A study on major factors affecting the freshmen's performances on TOEIC listening test at Vietnam Maritime University = Nghiên cứu các nhân tố ảnh hưởng dến kết

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


NGUYEN THI HUYEN TRANG



A STUDY ON MAJOR FACTORS AFFECTING THE FRESHMEN’S
PERFORMANCES ON TOEIC LISTENING TEST
AT VIETNAM MARITIME UNIVERSITY

NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC NHÂN TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN KẾT QUẢ BÀI THI
NGHE TOEIC CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀNG HẢI VIỆT NAM

M.A. Minor Thesis


Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10




HA NOI – 2012
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYEN THI HUYEN TRANG


A STUDY ON MAJOR FACTORS AFFECTING THE FRESHMEN’S
PERFORMANCES ON TOEIC LISTENING TEST
AT VIETNAM MARITIME UNIVERSITY


NGHIÊN CỨU CÁC NHÂN TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN KẾT QUẢ BÀI
THI TOEIC CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÀNG HẢI VIỆT NAM

M.A. Minor Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10
Supervisor: Phạm Thị Hạnh, M.A.

HÀ NỘI - 2012

iv

Table of content



Declaration

Acknowledgements

Abstract

List of tables, figures, and abbreviations

Part one: introduction ………………………………………………
1
1. Rationale for the study ………………………………………………………
1
2. Aims and objectives of the study ……………………………………………
2
3. Scope of the study …………………………………………………………….
2
4. Significance of the study ……………………………………………………
2
5. Method of the study …………………………………………………………
3
6. Organization of the study ……………………………………………………
3

Part two: Development ……………………………………………


4
Chapter 1: Literature Review ……………………………………
4
1.1 Listening …………………………………………………………………….
4
1.1.1 Definitions of Listening ……………………………………………….
4

1.1.2 Definitions of Listening comprehension ………………………………
4
1.1.3. Sources of listening difficulties ……………………………………….
5
1.1.3.1. Linguistic factors …………………………………………….
6
1.1.3.2. Non- linguistic factors ……………………………………….
8
1.2. Listening TOEIC test …………………………………………………….
11
1.2.1. Test …………………………………………………………………….
11
1.2.1.1. Definitions of a test ………………………………………….
11
1.2.1.2. Types of tests ………………………………………………
11
1.2.2. TOEIC test ……………………………………………………………
12
v

1.3. Summary …………………………………………………………………
12
Chapter 2: Methodology …………………………………………….
13
2.1 The setting of the study …………………………………………………….
13
2.1.1 Participants ……………………………………………………………
13
2.1.2 Materials and current English study situation …… …………………
13

2.2 Data collection instruments ………………………………………………
14
2.2.1 Questionnaires ………………………………………………………….
14
2.2.2 Semi-structured interviews …………………………………………….
15
2.2.3 Observations ……………………………………………………………
16
2.3 Data collection procedures ………………………………………………
16
2.3.1 Delivering questionnaires ……………………………………………
17
2.3.2 Holding the semi-structured interviews ………………………………
17
2.3.3 Carrying out observations ……………………………………………
17
2.4 Data analysis ………………………………………………………………
17
2.5. Summary …………………………………………………………………
18
Chapter 3: Results and discussions ……………………………
19
3.1. What are Vimaru freshmen’s attitudes towards TOEIC listening? …
19
3.1.1. Reading Comprehension vs. Listening Comprehension in TOEIC test
19
3.1.2. Vimaru freshmen’s attitudes towards TOEIC listening ……………….
20
3.1.3.Vimaru freshmen’s feelings when taking TOEIC listening test ……….
20

3.2. What are Vimaru freshmen’s current study situation and
performances on TOEIC listening test? ……………………………………


21
3.2.1. Vimaru freshmen’s results in semester 1- TOEIC test ………………
21
3.2.2.Difficult parts of TOEIC listening perceived by Vimaru freshmen. ….
22
3.2.3.Vimaru freshmen’s strategies while doing TOEIC listening test ……
23
3.2.4.Vimaru freshmen’s habits before doing TOEIC listening test ………
24
3.2.5.Vimaru freshmen’s habits while doing TOEIC listening test …………
25
3.2.6.Vimaru freshmen’s habits when they cannot listen to TOEIC test ……
25
3.2.7.TOEIC practice before taking the final test …………………………
26
vi

3.2.8.Factors causing difficulties in doing TOEIC listening test ……………
27
3.3. What are linguistic factors affecting Vimaru freshmen’s performances
on TOEIC listening?…………………………………………………………


28
3.4. What are non-Linguistic factors affecting Vimaru freshmen’s
performances on TOEIC listening?……………………………………………

30
3.5. What are Vimaru freshmen’s suggestions for improving TOEIC
listening skill? …………………………………………………………………


33
3.6. What are Vimaru freshmen’s expectations to improve the final TOEIC
listening results? ………………………………………………………………


34
3.7. Summary …………………………………………………………………
34

PART three: Conclusion ……………………………………………


35
1. Summaries of major findings ………………………………………………
35
1.1. What are Vimaru freshmen’s attitudes towards TOEIC listening? …….
35
1.2. What are Vimaru freshmen’s current study situation and performances
on TOEIC listening? ………………………………………………………


35
1.3. What are linguistic factors affecting Vimaru freshmen’s performances

on TOEIC listening? …………………………………………………………


36
1.4. What are non - linguistic factors affecting Vimaru freshmen’s
performances on TOEIC listening? …………………………………………


37
1.5. What are suggestions and expectations made by the freshmen to
improve their TOEIC listening results ……………………………………….


37
2. Pedagogical recommendations to improve freshmen’s final TOEIC
listening results …………………………………………………………………


38
2.1. Recommendations for English study in the class ……………………….
38
2.2. Recommendations for facilities …………………………………………
39
2.3. Recommendations for TOEIC-based listening test …………………….
39
3. Limitation of the study ……………………………………………………
40
4. Recommendations for further related study ………………………………
40
vii

REFERENCES
41
APPENDICES
























LISTS OF FIGURES AND ABBREVIATION

viii

Figure 1: Reading comprehension vs. Listening comprehension in TOEIC test
Figure 2: Vimaru freshmen’s attitudes towards TOEIC listening
Figure 3: Vimaru freshmen’s feelings when taking TOEIC listening test
Figure 4: Vimaru freshmen’ TOEIC results in semester 1
Figure 5: Difficult parts of TOEIC listening perceived by Vimaru freshmen
Figure 6: Vimaru freshmen’s strategies while doing TOEIC listening
Figure 7: Vimaru freshmen’s habits before doing TOEIC listening test
Figure 8: Vimaru freshmen’s habits while doing TOEIC listening test
Figure 9: Vimaru freshmen’s habits when they cannot listen to TOEIC test
Figure 10: TOEIC practice before taking the final test
Figure 11: Vimaru freshmen’s suggestions for improving TOEIC listening skill
Figure 12: Vimaru freshmen’s expectations towards the final TOEIC listening test

:
Table 1: Factors caused difficulties in doing TOEIC listening test
Table 2: Linguistic factors affecting Vimaru freshmen’s performances on TOEIC
listening
Table 3: Non-Linguistic factors affecting Vimaru freshmen’s performances on
TOEIC listening

Abbreviation:
Vimaru: Viet Nam Maritime University
1

Part one: Introduction

1. Rationale for choosing the topic
In the age of economic growth and global integration, English obviously

plays a very important role. However, the criteria for evaluating one’s English
competence are more and more difficult. In today’s context, the A, B, C certificates
used for people wishing to find a job are out-of- date, and the so-called IELTS,
TOEFL or TOEIC have been the best choices. TOEIC, together with other
requirements for job seekers, is preferred by most companies in order to assess their
employees’ qualifications. Therefore, a lot of people are trying hard to achieve the
success in a TOEIC test.
It is no doubt that among the four skills normally mentioned in English,
listening is always considered “a key language skill” which “has a vital role in the
language acquisition process” ( Brett, 1997). Nevertheless, it is listening that is
always a nightmare for English learners due to its difficulty. My primary
observation shows that students normally get lower marks in listening test in
comparison with other skill tests.
In addition, being a lecturer of English at Vimaru University, through my
teaching experience, I have found out that my students are always more afraid of
listening as compared to other skills. Students, especially freshmen, find listening
boring and stressful, and unfortunately, they have to sit for a TOEIC- based test
which includes Reading and Listening comprehension for the final examination.
Therefore, many of the students get bad results because of low scores in English
subject in which listening is always a target of blaming.
For all of the abovementioned, I would like to carry out a small- scaled study
on “major factors affecting the freshmen’s performance on TOEIC listening tests at
Vietnam Maritime University” so as to help solve out the problems.




2

2. Aims and objectives of the study

The purposes of the study will be achieved through the answering of five
research questions:

1. What are Vimaru freshmen’ attitudes towards listening TOEIC?
2. What are Vimaru freshmen’s current performance and study situation on
listening TOEIC?
3. What are linguistic factors affecting Vimaru freshmen’s performance on
listening TOEIC?
4. What are non- linguistic factors affecting Vimaru freshmen’s performance on
listening TOEIC?
5. What are Vimaru freshmen’s suggestions and expectations to improve their
TOEIC listening results?

3. Scope of the study:
There are three terms that should be specified in the study. Firstly, there are
many kinds of English tests, but the author considers TOEIC test only. Secondly, it
is TOEIC listening which is the focus of the study, not TOEIC reading. Finally, the
study is aimed at the freshmen of Vimaru University whose proficiency levels are
from low to high basing on their latest TOEIC results.

4. Significance of the study
Investigating the “major factors affecting the freshmen’s performance on
TOEIC listening tests at Vietnam Maritime University”, the study is expected to
make certain contributions to the related populations including freshmen taking
TOEIC test, teachers teaching TOEIC, and researchers of the same subjects.
First of all, through the problems pointed out and the suggestions made, the
freshmen may improve their performance in listening TOEIC test.
Similar to the students, the study would help teaching TOEIC teachers to
realize their problems in guiding their students in sitting for a test in order to
achieve the best results. Moreover, by noticing the students’ difficulties in listening,

3

teachers can have their in-time consideration and correction in teaching listening
effectively
In addition to the benefits given to the two above subjects, the study may
serve as the foundation based on which further related research would be carried out.
Particularly, future research could be made better after the limitations of the study
are considered.

5. Method of the study
Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are utilized in order to “provide
a better understanding of the research problem and question than either method by
itself” (Creswell, 2002). Questionnaire is the first thing to be made which is
delivered to the freshmen after they take the first TOEIC- based test and have the
final results. Then, it is the turn of interview in which the author wishes to have the
reliable share from the students. The last but not least, test room observations are
carried to have the direct data.

6. Organization of the study
The rest of the study includes two parts as follow:
Part 2 consists of:
Chapter 1 Literature Review presents related theoretical background of the
study in which concepts of listening and factors affecting the students’
performances in listening TOEIC would be discussed.
Chapter 2, Methodology, covers four major parts, namely, participants, data
collection instruments, data collection procedures, and data analysis procedures.
Chapter 3, Results and Discussions, presents, analyzes and discusses the
findings in order to answer the five research questions of the study.
Part 3, Conclusion, provides summaries of the main findings, suggestions for
better results, limitations of the study, and lastly, recommendations for further

related researches.

4

Part two: Development
Chapter 1: Literature Review
In this chapter, relevant knowledge collected from various sources will be
presented so that it can suitably serve as a foundation for the research. The paper is
divided into two parts including theories on listening difficulties and TOEIC
listening.

1.1. Listening
1.1.1 Definitions of listening
It is believed that listening is a significant and essential element of
communication and interaction in a native language and in second language as well.
In fact, there have been numerous definitions of listening (Bentlyey & Bacon, 1996;
Gary Buck, 2001; Scarcella & Oxford, 1992) which present different views of
scholars towards the concept.
There are some traditional views that consider listening as a passive language
skill alongside with reading skill. However, listening is a really receptive skill and
the role of the listeners is no longer passive but active in many scholars’ point of
views. Bentley and Bacon (1996), define listening as “an active process during
which the listener constructs meaning from oral input”.
Sharing the same idea towards the activeness of listening, Underwood (1989)
shows that “listening is the activity of paying attention to and trying to get meaning
from something we hear”

1.1.2. Definitions of listening comprehension
Mentioning the definition of listening comprehension, Gary Buck (2001)
suggests that “listening comprehension is an active process of constructing meaning

and this is done by applying knowledge to the incoming sound” in which “number
of different types of knowledge are involved: both linguistic knowledge and non-
linguistic knowledge” .
5

Unlike the other authors, Brown (1994) sees both narrow and broad
definition towards listening comprehension. According to him, in its narrowest
definition, listening is the process by which listeners come to an interpretation for a
stream of speech. In its broader definition it also includes the process by which
listeners use those interpretations for intended process.
Rost (2002), on the other hand, defines listening comprehension as “a
process of receiving what the speaker actually says, constructing and representing
meaning, negotiating meaning with the speaker and responding, and creating
meaning through involvement, imagination and empathy”.
It is no doubt that different scholars have different ideas to the definition of
both listening and listening comprehension. Nevertheless, I totally agree with the
view of Wolvin and Coakley (1985) in which listening is defined as “the process of
receiving, attending to and assigning meaning to aural stimuli”. The definition
suggests that listening is a complex, problem- solving skill, and the task of listening
is more than the perception of sound; it also requires comprehension of meaning.

1.1.3. Sources of listening difficulty
Unlike the case of investigating the definition of listening and listening
comprehension, while searching theory for sources of listening difficulty I have
found out that there are some similar views towards this matter. To some authors,
what make listening difficult include 7 matters as: Lack of control over the speed
at which speakers speak, Not being able to get things repeated, The listener’s
limited vocabulary, Failure to recognize the “signals”, Problems of interpretation,
Inability to concentrate, and Establish learning habit (Underwood, 1989).
A little bit shorter but include these above points, Anderson and Lynch

(1998) suggest two problem including background problems and language problems.
According to them, “gaps in our knowledge of L2 culture, of the associations and
references available to native uses can present obstacles to comprehension”.
Duzer (1997), on the other hand, proposes another set of factors including
the listener, the speaker, content, and visual support.
6

Based on the theories collected from many different authors whose points of
views are more or less the same, I would like to divide them into two main factors:
Linguistic and Non- linguistic factors in which Linguistic factors include the sound
and pronunciation, the stress and intonation, speech, syntax and vocabulary,
informal language, and accent while Non- linguistic factors consist of fatigue,
listener’s background, listener’ competence, message, and physical setting.

1.1.3.1. Linguistic factors
1.1.3.1.1. The sounds and pronunciation
The way that a word is pronounced is one of the most difficult factors to
most English learner to recognize and comprehend (Underwood, 1989). In English,
just as in other languages, there are sounds which are unknown or unusual for
foreign listeners, and which they may therefore fail to distinguish from other similar
sound or even fail to hear at all. For example the sound /w/ or /j/ as in “wait” or
“just” are not existed in the way of pronunciation for Vietnamese students. In
addition, learners may find it difficult to distinguish between “ship” and “sheep”, or
“fit” and “feet”. Another difficulty may be the “schwa” where the sounds are not
strongly pronounced but they may vary from many different vowels such as “e” as
in “student”, or “o” as in “today”
According to Buck (2001), “the sound of a language must be learned in order
to understand speech”. This is obvious; it is not the sound themselves, however, that
causes the most comprehension problems, but the way they vary in normal speech.
Moreover, Ur (1984) suggests that sometimes the foreign learners of English

may have difficulty with the sequences and juxtapositions of sounds typical of
English words.

1.1.3.1.2 The stress and intonation
It is a fact that the English language derives much of its rhythm from the use
of stressed syllables. Therefore, Underwood (1989) mentions that “students have to
be helped to get used the fact that words spoken in continuous speech are often not
7

given the same stress as they receive when they are said in isolation”. The problem
is that students have often learnt the pronunciation of new words by hearing them
clearly enunciated, one at a time, by the teachers.
Mentioning to intonation, Buck (2001) said that “the intonation can make a
considerable difference to the meaning”. Obviously, stress and intonation are very
important in word recognition, and moreover, in comprehension. Lynch (1998) also
suggests that prosodic features have a direct impact on how listeners chunk and
interpret discourse segments.

1.1.3.1.3 Speech
“All second- language listeners have probably had the experience of
listening to something and not quite understanding it because it seem too fast, of
feeling that they could have understood if only it had been a little slower” (Buck,
2001). Certainly, the actual speech rate does affect comprehension and results
generally support the common-sense belief that the faster the speech, the more
difficult it is to comprehension.

1.1.3.1.4 The syntax and vocabulary
In Underwood’s point of view “listeners who struggle to understand every
word using their knowledge of the structure of the language to decipher the message
often have problems” (Underwood, 1989). They tend to get confused and will

probably be less successful than listeners who seek the meaning without focusing
overmuch on the language. Oslen and Huckin (1990) point out that ESL students
can understand all the words of the listening and still fail to understand the main
points, and Dunkel and Davis (1994) claim that comprehension depends less on the
meaning of the individual sentences and more on their inter-relatedness and the
structures of the whole text” (as cited in Buck, 2001).

1.1.3.1.5. Formal and informal language
On the first place, it is necessary to clarify the difference between formal and
informal language. According to Underwood (1989), “a distinction is sometimes
8

made between the language spoken in formal situations and the language used in
informal situation as, for example, a lecture and a chat between friends”. In his
theory, many language learners have limited experience on English language in
formal situation. In their lessons, they tend to use formal language because this is
what is expected when teachers and students talk to each other, and so they have
difficulty in understanding informal spoken discourse.
Contributing to this idea, Ur (1984) points out that much of informal
language may already be known to the foreign listener, but this does not mean that
he is familiar with it.

1.1.3.1.6 Accent
Ur (1984) says that “many foreign- language learners who are used to the
accent of their own teachers are surprised and dismayed when they find have
difficulty understanding someone else”. In fact, when listening, students may
encounter a number of different accents. In the case of English, Australian
pronounces English differently from American, and this is different again from
British English. Even within countries there can be considerable variation: the
difference between the North and the South. (Buck, 2001)

The listeners are usually much less familiar with the range of common
accents, and they sometimes have considerable problems when they hear a new
accent for the first time and the stronger the accent, the lower the listeners’
comprehension.

1.1.3.2. Non-linguistic factors
1.1.3.2.1. Fatigue
Not many authors mention the effect of fatigue when listening, but I totally
agree with Ur (1984) when he points out “how tiring it is listening to and
interpreting unfamiliar sounds, lexis, and syntax for long stretches of time”.
Reading, writing, and speaking are also tiring but in these activities, the learners can
9

make their own break when and where they wish. However, in listening, doing this
is impossible because students may miss the important clues while listening.

1.1.3.2.2. Listeners’ background knowledge
It is true that the background of the listeners may affect the listening
comprehension. According to Anderson (1984), listeners with different background
will have different level of difficulty in listening comprehension and without
background knowledge; they will have many difficulty in this field. Sharing the
same idea, Underwood (1989) also points out that students whose culture and
education includes a strong storytelling and oral communication tradition are
generally better at listening comprehension than those from a reading and book-
bases cultural and educational background.
In addition to cultural background, the way to interpret language is also
different from country to country. For Vietnamese students they may find it hard to
understanding the meaning of the sentence “It is hot here” (when the speaker may
want to open the door rather than mentioning about the today’s weather only).
Therefore, Vietnamese students whose background knowledge is much

different from that of in English may have a lot of trouble in listening
comprehension.

1.1.3.2.3. The listeners’ competence
It can be said that listeners’ competence is of great important to the listening
comprehension which is a complex, problem-solving skill (Wolvin and Coakley,
1985). In this study, listeners’ competence can be understood as language
competence, ability to predict and concentrate. The success of listening may be
mainly due to a good language competence such as good vocabulary, pronunciation
and listening skill.
Normally students face a lot of problems in having rich vocabulary. For them,
“listening to foreign language, an unknown word can be like a suddenly dropped
10

barrier causing them to stop and think about the meaning of the word and thus
making them miss the next part of the speech” (Underwood, 1989).
Wrong pronunciation is also a problem to listening comprehension. When
learners do not pronounce the right way, it will be difficult for them to hear the
sounds. Vietnamese students may get confused in recognizing the word “ship” or
“sheep”, “for” or “four”. Especially, many of them blame for the use of linking
sound such as “lookat” or “putup”.
Apart from language competence, ability to predict and concentrate can be
factors leading to listening problems. If the listeners can make a guess as to the sort
of thing that is going to be said next, he will be much more likely to perceive it and
understand it well, he may even be enabled to do without it altogether (Ur, 1984).
Unfortunately, not many students can take advantage of this point.

1.1.3.2.4 Message and topic
Again, this is the factor to determine the ability to concentrate of the listeners.
It is easier for the listeners to concentrate if the topics of the listening are interesting

and related to common and familiar issues of everyday life. On the other hand, if the
topic is boring or together with the noise of the room or the quality of the tape, etc,
the students may find it hard to concentrate. (Underwood, 1989).

1.1.3.2.5. Physical setting
Mentioning to this problem, Underwood (1989) states that: “Outside factors
may well make concentration difficult, too”. Sharing the same idea, Harmer (1991)
says that “Physical condition (classroom size, book, char, desk, light, etc) had great
impact on student’s leaning as well as the subject matter”. According to Ur (1984),
some words may be drowned by outside interference, others indistinctly pronounced.
The foreign- language learner, whose grasp of meaning is slower than that of a
native and demands more of an effort, find these gaps far more difficult to take in
his stride. This outside interference can be understood as the noise from outside, the
noise inside the room and even the cough of someone else in the room. Moreover,
11

the atmosphere in the room as it is too hot or the number of students which is over
70 students per room can be a matter contributing to listening problem.

1.2. Listening TOEIC test
1.2.1. Test
1.2.1.1. Definitions of a test
Towards the meaning of a test, many different authors have different
definitions. According to definition cited in Longman dictionary, a test is: “any
procedure for measuring ability, knowledge or performance”. Alphonse (2008), on
the other hand says that “testing is one of the best way which enables the teacher to
see at a glance how the students’ perform or how they are progressing”. However,
I have found that the definition made by Rubayee (2008) is the most effective in
which “tests are important in determining the students’ learning achievements in
the classroom; at the same time they also help teachers to monitor his/her teaching

methods in the classroom” (cited in To and Nguyen, 2008).

1.2.1.2. Types of test
There are many ways to classify tests including basing on their uses and
purposes, or on the types of test tasks, etc. According to test purposes as the
grouping principle, we can classify tests into four common types as below:
Types of test
Purposes
Proficiency
tests
To see how good students are at language, or use of the language. The
contents of a proficiency tests are not chosen according to what has
been taught, but according to what is needed for a particular purpose.
Achievement
tests
To see how well students have learnt the language taught in class.
Achievement tests are often at the end of term or end of the year and
test the main points of what has been taught in that time.
Placement
tests
To identify students’ level of language and find the best class for them.
These are essential in large institutions that frequently receive new
students.
12

Diagnostic
tests
To identify problems that students have with language. They help
teachers diagnose the language problems students have and to plan what
to teach in future.

1.2.2. TOEIC test
In 2005, the Ministry of Education and Education testing Institute- based in
US regarded the use of TOEIC to asset students’ English language proficiency.
Thus, universities in Vietnam can apply the TOEIC program to teach and evaluate
students’ learning outcomes instead of the old program and tests for A, B, C
certificates.
The new TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) is a
standardized, multiple-choice test for adult, non-native speakers designed to
measure your language ability and your ability to understand English. In order to
score well on the new TOEIC test, you must have two goals: improve your
proficiency in English and improve your test- taking skills. The test has two
sections: Listening comprehension and Reading comprehension.
The TOEIC test is scored on a scale of 10 to 990. Only correct responses
count toward your score. These correct responses are added and converted to a
TOEIC score (please see the Appendix 1).
Listening TOEIC test is divided into four parts including photos description,
listening and responses, conversations, and the last one is talks. (Please see
Appendix 2)

1.3 Summary

To sum up, this chapter has provided some different current theories of both
listening and sources of listening difficulty in order to give a clear overview on the
matter of the study. The following chapter will deal with the methodology with
which the study was conducted.

13

Chapter 2: Methodology

After reviewing a theoretical basis for the study in the previous part, in this
chapter, the researcher will discuss the methodology used to implement the research.
The chapter will cover four major parts, namely, participants and current English
study situation at Vimaru, data collection instruments, data collection procedures,
and data analysis procedures.

2.1. The setting of the study
2.1.1. Participants
50 first-year students who are in the second semester of the academic year
2011-2012 at Vimaru were chosen randomly for the study. They come from
different departments at different levels and they have different attitudes and
preferences towards listening skills in general and listening TOEIC in particular.
Despite the limited number of the subjects, she still believes that 5% of the
population (50 over 1000 freshmen of Vimaru) will partly represent for the whole
group; therefore, the reliability and validity of the study could be achieved. Apart
from these surveyed students, other 4 students whose recent TOEIC scores were
different were chosen to participate in the semi-structured interviews.

2.1.2 Materials and current English study situation
Applied the credit study of Education Ministry, the freshmen at Vimaru can
register at any English classes that are suitable for their time. Therefore, in each
English class, normally ranging from 65 to 80 students per class, there is a mix of
different students- that means students come from different departments and levels
of English. Often, students coming from Maritime Economics Department are better
at English than the other Departments, and Navigation students are normally worse.
However, these freshmen are taught the same coursebook- NewHeadway-
Elementary- 3
rd
edition in 6 periods of English per week. They have to study

English two times a week and within 15 weeks of studying, each class has 3
14

TOEIC-based progress tests designed by the teacher of that class. The length and
content of the tests are different at different classes. At the end of 15 weeks, they
are asked to sit for a full TOEIC- based test and then, the scores will be converted
into 10-mark scale as traditional way of marking.

2.2 Data collection instruments
Concerning the aims at answering the five research questions, both
quantitative and qualitative approaches with the triangulation of questionnaires,
observations, and semi-structured interviews were utilized in the study so as to
reach the targeted goals. According to Cohen et al. (2000), the combination was
investigated because it helps myself as the researcher feel confident about the
findings, and moreover increases the depth and quality of information, (Verma &
Mallick, 1999).

2.2.1 Questionnaires
Questionnaire “is a relatively popular means of collecting data” (Nunan,
1992) which is “unprecedented efficient in terms of researcher time, researcher
effort, and financial resources” (Nguyen et al., 2007). The questionnaires were done
to collect data answering for five research questions and had five parts. In the
questionnaires, both open-ended and close-ended questions were made under a
variety of forms such as multiple choices, putting a tick, etc. The content of
questionnaire takes the basis of what has been discussed in this paper’s Literature
Review and contained factual, behavioral, and attitudinal questions. In each set of
questionnaires, different questions were categorized in groups following the five
research questions. Particularly, to help the participants find it easy to complete the
questionnaires, the researcher paid much attention to clarify the terms used in the
papers thoroughly and Vietnamese was used to ensure that the non-major freshmen

at Vimaru can totally understand the questions (Please see Appendix 3.
After finishing the first version, the set of questionnaires was sent to the
supervisor and colleagues for getting further revised. Then, it was piloted with some
15

freshmen from the university. The final version which was adjusted after revising
and piloting process was delivered to the freshmen.
To be more specific, part 1 of the questionnaire included three first
questions aiming to find out the Vimaru freshmen’s attitude towards TOEIC test in
general and TOEIC listening test in particular. Part 2 including question 4 to
question 11 were done to know the actual performances of these students in TOEIC
listening tests and their current TOEIC and English study situation in the classroom
and the test room. Part 3 had only question 12 consisting of 5 subquestions with a
hope to investigate what linguistic factors affecting the freshmen’s performances on
TOEIC listening test. Like part 3, part 4 contained only question 13 but including 5
subquestions with a purpose to find out the non- linguistic factors that influences the
freshmen’s performances on TOEIC listening test. Finally, part 5 had two last
questions aiming to understand the students’ wants and suggestions to improve the
matter.
In general, it can be said that the questionnaires could answer all the research
questions made; however, along with observations and semi-structured interviews,
the outcome could yield more reliability and value.

2.2.2 Semi-structured interviews
Semi-structured interview was carried out as “the interviewer has a general
idea of where she wants the interview to go, and what should come out of it”
(Nunan, 1992).
The semi-structured interviews were carried out with 4 students who were of
different levels basing on their latest English study result in the class. With an
attempt to create an open and friendly atmosphere for the respondents to express

and share their opinions as well as their attitudes, the interviews were held one-by-
one with Vietnamese as the main language.
In terms of structure, the interview for students included four parts yet
attempting to investigate their opinions and attitudes towards TOEIC listening, and
what have made difficulties to their performances on TOEIC listening test, and
16

lastly, their own preferences and suggestions for improvement (Please see Appendix
4). The procedure of building questions for the semi-structured interviews happened
in the same way as the process of drawing up the questionnaires.
Along with other instruments, the semi-structured interviews help to
“validate other methods, or to go deeper into the motivation of respondents and
their reasons for responding as they do” (cited in Cohen, Manion, and Morrisor,
2000, p.268)

2.2.3. Observation
Observations were taken as one method among others and were carried out
in the test room.
Observations in the test rooms were made to find out any factors can affect
the students’ performances on TOEIC listening test. These observations were
carried out the whole day on June, 1
st
when all the freshmen had to take the final
TOEIC tests. After that, journals were produced to keep the data for analysis
process (please see Appendix 5).

2.3 Data collection procedures
The procedures of data collection went through three main phases in
chronological order: delivering questionnaires, holding semi-structured interviews
and carrying out the observations.

2.3.1 Delivering questionnaires
75 questionnaires for students were randomly distributed to three classes
having students from different levels and coming from different departments at
Vimaru. The reason to deliver such number of questionnaires was to eliminate the
invalid ones and get back 50 most comprehensible ones, and to avoid losing the
questionnaires made by the students.
On the day of giving questionnaires, the researcher asked for the help of the
teachers teaching those periods to deliver the papers to the students after
introducing the purposes and explaining some necessary information in case of
17

having any problems. The reason to let the teachers send out the questionnaires was
that under the “authority” of the teachers, students would complete the papers
seriously.

2.3.2 Holding the semi-structured interviews
One-by-one interviews for the students were done in their dormitory rooms.
The first part of the interviews was to introduce and establish the close rapport
between the interviewer and the interviewees. Then, the researcher started the
interviews and asked the permission to the use of tape-recording along with the
confirmation of confidentiality of the interviews. Under the friendly and open
atmosphere, the respondents were encouraged to express their views and share their
opinions towards the questions raised by the researcher. During the interviews, in
addition to asking for the respondents’ point of views, the researcher also let them
chances to clarify and explain what listening difficulties they had to face. A part
from the use of tape-recording, the researcher took notes on some important
information through the interviews for the sake of later transcription.

2.3.3. Carrying out the observations.

After holding the interviews, two observations in the test rooms were carried
out in the morning and afternoon on June, 1
st
. While the students were taking the
tests, the researcher was observing and taking notes. Everything happened in the
test room from the attitudes and performances of students to the outside factors
were written down.

2.4 Data analysis procedure
Procedure “refers to sifting, organizing, summarizing, and synthesizing the
data so as to arrive at the results and conclusion of the research” (Seliger and
Shohamy, 1989). The collected data was synthesized and analyzed according to five
research questions as follows:
The first research question (What are Vimaru freshmen’ attitudes towards
TOEIC listening?) was answered by the information from the first 3 questions in the
18

set of questionnaires. Moreover, the data analyzed from the interviews also
contributed to the finding.
The second research question (What is Vimaru freshmen’s current performance
and study situation on TOEIC listening?) was addressed by the questions 4 to 11 in the
questionnaires. In addition, the interviews and the analysis of the observations provided
more information.
The next research question (What are the linguistic factor affecting Vimaru
freshmen’s performances on TOEIC listening?) required information from the
interviews as well as the data from question 12 in the questionnaires.
The fourth one (What are the non- linguistic factor affecting Vimaru
freshmen’s performance on TOEIC listening?) dealt with the information during the
interviews. Furthermore, the question 13 of the questionnaires and the observations were
another source of data to answer this research question.

The last research question (What are Vimaru freshmen’s suggestions and
expectations to improve their TOEIC listening results?) was answered by the
information from the interview and the last two questions in the set of
questionnaires.

2.5 Summary

The third chapter gave a clear view on the methodology of the research including
participants, data collection instruments, data collection procedure and data analysis
procedure. Based on the aims of the study, using triangulation of questionnaires,
observations and semi-structured interviews was considered as the best choice to collect
the thorough and in-depth information from the respondents and can make the data gained
afterward reliable and comprehensive. All those findings will come in the following
chapter.