skkn tiếng anh thpt ENHANCING LISTENING SKILL BY USING ONLINE LISTENING HOMEWORK (năm 2020)

CONTENT

Content

Page

1

Introduction

1

2

Literature Review

3

3

Methodology

12

4

Results

16

5

Assessment

25

6

Conclusion

29

7

References

30

8

Appendix

34


THÔNG TIN CHUNG VỀ SÁNG KIẾN
1. Tên sáng kiến: Cải thiện kĩ năng nghe bằng bài tập online ở nhà
2. Lĩnh vực áp dụng sáng kiến: Phương pháo dạy học bộ môn
3. Tác giả:
- Họ và tên: Thái Thị Quỳnh Trang. Nam (nữ): Nữ
- Trình độ chuyên môn: Thạc sĩ

- Chức vụ, đơn vị công tác: Giáo viên trường THPT Trấn Biên
- Điện thoại: 0367162228 Email:
Tỷ lệ đóng góp tạo ra sáng kiến (%): 100%


1

ENHANCING LISTENING SKILL BY USING ONLINE LISTENING
HOMEWORK
I. Introduction
1. Background information
It cannot deny that English is the lingua franca that is popularly used most in the
world. It has become a primary communication tool among countries and a crucial
means to approach to the world’s knowledge. As a result, being exposed to this
language not only creates a new horizon for foreign language learners but also gives
them the opportunity to have a broader perspective of the world. Realizing the
importance of English, Vietnamese’s MOET has introduced and made this language
become a compulsory subject at every high school around the country.
To meet this demand, a lot of EFL instructors have designed listening online
homework for their students to practice outside of class since they realize that this
useful way supports them to give feedback immediately, send the authentic materials
to the learners, give students their own space to practice and help them find the most
suitable way to learn language which can enhance their language acquisition (Sagarra
& Zapata, 2008).
Sharing the same idea with the EFL teachers, the researcher also wanted to create
her own online listening system as homework for their high school students to help
them get more time to listen to authentic materials through podcasts or videos. Hence
it was expected that learners’ listening skill would be improved and they would have
positive attitudes when accessing the online listening system.
2. Problem statements

There has been various research carried out to examine the effectiveness of online
homework and students’ perception toward this method and the interpretation is still


2

considered under debate. Having conducted the research, several researchers claimed
that there were developments in students’ performance after doing online homework
and online listening exercises (Tian & Suppasetseree, 2013; Liu, 2014). Meanwhile,
others stated that there were no significant effects on students’ performance when
using online homework (Bonham, Beichner, & Deardorff, 2001; Dillard-Eggers,
Wooten, Childs, & Coker, 2008). Although the answer of students’ attitudes about
this technological method is almost positive, some cases still found out that students
still prefer paper-based homework than web-based homework (Dillard-Eggers,
Wooten, Childs, & Coker, 2008).
3. Significance and purpose of the study
As a result, the researcher needed to review the research conducted to investigate
the effectiveness of online listening homework and students’ perception toward this
trend to examine the results to see whether it can help the learners enhance listening
skill and whether the students’ perspective is positive or not. As far as the researcher’s
acknowledges, the research that she has accessed so far just implemented online
homework at universities (Dillard-Eggers, Wooten, Childs, & Coker, 2008; Zerrr,
2007; Alshaikhi & Madini, 2016; Liu, 2014; Sagarra & Zapata, 2008). Hence, the
researcher realized that it is necessary to design an online listening homework system
and conduct a study to examine students’ attitude towards this method in which
participants are students from high school or lower school because they may face
more difficulties in dealing with technological problems which they are less familiar
with. Moreover, listening tests need to be designed to measure the effectiveness of
online listening homework. To be more important, there has not been any research
about this aspect carried out in Tran Bien high school. Therefore, the study is

conducted to find out the perception of 40 grade 10 students in Tran Bien high school
towards online listening homework. From the results, the researcher can know exactly
her students’ feelings about online listening homework and the validity of the method


3

to decide to continue and apply this system to other classes to help students get better
listening performance and encourage them to learn language.
4. Research questions:
To reach the aim of the study, there are two questions need answering:
 What are students’ perceptions towards online listening homework?
 Do they want to continue this method to improve their listening skill?
 Is the listening online homework effective?
II. Literature review
1. Homework
For a long time, homework has been considered as a feature in most schools all
over the world and it is an assigned task given to students to complete at home by the
instructor (Gu, 2015; Albelbisi, 2008; Leong & Alexander, 2014). It is also viewed as
a necessary part of the teaching-learning process and this activity will help students
learn better, improve the language learning’s quality, therefore, they will reach the
educational aims faster (Xu & Wu, 2013; Hong, Wan & Peng, 2011; Amiryousefi,
2016).
It is believed that homework can bring to instructors and learners numerous
advantages. According to Amiryousefi (2016), homework expands the time that
students engage in learning, strengthens their learning, helps learners have better
scores, become more self-regulated and have a better study habit. Increasing learners’
creativity is another benefit that Ilgar and Ilgar (2012) found out when they conducted
their research. According to Cox (2011), when the homework is graded, it enhances
and motivates students to get higher grades as well (as cited in Nour, 2018). Cooper,

Robinson and Patall (2006) said that the more homework students did, the more
successful they would get. Palocsay and Stevens (2008) also claimed that problem


4

solving and critical thinking are skills that can be improved and developed in the
process of doing homework (as cited in Albelbisi, 2018).
Homework also a connector between school and family, between the teacher and
parents. The events in the classroom will be informed to the parents and it encourages
them to stay next to their kids to support and monitor their work (Amiryousefi, 2016).
Moreover, through doing homework, teachers will realize their learners’ strengths and
weaknesses. Hence, it will help them to choose suitable materials and arrange
homework activities properly (Amiryousefi, 2016).
However, homework still has some demerits that the instructor needs to consider
carefully before applying in the teaching curriculum. It can create stress for the
students and reduce their leisure time for outside activities. According to Loveless
(2014), homework is viewed as a punishment given by the teacher and it makes
students bored and tired and students believe that homework is wasting learners’ time
and energy. There are also some results that prove that homework did not improve
study skills as well as students’ academic achievement (Kohn, 2007; Kralovec &
Buell, 2005). Therefore, the effectiveness of homework has been a controversial topic
until now.
2. Online homework
Traditionally, homework is designed on paper with some kinds of exercises such
as choosing the best answer, answering questions, matching, filling in the blank or
writing the essay which can make students feel tired and waste time. To deal with this
problem, the teacher can use the technology and internet to create online homework
which may have more interesting activities, colorful images and authentic materials
for students to practice learning language.

To understand the phrase “Online homework systems”, Leong and Alexander
(2014) define that they are systems that contain computerized homework problems


5

designed to help the teacher give grade and feedback automatically and immediately.
This definition is consonant with the meaning that Lunford and Pendergrass (2015)
share in their article. Jacobson (2006) and Kinney (2001) add that online homework
also may create plentiful diagnostic instructional hints or tutorial assistance when
defining this term.
3. Advantages of Online homework
There are numerous merits that make the teacher choose online homework instead
of paper-based homework. The first benefit people can obviously see that online
assignment can reduce the tree used to make paper. It also cuts down the cost and
energy producing this material. Hence, the nature of environment can be maintained
and preserved. They are not afraid of losing the paper work when transiting from
classroom to home as well (Dodson, 2014).
Another benefit that Dodson (2014) also found out when conducting his research
is online homework helps the teacher save time because they do not need to collect
homework and grading for them is more quickly and easily. Dillard-Eggers, Wooten,
Childs and Coker (2008) say that as instant feedback and assistance of online
homework help the teacher has more time for other classroom activities and duties
instead of meeting each student to give small details about homework.
Giving immediate feedback seem to be the utmost beneficial thing for both
teachers and learners. Students and instructors always report that the thing they are
interested in online homework than conventional homework is the availability of
direct feedback (Dillard-Eggers, Wooten, Childs, & Coker, 2008; Zerr, 2007; Sagarra
& Zapata, 2008; Tian & Suppasetseree, 2013; Paker & Loudon, 2013; Doorn,
Janssen, & O’Brien, 2010; Leong & Alexander, 2014). Learners can receive feedback

at any time which is suitable for their schedules. From then, they can understand and
comprehend immediately the knowledge and know their mistakes to fix it for the next


6

exercise. In terms of the teacher, feedback allows them to supervise students’ progress
and change their strategies accordingly (Lunford & Pendergrass, 2015). In the online
system, gone are the wasted moments of providing detailed feedback to a large group
of students, which almost teachers are scared of.
The fourth strong point of online homework is the various materials that the
internet provides for both instructors and learners. According to Kilimci (2010),
students can gather information, exposure to various topics and subjects, eliminate the
comprehension barriers thanks to the internet (as cited in Alshehri, 2017). Zerr (2007)
also has the same viewpoint when this researcher shares that the internet has become a
crucial means for publicizing numerous educational materials to learners. Moreover,
these materials are authentic, practical and up-to-date as well. Dodson (2014) claims
that “Having digital homework can also be one way to keep curriculum fresh within
the classroom”, which means this kind of homework can help teachers update their
website, so reduce the time they spend on keeping the materials contemporary and
advanced.
There has been some research that has stated that the grades and performance of
students who do online homework are better than the students doing paper-based
homework or do nothing (Zerr, 2007; Tian & Suppasetseree, 2013; Brewer, 2009). At
least homework does no harm for the students or maintains their performance
(Dillard-Eggers, et al., 2008, Lunford & Pendergrass, 2015; Dodson, 2014).
Last but not least, online homework as well as paper-based homework encourages
a lot of important skills in real life for students. The student’s autonomy will be
improved when they do homework by himself or herself. Moreover, how to manage
the time and schedule to do the task is also another skill that students can learn

through doing homework. According to Olin-Scheller and his coworkers (2010),
students who always feel shy and uncomfortable to interact in class can also enhance


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their communicative skill thanks to some useful internet services (as cited in Alshehri,
2017). Research and analysis skills are also enhanced when doing online homework
(Alshehri, 2017).
4. Disadvantages of online homework
On the other side, online homework also creates some demerits that the instructor
needs to consider carefully before applying this system.
Students’ health is the first thing that can be affected by online system. The long
time that students use and access to the internet could influence their eyesight and
backbone posture (Alshehri, 2017). Moreover, their mental health is also affected by
cyberbullying activities on the internet. If the instructor does not choose the materials
carefully, some videos, text or pictures will not appropriate for children, which may
result in some violent actions or sexual behaviors.
According to Johnson and Gotestam (2004), there are also some problems related
to technic that students may cope with when doing online homework such as they are
not familiar with the system or cannot connect to the website or lose their information
if it has not saved correctly (as cited in Alshehri, 2017).
Academic dishonesty is another disadvantage since students can still plagiarize
others’ work or share their passwords to their classmates (Gu & Kristoffersson, 2015).
Both paper-based homework and online homework are done outside the classroom so
they are out of teachers’ observation, which can lead to the cheating of the students.
Online homework also increases the gap between learners because of their
backgrounds and their levels of motivation (Gu & Kristoffersson, 2015). The student
who studies in a large room with sufficient equipment, internet and support from
family will be better than the one who learns in a small room without essential

equipment.


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5. Students’ perception towards online homework
According to Tin (2006), the researchers and teachers need to listen to learners’
voices to find out their feeling about homework assignment. From then, they will
know exactly what needs to improve and develop and “this can help teachers stand
out of their practice and assess it from a wider perspective” (as cited in Amiryousefi,
2016). Bulut and Uguten (2003) agree with this point because, in their opinion,
learner’s perceptions are really important in the teaching and learning process. They
need to consider about their learners’ preferences before planning and applying the
lessons and materials widely and frequently (as cited in Sulaiman, Muhammad,
Ganapathy, Khairuddin, & Othman, 2017). As a result, conducting research about
students’ attitudes toward something new in their learning process is necessary and
important.
Almost the research that the researcher has accessed so far has positive attitudes of
students towards online homework. Leong and Alexander (2014) realize that
immediate feedback is the factor that makes students are keen on because it helps
them enhance their understanding and learning. 10.8% of participants in the research
of Sagrra and Zapata (2008) also agreed that they appreciate receiving immediate
feedback.
With some students, online homework helps them understand more the materials,
the topic, the lesson in class, then prepare for the exams. (Doorn, Janssen, & O'Brien,
2010). Dillard-Eggers, Wooten, Childs and Coker (2008) examined the research about
the effectiveness of online homework in accounting class and found out that more
than half of the students believed that online system supports them to understand the
topics and problems. The findings of the research of Parker and Loudon (2013)
suggest that learners’ learning, experiences and success in the courses are also

improved after doing online homework. The findings of Tian and Suppasetseree


9

(2013) are in line with these above researches when they conclude that their online
task-based interactive listening encourages EFL students to enhance their listening
skills and learn more effectively.
53 percent of students from the research of Dillard-Eggers, Wooten, Childs and
Coker (2008) said that the quality of the time they spent studying was increased.
Students from the calculus class at the University of North Dakota also were in
accordance with this viewpoint when they said that their time spent outside of the
class was productive (Zerr, 2007).
As a result, a lot of students want to continue or have the same online homework
system for the other subjects and they will recommend it to their friends (Zerr, 2007;
Richards-Babb, Drelick, Henry, & Robertson-Honecker, 2011).
6. Applying online homework in improving listening skills.
Thanks to the improvement and development of technology and internet, there
have been some researchers attempting to use online system to design homework with
the aim to extend practice time and enhance their students’ listening ability.
Alshaikhi and Madini are two researchers conducting the research “Attitude
toward enhancing extensive listening through podcasts supplementary pack” (2016),
which aims to examine the perception of 120 Saudi elementary level students and
their teachers towards the content and criteria of podcasts using for extensive
supplementary listening pack. The findings of this research show that all students
participating in this research had positive perspectives about using short authentic
podcasts as listening supplementary packs. Nearly 60 percent of teachers and 40% of
students said that they liked the mobility feature of podcasts which encourages them
to listen anytime and anywhere. They also prefer the transcription which helps them
follow the speed rate of the native speakers. Nearly half of teachers and students

joining in the research have the same idea that the curriculum should contain various


10

podcasts topic since their listening level could be improved when coping with various
difficult podcasts that are beyond their current level.
Another research using podcasts as online material for improving students’
listening ability is the research “Podcasts for listening skills” conducted by
Kavaliauskiene and Anusiene (2009). The purpose of this research is to identify the
perceptions of learners toward online listening to podcasts and evaluating the
performance of individual listening practice and find a way to enhance listening skill.
In this research, the participants could select two podcasts online to listen at home
freely which could match their level. The findings show that students believed “it had
been easier for them to follow American speakers than British Speakers” (p. 32).
Nearly 80 percent of students had positive attitudes toward the technique using
podcasts as listening material. In conclusion, the researchers suggest that using
podcasts may enhance language awareness because they can be done at home with
convenient time and own pace and without threatening conditions.
“Comparing the outcomes of online listening versus online text-based tasks in
university level Italian L2 study” of Absalom and Rizzi (2008) is another research
that the researcher review. As mentioned in the title, the objective of this research is
to compare the results of two kinds of online tasks occurring in the background of the
study of Italian at The University of Melbourne. After investigating the research, the
researchers conclude that thanks to “the complex nature of listening in L2, online
listening tasks in L2 require students to activate more learning resources than is the
case with text-based tasks and adopt a deep, integrative approach to learning” and
online listening tasks also result in “greater retention of information and vocabulary”
(p.64).
Instead of using technology and internet for designing online listening homework,

Smidt and Hegelheimer from University of Minnesota and Iowa State University


11

created online academic lectures to improve their students’ vocabulary and listening
comprehension incidentally. The participants of this research include 24 ESL adult
students taking part in a listening comprehension class at Midwestern university. The
results of this research indicate that the instructors may use multiple media to design
online lectures “such as transparencies and other visual aids” to improve listening
comprehension, especially for intermediate adult students (p. 541). In addition, they
suggest that the teachers should have suitable strategies to teach and guide their
learners to use online media and resources.
Tian and Suppasetseree (2013) are two authors of the research “Development of an
instructional model for online task-based interactive listening for EFL learners”. Their
participants are quite difficult with other researches. They are three experts who have
got Ph.D. degree from two universities in Thailand and they work both in
“instructional system design and the English language teaching field”. The research
infers that three experts strongly agree that this new model is suitable for English
listening teaching for EFL students and it can improve “learner instructor, learnerlearner and learner-content interaction with a task-based approach”. Furthermore, it
also provides immediate feedback and it has “sufficient flexibility to be effective in
teaching and learning in current instructional context”. Two classes are required to
take part in the experiment to examine the effectiveness of online task-based
interactive listening in the second semester as well. The results indicate that the model
helps EFL students “learn more effectively and develop their listening skills and
ability as expected”.
It can be concluded that almost the researches that the research has accessed until
indicate positive attitudes toward online listening exercises. However, they just apply
these exercises as voluntary work so that the result of effectiveness might belong to
the learners’ autonomy and strategies to work at home. Therefore, the attitudes about

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using online listening tasks also are influenced. Furthermore, the participants of the
above researches are almost students from universities who are nearly familiar with
technology and internet. As a result, the researcher needs to conduct research that
occur in the context of high school since the students studying at school still cope
with some difficulties related to high-tech and under the observation of parents. Their
time of using computers and internet might be still depended on their parents’
allowance which can affect students’ results and perceptions toward online listening
homework.
III. Methodology
1.Participants:
There are several ways to choose samplings such as simple random sampling,
stratified sampling, multistage cluster sampling or snowball sampling; however, the
researcher chooses convenience sampling approach in which she can select
participants who are willing and available to be studied. Although these participants
cannot be representative of the whole population, it can save time for the researcher
while still being able to contribute helpful information for answering questions
(Cresswell, 2012).
As a result, 80 students from two classes 10A10 and 10A11 in Tran Bien high
school taking part in this project. The class 10A10 is asked to do online listening
homework through the system “Edmodo” by the researcher who is also their English
teacher at school so it is more convenient for her. Doing online listening homework is
compulsory for them because their exercises are graded and these scores occupy 10%
in their final result. The class 10A11 is not required to do online listening homework.
Because of the limited time, the researcher has just applied online listening
homework for 12 weeks. The students have to complete three listening exercises per
week. They contain fill in the blank exercises, multiple choice questions, matching

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activities, dictation, etc. which are extracted from KET/ PET books, online postcard
and videos from YouTube.
2. Method of data collection
Almost the research that the research has approach using a questionnaire to
identify students’ perceptions. A questionnaire is defined as “a form used in survey
design that participants in a study complete and return to the researcher. The
participant chooses answers to questions and supplies basic personal or demographic
information” (Cresswell, 2012, p. 382)
According to Dőrnyei (2003), using a questionnaire has three benefits:
“Firstly, the attractive feature is exceptional efficiency in terms of a
researcher’s time, effort and finance. Secondly, much more information can be
obtained within a shorter time frame, in comparison with interviews with the
same number of people. Thirdly, a well-constructed questionnaire can process
the data quickly and relatively straightforwardly by using computer software.
However, the primary disadvantage is that respondents usually give very simple
and superficial answers, mainly because they are unwilling to spend more time
than necessary in answering the questionnaires” (as cited in Liu, 2014, p. 20).
Because of these benefits, the researcher also applied a questionnaire to find out
her students’ attitudes towards online listening homework. She used a cross-sectional
survey, which can “examine current attitude, beliefs, opinions or practices”
(Cresswell, 2012, p. 377). However, the researcher wanted to know more detail about
the participant’s answer, she also designed open-ended questions. This kind of
question might help the researcher has a deeper understanding, explore many
“possibilities that individuals might create for a question” and “allow participants to
create responses within their cultural and social experiences instead of the
researcher’s experiences” (Cresswell, 2012, p. 386, 387).

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However, it is predicted that the participants do not want to be recognized so when
doing the questionnaire, background questions or demographic questions which
assess the personal characteristics of each participant in the research will not appeare
in the questionnaire. Moreover, all of their information will be kept confidential to
avoid ethical research problems and make sure the participants will volunteer to do
the survey.
During the thirteenth week, students from the experimental group were required to
complete a survey which includes 16 statements arranged to form Likert-type scale
with five-point spread. Participant scoring options are (1) strongly agree, (2) agree,
(3) no opinion, (4) disagree, and (5) strongly disagree. They were also asked to
answer two open-ended questions to help researcher find out more possible responses
and ideas to improve the online listening homework system.
To measure the effectiveness of the online listening homework, a quasiexperimental pretest/posttest is administrated to answer the question. Before taking
this method, all 80 students will take a pretest to measure their English speaking
competence and ensure there are no inequalities between two groups. After that, class
10A10 serves as the treatment group and take part in online listening homework.
Class 10A11 serves as the control group and does not have to do these listening
exercises at home. At the end of the research, post-test will be carried out to the
students to see the differences in students’ performance in English listening skills of
two groups.
3. Method of data analysis
After being collected from the survey, the data is analyzed by using Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to see the percentages of each statement
among students. From then, the researcher can determine the students’ perceptions
towards online listening homework.

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The scores of the tests will be put in Excel and use the formula to see the average
scores between two groups in both pretest and posttest.
4. Procedure
Before applying this new method, the teacher asks both groups to do pretest to
check their performance and make sure that the inequalities do not exist.
The control group only does the listening exercises following the schedule of
school and in the textbook of MOET at school. However, the teacher still encourages
this group to practice listening and doing lots of exercises to improve listening skill at
home.
The experimental group not only do the same thing as control group but they also
do the listening online homework at home three times a week. At school, the teacher
introduces the method and explain the reason why she conducts this way for her
students. After that, the website “EDMODO” is shown for all the students on the
screen. The teacher slowly instructs the steps to sign up on the website, join in online
class and do the exercises. Then, students go home, sign up their own account and do
the online exercises three times a week. During the research period, if students have
any difficulties in doing the online listening homework, they can ask the teacher for
help. The exercises are scored to ensure that all the students participate in doing the
homework. This website also helps the teacher to give mark automatically, analyze
the result and check the frequency. Therefore, the teacher can save a lot of time rather
than using paper homework.
After twelve weeks, a posttest is done by all the students in two groups to check
whether the performance of the experimental group is better than the control group.
IV. Results
1. Students’ perceptions of the experimental group

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General perceptions towards online listening homework
When being asked the preference between online homework and paper-based
homework, there were a lot of students choosing web-based style. The table 1 below
will present the percentage of students agreeing with the statement “I prefer online
homework than paper homework”

Table 1: I prefer online homework than paper homework
Frequenc
y
Percent
Valid strongly agree

Valid
Percent

Cumulative
Percent

36

45.0

45.0

45.0

27

33.8

33.8

78.8

neutral

7

8.8

8.8

87.5

disagree

9

11.2

11.2

98.8

strongly
disagree

1

1.2

1.2

100.0

80

100.0

100.0

agree

Total

It can be clearly seen that nearly half of students gave the strongly agree point and
more than one third of them agree with this statement. However, there were still some
learners who did not find this kind of modern homework outweigh the traditional one.
11.2% of participants disagreed and only one student strongly disagreed with the idea
that they spend their love more for online homework than paper homework. In


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addition, there were 7 students in total of 80 students having a neutral view which is
equivalent to 8.8%.
Table 2: I spend more time studying because of the online
format

Frequenc
y
Percent
Valid Strongly agree

Valid
Percent

Cumulative
Percent

11

13.8

13.8

13.8

Agree

30

37.5

37.5

51.2

Neutral

26

32.5

32.5

83.8

Disagree

11

13.8

13.8

97.5

Strongly
disagree

2

2.5

2.5

100.0

80

100.0

100.0

Total

Table 2 demonstrates the percentage of students finding they spend more time
studying because of the online format. More than 50% of students supported this idea
in which 37.5% of students agreed and 13.8% strongly agreed. The number of
students who were still indecisive to find out exactly whether they spend more or less
time for studying thanks to online exercises accounts for 32.5%. the percentage of
students agreed and strongly disagreed with this statement is 13.8% and 2.5%
respectively.
The last statement that helps to realize general attitudes of students towards online
listening homework is “I want to continue doing this online listening homework”,
which can be shown in the table 3.


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Table 3: I want to continue doing this online listening
homework
Frequenc
y
Percent
Valid

Valid

Percent

Cumulative
Percent

strongly
agree

15

18.8

18.8

18.8

agree

44

55.0

55.0

73.8

neutral

15

18.8

18.8

92.6

disagree

6

7.5

7.5

100.0

80

100.0

100.0

Total

It is noticeable that no one strongly disagreed and only 6 students which are
equivalent to less than one tenth of them disagreed with this viewpoint. Although the
number of students had neutral point occupy nearly 20%, in general, more than 70%
of students agreed and strongly agreed with the idea to continue doing online listening
homework.
Perceptions towards the validity of the online listening exercises

From the statement 4 to 8 in the survey, they are about the validity of the online
listening exercises and they help the researcher find out the students’ attitude towards
these exercises.
Table 4: the validity of the online listening exercises
Statement
4. Online listening exercises

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
agree
disagree
23.8%

45.0%

23.8%

6.2%

1.2%

Total
100%


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relate to my interest and they
are up-to-date
5. Online listening exercises are
suitable with my level of

proficiency

30.0%

41.2%

21.2%

7.5%

0%

100%

6. Online listening exercises’
structure is the same as the
listening test

13.8%

60.0%

18.8%

7.5%

0%

100%

7. Online listening exercises
have various topics related to
real life situations

37.5%

38.8%

22.5%

1.2%

0%

100%

8. Exercises’ instruction and
questions are clear and easy to
understand

17.5%

48.8%

22.5%

10.0%

1.2%

100%

It is obviously seen that only 1.2% and 6.2% of students, which combine together
less than 10% of students strongly disagreed and disagreed with the statement “Online
listening exercises relate to my interest and they are up-to-date”. In contrast, nearly
70% of participants agreed and strongly agreed that these exercises are interesting and
contemporary. Neutral point makes up more than 20%.
More than 70% of learners conceded that the online listening homework matches
their level of proficiency, in which 41.2% of students agreed and 30% of students
strongly agreed. Only 6 learners which constitute 7.5% in total disagreed with this
idea. The others belong to a neutral viewpoint.
Almost all of them also agreed that the structure of these exercises is the same as
the structures of listening tests in class. It can be proved by 60% of students ticked
agree column and 13.8% of students ticked strongly agree column in the survey. The
number of students disagreed with this viewpoint is the same as the previous


20

statement. No one chose strongly disagree column and 18.8% of learners had neutral
point.
“Online listening exercises have various topics related to real life situations” is the
next statement that nearly 80% of participants acknowledged. The proportion of
students strongly agreed is nearly the same as the proportion of students agreed, 37.5
and 38.8 respectively. Only one student disagrees with this idea and more than 20%
belong to neutral column.
Although 11.2% of participants disagreed and strongly disagreed with the idea that
the instruction and questions are clear and easy to understand, there were more than
65% of students accepted these instructions and questions. The neutral point one more
time makes up more than 20% for this statement.

Perceptions towards the valuable aspects that online listening homework can
bring about.
There are various merits that online homework can overshadow the conventional
one such as immediate feedback or the mobility. However, whether these advantages
can satisfy the learners and encourage them to study language. The table 5 below will
identify the ratio of learners who agree or disagree with these merits.
Table 5: Advantages of online listening homework
Statement

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
agree
disagree

Total

9. I like the videos because they
are lively and I can guess the
content more easily

51.2%

32.5%

16.2%

0%

0%

100%

10. Online listening exercises
are useful because they are
graded which can show me my

58.8%

32.5%

8.8%

0%

0%

100%


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ability and encourage me to
improve my listening skill
11. I like the immediate
feedback because it helps me
know my mistake on my own

70.0%

28.8%

1.2%

0%

0%

100%

12. I like doing online like this
because I can access to do the
task anytime and anywhere

45.0%

43.8%

7.5%

3.8%

0%

100%

13. I can do the test as many
times as possible so I can get the
score better

20.0%

40.0%

22.5%

16.2%

1.2%

100%

It is noticeable that with the statement from 9 to 11, no one disagreed or strongly
disagree with these views and the percentage of students approved these ideas is very
high. To be more specific, immediate feedback is the advantage of online listening
homework that learners prefer which accounts for the highest proportion (70%
strongly agree). The second highest ratio belongs to the statement “Online listening
exercises are useful because they are graded which can show me my ability and
encourage me to improve my listening skill” (58.8% strongly agree). The lively
videos stand at the third place with 51.2% strongly agree. Both the videos and the
grade have the same percentage of students agreed (32.5%). The immediate feedback
just has under 30% of students agreed, but it has the least ratio of neutral point in
comparison with 16.2% of the video and 8.8% of the grade.
There are still some students who disagreed with the viewpoint that they can
access the online homework anytime and anywhere although the number just 4%.
However, nearly 90% of participants agreed and strongly agreed with this strong point


22

of online homework. (43.8% agreed and 45.0% strongly agreed). 7.5% of the other
students had neutral point.

The last statement in the table 5 received the least approval from the students
although the number of students agreed and disagreed with this idea still occupy more
than half of students (60%). Besides 22.5% of students had neutral viewpoint, there
are 16.2% of participants disagreed and 1.2% strongly disagree with this merit.
Perceptions towards the weaknesses of online listening homework.
Everything has both sides and online listening homework is not the exception.
Statement 14, 15 and 16 in the survey mention some demerits of this style of
homework and they are presented in the table 6 below.
Table 6: Disadvantages of online listening homework
Statement

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
agree
disagree

Total

14. I have got some technical
problems while listening to the
tasks

3.8%

23.8%

26.2%

43.8%

2.5%

100%

15. I do not like when I have to
open another app on the mobile
or another tab on the computer to
access the listening link

25.0%

52.5%

11.2%

11.2%

0%

100%

16. I’m dissatisfied when my
answer is incorrect if I give the
number but not the word

55.0%

27.5%

15.0%

1.2%

1.2%

100%

Looking at the table, it seems that technical problems are not their preoccupation
because nearly 45% of students disagreed and 2.5% of students strongly disagreed


23

with this point while only 3.8% strongly agreed and 23.8% agreed. Neutral point
makes up 26.2%.
The disadvantage that makes students disappointed most is the way the system
gives the right answer. More than 80% of students who were dissatisfied when they
gave the right answer but the system did not give them mark because they wrote the
number instead of the words. 15.0% of participants ticked the neural column and
1.2% is the proportion for both disagree column and strongly disagree column.
Another demerit that 52.5% of students agreed and 25% of students strongly
agreed with is the way they open the listening link to listen to. They had to open
another app on the mobile or another tab on the computer to access the listening link,
which annoyed them a lot. Both neutral point and disagree point have the same
proportion which is 11.2% in total.
Open-ended questions
There are two open-ended questions in the survey which can support the
researcher understand deeper the students’ perception towards online listening
homework. The participant gave various answers and below are the most frequent
answers for two open-ended questions.
Is there anything else that makes you like and dislike about online listening

homework? If Yes, write them down
Like:
-

My listening skill is developed.

-

My parents can know my results.

-

The sound quality is better than listening at school because I can use my
headphone and listen in quiet area.