Designing listening tasks using authentic materials on websites as supplementary materials for the teaching of listening skills

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
In the light of communicative approach, “communicative competence” is the
ultimate aim of foreign language teaching and learning or in other words, it is the “goal” of
the teaching and learning process (Richards & Rodgers, 1995:67). In order to obtain the
communicative competence, foreign language learners are supposed to focus on all the
four skills, namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Among these four skills,
listening is often considered to be the most important skill to be acquired as “in the foreign
language environment, the ability to make sense of these messages is often crucial for
survival” (Hood, 1994:65). As a result, listening has been paid much attention to by
language researchers and teachers. Many researches have been conducted on how to teach
and learn listening skills effectively. For instance, on the website: www.abax.co.jp/listen,
an article named “Teaching Listening Better: is listening being taught as well as it could
be?” provides readers with a thorough overview of how listening should be taught; Penny
Urr (1992) dedicated a nearly-two-hundred-page book on “Teaching Listening
Comprehension” and Gillian Brown (1984) also wrote “Listening to spoken English”. All
these contributions are very useful for enhancing the listening skills. However, as far as the
writer has investigated, most of the researches focus largely on methods of teaching and
learning rather than on exploring new sources of authentic materials for teachers to make
use of. Nowadays, together with the already diversified published materials for teaching
listening, there co-exists a new abundant source of listening materials on the World Wide
Web. The use of the Internet has changed the world dramatically. Yet in Vietnam, where
the Internet had not been known until 1997, it is still new to many teachers of English who
are hesitant to use it even when it is accessible. For the time being, several teachers at the
English Department, Tay Bac University are employing available materials to teach
listening skills to their students. However, the use of authentic materials in designing
listening tasks is done spontaneously without any formal guidelines. Thus, a study on
designing listening tasks with authentic materials would be of value. It is hoped that the
thesis would bring about some benefits to EFL teachers who teach listening skills.

2. Objectives

This study is intended to address the following issues:

1




Theoretically, it aims at providing a literature review that should be taken into
consideration when listening skills are taught with CLT orientation.



It places focus on investigating how listening skills are taught to the 2 nd – year EFL
students at the English Department – Tay Bac University with what supplementary
materials are used.



Practically, it outlines possible prospects to use authentic materials on websites as
supplementary materials to teach listening skills to the 2nd –year students at the
English Department- Tay Bac University. Also, it suggests some techniques for
designing listening tasks using authentic materials to teach listening skills, ranging
from how to choose authentic materials to what listening activities to design and
how to design them.

3. Scope of the study
It should be made clear that this study aims at neither a discovery of the whole
process of teaching listening skills nor that of conducting listening tasks in class. It would
focus on the ways to develop the use of online supplementary listening materials for the 2 nd
–year students.

4. Methods of the study
First of all, intensive and extensive reading helps equip the author with sufficient
background knowledge and also obtain data for the literature review. Secondly, survey,
questionnaires, observation as well as interview would be made among the 2 nd-year
students and their teachers at the English Department- Tay Bac University. Collected data,
then, would be processed and analyzed.

5. Design of the study
The study is composed of 4 main chapters, each of which focuses on a particular
issue:
Chapter 1 is the introduction to the study
Chapter 2 deals with theoretical background concerning CLT approaches, authentic
materials, listening and listening task design.
Chapter 3 studies on the use of authentic materials in teaching listening skills to the 2 nd –
year students at the English Department, Tay Bac University.
Chapter 4 introduces some ways to exploit online materials for teaching listening. Also,
from the information in chapter 3, implications for listening task design will be presented.
Chapter 5 is the conclusion

2


CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 COMMUNICATIVE VIEW ON TEACHING LISTENING

2.1.1 The importance of listening
The importance of listening skills in foreign language teaching and learning has
been reflected in a 30-year shift towards interaction-based acquisition (Krashen, 1981; Pica
et al.., 1987; Swain, 1985), rather than learning through the translation of written texts and

through formal grammar learning. Though regarded as a receptive skill, listening actually
requires an active process in which listeners have to activate all their knowledge of
different fields such as phonology, vocabulary, culture and their life experience in selecting
and interpreting information (Richards, 1983; Rubin, 1995 quoted from Duzer,
).
Listening skills are obviously important since first of all, a good speaker needs to
be a good listener. Although listening is described as the most difficult of the four skills the
beginner of a foreign language has to develop (Eastman, 1987 quoted in
.), it has traditionally been considered secondary to speaking skills
(G.H Bower and R.K. Cirlio, 1985; G. Brown and G. Yule, 1983, quoted in
) in that listening task tends to be viewed as supplementary to
reinforce grammar learning. David Nunan, a famous linguist, in his featured speech at the
4th Pan-Asian Conference in Taiwan in November, 2002 remarked that listening is “the
Cinderella skill in second language learning” (o). What is meant in
Nunan’s comment is shared by Belasco (1965) that listening comprehension has also been
called the “most underestimated and least understood aspect of foreign language
learning”(quoted in ). Despite of the fact that listening is a critical
element in the competent language performance of second language learners, this skill has
not been paid enough attention to in comparison with other skills namely speaking, reading
and writing. A classic study of listening conducted by Rankin (1930) suggests that adults
spend 42.1% of their communication time listening in contrast with 39.1% speaking, 15%
reading and 11% writing. Moreover, real communication in the classroom should be based
on effective input through listening or reading. According to Lewis, “almost all the world’s
natural language output is spoken rather than written” (1993:32, quoted in
). Therefore, listening takes up a major proportion in
communication time as Sam Smith noticed, that is at least 90% of his interaction time

3

(). Listening is, in fact, the most crucial medium for
input in learning a foreign language and by increasing students’ ability to perceive speech
and

thus

aiding

language

acquisition

(Lewis,

1993

quoted

in

). In fact, listening provides a “foundation” for all
aspects of “language and cognitive development” (). It plays a life-long
role on the process of learning and communication essential to productive participation in
life.

2.1.2. Characteristics of listening
Most linguists and educators share the similar opinion of the characteristics of
listening. According to Winkinson, Stratta, Dudley (1974) ans Brubridge (1986) and Penny
Urr (1996), they all agree upon the common characteristics of listening as follows:
First of all, looking at the characteristics of listening is actually looking at those of

spoken language. Spoken language is normally disorganized due to the fact that it is
spontaneous. The speaker talks impulsively rather than reading aloud something written
beforehand. As a result, the speech is full of incomplete sentences, paraphrases, hesitation,
repetition and interruptions. This is also the explanation to the fact that the students who
are good at listening tasks with artificial dialogues are not necessarily good at real - life
listening situations.
The understanding of spoken language could be facilitated a great deal by nonverbal clues. It is said that people listen more effectively when they can see the speaker’s
facial expression, gestures or especially be directly involved in the context in which the
speech is happening. In turn speakers may rely on such hints to interpret listeners’
implication so that they can adapt their speech accordingly to attain a successful
communication. These non-verbal cues could reveal what the speaker means better than
just listening to the speech alone because both listeners and speakers are put in a certain
context.
In real-life listening, listeners often know in advance some information to aid their
understanding such as to whom they are listening, what they are going to listen and why
they are listening. Therefore, teachers of listening should always bear in mind this
characteristic so that they can have suitable pre-listening activities to prepare students for
what they are to listen. Penny Urr additionally thinks that listening is an interactive
process. Listeners do not passively just listen to what speakers say. They take turns to
speak. Both sides actively involve in the communication because they do it for a purpose.

4


2.1.3. Types of listening and listening tasks
2.1.3.1. Types of listening
Much as research has pointed out, adults spend almost half of their communication
time listening and for EFL students the figure mounts up to 90%. Listening is the most
widely used skill though it is also “the least understood aspect of language of foreign
language learning” (Belasco, 1964, quoted from ). There is no

fixed set of criteria for different types of listening. It is categorized from various views.
2.1.3.1.1. Top-down listening process vs. Bottom-up listening process
Top-down listening
Bottom-up listening
It is listener-based. The listener privies to It is text-based. The listener relies on
background knowledge of the topic, the situation the language in the message, that is, the
or context, the type of text, and the language combination of sounds, words, and
(Richards, 1990). This background knowledge grammar

that

creates

meaning

activates a set of expectations that help the (Richards, 1990).
listener to interpret what is heard and anticipate The
what will come next.

bottom-up

processing

model

assumes that listening is a process of

According to David Nunan, the top-down view decoding the sounds that one hears on a
suggests that the listener actively constructs the linear

fashion,

original meaning of the speaker using incoming meaningful
sounds as clue (o).

from

units

the

smallest

(phonemes)

to

complete texts.

The distinction between Top-down and Bottom-up listening process is visualized
vividly by Helgesen and Brown as they employ the metaphor of a brick wall, “if you are
standing at the bottom looking at the wall brick by brick, you can easily see details. It is
difficult, however, to get an overall view of the wall. And if you come to a missing brick
(e.g: an unknown word or unfamiliar structure), you get stuck. If, on the other hand, you
are sitting on the top of the wall, you can easily see the landscape. Of course, because of
distance, you will miss some details” (Helgesen and Brown, 1994:xii).
2.1.3.1.2. Real-life listening vs. Classroom listening
Additionally, listening can be realized according to the space where it occurs. In
general, listening may be divided into real-life listening and classroom listening.



Real-life listening

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This is what we have to do in our daily life. We hear music, radio, the noise and people
talking, etc. Sometimes, people just listen without paying much attention to. People may
listen and do something else at the same time. This kind of listening is called Casual
listening (cited in Bang Nguyen, Ngoc Nguyen, 2002). On the other hand, people listen
with a certain purpose in mind, hence, they really concentrate on getting the content of
what is said, which constitutes another type if real-life listening, called Focused listening
(cited in Bang Nguyen, Ngoc Nguyen, 2002).


Classroom listening

Penny Urr argues that classroom listening should be addressed accurately as real-life
listening in the classroom. Though a paradox can be sensed in this way of addressing, it is
not only true that classroom listening is not real-life listening; but a clear envision of the
notion “classroom listening” is also created. All the listening activities in the classroom
aim at equipping students with skills to deal with real-life listening. Even in classroom
listening, it can be subdivided into intensive and extensive listening as collected and
classified by Bang Nguyen, Ngoc Nguyen (2002).
According to Broughton et al (1987) extensive listening is concerned with the more
general listening to natural English. It serves the function of letting the students hear the
vocabulary items and structures which are unfamiliar to them. Rixon (1986) added that
extensive listening is listening for pleasure and interest without having to pay a lot of
attention to content and language.

Extensive listening keeps students’ motivation and interest high, as well as gives
valuable contact with English in its spoken form.
In contrast, intensive listening is much more controlled, with one or two specific
points. Intensive listening can be primarily for language items as part of the language
teaching program or it can be for general comprehension and understanding (Broughton et
al. 1978). Rixon (1986) also stated that intensive listening is the more widely used form in
the classroom. In intensive listening, students have to collect or organize information. The
listening passages used usually contain more concrete information and may be quite
densely packed.
On Allen’s stand, listening is categorized as follows (1976):


Simple listening – hearing sounds without any particular meaning to the sounds



Discriminative listening - listening to hear and identify the likenesses and
differences in sounds



Listening for specific information
6




Listening for organizing ideas



Listening for main points



Listening for varied points of view



Critical listening



Creative listening

Meanwhile, Burn and Lowe (1966) categorized listening into three types:


Appreciational listening (enjoying the development of s story; listening for pleasing
rhythm; reacting to the mood set by the author).



Informational listening (listening for the answer to a specific question; listening to
follow directions; following sequence; listening for main ideas).



Critical listening (discriminating between fact and opinion; detecting prejudice and
bias; sensing the speaker’s purpose).

According to Burn and Lowe (1966) some authors have also suggested levels of

listening such as little conscious listening, half listening, listening passively, listening and
expressing some reaction and listening with a real meeting of the minds. However, Burn
and Lowe (1966) pointed out that there is no research evidence to indicate such levels.

2.1.3.2. Types of Listening Tasks
Having investigated into the characteristics of listening as well as the types of
listening, I now move on to review different listening tasks that reputable educators have
suggested in order to develop students’ listening skills. These listening tasks are various,
though sorted respective to the way listening is viewed from different perspectives, they
consist of a rather fixed set of tasks. As held by Penny Ur, the kinds of the listening tasks
are classified by the natures of students’ response.
No overt response
- Following a written text: sts listen to and read it at the same time
- Listening to a familiar text: sts listen to an already known text. This kind of task requires
not much listening comprehension skills but simply gives pleasant experience in listening
to meaningful English sounds.
- Listening aided by visuals (e.g. pictures, diagrams..): sts look at visual materials while
simultaneously following a spoken description of it.
- Listening to an informal talk: teacher or any good speakers of English can be excellent
material. Some general topics may be used (e.g. your family, your childhood, your
hobby…). This activity may well serve as relaxing break from more intensive work.

7


- Listening to something entertaining (e.g. stories, songs, films, and television programs):
Such kind of activities provides useful interludes to put in before or after more demanding
exercises, or when sts’ concentration is at low ebb.

Short response
Students are asked to do some tasks in the form of simple and short answers. For example:
- Following instructions: sts listen to commands; they will show their comprehension by
complying with the commands. Responses can be physical movement (e.g. stand up, sit
down…), building models and picture dictation (draw as you are told to).
- Ticking off items: Learners tick beside the items: Learners tick beside the items that they
hear in the listening
- True/False: Identify whether the statement is true or false based on the listening.
- Detecting mistakes: Some fact is mentioned with intentional mistakes for students to
point out.
- Cloze: students make a guess of what can be fill in the blanks in the listening text.
- Guessing definitions: this is synonymous with guessing games. Sts listen to a definition
or description of something and guess what it is. For example, a number of pictures which
have some similarities are not given. Sts have to listen and choose the right choice.
- Skimming and scanning: learners have to make out some general ideas (skimming) and
details (scanning) of the listening.
- Pictures: one picture or a series of pictures may be used. Sts are then asked to identify
pictures or components as they are referred to, either naming or ordering them in the order
in which they are mentioned
- Maps: Using a map, sts are asked to name a specific place as they listen. Besides that,
changes can be made. Sts have to listen and mark these changes.
- Ground-plans: ground-plans are a kind of maps but single sketch can be interpreted in
many different ways relating to various listening tasks. Its advantages lies in its simplicity:
it can be very easy to trace.
-Grids: a grid is simply a rectangle marked off into squares and used to display data. Sts
may be presented with an inadequately or inaccurately filled-in grid, fill in or correct the
information on the grid as they listen.
- Family trees: family tree is a kind diagram. Sts listen to stories or descriptions of
families, then identify family member relationship.
- Graphs: sts are given a graph with some missing details. While listening to the

information, they fill in the missing details.
8


Moreover, “multiple choice items” is also introduced by Bang, Nguyen and Ngoc,
Nguyen. To do this task, learners listen and choose the suitable option from the list of
alternatives given in advance.
Longer response
- Answering questions: based on the content of the listening, students are required to give
longer and full answer to the questions.
- Note-taking: students take notes of the talk.
- Paraphrasing and translating: students use their own words to rewrite or retell the
listening texts either in the same language or in their mother tongue.
- Summarizing: learners write a summary of the content of what they have just listened.
- Long gap-filling: similar to a cloze exercise, the only difference is that the information to
be filled in the gap is longer.
- Dictation is also a recommended kind of task which can boost learners’ listening skills a
lot.
- Predictions: after hearing the first part of an utterance or passage, sts make a guess at the
possible continuation. Prediction can be effectively practiced when integrated with other
skills in the exercises based on passages of discourse.
Extended response
Tasks of this kind are on the whole more demanding than those of other kinds.
Listening serves as basis and starting point for other activities. Sts are expected not only to
understand the listening material but also to be able to compare or collate its different parts
of aspects, analyze, interpret, evaluate and reason from it. In some ways, these may be
called communicative tasks as they involve sts’ feelings, attitudes, tastes and values as well
as their intellectual abilities.
- Problem solving: sts listen to all the information relevant to a particular problem and
then set themselves to solve it, either individually or through group discussion.

- Jigsaw listening: this activity is used very much like jigsaw grouping for discussion. In
jigsaw listening, different groups of sts listen to a different but connected passage, each of
which supplies some parts of what they need to know. They, then, come together to
exchange information and possibly to discuss or evaluate that information.
- Interpretative listening: sts listen to somebody’s speech. The meaning of what he says is
not the only thing sts absorb. Sts may also take into account many other things, such as
what kind of person the speaker is, the way he speaks, his mood, his attitude, etc. The
ability to make such interpretations is one of the communicative abilities.
9


- Evaluative and stylistic analysis: recordings used for this type of tasks can be interviews,
comedy, drama, advertising, rhetoric and poetry. When sts are able to understand the
information explicitly conveyed in the listening text as well as appreciate some of the
implicit “message”, they may try to analyze its style and assess its impact. Obviously, to do
this, sts have to be highly proficient in spoken English.
2.2. AUTHENTIC MATERIALS

2.2.1. Definition of authentic materials
The term “authentic materials” has been defined in a number of ways.
The most common definition is that authentic materials are texts which are
taken from ordinary radio or television programs, etc. (Richards, et al. 1992:27).
Nunan (1989:54) describes authentic materials as any materials which are not
specifically produced for the purposes of language teaching. Also, authentic materials
can be understood as anything a native speaker of English would hear or read or use.
Authentic materials can be theater programs, newspapers, magazines, poems, songs,
brochures, information leaflets, menus, new broadcasts, films, or videos and so on. (Bang,
Nguyen & Ngoc, Nguyen, 2002).
Generally speaking, authentic language is used by native speakers communicating in
spoken form or in written form.

2.2.2. How authentic materials have been used in language teaching
The use of authentic materials in EFL classroom is what teachers are involved in
foreign language teaching, which has discussed in recent years.
While some hold the view that authentic materials are only for advanced learners
(Ls), most teachers (Ts) agree that authentic listening materials can and should be used for
all learners from elementary to advanced learners. Moreover, teachers should exploit more
authentic texts with native accents and intonation in order to involve students in activities
that reflect real-life listening.
Studies show that Ls working with authentic materials will gain valuable practice in
the specific skill of making sense of natural speech without necessarily understanding
every word in the text; then, an increase in listening comprehension is a natural
consequence of this practice. The challenge for Ts, therefore, is to identify authentic
materials of potential interest to Ls and to prepare Ls for dealing with these texts in a
meaningful way.

10


In general, there has been a trend towards bringing classroom listening practice as
close to real world listening as possible. However, the question of when and how authentic
materials should be introduced to an EFL classroom is still in conflict and will be
discussed later in this study.

2.2.3. Reasons for using authentic materials in teaching listening skills
The need for and the usefulness of authentic materials have been increasingly
acknowledged. Martinez (2002) suggests a list of advantages of authentic materials used in
language teaching in general and listening skills in particular.


Students are exposed to real discourse, as in videos of interviews with
famous people where intermediate students listen for gist.



Authentic materials keep students informed about what is happening in the
world, so they have an intrinsic educational value. As teachers, we are
educators working within the school system, so education and general
development are part of our responsibilities.



Authentic materials provide Ls with a wide selection of everyday
vocabulary which textbooks do not often include.



The same piece of material can be used under different circumstances if the
task is different.



Language change is reflected in the materials so that students and teachers
can keep abreast of such changes.



Reading texts are ideal to teach/practice mini-skills such as scanning, eg.
students are given a new article and asked to look for specific information
(amounts, percentages, etc). Students listen to news reports and they are

asked to identify the names of countries, famous people, etc (ability to
detect key words).



Books, articles, newspapers, and so on contain a wide variety of text types,
language styles not easily found in conventional teaching materials.



They can encourage reading or listening for pleasure because they are likely
to contain topics of interest to Ls, especially if students are given the chance
to have a talk about the topics or kinds of authentic materials to be used in
class.

2.2.4. Possible shortcomings of authentic materials and solutions

11


It should be expected that there are certainly some difficulties that users may come
across. Here are some possible shortcomings and suggested solutions to them:
i.

They may be too culturally biased and required good knowledge of cultural
background. Choose suitable topics which are not very demanding. Also, provide
Ls with more background knowledge.

ii.

Too many structures are mixed so lower level learners have a hard time to decode
the texts.  Pre-teach the structures or choose less challenging texts.

iii.

Aural texts may have too many different accents  Select suitable aural texts from
easy level to difficult level.

iv.

The materials can become outdated easily, eg. news. The vocabulary might be
irrelevant to Ls’ immediate needs.  Pay attention to some burning issues as well
as Ls’ current needs and likes.
Additionally, in order to apply authentic materials in language teaching

appropriately, say, creating listening tasks for a certain learner level, Buck (2001:150)
suggests some features affecting the difficulty level of the task:
1. Linguistic characteristics


Texts with slower speech rates tend to be easier than texts with faster speech rates.



Texts with longer pauses between idea units tend to be easier than texts with shorter
pauses between idea units, or no pauses at all.



Texts with more familiar pronunciation tend to be easier than texts with less

familiar pronunciation.



Texts with natural intonation patterns tend to be easier than texts with unnatural or
unusual intonation patterns.



Texts with more high-frequency vocabulary (i.e. common words) tend to be easier
than texts with more low-frequency vocabulary.



Texts with less complex grammar tend to be easier than texts with more complex
grammar.



Texts with ideas units or clauses strung together tend to be easier than texts with
ideas units or clauses embedded within other clause.



Texts with simple pronoun referring tend to be easier than texts with more complex
pronouns.
2. Explicitness

Texts in which the ideas are explicitly started tend to be easier than texts with less explicit
ideas.

12


Texts with more redundancy tend to be easier than texts with less redundancy (but not if
the listeners fail to realize that the information is redundant).
3. Organization
Texts which have events described in a linear or temporal order tend to be easier than texts
which have non-linear structures
Texts which have main points stated clearly before examples tend to be easier than texts
with illustrative examples coming before the point being made.
4. Content
Texts with topics more familiar to the listeners tend to be easier than texts with less
familiar topics.
Texts with fewer things or people to be distinguished tend to be easier than texts with more
things to be distinguished.
Texts in which the important protagonists or objects are more easily distinguished tend to
be easier than texts where they are harder to distinguish.
Texts where relationships between the elements are fixed tend to be easier than texts where
relationships are changed.
5. Context
Texts with visual or other support which supplements the content tend to be easier than
texts with visual or other information that conflicts with the content.

2.2.5. Listening task design
2.2.5.1. Definition of task
The term “task” receives various definitions and interpretations. In teaching, a task
is an activity which is designed to help achieve a particular learning goal (Dictionary of
Language Teaching and Applied Linguistic, 373). Johnson (2003) proposes an idea that a
task is anything that learners are given to do (or choose to do) in the language classroom to
further the process of language learning.

For a long time, tasks have been used in language teaching. Thus, there is no doubt
about the indispensability of tasks in language teaching and learning. With reference to the
position of tasks, Bang, Nguyen & Ngoc, Nguyen (2002a:73) see tasks as “pivotal in the
interaction between teachers and learners. They provide one of many routes through
which teachers and learners convey attitudes and messages about the learning process to
each other, as well as providing a vehicle within which learning takes place”.

13


Finally, it should be noted that learning cannot occur without tasks. By completing
meaningful and authentic tasks learners can improve their language proficiency.

2.2.5.2. Components of a task
Many attempts have been made to identify the elements of a task. Nunan (1989)
names six elements as follows:

Goal

TASK
Activities

Input

The

general The data that What

intentions behind any form
given learning task in point

answer

to

the learners
of will

Learner

Setting

role
role
The part that learners The
and

teachers

are classroom

expected

to

play

the departure for actually do carrying

out

learning nts

question: “why did the task.

with

you

input.

get

Teacher

learners

in arrangeme

the tasks as well as the specified

engaged in task X?”

social and interpersonal or implied
relationship between the in
participants.

the

task.

Table 1 : six components of a task (proposed by Nunan (1989))
In addition, Estaire and Zanon (1994: 13-14) analyze task components to include 4
components:
i.

a specified working procedure

ii.

appropriate material (if necessary)

iii.

a concrete language learning purpose

iv.

a concrete learning outcome
Wright (1989, cited by Nunan, 1989:47) holds the view that tasks need minimally

contain just two elements. These are input data which can be provided by materials, Ts or
Ls; and initiating questions which instruct Ls what to do with the data (activities). He
rejects the notion that objectives or outcome are obligatory as with certain tasks, a variety
of outcomes might be possible and they might be quite different from those anticipated by
the teacher.
It should be clear that in this study only important components in designing each
type of tasks are considered. Thus, Nunan’s six elements are used as a reference
framework.

14

2.2.5.3. Criteria of a good listening task
A good listening task in CLT approach has several features:
Goal
- Establish a clear purpose for listening: to use language to accomplish a goal, not to use
language merely as language itself.
Input
- Require listening to an authentic, connected piece of discourse.
Activities
- Reflect a subject or topic that will interest students.
- Provide a topic that is broad enough for every listener to approach from some angle or
understand.
- Involve in solving a true problem or relate to Ls’ own life.
- Allow enough time for listeners to respond to the listening task (written or oral) in some
meaningful way.
Learner role
- Motivate listeners to consider their knowledge of the topic.
- Allow Ls to use all of the language skills they have, rather than specific forms or
vocabulary, and tend to self-correct when they realize they need to.
- Allow listeners to make use of contextual and nonverbal cues.

2.2.5.4. Guidelines for designing listening tasks
Notably, different language Ls have different language proficiency. Apart from all which
are already mentioned, task designers should pay attention to some characteristics of a task
that may affect the appropriate difficulty level.


Tasks that require processing less information tend to be easier than tasks which
require processing more information.



Tasks that require processing information from just one location in the text tend to
be easier than tasks which require integrating information scattered throughout the
text.



Tasks that require recalling exact content tend to be easier than tasks which require
extracting the gist or making a summary.



Tasks that require simply selecting information tend to be easier than tasks which
require separating fact from opinion.

15




Tasks that require information relevant to the main theme tend to be easier than
tasks which ask for irrelevant details.



Tasks that require immediate responses tend to be easier than tasks which require a
delayed response.

Thus, this chapter has reviewed theoretical issues relevant to the thesis. In order to obtain
empirical knowledge of the use of authentic materials in teaching listening skills to secondyear students at the English Department – Tay Bac University so that practical suggestions
can be made, a study is conducted. Results of the study are presented in the next chapter.

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1. SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS

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In order to investigate into the situation to see how listening skills are taught to the
second year EFL students and what materials lecturers are using as supplementary listening
materials for their students, the writer conducted a survey with two groups of subjects. The
first one is the teachers who are teaching listening skills at the English Department and the
second one is 120 second year EFL students (course 47- at college grade).
The writer chose to carry out the survey among both teachers of listening skills and
their students in order to have a thorough and objective overview of the teaching listening
situation and to see whether what teachers think coincides with what their students think.
On the part of the teachers, the writer would like to see how they have utilized the
available supplementary listening materials. The questionnaires were also distributed
among 120 second - year students (K47) to see what they think of the practicality and
usability of the supplementary listening materials.
Additionally, small-scaled interviews were conducted among the teachers who are
teaching listening skills at the English Department- Tay Bac University to see if they had
been using online listening materials and how they have been developing these materials.
3.2. METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION
This thesis used questionnaires and interviews as the main sources for data
collection. Firstly, by using questionnaires the researcher can obtain data quantitatively,
which later on will assist the study with persuasive figures concerning the investigated
issues.

It should be noted that the writer did not do the survey questionnaires with the
teachers who are teaching listening skills but merely had informal meetings with them
because there are only 5 teachers who take charge of teaching listening skills at the English
Department – Tay Bac University (only one of them is responsible for teaching listening to
the 2nd – year students). By using interviews, the writer could have more in-depth
information. Before the interview, the writer had prepared a set of questions. Additionally,
some possible follow-up questions were also prepared (for the interview questions, refer to
appendices). All the interviews were recorded so that the writer could concentrate on
observing interviewees’ behavior without wasting time taking notes. Their facial
expressions sometimes unveiled more information than words could. These interviews
were carried out individually in an informal setting. Each interview took about 10 - 15
minutes and was arranged at the interviewees’ convenience. Enough time was spared for
the interviewees to think of proper answers.
The steps of the study were as follows:
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1. Piloting the questionnaires for students
2. Delivering and gathering back the questionnaires.
3. Conducting interviews with the selected teachers.
4. Analyzing the collected data and discussing the findings.
5. Giving suggestions.
3.3. DATA ANALYSIS

3.3.1. Findings from the questionnaire
The questionnaire for students is designed to investigate students’ opinions and
attitudes towards the use of online listening materials. It is divided into 3 main parts. The
1st part helps the surveyees decide whether they should continue with the 2 nd part or the 3rd
one.
Part 2 and part 3 are designed in two different ways. Part 2 is for the ones who choose

“NO” in question 2 in part 1, and with the ones who choose “YES” in this question, they
would go to part 3. (For specific questions, see appendix)

3.3.1.1. Supplementary materials in use
Question 1 in part 1 aims at finding out the types of listening materials, which have been
used by the teachers. The results are shown in the chart below:

Chart 1: Supplementary materials in use
50
40
%

30
20

percent

10
0
Ielts

Toefl

Radio& TV
program

Others

As can be seen from the chart, the most common supplementary listening material
is radio and T.V programs with the percentage of 50. Ranking the second with 40% is

books on IELTS, and TOEFL remains the least widely used with 36.66% response. 50% of
the respondents say that their teachers use other course books and teacher-developed
materials.

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3.3.1.2. The use of online materials
According to the students who took part in the survey, all the teachers who have
taught them listening skills have used online listening materials several times. Therefore,
there are no students who deal with part II. All of them went to part III. The results from
this part are presented below:
3.3.1.2.1. The frequency of the use of online listening materials
Question 5 examines the frequency of using online materials. The results are clearly
presented in the chart below:

Chart 2: The frequency of using online
materials
2%

18%

30%
Always
Often
Sometimes
Rarely

50%

It can be clearly seen from chart 2 that 50% of the informant students say their
teachers do take advantage of any possible time in the class to supplement them with
online listening materials. 30% admit that they are often provided with supplementary
materials by their teachers of listening skills. There is a small number of students who say
that their teachers sometimes equip them with authentic materials when teaching listening
(18%). The number of students who claim that their teachers rarely use online listening
materials for listening lessons rank the last with the percentage of 2%.
3.3.1.2.2. Types of speech
Question 6 aims at finding the types of speech that the teachers often use. The results can
be seen in chart 3 below:

Chart 3: Types of speech normally used
60

53.3

50

46.76

40
30
20

20
10
0

17

6.67
Lectures Speeches

19
News Interviews Others
report

Percent


It can be inferred from the chart that if ranked according to the frequency of usage,
the types of speech can be as follows: news report (53.3%), speeches (46.76%), interviews
(20%), other types (such as short conversations, telephoning..) (17%), and lectures
(6.67%).
3.3.1.2.3. Ways of using online materials
With question number 7, the writer tries to examine the ways that teachers have
employed to make use of online materials.

Chart 4: Ways of using online materials
100
83

80
%

60
40

42

Percent

20
0

0
A

B

C

A: Using materials that are accompanied with ready-made tasks.
B: Using the recordings only and designing the tasks themselves.
C: Assigning the recordings to the students and asking them to design the tasks themselves
to share with the classmates.
According to the chart, though time is a big problem for teachers, most of the
listening tasks for students are self-designed. This is the answer of up to 83% of the
students when asked. There are about 42% of the students who say that their teachers of
listening skills make use of ready-made tasks using the recordings from the Internet to
supplement their listening practice.

3.3.1.3. Students’ self-evaluation of the progress after being provided with
online listening materials

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