the reality of teaching and learning English listening skills in grade 10 at Yen Mo B high school, Ninh Binh province = Thực trạng dạy và học kỹ năng nghe tiếng

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************



ĐỖ THỊ NGÂN


THE REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH
LISTENING SKILLS IN GRADE 10 AT YEN MO B HIGH SCHOOL
NINH BINH PROVINCE

THỰC TRẠNG DẠY VÀ HỌC KỸ NĂNG NGHE TIẾNG ANH
TẠI KHỐI LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT YÊN MÔ B, TỈNH NINH BÌNH


M.A. Minor Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60 14 10



Hanoi - 2012

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************



ĐỖ THỊ NGÂN


THE REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH
LISTENING SKILLS IN GRADE 10 AT YEN MO B HIGH SCHOOL
NINH BINH PROVINCE

THỰC TRẠNG DẠY VÀ HỌC KỸ NĂNG NGHE TIẾNG ANH TẠI KHỐI
LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT YÊN MÔ B, TỈNH NINH BÌNH

M.A. Minor Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60 14 10
Supervisor: ĐỖ BÁ QUÝ, M.Ed.



Hanoi - 2012

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
LIST OF TABLES
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
2. Aims of the study
3. Research questions
4. Scope of the study
5. Method of the study
6. Design of the study
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Definitions of listening
1.2. Significance of listening
1.3. Listening process
1.4. Micro-skills of listening
1.5. Effective teaching of listening
1.6. Stages of a listening lesson
1.6.1. Pre-listening stage
1.6.2. While-listening stage
1.6.3. Post-listening stage
1.7. Potential problems in listening

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1.8. Related studies on listening
1.9. Summary

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1. Overview of the current situation of teaching and learning English at
Yen Mo B high school
2.1.1. The school context
2.1.2. The new textbook English 10 (the standard textbook) and its
listening section
2.2. Methodology
2.2.1. Research questions
2.2.2. Participants
2.2.3. Data collection instruments
2.2.3.1. Survey questionnaire
2.2.3.2. Classroom observation
2.2.4. Data collection procedure
2.2.5. Data analysis procedure
2.3. Summary
CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
3.1. Findings from questionnaires for the teachers and the students
3.1.1. The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of the importance of
listening in language teaching and learning at school
3.1.2. The teachers’ and students’ opinions about the students’ listening
competence
3.1.3. The teachers’ and the students’ opinions about the listening
sections of the textbook English 10
3.1.4. The teachers’ and the students’ ways of teaching and learning
English listening skills
3.1.4.1. Teachers’ ways of teaching English listening skills
3.1.4.1.1. The teachers’ preparation before listening lessons
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3.1.4.1.2. The audiovisual support that the teachers use in listening

lessons
3.1.4.1.3. The teachers’ classroom practices in listening lessons
3.1.4.1.4. The factors affecting the teachers’ ways of teaching in
listening lessons
3.1.4.2. The students’ ways of learning English listening skills
3.1.4.2.1. The students’ evaluation of the teachers’ ways of
teaching English listening skills
3.1.4.2.2. The students’ preparation before listening lessons
3.1.4.2.3. The students’ favorite practices in listening lessons
3.1.4.2.4. The students’ home practices on listening skills
3.1.5. Difficulties in teaching and learning English listening skills
perceived by the teachers and the students
3.1.6. The teachers’ and the students’ suggested solutions to improve the
current situation of teaching and learning English listening skills
3.2. Findings from classroom observations
3.3. Discussion of the findings
3.4. Summary
PART C: CONCLUSION
1. Conclusions
2. Recommendations for more effective listening lessons
3. Limitations of the study
4. Suggestions for further research
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Survey questionnaire for the teachers
Appendix 2: Survey questionnaire for the students
Appendix 3: Classroom observations


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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

MOET: Ministry of Education and Training
YMBHS: Yen Mo B high school




















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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: The teachers‟ and the students‟ perceptions of the importance of teaching
and learning English listening skills at school

Table 2: The teachers‟ and the students‟ opinions about the students‟ listening
competence
Table 3: The teachers‟ and the students‟ opinions about the listening sections in the
textbook English 10
Table 4: The teachers‟ preparation before listening lessons
Table 5: The audio-visual support that the teachers use in listening lessons
Table 6: The teachers‟ classroom practices in the pre-listening stage
Table 7: The teachers‟ classroom practices in the while-listening stage
Table 8: The teachers‟ classroom practices in the post-listening stage
Table 9: The factors affecting the teachers‟ ways of teaching English listening lessons
Table 10: The effects of teaching and learning English listening skills on students‟
language ability
Table 11: Students‟ opinions about listening lessons
Table 12: Students‟ preparation before listening lessons
Table13: The students‟ favorite practices in the pre-listening stage
Table14: The students‟ favorite practices in the while-listening stage
Table 15: The students‟ favorite practices in the post-listening stage
Table 16: The students‟ home practice on listening skills
Table 17: The teachers‟ difficulties in teaching English listening lessons
Table 18: The students‟ difficulties in learning English listening skills
Table 19: The teachers‟ and the students‟ suggested solutions to improve the
current situation of teaching and learning English listening skills

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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the study
It is undeniable that English has become a common means of communication
all over the world today. Being aware of its importance, Vietnam has felt an urge to
train its citizens to have greater competence in the use of English for

communication. That is the reason why the Ministry of Education and Training
(MOET) has implemented a curricular change in schools since 2002. The new
curriculum aims to enable school students to communicate in English at the basic
level in all modes of communication i.e. listening, speaking, reading, and writing
(Van et al, 2006, p. 3). In order to achieve this aim, a set of textbooks has been
issued for students from grade 6 to grade 12. The textbook is claimed to be theme-
based and skill-based, with the adoption of the “two currently popular teaching
approaches, i.e. the learner-centred approach and the communicative approach. A
focus is on task-based teaching as the leading methodology” (Van et al, 2006, p.12).
Obviously, the ultimate goal of the textbook is to develop students‟ communicative
competence.
However, as a teacher of Yen Mo B high school (YMBHS), I find that the
teaching and learning here still focus too much on grammar, vocabulary and
structures. Although the teachers and the students follow the English course book
issued by MOET, in which each unit is designed to be composed of five parts -
reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus; assessment and testing
focus on grammar, vocabulary, reading and partial writing. Therefore, listening skill
is paid less attention to. Consequently, many students who may have mastered the
basic elements of English grammar and vocabulary are weak at listening.
The above situation has inspired me to do the research entitled “The reality
of teaching and learning English listening skills in grade 10 at Yen Mo B high
school, Ninh Binh province” with the hope of making some contributions to
improving the teaching and learning of English listening skills in grade 10 at
YMBHS.

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2. Aims of the study
Generally this study aims to investigate the reality of teaching and learning
English listening skills in Grade 10 at YMBHS.

Specifically the study seeks to find out:
 The present situation of teaching and learning English listening skills in
grade 10 at YMBHS;
 The teachers‟ and the students‟ perceived difficulties in teaching and
learning English listening skills in grade 10 at YMBHS; and
 The teachers‟ and the students‟ suggested solutions to improve the current
situation of teaching and learning English listening skills in grade 10 at
YMBHS.
3. Research questions
To achieve the aims and objectives of the study, the following research
questions were proposed:
1. What is the present situation of teaching and learning English listening skills
in grade 10 at YMBHS?
2. What are the difficulties in teaching and learning English listening skills in
grade 10 at YMBHS as perceived by the teachers and the students?
3. What solutions do the teachers and the students suggest to improve the
current situation of teaching and learning English listening skills in grade 10
at YMBHS?
4. Scope of the study
This small-scale study is limited to the reality of teaching and learning
English listening skills in Grade 10 at YMBHS. The investigation of teaching and
learning other skills will be beyond the scope of this study.
This study is a detailed survey at YMBHS in Ninh Binh Province. Therefore,
its findings are not intended to be generalized to other school contexts. Indeed the
findings may not apply beyond the actual participants in this particular study.


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5. Method of the study

The study was designed to use both quantitative and qualitative methods,
involving two instruments: survey questionnaires and classroom observations.
Besides, reviewing the related documents is also a method to establish the
theoretical background for the study.
6. Design of the study
The study is divided into three parts: Introduction, Development, and
Conclusion.
The Introduction presents an overview of the study including the rationale,
aims, research questions, scope, method, and design of the study.
The major part of the study, the Development, is divided into three chapters.
Chapter one provides theoretical background for the study. Chapter two presents the
methodology of the study and the last chapter is devoted to analyzing the data and
discussing the findings of the study.
The Conclusion part provides a brief summary of the findings in
correspondence with the three proposed research questions and offers some
recommendations for better listening teaching and learning. The limitations of the
study and suggestions for further study are also discussed in this chapter.
Besides, the survey questionnaire for the teachers and students, and the
classroom observation notes are included in the Appendices.










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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter gives an overview of the literature, including key concepts and
related studies in the field in order to provide a theoretical background for the study.
1. 1. Definitions of listening
No one can deny the crucial role of listening in our daily life in general and
in acquiring a language in particular. Therefore, many scholars have made effort to
explore this skill. As a result, there exist a variety of definitions of listening in the
literature.
Listening, as Howatt and Dakin (1974, as cited in Yagang, 1993) define, is
the ability to identify and understand what others are saying. This process involves
understanding a speaker‟s accent or pronunciation, the speaker‟s grammar and
vocabulary and comprehension of meaning. An able listener is capable of doing
these four things simultaneously.
Ronald and Roskelly (1985) define listening as an active process requiring
the same skills of prediction, hypothesizing, checking, revising, and generalizing
that writing and reading demand.
Underwood (1989) points out that listening is an activity of paying attention
to the speaker and trying to get meaning from what we hear . She argues that
hearing can be thought of as a passive condition, but listening is always an active
process. To listen successfully to spoken language, the listener needs to be able to
understand not only the words themselves but also the meanings hidden in words.
In short, although listening is viewed differently by different authors, the
above definitions have one important thing in common: listening is a complex,
active process of interpretation in which the listeners must actively make use of
skills and knowledge from both linguistic and non-linguistic resources.
1.2. Significance of listening
Listening has been proved to be of great importance in communication as
well as in language teaching and learning.

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Findings of research have demonstrated the significant role of listening in
communication. Wilt (1950, as cited in Guo, N. & Wills, R., 2006) found that 45%
of the communication time people spent listening, 30% speaking, 16% reading, and
9% writing. This clearly shows how important this skill is in communication.
In terms of language teaching and learning, the importance of listening is
clearly summarized 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" (pp. 141-142).
Sharing this view, Wallace, Stariha and Walberg (2004) state that: “Listening
skills are essential for learning since they enable students to acquire insights and
information and to achieve success in communicating with others” (p. 13).
Similarly, Nunan (1998) believes that “listening is the basic skill in language
learning. Without listening skill learners will never learn to communicate
effectively” (p. 1)
It is obvious that language learning depends on listening since it provides the
aural input that serves as the basis for language acquisition and enables learners to
interact in spoken communication. Thus, language acquisition is achieved mainly
through receiving understandable input and listening ability is the critical
component in achieving understandable language input (Guo, N. & Wills, R., 2006,
p.3).
Given the importance of listening in language learning and teaching, it is
essential for language teachers to help students become effective listeners. In the
communicative approach to language teaching, teachers should model listening
strategies and provide listening practice in authentic situations.
1.3. Listening process
Over the past few decades, there have been numerous studies showing
different views on listening process, of which the concepts of bottom up and top

down processes are commonly discussed today (e.g. Buck, 2001; Richards, 2008).

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Bottom-up processing means listeners are trying to make sense of what they
hear by using their linguistic knowledge such as vocabulary, grammar or functional
phrases, and sounds, etc. In this type of process, listeners build their understanding
by starting with the smallest units of the acoustic message: individual sounds, or
phonemes until the meaning is derived.
On the other hand, top-down processing means listeners use their prior
knowledge (schemata) to understand the meaning of a message. Prior knowledge
may be the knowledge of the listening topic, context, or other information stored in
listeners‟ long-term memory.
However, listening is a complex process which is not either bottom-up or
top-down, but interactive process involving both listeners‟ prior knowledge and
linguistic knowledge in understanding the massage. Therefore, it is necessary for
both teachers and learners to recognize the pros and cons of each type so that they
can have better choice of the way to process a listening text.
1.4. Micro-skills of listening
Listening involves a multiplicity of skills. Different scholars have produced
different lists of micro-skills of listening (e.g. Willis, 1981; Richards, 1985; Rost,
1994)
Willis (1981, as cited in Yagang, 1993) lists a series of micro-skills of
listening, which she calls enabling skills. They are: (1) predicting what people are
going to talk about, (2) guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic, (3)
using one's own knowledge of the subject to help one understand, (4) identifying
relevant points; rejecting irrelevant information, (5) retaining relevant points (note-
taking, summarizing), (6) recognizing discourse markers, e.g., Well; Oh, another
thing is; Now, finally; etc., (7) recognizing cohesive devices, e.g., such as and
which, including linking words, pronouns, references, etc., (8) understanding

different intonation patterns and uses of stress, etc., which give clues to meaning
and social setting, (9) understanding inferred information, e.g. , speakers' attitude or
intentions.

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Rost (1994) provides a different list of micro-skills for listening. They are:
(1) discriminating between sounds, (2) recognizing words, (3) identifying stressed
words and groupings of words, (4) identifying functions (such as apologizing) in a
conversation, (5) 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, (6) 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, (7) recalling important words, topics and ideas, (8)
giving appropriate feedback to the speaker, (9) reformulating what the speaker has
said.
The list of micro-skills offered by Richards (1985) may be the most
comprehensive. He has identified 33 micro-skills for conversational listening and
18 micro-skills for academic listening. Some of the skills are: the ability to identify
purpose and scope of the lecture; the ability to recognize lexical terms related to
subject/topic; the ability to deduce meanings of words from context; the ability to
recognize markers of cohesion; etc.
To sum up, students need to integrate a variety of skills in order to listen
successfully. All these skills form a person‟ listening ability. Therefore, it is
essential for the teachers to design suitable tasks to help students develop these
skills.
1.5. Effective teaching of listening
Many scholars such as Rixon (1986), Anderson and Lynch (1988),
Underwood (1989), Rost (1990) have emphasized the need for effective teaching of
listening and have provided different teaching methods and procedures.

According to Underwood (1989), teaching listening comprehension in
languages aims to help students function effectively in real-life listening situations
such as lectures, radio and TV news, meetings, etc. Therefore, conventional
listening lessons in which students listen to teachers‟ reading or tapes and answer
comprehension questions, and then teachers give feedback in the form of „right‟

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answer may not help to improve students‟ listening skills. The reason for this is that
such techniques are testing techniques, not teaching techniques (Sheerin, 1987).
According to Sheerin (1987), effective teaching of listening involves such
procedures as provision of adequate preparation, adequate support and appropriate
tasks, together with positive feedback, error analysis and remedial action. She
further explains that language teachers can present listening lessons effectively
when they make adequate pre-teaching preparation, i.e. studying the text,
identifying and adjusting the level of difficulty of the listening tasks.
The teaching of listening will be more effective if the teachers use visual
supports (pictures, graphs, diagrams, maps, transcripts) because visual supports can
help provide learners with cultural information and enable them to predict more
accurately. Visuals also help to drive learners‟ attention to the important parts of the
message and train them to listen for specific information (Sheerin, 1987;
Underwood, 1989)
In terms of the type of listening tasks, Rost (1990) states that listening
comprehension tasks should be appropriate to the discourse type. Regarding this
point, Sheerin (1987, p. 128) suggests that listening tasks should not rely
exclusively or mainly on multiple-choice items or questions that require exact recall
of verbal details, but should vary according to the listening text. While setting the
tasks, teachers also should take such factors into consideration as students‟ general
background, interest and purpose.
Additionally, it is essential for the teachers to give positive feedbacks for

learners during listening lessons, which ensures that learners experience success as
often as possible. Moreover, positive feedback helps to diagnose the cause of the
failure to understand the discourse so that remedial actions can be taken (Sheerin,
1987; Rost, 1990).
In short, to teach listening skills effectively, it is essential for the teachers to
make necessary preparations, provide necessary supports during actual classroom
practices, and help students find suitable listening strategies for different listening

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tasks. However, all these may be practical when teachers are well-qualified and
engaged in continuous professional development trainings (Palmer, 1993)
1.6. Stages of a listening lesson
In general, a listening lesson often consists of three stages: pre-listening,
while-listening and post-listening stages (Rixon, 1986; Underwood, 1989; Yagang,
1993)
1.6.1. Pre-listening stage
Pre-listening stage is the preparation stage in which the content is made
explicit; listening purpose is clarified; and roles, procedures and goals for listening
are established (Rost, 1990). The main purposes of this stage are (1) to motivate
students since it is obvious that students feel interested and focus on the listening
discourse when they are clear about the aim and the content of the incoming
listening; (2) to activate students‟ prior knowledge as it is important for students to
be able to relate what they already know to the listening content; (3) to focus
students‟ attention on the topic by narrowing down the things they expect to hear;
and (4) to provide students with an opportunity to gain some background
information for the coming listening topic. To achieve these purposes, the teachers
need to set appropriate pre-listening activities. Underwood (1989) and Yagang
(1993) have proposed a list of pre-listening activities: giving background
information, discussion about the topic, looking at pictures, guiding questions,

predicting, consideration of how the while-listening activity will be done, etc. The
choice of the activities depend on many factors such as the time, the material
available, the place in which the work is being carried out, the nature and the
content of the listening text, the students‟ interests, the class‟ proficiency.
1.6.2. While-listening stage
According to Underwood (1989), while-listening stage involves activities
that 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
messages from spoken language. At this stage, students are advised to focus on

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comprehension to get important information from the text (Rixon, 1986). The
choice of while-listening activities should be considered carefully as Underwood
(1989) states “good while-listening activities help learners find their way through
the listening text and build up the expectations raised by pre-listening activities” (p.
46). Good while-listening activities have some characteristics. First, they should be
interesting enough to motivate students. Second, they should be short enough and
varied since it may be boring to do the same activity again and again. Last, they
should not be beyond the ability of most students. It is advisable to provide while-
listening activities which are a bit challenging for more advanced students, but not
discouraging for the less competent ones. Some examples of while-listening
activities are: filling in blanks, information transfer, storyline picture sets,
matching.
1.6.3. Post-listening stage
The post-listening stage involves all the activities carried out after the
completion of the listening. According to Underwood (1989), the purposes of this
stage are (1) to check whether the learners have understood what they need to
understand and whether they have completed the while-listening tasks effectively;
(2) to reflect on why some students have failed to understand or missed parts of the

message; (3) to give students the opportunity to consider the attitude and manner of
the speakers in the listening text; (4) to expand on the topic or language of the
listening text, and perhaps transfer things learned to another context; and (5) to
offer an opportunity to integrate listening with other language skills. Some of the
post-listening activities are problem solving and decision making, role play,
summarizing, written work. The choice of post-listening activities depends on such
factors as the time available, the material available, the ability of the class, the
interests of the class and the teacher.
In general, a lesson consisting of three stages mentioned above is a common
listening lesson framework. Although it is not the only way of conducting a

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listening lesson, it is one of the most effective ways that are widely used in
classrooms today.
1.7. Potential problems in listening
Listening is widely acknowledged as the most difficult skill to master by a
large number of language learners. There exist some problems in listening from the
learners‟ viewpoint (Ur, 1996; Underwood, 1989; Yagang, 1993).
Underwood (1989) identifies seven problems that learners often face in
learning listening: 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
signals, problems of interpretation, inability to concentrate and established learning
habits.
Ur (1996) shares some points with Underwood (1989) in listening problems
when she indicates the following six major problems: difficulties in perceiving
sounds, following natural speed and native accent, catching up with the load of
information, the need to understand everything, to get things repeated and to have a
rest.
Yagang (1993) attributes the difficulties of listening comprehension to four

sources: the message to be listened to, the speaker, the listener, and the physical
setting. The message means the content (e.g. topic) and the linguistic features (e.g.
liaison, elision, colloquial words) of the listening material. The speaker factor
involves the redundancy, the accent, voice, style. The listener factor refers to
his/her linguistic knowledge, background knowledge, and exposure to different
kinds of listening materials, psychological and physical factors. Physical setting
consists of background and environmental noises, visual and aural environmental
clues, quality of the equipment.
To sum up, the problems in listening come from four sources: the speaker,
the listener, the listening material and the physical setting. It is essential for the
teachers to have thorough understanding of these factors so that they can find the

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ways to help their students overcome the difficulties and improve their listening
competence.
1.8. Related studies on listening
Listening, which is hardly mentioned at all in journals in the 1970s, has now
played a much more prominent role, at least in language teaching (Richards, 2003).
Since the 1980s, more research, theory building, and curriculum development on
listening comprehension has been done because researchers are increasingly
interested in exploring this complex skill.
Although the teaching and learning of listening skills are paid more attention
now than they were in the past, the studies conducted in classrooms in general and
the ones to explore the reality of teaching and learning English listening skills in
particular remain limited. A study by Fantahun (2003) investigated classroom
listening comprehension teaching practices of Grade 11 teachers in Ethiopia. The
results showed that there was a mismatch between the teaching practices
implemented by the teachers and the pedagogical procedures favored by the course
designers for teaching the listening sections of the new course book. The study

recommended that in order to develop teachers‟ awareness of the newly introduced
communicative language teaching approach, officials at the Ministry of Education,
school administrators, department heads and the teachers themselves should take
responsibilities to organize practice-based in-service professional development
programmes; school libraries and audiovisual centers should be equipped with
current reference materials on language teaching methodology and equipment that
are useful for teaching listening comprehension.
In the context of Vietnam, there have been a few studies on teaching and
learning English listening skills that were conducted in classrooms. However, most
of the studies focus on the difficulties that the teachers and the students face during
listening lessons (e.g. Thu, 2008; Hoa, 2010) or on the ways to improve students‟
listening comprehension (Lan, 2006; Hanh, 2010). To date, there has been only a
study focusing on the reality of teaching and learning English listening skills in

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classrooms, that is the research entitled “Reality of Teaching and Learning
Listening Skills to First-year Non-English Major Students at Phuong Dong
University: Problems and Solutions” by Mai Thi Thu Trang (2010). In this study,
Trang investigated the problems that the teachers and first-year non-English major
students at Phuong Dong University encountered during listening lessons and
provided some solutions to overcome those problems. The findings of the study
revealed that the teachers and the students at Phuong Dong University encountered
many obstacles in teaching and learning listening. Some of the major problems
were: large, noisy and multilevel class; lack of teaching equipments; speed of
speech, unfamiliar sounds; limited vocabulary and structures; and students‟ low
motivation. Coping with each difficulty, teachers and students found their own
solutions. However, this study only focused on finding out the difficulties that
teachers and students faced in listening lessons. It did not explore the teachers‟ and
the students‟ real classroom practices in listening lessons as well as their attitudes

towards listening. Moreover, the subjects of this study were university students,
who are totally different from high school students. This fact leaves a gap for the
researcher to conduct the present study to investigate the reality of teaching and
learning English listening skills in grade 10 at YMBHS.
1.9. Summary
In this chapter the researcher has presented a number of issues related to the
research questions. This literature review serves as the theoretical framework for
the researcher to build up two sets of questionnaires and suggest some pedagogical
implications. The next chapter will provide the readers with the information about
the context and the methodology of the study.






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CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the context and the methodology of the study which
are very important to the realization of the study.
2.1. Overview of the current situation of teaching and learning English at
YMBHS.
2.1.1. The school context
YMBHS, which was founded forty years ago, is located at a mountainous
area of Yen Mo District, Ninh Binh province. The school has 33 classrooms, a
small library, and two computer-equipped rooms.
Concerning the students, there are 1402 students, most of whom come from
low-income families. They do not have opportunities to get exposed to English
except in classrooms. English has never been included in the entrance exam to high

school in Ninh Binh Province. This is the reason why English has not been paid as
much attention to as other subjects such as Math, Chemistry, and Physics at junior
secondary schools. Consequently, the English proficiency level of most students is
quite low when they enter YMBHS. English is the compulsory subject for all the
students at YMBHS. The students have three regular periods and a follow-up period
of English a week. There is a fact that the administrators of YMBHS are in favour
of natural science subjects, so English is not paid much attention to. Most students
learn English in order to pass exams, not because of their interest.
In terms of teaching materials, the textbook used in the school is the standard
one by the MOET for all the grades. In addition to the textbook, there are few
reference books in the library. However, reference books are limited in number as
well as in type. Therefore, not all the students and the teachers can get access to this
source of materials.
Regarding the teaching facilities, there are three CD players in total, a set of
CD for each grade, a room equipped with a projector for all the subjects and classes
at the school.

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Concerning the teaching staff, there are nine teachers of English, whose ages
range from 23 to 36. All of them are female. All the teachers majored in English at
university. In general, they are enthusiastic and supportive to their students and to
one another.
2.1.2. The new textbook English 10 (the standard textbook) and its listening
section
 The new textbook English 10 (the standard textbook)
The new English 10 is the fifth volume which succeeds the new series of
textbook for grade 6 to grade 9. The textbook consists of 16 units and 6 review
units. Each unit covers one topic which is updated and relevant to many aspects of
the daily life such as Daily activities, School talks, People‟s background, The mass

media, Music, etc. Each unit in the textbook is divided into five sections: reading,
speaking, listening, writing, and language focus respectively. Such division aims to
develop students‟ communicative skills and systematize important linguistic
components. The review unit aims to help the students self-assess their language
ability after two or three units.
 The listening section in the new textbook English 10
The listening section is the third section in each unit. The aim of this section
is to help the students improve their listening skills such as intensive listening,
extensive listening, listening for specific information, listening for gist. The
listening text in each unit is either a monologue or a dialogue of about 120 - 150
words in length. The content of the listening text is related to the topic of the unit in
the textbook. Each listening section is structured into three stages: Before you listen,
While you listen and After you listen. The aim of Before you listen stage is to help
students get used to the topic and the content of the listening text, pre-teach new
vocabulary and make the students ready to listen. While you listen consists of two to
four tasks which require the students to fulfill such tasks as deciding true or false
statements, choosing the best option, filling in blanks, answering questions. After
you listen aims to help students to consolidate the language skills through the

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activities of summarizing or retelling the listening text in the written or spoken
forms. (Van et al, 2006, p. 10-11)
2.2. Methodology
2.2.1. Research questions
In order to find out the reality of teaching and learning English listening
skills in grade 10 at YMBHS, the research focuses on answering the following
questions:
1. What is the present situation of teaching and learning English listening skills
in grade 10 at YMBHS?

2. What are the difficulties in teaching and learning English listening skills in
grade 10 at YMBHS as perceived by the teachers and the students?
3. What solutions do the teachers and the students suggest to improve the
current situation of teaching and learning English listening skills in grade 10 at
YMBHS?
2.2.2. Participants
The participants in the study included 8 teachers of English and 128 tenth
graders at YMBHS in Ninh Binh province.
Eight teachers who are currently teaching English at YMBHS participated in
the study. Five of the teachers were in charge of teaching English in grade 10 this
academic year, the other three taught the 10
th
graders the previous academic year.
Two teachers had more than 10 years of teaching experience. All of them majored
in English at University and none of them had Master of Art degree.
The target population of students consisted of 434 tenth graders at YMBHS.
These students, aged from 16 to 17, were equally divided into eleven classes in
terms of number and level. Most of them started learning English when they entered
grade 6. The researcher employed a cluster random sampling technique to select the
sample for the study. The reason was that it was difficult and time-consuming to
select a random sample of individuals and gather these subjects because they had
been already assigned to different classes with different timetables. In this case,

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according to Fraenkel and Wallen (2005), cluster random sampling was more
feasible. Therefore, the researcher decided to randomly select three classes by
writing the numbers of classes from 10A1 to 10A11 on 11 cards respectively and
putting them in a hat; then mixing the cards thoroughly and randomly taking out
three cards. The numbers chosen were 10A2, 10A4, and 10A11. The total number

of students from these three classes was 131.
2.2.3. Data collection instruments
The researcher intended to collect the same information about the reality of
teaching and learning English listening skills in Grade 10 at YMBHS from two
sources: questionnaires and classroom observations with the hope to guarantee the
reliability and the objectiveness of the study.
2.2.3.1. Survey questionnaire
To gather data for this study, two sets of questionnaires were administered to
the respondents: one for the students and the other for the teachers. The
questionnaires were tested with a sample of three teachers and fifteen students for
feedback on interpretation and clarity. After analyzing the data in the piloted study,
the final and formal questionnaires were established.
 Survey questionnaire for the students
The questionnaire designed for the students was distributed to them in the
late second term. All questions and items were written in Vietnamese to make sure
that the students had a clear understanding of the questions and the items before
they gave out their choices. In addition, the students were able to express their
thought more easily in open-ended questions when they used their mother tongue.
The questionnaire consisted of two parts. Part one was intended to collect personal
information of the participants, such as their age, gender, years of learning English.
Part two consisted of 10 questions which were both close and open-ended. The
purpose of the questionnaire for the students was to investigate:
- the current situation of learning English listening skills in grade 10 at
YMBHS;

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- the students‟ difficulties in learning English listening skills; and
- their suggested solutions to improve the current situation of teaching and
learning English listening skills.

 Survey questionnaire for the teachers
The survey questionnaire for the teachers had two main parts which were
written in English. The first part was to get personal information including the
teachers‟ gender, age and years of teaching English. The second part that consisted
of 9 questions was about:
- the current situation of teaching English listening skills in grade 10 at
YMBHS;
- the teachers‟ difficulties in teaching English listening lessons; and
- their suggested solutions to improve the current situation of teaching and
learning English listening skills.
2.2.3.2. Classroom observation
Along with two sets of survey questionnaires for the teachers and the
students, classroom observations were also applied. The purpose of classroom
observations in the context of the present study was aimed at discovering how the
teachers and students actually taught and learnt English listening skills in the
classroom. This helped the researcher double-check the validity and reliability of
the data that were collected through the questionnaires and also gain more
information concerning the research questions. The observation was carried out in
four English listening lessons in four random classes before and after the delivery of
the questionnaires. The researcher acted as a non-participant in the classroom and
took notes about the teachers‟ and the students‟ practices during the lessons.
2.2.4. Data collection procedure
All the participants were informed in Vietnamese about the purposes,
methods and requirements of the collection of the data to make sure they were clear
about what they would have to do and were willing to participate in the study.
Two sets of questionnaires - one for teachers and the other for students -