Attitudes towards the use of english captioned videos and listening strategies of non english majors at ho chi minh city industry and trade college

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

---------------

NGUYEN DINH NHU HA

ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE USE OF
ENGLISH CAPTIONED VIDEOS AND
LISTENING STRATEGIES OF NON-ENGLISH
MAJORS AT HO CHI MINH CITY INDUSTRY
AND TRADE COLLEGE

Major: English Language
Course code: 8220201

HO CHI MINH CITY, SEPTEMBER 2020

I


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

---------------

ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE USE OF
ENGLISH CAPTIONED VIDEOS AND
LISTENING STRATEGIES OF NON-ENGLISH
MAJORS AT HO CHI MINH CITY INDUSTRY
AND TRADE COLLEGE

Submitted to the
Faculty of English Language
in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in English Language
Course code: 8220201
By

NGUYEN DINH NHU HA
Supervised by

TRAN QUOC THAO, Ph.D.

HO CHI MINH CITY, SEPTEMBER 2020


The thesis entitled ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE USE OF ENGLISH
CAPTIONED VIDEOS AND LISTENING STRATEGIES OF NON-ENGLISH
MAJORS AT HO CHI MINH CITY INDUSTRY AND TRADE COLLEGE was
successfully defended and approved on ………..…. at Ho Chi Minh City University
of Technology (HUTECH).
Academic supervisor: Dr. TRAN QUOC THAO

Examination Committee

1. Nguyễn Thị Kiều Thu, Ph.D.

Chair

2. Phạm Huy Cường, Ph.D.

Reader 1

3. Lê Văn Tuyên, Ph.D.

Reader 2

4. Lâm Thành Nam, Ph.D

Member

5. Dương Mỹ Thẩm, Ph.D.

Secretary Member

On behalf of the Examination Committee
Chair
(full name, title, signature)


HCMC UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE
HCMC, September 2020
MASTER’S THESIS REPORT

Student name: Nguyen Dinh Nhu Ha

Sex: Male

Date of birth: 06/12/1988

Place of birth: Dong Nai Province

Major: English Language

Student code: 18419400039

I- Thesis title:
Attitudes towards the Use of English Captioned Videos and Listening Strategies
of Non-English Majors at Ho Chi Minh City Industry and Trade College
II-Objectives and contents:
This study aims at exploring out non-English majors’ attitudes towards the use
of English captioned videos and their listening strategies in English class at HITC.
The specific objectives of this study are as follows:
 To find out the non-English majors’ attitudes towards the use of English
captioned videos in English class at HITC;
 To find out non-English majors’ listening strategies in watching English
captioned videos in English class;
 To examine the differences in non-English majors’ attitudes towards the use of
English captioned videos and their listening strategies in terms of different
majors.


This study was conducted at Ho Chi Minh City Industry and Trade College.
The study focused on the investigation of attitude towards the use of English captioned
videos and listening strategies of non – English majors. The participants were students
who came from five departments at HITC: Mechanics, Information Technology,
Accounting, Electronics, and Business Administration. In order to gain the results, the
quantitative and qualitative methods were applied. In addition, two instruments used
for data-collection were questionnaire and semi-structured interview.
III- Starting date: (as stated in the Decision issued by the University)
IV- Completing date:

..........................................................................................................
V- Academic supervisor: (full name, title) TRAN QUOC THAO, Ph.D.

ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR
(full name, signature)

FACULTY DEAN
(full name, signature)


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY
I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled:
ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE USE OF ENGLISH CAPTIONED VIDEOS
AND LISTENING STRATEGIES OF NON-ENGLISH MAJORS AT HO CHI
MINH CITY INDUSTRY AND TRADE COLLEGE
In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by
the Higher Degree Committee of Faculty of English Language, Ho Chi Minh City
University of Technology.

Ho Chi Minh City, September 2020

NGUYEN DINH NHU HA

I


RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, NGUYEN DINH NHU HA, being a candidate for the degree of
Master of Arts (English Language) accept the requirements of the University relating

to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited
in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance
with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and
reproduction for theses.

Ho Chi Minh City, September 2020
Signature …………………………….

NGUYEN DINH NHU HA

II


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my deepest appreciation to those who provided me the
possibility to complete this thesis.
I would first like to show my greatest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Tran
Quoc Thao, for the continuous support of my thesis, for his patience, sympathy,
motivation, and immense knowledge. I could not have imagined having a better
mentor for my study. Without his encouragement and guidance, this thesis would not
have been completed.
Beside my supervisor, I would like to thank all of my teachers at Ho Chi Minh
City University of Technology for their interesting and informative lectures
throughout my Master course in English Language in 2018.
Thirdly, I am grateful for the assistance and support of Dr. Nguyen Thi Kieu
Thu, the Dean of English Language Faculty as well as some members of the staff in
the postgraduate institute of this university, who have helped me greatly to complete
this M.A course.
I am also profoundly grateful to my colleagues and students at the Faculty of

Foreign Languages at Ho Chi Minh City Industry and Trade College. Their huge
support and participation played a major role in the completion of my study.
Last but not least, I must express my very heartfelt gratitude to my parents for
providing me with unconditional love, unfailing support and continuous
encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching
and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without
them.

III


ABSTRACT
Investigations into English captioned videos have been the subject of many
researches in the field of language teaching and learning. Most of these studies have
proved the effectiveness of English captioned videos in enhancing students’ listening
skills. Focusing on the same subject but with a new perspective, this research aimed
at discovering students’ attitudes towards the use of English captioned videos and
their listening strategies in five general English classes at Ho Chi Minh City Industry
and Trade College (HITC). A total of one hundred and fifty college freshmen
participating in answering the questionnaire and twenty-five students in responding
the semi-structured interview questions. The data gained from the questionnaire were
analyzed by SPSS in terms of descriptive statistics and ANOVA test. The results
showed that students expressed positive attitudes towards the use of English captioned
videos. Besides, the frequency of using listening strategies was relatively high. It is
noticeable that the participants used listening strategies at the different level. The
cognitive strategy was used more frequently than the meta-cognitive and socioaffective strategies. The results further indicated that there was no difference in
attitudes towards the use of English captioned videos and listening strategies in terms
of majors. The data from semi-structured interview were coded and analyzed to make
the findings clearer. Basing upon the findings, some implications were made to
contribute to new viewpoints of using English captioned videos for teaching and

learning listening skills as well as teaching listening strategies.
Keywords: English captioned videos, attitudes, listening strategies, non-English
majors

IV


TABLE OF CONTENTS
CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY .......................................................................... i
RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS .............................................................. ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................ iii
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. iv
APPENDICES ......................................................................................................... viii
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................... ix
LIST OF FIGURES .....................................................................................................x
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS ..................................................... xi
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................1
1.1. Background to the study .......................................................................................1
1.2. Statement of the problem .....................................................................................3
1.3. Aims and objectives of the study .........................................................................4
1.4. Research questions ...............................................................................................4
1.5. Scope of the study ................................................................................................5
1.6. Significance of the study ......................................................................................6
1.7. Definitions of the key terms .................................................................................6
1.8. Organization of the thesis......................................................................................7
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................9
2.1. Introduction ..........................................................................................................9
2.2. Listening skills ......................................................................................................9
2.2.1. Definitions of listening .......................................................................................9
2.2.2. The importance of listening skills ....................................................................10

2.2.3. Listening strategies and types of listening strategies .......................................12
2.2.4. Teaching listening strategies ............................................................................15
2.3. Videos with captions and English listening skills ...............................................18
2.3.1. Definitions of captions .....................................................................................18
VII


2.3.2. The relationship between English captioned videos and listening skills .........19
2.4. Attitude ................................................................................................................20
2.4.1. Definitions of attitudes .....................................................................................20
2.4.2. The components of attitudes ............................................................................21
2.5. Attitudes towards listening comprehension ........................................................23
2.6. Previous research ...............................................................................................24
2.7. Conceptual framework ........................................................................................28
2.8. Summary .............................................................................................................30
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY ..........................................................................31
3.1. Introduction .........................................................................................................31
3.2. Research design ..................................................................................................32
3.3. Research site .......................................................................................................33
3.4. Sample and sampling procedure ........................................................................33
3.5. Research instruments .........................................................................................37
3.6. Data collection procedures ................................................................................ 40
3.7. Data analysis procedures ....................................................................................41
3.8. Reliability and Validity .......................................................................................43
3.8. Ethical issues .......................................................................................................43
3.9. Summary .............................................................................................................44
CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .......................................................45
4.1. Introduction .........................................................................................................45
4.2. Results .................................................................................................................45
4.2.1. Students’ attitudes towards the use of English captioned videos ....................45

4.2.2. Listening strategies in watching English captioned videos .............................52
4.3. Discussion ...........................................................................................................60
4.3.1. Students’ attitudes towards the use of English captioned videos ....................60
4.3.2. Listening strategies in watching English captioned videos .............................63

VII


4.4. Summary .............................................................................................................67
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION ................................................................................66
5.1. Summary of the main findings of the thesis .......................................................66
5.2. Pedagogical implications ....................................................................................67
5.2.1. Implications for the administrations of HITC ..................................................67
5.2.2. Implications for the English teachers of HITC ................................................68
5.2.3. Implications for students in general English classes of HITC .........................69
5.3. Limitations ..........................................................................................................69
5.4. Recommendations for the further research .........................................................70
REFERENCES .........................................................................................................71
APPENDIX A ...........................................................................................................83
APPENDIX B ...........................................................................................................88
APPENDIX C ...........................................................................................................93
APPENDIX D ...........................................................................................................95
APPENDIX E ...........................................................................................................97
APPENDIX F ......................................................................................................... 100

VII


LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1. Depiction of three attitude components ...................................................15

Table 3.1. Participants’ general information .............................................................36
Table 3.2. Methods of data analysis in relation to the research questions and
instruments ..........................................................................................................

42

Table 4.1. Students’ attitudes towards the use of English captioned videos ............45
Table 4.2. Students’ cognitive attitudes towards the use of English captioned videos
....................................................................................................................................46
Table 4.3. Students’ affective attitudes towards the use of English captioned videos
....................................................................................................................................49
Table 4.4. Students’ behavioral attitudes towards the use of English captioned
videos ........................................................................................................................51
Table 4.5. Listening strategies in English captioned videos .....................................53
Table 4.6. The frequency of using meta-cognitive listening strategy in English
captioned videos ........................................................................................................54
Table 4.7. The frequency of using cognitive listening strategy in English captioned
videos ........................................................................................................................56
Table 4.8. The frequency of using socio-affective listening strategy in English
captioned videos ........................................................................................................58

IX


LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1:
Conceptual framework of the relationship between students’ attitudes towards
English captioned videos and the use of listening strategies to watch these films ....28

X

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS
HITC: Ho Chi Minh City Industry and Trade College
IT: Information Technology
M: Mechanics
A: Accounting
E: Electronics
BA: Business Administration

XI


CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background to the study
Listening is considered one of the most important skills for foreign language
learners. It results from the fact that listening has an important role in everyday
communication. According to Morley (1991), “Listening is the most common
communicative activity in daily life: we can expect to listen twice as much as we
speak, four times more than we read, and five times more than we write” (p.81).
Moreover, it will be against the naturalistic approach of acquiring a language and
cause “cognitive overload” if learners are forced to produce the forms that they have
not acquired yet (Vandergrift, 1999). In other words, learners should receive input
before switching to any other stage of language learning. Listening, then, provides
them with input. However, according to Walker (2010), listening is seen as one of the
most difficult skills and yet the most important to have. That is why English teachers
must seek for some ways to facilitate their learners’ listening process.
In reality, the English language is a compulsory subject in most universities in
Vietnam. It is one of the components designed in each major. Of four skills in the

English language, the role of listening skills is considered as a vital skill in
communication. It is obvious that with the development of economic integration,
learners need to communicate in English efficiently. Therefore, designing listening
lessons and installing listening devices for this subject is paid much attention to.
Specifically, the changes in teaching listening skills has been improved and changed
in most of educational institutions. In compared to curriculums in the past, listening
skills are currently been teaching in most levels from primary schools to universities.

1


Despite its importance in learning English, the teaching of listening skills has
been given little attention (Prentis and Parrott, 2014). In most of general English
classes, students are familiar with learning grammar, reading and vocabulary.
Listening skills are somehow neglected by teachers (Hamouda, 2013). Moreover, the
lack of facilities in classrooms is an obvious obstacle for teachers conducting listening
activities. It is no doubt that there are many problems for teaching and learning
listening skills.
Traditionally, listening activities were believed to consist of only some typical
tasks such as listening to a recording and doing some following tasks, listening to
teachers and repeating, listening to songs, or dictation. These kinds of activities
somehow cause boredom in a language classroom. Nowadays, with the support of
technology, teachers are enabled and encouraged to apply innovative multimedia tools
to their teaching, especially in teaching listening skills. According to Baltova (1994),
videos are effective and powerful tools to attract viewers’ attention and emotion and
encourage them to improve listening skills for understanding the contents.
Videos, as a result, become an extremely useful source of listening materials
since it provides learners with both audio and visual input. Further than that, not only
is the image added to the sound, but the captions can also be included to facilitate
listening process. The controversy arises around this is whether the use of captions in

a video can enhance learners’ listening skills. Although many studies have been
conducted over this issue, the answer is still far from conclusive.
In addition, using suitable listening strategies is a motivation for learners to
become successful in listening skills. According to Vandergrift (2007), listening
strategies are “strategies that listeners consciously or unconsciously use in order that
they can understand, analyze and interpret the text” (p.10). It is important to consider
that the choice of listening strategies has an influence on listening competence. There
2


are different strategies that learners can apply to do listening tasks. Whether the
learners feel comfortable during listening periods depends on their choice of
strategies. Nevertheless, choosing and defining the appropriate listening strategies is
not clear to non-English major students at Ho Chi Minh Industry and Trade College.
Moreover, the HITC teachers are still confused when instructing learners to use
appropriate listening strategies. A few of them conduct the lessons by asking learners
to listen and do some common listening tasks.
The study was conducted at Ho Chi Minh Industry and Trade College. Since
2005, the Faculty of Foreign Languages at HITC has been responsible for teaching
English programs. The teachers at the faculty are expected to face a lot of difficulties
in finding the effective ways and methods to teach the listening skills. They are also
at their beginning to seek and establish effective syllabus and assessment system for
the English courses. Therefore, there should be a niche to conduct a study relevant to
listening skill in the mentioned context.
1.2. Statement of the problem
With the requirements of achieving B1 level after the course and fluent
capacity of using English for subjects as well as the future job, students at HITC have
to use English effectively in communicative situations. However, it is the fact that
most of speakers in listening materials are from different areas and with different
accents. Therefore, students have obstacles with listening skills if they do not have

chances to experience different accents.
Besides, most students at HITC find it difficult to be familiar with English
teaching methods as well as learning strategies at the college. It is because students
come from different rural areas in Vietnam and have different views of learning
English. They have little attention to listening skills that were always ignored during

3


the years of secondary and high school. It is the reason why they are facing obstacles
to listening classes at the college.
In addition, learners are more excited to learn with authentic materials such as
music and videos in the classroom. Nevertheless, it is the fact that the shortage of
these materials has been causing boredom and distracting students’ attention in
English classes at HITC. Although the teachers always try to use various active
teaching methods, they do not have necessary facilities to conduct English classes.
What is more, the teachers at the faculty are expected to face a lot of difficulties in
finding the effective ways and methods to teach the listening skills. They are also at
their beginning to seek and establish effective syllabus and assessment system for the
English courses. Thus, the researcher decides to conduct this research to explore
learners’ attitudes towards the use of English videos with captions and listening
strategies among non-English majors at the context of HITC.
1.3. Aims and objectives of the study
From the theoretical and practical reasons which are discussed above, this
study therefore aims at exploring non-English majors’ attitudes towards the use of
English captioned videos and their use of listening strategies in English class at HITC.
The specific objectives of this study are as follows:
 To find out the non-English majors’ attitudes towards the use of English
captioned videos in English class at HITC;
 To find out non-English majors’ use of listening strategies in watching English

captioned videos in English class;
1.4. Research questions

4


In order to investigate the non-English majors’ attitudes towards the use of
captions in listening comprehension and their listening strategy at HITC, the
following research questions are formulated:
1. What are non-English majors’ attitudes towards the use of English captioned
videos in English class at HITC?
2. What are the listening strategies employed by non-English majors in watching
English captioned videos?
1.5. Scope of the study
The current study was conducted at Ho Chi Minh Industry and Trade College.
The study focused on the investigation of attitude towards the use of English captioned
videos and listening strategies of non – English majors. Due to the large size of the
population at HITC, the study did not investigate every individual in the population
due to cost and time consumption. The participants were from departments at HITC
such Mechanics, Information Technology, Accounting, Electronics, and Business
Administration. They were first-year students who were learning in general English 2
at HITC. They were familiar with the use of English captioned videos in general
English 1. Additionally, with the requirement of watching English captioned videos
in class or at home in each syllabus, they had already realized the importance and
accumulated necessary strategies for watching captioned videos. The research was
conducted to find out the attitudes and listening strategies of researchers’ learners
towards the use of English captioned videos.
1.6. Significance of the study
This study is hopefully a useful source of information for English teachers at
HITC. It is hoped to provide EFL teachers with the new perspectives and insights

5


regarding teaching listening skills in most general English classes. It will also give
teachers an opportunity to consider students’ expectations in listening periods.
In addition, the study is expected to be a helpful guide for those who are
responsible for developing the syllabus and facilities at the college. In fact, it will help
principals as well as leaders of English faculty to have better solutions in designing
the syllabus and install necessary equipment for teaching listening.
Another contribution of the study is to help students recognize their problems
in listening skills. It also helps to formulate students’ interest in watching English
captioned videos to improve their listening skills. In addition, students will recognize
their suitable listening strategies to improve watching English captioned videos.
Furthermore, students will be more interested in listening periods at school.
Moreover, since there are not many studies focusing on this issue, this study is
hoped to be a useful reference for later studies conducted in the same field. Last but
not least, the study is believed to enlarge the researcher’s knowledge and experience
for doing research.
1.7. Definitions of the key terms
For the purpose of this study, the following key terms are defined to provide
a specific perspective on the issues discussed.
Attitude is an important factor that affects students’ learning process and
perception. It includes affective, cognitive and behavioral attitudes which greatly
impact on students’ learning process and motivate them to acquire a new language.
Captions are similar to the subtitles and give people access to the contents of
spoken languages. They are the words underneath a video which help viewers
recognize the sounds and meanings of spoken sentences.
6

English captioned video refers to the short video or video with a transcription
of dialogues in English, appearing on the screen at the same time that the characters
speak.
Non-English majors refers to students whose major is not English and who
study English as a compulsory subject at the college.
Listening refers to the ability to identify and understand what the speakers are
saying. It involves identifying the sounds and processing them into meaningful words
or sentences.
Listening strategies refer to ways and techniques that students use to assist
them in doing listening tasks of English captioned videos. They include metacognitive, cognitive and socio-affective listening strategies.
1.8. Organization of the thesis
This study report consists of five separate chapters.
Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the study with the background information
related to the study, the statement of the problem, the aims and objectives, the research
questions, the scope of the study, the significance of the study, the definitions of the
key terms as well as the organization of the thesis.
Chapter 2 is the literature review, presenting the information related to listening skills,
English captioned videos, and attitudes toward English captioned videos. In terms of
listening, the definitions, the importance of listening skills, listening strategies and
teaching listening strategies are discussed. Regarding English captioned videos,
definitions of captions, the relationship between English captioned videos and
listening skills are recommended. With reference to attitude towards English
captioned videos, definitions of attitudes, the components of attitudes and attitudes
7


towards listening comprehension are analyzed in details. In previous study, many
studies by foreign as well as Vietnamese researchers are summarized and discussed
in brief. Finally, conceptual framework is also introduced in literature review.

Chapter 3 describes the methodology of the study including the research design, the
research site, the sample and sampling procedures, the research instruments, the data
collection procedures as well as the data analysis procedures.
Chapter 4 supplies the presentation of results of the study by analyzing the data
collected from questionnaire and semi-structured interview. The discussion of the data
is also compared and contrasted with the data in previous studies.
Chapter 5 presents the summary of the main findings of the thesis, implications of the
research, limitation of the research and recommendations for further research.

8


CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Introduction
In this chapter, some reviews of related literature are going to be discussed in
order that the researcher can give related evidence to support the topic of research.
The keys terms mentioned in this study, including listening skills, listening strategies
and types of listening strategies, teaching listening strategies, videos with captions
and English listening skills, and attitudes towards listening comprehension.
2.2. Listening skills
2.2.1. Definitions of listening
Listening is one of the most important skills in acquiring a language. Up to this
point, there have been a lot of definitions of listening. Howatt and Dakin (1974)
defined that listening is the ability to identify and understand what the speakers are
saying. In another definition, listening is the process of receiving, attending to and
assigning meaning to aural stimuli (Wolvin & Coakley, 1982). Rost (2009) stated that
listening is considered an active mental ability. People can learn things, understand
instructions and etc. thanks to listening. According to Gilakjani and Ahmadi (2011),
people spend most of active hours listening for thoughts, feelings and intentions.

Listening is an activity of receiving spoken language through the auditory
organ. It involves identifying the sounds and interpreting the meanings of sounds.
According to Nunan (1995), listening is an important skill in most EFL classes.
Gilakjani and Ahmadi (2011) concluded that listening is a difficult job and requires
students to spend much time and energy on interpreting the meanings of spoken

9


sentences. Saricoban (1999) quoted in Khaled (2010) mentioned that the listening
skills reflect the learners’ receiving ability and choosing what the speakers are saying.
2.2.2. The importance of listening skills
Listening is a complex process which includes classifying, understanding and
interpreting spoken languages. Bueno et al. (2006) stated the complex process of
listening due to the double psychological and social nature “listening is the
phenomenon of psychology, which happens on a cognitive level and the phenomenon
of society, which develops interactively between people and the surroundings.
Listening is considered complex process, which needs to be understood to teach and
evaluate it before combine with phonological aspects and with speaking skills”
(p.282). Besides, it helps people to recognize speakers’ accent, acquire detailed
comprehension and also motivate them to learn the accent. As a result, listening helps
learners learn foreign languages with confidence and expectation of success.
Moreover, the designed activities in listening skills are used to stimulate learners’
imagination and encourage them to speak. In daily lives, listening is a powerful tool
which helps people understand, reach agreements, deal with issues and especially give
information such as laws, rules, policy, instructions and etc. effectively. Brown (2001)
stated “listening is not a one-way street. It is not merely the process of unidirectional
receiving of audible symbols. One facet - the first step - of listening comprehension
is the psychomotor process of receiving sound waves through the ear and transmitting
nerve impulses to the brain. But that is just the beginning of what is clearly an

interactive process as the brain acts on the impulses, bringing to bear a number of
different cognitive and affective mechanisms” (p.69).
Listening plays a prominent role in most of the daily conversations. The
listening activity occupies 40-50% in communication (Gilakjani & Ahmadi, 2011).
Devine (1982) expressed that listening is the most important means through which the
10