Tran hung dao high school students perceptions of learning english listening skills

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN TRANG BICH THUY

TRAN HUNG DAO HIGH SCHOOL
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNING

ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS

Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching
Code: 8140111

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN

NGUYỄN TRANG BÍCH THỦY

NHẬN THỨC VỀ VIỆC HỌC
KĨ NĂNG NGHE TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH

TRƯỜNG THPT TRẦN HƯNG ĐẠO

Ngành: Lý luận và phương pháp dạy học bộ môn tiếng Anh
Mã số: 8140111

Người hướng dẫn: PGS. TS. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền

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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that the information reported in the thesis “Tran Hung Dao
High School Students’ Perceptions of Learning English Listening Skills” is
the result of my own work and attempt. No references are used in the study
without acknowledgment. Also, no parts of the thesis have been submitted for
the award of any degree or diploma.

Binh Dinh, 2023

Nguyen Trang Bich Thuy

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I could not have accomplished this thesis without the considerable
assistance, encouragement, and contributions from my supervisor, colleagues,
friends and family. I take this chance to express my heartfelt gratitude toward
those who offered me valuable advice and wholehearted support for my research.

Firstly, I am deeply grateful to my thesis supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Nguyen Thi Thu Hien. I sincerely appreciate her step-by-step directions,
excellent suggestions, valuable advice, great encouragement, endless
patience, and critical comments so that I can complete my study on time.

Secondly, I would like to express my gratitude to all the lectures that
taught me throughout my MA course and gave me sensible advice.

Thirdly, my thanks are due to Tran Hung Dao High School for
facilitating my attending the MA course at Quy Nhon University.

Fourthly, I also express my warmest thanks to Quy Nhon University,
Post-graduate Department, Department of Education, and Foreign Languages
Department for the administrative assistance.

Next, I would like to thank the students at Tran Hung Dao High School,
who dedicated their time to participating in my research. They enthusiastically
completed the survey questionnaires and attended the interviews.

Special thanks also go to my dear friend Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Kieu,
who always encouraged me when I met obstacles during my study and gave
me some helpful advice on my thesis. I feel lucky to have her support.

Last but not least, I owe my family a great debt of gratitude for their
greatest encouragement and support throughout my MA course.

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ABSTRACT

Listening is one of the important language skills; however, many
learners have trouble learning this skill. This study aimed to investigate
students’ perceptions of learning English listening skills. To achieve the aim,
quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed to collect and to
analyze the data. The data were gathered from 200 Tran Hung Dao high
school students via the questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The
findings showed that most students were aware of the importance of English
listening skills as well as teachers’ listening teaching methods. They also find

listening comprehension interesting but challenging. Many students
encountered listening problems related to listening materials, teachers’
teaching methods and themselves as listeners. As for means of practicing
listening skills, listening to teachers and classmates in class and listening to
English news and English songs were the ones employed by most of them,
whereas a smaller number of students watched YouTube English talk shows
or short videos, British or American television channels and used mobile
applications. Moreover, there were just a few using voice chat on the Internet
to talk with foreigners. The study had significant contributions to teaching and
learning listening skills.

Keywords: learning listening skills, students’ perception, the
importance of listening, listening problems, practice listening skills

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ................................................................ i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................ ii
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................... iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................... vii
LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................... viii
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 1

1.1. Rationale ................................................................................................ 1
1.2. Aim and Objectives ............................................................................... 4

1.2.1. Aim.................................................................................................... 4

1.2.2. Objectives.......................................................................................... 4
1.3. Research Questions ............................................................................... 4
1.4. Scope of the Study ................................................................................. 4
1.5. Significance of the Study ...................................................................... 5
1.6. Organization of the Study .................................................................... 6
CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................... 7
2.1. Perception and its Importance in Teaching and Learning ............... 7
2.1.1. Definition of Perception .................................................................. 7
2.1.2. Importance of Perception in Teaching and Learning ................... 8
2.2. Overview of Listening........................................................................... 9
2.2.1. Definition of Listening..................................................................... 9
2.2.2. Definition of Listening Comprehension ....................................... 11
2.2.3. Importance of Listening Skills in Language Learning................ 12
2.3. Teachers’ Roles in Listening Activities ............................................. 13
2.4. Principles for Teaching Listening Skills ........................................... 14

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2.5. Factors Affecting EFL Students’ Learning English Listening
Skills ............................................................................................................ 16

2.5.1. Listeners ......................................................................................... 16
2.5.2. Listening Texts ............................................................................... 18
2.5.3. Teachers’ Teaching Method.......................................................... 20
2.5.4. Physical Setting .............................................................................. 21
2.6. Related Studies on Students’ Perceptions of Learning English
Listening Skills ........................................................................................... 22
CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY ............................................................... 28
3.1. Research Design .................................................................................. 28
3.2. Research Setting and Participants .................................................... 28

3.2.1. Research Setting............................................................................. 28
3.2.2. Research Participants .................................................................... 30
3.3. Research Instruments ......................................................................... 31
3.3.1. Questionnaire ................................................................................. 31
3.3.2. Semi-structured Interview ............................................................. 32
3.4. Data Collection .................................................................................... 32
3.5. Data Analysis ....................................................................................... 33
3.6. Reliability and Validity....................................................................... 34
3.6.1. Scale Reliability Analysis............................................................... 34
3.6.2. Validity............................................................................................ 34
CHAPTER 4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ......................................... 35
4.1. Students’ Perceptions of The importance of Listening Skills......... 35
4.2. Problems Students Face When Learning Listening Skills.............. 42
4.2.1. Students’ Problems Related to the Listening Materials ............... 43
4.2.2. Students’ Problems Related to Teachers’ Teaching Methods ..... 49
4.2.3. Students’ Problems Related to The Listener................................. 53

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4.3. Means Students Use to Practice Listening Skills ............................. 58
CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS ............................ 66

5.1. Summary of the Study ........................................................................ 67
5.2. Implications ......................................................................................... 68
5.3. Limitations ........................................................................................... 69
5.4. Suggestions for Further Research ..................................................... 70
REFERENCES .............................................................................................. 71
APPENDICES

CD vii

EFL
L1 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
L2
MoET Compact Disc
English as a Foreign Language
First Language
Second Language
Ministry of Education and Training

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1. Summary of Participants’ Background Characteristics ................. 30
Table 3.2. Reliability Statistics of the Questionnaire ..................................... 34
Table 4.1. Students’ Perceptions of Importance of Listening Skills .............. 36
Table 4.2. Detailed Description of Importance of Listening Skills ................ 37
Table 4.3. Detailed Description of Difficulty of Listening Skills .................. 38
Table 4.4. Detailed Description of Appeal of Listening Skills....................... 39
Table 4.5. Detailed Description of Sufficient Training in Listening
Comprehension................................................................................................ 40
Table 4.6. Detailed Description of Listening Strategies ................................. 41
Table 4.7. Students’ Problems Related to Listening Materials....................... 43
Table 4.8. Detailed Description of Unfamiliarity of the Topic ...................... 44
Table 4.9. Detailed Description of Unfamiliar Vocabulary............................ 45
Table 4.10. Detailed Description of Difficult Grammatical Structures .......... 45
Table 4.11. Detailed Description of Speech of Spoken Texts ........................ 46
Table 4.12. Detailed Description of Stress, Pronunciation, Intonation and
Accent.............................................................................................................. 46
Table 4.13. Detailed Description of Length of Spoken Texts ........................ 47

Table 4.14. Detailed Description of Poor-quality Recordings........................ 48
Table 4.15. Students’ Problems Related to Teachers’ Teaching Methods ..... 49
Table 4.16. Detailed Description of Pre-teaching Important Vocabulary ...... 50
Table 4.17. Detailed Description of Warming-up Activities.......................... 51

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Table 4.18. Detailed Description of Clear Explanation of Tasks’ Instructions
......................................................................................................................... 51
Table 4.19. Students’ Problems Related to the Listener ................................. 53
Table 4.20. Detailed Description of Listeners’ Anxiety ................................. 54
Table 4.21. Detailed Description of Slow Recall of Familiar Words’ Meaning
......................................................................................................................... 55
Table 4.22. Detailed Description of Slow Recollection of Heard Words or
Phrases............................................................................................................. 55
Table 4.23. Detailed Description of Concentration Lapses due to New Words
......................................................................................................................... 56
Table 4.24. Detailed Description of Concentration Lapses due to Strong Focus
on Every Word or Phrase ................................................................................ 56
Table 4.25. Means Students Use to Practice Listening Skills ........................ 59
Table 4.26. Detailed Description of Means of Listening to Teachers and
Classmates ....................................................................................................... 60
Table 4.27. Detailed Description of Listening to English News and Songs... 60
Table 4.28. Detailed Description of Means of Watching YouTube English
Talk Shows ...................................................................................................... 61
Table 4.29. Detailed Description of Means of Using Mobile Applications ... 62
Table 4.30. Detailed Description of Watching British or American Television
Channels .......................................................................................................... 62
Table 4.31. Detailed Description of Using Voice Chat to Communicate with
Foreigners........................................................................................................ 63

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CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

The introduction chapter helps lay background information essential for
understanding the issue discussed in this study. The chapter includes 6 main
parts: rationale, aim and objectives, research questions, scope of the study,
significance of the study, and organization of the study.

1.1. Rationale

In Viet Nam, English has been becoming a compulsory subject in
schools. No one can deny that due to being one of the four major skills in
language learning, listening has become an indispensable part of learning
English as a foreign language. It is a very crucial skill because it is the most
frequently utilized in everyday life. According to Croom Helm Cross (1998),
listening is the most essential part of communication because it has an
important role in supplying a meaningful reply. Thanks to listening, the
language learner can obtain pronunciation, word stress, lexicon, and syntax
and the gasp of messages communicated can be dependent solely on voice
tone, pitch and accent. Similarly, Harmer (2007) stated that listening helps our
students pronounce words correctly because it helps them take in the
appropriate “pitch and intonation, stress, and sounds” of both single words
and ones which join together in connected speech when they hear and
comprehend the spoken English texts. Gilakjani and Ahmadi (2011)
concluded that listening plays an integral role in people’s lives. Learning
listening will permit us to considerably enhance our communication ability. If
people wish to communicate accurately and meaningfully, it is necessary for
them to frequently and consistently hear various English forms. It means that

it is impossible for people to learn a language without hearing, for listening
supply language input.

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Not only does listening have a crucial role in daily life but it has great
potential for learning activities in the classroom. Rost (1994) stated that in the
language classroom, listening is significant as it provides the learner with input.
Learning cannot start without the precise comprehension of input. Likewise,
according to Wallace et al. (2004), listening skills have a significant impact on
learning purposes because students can get information and obtain insights. This
is in line with Harmer’s (2007) statement that listening could be useful for
students to have successful communication. The students are required to
improve basic language knowledge on their own, such as “vocabulary, structure,
pronunciation, phonology, and other language items” in order to gain good
listening comprehension in English. However, according to Lu (2008) (cited in
Dang et al., 2021), most students perceived that the listening skill is probably the
most important but the most difficult one to study. He also stated that listening
comprehension is hampered by many factors.

It can be concluded that listening is an integral part of learning English,
but it is a difficult skill for students. Therefore, a number of research papers
related to students’ perceptions of listening difficulties in learning English
listening skills have been conducted in many countries (Anadapong, 2011;
Juan & Abidin, 2013; Duong and Chau, 2019; Diora & Rosa, 2020; Tran &
Duong, 2020; Nadhira & Warn, 2020; Hardiyanto et al., 2021). Nevertheless,
the studies concerning students’ perceptions of learning English listening
skills have been limited. Nguyen and Thai (2018) concluded that the majority
of students have a positive awareness of listening skill development.
Listening comprehension issues faced by the first year English-major students

include speakers’ various accents, pronunciation, speed of speech, inadequate
vocabulary, dearth of concentration, worry, and poor quality of the recording.

Similarly, according to Lestari et al. (2019), the importance of English

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listening skill is realized by most of the students, but they assume that they
are the weakest at the listening skill. The authors also add that there are many
problems students face in learning English listening skills. These problems
include accent, pronunciation, fast rate of speech, restricted vocabulary,
sophisticated grammatical structures, prior knowledge, poor concentration,
low recording quality, noise and length of oral texts. In addition, in Rullu's
study (2022), most of the students think that listening is more challenging
than other skills. They also emphasize that their major problems are
repetitious activities, long material, anxiety, lack of concentration, bad quality
of recording tapes, unknown words, noisy surrounding, texts with fast speed,
unclear pronunciation, and dearth of vocabulary.

In Vietnam, the 2022-2023 school year is the first time of implementing
MoET’s 2018 General Curriculum for the tenth graders. It is required that the
new course books’ level of English proficiency for high school students be
level B1 (level 3 in Common European Framework of Reference). It is
obvious that there is a lack of investigation into perceptions of learning
English listening skills of tenth graders who have just finished the grade ten
2018 General Curriculum. Besides, being one of the English teachers at Tran
Hung Dao high school, I recognize that the majority of students are weak at
listening and learning listening skills is often ignored and not focused on. I
desire to help students at my school pay much attention to and improve their
English listening skills.

For those reasons, with a view to investigating how grade 10 students
perceive learning English listening skills at Tran Hung Dao high school, I am so
inspired to choose the topic “Tran Hung Dao High School students’
perceptions of learning English listening skills” for my MA thesis.

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1.2. Aim and Objectives
1.2.1. Aim

This study aims to identify Tran Hung Dao high school grade 10
students’ perceptions of learning English listening skills.
1.2.2. Objectives

To achieve the aim, three specific objectives are identified:

(1) To identify what grade 10 students think about the importance of
listening skills.

(2) To explore what problems grade 10 students have when they learn
listening skills.

(3) To find out what means grade 10 students use to practice listening
skills.

1.3. Research Questions
Based on the aim and the objectives of the research, the following

questions are expected to be answered:

(1) What do grade 10 students think about the importance of listening
skills?

(2) What problems do grade 10 students face when they learn listening
skills?

(3) What means do grade 10 students use to practice listening skills?
1.4. Scope of the Study

As stated above, the study was restricted to the area of exploring
students’ perceptions of learning English listening skills through the

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descriptive study with two main instruments including a closed-ended
questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. Specifically, the researcher
identified students’ perceptions of listening skills’ importance, some listening
difficulties they might face and the means they might use to practise their
listening skills. Due to the constraints of resources and time, the study limited
its scope to the participation of 200 grade 10 students at Tran Hung Dao high
school. Therefore, the study limits itself to the teaching and learning of
English listening, not for all students of Tran Hung Dao high school. The
justification for choosing participants is that they finished the grade ten 2018
General Curriculum. Therefore, they well perceived some requirements of
new course books’ level of English proficiency for high school students as
well as listening challenges.
1.5. Significance of the Study

Students' perceptions of learning English listening skills are the focus
of this study. From an educational perspective, the study is significant for

both theoretical and practical reasons.

In terms of theory, the study contributes to the methods, techniques and
activities of teaching listening.

In terms of practice, the findings of this study may benefit English
teachers, students, and researchers. As for the teachers, the findings of the
study can raise teachers’ awareness of how their students perceive learning
English listening skills. As a consequence, they will endeavor to implement
listening lessons in an effective way in order that their students can
improve their listening performance. This study can also be used as a
reference, not only by English teachers at Tran Hung Dao high school but also
by teachers who want to know how students perceive learning listening skills
and improve students’ listening skills. For students, this study hopes to help

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them realize the importance of listening skills, some listening problems and
methods of practising listening skills. Finally, with regard to the researchers,
the findings could be used as a database for further study.
1.6. Organization of the Study

The research is presented in five chapters: Introduction, Literature
Review, Research Methodology, Findings and Discussion and Conclusion and
Implications.

Chapter 1, Introduction, presents the rationale, the aim and objectives,
the scope, the research questions, the scope, the significance and the structure
of the study.

Chapter 2, Literature Review, defines major related concepts and
briefly reviews the related studies. It provides a theoretical background for the
study.

Chapter 3, Research Methodology, introduces the research design,
research setting, participants, research instruments, data collection, data
analysis and data’s reliability and validity.

Chapter 4, Findings and Discussion, describes the analysis of data in
detail and presents the findings as well as a thorough discussion
of the findings of the study.

Chapter 5, Conclusion and Implications, summarizes the main findings,
draws some implications, indicates the limitations of the study as well as
offers suggestions for further research.

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CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW

The purpose of Chapter 2 is to review the theoretical background of the
study. This chapter will be divided into 5 main sections. It begins with
presenting perception and its importance in teaching and learning. The
following section deals with an overview of listening, in which the definition
of listening and listening comprehension as well as the importance of
listening skills in language learning are briefly discussed. The next parts are
teachers’ roles in listening activities and principles for teaching listening
skills. Factors affecting EFL students’ learning English listening skills are
then presented. In this chapter, the researcher also reviews the previous
studies related to students' perceptions of learning English listening skills.

2.1. Perception and its Importance in Teaching and Learning

2.1.1. Definition of Perception
In recent years, a variety of studies on students’ perceptions of the

teaching and learning process have been carried out because thanks to the
understanding of students' perceptions, teachers can evaluate teaching and
learning approaches. Therefore, perception has been defined in various ways.
Perception is defined as “the way you notice things, especially with the
senses”. Following, it is “the ability to understand the true nature of
something” and it is “an idea, a belief or an image you have as a result of how
you see or understand something” (Oxford Students’ Dictionary of English,
2010). According to Glinow and McShane (2010), perception is defined as
the process of gaining information about and understanding the real world. As
our senses receive environmental stimuli, perception starts. In the same vein,
Ward et al. (2015, p. 74) stated that “perception is the process by which we
interpret the world around us, forming a mental representation of the

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environment.” The authors also show that this concept handles the five human
senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste).

Besides, according to Irwanto (2002) (cited in Fadillah, 2019), there
are two types of perceptions: positive and negative perceptions. Positive
perception is one that describes all information and reactions that go on trying
to be used. This will be repeated by actuating, accepting, and backing the
object of perception. Negative perception is one that describes all information
and reactions opposed to the perceived object. McDowell and Newell (1996)

(cited in Putri & Tanau, 2018) concluded that there are two perception
aspects: cognition aspects and affective aspects. Aspects of cognition are
aspects involving ways of thinking, recognizing, and interpreting a stimulus
received by the five senses, experience or that has been seen in daily life. The
affective aspects are aspects creating cognitive aspects. This affective aspect
consists of the way a person feels and shows emotions towards a stimulus
based on the values in them which then have an influence on their perception.
According to Sidhu (2003), students' perceptions are students' opinions about
things that happen during the learning process and give ideas or
disagreements to teachers or classmates to improve their learning process.

From the above definitions, it can be concluded that in order to grasp
one’s behavior, one needs to comprehend their perceptions.

2.1.2. Importance of Perception in Teaching and Learning
According to Danim (2010) (cited in Hrahap & Suryaman, 2022), the

major and most useful resource in teaching and learning activities is the
student. He also concludes that “students can learn from teachers, while
teachers cannot teach without students” and every learning process always
starts with perception which the whole learning process is always centered on.

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The process by which students treat information they learn from an object
with preference is known as “students’ perception”. Students can form an
opinion on an object by observing it with their senses. Besides, according to
Mitchell and Myles (1998), learners are viewed as “active constructors” of
their own learning environment according to a sociocultural perspective on
language learning, so they are reliable and take responsibility for their own

learning environment.

In addition, Williams and Burden (1997) stated that teachers must be
conscious of what they think about learning and teaching so that they can
make wise decisions in their daily teaching. There is no doubt that even if
students are the target of the teaching activities, teachers' perceptions have an
impact on how they set up their classrooms. Therefore, students and teachers
can support one another and join hands to create the learning and teaching
environment.

It can be concluded that perception data show how people perceive the
learning environment, so they are crucial for planning continual improvement
in teaching and learning.

2.2. Overview of Listening

2.2.1. Definition of Listening
There are a wide range of definitions for the term “listening”. Listening

is described as a process of receiving what is heard and analysing in into
verbal units where meaning is then applied (Gross, 1982). According to
Bowen et al. (1985), listening is understanding the oral language. Students
hear spoken speech, categorize sounds into lexical and syntactic items, and
grasp the information. Listening is defined as a complicated process of
clarification in which listeners connect what they hear with what they already