USING PORTFOLIOS IN TEACHING LISTENING SKILL TO THE FIRST YEAR NON ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS OF ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT ACADEMY OF FINANCE

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************



LÊ THỊ HƯƠNG GIANG



USING PORTFOLIOS IN TEACHING LISTENING SKILL TO
THE FIRST-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS OF
ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT, ACADEMY OF FINANCE

(SỬ DỤNG HỒ SƠ BÀI TẬP ĐỂ DẠY KỸ NĂNG NGHE HIỂU
CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH NĂM THỨ
NHẤT KHOA KẾ TOÁN HỌC VIỆN TÀI CHÍNH)


M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Methodology
Code: 601410



Hanoi - 2010

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************



LÊ THỊ HƯƠNG GIANG


USING PORTFOLIOS IN TEACHING LISTENING SKILL TO
THE FIRST-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS OF
ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT, ACADEMY OF FINANCE

(SỬ DỤNG HỒ SƠ BÀI TẬP ĐỂ DẠY KỸ NĂNG NGHE HIỂU
CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH NĂM THỨ
NHẤT KHOA KẾ TOÁN HỌC VIỆN TÀI CHÍNH)


M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Methodology
Code: 601410
Supervisor: Lâm Thị Phúc Hân, M.A

Hanoi - 2010



4
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration ……………………………………………………………………………. i
Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………… ii
Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………… iii
Table of contents …………………………………………………………………… iv
List of abbreviations …………………………………………………………………. vii
List of figures, tables and charts ……………………………………………………… viii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………. 1
1.1. Rationale of the study……………………………………………………………
1.2. Aims and research questions of the study ………………………………………
1.3. Scope of the study ……………………………………………………………….
1.4. Methods of the study …………………………………………………………….
1.5. Design of the study ……………………………………………………………
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW …………………………………………
2.1. Theoretical background of listening comprehension ……………………………
2.1.1. Definitions of listening comprehension ……………………………………….
2.1.2. Listening comprehension process ……………………………………………
2.1.3. The importance of listening …………………………………………………
2.2. Theoretical background of teaching and learning listening skill ………………
2.2.1. Components skills for listening ……………………………………………….
2.2.2. Potential problems in learning to listen to English ……………………………
2.2.3. Stages of a listening lesson ……………………………………………………

2.2.3.1. Pre-listening …………………………………………………………………
2.2.3.2. While-listening ………………………………………………………………
2.2.3.3. Post-listening ………………………………………………………………
2.2.4. The roles of teachers in a listening lesson …………………………………….
2.2.5. Encouraging students' self-learning …………………………………………
2.3. Theoretical background of portfolio …………………………………………….
2.3.1. Definitions of portfolio ………………………………………………………
2.3.2. The contents of portfolio ………………………………………………………
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2.3.3. Phases of portfolio development ………………………………………………
2.3.4. Benefits of using portfolios ……………………………………………………
2.3.5. Weakness associated with using portfolios ……………………………………
2.4. Summary ………………………………………………………………………
CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY ……………………………………………………….
3.1. Context of the study ……………………………………………………………
3.1.1. The institution …………………………………………………………………
3.1.2. The teachers …………………………………………………………………
3.1.3. The students …………………………………………………………………
3.1.4. The course ……………………………………………………………………
3.1.5. Introduction to the coursebook ………………………………………………
3.2. Research methodology ………………………………………………………….
3.2.1. Participants ……………………………………………………………………
3.2.2. Data collection procedure …………………………………………………….
3.2.3. Data collection instruments ……………………………………………………
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION …………………………
4.1. Data analysis of the students' survey questionnaire before the portfolio process
4.1.1. Students' motivation in learning listening skill ………………………………
4.1.2. Students' past learning experience …………………………………………….
4.1.3. Students' knowledge of portfolios …………………………………………….
4.2. Data analysis of the students' survey questionnaire after the portfolio process
4.2.1. Students' feelings and awareness of the portfolio process …………………….
4.2.2. Students' attitudes towards the effects of portfolio listening activities ……….
4.2.3. Students' opinion related to portfolio sharing activities ……………………….
4.2.4. Students' difficulties in implementing the portfolio …………………………
4.2.5. Students' opinion to improve the self-learning portfolio ……………………
4.3. Summary ………………………………………………………………………

CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR USING PORTFOLIOS
5.1. Major findings and discussions ………………………………………………….
5.1.1. Students' previous motivations and learning experiences in listening as well
as in the use of portfolios …………………………………………………………….
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5.1.2. Students' attitudes towards the effects of the portfolio listening activity ……
5.1.3. Students' difficulties in implementing the portfolio …………………………
5.1.4. Students' suggestions to improve the self-learning portfolio ………………….
5.2. Suggestions for using portfolios ………………………………………………
5.2.1. Suggestion for the teachers …………………………………………………
5.2.2. Suggestions for the students …………………………………………………
5.3. Summary ………………………………………………………………………
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION …………………………………………………….
6.1. Summary of the study …………………………………………………………
6.2. Limitations of the study …………………………………………………………
6.3. Suggestions for further researches ………………………………………………
REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………………
APPENDICES ………………………………………………………………………
Appendix 1: Portfolio guidelines for students ……………………………………….
Appendix 2: Listening portfolios …………………………………………………….
Appendix 3: Description of portfolio assessment and evaluation …………………
Appendix 4: Learning log ……………………………………………………………
Appendix 5: Questionnaire (N01) for students ………………………………………
Appendix 6: Questionnaire (N02) for students ………………………………………

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AOF: Academy of Finance
L2: Second Language

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LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS

TABLES
Table 1: Students' feelings and awareness of the portfolio process
Table 2: Students' attitudes towards the effects of listening portfolio activities
Table 3: Students' opinion related to portfolio sharing activities

CHARTS
Chart 1: Students' reasons for learning listening skill
Chart 2: Students' frequency of listening to English outside the class
Chart 3: Students' knowledge of portfolios
Chart 4: Students' difficulties in implementing the portfolio
Chart 5: Students' opinion to improve the self-learning portfolio

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
English is thought to be one of the decisive factors for people's success at the
period of globalization. Therefore, it leads to the increasing number of users of English in
many parts of the world. Since the open-door policy was introduced in Vietnam, English
has become increasingly important not only as a means of global communication but also
as bridge to mankind's knowledge. To students, nowadays, English is not only a subject in
the curriculum at university but also a key to gain access to the information world that
proves of great value to all people in general and to students of Academy of Finance in
particular. However, obtaining a good language competence is not easy for all
students; it requires a huge effort from them, especially self-study.
Of four language skills - listening, speaking, reading and writing, listening is
believed to be the most difficult skill to students. They encounter difficulties in
comprehending the information due to unfamiliarity with the pronunciation, stress,
intonation and a lack of listening skill, etc. To overcome such difficulties, it is
necessary for students to spend much more time practicing listening skill at home.
The time to practice listening in class is not enough because every week students
have only two periods lasting 90 minutes to learn this skill.
The question posed for English teachers is how to help students overcome
difficulties and improve their listening skill. One of the ways to help students deal
with difficulties is using portfolios to learn at home. Surely, portfolios which reflect

what students have done at home are a useful additional learning tool. On one hand,
portfolios help teachers to assess what students have done at home. On the other
hand, portfolios keep students continuously learning. It is obvious that portfolios
can improve students' listening skill and encourage their self-learning, which is the
decisive factor for their success in learning English.
For the above reasons, the author decided to choose the study entitled
"Using portfolios in teaching listening skill to first-year non-English major
students of Accounting Department, Academy of Finance".


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1.2. Aims and research questions of the study
The major aims of the study are:
- To investigate students' motivation and learning experiences in listening skill.
- To examine students' attitudes towards the effects of the portfolio listening
activity.
- To give some suggestions for using the portfolio to enhance students' autonomy in
learning listening skill.
In order to implement the study, the following research questions were formulated:
1. Were first-year students autonomous learners in terms of motivations and learning
experiences in listening skill?
2. What are students' attitudes towards the effects of the portfolio listening activity?
3. What should teachers do to help students to develop their autonomy in learning listening
skill?
1.3. Scope of the study
The study is concerned with using portfolios in teaching listening skill to the first-
year non-English major students of Accounting Department, Academy of Finance. Other
approaches to teach listening skill intended for students at other levels of English language
proficiency would be beyond the scope.
1.4. Methods of the study

54 first-year non-English major students were chosen randomly to take part in the
research of applying portfolio listening activity to develop learner self-study. They came
from two classes of Accounting Department, AOF. They are both male and female, at the
age from 19 to 20 and have learnt English for at least three years at high school.
Questionnaires were delivered to first-year students at AOF before and after the
portfolio process to collect the most reliable data for this study. This research also based
itself on some previous studies in listening skill and portfolios.
1.5. Design of the study


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The study is comprised of five chapters: Chapter I: Introduction; Chapter II:
Literature review; Chapter III: The study; Chapter IV: Major findings and discussions and
Chapter V: Conclusion.
Chapter I: Introduction
This chapter introduces the rationale, the aims, research questions, the scope, the
methodology and the design of the study.
Chapter II: Literature review
This chapter reviews the literature related to the nature of listening comprehension,
the importance of listening, components skills for listening, potential problems in learning
to listen to English, stages of a listening lesson, the roles of teachers in a listening lesson,
ways of encouraging students' self-learning, definitions of portfolio, the contents of
portfolio, phases of portfolio development, benefits of using portfolios and weakness
associated with using portfolios.
Chapter III: The study
This chapter presents the methodology used in the study including the context,
participants, data collection procedure, data collection instruments and data analysis.
Chapter IV: Major findings and discussions
This chapter shows some major findings which lead to some suggestions for using
the portfolio.

Chapter V: Conclusion
This chapter summarizes the main points discussed in the paper and some
limitations of the study. Future researches will also be presented in the chapter.











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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter discusses a variety of issues in the theories of listening skills and
portfolios. Three main features will be presented: theoretical background of listening
comprehension, theoretical background of teaching and learning listening skill and
theoretical background of portfolios.
2.1. Theoretical background of listening comprehension
2.1.1. Definitions of listening comprehension
In the globalized information age in which we live, technological advances make
global communication become much easier. It is believed that to be part of global
community, listening has taken on increased importance in a native language as well as in
a second or foreign language. Thus, there have been numerous definitions of listening
which present different views towards the concept.
Mary Underwood (1989: 1) states that "Listening is the activity of paying attention
to and trying to get meaning from something we hear". The author also emphasizes: "To

listen successfully to spoken language, we need to be able to work out what speakers mean
when they use particular words in particular way on particular occasions, not simple to
understand the words themselves".
Gary Buck (2001: 31) states that "listening comprehension is an active process of
constructing meaning and this is done by applying knowledge to the incoming sound" in
which "a number of different types if knowledge are involved: both linguistic knowledge
and non-linguistic knowledge".
Sharing the same view, listening is viewed as "an active, purposeful processing of
making sense of what we hear" (Helgesen, 2003: 24). Rost (2002: 279) defines listening as
"the mental process of constructing meaning from spoken input".
Richards and Schmidt (2002: 313) point out that "listening comprehension is the
process of understanding speech in a first or second language. The study of listening
comprehension in second language learning focuses on the role of individual linguistic


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units (e.g. phonemes, words, grammatical structures) as well as the role of listener's
expectations, the situation and context, background knowledge and topic".
All in all, listening has been conceptualized in different ways. However, the words
like "active" and "construct" have been found and highlighted. Listeners are considered as
an "active model builder" (Anderson & Lynch, 1988: 11), who goes through a complex
process, drawing upon knowledge of linguistic code, cognitive processing skill, scheme-
based understanding, and contextual clues to reach the essence of spoken message.
2.1.2. Listening comprehension process
Listening comprehension is regarded theoretically as an active process in which
individuals concentrate on selected aspects of aural input, form meaning from passages,
and associate what they hear with existing knowledge.
Cognitive psychology, the most developed model in accounting for comprehension
processes, defines comprehension as information processing. Schemata are the guiding
structures in the comprehension process. The schema is described by Rumelhart (1980, p.

34) as “a data structure for representing the generic concepts stored in memory. It can be
used to represent our knowledge about all concepts: those underlying objects, situations,
events, sequences of events, actions and sequences of actions.” According to the cognitive
comprehension theory, “schema” means an abstract textual structure that the comprehender
uses to make sense of the given text. The comprehender makes use of linguistic and
situational cues and also the expectations he/she has about the new input to evoke
schemata. When a schema has been evoked, it will become a guiding structure in
comprehension. If the incoming information is matched with the schema, then the listeners
have succeeded in comprehending the text; if they are not compatible, either the
information or the schema will be discarded or modified. The principle of schema leads to
two fundamental modes of information processing: bottom-up processing and top-down
processing. These two processing intersect to develop an interactive processing. Thus,
models for listening process fall into three types.
Firstly, bottom-up processing is activated by the new incoming data. The features
of the data pass into the system through the best fitting, bottom-level schemata. Schemata
are hierarchically formed, from the most specific at the bottom to the most general at the
top. It acknowledges that listening is a process of decoding the sounds, from the smallest


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meaningful units (phonemes) to complete texts. Thus, phonemic units are decoded and
connected together to construct words, words are connected together to construct phrases,
phrases are connected together to construct utterances, and utterances are connected
together to construct complete, meaningful text. That is to say, meaning is arrived at as the
last step in the process. A chain of incoming sounds trigger schemata hierarchically
organized in a listener’s mind— the phonological knowledge, the morphological
knowledge, lexical and syntactical knowledge (syntactical knowledge aids to analyze the
sentence structure). Thus, the listener makes use of “his knowledge of words, syntax, and
grammar to work on form” in the bottom-up processing (Rubin, 1994, p. 210). This
process is closely associated with the listener’s linguistic knowledge.

However, bottom-up processing has its weak points. Understanding a text is an interactive
process between the listener’s previous knowledge and the text. Efficient comprehension
that associates the textual material with listener’s brain doesn’t only depend on one’s
linguistic knowledge.
Secondly, top-down processing is explained as employing background knowledge
in comprehending the meaning of a message. Carrell and Eisterhold (1983, p. 557) point
out that in top-down processing, the system makes general predictions based on “a higher
level, general schemata, and then searches the input for information to fit into these
practically satisfied, higher order schemata”. In terms of listening, the listener actively
constructs (or reconstructs) the original meaning of the speaker employing new input as
clues. In this reconstruction process, the listener employs prior knowledge of the context
and situation within which the listening occurs to understand what he/she hears. Context
and situation involve such things as knowledge of the topic at hand, the speaker or
speakers, and their correlation with the situation, as well as with each other and previous
events. We must realize if the incoming information the listener hears is unfamiliar to him,
it can’t evoke his schemata and he can only depend heavily on his linguistic knowledge in
LC. Besides, although the listener can trigger a schema, he might not have the suitable
schema expected by the speaker. Thus, only relying on top-down processing may result in
the failure of comprehension.
Apart from bottom-up and top-down processing, more specific listening
comprehension processes have been analyzed. One of them is the interactive model


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illustrated by Clark & Clark (1977) and Richard (1983). Comprehension results from a
number of different cognitive and affective mechanisms, which mainly falls into eight
processes:
- The hearer processes what we will call "raw speech" and holds an "image" of it in short-
term memory. This image consists of the constituents (phrases, clauses, cohesive markers,
intonation and stress pattern) of a stream of speech.

- The hearer determines the type of speech event that is being processed. The hearer must,
for example, ascertain whether this is a conversation, a speech, a radio broadcast, etc. and
then "color" the interpretation of the perceived message.
- The hearer infers the objectives of the speaker through consideration of the type of
speech event, the context and content.
- The hearer recalls background information relevant to the particular context and subject
matter.
- The hearer assigns a literal meaning to the utterance.
- The hearer assigns an intended meaning to the utterance.
- The hearer determined whether information should be retained in short-term or long-term
memory.
- The hearer deletes the form in which the message was originally received. Instead the
important information is retained conceptually.
(Cited in Brown, 1994: 236)
2.1.3. The importance of listening
Nature has given us two ears but only one tongue, which is a gentle hint that we
should listen more than we talk. Listening is the most frequently used language skill in
everyday life. Researchers (for example, Rivers 1981; Morley, 1991) propose that we
listen twice as much as we speak, four times as much as we read, and five times as much as
we write. Listening is a highly integrative skill and research has demonstrated its crucial
role in language acquisition. The importance of listening in second language (L2) and
foreign language learning is admirably summarized in a publication by Rost (1994):
"Listening is vital in the language classroom because it provides input for the learner.
Without understanding input at the right level, any learning simply cannot begin".


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According to Bulletin (1952), listening is the fundamental language skill. It is the
medium through which people gain a large portion of their education, their information,
their understanding of the world and of human affairs, their ideals, sense of values, and

their appreciation. In this day of mass communication, it is of vital importance that
students are taught to listen effectively and critically.
According to L2 acquisition theory, language input is the most essential condition
of language acquisition. As an input skill, listening plays a crucial role in students’
language development. Krashen (1985) argues that people acquire language by
understanding the linguistic information they hear. Thus language acquisition is achieved
mainly through receiving understandable input and listening ability is the critical
component in achieving understandable language input.
In short, listening is essential not only as a receptive skill but also to the
development of spoken language proficiency.
2.2. Theoretical background of teaching and learning listening skill
2.2.1. Components skills for listening
Based on the listening skills, processes, and behaviors, Michael Rost (1994: p.142)
draws up a partial list of components skills for listening:
- discriminating between sounds
- recognizing words
- identifying stressed words and groupings of words
- identifying functions (such as apologizing) in a conversation
- connecting linguistic cues to paralinguistic cues (intonation and stress) and to non-
linguistic cues (gestures and relevant objects in the situation) in order to construct meaning
- using background knowledge (what we already know about the content and the form) and
context (what has already said) to predict and then to confirm meaning.
- recalling important words, topics and ideas
- giving appropriate feedback to the speaker
- reformulating what the speaker has said
Willis (1981: p.134) lists a series of micro-skills of listening, which she calls
enabling skills. They are:


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- Predicting what people are going to talk about
- Guessing unknown words or phrases without panic
- Using one's own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
- Identifying relevant points; rejecting irrelevant information
- Retaining relevant points (note-taking, summarizing)
- Recognizing discourse markers, e. g. , Well; Oh, another thing is; Now, finally; etc.
recognizing cohesive devices, e. g. , such as and which, including linking words, pronouns,
references, etc.
- Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress, etc., which give clues to
meaning and social setting
- Understanding inferred information, e. g. , speakers' attitude or intentions.
Edurne Scott (2008) also points out that the sub-skills that can be emphasized in listening
include:
- listening for specific information
- following topic shifts
- predicting
- recognizing word boundaries
- identifying key words
- taking notes
In short, to listen successfully, students need to integrate many component skills.
Therefore, teachers should design tasks which help students to develop micro-skills for
listening and improve their listening ability.
2.2.2. Potential problems in learning to listen to English
It is true that language learners often feel overwhelmed with problems when they
start to learn listening skill of a new language. English language learners also encounter
various problems when learning to listen to English. Mary Underwood (1989) draws out
potential problems of English language learners as follows:
- The lack of control over the speed at which speakers speak
- Not being able to get things repeated
- The listener's limited vocabulary

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- Failure to recognize the 'signals'
- Problems of interpretation
- Inability to concentrate
- Established learning habits.
According to Yagang (1994), the problems in listening were accompanied with the
four following factors: the message, the speaker, the listener and the physical setting.
Furthermore, a numbers of research have been carried out to pick out the problems in
listening. The problems were believed to cause by the speech rate, vocabulary and
pronunciation (Higgins, 1995). As Flowerdew & Miller (1996) assumed that the problems
of the students were for the speed of delivery, new terminology and concept, difficulty in
focusing and the physical environment.
Whatever the reasons for students' problems, it is important that teachers recognize
the features of the spoken language and understand how they affect students. From that,
teachers can design exercises and assignments to help students practice and become
familiar with the specific features of the English language such as sounds, stress,
intonation, etc.
2.2.3. Stages of a listening lesson
A listening lesson is often divided into 3 stages: Pre-listening stage, While-listening
stage and Post-listening stage. Each stage has its own aims and activities.
2.2.3.1. Pre-listening stage
It is difficult for students to have ideas of what they are going to hear if the teacher
just says "Listen to this" and then switches on the cassette recorder or begin to read aloud.
Even if the sounds and words are familiar with students, they may still be unable to
comprehend because of the lack of necessary knowledge of the topic, setting or the
relationship between speakers. Therefore, the aim of pre-listening stage is to provide
students with everything necessary for listening and understanding the text such as the
topic, related vocabulary and additional information. This stage also helps the teacher to

arouse students' interest in the listening text. Penny Ur (1992, p.4) points out that "It would
seem 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".


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Pre-listening work can be done in various ways and consist of a wide range of
activities. Thus, teachers should consider the following factors when choosing pre-listening
activities:
- The time available;
- The material available;
- The ability of the class;
- The interest of the class;
- The interest of the teacher;
- The place in which the work is being carried out;
- The nature and content of the listening text itself.
The last item on the list, "the nature and content of the listening text", is very
important when teachers choose activities.
Pre-listening work can consist of a whole range of activities, including:
- The student looking at pictures before listening.
- The teacher giving background information
- The student reading something relevant;
- The student predicting;
- Discussion of the topic/ situation;
- A question and answer session;
2.2.3.2. While-listening
While-listening activities are what students are asked to do during the time that
they are listening to the text. The purpose of while-listening activities is to help learners
develop the skill of eliciting message from spoken language.
When choosing while-listening activities, teachers should consider the following

factors:
- The possibilities for varying the level of difficulty if required;
- The inconvenience of carrying out activities which require individuals to give their
responses orally in the classroom. This kind of work is best done in a language laboratory.
Classroom while-listening activities generally have to be limited to those which can be
done without the need for each student to respond by speaking;


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- Whether the work is to be done by the students with the teacher present or whether it is to
be done as private study, either in the classroom or at home. This will influence the
teacher's choice of activity as he/she may want to give different students different work
according to their level of ability, to provide additional instructions, or to select activities
which generate little or no marking;
- Whether or not the while-listening activities generate material or ideas which might be
used for other, post-listening work, and if so, whether the teacher wishes to make use of
these.
2.2.3.3. Post-listening
Some post-listening activities are extensions of the work done at the pre-listening
and while-listening stages and some relate only loosely to the listening text itself. The
purposes of post-listening activities are:
- Checking whether the students have understood what they need to or not;
- Reflecting on why some students have failed to understand or miss parts of the message;
- Giving the students the opportunity to consider the attitude and manner of the speakers of
the listening text;
- Expanding on the topic or language of the message and transferring learned things to
another context;
- Making introduction for the planned work.
Again, According to Mary Underwood (1989), when the teachers select post-
activities, the attention should be given to the following factors:

- The amount of language work the teacher wish to do in relation to the particular listening
text;
- The time which is allowed to do post-listening work;
- The students should work in pair or groups;
- The chosen activity should be made motivating.
2.2.4. The teacher's role in the listening lesson
According to Mary Underwood (1989: 21), the teacher's objectives should include:
(a) Exposing students to a range of listening experiences


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This can be done by using a lot of different listening text (stories, conversations,
descriptive talks, etc.) which incorporate a variety of language (formal or informal, spoken
by native speakers or foreign speakers, delivered slowly or quickly).
(b) Making listening purposeful for the students
This can best be achieved by providing tasks which are as realistic as possible, so that the
students can relate what they are doing in the lesson to things that happen in real life,
outside the classroom.
(c) Helping students understand what listening entails and how they might approach it.
Often, this means changing the attitudes of students, particularly if in the past their
attempts to learn to listen have been successful. It is worth spending a little time explaining
the processes of listening to your students (in their own language if necessary) and talking
to them about how they listen in their native language.
(d) Building up students' confidence in their own listening ability.
Success breeds success, and students who feel they are succeeding will be
encouraged to go on trying. The teacher' role in this is to provide experiences and activities
in which students can be successful. It is important to remove the idea of "testing" from
listening activities and to take advantage of the almost universal interest in problem-
solving as a basis for most of the listening work.
To have a successful listening lesson, the teacher should spend time preparing the

lesson carefully. There are a number of steps to take when the teacher plans the listening
activity for the class:
- Choose the listening text.
- Check that the activities are suitable
- Adjust the level of difficulty of the activities if you need to.
- Consider whether the listening work you are planning will fill the time available.
- Think about visual aids.
- Make up your mind what procedure you will adopt for the listening session.
- If you are planning to present the listening text 'live', practice reading it aloud.
(Mary Underwood, 1989: 21)


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Most of the teacher's work associated with listening practice is done before the
actual lesson. During the lesson, the teacher should create and maintain an encouraging
class atmosphere by:
- Being available to give help whenever it is needed, but not inflicting help on those who
do not need it. This may be at any stage during the lesson
- Encouraging the students to help each other, so that the emphasis is on the successful
completion of the task(s) rather than on who got it 'right' or 'wrong'
- Not treating the activities as tests to be marked and scored
- Encouraging the students to alter their answers if they wish to, perhaps after listening for
a second time
- Encouraging students to jot down odd words, ideas and thoughts as they are doing their
listening task
- Suggesting that the students use dictionaries when it would prove helpful
- Including lots of pair-work and group work
- Making listening work enjoyable
- Leaving out part of the work rather than rushing
- Giving immediate feedback.

(Mary Underwood, 1989:21)
Obviously, teachers play a significant role in the listening lesson. Hence, it is
advisable that teachers prepare their lesson plans properly and conduct listening lessons in
a purposeful way to help students improve their listening skill.
2.2.5. Encouraging students' self-learning
Self-learning refers to a process whereby the learner participates actively in the act
of learning, including planning, goal setting, progress monitoring, selecting learning
strategies and controlling the learning environment. Therefore, the aim of most good
teaching listening skill is to help students be more autonomous and practice listening
outside the class.
 Autonomy for the students
Shelagh Rixon (1986: 126) states that "teachers cannot expect all students to be
able to work well by themselves from the very beginning. Autonomy is often developed


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from having the right amount of support at the right time, with the support being gradually
lessened as students become more confident. A good catalogue, usable worksheets and
teacher's guidance will all contribute".
The teacher's role changes in self-access work. The teacher becomes more of a
manager and a counselor than an informant. All students need the teacher to be available as
a source of advice, or even just as someone to boast to about an achievement. The idea of
self-access work is definitely not to cut learners off from all human contact.
Having the right equipment also counts. Cassettes are much more convenient and
tangle-free than reel-to-reel tape for use in a self-access library. Moreover, computers and
internet are also useful equipment to support self-learning.
It is certain that when listening tasks involve searching for pieces of information,
there is an answer sheet that the student can find easily for himself. Another loose-leaf
binder, with all the answer keys in it, can be kept next to the main catalogue. Students will
then need to consult the teacher only in case where they do not understand why a certain

answer is wrong or right, and will be independent as far as checking routine answer is
concerned.
 Listening outside the classroom
For teachers working with students within the United Kingdom, the opportunities to
use English outside school are huge, but those working abroad need not despair either.
There are two ways in which you can encourage students to listen outside the school. The
first is to get student to exercise their listening outside school and the second is about
finding opportunities for listening for pleasure.
- Listening assignments outside the school
According to Shelagh Rixon (1986), self-access listening has been discussed as a
stepping stone between listening guided by the teacher and greater independence. Students
who have met certain types of listening experiences in the listening library may feel
prepared to try them in their own time. Radio programs are an obvious example.
Opportunities for work involving live listening vary from place to place. For example, it
may be a project of finding a tourist and asking about his or her impressions of the town.
- Listening for pleasure outside the school.


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Opportunities for making contact with the language outside the school will vary, as
will the amount of enthusiasm shown by students about non-obligatory, 'extra-mural'
listening. Students have a perfect right not to be keen, but they should be equipped with
good information. Teachers need to do some research into: what English language
broadcasting station can be receptive, what English language film showings are available
and so on.


2.3. Theoretical background of portfolio
2.3.1. Definition of portfolio
In the last decade, there have been numerous innovations in education theory and

practice. Education has moved from a traditional teacher-centred process to a student-
centred process. There is a wide variety of methods of education and training to choose
from and portfolio-based learning is an increasingly popular option among educationists.
Portfolios are collections of relevant works reflecting students' individual efforts,
development, and progress over a period of time. The aim of learning portfolios is to
provide students, teachers, parents, and administrators with an overview of students’
growth over time, including students' abilities, knowledge, skills, and attitudes (Flippo,
1997; Hamm & Adams, 1991; Mathews, 1990; Tierney, Carter, & Desai, 1991)
In defining the word portfolio, people have different points of views. Some teachers
consider the use of a portfolio as part of an alternative assessment which can contain either
students’ best work or their accomplishments (Nunes, 2004). According to Simon and
Forgette-Giroux (1994), a portfolio is defined as "a cumulative and continuous collection
of entries selected and reflected on by students in order to assess their competency
development". Paulson, Paulson, and Meyer (1991) gave an extensive definition of
portfolio. They define a portfolio as "a purposeful collection of students’ work, not only
exhibiting students’ effort, progress, and achievement, but also demonstrating students’
participation in selecting contents and selecting the criteria for assessment".


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To sum up, a portfolio is a purposeful and organized collection of students' work
which reflects their talent, capacity and their own learning process.
2.3.2. The contents of portfolio
For the contents of the portfolio, there is not necessarily a set of fixed components
to be included. The decision on the components of the portfolio can be made by the
teachers, the students, or through an agreement between teachers and students. As a
general guideline, Crockett (1998, as cited in Nunes, 2004) suggested five different groups
of materials that may be included in the portfolio of students:
- Samples that are considered class assignment requirements;
- “Processed samples” that were “previously graded by the teacher”;

- “Revisions of student work” that are “graded and then revised, edited, and rewritten”;
- Reflections that are associated with the “processed samples” and these reflections give
students opportunities to identity their own strengths and weaknesses;
- And portfolio projects, which cover work designed for the sole purpose of inclusion in
the student portfolios and that can be arise from a review of portfolios that shows a
particular interest or challenge to overcome.
For each item, a brief rationale for choosing the item should be covered. This may
relate to students' performance, to their feelings considering their progress and themselves
as learners.
According to Huong Nguyen Le et al (2007: 11-13), listening portfolio entails
teamwork expose to a variety of listening resources and listening practice. Thus, apart from
listening skill building, the task also aims at students' development of information literacy
and collaboration skills. The contents of portfolios are presented as follows:
A. Cover Sheet
B. Declaration and Statement of Authorship
C. Index of Listening Files
D. Listening Files
1. File identification
2. Full script
E. Reflection checklist


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Students are to write only one reflection for the whole portfolio and this should not
exceed 600 words (two pages). The reflection should contain the following components:
1. Reflection on strategies used.
- The steps students went through when doing the portfolio.
- The strategies students used while transcribing the files, especially how they coped with
words that are hard to identify.
2. Reflection on the contents of the files.

- What (background) knowledge students have gained through flowing the issues?
- What contents students like and dislike most or any information that makes a deep
impression on them.
F. Glossary
G. Work distribution
H. Collaboration peer assessment sheets
I. Portfolio assessment sheet
Do not fill in this page
J. Final grades report form
Fill in the team members' names. Leave others blank.
K. Attached disc or/ and tape.
In short, no matter what is in the portfolio, teachers have to communicate the
contents of the portfolio clearly to students at the beginning of the course to avoid
confusion and frustration. At the same time, teachers have to be sensitive to students’
adjustments to the idea of the portfolio. Besides, teachers need to introduce the use of
portfolios and the materials to be put in the portfolio step by step and should expect some
confusion from students at the very beginning.
2.3.3. Phases of portfolio development
A portfolio can be formulated in the following stages suggested by the Gomes
(2000).
Phase One: organization and Planning - in this stage, both teachers and students
make their decisions on the organization and the plan as well as fully discover the purposes
of the portfolio and its status. For example: