Designing supplementary activities to enhance listening skill for the 11th graders at le lai high school

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
THANH HOA PROVINCE

LÊ LAI HIGH SCHOOL

EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE:

DESIGNING SUPPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE
LISTENING SKILL FOR 11TH GRADERS
AT LÊ LAI HIGH SCHOOL

Implementer: Lê Văn Bằng
Job title: Group leader
Experience initiative: English

THANH HOÁ YEAR 2016


TABLE OF CONTENS
Page
1. Introduction
- Rational............................................................................................................1
- Purposes and significance of the study............................................................1
- Methods and instruments.................................................................................2
2. The study
2.1. English teaching and learning at Le Lai High School...................................3
2. 2. Listening tasks at the 11th grade and MBA/MBT.........................................3
2. 3. Data analysis and findings.............................................................................3
2.3.1. Initial
data..........................................................................................3
2.3. 1.1. Results from pre-listening test............................................3

2.3.1.2. Results from pre-action stage observation ..........................4
2.3.1.3. Results from students’ questionnaire 1................................5
2.3.1.3.1. Students’ evaluation about listening skill and their
own listening competition.....................................................................................5
2.3.1.3.2. Students’ opinions about listening tasks in English
11...........................................................................................................................5
2.3.1.3.3. Students’ feelings when doing listening tasks in
English 11..............................................................................................................6
2.3.1.3.4. Students’ evaluation about the effectiveness of
listening tasks to their listening competence ........................................................6
2.3.1.3.5. Students’ preferences for listening tasks................6
2.3.1.3.6. Students’ opinions about the way their teachers
treat listening tasks................................................................................................7
2.3.2. Results from documents analysis......................................................7
2.3.2.1. English 11............................................................................7
2.3.2.2. Listening tasks in listening sections of English 11..............8
2.3.2.3. Conclusion...........................................................................9
2.4. The hypothesis.............................................................................................10
2.5. Data collected in the action stage.................................................................10
2.5.1. Results from action stage observations...........................................10
2.5.2. Results from questionnaire 2...........................................................11
2.5.3. Results from teaching diaries..........................................................12
2.5.4. Results from post – test...................................................................12
2.5.5. Summary of major findings and discussions..................................13
2.5.5.1. The unsuitability of listening tasks in the textbook and its
effects on students’ listening comprehension......................................................13
2.5.5.2. Students’ preferences for listening tasks............................13
2.5.5.3. Supplementary activities and modified listening tasks could
help improve students’ listening comprehension................................................13

2.6. Supplementary activities and modified listening tasks. ..............................14
Page
3. Conclusion
- Conclusions...............................................................................................18
- Recommendations.....................................................................................18
- Limitations of the study.............................................................................19
- Suggestions for further study.....................................................................19
REFERENCES
APPENDIES
APPENDIX 1: PRE-TEST
APPENDIX 2: PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA 1
APPENDIX 3: PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA 2
APPENDIX 4: OBSERVATION SHEET
APPENDIX 5: TEACHING DIARY
APPENDIX 6: POST-TEST

TABLE OF CONTENS...................................................................................2
2.1. English teaching and learning at Le Lai High School.............................................3
2.2. Listening tasks at the 11th grade and MBA/MBT...........................................................3

2.3. Data analysis and findings.......................................................................3
2.3. 1.1. Results from pre-listening test..........................................................................3
2.3.1.2. Results from pre-action stage observations.......................................................4
2.3.1.3. Results from students’ questionnaire 1..............................................................5
2.3.2. Results from document analysis...................................................................................7
2.3.2.1. English 11..........................................................................................................7
2.3.2.2. Listening tasks in listening sections of English 11............................................8
2.3.2.3. Conclusion.........................................................................................................9
2.4. The hypothesis...............................................................................................................10

2.5. Data collected in the action stage...................................................................................10
2.5.1. Results from action stage observations..............................................................10
2.5.2. Results from Questionnaire 2.............................................................................11
2.5.3. Results from teaching diaries.............................................................................12
2.5.4. Results from post-test.........................................................................................12
2.5.5. Summary of major findings and discussions..............................................................13
2.5.5.1. The unsuitability of listening tasks in the textbook and its effects on students’
listening comprehension.......................................................................................................13
2.5.5.2. Students’ preferences for listening tasks.........................................................13


2.5.5.3. Supplementary activities and modified listening tasks could help improve
students’ listening comprehension.......................................................................................13

2.6. Supplementary activities........................................................................14
3. Conclusion..................................................................................................18
APPENDIX 1: PRE-TEST.............................................................................1
APPENDIX 2: PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA 1.............................................................2
APPENDIX 4: OBSERVATION SHEET......................................................5
APPENDIX 5: TEACHING DIARY.............................................................6
APPENDIX 6: POST-TEST...........................................................................7


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
- EFL: English as a foreign language
- AR: Action research
- TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages


LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Pag
e
List of tables
Table 1: Results from pre-listening test................................................................3
Table 2: Students’ involvement in the task...........................................................5
Table 3: Frequency of listening tasks in listening lessons....................................5
Table 4: Students’ feelings when doing listening tasks in English 11..................6
Table 5: Students’ evaluation about the effectiveness of listening tasks..............6
Table 6: Students’ preferences for listening tasks.................................................6
Table 7: Students’ opinions about the ways their teachers treat listening tasks....7
Table 8: Topic in English 11.................................................................................8
Table 9: Types of listening tasks in English 11.....................................................8
Table 10: Students’ involvement in the tasks......................................................10
Table 11: Students’ evaluation about supplementary activities and modified
listening tasks......................................................................................................11
Table 12: Results of post-test..............................................................................12


1. Introduction
- Rationale for the study
For some recent years, English has played more and more important part
in Vietnam; therefore, it has been taught in Vietnamese secondary schools as a
compulsory subject. So far, there have been remarkable changes in the way of
teaching and learning English. However, English teaching in general and
teaching listening in particular still is far from satisfactory. How to motivate
students to listen is really necessary, and is a big question to most teachers in
Vietnam now. On the other hand, each student has different language learning
capacity. Especially, in my high school in a mountainous area, students have
quite low levels of English. So it is important for me to find effective ways to
increase my students’ interest in listening and hence improve their listening skill.

In reading relevant literature, I can see that students find listening
extremely difficult and boring due to different reasons. For instance, the
listening tasks may be monotonous, repetitive and beyond their language level,
or there could be too many new words in the listening records; the pronunciation
of several words in the record may be unfamiliar to students who are used to
pronouncing them wrongly; or the speakers may speak too fast for them to hear,
as they are used to hear each word separately in the Vietnamese language rather
than focusing merely on stressed syllables and essential key words in English,
etc. Supplementary activities before listening, while listening and after
listening, especially language games, are highly needed in order to ease the
listening tasks for them while they may add fun to the listening lesson and hence
help them improve their listening skill.
There may have been a good number of interesting materials for use by
English teachers in their listening lessons, but which of them can be suitable to
the particular students at my school remains a question to answer, since each
group of students may have their own problems and capacity, as discussed
earlier.
For the above reasons, I decide to embark on the task of designing
supplementary activities to enhance listening skill for the 11 th graders at Le Lai
High School.
- Purposes and significance of the study
The study aims at the following:
- Understanding Le Lai High School’s 11 th graders’ English proficiency and
difficulties in listening, and causes of the difficulties they face with;
- Analyzing listening tasks, texts and audio resources in the textbook
“English 11” for 11th graders to identify difficulties;
- Identifying possible supplementary activities needed for those listening
tasks and see which of them can help enhance these students’ listening
skill.
The study’s output is the set of possible activities to supplement the

listening tasks in English 11 for 11th Graders at Le Lai High School, which
1


will benefit other teachers and students at my school apart from myself and
those I teach. This provides my study with its practical significance.
- Research questions, methods and instruments
In the attempt to achieve the afore-mentioned aims, the following
research questions are formulated so as to gather necessary information and
data:
i)
What is the level of the 11th graders’ English listening skill, and
what difficulties they may face with in listening? Why?
ii)
What makes listening lessons in English 11 difficult and why?
iii) What additional activities can be designed to help the students
address those difficulties?
To seek answers to the three research questions above, I will apply
the following methods and instruments:
Question 1:
- Interviewing a number of 11th graders to find out what difficulties they
expect to encounter in listening lessons in the 11 th grade and causes of
those difficulties;
- Discussing with English teachers at my school to gather more information
on difficulties 11th graders have faced with, or may have to face with, and
their causes. Part of the information from teacher discussions will also
help answer question 2 below.
Question 2:
Analyzing listening tasks, texts and audio resources in English 11 to
identify problems and their possible causes, including new words,

pronunciation, speed, intonation, etc.
Question 3:
Designing supplementary activities and modifying listening tasks to help
address the difficulties identified so that listening tasks are easier, more suitable
and interesting to the students.

2. The study
2


2.1. English teaching and learning at Le Lai High School
As you know, Le Lai High School is a mountainous high school. Thus its
English teaching and learning has several difficulties. Firstly, the class size far
exceeds the standard number for a language class, with approximately or more
40 students each. Secondly, the number of technology-aided classrooms is very
limited; therefore, teachers can not apply electronic lessons to the extent that
they desire for. Moreover students’ motivation in learning foreign language is
quite weak, especially listening skill. Finally, there is lack of visual aids such
as pictures and portable boards from the school. Thus, the teachers and
students are not offered the most convenient and modern environment to the
teaching and learning of English.
2.2. Listening tasks at the 11th grade and MBA/MBT
CLT underpins the design of English Textbook 11, so the structure of each
unit includes four skills: reading, speaking, listeningand writing. Linguistic
knowledge such as phonetics, vocabulary and grammar areconsidered the means
and condition to form and improve communicative ability. In fact, the learnercentered approach is also adapted in order to promote students' activeness and
creativeness, in which teachers act as theorganizer and facilitator in the class.
The content of the book is theme-based, with 16 units covering different
topicswhich were contextualized to be suited to Vietnamese students. Further,
learning is task-based, with the activities are designed in the way in which

students are offered opportunities to interact and co-operate.
In English Textbook 11, Listening is the most challenging and important
skill in each unit. It is put after two other skills due to its productive nature and
dependence on input from other skills. In the 11th grade, students are expected to
work on a variety of listening tasks, each of which goes with a particular topic.
2.3. Data analysis and findings
This section, first of all, analyzes the initial data collected from pre –
listening test, questionnaires and teaching diaries. Then, the hypothesis and
planning and action phases are presented. Finally, the researcher discusses the
techniques used for supplementary listening activities and modifying listening
tasks as well his attempts to evaluate the action research.
2.3.1. Initial data
2.3. 1.1. Results from pre-listening test
As stated above, on the first day of week 2 students would do a test to
measure their level. Below are the results of the test:
Table 1: Results of the pre-test
Marks
Marks 1-2 Marks 3-4 Marks 5-6 Marks 7-8 Marks 9-10
Numbers
9
22
6
3
0
of students
Percentag
22.5%
55%
15%
7.5%

0%
e
3


From the table, it can be seen that 78% of the students scored below
average, whereas students achieving average scores made up 15% and only
7.5% could get from mark 7 to mark 10. The result of the test showed that most
of the students were quite weak at listening skill. Students need to be helped to
improve this skill.
2.3.1.2. Results from pre-action stage observations.
At pre-action stage, the researcher taught Unit 9 (The post office) and
Unit 10 (Nature in danger) with non supplementary activities and non-modified
tasks. The lessons were observed by another teacher. During the observations,
this teacher took notes and gave the total marks of students’ involvement in the
tasks in the two periods. The following is the description of one lesson:
 Class: 11A1
 Number of students in class: 40
 Time: 45 minutes
 Unit 9: The post office
 Period 5: C - LISTENING
As usual, the lesson started with warm-up. The teacher gives some photos
and asked his students some questions: (Which is the quickest, a phone call, a
fax, an e-mail or a letter?, Do you think more and more people are using cell
phone in Vietnam nowadays? Why?) then students worked in pairs to match the
name of each picture in 4 minutes. After calling each pair to go to board and
match some picture with the name of telephone, the teacher introduced the
lesson (Today we will listen to a t a p e s c r i p t o f the development of
Vietnam’s telephone system over the past few years). Before students listened to
the passages to complete the tasks, teacher introduced some words and phrases.

Then students continued the lesson with task 1 choosing the best answer A, B, C
or D. They were asked to work individually, run through the 05 sentences in task
1 and underline the key words. Then teacher played the tape twice. After that,
the teacher asked students to give answers. However, few of them had all the
answers. Some even paid no attention to the task. The teacher stopped by each
sentence for checking. Students, then, came to task 2 answering five questions
about the development of Vietnam’s telephone system over the past few years.
The teacher again played the tape twice. However, this task seemed to be
difficult for students as almost no student noted down anything. The teacher had
to provide help. The lesson flew slowly. Finally, the teacher gave some cues and
asked students to work in pairs to talk about the development of Vietnam’s
telephone system. Here are the results from the observations. First, it should be
mentioned that the observation sheet had six items, but during unit 9 and 10 the
observer only used four items to observe students’ involvement in the tasks. The
highest mark for each item was 5 and the highest mark for the whole class in
each lesson was 20. The highest total mark for the observations during two
lessons was 40.
Below are the concrete results:
4


Table 2: Students’ involvement in the tasks
Unit 9
Unit 10
Units
(The post office) (Nature in danger)
Marks of students’
8
9
involvement in the tasks

Percentage
40%
45%
It can be seen from the table that level of students’ involvement in the
tasks was quite low. In Unit 9 (The post office), the percent of students who
involved in the tasks accounted for 40%, while in Unit 10 (Nature in danger)
was a bit higher with 45%. This figures showed that more than half of the
students paid no attention to studying listening. They barely participated in the
lessons. This may be resulted from two main reasons: the first one, maybe, is
that the tasks themselves are uninteresting; the second one is probably due to
students’ low level of listening competence.
2.3.1.3. Results from students’ questionnaire 1
2.3.1.3.1. Students’ evaluation about listening skill and their own listening
competence.
(Questions 1 and 2)
When answering the first question about their evaluation about learning
listening skill, most of the students (96%) admit that learning listening skill is
difficult, even extremely difficult.
Regarding to students’ self-evaluation about their own listening comprehension
ability, only 1 out of 40 students confidently said that her listening ability was
very good; whereas 78% thought that they were very bad at listening. In
listening lessons, they almost hear nothing.
2.3.1.3.2. Students’ opinions about listening tasks in English 11. (Questions
3, 4 and 5)
When answering the question how often they completed listening tasks in
listening lessons, 2% of the students said that they always completed listening
tasks, 14% often finished, but 84% sometimes could finish the tasks. The result
also showed that 66% of the students confirmed that kinds of listening task in
the textbook were not very diversified.
Question No 4 tried to seek the frequency of listening tasks in listening lessons.

The results are clearly presented in the table below:
Table 3: Frequency of listening tasks in listening lessons
Completin Ticking
Answering Filling Decidin
Multiple
Numberin
g missing
the
openmissin
g T/F
choice
g the
informatio things
ended
g
statequestion
pictures
n in the
you
questions words
ments
s
(%)
table/
hear
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
charts (%)

(%)
84%
24%
24%
10%
12%
4%
10%
5


As can be seen that the most frequently used tasks in listening lessons are
answering open-ended questions. Filling missing words and deciding T/F
statements rank second with 24% for each kind. Such kinds of task as
numbering the pictures, multiple choice questions and ticking the things you
hear are sometimes presented. Only the tasks of completing the missing
information in the table/charts are rarely used. The information in this table once
again confirmed that listening tasks in English 11 are not very plentiful.
2.3.1.3.3. Students’ feelings when doing listening tasks in English 11
Question No 6 examines students’ feelings when doing listening tasks in English
11. The results can be seen in the following table:
Table 4: Students’ feelings when doing listening tasks in English 11
Very interested
Interested
Normal
Bored (%)
Very bored
(%)
(%)
(%)

(%)
2%
6%
38%
0%
54%
When asked to express their feeling when doing listening tasks in English
11, the majority of the students (accounting for 54%) said they felt very bored
with the listening tasks in the textbook. 38% of them felt normal and only a
small number of students were interested in the tasks.
It is obvious that listening tasks in the textbook dissatisfy most of the students,
which can not motivate students to participate in the lessons as well as not to
encourage them to develop their listening skill.
2.3.1.3.4. Students’ evaluation about the effectiveness of listening tasks to
their listening competence.
Table 5: Students’ evaluation about the effectiveness of listening tasks
Very effective
Ineffective
Effective (%)
Not clear (%)
(%)
(%)
6%
8%
34%
52%
Table 5 presents that only 6% and 8 % of the students thought that
listening tasks in the textbook were very effective and effective, while 34% of
them spoke that they were not clear whether the tasks could help them improve
their listening comprehension. Especially, 52% believed that their ability for

listening comprehension was not improved. They claimed that the tasks were
totally ineffective.
2.3.1.3.5 Students’ preferences for listening tasks
Question 8 was used to collect information about the listening tasks that
students preferred. The results are shown in the table below:
Table 6: Students’ preferences for listening tasks
Answerin Filling Deciding Numberin Multiple Completin Tickin
g open- missin
T/F
g the
choice
g missing
g the
ended
g
statement pictures question informatio things
questions words
s
(%)
s
n in the
you
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
table/
hear
6

2%

36%

29%

30%

64%

charts (%)
16%

(%)
28%

According to the information in the table, the most preferred listening task
is multiple choice questions. The next one is tasks with filling missing words.
Tasks of deciding T/F statements rank third. Followings are such kinds of tasks
as ticking the things you hear and completing missing information in the
table/charts respectively. The least favorite one is answering open-ended
questions.
2.3.1.3.6. Students’ opinions about the way their teachers treat listening
tasks
Table 7: Students’ opinions about the way their teachers treat listening
tasks
9. In what way does your teacher teach listening tasks in the Textbook?
Options
Result (%)

a. The teacher always follows the given tasks in the
76%
textbook.
b. The teacher sometimes replaces difficult tasks for easier
8%
ones.
c. The teacher often modifies listening tasks to fit students’
16%
level.
Most of the students said that their teacher always follows the given tasks
in the textbook without any adapting, while 16% stated that the teacher usually
modifies listening tasks to help them listen better and 8% admitted that their
teacher occasionally replaces the difficult tasks for easier ones. These figures
clearly show that most of the teachers still depend too much on the textbook.
They hardly have any changes to fit their students’ level.
2.3.2. Results from document analysis
2.3.2.1. English 11
English 11 was officially in use in the year 2007. It is developed from a
theme-based syllabus. Like English 10, English 11 consists of 16 units. Each
unit presents a topic as shown in the below table:
UNIT
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Table 8: Topics in English 11

TOPICS
UNIT
Friendship
9
Personal experiences
10
A party
11
Volunteer work
12
Illiteracy
13
Competitions
14
World population
15

TOPICS
The post office
Nature in danger
Sources of energy
The Asian Games
Hobbies
Recreation
Space Conquest
7


8

Celebrations

16

The wonders of the world

There are five parts in each unit arranged as follow: Reading, Speaking,
Listening, Writing and Language focus. Each part starts with the items: preactivities, while-activities and post-activities with a variety of activities and
tasks. All the tasks and activities are designed to help students develop
communicative competence.
2.3.2.2. Listening tasks in listening sections of English 11
For listening sections in English 11, the main aim is to help students
improve their listening comprehension relating to the topics of the units.
Therefore, all the activities and tasks are designed with the hope of achieving
this goal fully.
Normally, a listening section consists of two tasks. Task 1 often involves
filling in the gap, deciding True/False statements or choosing the best answer.
Task 2 often deals with comprehension questions. The table below shows more
clearly types of listening tasks in English 11:
Table 9: Types of listening task in English 11
Units
Units
Types of listening
Types of listening task
Tasks
Tasks
task
Unit 1
Task 1
Task 2

Unit 2
Task 1
Task 2
Unit 3
Task 1
Task 2
Unit 4
Task 1
Task 2
Unit 5
Task 1
Task 2

True/False statements
Note-taking
True/False statements
Gap-filling
True/False statements
Comprehension
questions
Gap-filling
Comprehension
questions
Multiple choice
questions
Comprehension

Unit 9
Task 1
Task 2

Unit 10
Task 1
Task 2

Multiple choice
questions
Comprehension
questions
True/False statements
Comprehension
questions

Unit 11
Task 1
Task 2

Multiple choice
questions

Unit 12
Task 1
Task 2

Multiple choice
questions
Comprehension
questions

Unit 13
Task 1

Task 2

Gap-filling

True/False statements
Gap-filling
8


questions
Unit 6
Task 1
Task 2
Unit 7
Task 1
Task 2

True/False statements
Comprehension
questions
Multiple choice
questions
Comprehension
questions

Unit 14
Task 1
Task 2
Unit 15
Task 1

Task 2

True/False statements
Comprehension
questions
True/False statements
Comprehension
questions

Unit 8

Unit 16
Ticking
Gap-filling
Task 1
Task 1
Comprehension
Comprehension
Task 2
Task 2
questions
questions
As can be seen from the table, listening tasks in this textbook are not
various in forms and styles. There are always repetitive tasks such as deciding
on True/False statements or comprehension questions, which can lead to
students’ boredom in listening lessons.
In addition, when pursuing these tasks, it appears that not all the tasks are
suitable with students’ background and knowledge, especially, with students in a
mountainous area like Ngọc Lặc district.
For example, in Unit 12 (The Asian Games) although the listening topic

is quite familiar; task 2 is too long with five comprehension questions, not to
mention some questions which can cause students’ difficulties in answering.
In Unit 15 (Space conquest) the listening passage is about the first human moon
landing. It can be certain that most of the students have never heard about this
before. Besides that when dealing with task 2, students can meet difficulties in
answering question 3 (What was the portable life support system for?) and
question 5 (What did they do while they were staying on the surface of the
moon?) as to get answers, students must listen to very long sentences, which
require them to have good skills of remembering and taking notes.
In short, despite some good points, listening tasks in English 11 are not really
diversified. Some tasks seem not to be appropriate as they do not fit students’
level. This unsuitability of the original tasks might lead to the boredom and then
affect students’ listening comprehension.
2.3.2.3. Conclusion
The data analysis at the initial stage of this research clearly shows that
most students are not very interested in doing listening tasks in English 11. In
fact, they feel very bored with the repetitive tasks and believe that these tasks
hardly help them improve their listening competence. It is due to the
unsuitability of the original tasks which discourages students from engaging in
listening. Then the answer for the first research question ‘What is the level of the
9


11th graders’ English listening skill, and what difficulties they may face with in
listening? Why?’ was found out.
Furthermore, basing on collected data, the researcher can draw out some
causes of unsuitability of the original listening tasks. First of all, some original
tasks are beyond students’ knowledge and competence. Secondly, some tasks
are too long. Finally, the repetition of some kinds of task cannot attract students’
attention.

2.4. The hypothesis
The analysis and discussion of the initial data formed the following
hypothesis:
Designing supplementary activities to enhance listening skill for 11 th graders
at Le Lai high school.
To help improve students’ listening comprehension, an action plan was
designed. In this action plan, the supplementary activities were designed and the
original listening tasks were modified to make them more appropriate and
interesting to students when they deal with listening lessons.
2.5. Data collected in the action stage
2.5.1. Results from action stage observations
In the action stage, the researcher designed the supplementary activities
and applied modified listening tasks in three listening lessons (Unit 11, 12 and
15). Three observation sheets were completed by a colleague teacher. The sheet
included six items, the highest mark for each item was 5, the highest mark of the
whole class in each lesson was 30 and the highest mark for three observed
lessons was 90.
Table 10 shows score for students’ involvement in tasks:
Table 10: Students’ involvement in tasks
Unit 11
Unit 12
Unit 15
Units
(Sources of
(The Asian
(Space conquest)
energy)
Games)
Marks of students’
involvement in

19
22
23
tasks
Percent
63.3%
73.3%
76.7%
It can be seen from the table that students’ involvement in tasks increased
gradually through the lessons which used modified listening tasks and the
supplementary activities. In Unit 11, more than half of the students (63.3%) paid
attention to the lesson. In Unit 12, the percent of students’ involvement in tasks
was 10% higher than that of Unit 11. It means that students were more and more
engaged in modified listening tasks and the supplementary activities. In the last
lesson of the action plan- Unit 15- students’ involvement in tasks added up to
76.7%. Obviously, modified listening tasks and the supplementary activities
increased students’ interest in learning listening. However, the average
10


percentage of students’ involvement in tasks in three lessons (71.1%) was not so
high as it is expected. There were some students uninterested in supplementary
activities and modified listening tasks. This encourages the researcher to
continue adjusting modified listening tasks and design supplementary activities
so as to increase students’ participation in the lessons.
2.5.2. Results from Questionnaire 2
Questionnaire 2 (Appendix3) was delivered to each student after finishing
each lesson during three weeks (from week 4 to week 7) to see how students
evaluate the supplementary activities and the modified listening tasks.
The total number of questionnaires collected during three lessons was 120. The

questionnaire had four items and highest mark for each item was 5, the total
score for a questionnaire was 20 and the total score of the whole class was 800.
The results of the questionnaire were illustrated in the table below:
Table 11: Students’ evaluation about supplementary activities and modified
listening tasks
Unit 11
Unit 12
Unit 15
Units
(Sources of
(The Asian
(Space conquest)
energy)
Games)
Marks of all
504
580
604
students
Percent
63%
72.5%
75.5%
The figures from the table showed that most of the students found the
supplementary activities and the modified listening tasks more interesting,
meaningful and appropriate. The percentage of students who preferred the
supplementary activities and the modified tasks increased lesson by lesson. In
Unit 11 was 63%, 72.5% in Unit 12 and 75.5% in the last lesson.
It proved that students had positive opinions about supplementary
activities and modified listening tasks. Most of them felt satisfied with the

changes made by the teacher. Especially, according to what they said in their
comments after each lesson, the supplementary activities and the modified
listening tasks of the teacher help facilitate their process of listening. They
somewhat felt less stressful when dealing with the tasks as they could be easier
get information from the listening passages and finish most of the given tasks.
They, finally, expressed their wish that the teacher often modified the tasks and
design supplementary activities to help them listen easier and better.
In brief, the results from the observations and questionnaire 3 once again
confirmed that modified listening tasks and supplementary activities increased
students’ involvements in the tasks. Students concentrated more on the lessons
and most of them could complete the listening tasks themselves. In other words,
students’ listening competence was partly improved because of more appropriate
listening tasks.
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2.5.3. Results from teaching diaries
With the hope of following closely what was happening during the
lessons, how effective the supplementary activities and the modified listening
tasks were as well as what problems came up, the researcher wrote teaching
diaries after each lesson.
As mentioned above, at the pre-action stage, when the teacher taught Unit 9 and
10 with non-supplementary activities and non-modified listening tasks, nearly a
half of students paid no interest to the lessons. They even didn’t finish the lesson
in 45 minutes. However, this situation changed when supplementary activities
were designed and modified tasks were applied in Unit 11, 12 and 15.
As perceived by the researcher through her teaching diaries, students’
listening comprehension was improved a lot during three lessons at the action
stage. The supplementary activities and the modified listening tasks really had
good effects on students’ progress. Most of the students could finish the tasks

themselves. They also found the tasks more interesting and satisfying; therefore,
they were more engaged into the lessons and felt less nervous when solving
listening tasks. That also explained why the class atmosphere during three weeks
of action stage was at ease.
However, according to what was written in the teaching diaries, there
were some off- task students. These students stayed silently in class and could
do a part of tasks. This showed that the supplementary activities should be
designed more appropriate the modified tasks should be adjusted a bit to attract
more students.
To sum up, the teaching diaries together with observations and
questionnaires helped the researcher evaluate the effectiveness of supplementary
activities and modified listening tasks on students’ progress more exactly. The
researcher could identify the good points and existing problems after each lesson
so that there are more appropriate adjustments to enhance students’
comprehension.
2.5.4. Results from post-test
After the researcher had designed the supplementary activities and applied
the modified listening tasks in teaching, he prepared a test with the aim of
probing whether students really could improve their listening comprehension
through the modified listening tasks.
The table below presents the results:
Table 12: Results of the post-test
Marks 9Marks
Marks 1-2 Marks 3-4 Marks 5-6 Marks 7-8
10
Numbers
3
11
15
10

1
of students
Percent
7.5%
27.5%
37.5%
25%
2.5%

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Obviously, students achieved certain progresses in this test. The number
of students getting below average marks reduced remarkably. More than half of
the students scored better marks than in the test before. This figures once again
confirmed that the supplementary activities and the modified listening tasks had
good effects on students. The majority of them got some success in improving
their listening comprehension
2.5.5. Summary of major findings and discussions
2.5.5.1. The unsuitability of listening tasks in the textbook and its effects on
students’ listening comprehension
There have been a large number of researches investigating factors
affecting students’ listening comprehension. These factors are various. It may
come from the teachers or the students themselves. However, basing on what has
been analyzed in questionnaires and observations, the researcher found out that
the unsuitability of listening tasks in the textbook also has a great influence on
students’ listening competence.
The unsuitability of the tasks in the textbook English 11 may fall into
three categories. The first is the tasks which are too difficult for students. They
are not appropriate with students’ level, therefore, students often feel very

stressful when dealing with this kind of task. The second is too long tasks, which
students can not finish in the time limited. The last one is repetitive kinds of
task. Monotonous tasks could not motivate students as they soon feel bored with
doing the same kind of task every day.
Obviously, inappropriate tasks could not create a motive and interests for
students to learn, thus, students’ listening competence can not be improved much
as expected.
2.5.5.2. Students’ preferences for listening tasks
There are many different kinds of listening tasks such as answering
questions, completing the missing information. However, the three kinds of
tasks which are most favored by students are multiple choice questions,
True/False statements and gap-filling. Students like doing these kinds of task
probably because such kinds of tasks are appropriate to their level. They can feel
at ease when meeting these tasks, which create good psychology for them when
solving the tasks
2.5.5.3. Supplementary activities and modified listening tasks could help
improve students’ listening comprehension
The action plan was implemented during three lessons (Unit 11, Unit 12
and Unit 15) with the supplementary activities and the modification of the
listening tasks in English 11, i.e. replacing, omitting and changing the unsuitable
tasks.
The results from observations, questionnaire 2 and teaching diaries clearly
indicate that with the supplementary activities and the modified listening tasks
students are much more eager to participate in the lessons. The percentage of
students’ involvement in tasks increases lesson by lesson (63.3% in Unit 11,
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73.3% in Unit 12 and 76.7% in Unit 15). More importantly, students find the
lessons more interesting, meaningful with appropriate tasks. During three

lessons at the action stage, the majority of students feel satisfied as they can
complete the tasks themselves.
2.6. Supplementary activities
In this section, the researcher focuses on designing supplementary
activities and modifying inappropriate listening tasks basing on criteria of a
good listening task presented in section 1.3.2 of Chapter 1 to make the tasks
more appropriate for students at Le Lai High School. The choice of each specific
criterion depends on students’ opinions and the analysis of original listening
tasks. With a carefully prepared plan, the researcher wishes to attract students to
listening lessons, then, in part, help them better at listening.
The followings are some supplementary activities and modified listening tasks:
2.6.1. Unit 11: Supplementary activity one.
Unit 11: Sources of energy
 Type of game: Matching
 Material: hand-outs
 Time: 5-7 minutes
 Classroom management: group work
 Procedure
The teacher divides the class into groups of four students. The teacher
gives each group a hand-out as below. Students have to work in groups and
quickly match the sentences in column A with an appropriate energy in column
B (a sentence in column A can contain more than one in column B). Which
group finishes first and has all correct answers will be the winner.
Hand-out
A
B
1. People use it to turn windmills and move a. Fossil fuel
sailboats.
2. It comes from oil, coal, and natural gas.
b. Air energy

3. Scientists use its heat to make energy and
it is available only in a few places in the c. Solar energy
world.
4. It is used to make energy with water d. Water energy
moving from a high place to a lower place.
5. They are called the sources of clean e. Nuclear energy
energy.
6. People use panels on the roofs of houses f. Geothermal energy
to create energy to heat or cool an entire
house.
7. They are called the renewable sources.
8. They are called the non-renewable
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sources.
9. It can be a very dangerous energy.
10. Resource contains the correct amount of
nitrogen (N), oxygen (O) and carbon dioxide
(CO2).
2.6.2. Unit 12
2.6.2.1. Supplementary activity two.
Unit 12: The Asian Games
 Type of game: Jumbled words
 Material: hand-outs
 Time: 3-5 minutes
 Classroom management: group work
 Procedure
Teacher asks students to work in groups of 4 to find out the words from
the jumbled ones.

Teacher calls on students to write down the words on the board.
Ask students to speak out all these words
Jumbled words
 efer tysle
 emlad
 dercro
 ymganst
 pujm
 emetr
 rab

Words

2.6.2.2. Modified task.
Replacing
In Task 2 of Unit 12 (The Asian Games), students are required to listen to
a passage and answer questions. According to questionnaire 1, most of the
students felt bored with such the repetitive listening tasks as answering the
questions. Moreover, this kind of task seems a bit difficult for students. So task 2
(Answering five questions) would be replaced by the following task:
Modified task: Listen to the passage about the Asian Games report and write
the missing words.
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Good evening. It’s (1)......... and it’s time for “The Asian Games Report”.
It’s the 3rd day of the Games. Well, today’s most important (2)........was the
women’s 200-metre freestyle. The Japanese, Yuko was the first and got the gold
medal. She made a new record time of 1 minute 58 seconds. The Japanese
athletes won (3).......gold medals yesterday, and three the day before, so in the

first three days they’ve won six gold medals.
...Here we’re in the Gymnasium. Lily, the Chinese gymnast, has just
finished her display. She’s got an average of 9.5 points. That’s the best score
today! Lily’s won the (4).....medal!
...And this is Lee Bong-ju coming from Korea. This is the (5).......time he
completed in the long jump- at the Asian Games. Last time he jumped 8.5
metres. Today he’s won a gold medal for men’s (6)..... jump. He jumped 8.9
metres.
2.6.3. Unit 15
2.6.3.1. Supplementary activity three.
Unit 15: Space conquest
 Type of game: crossword
 Material: power-point, hand-outs
 Time: 5-7 minutes
 Classroom management: group work
 Procedure
Teacher divided the class into 2 teams, gives one hand-out for each 4
students
Teacher shows the crossword on the PowerPoint, then gives out the
suggestions one by one.
The team raises hands first will have the chance to answer the cross-word.
If they give the correct answer, they will score 1 point, if they give the wrong
answer, the other team will have the turn to answer. The team who has the
correct vertical word will have 3 points. After the game, who has more points
will be the winner.
L

I

S

P
Y
A

T
H
U
S
C

E
A
R
T
H

N
M
I
R
I

I
T
G
O
N

N
U

A
N
A

G
A
G
A

N
A
U

R
T

I

N

Suggestions
1. Which skill should we practise in the lesson today?
2. Who is the first Vietnamese in space?
3. Who is the first human in space?
4. Who can control the spacecraft?
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5. Which country became the third country in the world to be able to
independently carry out manned space flights?

2.6.3.2. Modified task
Omitted and changing
As mentioned in section 3.2.2, some tasks in the textbook are too long for
students to complete in a limited time. For Unit 15 (Space conquest), there are
two tasks. In task 1, students have to listen and decide True/False statements (5
statements). In task 2, students listen again and answer open-ended questions;
the six open-ended questions are quite long and a bit difficult for weak students
to understand. Therefore, to ensure to have enough time for two tasks and
students can be easier to understand, two questions of task 2 (Questions No 3
and No 6) are omitted and some questions would be changed as follow:
Modified task: Listen to the passage again and then answer the following
questions:
1. According to the tape script, which program was developed after 1961?
2. When was the Apollo 11 launched?
3. How much time did the astronauts spend on the surface of the moon?
4. What did they do on the surface of the moon?

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3. Conclusion
There are four parts in this section. The first part deals with conclusions.
The second part states some recommendations. Following are some limitations
of the present study. The last part suggests some suggestions for further study.
- Conclusions
The action research was conducted within eight weeks. In the first week,
by observing lessons, discussing with colleague teachers and talking with
students, the problem of students’ uninterest in listening lessons was identified.
In the following week, at the pre-action stage, observations, questionnaire 1 and
document analysis were employed to confirm the problem. After analyzing data

from these instruments, the unsuitability of listening tasks in the textbook
English 11 was found to be one of the main reasons which made students bored
with listening lessons. The fact is that most of the students are not good at
listening, whereas some listening tasks in the textbook are so difficult that
students can not deal with. Besides that, some tasks are too long for students to
complete in a short time.
Finding the answer for the first research question led to the hypothesis
whether supplementary activities could help increase students’ listening
comprehension.
To solve the problem, an action plan was prepared by designing
supplementary and modifying listening task in the textbook. The supplementary
activities and the modification of the tasks were based not only on the principles
for adapting materials but also on students’ real needs and interests. The
techniques used for modification were replacing, omitting and changing.
Three weeks following, the action plan was used in three lessons (Unit 11,
12 and 15). The data collected from questionnaire 2, observations and teaching
diaries clearly showed that most of the students made progresses in listening.
Despite some shortcomings, the supplementary activities and the modified
listening tasks were quite effective as the tasks could help students more
engaged into the lessons and then their listening competence was enhanced.
- Recommendations
As discussed in this study, using the supplementary activities and the
application of modified tasks can be effective in improving students’ listening
comprehension. So as for EFL teachers to design supplementary activities and
have effective modifications, I have some recommendations as follows:
First of all, teachers should spend time talking to students to find out
which kinds of supplementary activities and which of listening task they are
fond of as well as which kinds of supplementary activities and which of
listening tasks do not meet students’ needs and levels.
Secondly, a plan about designing supplementary activities and modifying

listening tasks should be well and thoroughly prepared. The teacher must point
out what he/ she intends to do.
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Thirdly, after each listening lesson with supplementary activities and
modified listening tasks were taught to students, a small survey or an informal
interview may be helpful as it will help teachers measure the appropriateness of
those activities.
Last but not least, the researcher also recommends some useful techniques
which can be often used to modify listening tasks. These techniques are
omitting, replacing, changing, adding or simplifying. Depending on a particular
situation of each class, the teacher can choose some suitable techniques for the
action plan.
- Limitations of the study
The study has gained some success in improving students’ listening
comprehension through designed supplementary activities and modified
listening tasks. However, it still bears some limitations
First of all, the whole research lasted for eight weeks and the designed
supplementary activities and the modified tasks were applied within three weeks
merely with three lessons. The results would be more reliable if the researcher
had more time to study and experiment with more lessons.
Secondly, within the scope of the study, the participants in the study were
limited in a class with 40 students. The researcher really wishes that he could
conduct the research on a larger scale to produce better results.
Finally, the study would be more effective if the researcher were much better at
academic language proficiency, and had more experience in carrying out the
research.
- Suggestions for further study
This study is of small-scale with limited participants. Therefore, a similar

study with bigger scope of subjects at other school might be conducted so as to
get a fuller evaluation of the effectiveness of the supplementary activities in
listening lessons in English 11.
Other studies on designing supplementary activities in such skills as reading,
speaking and writing may be also helpful for EFL learners.
THE RECTOR’S CONFIRMATION

Ngoc Lac, 30th May, 2016
I am absolutely sure that this study belongs to
me, not copying the contents or the study
from anyone.
(Signature and full name)

Lê Văn Bằng

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