Comprehension
questions
questions
Unit 5
Unit 13
Task 1
Task 1
Multiple choice
True/False statements
Task 2
Task 2
questions
Comprehension
Gap-filling
questions
Unit 6
Unit 14
Task 1
Task 1

True/False statements
True/False statements
Task 2
Task
2
Comprehension
Comprehension
questions
questions
Unit 7
Unit 15
Task 1
Task 1
Multiple choice
True/False statements
Task 2
Task 2
questions
Comprehension
Comprehension
questions
questions
Unit 8
Unit 16
Task 1
Task 1
Ticking
Gap-filling
Task 2
Task 2

Comprehension
Comprehension
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questions
questions
As can be seen from the table, listening tasks in this textbook are not
various in forms and styles. There are always repetitive tasks such as deciding
on True/False statements or comprehension questions, which can lead to
students’ boredom in listening lessons.
In addition, when perusing these tasks, it appears that not all the tasks are
suitable with students’ background and knowledge, especially, with students in
an area like Nghi Son.
For example, in Unit 3 (A party) although the listening topic is quite
familiar; task 2 is too long with seven comprehension questions, not to mention
some questions which can cause students’ difficulties in answering.
In Unit 4 (Volunteer work) the listening passage is about a special school
named Spring School in Ho Chi Minh City. It can be certain that most of the
students have never heard about this school before. Besides that when dealing
with task 2, students can meet difficulties in answering question 3 (Why do
children participate in fund-raising performances?) and question 5 (Why are
foreign volunteers needed?) as to get answers, students must listen to very long
sentences, which require them to have good skills of remembering and taking
notes.
In short, despite some good points, listening tasks in English 11 are not
really diversified. Some tasks seem not to be appropriate as they do not fit
students’ level. This unsuitability of the original tasks might lead to the boredom

and then affect students’ listening comprehension.
2.4.3. Conclusion
The data analysis at the initial stage of this research clearly shows that
most students are not very interested in doing listening tasks in English 11. In
fact, they feel very bored with the repetitive tasks and believe that these tasks
hardly help them improve their listening competence. It is due to the
unsuitability of the original tasks which discourages students from engaging in
listening. Then the answer for the first research question ‘What makes students
uninterested in listening lessons?’ was found out.
Furthermore, basing on collected data, the researcher can draw out some
causes of unsuitability of the original listening tasks. First of all, some original
tasks are beyond students’ knowledge and competence. Secondly, some tasks
are too long. Finally, the repetition of some kinds of task can not attract
students’ attention.
2.4.3.1. The hypothesis
The analysis and discussion of the initial data formed the following
hypothesis:
Modified listening tasks in listening sections of English 11 could help
improve students’ listening comprehension.
To help improve students’ listening comprehension, an action plan was
designed. In this action plan, the original listening tasks were modified to make
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them more appropriate and interesting to students when they deal with listening
lessons.
2.5. Data collected in the action stage
2.5.1. Results from action stage observations

In the action stage, the researcher applied modified listening tasks in three
listening lessons (Unit 3, 4 and 7). Three observation sheets were completed by
a colleague teacher. The sheet included six items, the highest mark for each item
was 5, the highest mark of the whole class in each lesson was 30 and the highest
mark for three observed lessons was 90.
Table 10 shows score for students’ involvement in tasks:
Table 10: Students’ involvement in tasks
Units
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 7
(A party)
(Volunteer work)
(World
population)
Marks of students’
19
22
23
involvement in
tasks
Percent
63.3%
73.3%
76.7%
It can be seen from the table that students’ involvement in tasks increased
gradually through the lessons which used modified listening tasks. In Unit 3,
more than half of the students (63.3%) paid attention to the lesson. In Unit 4, the
percent of students’ involvement in tasks was 10% higher than that of Unit 3. It
means that students were more and more engaged in modified listening tasks. In

the last lesson of the action plan- Unit 7- students’ involvement in tasks added
up to 76.7%. Obviously, modified listening tasks increased students’ interest in
learning listening. However, the average percentage of students’ involvement in
tasks in three lessons (71.1%) was not so high as it is expected. There were
some students uninterested in modified listening tasks. This encourages the
researcher to continue adjusting modified listening tasks so as to increase
students’ participation in the lessons.
2.5.2. Results from Questionnaire 2
Questionnaire 2 (Appendix 2) was delivered to each student after finishing
each lesson during three weeks (from week 4 to week 7) to see how students
evaluate the modified listening tasks.
The total number of questionnaires collected during three lessons was
150. The questionnaire had four items and highest mark for each item was 5, the
total score for a questionnaire was 20 and the total score of the whole class was
1000.
The results of the questionnaire were illustrated in the table below:
Table 11: Students’ evaluation about modified listening tasks
Units
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 7
(A party)
(Volunteer work)
(World
population)
Marks of all
630
725
755
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students
Percent
63%
72.5%
75.5%
The figures from the table showed that most of the students found the
modified listening tasks more interesting, meaningful and appropriate. The
percentage of students who preferred the modified tasks increased lesson by
lesson. In Unit 3 was 63%, 72.5% in Unit 4 and 75.5% in the last lesson.
It proved that students had positive opinions about modified listening
tasks. Most of them felt satisfied with the changes made by the teacher.
Especially, according to what they said in their comments after each lesson, the
modified listening tasks of the teacher help facilitate their process of listening.
They somewhat felt less stressful when dealing with the tasks as they could be
easier get information from the listening passages and finish most of the given
tasks. They, finally, expressed their wish that the teacher often modified the
tasks to help them listen easier and better.
In brief, the results from the observations and questionnaire 2 once again
confirmed that modified listening tasks increased students’ involvements in the
tasks. Students concentrated more on the lessons and most of them could
complete the listening tasks themselves. In other words, students’ listening
competence was partly improved because of more appropriate listening tasks.
2.5.3. Results from teaching diaries
With the hope of following closely what was happening during the
lessons, how effective the modified listening tasks were as well as what
problems came up, the researcher wrote teaching diaries after each lesson.

As mentioned above, at the pre-action stage, when the teacher taught Unit
1 and 2 with non-modified listening tasks, nearly a half of students paid no
interest to the lessons. They even didn’t finish the lesson in 45 minutes.
However, this situation changed when modified tasks were applied in Unit 3, 4
and 7.
As perceived by the researcher through her teaching diaries, students’
listening comprehension was improved a lot during three lessons at the action
stage. The modified listening tasks really had good effects on students’ progress.
Most of the students could finish the tasks themselves. They also found the tasks
more interesting and satisfying; therefore, they were more engaged into the
lessons and felt less nervous when solving listening tasks. That also explained
why the class atmosphere during three weeks of action stage was at ease.
However, according to what was written in the teaching diaries, there
were some off- task students. These students stayed silently in class and could
do a part of tasks. This showed that the modified tasks should be adjusted a bit
to attract more students.
To sum up, the teaching diaries together with observations and
questionnaires helped the researcher evaluate the effectiveness of modified
listening tasks on students’ progress more exactly. The researcher could identify
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the good points and existing problems after each lesson so that there are more
appropriate adjustments to enhance students’ comprehension.

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2.5.4. Results from post-test
After the researcher had applied the modified listening tasks in teaching,
she prepared a test with the aim of probing whether students really could
improve their listening comprehension through the modified listening tasks.
The table below presents the results:
Table 12: Results of the post-test
Marks
Marks 1-2 Marks 3-4 Marks 5-6 Marks 7-8 Marks 910
Numbers
4
15
20
10
1
of students
Percent
8%
30%
40%
20%
2%
Obviously, students achieved certain progresses in this test. The number
of students getting below average marks reduced remarkably. More than half of
the students scored better marks than in the test before. This figures once again
confirmed that the modified listening tasks had good effect on students. The
majority of them got some success in improving their listening comprehension
2.5.5. Summary of major findings and discussions
2.5.5.1. The unsuitability of listening tasks in the textbook

and its effects on students’ listening comprehension
There have been a large number of researches investigating factors
affecting students’ listening comprehension. These factors are various. It may
come from the teachers or the students themselves. However, basing on what
has been analyzed in questionnaires and observations, the researcher found out
that the unsuitability of listening tasks in the textbook also has a great influence
on students’ listening competence.
The data from questionnaire 1, pre-action observations and the analysis of
the textbook show that most of the students find the listening tasks in the
textbook very boring and almost ineffective in helping them develop listening
skills. This exposes that the listening tasks in English 11 do not meet students’
needs and interests. There exists some appropriateness.
The unsuitability of the tasks in the textbook English 11 may fall into
three categories. The first is the tasks which are too difficult for students. They
are not appropriate with students’ level, therefore, students often feel very
stressful when dealing with this kind of task. The second is too long tasks, which
students can not finish in the time limited. The last one is repetitive kinds of
task. Monotonous tasks could not motivate students as they soon feel bored with
doing the same kind of task every day.
Obviously, inappropriate tasks could not create a motive and interests for
students to learn, thus, students’ listening competence can not be improved
much as expected.
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2.5.5.2. Students’ preferences for listening tasks
There are many different kinds of listening tasks such as answering
questions, completing the missing information. However, the three kinds of

tasks which are most favored by students are multiple choice questions,
True/False statements and gap-filling. Students like doing these kinds of task
probably because such kinds of tasks are appropriate to their level. They can feel
at ease when meeting these tasks, which create good psychology for them when
solving the tasks
2.5.5.3. Modified listening tasks
students’ listening comprehension

could help improve

The action plan was implemented during three lessons (Unit 3, Unit 4 and
Unit 7) with the modification of the listening tasks in English 11, i.e. replacing,
omitting and changing the unsuitable tasks.
The results from observations, questionnaire 2 and teaching diaries clearly
indicate that with the modified listening tasks students are much more eager to
participate in the lessons. The percentage of students’ involvement in tasks
increases lesson by lesson (63.3% in Unit 3, 73.3% in Unit 4 and 76.7% in Unit
7). More importantly, students find the lessons more interesting, meaningful
with appropriate tasks. During three lessons at the action stage, the majority of
students feel satisfied as they can complete the tasks themselves.
Modified listening tasks have positive effects on improving students’
listening comprehension because of the following reasons:
First of all, the modified tasks not only closely followed the theories of
listening and principles for adapting materials but they were also based on
students’ opinions. Hence, the modified tasks fit students’ needs and interests.
In addition, after each lesson, the researcher immediately got reflection
from students through questionnaires, from a colleague teacher through
observations and she herself kept teaching diaries. This helped the researcher
have proper adjustments for the next lessons to fit students’ needs. Therefore, all
the modified listening tasks were certainly prepared.

Last but not least, the researcher tried to employ the various techniques
for adapting the material to ensure the modified tasks more appropriate to her
students.
3. Conclusions and recommendations
There are four sections in this chapter. The first section deals with
conclusions. The second section states some recommendations. Following are
some limitations of the present study. The last section suggests some
suggestions for further study.
3.1. Conclusions
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The action research was conducted within eight weeks. In the first week,
by observing lessons, discussing with colleague teachers and talking with
students, the problem of students’ uninterest in listening lessons was identified.
In the following week, at the pre-action stage, observations, questionnaire 1 and
document analysis were employed to confirm the problem. After analyzing data
from these instruments, the unsuitability of listening tasks in the textbook
English 11 was found to be one of the main reasons which made students bored
with listening lessons. The fact is that most of the students are not good at
listening, whereas some listening tasks in the textbook are so difficult that
students can not deal with. Besides that, some tasks are too long for students to
complete in a short time.
Finding the answer for the first research question led to the hypothesis
whether modified listening tasks could help increase students’ listening
comprehension.
To solve the problem, an action plan was prepared by modifying listening
task in the textbook. The modification of the tasks was based not only on the

principles for adapting materials but also on students’ real needs and interests.
The techniques used for modification were replacing, omitting and changing.
Three weeks following, the action plan was applied in three lessons (Unit
3, 4 and 7). The data collected from questionnaire 2, observations and teaching
diaries clearly showed that most of the students made progresses in listening.
Despite some shortcomings, the modified listening tasks were quite effective as
the tasks could help students more engaged into the lessons and then their
listening competence was enhanced.
3.2. Recommendations
As discussed in this study, the application of modified tasks can be
effective in improving students’ listening comprehension. So as for EFL
teachers to have effective modifications, I have some recommendations as
follows:
First of all, teachers should spend time talking to students to find out
which kinds of listening task they are fond of as well as which kinds of listening
tasks do not meet students’ needs and levels.
Secondly, a plan about modifying listening tasks should be well and
thoroughly prepared. The teacher must point out what he/ she intends to do with
the tasks.
Thirdly, after each modified listening taught to students, a small survey or
an informal interview may be helpful as it will help teachers measure the
appropriateness of the modified tasks.
Last but not least, the researcher also recommends some useful techniques
which can be often used to modify listening tasks. These techniques are
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omitting, replacing, changing, adding or simplifying. Depending on a particular

situation of each class, the teacher can choose some suitable techniques for the
action plan.
3.3. Limitations of the study
The study has gained some success in improving students’ listening
comprehension through modified listening tasks. However, it still bears some
limitations
First of all, the whole research lasted for eight weeks and the modified
tasks were applied within three weeks merely with three lessons. The results
would be more reliable if the researcher had more time to study and experiment
with more lessons.
Secondly, within the scope of the study, the participants in the study were
limited in a class with 42 students. The researcher really wishes that she could
conduct the research on a larger scale to produce better results.
Finally, the study would be more effective if the researcher were much
better at academic language proficiency, and had more experience in carrying
out the research.
3.4. Suggestions for further study
This study is of small-scale with limited participants. Therefore, a similar
study with bigger scope of subjects at other school might be conducted so as to
get a fuller evaluation of the listening tasks in English 11.
Other studies on modifying activities in such skills as
reading, speaking and writing may be also helpful for EFL
learners.
THE RECTOR’S CONFIRMATION

Nghi Son, 9th May, 2022
I am absolutely sure that this study
belongs to me, not copying the
contents or the study from anyone.
(Signature and full name)

Lê Hoài Phương

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