Problems that students encounter in learning listening and solutions

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ

TRƯỜNG THPT LAM KINH

SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM

PROBLEMS THAT STUDENTS ENCOUNTER
IN LEARNING LISTENING AND SOLUTIONS

Người thực hiện: Lê Sỹ Thắng
Chức vụ: Giáo viên
SKKN thuộc lĩnh mực môn: Tiếng Anh

THANH HOÁ NĂM 2016


CONTENTS
Chapter I:
Chapter II:

Chapter III:
Chapter IV:

Reason to choose the study
Presentation
Problems
Solutions
Result after applying the research
Conclusion
Suggestion

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Chapter I: REASON TO CHOOSE THE STUDY
I. FROM THEORY:
In the recent years, teaching languages with communicative approach has
been considered as the main method used widely in most foreign language
classes. Communicative basic competence is regarded as the basic aim in
teaching English and the four communicative skills: Listening – Speaking –
Reading – Writing are all emphasized.
From a set of materials ELT methodology: teaching oral English – D.
Byrne Longman, Teach English – Adrian Doff, Communication in classroom- K.
Johnson - Listening comprehension is no longer a passive skill requiring
receptive skill as it used to be thought. With listening comprehension learners
have become more active in learning languages. They play the active roles in
listening information, analyzing it, understanding and being able to decode the
information.
It’s clear that we can’t develop speaking skills unless we develop listening
skills; to have a successful conversation, students must understand what is said
to them. Later, the ability to understand spoken English may become very
important (for listening to the radio, understanding foreign visitors, studying ...)
to develop this ability, students need plenty of practice in listening to English

spoken at normal speed.
II. FROM REALITY
However, in reality students encounter a lot of problems in listening
lessons. They find it really a difficult part in learning languages. As a result, they
will ignore practicing this skill. Gradually, it has certain negative effects on
learning languages. How can students comprehend or understand what someone
might be saying, if they don’t understand how they can develop speaking skills.
With some teaching experiences I would like to present some problems
that students often encounter when learning “Listening” and some solutions to
help them overcome the problems.
III. FACTUAL BASE
1. To the learners:
Most learners find listening comprehension to be a new and the most
difficult subject. However, the time for listening lesson is not much (45minutes
for each unit) and they hardly spend time studying this subject at home. That’s
why most of them read the tapescript and do the listening tasks instead of
practicing listening skill. This gradually forms students’ bad habit and makes
listening process useless. Furthermore, most of them feel confused, tired and
bored when trying to understand 100 % the information. Consequently, students
can’t understand spoken English and this also means that they fail in

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communicating with other people.(It is said that the more you listen, the better
you speak)
2. To the teachers:
Using traditional method in language teaching, especially in teaching
listening comprehension makes the problem worse and worse. Most teachers
think that listening is a receptive skill and learner is required to get information

without being well- prepared before listening. They are not required to feedback
specifically after listening. Such problem makes listening more and more
difficult to students.
With such factual base, I would like to raise some problems and solutions
that help teaching and learning listening become more effective.
Last year, I tried applying these solutions into practice with students in class
11C2,C7 at Lam Kinh high school and I got some certain success. Therefore, I
would like to introduce my research to everybody who is teaching and learning
English and I hope that it will give them something new in teaching and learning
the listening skill.

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Chapter II:
PRESENTATION
PROBLEMS THAT STUDENTS ENCOUNTER IN LEARNING
LISTENING AND SOLUTIONS
I. PROBLEMS:
1. Topic/ Theme:
It’s difficult for students to listen comprehension if they don’t know much
about the situation, the theme or topic. It’s true that they find it hard to
understand the tapescript and they will not be able to do the exercises.
2. Target language knowledge:
Most of students lack of target language knowledge. They know little or
hardly know about the topic of the listening. They have little knowledge of the
vocabulary, structures and background information of the listening they are
going to listen.
3. Trouble with sound:
Most learners complain that they have trouble catching the actual sounds

of the foreign language. It’s difficult for them to recognize the speaker’s
intonation, stress and attitude. In listening they must be able to recognize the
differences between phonological sounds; for instance, we must be able to
notice the difference between the sounds /g/ and /k/ as in the word “pig” and
“pick”. These two words are called minimal pair because they only have one
sound difference between them.
Other problems which make their listening more and more difficult are
they are not used to the speaker’s accent, elision, assimilation and homophone.
4. Trouble with structures and the ability to infer information that is not
stated:
Listening also involves the comprehension structures; for example, in the
sentence “Would you please pick the phone up?” Listener must notice that
“pick” functions as a part of a verb in the sentence while “phone” is a noun.
Most of them are not able to infer the information that is not directly stated.
For instance, if students hear the sentence:
+ “Yesterday, after Beth got up and breakfast she went to the park”.
He or she should be able to infer that Beth went to the park in the
morning.
* In unit 12 –Listening (Grade 11) if students hear the sentence: “He
crashes into the bar. He’s landing. The bar has fallen, too”. Students should be
able to infer that this man fails to win in his performance.

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5. Students usually pretend to listen or day dreaming:
Why do they have to do so?
Most of them are lazy in listening and practicing this skill. They find
listening comprehension really difficult so they can’t hear well. To cope with the
teacher they just learn by heart the tapescript in any guidebooks and use it to do

the tasks in the textbook. To them, it’s not very important to listen and
understand what the speakers say.
6. Translate into Vietnamese and try to understand every word when
listening:
Listeners get accustomed to trying to understand every word when
listening. If they miss something they feel that they are failing and feel worried
and depressed. This is a very common problem usually caused by teachers or
listening comprehension materials which encourages the learners to believe that
everything that is said to us equally important for information as every word is
thought to be said equally, loudly and slowly. In fact, in a sentence, there are
only some words, in a text only some sentences which are vital to understand.
7. Lack of cultural knowledge:
Cultural knowledge also has effects on listening. If students have good
cultural knowledge, they will be able to guess the information, analyze it and do
the listening tasks better.
For example, in unit 8 (Grade 11 – basic book) students will listen to a
tapescript about Japanese New Year. It’s obvious that students can do the task
better if they know something about Japanese culture such as:
+ The date of Japan New Year
+ The preparation
+ The way to decorate the house
+ What they do on New Year Eve
+ The dress they wear
+ What they do on New Year Day.
8. Psychology:
Psychology does have effects on listeners: They are so worried about
what they are going to hear that they can’t hear well. They are also afraid of not
being able to hear well. Their psychological tension does have effects on their
listening ability.
II. SOLUTIONS:

As we know, listening to spoken English in an important way of acquiring
the language. However, with such problems, students find it really difficult to
listen to any listening materials. How can they communicate with other people
without understanding what the speaker said? This also means that we don’t
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succeed in teaching language. In this study, I merely show the experiences that I
have acquired. What I would like to present are some solutions to help students
overcome difficulties in practicing listening skill.
1. Introduce the topic/ the theme of the material and help students be
familiar with the topic:
Teacher should get students to think well before they listen, then provide
them with important words, key sentences relating to the tasks they are going to
do. In other words, student should be well prepared before listening.
For example: In unit 14 (Listening).
“Before getting students to listen to the tape and do the tasks, teachers
must help students be familiar with the topic of the listening material”.
First, have students brainstorm with a set of eliciting questions.
Brazilian
coach
?

famous for
Pele
?

1990

1. When was he born? How old is he now?

2. What is his nationality?
3. What’s his job? (In the past – now).
4. What is he famous for?
Next, teachers deliver students a diagram and have them pay attention to
important events of Pele’s life.
Powerful kicking-controlling → score goals → here → retirement →
international ambassador → promote peace
2. Help Students with target language knowledge:
It’s really difficult for them to listen if they lack of the target language or
they know little or hardly know about the target language of the listening.
Therefore, teacher can help Ss to solve this problem by giving them some ideas
of what they are going to listen to.
When doing listening activities in class, we can also ask students to guess
what they are going to hear next, this will help them develop listening skills and
this is also a good way to keep the class actively involved in listening.
E.g1: A few minutes ago, I was asleep at home as usual. About three
o’clock in the morning ... (what happened?)... I was suddenly woken by noise ...
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(what noise?) ... of rushing water ... (what was it?). I found to my dismay that
the cold water pipe had burst and water was pouring all over the floor ... (so
what did I do?). So I got a bucket and put it underneath (what should I have
done?). Then I realized what I should have done. I went to the hall and tuned off
the main tap.
E.g2: Unit 2 Listening (Grade 11 – Basic).
The story happened (when?). I was suddenly woken up by a terrible heat
(what happened?)... (What caused the fire?) ... I forgot to turn up the gas stove ...
(How did you escape or who rescued you?)... I heard my mother’s voice calling
my name. She carried me out.

3. Help students out with trouble with sounds:
First of all, pre-teach students key words that will appear in the listening
as well as provide them with some difficult words or phrases that might appear
in the tapescript; For example, The words pronounced in different accent,
homophone, elision, assimilation ...
Students will get familiar with these sounds so it’s obvious that they can
find their listening task easier.
The more carefully we teach the vocabulary and phrases, the more easily
students get information from the listening tapescript.
4. Draw students’ attention to the tape listening
The reason why students pretend to listen while attending listening lessons
is that they find it difficult to listen and understand the tapescript. Therefore,
many of them use the guidebook to do the tasks. To get over this obstacle, to
draw student’s attention and to help students listen to the tape attentively,
teachers should change the tasks in the textbook into other similar tasks. With
the new tasks, most of them will try their best to listen. In addition, teacher
should observe and prevent them from using the guide- book. By this way,
teachers gradually helps students forget the bad habits in listening process and
this will help students develop their listening skill.
I would like to present some examples of converting tasks in English 11 to
help students pay more attention to the lesson.
* Some examples of converting tasks
UNIT 12: LISTENING (ENGLISH 11)
While You Listen
TASK 1: Listen to the sport report and decide whether the following
statements TRUE or FALSE
1. Yuko won the gold medal in women's swimming. She set a new world
record.
2. Lily got an average of 5.9 points in her gymnastics event.
3. Lee Bong Ju jumped 8.9m and won the silver medal in men's long

jump.
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4. Vichai jumped over the bar at 2.3 m.
5. The sports mentioned in the report are gymnastics, bodybuilding,
swimming, and long and high jumps.
TASK 2: Listen to the sport report again and answer the following
questions.
1. What time was" The Asian Games Report "?
2. How many gold medals have the Japanese athletes won in the first
three days?
3. Is this the first time Lee Bong Ju competed in the long jump?
4. Was Vichai successful in his games?
5. How was Vichai after he finished his performance?
UNIT 13: LISTENING (ENGLISH 11)
TASK 1: Listen to the tape and choose the best answer A, B, C, or D for
the following sentences.
l. The writer started reading when he was…………..
.
A. 6 years old
B. free
C. at school
D. a little boy
2. The writer had always wanted his parents to read
……………..and other stories to him.
A. fairy tales B. magazines C. funny stories D. newspapers
3. His parents. . . . . . . . .. . reading them to him.
A. got accustomed to
B. got fed up with

C. were interested in
D. were absorbed in
4. He started learning to read with. .. .. .....
A. fairy tales B. funny stories C. picture books D. ABC books
5. Which of the following things the writer learns by reading was not
mentioned in the tape?
A. how people lived in by gone days.
B. the wonders of the world.
C. human achievements
D. gigantic viruses.
6. According to the writer, by reading he doesn't have to......
. ...
A. learn things the hard way
B. learn anything
C. go to school
D. do his homework
UNIT 13:
TASK 2: Listen and answer the following questions
1. What's the writer's hobby?
2. What kinds of material does the writer often read?
3. Does the writer have to go deep into the jungle to learn about the tiger?
Why or why not?
4. According to the tape, what do books provide the reader?
5. Does the writer continue to read?
5. Help students pay attention to vital words only
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Most students have the habit of trying to understand every word in the
tapescript and translate it into Vietnamese as much as possible. If they listen like

this, it’s certain that they can’t finish their listening tasks. Thus, teacher should
teach students the skill to pay attention to the key, vital words that help them
finish the listening tasks effectively.
6. Help students get over psychological tension:
Teacher must help students prepare well before they listen; For example,
introduce to them the topic, help them be familiar with the vocabulary or the
vital words that will appear in the listening, help them keep calm before
listening…
7. Use principles for teaching listening:
7. l. Use authentic texts and present them as naturally and realistically as
possible. This might mean taping texts from radio broadcasts or interviews such
as voice of America or BBC.
Real language texts are important because they:
* Allow background noise or interruptions, which are normal.
* Use different voice types and accents. Avoid out-of-context words.
7.2. Include a variety of types of texts. These can include conversations,
humor, lectures, news broadcasts, songs, stories.
7.3. Use primarily meaning – “based tasks” listeners must not only hear
sounds; they must understand meaning.
7.4. State a specific purpose for listening tasks. The task should be
designed to practice one or more of the different sub-skills. If students are
skimming for the main idea, they may miss some specific information. Or if
they are listening for total comprehension, they may miss the main idea. Before
a task begins, tell the students what the purpose is.
7.5. Introduce a listening task before presenting it. This can be done by
asking questions, introducing one or two important vocabulary words, having a
brief discussion about the topic, or asking the students to talk about their own
experiences. Whenever presenting a listening text, inform the listeners of the
topic or the setting of the text. All of these will help the learners to focus their
attention.

7.6. Generally, previewing lists of vocabulary words does not happen in
real life. Students should have practice in understanding the meaning of a text
without knowing the meaning of all the words. The only vocabulary words that
should be pre - taught are the ones necessary for understanding the main idea of
the text.
7.7. Usually it is the best to listen to texts more than once. Often the
listeners will not catch the full meaning the first time. But if the text is repeated,
each time with a different focus, this will help the students to understand more
fully.
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III. RESULT AFTER APPLYING THE RESEARCH IN TEACHING
After applying these solutions into practice with students in class 11C2
and 11C7 at Lam Kinh high school, I got the following result.
Number
Class

of

Excellent

%

good

%

Average

%

11C2
11C7

Students
42
42

4
5

9,5
12

18
19

43
45

18
17

43
40,4

Chapter III:

Weak

(bad)
2
1

%
4,5
2,6

CONCLUSION

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The success of language teaching and particularly in teaching and learning
listening comprehension skill is not only based on the great effort of teachers
and listeners but also the involving elements such as listening materials,
teaching methods, evaluating methods…From the characteristics of the subject,
I want to raise some problems teachers and learners encounter in teaching and
learning English and solutions to these problems. I believe that teachers and
learners will get certain success in teaching and learning listening
comprehension when applying these solutions into practice. I’m looking forward
to the contribution from teachers and colleagues to help me finish this study.

Chapter IV:

SUGGESTION

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The success of teaching and learning listening comprehension skill is not
only based on the great effort of teacher and listener but also the involving
elements such as listening materials, teaching methods, evaluating methods…
To draw students ‘attention into listening lessons as well as develop this
skill, we should vary listening materials such as listening to beautiful songs,
funny stories, a conversation in a popular film … However, we lack of these
materials
We also need more time for students to practice this skill because 45
minutes for each unit is not enough.
I hope that our English teachers will be equipped with new listening
materials soon and arranged more time to help students practice this skill.
XÁC NHẬN CỦA
THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ

Thanh Hóa, ngày 20 tháng 5 năm 2016
Tôi xin cam đoan đây là SKKN của mình
viết, không sao chép nội dung của người
khác.

Lê Sỹ Thắng

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REFERENCE BOOKS
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]

[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]

Anderson, A. & Lynch, T., Listening, OUP, 1998.
Brown, G, & Yule, G., Teaching Spoken English, CUP, 1983a.
Nunan, D., Language Teaching Methodology, Prentice Hall
International (UK) Ltd, 1991.
Steil, L. et al, Effective Listening, Mc. Graw Hill, Inc. 1983.
Underwood, M., Teaching Listening, Longman, 1989.
Wardhaugh, R., An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, Basil
Blackwell Ltd, 1986.
Teaching oral English, D. Byrne Longman.
Teach English, Adrian Doff.
Communication In Classroom, K. Johnson.

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