(Luận văn thạc sĩ) strategies for exploiting listening tasks in campaign 2 at english department, military science academy

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VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

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NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HUỆ

STRATEGIES FOR EXPLOITING LISTENING TASKS
IN CAMPAIGN 2 AT ENGLISH DEPARTMENT,
MILITARY SCIENCE ACADEMY
(Chiến lược khai thác các bài nghe trong giáo trình Campaign 2
tại khoa Tiếng Anh, Học viện Khoa học Quân sự)

M.A. Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Methodology
Code: 60 14 10

Hanoi – 2010


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION ..................................................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................ iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................................... iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.............................................................................................................. vii
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................... viii
LIST OF CHARTS AND FIGURES ................................................................................................... ix
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1
1.1. Rationale ...................................................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Aims of the study ......................................................................................................................... 2
1.3. Scope of the study........................................................................................................................ 2
1.4. Methods of the study................................................................................................................... 3
1.5. Design of the study ...................................................................................................................... 3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................ 4
2.1. Theory of listening ...................................................................................................................... 4
2.1.1. Definitions of listening and listening comprehension ....................................................... 4
2.1.2. The importance of listening comprehension ...................................................................... 4
2.1.3. Listening comprehension process ....................................................................................... 6
2.1.4. Factors that affect the process of comprehending listening texts ..................................... 8
2.1.5. Stages of carrying out a listening lesson .......................................................................... 10
2.2. Theoretical background of language learning strategies ..................................................... 12
2.2.1. Definitions ........................................................................................................................... 12
2.2.2. Oxford’s classification of language learning strategies .................................................. 12
2.2.2.1. Direct strategies ........................................................................................................... 13
2.2.2.2. Indirect strategies ........................................................................................................ 13
2.3. An overview of the course book “Campaign 2” .................................................................... 16
2.3.1. Objectives of the course book ............................................................................................ 16
2.3.2. Structure of the course book .............................................................................................. 17
2.3.3. Objectives of the listening skill .......................................................................................... 17
2.3.4. Brief description of the listening comprehension section ............................................... 18


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2.4. Current teaching and learning GE and ME at English Department, MSA .............................. 18
2.4.1. Teaching staff, teaching methods, and teachers’ knowledge of Military English ........ 18
2.4.2. Military cadets..................................................................................................................... 19
2.4.3. Teaching and learning facilities ........................................................................................ 20
CHAPTER 3: DATA COLLECTION, FINDINGS, AND DISCUSSIONS .................................. 21
3.1. Data collection ........................................................................................................................... 21
3.1.1. Subjects’ background information .................................................................................... 21
3.1.2. Methods of collecting data ................................................................................................. 21
3.2. Findings and discussions .......................................................................................................... 23
3.2.1. Cadets’ attitude towards listening skill ............................................................................. 23
3.2.2. Cadets’ opinion on the listening tasks in the course book “Campaign 2” ..................... 24
3.2.3. Cadets’ difficulties in listening to military texts and possible sources of difficulties ........... 26
3.2.4. Cadets’ use of listening strategies ..................................................................................... 27
3.2.4.1. Memory strategies ....................................................................................................... 28
3.2.4.2. Cognitive strategies ..................................................................................................... 28
3.2.4.3. Compensation strategies ............................................................................................. 29
3.2.4.4. Metacognitive strategies .............................................................................................. 30
3.2.4.5. Affective strategies ....................................................................................................... 31
3.2.4.6. Social strategies ........................................................................................................... 31
3.2.5. Cadets’ opinion on teachers’ ways of teaching listening tasks in “Campaign 2” ......... 32
3.2.5.1. Teachers‟ frequency of organizing three-stage listening lessons .............................. 32
3.2.5.2. Activities provided by teachers to better cadets‟ listening skill ................................. 33
3.2.5.3. Cadets‟ opinion on teachers‟ ways of organizing listening activities ....................... 34
CHAPTER 4: IMPLICATIONS ......................................................................................................... 35
4.1. Utilizing appropriate strategies ............................................................................................... 35
4.1.1. Memory strategies ............................................................................................................... 35
4.1.1.1. Using associating and elaborating strategies ............................................................ 35
4.1.1.2. Placing new words into context .................................................................................. 35
4.1.2. Cognitive strategies............................................................................................................. 36

4.1.2.1. Improving note-taking techniques ............................................................................... 36
4.1.2.2. Developing writing summaries skills .......................................................................... 38


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4.1.3. Compensation strategies .................................................................................................... 38
4.1.3.1. Making guesses from the context ................................................................................ 39
4.1.3.2. Making guesses based on visual clues ........................................................................ 39
4.1.4. Metacognitive strategies ..................................................................................................... 39
4.1.4.1. Finding about language learning ................................................................................ 40
4.1.4.2. Seeking practice opportunities .................................................................................... 40
4.1.5. Affective strategies .............................................................................................................. 40
4.1.5.1. Feeling relaxed/ Lowering anxiety.............................................................................. 40
4.1.5.2. Writing a language learning diary .............................................................................. 40
4.1.6. Social strategies .................................................................................................................. 41
4.1.6.1. Asking for clarification or verification ....................................................................... 41
4.1.6.2. Cooperating with peers ............................................................................................... 41
4.6.1.3. Developing cultural understanding............................................................................. 41
4.2. Teaching listening strategies to the third year cadets in a systematical way .................... 42
4.3. Organizing three-stage listening lessons ................................................................................ 42
4.3.1. Pre-listening activities ........................................................................................................ 43
4.3.2. While- listening activities ................................................................................................... 43
4.3.3. Post- listening activities ...................................................................................................... 44
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 45
5.1. A brief summary of the thesis and the main conclusion ...................................................... 45
5.2. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research ........................................... 45
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................... 46
Appendix 1: Survey Questionnaire ....................................................................................................... I
Appendix 2: Real Performance Test .................................................................................................. IV

Appendix 3: Note taking - Symbols and Abbreviations.................................................................. VII
Appendix 4: Common Abbreviations and Acronyms of Military Terms Used in Listening Tasks
in Campaign 2 .................................................................................................................................... VIII
Appendix 5: A Sample Listening Strategy Instruction Lesson ....................................................... IX
Appendix 6: Performance Checklist for Listening Strategies ........................................................ XI
Appendix 7: A Sample Listening Lesson Plan ................................................................................. XII
Appendix 8: Some Original Listening Tasks in Campaign 2 ...................................................... XVII


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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ED:

English Department

ESL/EFL: English as a Second Language/ English as a Foreign Language
ESP:

English for Specific Purposes

L2:

Second Language

LLS:

Language Learning Strategies

LS:

Learning Strategies

ME:

Military English

MSA:

Military Science Academy

SILL:

Strategies for Inventory Language Learning


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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Factors in the Literature (cited in Boyle, 1984:35)
Table 2: Direct Learning Strategies to be Applied to the Four Language Skills
Table 3: Indirect Learning Strategies to be Applied to the Four Language Skills
Table 4: Cadets‟ Attitudes towards Listening Skill
Table 5: Cadets‟ Opinion on the Listening Tasks in the Course book “Campaign 2”
Table 6: Memory Strategies Applied by the Third-year Cadets
Table 7: Cognitive Strategies Applied by the Third-year Cadets
Table 8: Compensation Strategies Applied by the Third-year Cadets
Table 9: Metacognitive Strategies Applied by the Third-year Cadets
Table 10: Affective Strategies Applied by the Third-year Cadets
Table 11: Social Strategies Applied by the Third-year Cadets

Table 12: Grenfell & Harris‟ Model of Teaching Listening Strategies


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LIST OF CHARTS AND FIGURES
Chart 1: Frequency of Teacher‟s Organizing 3-stage Listening Lessons
Figure1: Students‟ Difficulties in Listening to Military Texts
Figure 2: Possible Sources of Difficulties
Figure 3: Cadets‟ Use of Listening Strategies
Figure 4: Activities Provided by Teachers to Better Cadets‟ Listening Skill
Figure 5: Cadets‟ Opinion on Teachers‟ Ways of Organizing Listening Activities
Figure 6: Standard Outline Note-Taking Format
Figure 7: An Example of Mapping Method
Figure 8: An Example of Charting Method


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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
The first chapter justifies the rationale for the study. Afterwards, the aims, scope and methods of
the study are presented. The chapter ends with an overview of the thesis structure.
1.1. Rationale
In the globalized information age in which we are living, technological advances have made
global communication more and more easily accessible. In order to be a part of this global
community, having good command of a common language is clearly an advantage. Needless to say,
till the present time, despite the outnumber speakers of Chinese, English is still the dominant
language in terms of its convenience and popularity. To be successful in global communication,
merely being good at grammar and structures is no longer appropriate. The current situation requires
learners of English to acquire it to satisfy the demand of becoming not only good speakers but also

effective listeners. Therefore, “English listening comprehension has taken on increased importance
for ESL/EFL learners, since failing to comprehend spoken English may cause non-understanding or
misunderstanding which in turn leads to a breakdown in communication.” (Chen, 2009:54)
In order to improve Vietnamese learners‟ communicative competence to meet the demand of
globalization, English teaching methodology has been considerably reformed. The teaching method
has shifted from Grammar Translation to Audio-lingual and now to Communicative Approach in
which teachers become instructors who provide guidance for students to perform lifelike tasks to more
realize the teaching-learning process. In the process of acquiring English in a new light, listening
seems always to be the most challenging subject for learners, especially for those who come from rural
areas. These students may have good knowledge of grammar and structures, but merely these are not
enough to assure equal ability of listening and speaking. This phenomenon is quite common in
universities around Vietnam and Military Science Academy is not an exception.
Military Science Academy is the only military academy in Vietnam which trains major language
cadets. Like students at other language universities in Vietnam, cadets here are faced up with many
difficulties in learning listening skill, especially when they listen to military texts. Among various
causes of this such as students‟ background knowledge, students‟ interests in listening, the difficulty
level of listening texts, etc., inappropriate strategies for exploiting listening tasks or listening without
clear strategies are the main problems. As judged by Nauman (2002), the majority of students come
to listening activities with little knowledge of how the listening process works and even with serious
misconception about what make them successful in listening. Therefore, it is urgent that clear
listening strategies should be applied in exploiting listening tasks (especially, ESP listening tasks),


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and they should also be transferred to and absorbed by individual students so that students themselves
can be more active and effective in dealing with spoken language not only in classroom but also in
social contacts.
These above reasons led the author of this paper to conduct this study in order to discover
listening strategies in general and applying those strategies in exploiting listening tasks in Campaign

2 in particular. The author herself hopes that this paper will contribute to improving the teaching of
listening to military texts at her academy and also wishes to get useful contributions from her
colleagues as well as readers to help her cadets better exploit listening tasks in the military course
book „Campaign 2‟.
1.2. Aims of the study
This minor study is aimed at giving suggested strategies for exploiting listening tasks in the
Military English course book Campaign 2 at English Department, MSA and at the same time
implications for more effectively exploiting listening tasks in the book are given.
In order to fulfill the abovementioned aims, the study tried to answer two following questions:
(1) What are the appropriate strategies for exploiting listening tasks in Campaign 2 at
English Department, MSA? and
(2) What can be done to exploit listening tasks in Campaign 2 effectively at MSA?
The study primarily investigates the theoretical background of language learning strategies,
listening strategies and develops further in investigating strategies uses as well as exploring suitable
listening strategies for exploiting listening tasks in Campaign 2. It, therefore, serves as a valuable
resource for teachers at ED, MSA to gain a deeper insight into the practice of Military English
listening strategies among the third-year cadets. More importantly, a suggested list of listening
strategies is presented to assist teachers with way to enhance their cadets‟ ability in processing
military listening tasks. At the same time, the study is open to invite contributions from readers to
add more suitable strategies for exploiting listening tasks in Campaign 2 in particular and in other
Military English course books in general.
1.3. Scope of the study
It would be really challenging for this minor thesis to cover all the aspects of listening.
Therefore, the study just stays within the strategies for exploiting listening tasks in the course book
Campaign 2 by Simon Mellor-Clark and Yvonne Baker de Altamirano, a Military English course
book. Other areas of listening such as choosing materials or academic listening are beyond the study.


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1.4. Methods of the study
In completing this research, following methods have been used:
First of all, intensive and extensive reading helps equip the author with sufficient background
knowledge related to listening comprehension, language learning strategies, and listening strategies
so as to collect data for the literature review.
Second, survey questionnaires for students are used as the major instrument to collect data.
Third, observation of students‟ real performance through a listening test as well as informal
discussions with both the third-year cadets and the teachers at ED, MSA have been made.
Collected data, then, have been processed and analyzed.
1.5. Design of the study
The study is divided into five chapters as follows:
Chapter 1 is the introduction part of the study in which Reasons for conducting the research,
Aims of the study, Scope of the study, Methods of the study and Design of the study are respectively
displayed.
Chapter 2 reviews the literature on listening comprehension as well as its role in learning a
foreign language, the listening comprehension processes and factors that affect those processes. More
importantly, in this chapter, theoretical background of strategies, classifications of language learning
strategies, listening strategies and stages of listening strategies implementation have been thoroughly
presented. Besides, Chapter 2 also provides an overview of the course book “Campaign 2” and the
basic information about current teaching and learning Military English situation at ED, MSA.
Chapter 3 describes data collection, presents, analyzes as well as synthesizes data collected
from the survey questionnaires, students‟ real performance through a listening test, the author‟s own
observation and informal discussions with both cadets and teachers about listening strategy applying
and training.
Chapter 4 is comprised of recommendations for appropriate strategies for exploiting listening
tasks in Campaign 2, listening strategy teaching for the third-year cadets and suggested methods of
organizing effective listening lessons.
Chapter 5 provides brief summary of the thesis, presents conclusion about applied strategies, mentions
the limitations of the study, and suggests ideas for further research, as well.
In short, Chapter 1 has discussed the rationale, aim, scope as well as methods of the study. Ending

the chapter is an overview of the thesis design. Thanks to such lucid contents, this chapter acts as an
orientation for the development of the later parts of the thesis.


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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
The chapter gives an overview of the literature, including key concepts and related studies in the
field. Besides, the context of teaching and learning Military English in MSA is also briefly presented.
2.1. Theory of listening
2.1.1. Definitions of listening and listening comprehension
No one can deny the crucial role of listening in our daily life in general and in acquiring a
language in particular. There have been a variety of definitions of listening in broad meaning and
those of listening comprehension in specific angle.
In the first place, „listening‟ is simply understood as “the act of hearing attentively” (Retrieved
from wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn, 2nd March, 2010) in which the term „hearing‟ itself is said

to be one of the traditional five senses. It is the ability to perceive sounds by detecting vibrations via
an organ such as the ear and the inability to hear is called deafness. (Retrieved from
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listening, 2nd March, 2010).

Looking closer to the term „listening comprehension‟, Richards, J.C, Platt, J. and Platt, H. (1993:
216) define that “listening comprehension is the process of understanding speech in a second or
foreign language.”
Howatt and Dakin (1974) state that listening is the ability to identify and understand what others
are saying. This process involves understanding a speaker‟s accent or pronunciation, the speaker‟s
grammar and vocabulary, and comprehension of meaning.
Ronald and Roskelly (1985) emphasize listening as an active process requiring the same skills of
predicting, hypothesizing, checking, revising, and generalizing that writing and reading demand.
Needless to say, listening is an important and active skill of spoken language because it involves

various kinds of the listener‟s knowledge to match what they hear with what they already know on
the process of comprehending what the speaker means.
2.1.2. The importance of listening comprehension
For the past thirty years, the role of listening skill has been reconsidered and paid more attention.
It is acknowledged a significant language skill which is used most in human communication.
(Anderson & Lynch, 1988; Anderson-Mejras, 1986). There have been a considerable number of
studies on listening comprehension and their authors all emphasized its crucial position in language
teaching and learning. According to Wallace, Stariha and Walberg (2004:13): “Listening skills are
essential for learning since they enable students to acquire insights and information, and to achieve


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success in communicating with others”. Sharing the same idea, Nunan (1998, cited in A. Majid
Hayati, 2009:144) believes that “listening is the basic skill in language learning. Without listening
skill learners will never learn to communicate effectively.”
It is undeniable that “listening is the first language mode that children acquire. It provides the
foundation for all aspects of language and cognitive development, and it plays a life-long role in the
process of communicating.” (Guo, N. & Wills, R., 2006:3)
Proving the frequent use of listening in communication, a study by Wilt (1950) found that people
listen 45% of the time they spend communicating; 30% of communicating time was spent on speaking,
16% reading and 9% writing. The following studies share similar figures:
In reality, listening is used far more than any other single language skill in normal daily life. On average,
we can expect to listen twice as much as we speak, four times more than we read, and five times more than we
write. (Rivers, 1981; Weaver, 1972 cited in Murcia, M. L, 1991:70)
Feyten (1991, cited in ZoranaVasiljevic, 2010:41) claims that “more than 45% of communicating
time is spent listening, which clearly shows how important this skill is in overall language ability.”
Thus, listening provides input for not only speaking but also reading and writing. First, it is so vivid to
see the hand-in-hand relationship between listening and speaking. One cannot speak sensibly if he cannot
listen effectively because of a simple reason that he does not have proper input. Brouwer (2002, cited in Luo,

C., 2008:26) stresses that listening is many things, most often taking place in an interactive process where
listening and speaking take place simultaneously. Listening well helps bring about good knowledge of
pronunciation, intonation, rhythm, stress and, needless to say, a rich source of vocabulary and information,
which are in turn the basic condition for reproducing spoken language successfully. Second, listening also
has a close relationship with reading, another receptive skill. A large-scale L1 study by Neville (1985, cited
in Anderson & Lynch, 1988:18) among 6,000 schoolchildren found that they performed very consistently in
cloze tests of reading and listening comprehension. At ages 8, 11, 13 their scores were highly correlated:
good listeners were usually good readers and poor listeners were generally poor readers. This close
relationship between listening and reading is based on the common „language processing skill‟ of the two.
Garrod (1986, cited in Anderson & Lynch, 1988:19) has pointed out that, in both reading and listening,
processing has to take place sequentially, i.e. we sample one word at a time. But in order to comprehend the
message successfully, we have to analyze the whole segments of input, such as phrases, sentences and
paragraphs. He provides evidence from his own experiments with adult native readers that suggest they do
indeed build up an overall interpretation, or mental model of a text as they read. The similar evidence can
also be found in Neville‟s (1985) study when similar kinds of error were made in both types of text and


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many of those mistakes seemed to stem from the reader‟s or listener‟s failure to keep the overall content of
the text in mind. Last, listening even has influence on writing. What can be absorbed from listening will be a
plentiful source of raw materials for writing. Through listening, learners can not only obtain vocabulary or
ideas but more importantly, they also „feel‟ ideas better thanks to the speaker‟s voice or body language or
way of delivering information, which will be meaningful for learners themselves to reproduce language in a
livelier written form. This is also the significant difference between perceiving information from reading and
that from listening.
In short, despite the fact that listening is one of the most challenging skills for learners to
develop, it is one of the most important skills. By developing ability to listen well, learners will
develop their ability to become more independent in learning process, as by hearing accurately they
are much more likely to be able to reproduce accurately, refine their understanding of grammar and

develop their own vocabulary. All of these factors are the prerequisite to assure their better ability to
speak, read and write in English.
2.1.3. Listening comprehension process
Listening comprehension process is more complicated than what we have ever thought. It is not
at all passive, but in fact, an active process requiring the conscious involvement of the listener. Over
the past four decades, there have been numerous studies which show different views of the listening
comprehension process like Clark and Clark (1977), Nagle and Sanders (1986), Underwood (1989),
Rost (1990), Buck (2000). Among them there are three common views as follows:
Underwood (1989) divides the process into three „distinct stages‟ including perceiving the
sounds, processing information by the short-term memory and transferring information to the longterm memory. At the first stage, the sounds go into sensory store, often called the „echoic‟ memory,
and are organized into meaningful units, according to the knowledge of the language the listener
already has. However, the sounds remain in the echoic memory for a very short time, which often
causes difficulties in sorting out what is heard of by the listener. In the second stage, the listener
processes information by the short-term memory. This again is a very brief stage amounting to no
more than a few second. At this point, words or groups of word are checked and compared with
information already held in the long-term memory and the meaning is extracted from them. When the
meaning is grasped and the actual words of the spoken discourse are generally forgotten and only the
meaning retained. The last stage is done after the listener has constructed a meaning from the
utterance. At this stage, (s)he might transfer the information to the long-term memory for the later


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use. Therefore, the listener usually remembers the meaning (usually in short form called gist) rather
than the exact words spoken when (s)he has to recall what has been said.
Sharing similar point of view with Underwood, Goh (2000) builds listening process on three
phases: perception, parsing and utilization. First, perception is the process of encoding the acoustic
message. This involves segmenting phonemes from the continuous speech stream into words or
groups of words. During this phase in listening, an individual attends closely to input and the sounds
are retained in echoic memory. The second phase, parsing, is the time when words are transformed

into a mental representation of the combined meanings of these words. This occurs when an utterance
is segmented according to syntactic structures or cues to meaning. These segments are then
recombined to generate a meaningful representation of the original sequence. And during the last
phase, utilizing, the mental representation above is related to existing knowledge and stored in longterm memory as propositions or schemata. At this stage the listener may draw different types of
inferences to complete the interpretation and make it more personally meaningful or use the mental
representation to respond to the speaker.
Another very well-known view point of listening comprehension process is the conception of
bottom-up and top-down processes. Bottom-up processing is trying to make sense of what we hear by
focusing on the different parts including the vocabulary, the grammar or functional phrases, and
sounds, etc. In this type of process, listeners build their understanding by starting with the smallest
units of the acoustic message: individual sounds, or phonemes. These are then combined into words,
which, in turn together make up phrases, clauses and sentences. Finally, individual sentences
combine to create ideas and concepts and the relationships between them. Top-down processing, on
the other hand, starts with background knowledge called schema. This can be content schemata
(general knowledge based on life experience and previous learning) or textual schema (knowledge of
language and content used in a particular situation: the language you need at a bank is different from
what you need when socializing with friends). (Brown & Helgesen, 2007; Richards, 2005).
As listening comprehension is a complex process which involves the interaction of various
bottom-up and top-down factors, it is better to rely on the integration of and the balance between
these two processes to better acknowledge spoken language.
In short, there are quite various points of view on the listening comprehension process.
Therefore, it is necessary for both teachers and learners to recognize the pros and cons of each type
so that they can have better choice of tasks when dealing with listening skill.


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2.1.4. Factors that affect the process of comprehending listening texts
Through the brief description of the listening comprehension process mentioned above, it is clear
that the process of comprehending listening texts is a really complex process which requires the

combination of various linguistic and information sources. Therefore, it is necessary to put factors
affecting this process into consideration.
Different linguistic methodologists and experts have different ideas about these factors.
Following is the summary of the most salient factors suggested by Boyle (1984).
A.

B.

C.

Listener Factors
General
1. Experience/ practice in listening to the target language: use of the media (cinema, TV, radio, etc.)
2. General intelligence
3. General background knowledge of the world
More specific
4. Physical and educational
4.1. age/sex
4.2. home background, size of family
4.3. educational background and type of school
4.4. physical health and alertness
5. Intellectual
5.1. knowledge of the target language in its various aspects: phonology, lexis, syntax, and cohesion
5.2. powers of analysis and selection: ability to distinguish between main and supporting points
5.3. knowledge of the specific topic or subject
5.4. memory (short term and long term)
6. Psychological
6.1. Motivation and sense of purpose while listening
6.2. Attitude of the listener to the speaker
6.3. Attitude of the listener to the message: level of interest

6.4. Listener’s power of attention and concentration
Speaker factors
1. Language ability of the speaker: native speaker- beginner level, non-native speaker
2. Speaker’s production: pronunciation, accent, variation, voice, etc.
3. Speed of delivery
4. Prestige and personality of the speaker
Factors in the material and medium
1. The language used to convey the message: phonological features, including stress, intonation, weak forms (especially in
conversation), lexis, syntax, cohesion, etc.
2. Difficulty of content and concepts, especially if the material is abstract, abstruse, highly specialized or technical, esoter ic,
lengthy, or poorly organized.
3. Acoustic environment: noise and interference
4. Amount of support provided by gestures, visuals, etc.

Table 1: Factors in the literature (cited in Boyle, 1984:35)

The information in the above table is the generalization of different factors affecting the process
of comprehending listening texts combined from different authors by Joseph P. Boyle in his study
titled “Factors affecting listening comprehension”. Among the three factors, listeners seem to play
the most important role in comprehending the listening texts with their active status in dealing with
the texts. Regarding physical and educational factors, there have been not many studies on these and
so the results have not been clearly confirmed. In Boyle‟s research carried out with 60 students and
30 teachers in Hong Kong, only 10/60 (16.67%) of students mentioned family background and 3/60
(2%) of students mentioned sex factor. Sharing the similar result, in her Review of Second Language


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Listening Comprehension Research, Joan Rubin has found only three studies considering how gender
may relate to differences in listening comprehension and she concludes that “the small amount of

research on gender and listening comprehension is inconclusive.” (Rubin, 1994:208). The factor in this
category which seems to attract more attention of the researchers is age. In a study conducted in
Quebec, Canada, working with members (aged range from 17 to 41 with the mean age of 22.76 years)
of the Canadian Armed Forces undergoing English language training, Seright found that the mean gain
in listening comprehension made by the younger subjects exceeded that made by the older subjects.”
(Rubin, 1994:208). Seright‟s finding is “consistent with an earlier study by Halladay that showed that
younger adults acquired L2 skills more quickly than older adults.” (Rubin, 1994:208). However, Rubin
states that Seright‟s results are just beginning to our understanding of how age affects listening
comprehension and in fact, this is still a controversial issue which needs more investigations.
Different from physical and educational factors, intellectual and psychological ones get more
attention from researchers and they, in fact, obviously have great impact on listening comprehension,
especially the knowledge of different kinds (including linguistic knowledge and background
knowledge), and motivation. In his study, Boyle found that 23/60 (38.3%) of students appreciated the
role of general ability in English and the same number chose the knowledge of vocabulary and idiom.
At the same time, 10/30 (33.3%) of the teachers in Boyle‟s research considered knowledge of target
language played an important role in their students‟ listening ability. The familiarity of topic or subject
matter is also very important in the process of comprehending listening texts. There are 11/60 (18.33%)
of students and 7/30 (23.33%) of teachers mentioning this factor. There have been quite a great number
of studies on this field: Long (1980), Mueller (1980), Markham & Latharn (1987), O‟Malley et al
(1991), Chiang & Dunkel (1992), Tsuj & Fullilove (1998), and Sadighi (2006), etc. and they all confirm
the impact of background knowledge/ prior knowledge on listening comprehension. Besides,
motivation is also the factor that attracts interest of many linguistics methodologists and teachers
including Andrew (1989), Brown (1990), Field (1998), Zhang (2000), Brown (2004), and Hsu (2006),
etc. In his study, Boyle‟s finding shows that 11/60 (18.33%) of students and 11/30 (36.67%) of teachers
consider motivation an important factor in improving listening skill.
Other factors belonging to intellectual and psychological groups are memory, sense of purpose
while listening, attitude of the listener to the speaker, the interest of listener in the message as well as
the listener‟s attention and concentration on what (s)he is listening to.
The second major group of factors is speaker ones. Among the four sub-groups including
speaker‟s language ability, speaker‟s production of pronunciation, accent, variation, voice, etc., speed

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of delivery and prestige and personality of the speaker, the second and third seem to have decisive
influence on learners‟ understanding of the message. Boyle‟s findings show that 13/30 (43.33%)
teachers and 17/60 (28.33%) students mentioned the influence of accent on the comprehension of the
listening texts. At the same time, 5/30 (16.67%) of teachers and 17/60 (28.33%) of students chose the
influence of speed of delivery. These two factors are also emphasized by Underwood (1989) and
many other researchers like Brown (1968), Wilcox (1978), Eisenstein & Berkowitz (1981), Major et
al (2005) and Barlow (2009), etc.
In terms of factors in the material and medium, the main focus seems to fall on acoustic
environment with the influence of noise and interference. 10/60 (16.67%) of students and 12/30
(40%) of teachers in Boyle‟s study mention this factor. Noise including noise inside and outside
classroom or background noise in the tape/ CD is considered physical factors which usually distract
listeners from concentrating on and recognizing information in listening texts. Some studies on these
are Ur (1984), Rubin (1994), Hasan (2000) and Zekveld (2009), etc.
In short, there are quite a great number of factors that more or less have influence on the ability
to comprehend the listening texts of learners. Therefore, it is really essential for teachers to recognize
the impact of each of these factors on their students to help them overcome the difficulties and
comprehend the listening texts thoroughly.
2.1.5. Stages of carrying out a listening lesson
Mary Underwood (1989) sees the teaching procedure of listening comprehension as being made
up of three stages, namely pre-listening where the students activate their vocabulary and their
background knowledge, while-listening where they develop the skill of eliciting messages, and postlistening which consists of extensions and developments of the listening task.
Pre-listening is the preparation stage. In the first place, it is to provide context and motivation by
helping learners become conscious of the purpose of or the focus on the upcoming listening input.
Only when students are clear about the aim and meaning of their coming listening can they feel
interested and concentrate on the next stage of listening. Second, it is to give full play to learners‟
initiatives by activating their background knowledge. As suggested by Rivers (1981), teachers can

activate learners‟ prior knowledge through preparatory discussion of related topics and by making
sure that key words are known and have been recently brought to conscious awareness of their
students‟. Last, the pre-listening stage is to provide learners with necessary micro-listening sub-skills
such as predicting, getting the gist, extracting specific information, extracting detailed information,
and making inferences so that they can better deal with listening tasks in following stages.


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According to Underwood (1989) “while-listening activities are what students are asked to do
during the time that they are listening to the text. As far as listening comprehension is concerned, the
purpose of while-listening activities is to help learners develop the skill of eliciting messages from
spoken language.” (p.45). Therefore, in a well-organized integrated listening lesson, it is necessary
that teachers should have a clear idea of the possible difficulty-bound parts of the listening material
according to the knowledge of their learners so that they can help them overcome the difficulties by
pausing at those parts and asking questions that aim to elicit listeners‟ response like “What is just
said?”, “What is going to be talked about?”. By doing so, teachers are more likely to focus on
listeners‟ process of listening and can take advantage of such an interaction to help learners work out
a solution to their problems. It is in this stage that teachers can either implicitly or explicitly teach
some useful listening strategies for their students. Just as many researchers emphasize, such listening
strategies as making guess, drawing inferences with the help of contextual information, asking for
clarification and further explanation, tolerating certain ambiguity, etc. are crucial to ensure that the
learners become effective and successful listeners not only in classroom but more importantly, in
real-life situations. (Field, 1998; Anderson & Lynch, 1988)
Post-listening is like the follow-up state which is an indispensable part of the teaching of
listening. As defined by Underwood (1989:74), “post-listening activities embrace all the work
related to a particular listening text which are done after the listening is completed. Some postlistening activities are extensions of the work done at the pre-listening and while-listening stages and
some relate only loosely to the listening text itself.” For students, they are given a learner-learner and
learner-teacher interaction period during which they can work cooperatively to go deeper into the
listening text by discussing, reading or writing on some relevant topics. This is also a very good time

for learners to learn, revise or analyze some linguistic features so that they can use language more
accurately and naturally in target situations. For teachers, post-listening stage is the time for them to
check comprehension of their students to see how successful they have been in doing the task,
evaluate listening skills and use of listening strategies, and extend their students‟ knowledge gained
to other contexts. In short, post-listening not only winds up the current lesson but also serves as
preliminary introduction to a new lesson.
In summary, above is the common framework of a listening lesson. It is, in fact, not the only way to
structure a listening lesson, but it is one of the effective and motivating ways to encourage students: first to
feel more interested and gain more success in listening, the skill considered to be the most challenging for
learners to develop, and second to become effective listeners in real-life communication.


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2.2. Theoretical background of language learning strategies
2.2.1. Definitions
The term „strategy‟ itself is of military origin, deriving from the Greek word strategos, which
refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. (Retrieved on 1st April, 2010 from
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy)
Regarding „learning strategies‟ (LS), different researchers define the concept in different ways.
In a helpful survey article, Weinstein and Mayer (1986) defined learning strategies (LS) broadly as
“behaviours and thoughts that a learner engages in during learning that are intended to influence the
learner‟s encoding process” (p.315). Later Mayer (1988:11) more specifically defined LS as “behaviours
of a learner that are intended to influence how the learner processes information” (cited in Clouston, 1997)
These above definitions of LS are involved in all learning, regardless of the content and context.
To put it more specifically for language learning, Chamot, A. (1987) defines LS “are techniques,
approaches, or deliberate actions that students take in order to facilitate the learning and recall both
of linguistic and content area information” (p.71).
Having a deeper look at the concept, Oxford (1990) gives even a more detailed definition of the
term when stating that “LS are specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster,

more enjoyable, more self-directed, and even more transferable to new situations” (p.8).
Last but not least, Oxford herself once again specifies language learning strategies (LLS) as
…specific actions, behaviours, steps, or techniques that students (often intentionally) use to improve their
progress in developing L2 skills. These strategies can facilitate the internalization, storage, retrieval, or use of
the new language. Strategies are tools for the self-directed involvement necessary for developing
communicative ability. (Oxford, 1992/1993: 18 cited in Clouston, 1997)

Since Oxford‟s (1990, 1992/1993) definitions include everything that foreign language learners
need to be effective learners, they act as a guideline for the present study. They also serve very well to
be the background for the classification of LS which will be dealt with in the next section of the paper.
2.2.2. Oxford’s classification of language learning strategies
Similar to the variety of definitions of LLS, there exist quite different language learning strategy
classification systems like O‟Malley & Chamot (1990), Oxford (1990), and Vandergrift (1997).
However, thanks to its prominent features of comprehensiveness, detail, easy accessibility for
readers, Oxford‟s (1990) Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) is used as the framework
for the present study, based on which the data collection and analysis will be carried out.


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Oxford divides strategies into two major groups: direct and indirect, which are again subdivided
into six sub-groups of memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective, and social. These
subsets are interwoven with each other, creating an occasional overlap in the strategy groups.
Following is the overview of her classification.
2.2.2.1. Direct strategies
According to Oxford (1990:37), “language learning strategies that directly involve the target
language are called direct strategies.” All direct strategies require mental processing of the language,
but three subgroups of direct strategies (memory, cognitive, and compensation) do this processing
differently and for different purposes.
 Memory strategies help students store and retrieve new information, for example, creating

mental linkages, applying images and sounds, reviewing in a structured way, etc.
 Cognitive strategies enable learners to understand and produce new language by many different
means. They are skills or steps that involve direct analysis, transformation, or synthesis of the target
language, such as formal practice with sounds or structure, functional practice in natural interactions,
reasoning, translating, analyzing, note-taking, etc. Oxford herself confirms that cognitive strategies
are typically found to be the most popular strategies employed by language learners.
 Compensation strategies allow learners to use the target language despite their often large gaps in
knowledge. These are the strategies that enable learners to make up their missing knowledge in the
process of comprehending or producing target language, such as guessing wisely in listening and
reading, using gestures, switching to the native language, and using a synonym or description in order
to get the meaning across in speaking or writing.
2.2.2.2. Indirect strategies
As it is stated by Oxford (1990), indirect strategies support and manage language learning without
directly involving the target language. They are divided into metacognitive, affective, and social strategies.
 Metacognitive strategies are steps that learners take to manage or regulate their learning, such as
planning and arranging for learning tasks, setting goals and objectives, monitoring the learning
process for errors, and evaluating progress.
 Affective strategies are those strategies that help learners gain control over their emotions, attitudes,
and motivations related to language learning. Such strategies including encouraging oneself through
positive self-talk, talking with someone about their feelings about learning the target language, etc.
 Social strategies help learners learn through interaction with others. These include asking questions,
cooperating with others, and becoming aware of others‟ thoughts and feelings. (Adapted from Wu, 2008)


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Oxford‟s (1990) classification of LLS is summarized in the two below tables with its 2 main
groups, 6 subgroups, 19 sets and 62 specific strategies as well as the application of each in the
equivalent language skills.
Strategy

Strategy sub-groups

Specific strategies

Applied to language skills

groups

Memory Strategies

1. Creating Mental
linkages

2. Applying Images
and Sounds
3. Reviewing well
4. Employing Actions

Cognitive strategies

1. Practicing

a. Grouping

Listening, Reading

b. Associating/ Elaborating

Listening, Reading

c. Placing New Words into a Context

All Skills

d. Using Imaginary

Listening, Reading

e. Semantic Mapping

Listening, Reading

f.

Listening, Reading

Using Keywords

g. Representing Sounds in Memory

Listening, Reading

h. Structured Reviewing

All Skills

i.

Using Physical Response or Sensation

Listening, Reading

j.

Using Mechanical Techniques

Listening, Reading, Writing

a. Recognizing and using formulas and patterns

All Skills

b. Repeating language material

All Skills

c. Practicing with sounds and writing systems

Listening, Reading, Writing

d. Recombining known elements

Speaking, Writing

e. Practicing naturalistic

All Skills

f.

Listening, Reading

Getting the ideas quickly

g. Using resources for receiving and sending
2. Receiving and
Sending

All Skills

messages
h. Reasoning deductively

All Skills

i.

Analyzing expressions

Listening, Reading

j.

Analyzing contrastively

Listening, Reading

Messages

3. Analyzing and
Reasoning

4. Creating

k. Translating

All Skills

l.

All Skills

Transferring

m. Taking notes

Listening, Reading, Writing

n. Summarizing

Listening, Reading, Writing

o. Highlighting major points by using

Listening, Reading, W riting

Structures for

emphasizing techniques

Input and Output
1. Guessing
Compensation Strategies

Intelligently

a. Using linguistic clues

Listening, Reading

b. Using other clues

Listening, Reading

c. Using mother tongue for an expression

Speaking

without translating it
2. Overcoming

d. Getting help

Speaking

Limitations in

e. Using mime or gestures

Speaking

Speaking and

f.

Speaking, Writing

Writing

g. Selecting the topic

Avoiding communication

h. Adjusting/ Approximating the message

Speaking, Writing

i.

Coining words

Speaking, Writing

j.

Using a circumlocution or synonym

Speaking, Writing

Table 2: Direct Learning Strategies to be Applied to the Four Language Skills

(Adapted from Oxford, 1990)


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Strategy

Strategy sub-groups

Specific strategies

Applied to language skills

groups
a. Over viewing and linking, with already known

Metacognitive Strategies

1. Centering
Learning

b. Paying attention

All Skills

c. Delaying speech production to focus on

Listening, Speaking

listening

2. Arranging and
Planning Learning

3. Evaluating
Learning

d. Finding out about language learning

All Skills

e. Organizing learning

All Skills

f.

All Skills

Affective Strategies

2. Encouraging
Oneself

3. Taking Emotional

All Skills

h. Planning for a language task

All Skills

i.

Seeking practice opportunities

All Skills

j.

Self-monitoring

All Skills

k. Self-evaluating

All Skills

a. Using progressive relaxation, deep breathing, or

All Skills

mediation
b. Using music

All Skills

c. Using laughters

All Skills

d. Making positive statements

All Skills

e. Taking risks wisely

All Skills

f.

All Skills
All Skills

h. Using a checklist to assess feelings about

All Skills

language learning

a.
1. Asking Questionsb.
2. Cooperating with

i.

Writing a language learning diary

All Skills

j.

Discussing feelings with someone else

All Skills

a. Asking for clarification or verification

Listening, Reading

b. Asking for correction

Speaking, Writing

c. Cooperating with peers

All Skills

d. Cooperating with proficient users of the new

All Skills

Others

with Others

Rewarding oneself

g. Listening to the body
Temperature

3. Emphathizing

Setting goals and objectives

g. Identifying the purposes of a language task

1. Lowering Anxiety

Social Strategies

All Skills

material

language
e. Developing cultural understanding
f.

All Skills

Becoming aware of others’ thoughts and feelings

All Skills

Table 3: Indirect Learning Strategies to be Applied to the Four Language Skills

(Adapted from Oxford, 1990)

Thus, it is clear to see the reason why Oxford‟s (1990) LLS classification system is more
attractive than others‟. Her taxonomy of LLS is simply organized and includes no technical terms
which are easy for readers to understand. As it is commented by Gamage (2003) “…The inventory
has a well-understood underlying structure for strategy categorization and employs a wide range of
strategies, all items of which are checked and rechecked for validity and reliability.” (p.2)


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2.3. An overview of the course book “Campaign 2”
Campaign 2 is one among the series of three course books of Military English written by Yvonne Baker
de Altamirano, Simon Mellor-Clark, Nicola King, and Randy Walden. It was first published by Macmillan
Publishers Limited in 2005. At Military Science Academy, English Department, the course book “Campaign
2” was introduced to the third-year cadets of major English in 2007. Following is the detailed information of
the course book‟s objective and components as well as its most important part, listening section, the focus of
the present study.
2.3.1. Objectives of the course book
The series of course books Campaign is designed based on the measure of performance in
military teaching called STANAG 6001. A STANAG (or STANdardisation AGreement) is an
international military standard created by NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) in order to
regulate equipment, procedures, tactics, training and just about every thing that affects how armed
forces from different countries work together on operations and exercises.
STANAG 6001 is a language proficiency scale designed to allow comparisons of language
ability in different countries. It consists of a set of descriptors of proficiency skills broken down into
six levels as follow.
Level

0

No practical proficiency

1

Elementary

2

Fair

Limited working

3

Good

Minimum professional

4

Very good

Full professional

5

Excellent

Native/ Bilingual

Language proficiency is recorded with a profile of four digits indicating the specific skills in the
order of Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. These four digits are preceded by the code letters
SLP, which indicates that the profile shown in the Standardized Language Profile. The exist level of
Campaign 2 is approximately SLP 2222.
SLP 2222 is described in detail as follows.
 Listening: Learners can follow conversations about everyday topics, including personal news, well-known
current events, routine job-related topics, and topics in his/ her personal field.
 Speaking: Learners can communicate in everyday social and routine workplace situations.
 Reading: Learners can read simple, straightforward, factual texts on familiar topics.
 Writing: Learners can write, with some precision, simple personal and routine workplace
correspondence and related documents, including brief reports.


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In summary, Campaign 2 is aimed at students from pre-intermediate level. The problem-based
approach lessons are to encourage learners to implicitly or explicitly find solutions to real-world
problems through individual work or cooperation with their partners. Besides, the course book provides
learners with a plentiful source of military terms which are necessary for their job in the future.
2.3.2. Structure of the course book
Campaign 2 is composed of 12 units, each based around a topic. These topics are of intrinsic
interest and as carriers for teaching the lexis, grammar and functional English in military field.
Units range from Military Observer to International HQ to United Nations Police. There are topics
and texts from a variety of international contexts, including the USA, the UK, the NATO and the UN.
Each unit contains five sections, which are named alpha, bravo, charlie, delta, and echo. Each
section represents two lessons; each lesson will be between fifty to sixty minutes duration, which
means approximately 120 hours of class meeting are necessary to cover the whole book. However,
the current curriculum for third-year cadets at MSA provides only 60 hours covering 15 weeks, 6
periods per week. Therefore, certain topics and activities from 12 units, from 1 to 12, are chosen to
most satisfy students‟ needs.

Course book Campaign 2 is accompanied by Workbook, Teacher‟s book and 3 CDs for listening section.
The Workbook provides approximately 80 hours of consolidation material for self-study, which
assists learners to further practice vocabulary, grammar points, and especially listening skill.
The Teacher‟s Book is of great help for teachers, especially for those who have little or no firsthand experience of military life with answer keys, procedural notes, tape-scripts and background
briefing on the military.
2.3.3. Objectives of the listening skill
As stated by Boyle, Walden and Mellor-Clark (2005:13), “Campaign sees listening skills as
extremely important for military students.” Therefore, all the listening tasks in the book are designed
to require students to listen, understand and then act. The specific objective of listening skill is to
help learners follow conversations about everyday topics, including personal news, well-known
current events, routine job-related topics, and topics in his/ her personal field.
The strategies to be focused vary from listening to obtain the gist of the spoken text, listening for
specific details, deducing, predicting, to note-taking, etc.


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2.3.4. Brief description of the listening comprehension section
The listening task appears in almost all sections of each unit in the course book, interweaving
with other skill tasks. The situations are drawn on or based on authentic sources from conversations
between soldiers and their commanders, soldiers with doctors, among soldiers, briefing in military
meeting, reporting situations on radio, etc. The topics chosen are interesting and motivating for
cadets to absorb more information related to military field. The content of the listening
comprehension section is presented in the variety of forms like conversations, telephone dialogues,
mono briefing talks, radio talks, etc. The length of each task is from two to six minutes, which is
suitable for students to follow. While grammatical structures are not problematic for learners, the
challenging factors are terminology and different accents of speakers despite very clear voice and
moderate speed. Listening exercises cover almost all types of exercises including True/ False,
Answering questions, Completing notes, Writing notes, Matching, Choosing pictures, Labeling the
map, Completing the chart, etc. The main listening tasks are sometimes preceded by guided questions

and followed by some follow-up exercises like pair or group discussion or problem solving.
2.4. Current teaching and learning GE and ME at English Department, MSA
2.4.1. Teaching staff, teaching methods, and teachers’ knowledge of Military English
The current English teaching staff at MSA consists of 35 teachers whose age ranges from 25 to 47
years old, in which 14 are males and 21 are females. Among them, 13 male teachers graduated from MSA
and the rest held B.A degrees from different foreign language universities in Vietnam. At present, there is
one Ph.D, one Ph.D candidate, 19 having M.A degrees both in Vietnam and Australia.
Thus, it is clearly seen that all the teachers have fairly equal academic background; however, their
teaching methods and especially, knowledge of Military English make them different from each other.
Regarding the prior, different teaching methods are in use including grammar-translation, audiolingual,
and communicative language teaching. It is understandable to see differences in teaching methods due to
different sources of training, ages and habits and this, in fact, can be improved through exchanging
experiences, staff meeting or observing classes. The problematic matter is the later: knowledge of Military
English. While the group of teachers graduated from MSA have both good knowledge of ME and real-life
experience in the field, the rest find it really challenging to understand military terms, even in Vietnamese.
Therefore, it requires more effort, energy and time investment of these teachers when working with
Campaign textbooks, especially listening texts.