Study on using language games in warm up activities to motivate 10th grade students to listen in listening lessons in duong xa high school sử dụng trò chơi ngôn ngữ trong các hoạt động khởi động

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES




M.A MINOR THESIS


STUDY ON USING LANGUAGE GAMES IN WARM-UP ACTIVITIES
TO MOTIVATE 10TH GRADE STUDENTS TO LISTEN IN LISTENING
LESSONS IN DUONG XA HIGH SCHOOL
(Nghiên cứu về việc sử dụng trò chơi ngôn ngữ trong các hoạt động
khởi động để khuyến khích học sinh lớp 10 học nghe ở trường THPT
Dương Xá)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis
Field: Methodology
Code: 60 14 10
By: Nguyen Thi Kim Cuc







Hanoi, 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES




M.A MINOR THESIS


STUDY ON USING LANGUAGE GAMES IN WARM-UP ACTIVITIES
TO MOTIVATE 10TH GRADE STUDENTS TO LISTEN IN LISTENING
LESSONS IN DUONG XA HIGH SCHOOL
(Nghiên cứu về việc sử dụng trò chơi ngôn ngữ trong các hoạt động
khởi động để khuyến khích học sinh lớp 10 học nghe ở trường THPT
Dương Xá)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis
Field: Methodology
Code: 60 14 10
By: Nguyen Thi Kim Cuc
Supervisor: Nguyen Huyen Minh, M.A

Hanoi, 2010

4

Table of Contents
Candidate‟s statement i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
List of tables and charts vii
part one: Introduction 1
1. Background to the study …………………………………………………………… 7
2. The aims of the study …………………………………………………………… 7
3. The scope of the study …………………………………………………………… 8
4. Research questions …………………………………………………………… 8
5. Method of the study …………………………………………………………… 8
6. The outline of the thesis …………………………………………………………….8
part two:
Development
4
Chapter one: Literature Review 4
1.1. Games 4
1.1.1. Definitions of Game ……………………………………………………………4
1.1.2. Features of a quality game 5
1.1.3. Roles of games ………………………………………………………………6
1.1.4. Procedures in using games to improve listening skills ………………………8
1.1.4.1. Before using games 8
1.1.4.1.1. Preparation ………………………………………………………………8
1.1.4.1.2. Organizing class
………………………………………………………………15
1.1.4.1.3. Giving instructions ………………………………………………………9

1.1.4.2. When using game …………………………………………………………… 16
1.1.4.2.1. Controlling class …………………………………………………………… 10
1.1.4.2.2. Correcting the mistakes …………………………………………………… 17
1.1.4.2.3. Scoring …………………………………………………………………… 11
1.1.4.3. After-using games …………………………………………………………… 18
1.1.4.3.1. Ending the game …………………………………………………………… 18
1.1.4.3.2. Summarizing and commenting …………………………………………… 18
1.2. Teaching Listening …………………………………………………………….13
1.2.1. Definition of Listening …………………………………………………… 13
1.2.2. Three stages of the listening lesson …… 20
1.2.2.1. Pre-listening 20
1.2.2.2. While-listening …………………………………………………………….20
1.2.2.3. Post-listening ………………………………………………………… 21
1.3. Motivation ………………………………………………………………… 21
1.3.1. Definitions of motivation …………………………………………………….21
iv

5
1.3.2. Kinds of motivation …………………………………………………………….22
1.3.2.1. Intrinsic motivation …………………………………………………….22
1.3.2.2. Extrinsic motivation …………………………………………………… 22
1.3.3. The importance of motivation in listening lesson …………………………… 22
Chapter two: Research Methodology 23
2.1. Subjects of the study …………………………………………………………….23
2.1.1. The 10th form students …………………………………………………….23
2.1.2. The teachers …….23
2.2. Data collecting instruments …………………………………………………….23
2.2.1. Survey questionnaire 23
2.2.2. Interview …………………………………………………………………… 24
2.2.3. Observation …………………………………………………………………….24

Chapter three: Data Analysis …………………………………… 19
3.1. Questionnaire …………………………………………………………………… 19
3.1.1. Students‟ view on listening skill …………………………………………… 19
3.1.2. The fact of using language games in warm-up activities …………………… 19
3.1.3. The difficulties before, while and after playing language games …………… 26
3.1.4. Students‟ attitude and preference on playing language games …………… 27
3.1.5. Effectiveness of language games in warm-up activities in listening lessons
…………………………………………………………………………………… 28
3.1.6. Suggestions of using language games in warm-up activities in listening lessons
…………………………………………………………………………………… 29
3.2. Interview …………………………………………………………………….29
3.3. Class Observation …………………………………………………………….30
Chapter four: Findings and Recommendations …………….32
4.1. Findings …………………………………………………………………….32
4.1.1. The benefits of using language games in warm-up activities in listening lessons
……………………………………………………………………………………32
4.1.2. The frequency of using language games ……………………………………32
4.1.3. Difficulties in organizing and playing language games …………………….33
4.1.4. Suggestions on using language games in warm-up activities in listening lesson
……………………………………………………………………………………33
4.2. Recommendations …………………………………………………………… 33
4.2.1. Takings the students‟ personal factors and proficiency into consideration …… 34
4.2.2. Using language games in a flexible and appropriate way …………………….34
4.2.3. Using variety of language games ……………………………………………29
4.3. Sample work ……………………………………………………………………29
part three: Conclusion ……………………………………………………40
1. Summary of the study …………………………………………………………….40
2. Limitations and suggestions for further study …………………………………….41

6


List of Tables, charts and pie charts
Table 1. Students‟ view on listening skill
Chart 1. The frequency of using language games in warm-up activities
Chart 2. The difficulties before, while and after playing language games
Pie chart 1. The students‟ attitude toward language games in warm-up activities
Pie chart 2. The effectiveness of language games in warm-up activities in listening lesso

7
part one: Introduction
1. Background to the study
Nowadays, English is becoming more and more popular all over the world. It is not
only considered as the mother tongue in many countries but also used widely in the world
as an international language. It is the language of politics, science, technology, commerce,
tourism, sports, ect. In Vietnam, English has become a compulsory subject in the
curriculum at many secondary schools. In text-book, students have to learn four skills
(listening, speaking, reading, and writing) among these skills listening is a very important
skill for the purpose of communication. Nevertheless, listening does not receive adequate
attention from both teachers and learners. In English classroom, teachers are mainly
concerned with teaching what students are tested in the exams, which is known as teaching
to the test phenomenon. As a result, after graduating from school, students are good at
using grammar structures and vocabulary, but find difficult to listen English naturally. In
listening lessons, students usually feel bored and frightened. To motivate and encourage
students to learn listening is not an easy task for teachers. At the beginning, to stimulate
students to learn, warm-up activities should be stressed. Using language games in warm-up
activities becomes a good choice.
The main reasons above lead me to my choice of the subject: Study on using language
games in warm-up activities to motivate 10th grade students to listen in listening lessons
in Duong Xa high school.
2. The aims of the study
The study will emphasize on the main following purposes:
 Providing the basic literature review in terms of listening, motivation and language
game.
 Investigating the effectiveness of using language games in warm-up activities in
listening lessons of grade 10 in Duong Xa high school.
 Providing some suggestions and implications for the improvement of listening
teaching in Duong Xa high school in terms of using language games in warm-up
activities.

8
3. The scope of the study
The study focuses specifically on using language games in warm-up activities to teach
listening in Duong Xa high school. So the study limits itself to the teaching and learning
listening only, and the subjects of the study are students from some classes who study
Textbook 10 at Duong Xa high school.
4. Research questions
The research plans to address the following questions:
Question 1: How do the teachers use language games in warm-up activities in listening
teaching?
Question 2: What techniques should be used to improve listening teaching in terms of
using language games in warm-up activities?
5. Method of the study
 In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the major methods employed include:
 Survey questionaire with the aims at finding out the difficulties of students when
learning listening and their attitude to language game in warm-up activities.
 Interview with teachers of English to find out thier diffculties when teaching
listening, and the reasons they use language game in warm-up activities and what
their criterials to choose a game are.
 Personal observations
6. The outline of the thesis
Part one: Introduction: some brief information about the background of the study, the aims,
the scope, research questions as well as method of the study
Part two: Development
Chapter one: Literature Review: a brief and general review of language games, listening
and motivation.
Chapter two: Methodology: Methods are employed in this study
Chapter three: Data analysis
Chapter four: Findings and recommendations

Part three: Conclusion

9
Appendix consist of the Questionaire for students, interview questions, Observation of
Unit 12, 13 and 14.

10
Part two: Development
Chapter one: Literature Review
1.1. Games
1.1.1. Definitions of Game
So far, many different definitions of game have been made. In the Oxford
Advanced learners‟ dictionary of current English by A.S. Hornby (2005), game is an
activity or a sport with rules in which people or teams compete against each other. It
means that students play game for their own sake, for fun, for the competitive ambition.
Besides, Hadfield (1984), the writer of the book “Communicative Games” states that, “A
game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun.” This is summed up very well
by Gibbs (1978: quoted in Rixon, 1981:60), “ A game is an activity carried out by co-
operating or competing decisions makers seeking to achieve, with a set of rules, their
objectives.” Although the concepts of game are developed in various ways, all the above
mentioned definitions refer to some common characteristics. Firstly, games are activities
governed by rules. Secondly, games are for fun. Thirdly, there must be goals and objectives
in games.
A language game also shares the similar characteristics with the ordinary game.
However, language games mostly involve in developing and improving language skills.
Greenal (1984) has defined games as one kind of activity which is used to consolidate
language already taught or acquired, and which occurs during the free stage of a lesson or
during occasions such as English club meetings. And the term game “is used whenever
there is an element of competition between individual students or teams in a language
activity.”

Therefore, the skills needed in any games are heavily weighed on the language side
so not all the games are selected due to this point of view. For instance, chess is an
excellent game, but it is almost useless in language teaching. For the reason is that the
skills needed in chess are not linguistic. Understanding games in general and language
games in particular will help us pick out features that are useful in language teaching.

11
1.1.2. Features of a quality game
“The teacher must take many factors into account when deciding which game
would be most appropriate and most successful with his students at any time.” (Carrier, M
(1980:7)). It means that when the teacher wants to choose a game for his teaching purpose,
he has to ponder whether the game can be used in the lesson and whether the game he uses
should be up to a certain standard and meet certain requirements.
To answer for this question, there are some features of a quality game for a
listening class.
Firstly, the most important function of games is to create meaningful contexts for
communication. According to Larcabal, R. S, the author of “The Roles of Games in
Language Acquisition”, “We plan games; we must remember that for communication to
take place, the players must find it essential to communicate.”
Secondly, the terms “information gap” and “opinion gap” are mentioned to
contribute for the success of a game. These two terms are widely used to describe features
essential to so much communication in our daily life. It is obvious that in order to motivate
the students to be involved in a game, there need be either some information or opinion
gap. Information gap activities force the participants to exchange information so that they
can find a solution. The controversial texts or ideas create the opinion gaps. That is the
reason why the participants have to describe and defend their own ideas or views.
Thirdly, an “information gap” or “opinion gap” needs some content. Klippel. K
(1984:4) claims that, “information and opinion gap exercises have to have some content
worth talking about. Students do not want to discuss the interest which is aroused by the
structure of the activity may be reduced or increased by the topic.” Moreover, the relevant

of a game must include relevant language in game. Then, the students can enjoy and value
a game if the content and language used are relevant to them. (Wright A, Betteridge. D and
Buckby. M (1983:3))
Fourthly, another important feature of a language game is the variety of the game
teachers use. It is claimed by Hadfield, J (1990) that “Variety is important in language
teaching, and a succession of games based on the same principles, thought exciting and
novel at first, would soon pall.” The techniques used by teacher included guessing,
information gap, searching, matching, exchanging and collecting, combining and card

12
games, problems and puzzles, role play and simulation techniques. It is obvious that the
variety of forms and games is essential to help teachers attract and interest their students
during the lessons.
Fifthly, it is vitally important that the games be interesting, simple and easily
comprehensible. (Jefitc. D (1986)). The games should be interesting so they have to
contain an element of healthy competition. Games should be quite simple in order to all
members to understand the rules efficiently for active participation. And they should be
easy to understand which require an appropriate vocabulary level
Another “essential ingredient of a game is challenge.” (Wright, Betteridge and
Bucky (1983:4)). And to Wright, “challenge is not synonymous with competition.” Then
most of them strengthen the element of co-operation of games. For example, quality games
should be co-operative games rather than competitive games.
In a word, there have been a few different views about features of a good language
game. Nevertheless, the elements of meaningful contexts, information gap, opinion gap,
relevant content and language as well as co-operation would be taken into account if the
teachers want to constitute a good game. It may be hard to say what the best game is
because it depends on many factors such as certain situation, certain students and each
teacher, and other factors.
1.1.3. Roles of games
Games are often wrongly regarded as an end of term activity or something to fill in

last five minutes of a lesson. In fact, they are becoming an indispensable activity in
language syllabus because they play vitally important roles in language teaching and
learning.
According to Andrew Wright, David Betteridge and Michael Bucky, games can
help the teacher to create context in which the language is useful and meaningful. The
learners want to participate and in order to do so must understand what others are saying or
have written, and they must speak or write in order to express their own point of view or
give information. The contribution of drilling lies in the concentration on a language form
and its frequent use during a limited period of time. Many games provide this repeated use
of a language form. By making they language convey information and opinion, games
provide the key feature of “drill” with the opportunity to sense the working of language as

13
living communication. The need for meaningfulness in language learning has been
accepted for some years. A useful interpretation of “meaningfulness” is that the learners
respond to the content in a definite way. If they are amused, angered, challenged, intrigued
or surprised the content is clearly meaningful to them. Thus the meaning of the language
they listen to, read, speak and write will be more vividly experienced and, therefore, better
remembered. Games can be found to give practice in all skills (reading, listening, writing,
speaking), and in all stages of teaching/ learning sequence (presentation, repetition,
recombination and free use of language) and for many types of communication
(encouraging, criticizing, agreeing, explaining).
In addition, Simon Greenall (1984: 6) also shared the ideas that games should be
used in ELT because of their significant roles. According to him, they can help teacher to
achieve their aim. Students can produce meaningful and authentic utterances without the
teacher or course book‟s control; and they can listen to language under simulated real-life
conditions, at the same time. Another role is that it‟s helpful for the learning process. It is
necessary to maintain a careful balance between more relaxed work and intensive practice.
He also strengthened the roles of language games in ELT. He claims that “language games
and activities provide an opportunity for learners to try out their newly acquired

competence in a context where they feel psychologically secure.” Greenall (1984: 7)
Moreover, language games are considered to be less likely troubled by the fear of making
mistakes because the consequences of inaccuracies and misunderstandings are fictitious
and have no real significance. And therefore, students can build up their confidence by
learning from their mistakes. He summed up that the language games and activities can
“provide free and spontaneous practice of the language learnt in conditions lying half way
between the controlled context of the formal lesson and the real life situations outside the
classroom.
While Wright, Betteridge, and Buckby (1984: 1) point out that, “Games help and
encourage many learners to sustain their interest and work.” Games also can provide
intense and meaningful practice of language, and then they must be regarded as central to a
teacher‟s repertoire. Moreover, games can be found to give practice in all skills (reading,
listening, writing, and speaking), in all stages of the teaching and learning and for many
types of communication.
Besides, Carrier (1980) draws out some advantages of language games:

14
 Games add variety to the range of learning situations.
 Games can be used to change the pace of a lesson and so maintain motivation.
 Games can be used to punctuate long formal teaching units and renew student‟s
energy before returning to more formal learning.
 Games can give „hidden‟ practice of specific language points without students
being aware of this.
 Games encourage student participation and can remove the inhibitions of those who
feel intimidated by formal classroom situations.
 Games can change role of the teacher from that of formal instructor to that of
manager or organizer of activities that students enjoy participating in. this can be useful
in reducing teacher-student distance or conflict.
 Games can increase student-student communication, and so reduce the domination
of the classroom by the teacher.

 Games can act as a testing mechanism, in the sense that they will expose areas of
weakness and the need for remedial work.
1.1.4. Procedures in using games to improve listening skills
1.1.4.1. Before using games
1.1.4.1.1. Preparation
The success or failure of a game depends mainly on the way teachers prepare for
the game. That is the reason why teacher should pay much more attention to the
preparation.
Firstly, the teacher should decide which game to use. When deciding which game would be
most appropriate and most successful with the learners, the teachers must take many
factors into account. He has to consider the level of the learners but also:
What is the main aim of having a game?
What is the interest of the learners?
The time the game should be used in class because the interest and motivation of learners
in games may be different on a Tuesday morning from late on a Friday afternoon. Having
considered these factors an initial choice of game should only be confirmed if the teacher
is certain it is feasible in the class. It means that the teacher should ensure that the aids and
materials are available so that the learners can encounter the game‟s requirements.

15
Secondly, the teacher must prepare the game thoroughly after having decided
which game to use and when to use. Though games may be good fun, they need to be
carefully prepared and organized.
1.1.4.1.2. Organizing class
In order to make the setting up of a game be carried out as quickly and smoothly as
possible, the teacher must decide in advance how to organize the students and the
classroom.
The class organization plays very important roles in deciding the success of the
game. Therefore, the teacher should know beforehand if games should be conducted in
pairs, groups, teams or whole class.

According to W.R. Lee, because the learners especially the young children will feel
safe and confident when they are sitting in pair or group work, the division of class into
teams or groups should not be changed and redone on every occasion.
In conclusion, each teacher should base on their teaching conditions to decide what
arrangement should be made to suit their students.
1.1.4.1.3. Giving instructions
To make the learners understand the rules of games and know how to play games,
the instructions given are very important. Each game has its own specific instructions, but
several general points can usefully be made.
The instructions of the teacher must be ensured that they are clear, simple, precise
and explicit so that the students, who in any case have language difficulties, will not be
confused and understand the instructions.
Another point is that it will be vitally important to let students ask questions. The
teacher should sit with the students and pose questions himself, both as a demonstration
and as a prompt when students are unsure of what to do next.
In addition, all the rules of the game should be provided as well as the system of
scoring in order to avoid the students‟ confusion and trouble latter. Also the students
should be announced the time limit for the game. It is not easy to predict how long a game
may last, however, it is important for the teacher to consider these points when preparing
for a game:

16
1. What is the minimum amount of time needed to play this game once?
2. Is it likely that the class will wish to play the game several times over?
3. What is the maximum amount of time available in the lesson?
In brief, the instructions given by teacher are very important and necessary to step by
step interest the learners to participate in the games.
1.1.4.2. When using game
This stage is the main part in game playing process. In this stage the teachers have
to control class, correct the mistakes and score the students.

1.1.4.2.1. Controlling class
Since language games are used not only for fun but also for language teaching
purposes, the teacher must control the class to make sure that after performing games,
students can get the language points, can speak naturally. Therefore, the roles of teacher in
every game are very important. The teacher should go from group to group, listen and
observe students‟ performance, check that they have understood and are carrying out the
instructions. The teacher may have to answer the students‟ questions about procedures,
new words, etc. so he/she should go visit quickly to each group within the first two minutes
After that the teacher should go round again helping with vocabulary questions,
correcting if it is appropriate, giving encouragement and if necessary inspiration for those
games which require some imagination. However, it is advisable for the teacher not to
jump in the game and wait until he is asked for help. Therefore, she/he had better try to
elicit from students themselves rather than simply providing what they need, which makes
students feel more comfortable and self-confident.
One of the inevitable of a speaking class is the noise. Therefore, when a teacher
wants to level down the noise, the followings should be taken into account.
Firstly, the teacher has to make sure that the students are close enough to each other.
This is particularly important for group and pair work. A spread out group is noisier than a
huddle.
Secondly, the teacher can appoint a chairman for groups. The chairman can have
several functions, one of which can be to make sure that only one person talks at any one
time.

17
Thirdly, the teacher can tell the students to talk quietly. This is an obvious piece of
advice but often ignored. The students normally appreciate the problems as much as
anyone else and if they are reminded, they should do as the teacher says.
1.1.4.2.2. Correcting the mistakes
The teacher should consider making mistakes the inevitable and natural part of the
process of playing games. It is also very important to make the students be aware that

making mistakes is not a big problem. If students are afraid of making mistakes and keep
silent, they will learn little. However, the students who know of making mistakes are
involved in playing game process can learn much more than the former. According to
Micheal Carrier, correcting mistakes “must be left up to individual teachers to decide
whether or not students‟ language errors should be corrected during or after a particular
game.”
Because correction may reduce students‟ motivation, it is suggested that it should
not be too prominent. It means that the teacher should not correct every mistake at any
time, in any where. It would be preferable for the teacher to make a note of major errors,
and then correct them. When a small group of students are working together and copying
each other‟s mistakes, in this case, it is advisable for the teacher to correct mistakes. In less
structured situations, such as role-playing or communication games, correction should be
avoided where it would be over-intrusive on the part of the teacher. If the students can
correct himself or herself, it would be very good. The teacher should increase self-
correction or peer‟s correction.
All in all, the teacher should be careful when deciding to correct the mistakes or not
to take advantages of playing games.
1.1.4.2.3. Scoring
According to Lee.Wr, 1979:7, the thing the teacher should take in account is that
“psychologically, it is better to give points for success than to false them away for failure,
even if this procedure keeps the scores very busy.” It is obvious that the students will have
the feeling of success and therefore, it will stimulate them to lake more effort. There are
many ways of recording scores. The following ways of recording scores are suggested by
WR, Lee (1979:8) and Selagh Rixon (1988:62)

18
 Noughts and crosses
 Climbing ladders
 Climbing the mountain
 Hangman (build up one line at a time)

 A fight of steps
1.1.4.3. After-using games
1.1.4.3.1. Ending the game
It is necessary fir the teacher to give signal to the whole class to stop playing game.
According to A. Wright (1984:6), “As with all events in the classroom, it is advisable to
stop a game and change to something else before the learners become tired of it. In this
way their good will and concentration are retained.” Also in Opal Dann (1983:7) “the ideal
time to stop is when students want another turn. In a large class, however, stopping the
game is a big problem. The most effective way to solve this problem is to use a horn or
clapping hands.”
After signaling to stop the game, the teacher has to declare the points of each team,
group. The teacher can call a certain student in any teams, groups and ask him to count and
state the points. This will increase the objective evaluation of the game.
1.1.4.3.2. Summarizing and commenting
Whatever a game is, students like to hear how well they are doing to receive
encouragement commented on as well as having errors corrected. Therefore, it is advisable
for the teachers to give remarks and summarize the language points after the end of the
game.
It is preferable for the teacher to give good remarks in order to motivate and
encourage students to participate in game activities. The encouraging comments should be
given to the students. According to A. Wright, the following praise should be used
 Good, quite good, very good, ok, fine, excellent
 Well done, right, correct, good job
The negative comments should be kept more general for example, not quite right,
not very good. I don‟t think this one is as good as that one.

19
Besides, the teacher‟s aim should be to share what people did well with the rest of
the class so that everyone can learn form the experience or to invite suggestions for solving
problems from the whole class.

As language games are used for language teaching, it is necessary for the teacher to
summarize what language points or skills the language games focus on. The main point of
this is to show the students that what they do with language is interesting. To do this, the
teacher can ask some students to repeat the main language points in the games or ask them
to tell the purposes of the games they have just played. In conclusion, the teacher should
consider their teaching conditions to decide what to do in each stage.
1.2. Teaching Listening
1.2.1. Definition of Listening
There has been also the idea that listening comprehension is an active process of
constructing meaning and this is done by applying knowledge to the incoming sound, so he
makes a conclusion as follows, “comprehension is affected by a wide range of variables,
and that potentially any characteristic of the speaker, the situation or the listener can affect
the comprehension of the message”. (Buck, 2001, p.31)
According to Willga (1966), “listening comprehension is not a skill which can be
regular mastered once and then ignored while other skills are developed. There must be
regular practice with increasingly difficult material.” The conception of bottom-up and top-
down processes in comprehension are mentioned by some authors Lynch (1988), Rubin
(1994) and Rost (2002). Listeners use top-down processes when they use context and prior
knowledge to build a conceptual framework for comprehension. And they use bottom-up
processes when they construct meaning by accretion from phoneme-level to discourse
level features. Both processes are equally appreciated nowadays, they should be applied
properly in a specific context and for certain purpose of listening. Rixon (1986) divided
listening comprehension into two types: Extensive and intensive listening. Intensive
listening is often practised more frequently in the language classrooms. The learners are
asked to listen to a passage with the aim of collecting and organizing the information it
contains. Intensive listening usually gives the learners the challenge and encourages them
to overcome. This helps the learners to develop their listening skills. As teachers do more
detailed work on language, the learners can understand what they are listening to.

20

Therefore, the learners are able to select the information in detail. With extensive listening,
the learners are not reinforcing a structure or practising a grammar point which is linked to
the course work. Extensive listening exercises are those where the learners are primarily
concerned with the following of a story or finding something out from the passage they are
listening to.
1.2.2. Three stages of the listening lesson
In order to help learners get most from a listening lesson, a lesson plan of listening
is usually divided into three stages: Pre-listening, While-listening and Post-listening. In
teaching real-life listening, methodologists have taken expectation and purposes of
listeners into account.
1.2.2.1. Pre-listening
In teaching real-life listening, methodologists have taken expectation and purposes
of listeners into account. These make listeners feel as in real-life listening situation in their
native language. The teachers can effectively help their students to arouse their
expectations and see the purpose before a listening lesson. Therefore, in pre-listening “It
seems a good idea when presenting a listening passage in class to give students some
information about the content, situation and speakers before they actually start listening.”
(Ur,1992, P.4)
According to Underwood (1990), pre-listening work can consist of a whole range
of activities, including the students looking at pictures, discussion of the topic/ situation, a
question and answer session, written exercises, following the instructions for the while-
listening activity and consideration of how the while-listening will be done.
1.2.2.2. While-listening
The while-listening stage consist of activities that students are asked to do. The
purpose of while listening activities is to help students develop their skills of listening to
the spoken language. Rixon (1986) points out the purposes of while listening stage is to
challenge and guide students to handle the information and the message from the listening
text. Activities of this stage must be interested and carefully chosen. They must vary at
different level and in different cases.

21
1.2.2.3. Post-listening
Post-listening activities in post-listening stage are done after the listening is
completed. Some post-listening activities are extensions of the work done at the pre-
listening and while-listening stage and some relate only loosely to the listening text itself.
According to Underwood (1989), the first purpose of post-listening activities is to check
how well the students understood and whether they have completed the listening task. The
second purpose is to reflect on why some students have failed to understand or miss parts
of the passage. The next is to expand on the topic or the language of the listening text. The
fourth purpose is to give students opportunity to consider the manner and attitude of the
speaker in the listening text. In addition, the general factors listed in pre-listening and
while-listening , Underwood (1989) indicates that the attention should be given to the
following factors in selecting post-listening activities: How much language work you wish
to do in relation the particular listening text; whether there will be time to do much post-
listening work at the end of the listening lesson; whether the post-listening work should
consist of speaking, reading or writing; whether the post-listening stage is seen as an
opportunity for pair or group work; whether it is necessary to provide post-listening
activities which can be done outside the classroom; how to motivate the chosen activity
will be and whether it can be maybe more motivating.
1.3. Motivation
1.3.1. Definitions of motivation
The definitions of motivation are numerous and varied.
Brown, H.D (1994) defines that “motivation is the extent to which you will make choices
about goals to pursue and the effect you will devote to that pursuit”
Ur (1996) considers motivation difficult to give a definition, motivation in terms of
„motivated‟ learners, that is, learners who are willing to involve themselves in learning
activities to progress. Therefore, teaching and learning can become much easier and more
pleasant when there is learner‟s motivation. In general, motivation is defined as internal
forces and external drives that encourage and energize people to achieve their goal.

22
1.3.2. Kinds of motivation
Motivation is divided into two kinds which seem to be useful for teacher: Intrinsic
and extrinsic motivation.
1.3.2.1. Intrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation refers to „motivation to engage in an activity for its own sake‟
(Wlodkowsk,1991). It is what learners bring to the learning environment that is their
internal attitudes, values, needs and personality factors. So there is no doubt that intrinsic
motivation plays a vital part in most students‟ success or failure in language learning.
Students with intrinsic motivation try to learn a language for their own sake. The factors
influence intrinsic motivation are : competence, autonomy and relatedness.
1.3.2.2. Extrinsic motivation
According to Paul (2002), extrinsic motivation is „motivation to engage in an
activity as a mean to an end‟. Harmer (2001) defines that extrinsic motivation „is caused by
any number of outside factors such as : the need to pass an exam, the hope of financial
reward or the possibility of future travel‟.
In conclusion, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation interact with each other and play a
vital part in second language learning, especially listening.
1.3.3. The importance of motivation in listening lesson
Listening to English is regarded to be hard for students who are not English
majors. According to Broughter (1978), students have associated listening courses with
pain and boredom and often complain that they become tired of listening to the tape from
the beginning to the end and benefit little from listening lessons. Therefore, it is necessary
for the teachers of English to realize the importance of how to make listening classes more
interesting. Especially, at the beginning. How to keep students interest in learning must be
stressed. In warm-up activities, using language games is considered to be a good choice.

23
Chapter two: Research Methodology
2.1. Subjects of the study

2.1.1. The 10th form students
This study mainly focus on 10
th
grade students at Duong Xa high school. Most of
them have learnt English since grade 3. They are mostly from rural area. Most of them
learn English at class only. They learn it because it is a compulsory subject at school.
Perhaps they should have general knowledge of grammar and an active vocabulary which
they can use mostly in written form. However, they can hardly understand the tape as well
as natural English. Because they find it difficult to hear anything when learning how to
listen. However, the majority of the students are aware of the importance of learning how
to listen in a foreign language in general and English in particular.
2.1.2. The teachers
There are ten teachers of English at Duong Xa high school, six of them have been
interviewed in this research. Their ages range from late twenties to fifty years old, all of
them female. The years of teaching English are also different, minimum level of three
years and maximum nearly thirty years. Most of them have University Bachelor‟s Degree,
one Master Degree, and the others have taken the in-service training courses. Without
doubt, all the teachers at Duong Xa high school are experienced and enthusiastic in
teaching. They are willing to help their students overcome their difficulties in learning
English generally and in listening particularly.
2.2. Data collecting instruments
2.2.1. Survey questionnaire
The survey questionnaire was delivered to the 10
th
form students at Duong Xa high
school. This questionnaire consists of 11 questions. Question 1 aims at finding students‟
view on listening skills. Questions 2 and 3 were designed to find out the fact of using
language games in warm-up activities. The 3 next questions ( question 4,5, & 6) designed
to ask students about their difficulties in playing language games. Questions 7 to 10 ask for
students‟ attitude and preference on playing language games. The last question aims at

24
asking students for their suggestions of using language games in warm-up activities. (See
the appendix I).
2.2.2. Interview
To make clear the researcher‟s concerns, interviewing the teachers at Duong Xa high
school has been done. The interview mainly focuses on the difficulties of using language
games, the reasons for using games, the criteria to choose games and the measurement for
the effectiveness of using games in warm up activities. It is semi-open ended interview.
2.2.3. Observation
The researcher carried out classroom observations by coming to 3 different classes
which the researcher distributed the questionnaire and keeping a record of all activities
occurred. The observations aim at checking the reliability of the data collected from the
questionnaire and hopefully clarifies what has not been done through the questionnaire.
(See appendix, III, IV, V)









25
Chapter three: Data Analysis
3.1. Questionnaire
3.1.1. Students’ view on listening skill
Question 1 asks about students‟ view on listening skill. The data collected is summarized
in the table below:

A
B
C
D
notes
Numbers of
students
16
56
15
3


Table 1: Students’ view on listening skill
As clearly seen from the table, most of students, 56 students out of 90 think
listening is a difficult skill. 16 students think listening is a very difficult skill, 15 students
thinks it is not very difficult, it is a normal skill, and only 3 of them think it is easy to learn
listening. Therefore, the majority of students find it hard to study listening skill. The
teacher, therefore, should encourage students to learn listening by some ways, language
games may be their choice.
3.1.2. The fact of using language games in warm-up activities
Question 2 and question 3 mention about the fact of using language games in
warm-up activities. Question 2 asks about the frequency of using language games in warm-
up activities, the results will be summarized in the chart below:
23.30%
62.20%
14.50%
0%
0.00%

10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
Usually Sometimes Rarely Never
Series1

Chart 1: The frequency of using language games in warm-up activities

26
According to the chart, the majority of students ( 62.2%) say that their teachers
sometimes use language games in warm-up activities for listening lessons. 23.3% of
students say their teachers usually use language games in warm-up activities. The rest of
students, accounting for 14.5% say their teachers rarely use language games in warm-up
activities. Not all the listening lessons, the teacher organize for students to play language
games during the lessons. Therefore, to make the lessons more interesting and make
students relax and interested in the lessons, the teachers should use language games more
frequently.
The third question mentions about the kinds of language games the teachers use in
warm-up activities. Most of the teachers use the variety of language games in warm-up
activities to teach listening skills: crossword, jumbled words, jumbled sentences, bingo,
memory game, miming, guessing, and others. Of these kinds, most students answer they
usually play miming, memory games, and guessing. It seems that these kinds of language
games are easy to play and especially easy for teachers to organize and it doesn‟t take the
teachers too much time to prepare for the games.
3.1.3. The difficulties before, while and after playing language games
To find out the difficulties before, while and after playing language games in

listening lessons, the researcher carried out 3 questions: question 4, question 5 and
question 6 as seen below
41%
59%
55.60%
44.40%
54.50%
45.50%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Before While After
No difficulties
Having difficulties

Chart 2: The difficulties before, while and after playing language games