Receptive and productive skills of freshman students in Thai Nguyen University system: Bases for listening and speaking activities (LV thạc sĩ)

i

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE SKILLS OF FRESHMAN STUDENTS
IN THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SYSTEM: BASES FOR
LISTENING AND SPEAKING ACTIVITIES

A Dissertation
Presented to
The Faculty of Graduate School
Batangas State University
Batangas City, Philippines

In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Of Doctor of Philosophy
Major in English

By:
Hoang Thi Nhung
June 2015

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN

ii

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

APPROVAL SHEET
This dissertation entitled “RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE SKILLS OF
FRESHMAN STUDENTS IN THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SYSTEM: BASES
FOR LISTENING AND SPEAKING ACTIVITIES” prepared and submitted by
HOANG THI NHUNG in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy major in English has been examined and is
recommended for Oral Examination.

MATILDA H. DIMAANO, Ph.D.
Adviser
PANEL OF EXAMINERS
Approved by the committee on Oral Examination with a grade
of _________.

DR. AMADA G. BANAAG
Chairman
DR. MARIA LUISA A. VALDEZ
Member

DR. FELIX M. PANOPIO
Member

DR. MYRNA G. SULIT
External Representative
Accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy major in English.

Comprehensive Examination: PASSED

____________
Date

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN

MATILDA H. DIMAANO, Ph.D.
Dean, Graduate Studies
College of Arts and Sciences



iii

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

ABSTRACT
Title

: Receptive and Productive Skills of Freshman Students at
Thai Nguyen University System: Bases for Listening and
Speaking Activities

Author

: Hoang Thi Nhung

Course

: Doctor of Philosophy

Major

: English

Year

: 2015

Adviser

: Dr. Matilda H. Dimaano

Summary
This study aimed to assess the receptive and productive skills among
freshman students at Thai Nguyen University, Vietnam. It covered the profile of
the student respondents including gender, high school graduated from,
residence, parents’ education, family income and exposure to English media.
The respondents listening skills in terms of accuracy, comprehension,

vocabulary and spelling were assessed. Included also in the study were the
levels of student’s speaking skills in terms of pronunciation, fluency,
comprehension and vocabulary with English listening and speaking activities
as output to enhance the listening and speaking skills of the students.
Respondents included in the study comprised of 53 English teachers
and 380 freshman students. The study made use of descriptive method of
Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN




iv

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

research utilizing survey questionnaire and teacher- made test as data
gathering instruments. Data were treated using the following statistics:
frequency distribution and percentage, weighted mean, standard deviation,
and independent t-test.
Results of the study indicate that relative to the demographic profile of the
student respondents relative to gender, majority of them are female comprising
59.47 percent For residence profile, they are almost equally distributed in urban
and suburban areas with a slight five percent higher frequency in urban
respondents. As to type of high school attended, majority of them come from
public schools comprising 85.53 percent. For education of parents, less than half
of the respondents’ parents or 38.68 percent have tertiary education. With

regards to exposures to English media, majority of students’ exposure comes
from printed means comprising a total of 53.83 percent.
For the levels of the students’ listening skills in terms of accuracy,
they got an average performance rating or 52.0 percent while in the area of
comprehension, students got an average performance or 60.0 percent. In
addition, the vocabulary performance of the students is average or 60.0
percent while in the area of spelling their performance is also average or
52.0 percent.

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN




v

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

Relative to the level of the students’ speaking skills, the pronunciation
performance of the students is 42.0 per cent while in fluency the performance of the
students is 40.0 percent. Both got the equivalent rating of low average. In
comprehension on the other hand students’ performance is average or 52.0 percent.
In terms of vocabulary, students obtained the rating of 56.0 percent or average.
As to the relationships between students’ listening and speaking skills,
no relationship exists between them except some sub skills where a p-value
greater than 0-05 can be noted.

For the difficulties commonly met by students in listening, results
showed that in all four areas the performance rating is above 50 percent, and
only the area that got the most difficult rank was a tie between accuracy and
spelling. On the difficulty in speaking two of the four areas had performance
ratings above 50 percent, and two had below 50 percent which are the subskill areas on Pronunciation and Fluency.
The listening and spelling activities as the output of the study were
based on the identified skills areas were students find most difficult and those
that showed low rank in the teachers’ perception of frequency use and
importance. The study recommended that the proposed listening and speaking
activities may be reviewed by concerned practitioners for further suggestions
and improvements; that efforts should be exerted to address problems and
concerns relative to improving listening and speaking performance of students
and a similar study may be conducted along this line to other universities.
Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN




vi

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The

researcher

expresses

her

profound

gratitude

and

sincere

appreciation to all the persons who in their special ways help in making this
study a reality. She is most grateful to:
Dr. Dang Kim Vui, President Thai Nguyen University (TNU), Vietnam for
his support in making this partnership with Batangas State University possible;
Dr. Matilda H. Dimaano, Dissertation Adviser and Mentor, for all the
assistance, guidance, critical comments and suggestions for the improvement
of this dissertation. Her sound advices and research expertise contributed
much in completing this academic endeavor;
The Panel of Examiners Dr. Corazon B. Cabrera, Dr. Amada G. Banaag,
Dr. Felix M. Panopio, Dr. Maria Luisa A. Valdez, Dr. Myrna G. Sulit for their
valuable comments and recommendations for the enrichment of this study;
Dr. Remedios P. Magnaye, Recording Secretary, for all her efforts in the
preparation and encoding of defense minutes;
Dr. Nguyen The Hung, Director of the International Training Center,
TNU; Dr. Nong Quoc Chinh, Rector and Dr. Le Thi Thanh Nhan, Vice Rector of
Thai Nguyen University of Sciences for their encouragement and support;

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN




vii

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

Her colleagues and classmates, for their support and friendship;
The teachers and student-respondents of the study, for their active
participation and cooperation;
Her parents and sibling for their blessings;
Le Tran Kien, husband, and Le Hoang Trung, son, for all their love and
support, and for being an inspiration.

Hoang Thi Nung

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN




viii

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

DEDICATION

This humble work is wholeheartedly dedicated to my beloved parents, my
loving husband, Le Tran Kien, and my precious son, Le Hoang Trung.

Hoang Thi Nung

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN




ix

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE........................................................................................ i
APPROVAL SHEET............................................................................ ii
ABSTRACT......................................................................................... iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...................................................................... vii
DEDICATION....................................................................................... ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS...................................................................... x
LIST OF TABLES................................................................................ xiii
LIST OF FIGURES.............................................................................. xv
CHAPTER
I. THE PROBLEM
Introduction............................................................ 1
Statement of the Problem ..................................... 8
Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study.....9
Significance of the Study ...................................... 10
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Conceptual Literature........................................... 12
Research Literature............................................... 31

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN




x

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

Synthesis ............................................................. 38
Theoretical Framework ........................................ 42

Conceptual Framework ........................................ 44
Hypothesis............................................................ 47
Definition of Terms................................................ 47
III. RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURE
Research Environment ......................................... 49
Research Design .................................................. 51
Subjects of the Study ............................................ 52
Data Gathering Instrument.................................... 53
Data Gathering Procedure.................................... 56
Statistical Treatment of Data ................................. 57
IV. PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF
DATA .................................................................... 59
V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Summary of Findings........................................... 105
Conclusions ......................................................... 115
Recommendation ................................................. 116
BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................. 117

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN




xi

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

APPENDICES………………………………………………………… 122
A. Questionnaires.........................................................

123

B. Letters of Request..................................................... 134
C. Documentations........................................................ 141
D. Psychrometric Conversion Table.............................

147

CURRICULUM VITAE..................................................................

149

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN




xii

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

LIST OF TABLES

Table

Title

Page

1

Distribution of Sample Respondents .......................................53

2

Gender Profile of the Student Respondents.............................59

3

Residence Profile of the Student Respondents........................61

4

Type of High School Profile of the Student Respondents........63

5

Parent's Education Profile of the Student
Respondents............................................................................63

6

Type of English Media Exposure of the Student

Respondents............................................................................65

7

Levels of Student's Performance in Listening ..........................67

8

Levels of Students’ Performance in the Speaking Skill.............71

9

T-test Comparison of the Student's Mean
Performance in Listening..........................................................75

10

T-test Comparison of the Student's Mean
Performance in Speaking.........................................................76

11

T-test Comparison of the Student's Mean
Performance in Listening and Speaking.................................78

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN

xiii

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

12

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

Students’ Performance in the Listening Skill
as to Degree of Difficulty..........................................................80

13

Student's Performance in the Speaking Skill
as to Degree of Difficulty...........................................................81

14

Bases for the Design of Remedial Learning
and Speaking Activities.............................................................83

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN




xiv

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure
1

Title

Page

Conceptual Paradigm of the Study …………………………..45

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN




1

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM
Introduction
In our day to day life, language plays a very vital role in communication.
Most of our daily activities need the interplay of these four language skills
listening, speaking, reading and writing. A balance among them would be
required for an individual to become an efficient and effective communicator of
the language. Meanwhile, there seem to be factors that lead to linguistic
incompleteness causing problems to users of the second language.
It has been claimed that over fifty percent of the time that students spend
functioning in a foreign language is devoted to listening (Nunan,1998). Despite
this observation, among the four language skills, listening is the one often
taken for granted. In fact, it is the least understood and most overlooked
language skill. Since the natural precursor to speaking is listening, in a
person’s first language, the early stages of language development are
dependent on listening. In first language education, on- going attention is
needed for both listening and speaking development. This is because first
language speakers are often taken for granted in terms of instruction relative to

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN




2

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

reading and writing as it is previously assumed that listening and speaking are
skills that are automatically acquired by native speakers.

In the 1980’s, listening had a very important role in second language
learning. This notion resulted to a corresponding drop in the importance of
speaking in the early stages of learning. This was apparent even in a course
where it was often discouraged to speak early. The insight on what it means
to learn a language finds support in the contention where emphasis is given to
listening and speaking is delayed.
One way of learning the language is through the mode of listening. A
number of approaches to language teaching gave importance to listening.
Nord’s (1980) view was clearly expressed when he stated that some people
believe that learning a language is like building a map of meaning in the mind
and that talking would indicate that the language was learned; although he
does not believe that talking is the best way to build this cognitive map but
rather the best method is to practice listening. Through listening, the learner is
given information from which the knowledge necessary for using the language
is built up. The learner can start speaking when knowledge is built up.

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN




3

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

There are many benefits to learners if they can concentrate to listening
and delay speaking. One of these is cognitive benefit wherein there will be no
overloading relative to the focus of the learner on two or more skills. Another is
the speed of coverage, wherein, receptive knowledge grows faster than

productive knowledge, and the possibility to experience and learn more about
language occur through listening. Further, there’s a strong effect on motivation
if there is a move to realistic communicative listening activities. There is also a
psychological benefit when listening activities are involved in language
learning as these reduce stress while independent learning of these activities
are well-suited for individualized learning.
Listening before is viewed as passive process wherein the listener acts
as receiver of information transmitted by the speaker. Recently, a much more
active and interpretive process is attributed to listening as the message is not
fixed since it is created through interactional space between participants.
Listeners constructed meanings that are shaped by context through the act of
interpreting meaning, rather than receiving it intact (Lynch, 2002).
Listening comprised not only of one skill but varied sub- skills. There is
better performance in comprehension questions for listeners with more skills. A

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN




4

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

fundamental platform for second language development and content learning
is provided through experiences with meaning-focused listening. Directed
attention to perceptual processing and parsing skills enriched these
experiences. Finding an appropriate balance between providing opportunities
for listening skill development through meaning –focused listening and through

language learning focused listening which focuses on bottom-up listening
practice is needed by teachers.
In listening comprehension, there are problems of learners identified.
These include problems in recognizing word forms, and keeping up with what
is coming in. Learners do not have enough time to turn perceived form into an
appropriate message. Goh (2000) stated that listening problems can occur at
the levels of perception, parsing and utilization and that learners can benefit
from training in listening strategies which include communication strategies to
assist comprehension, like making predictions before listening, listening
selectively, and knowing how to interrupt politely. Others problems of learners
identified in listening are not being able to discriminate or distinguish English
sounds or learners lack of phonological awareness; not knowing the meaning

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN

5

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

of English words or lack of vocabulary; and their lack of pacing or speed in
understanding spoken language.
Speaking on the other hand is said to be acquired by all human beings
who are normally endowed without explicit instruction. Among the four skills,
speaking is the most demanding and challenging skill. It is an activity that
requires an integration of many subsystems. One of the most difficult aspects
of the spoken language is accomplished through interaction with another

speaker. Since speech is the most basic means of human communication, for
most people, knowing the language is synonymous to the ability to speak a
language. Reduced forms like contractions, vowel reduction, and elision
comprised fluent speech. These are features that interact to make speaking a
very important central skill.
In the oral mode, speaking is a productive skill and it is also complicated
like the other skill components of language as it involves many aspects. There
are three situations where speakers are engaged when speaking. In interactive
speaking situations, the speaker has the chance to request from conversation
partner to clarify, repeat, or slow down speaking while in partially interactive
speaking situations, the speaker can gauge whether there is understanding of
the message conveyed on the part of the conversation partner through facial
Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN

6

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

expressions and body language. Recording a speech for radio broadcast is a
form of a non-interactive speaking situation.
A number of situational factors to help convey meaning and intention
rely on speaking. There are some characteristics that speaker must carry out
in order to become successful speaker. These include giving much time or
opportunity to the students to speak as often as possible. Allocating as much
time as possible to students talking can create the best environment for
engaging in oral activities.

The following features are considered for successful speaking activities.
These are making sure that students participation is not dominated by a few
talkative students; that students want to speak because they are interested in
the topic; that students have something relevant to say; that students can be
understood by anyone; and that there are not frequent interruptions while
student is speaking.
There are also several factors to consider when planning for a variety
of speaking tasks to push learner’s output. First is that learners should be
able to speak on a range of topic, as covering a good range of topics
Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN

7

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

improves learner’s vocabulary. Range of text types is another factor that
though these text types which include intimate interpersonal interaction,
scientific exposition, and imaginative narrative were written types, they
contain spoken equivalents. As for the range of performance conditions,
planning before speaking is very important as it involves task preparation
before performance. Time pressure also affects speaking performance in
the sense that providing learner’s ample time to perform speaking task
increase the quality of the learner’s spoken output.

With regards to the amount of support as performance condition, an
important requirement in supportive listening is providing the speaker a way in
finding needed items in language without giving overwhelming attention to that
given support. For the standard of performance affecting speaking, while it can
be supportive to speak with others, it can also be demanding.
Some problems in an English class are attributed to the failure of some
speaking activities. The problems faced by learners in speaking activities
include inhibition, nothing to say, the low participation, the theme to be spoken
and the use of the mother tongue. Manifestations of students having inhibitions

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN




8

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

is stage freight whenever a student is made to speak in front of an audience,
nothing to say where students need not say anything because they feel bored
knowing that the topic is unrelated to anything they know; low participation
where students are prevented to speak due to the dominance of students who
are good English speakers and mother tongue where students insist on using
their mother tongue instead of English language for fear of criticism. Speaking
in class can be a lot of fun, raise general learner motivation and making
English language classroom a dynamic place if the language activities are
taught in a right way.

So that as a college instructor teaching Basic English course, the
researcher is prompted to conduct a study on receptive and productive skills of
Freshman students with the end view of proposing English speaking and
listening activities to enhance the students’ receptive and productive skills.
Statement of the Problem
This study is designed to assess receptive and productive skills among
freshman students in Thai Nguyen University, Vietnam.

Specifically, it sought answers to the following questions:
1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents with reference to:
Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN




9

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

1.1 gender;

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

1.2 high school graduated from;
1.3 Residence;
1.4 parent’s education; and
1.5 English media exposure?
2. What are the levels of the students’ listening skills relative to:
2.1 accuracy;
2.2 comprehension;
2.3 vocabulary; and
2.4 spelling?

3. What are the levels of students’ speaking skills relative to:
3.1 pronunciation;
3.2 fluency;

3.3 comprehension; and
3.4 vocabulary?
4.

Are there significant relationships on the students’ listening and

speaking skills?
Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN




10

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

5. What are the difficulties commonly met by students in:
5.1 listening; and
5.2 speaking

6. What listening and speaking activities may be suggested for
classroom purposes?
Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study
This study focused on the assessment of the speaking and listening skills
of the freshman students at Thai Nguyen University, Vietnam.
Profile of the respondents including gender, high school graduated from,

residence, parents’ education, and exposure to English media were covered in
the

study.

The

respondents

listening

skills

in

terms

of

accuracy,

comprehension, vocabulary and spelling were assessed. Part of the study also
included the levels of students’ speaking skills in terms of pronunciation,

fluency, comprehension and vocabulary with the end view of proposing English
listening and speaking activities to enhance the receptive and productive skills
of the students.
The study covered the four (4) Thai Nguyen Universities in Thai Nguyen
City. Three hundred and eighty (380) Freshman students and 53 English
teachers were used as respondents of the study during the Academic Year

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN




11

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Republic of the Philippines

2013-2014. The study did not include those students in the higher levels and
those coming from other colleges of TNU system not mentioned in the study.
This study is limited on the results of the data gathered from students
and teacher respondents involved.
Significance of the Study
The study is deemed beneficial to the Administrators of Thai Nguyen
University, faculty of basic English, freshman students, parents, present
researcher and future researchers.
Administrators of Thai Nguyen. This study can guide them in
improving their English curriculum by evaluating the different English
proficiency enhancing activities. This study will also serve as a guide for the
enhancement of the existing Basic English curriculum to meet their institutional
goals and objectives.

Faculty of Basic English. This study will serve as a tool for the faculty
in teaching Basic English as they may become aware of the present level of

students’ listening and speaking skills. This will provide them insights on what
innovative learning activities will be appropriate to enhance the language
proficiency of their students.
Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – ĐHTN