A study about what makes students get more interested in english listening lesson

A STUDY ABOUT WHAT MAKES STUDENTS GET MORE
INTERESTED IN ENGLISH LISTENING LESSON

ABSTRACT
With the effort to help upper-secondary students more interested in learning
English, the researcher would like to have a closer look at students’ perception
about English listening skill. The study, therefore, is carried out to find out the
hindrance from students’ side in listening to English as well as the expectation that
students desire from English teachers’ side. The researcher uses both quantitative
and qualitative methods in the study to collect information from students and then
analyze through tables to find out the results for discussion. The study, hopefully,
contributes considerably to motivate students’ love for English in general and
listening skill in particular.


I. Introduction
Statement of research problem: Students in English-specialized classes have a
reason to study English. Therefore, English teachers find it easy to get students
involved in listening lessons. As for English non-specialized students, accounting
86.7% in Hung Yen Specialized High School, how to make students more active
in studying English in general and listening to English in particular still remains a
question. The researcher, thus, chooses to do the study on what makes students get
more interested in English listening lesson with the hope to motivate students’
interest and aid English teachers in accomplishing an effective English listening
lesson.
Research objectives: The research aims at finding out useful techniques that will
increase students’ motivation and encourage students to listen to English
enjoyably. The participants who are in the first year at high school, as a result, will
be equipped with good base to continue bringing up their love to English in the
following years. This study hopefully assists English teachers to overcome the
hindrance to students’ listening and meet the students’ needs when carrying out

English listening lessons; thus, contributing to a successful English listening
lesson.
Research scope: The number of English non-specialized students in Hung Yen
Specialized High School accounts for 86.7%. The study aims at this subject, so it
is done with 60 grade-ten students. Thirty students come from a natural science
class and the other thirty ones are from social science class. This sample is big
enough to ensure the objectiveness and precision for the research.


Research method: Quantitative and qualitative methods are used in this research.
Questionnaires are distributed to students in both Vietnamese and English to
ensure students do not misunderstand the researcher’s points. The researcher
guides students carefully to tick the right boxes that are right for them. The
information, then, will be analyzed through numbers and described on tables for
discussion. Concurrently, the researcher makes full use of the observation that she
accumulates when teaching students over years to analyze all the factors for the
best results.
Literature Review
Over the years, researchers worldwide have spent considerable time and effort to
detect the most effective ways of learning English. The techniques or methods in
teaching English are themselves excellent. However, what to apply and how to
apply depend on certain contexts, environment and regions. In terms of teaching
listening skills, there is also a wide range of methods proposed to build a
successful lesson. With the topic of raising students’ interest in English listening,
below are some opinions.
Gardner (1985) mentions learners’ desire to communicate with other learners
when researching on learners’ motivation. He, later on, terms motivation as
“behavior, feeling and cognition”; and, motivated students have “goals, desires,
aspiration and enjoys the activity” (2001, p.9). William Collins and Justin Hunt
(Jaltcalljournal, Vol. 7, No. 3, Pages 319-333) claim that when students have low

interest, they will have low motivation. These two authors also state that students’
motivation and confidence will be developed through a wide range of listening
options in which video forums are of importance. Sherman (2003) puts an accent
on authentic videos in motivating students because of their valuable real-life
nature.


When using computer to assist students, Adamson (1996) says that they “prefer
and enjoy the type of software that is flexible and user-frienly”. Brett (1997)
compares success rate between two groups of students. The one with the
assistance of multimedia proves to perform more effectively than the one with
either one of the media types. Mackey (2006) and Leow (2011) have the same
point of view on the CALL assistance. They point out that listening performance
on the computer connected to the internet provides students with quick answers
and comments, which strengthens their motivation.
On the side of English teachers, Hadley and Alice Omaggio (Teaching Language
in Context, p.190) emphasizes the importance of teacher talking English in class,
which is considered listening materials, so that students are bathed in English
environment. McDonough (2000) believes that teachers should plan flexible
questions before class and may give students extension tasks to make them more
involved in the lesson. Nunan (2001) suggests setting goals prior to listening to
make students know what they are going to follow. Wang Qiang (2006) also states
that it is of utmost importance that listening activities are designed with “clear
purpose, a specific task and an appropriate context”. Robin (2006) advises joining
listening with writing and speaking to both make students recall the listening
content and “sharpen their interest and raise their motivation”.
As can be seen from the short summary above, few researchers look at the side of
learners to find out what impedes students’ willingness to listen to English. This
research is, therefore, carried out to find an answer. However, with the limited
time and condition, the researcher just does the study within Hung Yen

Specialized High School.

This research is done to answer two questions:
1. Why are students afraid to listen to English?


2. What are the most beneficial techniques to assist students in listening to
English?

II. Discussion
To answer the first question “Why are students afraid to listen to English?”,
the researcher distributes questionnaire numbered 1 to students to find out the
hindrance that impedes their listening to English.
Questionnaire No 1:
Here are the list of factors that may make you afraid to listen to English, tick the ones that
apply to you. (Đây là danh sách một số yếu tố khiến em ngại nghe tiếng Anh trên lớp,
hãy đánh dấu tick vào những ô mà em thấy đúng với bản thân mình.)
1. Listening tasks are too difficult
(Các bài tập nghe quá khó)
2. I don’t understand what to do
(Em không hiểu em phải làm gì)
3. There are usually too many new words
(Có quá nhiều từ mới)
4. The recording is too fast for me to understand
(Phần nghe quá nhanh nên em không kịp hiểu)
5. The sound on the CD is different from what I read or hear from the teacher
(Các âm trên CD khác với các âm mà em vẫn đọc hay nghe giáo viên đọc)
6. I don’t know where to listen to and find the answer
(Em không biết phải nghe ở phần nào để tìm câu trả lời)
7. The topics are unfamiliar

(Các chủ đề thật lạ lẫm)
8. The sound volume is not big enough for me to listen clearly
(Âm thanh không đủ to để em có thể nghe rõ ràng)
9. I don’t have enough time to take notes for the answer
(Em không kịp ghi chép cho câu trả lời)


10. The listening in the textbook is so boring
(Phần nghe trong sách giáo khoa quá tẻ nhạt)
11. Others (Khác) …………………………………………………………….......
…………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………….........
And here is the result:
What makes students afraid to listen to English
1. Listening tasks are too difficult
(Các bài tập nghe quá khó)
2. I don’t understand what to do
(Em không hiểu em phải làm gì)
3. There are usually too many new words
(Có quá nhiều từ mới)
4. The recording is too fast for me to understand
(Phần nghe quá nhanh nên em không kịp hiểu)
5. The sound on the CD is different from what I read or
hear from the teacher
(Các âm trên CD khác với các âm mà em vẫn đọc hay
nghe giáo viên đọc)
6. I don’t know where to listen to and find the answer
(Em không biết phải nghe ở phần nào để tìm câu trả lời)
7. The topics are unfamiliar
(Các chủ đề thật lạ lẫm)

8. The sound volume is not big enough for me to listen
clearly
(Âm thanh không đủ to để em có thể nghe rõ ràng)
9. I don’t have enough time to take notes for the answer
(Em không kịp ghi chép cho câu trả lời)
10. The listening in the textbook is so boring
(Phần nghe trong sách giáo khoa quá tẻ nhạt)
11. Others (Khác)

Number of
students
11

Percentage
(%)
18.3

11

18.3

33

55

40

66.7

44

73.3

9

15

1

1.7

6

10

22

36.7

5

8.3

1

1.7

As can be seen from the table, surprisingly, factor numbered 5 is the first
hindrance in students’ listening to English with 73.3%. This shows that the sounds
that students hear from teachers (current or from the ones who taught them in

previous years) are so different from the sounds of the exactly same words on the
recording. Thus, students are not able to recognize the sounds. This fact affirms
again English teacher’s pronunciation and accent is of importance. Only when


English teachers master good pronunciation, can students better their listening
skill. The next two causes are that the recording is too fast for students to listen
(66.7%) and there are too many new words (55%). Quite many students complain
that they cannot keep up with the recording and new words really frustrate them to
listen. This means English teachers need to play CD several times or slow down
the speed to students’ level so that students can have the opportunity to understand
the content. Also, teaching some new words as a background before listening is
necessary. It is advisable for English teachers to guide students to study some
supplement skills for listening such as note-taking. Factor numbered 9 accounting
up to 36.7% of students’ answers asserts again the importance and necessity of
supplement skills that will assist students a lot in catching the ideas of the
recording. With the same percentage, both factor 1 and 2 take up 18.3% in
impeding students’ listening. Though small, this number needs to be taken into
consideration to adapt the listening content appropriately and instruct students
carefully when carry out listening activities. Factor 6 with 15% makes it clearer
about the necessity of teachers’ giving careful instruction before listening. Only
10% of the students think that the volume need to be bigger and 8.3% want to
change the listening content in the book into something more interesting. Other
factors just account for only 1.7%.

To answer the second question “What are the most beneficial techniques to

assist students in listening to English?”, questionnaire numbered 2 is
distributed to students to find out what English teachers can do to assist their
students and motivate them to listen to English.

Questionnaire No 2:
What do you think will assist you the most in English listening lesson? Tick the ones that
apply to you. (Theo em, điều gì hỗ trợ em nhiều nhất trong bài nghe tiếng Anh, đánh
dấu tick vào những ô mà em thấy đúng với bản thân mình.)
1. English teacher provides some new words and structures before listening
(Giáo viên đưa ra từ mới và cấu trúc mới trước khi nghe)
2. Teacher gives instruction carefully about what students are going to listen to and
what they have to do
(Giáo viên hướng dẫn một cách cẩn thận về những gì các em sắp nghe và sẽ phải
làm gì)
3. Teacher organizes discussion about the topic before listening or develop mindmap for students to contribute ideas
(Giáo viên tổ chức thảo luận về chủ đề trước khi nghe hoặc vẽ sơ đồ mind-map cho
học sinh đóng góp ý kiến)
4. Teacher uses PowerPoint instead of cassette player
(Giáo viên dùng PowerPoint thay vì máy cassette)
5. Teacher provides listening materials outside textbooks (eg: songs)
(Giáo viên cung cấp những tài liệu nghe ngoài sách giáo khoa, ví dụ: các bài hát)
6. Students often does self-listening at home
(Các em thường tự nghe ở nhà)
7. Students are familiar with teacher’s using all English in class
(Học sinh quen với việc giáo viên nói tiếng Anh thường xuyên trên lớp)
8. Teacher combines listening with speaking or writing (eg: ask who can summarize
or assign the writing task of summarizing the recording content.)


(Giáo viên kết hợp phần nghe với phần nói và viết, ví dụ: yêu cầu các em nói hoặc
viết tóm tắt về nội dung phần nghe.)
9. Others (Khác): ……………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………….......................

The outcome appears as follows:
What assists students the most in listening to English

Number of
students
41

Percentage
(%)
68.3

(Giáo viên đưa ra từ mới và cấu trúc mới trước khi nghe)
2. Teacher gives instruction carefully about what students
are going to listen to and what they have to do

31

51.7

(Giáo viên hướng dẫn một cách cẩn thận về những gì các
em sắp nghe và sẽ phải làm gì)
3. Teacher organizes discussion about the topic before
listening or develop mind-map for students to contribute
ideas

8

13.3

9

15

23

38.3

8

13.3

22

36.7

1. English teacher provides some new words and
structures before listening

(Giáo viên tổ chức thảo luận về chủ đề trước khi nghe
hoặc vẽ sơ đồ mind-map cho học sinh đóng góp ý kiến)
4. Teacher uses PowerPoint instead of cassette player
(Giáo viên dùng PowerPoint thay vì máy cassette)
5. Teacher provides listening materials outside textbooks
(eg: songs)
(Giáo viên cung cấp những tài liệu nghe ngoài sách giáo
khoa, ví dụ: các bài hát)
6. Students often does self-listening at home
(Các em thường tự nghe ở nhà)

7. Students are familiar with teacher’s using all English in
class
(Học sinh quen với việc giáo viên nói tiếng Anh thường
xuyên trên lớp)


8. Teacher combines listening with speaking or writing
(eg: ask who can summarize or assign the writing task of
summarizing the recording content.)
(Giáo viên kết hợp phần nghe với phần nói và viết, ví dụ:
yêu cầu các em nói hoặc viết tóm tắt về nội dung phần
nghe.)
9. Others (Khác):

20

33.3

0

0

When being asked what assists students the most in listening, up to 68.3% of the
students believe teachers need to teach new words and structures before listening;
and 51.7% think that they would like to be guided carefully about what they are
going to do. Students also expect extra listening material outside textbook such as
songs. The habit of using English in class contributes considerably to assist
students’ listening with 36.7 % of agreement. Interestingly, up to 33.3% students
see that combing listening with speaking and writing is an effective activity. Only
15% students say that they prefer English teachers to use PowerPoint to teaching

listening instead of cassette player. Discussion or mind-map before listening just
acquires 13.3%. Additionally, listening at home also help students with listening
activities in class. However, only 13.3% of the students do this task at home.

III. Conclusion
To sum up, determining the hindrances to students’ listening to English and
finding out what will assist students the most help English teachers select the right
way when carrying out a listening lesson. There needs to be a proper combination
to delete the hindrance but also to assist students so that they will take English
listening lessons easy and enjoyable. Using Standard English with correct
pronunciation and good grammar frequently in class, giving careful and clear
instruction and teaching new words are the most crucial factors that English
teachers need to take into consideration. Teaching supplement skills, assigning
more listening tasks at home, taking extra materials and joining listening activities


with speaking and writing also contribute considerably to motivate students to
listen to English.

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