(Luận văn thạc sĩ) a study on ways to improve ielts listening skill

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUẢN LÝ VÀ CƠNG NGHỆ HẢI PHỊNG

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ISO 9001:2015

KHĨA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP
NGÀNH: NGƠN NGỮ ANH

Sinh viên
: Vũ Hoàng Long
Giảng viên hướng dẫn: Ths. Nguyễn Quỳnh Hoa

HẢI PHÒNG - 2019


BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUẢN LÝ VÀ CƠNG NGHỆ HẢI PHỊNG
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A STUDY ON WAYS TO IMPROVE IELTS LISTENING SKILL

KHĨA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP ĐẠI HỌC HỆ CHÍNH QUY
NGÀNH: NGƠN NGỮ ANH

Sinh viên
: Vũ Hồng Long
Giảng viên hướng dẫn : Ths.Nguyễn Quỳnh Hoa

HẢI PHÒNG - 2019

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUẢN LÝ VÀ CƠNG NGHỆ HẢI PHỊNG
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NHIỆM VỤ ĐỀ TÀI TỐT NGHIỆP

Sinh viên: Vũ Hồng Long
Mã SV: 1512751020
Lớp: NA1901A
Ngành: Ngơn Ngữ Anh
Tên đề tài: A study on ways to improve ielts listening skill


NHIỆM VỤ ĐỀ TÀI
1. Nội dung và các yêu cầu cần giải quyết trong nhiệm vụ đề tài tốt nghiệp
( về lý luận, thực tiễn, các số liệu cần tính toán và các bản vẽ).
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2. Các số liệu cần thiết để thiết kế, tính tốn.
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3. Địa điểm thực tập tốt nghiệp.
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CÁN BỘ HƯỚNG DẪN ĐỀ TÀI TỐT NGHIỆP

Người hướng dẫn thứ nhất:
Họ và tên:.............................................................................................
Học hàm, học vị:...................................................................................
Cơ quan công tác:.................................................................................
Nội dung hướng dẫn:............................................................................

Người hướng dẫn thứ hai:
Họ và tên:.............................................................................................
Học hàm, học vị:...................................................................................
Cơ quan công tác:.................................................................................
Nội dung hướng dẫn:............................................................................

Đề tài tốt nghiệp được giao ngày … tháng ….. năm …..
Yêu cầu phải hoàn thành xong trước ngày …. tháng ….. năm ……
Đã nhận nhiệm vụ ĐTTN
Sinh viên

Đã giao nhiệm vụ ĐTTN
Người hướng dẫn

Hải Phòng, ngày ...... tháng........năm 20..
Hiệu trưởng

GS.TS.NGƯT Trần Hữu Nghị


CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM
Độc lập - Tự do - Hạnh phúc
PHIẾU NHẬN XÉT CỦA GIẢNG VIÊN HƯỚNG DẪN TỐT NGHIỆP
Họ và tên giảng viên: ...................................................................................................
Đơn vị công tác:
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Họ và tên sinh viên:
.......................................... Chuyên ngành: ...............................
Nội dung hướng dẫn: .......................................................... ........................................
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1. Tinh thần thái độ của sinh viên trong quá trình làm đề tài tốt nghiệp

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2. Đánh giá chất lượng của đồ án/khóa luận (so với nội dung yêu cầu đã đề
ra trong nhiệm vụ Đ.T. T.N trên các mặt lý luận, thực tiễn, tính tốn số
liệu…)

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3. Ý kiến của giảng viên hướng dẫn tốt nghiệp
Được bảo vệ

Khơng được bảo vệ

Điểm hướng dẫn

Hải Phịng, ngày … tháng … năm ......
Giảng viên hướng dẫn
(Ký và ghi rõ họ tên)


CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM
Độc lập - Tự do - Hạnh phúc
PHIẾU NHẬN XÉT CỦA GIẢNG VIÊN CHẤM PHẢN BIỆN
Họ và tên giảng viên: ..............................................................................................

Đơn vị công tác:
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Họ và tên sinh viên:
...................................... Chuyên ngành: ..............................
Đề tài tốt nghiệp:
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1. Phần nhận xét của giáo viên chấm phản biện
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2. Những mặt còn hạn chế

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3. Ý kiến của giảng viênchấm phản biện
Được bảo vệ

Không được bảo vệ
Điểm hướng dẫn
Hải Phòng, ngày … tháng … năm ......
Giảng viên chấm phản biện

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................ 1
PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale........................................................................................................... 2
2. Aim of the study............................................................................................... 3
3. Research questions .......................................................................................... 3
4. Method of the study ........................................................................................ 3
5. Design of the study ......................................................................................... 4
PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE: THEORITICAL BACKGROUNDS
I. Listening comprehension
1.1.The definition of listening ............................................................................. 5
1.2.The type of listening .....................................................................................
1.2.1. General Listening Types ....................................................................... 6-7
1.2.2. Specific Listening Types ....................................................................... 8-9
1.3. The importance of listening ................................................................. 10-11
1.4.The difficulty of listening ...................................................................... 11-12
1.5. The types of problems in listening ......................................................
1.5.1. The Message ........................................................................................... 13 .
1.5.2.Linguistic Features ............................................................................ 13-14
1.5.3. The Speaker ........................................................................................... 14
1.5.4. The Listener ........................................................................................... 15
1.5.5.Physical Setting ....................................................................................... 15
1.6.Teaching listening......................................................................................
1.6.1 Teaching strategies ............................................................................. 16-19
1.6.2. The development of listening skills ...................................................... 20
II. IELT comprehension
2.1. Comprehension ......................................................................................... 21

2.1.1. History .................................................................................................... 22


2.1.2.Characteristics ........................................................................................ 23
2.1.3. Test structure ......................................................................................... 24
2.1.4. Scoring ................................................................................................ 25-26
2.2. IELT listening
2.2.1. Comprehension .................................................................................. 26-27
2.2.2. Types of question ............................................................................... 26-54
2.2.3. Band scores ............................................................................................ 55
CHAPTER TWO : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1. Survey Research .......................................................................................... 56
1.1. Steps in conducting a survey research ................................................... 57
1.2. Methods of Collecting Survey Data .................................................... 57-59
2. Techniques employed in this study ............................................................ 60
2.1 Data collection ........................................................................................... 60
2.1.1 Questionnaire .......................................................................................... 60
a. ..................................................................................................... Ai
ms of the questionnaire ......................................................................... 60
b. ..................................................................................................... Sel
ection of participations ......................................................................... 60
CHAPTER THREE: FINDING AND DISCUSSION
1. Findings and discussions from the questionnaire
1.1.Student level ............................................................................................... 61
1.2. Student stragtegies ............................................................................... 62-63
1.3 Problem encountered ............................................................................ 63-64
1.4. Student's learning styles .................................................................... 65-66
PART III : CONCLUSION
1. Conclusion .................................................................................................... 67

2. Recomendation ........................................................................................ 67-8
REFERENCE .............................................................................................. 69-70
APPENDIX .................................................................................................. 71-72


LIST OF TABLE & FIGURES
Figure 1 : The quantity of failure times ......................................................... 61
Figure 2 : The things need to do during the task .......................................... 62
Figure 3 : The types of issues during listening test ............................... 63-64
Figure 4 : The frequency of self-study listening at home ............................. 65
Figure 5 : The ways to improve the listening skill at home ........................... 66


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In the process of doing my research paper, I have received a lot of experience,
guidance and encouragement from my teachers and friends.
To begin with, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor
Ms. Nguyen Quynh Hoa, the lecturer of foreign language faculty, Haiphong
Private University, for her whole-hearted guidance and support. Without her
valuable recommendations and advice, I could not finish this thesis successfully.
My sincere thanks are also sent to all the teachers of English faculty at Haiphong
Private University for their precious and useful lessons during my four-year
study which have been then the foundation of this research paper.

HaiPhong, October 8th , 2019
Vu Hoang Long

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PART I: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
(Moore, 2005) said IELTS s' growth is obvious to be unavoidable because of the
increasing number of universities that require students to use IELTS and
because of the large number of students who want to take a course in Englishspeaking countries. IELTS has become one of the prerequisites for graduation at
a number of universities and colleges in Vietnam. Therefore, the demand for
learning IELTS is increasing. IELTS comprises two modules: general and
academic. The IELTS assessment includes four language competencies:
listening, reading, speaking and writing. Although some EFL Vietnam students
have taken the IELTS test, they were unable to get an appropriate band score.
One of the explanations for the challenges facing students in this examination is
listening. Unlike others skill in IELTS, there is no rewind in listening. For
example, in reading skills, candidates can turn over an entire reading to find key
words or have time to consider a topic before putting pen in writing skills.
Moreover, points could be regained in speaking test by examiner's factors. Since
it can be the most difficult skill in language learning, most studies have been
carried out in many aspects in order to look at it. Therefore, this study is
conducted for the purpose of adding more data in the endless gap of the local
context of teaching and learning the IELTS test in Vietnam.

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1.2. Aim of the study
My graduation paper focuses specifically on the investigation of method used by
the teachers at AMES center and give some suggestions for applying the new
methods to enhance the students' self - learning for improvements in their
listening skills. The specific aims of the research are as follows: To investigate
the teachers' and students' attitudes towards the application of listening methods
in self-learning. To find out the most common technique contents exploited by

the teachers at AMES center. To examine the students’ preferences for the
model practice. To give some suggestions for using the up-to-date solution to
enhance students' self-listening learning.

1.3. Research questions
As a basis for my investigation, the following research questions were
formulated:
1. What is the difficulties of IELTS listening ?
2. What are the techniques to improve the listening skill in IELTS ?

1.4. Methods of the study
To seek answers to the research questions, the data are analyzed from material
collection and were collected from survey questionnaires. First of all, for the
theoretical basis, a lot of reference materials on listening skills and portfolios
have been collected, analyzed and synthesized carefully with the due
consideration for the teachers’ and students’ teaching and learning situations.
Secondly, the questionnaires are carried out with the teachers and the students to
collect the most reliable data for the study.

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1.5. Design of the study
The thesis is divided into three parts :
Part I : Introduction ; Part II : Development ; Part III : Conclusion
Part I: Introduction
This chapter provides an overview of the study such as the rationale, the aims,
research questions, design and methods of the study.
Part II: Development
Chapter 1: Theoretical background

This chapter conceptualizes Ielts test and the nature of the listening
comprehension, the importance of listening and the importance of students' selfaccess listening
Chapter 2 : devoted to Research methodology
Chapter 3 : deals with findings and discussion.
Part 3: Conclusion
Conclusion summarizes all the obtained results and includes suggestions for
further study.

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PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
I. Listening comprehension
1.1. The definition of listening
To begin with, listening is the selection and assignment of meaning to sound.
When we listen we attempt to give importance to what we recognize and what
we want to hear. In different words, we pick what information is essential to pay
attention to, in order to strive to be capable to recognize the message any one is
giving us in order to respond (Brewster, Ellis & Girard, 2002).
According to Rivers (1981), listening is an innovative skill. The innovative part
of it happens when you recognize what action (or non-action) to take to guide
what you hear, meaning that listeners must have an energetic function when
listening in order to meet a specific purpose.
Lindsay and Knight (2006) claim that people have different purposes when they
listen. To study a new language, for instance, it is essential to outline what
listening reason you have – listening for precise details, listening for universal
which means or thinking – to assist beginners prepare their thoughts and use
shrewd guesswork to ensure beginners meet your listening cause. Consequently,
for this examine the focus became on developing listening for gist and listening

for specific records skills. Listening is the important skill that permits learners to
use their other abilities.
Listening is the primary ability that permits beginners to apply their other
abilities. Listening is the primary ability that permits beginners to apply their
other abilities. If a learner is capable of recognise what they hear they'll have
much less trouble speaking, as Rost (1994) mentions, because listening is
absolutely important since it affords input for the learner. Furthermore, if
novices do no longer recognize the enter they acquire, the mastering process
virtually cannot begin.
Language mastering relies upon greatly on listening because the fact that it's far
the ability that provides the primary impulse that initiates first, 2nd and foreign
language learning that sustains the getting to discover manner (Morris &
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Leavey, 2006). In addition, more than three quarters of what children learn in
school happens through listening in the classroom (Hunsaker, 1990).
1.2. Types of listening
A widely wide-spread categorization of listening has been brought by Wolvin
and Coakly ( 1988,1993).
1.2.1. General Listening Types:
The two main types of listening - the foundations of all listening sub-types are:
 Discriminative Listening
 Comprehensive Listening
a. Discriminative Listening
Discriminative listening is first developed at a very early age – perhaps even
before birth, in the womb. This is the most basic form of listening and does not
involve the understanding of the meaning of words or phrases but merely the
different sounds that are produced. In early childhood, for example, a distinction
is made between the sounds of the voices of the parents – the voice of the father

sounds different to that of the mother.
Discriminative listening develops through childhood and into adulthood. As we
grow older and develop and gain more life experience, our ability to distinguish
between different sounds is improved. Not only can we recognise different
voices, but we also develop the ability to recognise subtle differences in the way
that sounds are made – this is fundamental to ultimately understanding what
these sounds mean. Differences include many subtleties, recognising foreign
languages, distinguishing between regional accents and clues to the emotions
and feelings of the speaker.
Being able to distinguish the subtleties of sound made by somebody who is
happy or sad, angry or stressed, for example, ultimately adds value to what is
actually being said and, of course, does aid comprehension. When
discriminative listening skills are combined with visual stimuli, the resulting
ability to ‘listen’ to body-language enables us to begin to understand the speaker

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more fully – for example recognising somebody is sad despite what they are
saying or how they are saying it.
“ Imagine yourself surrounded by people who are speaking a language that
you cannot understand. Perhaps passing through an airport in another
country. You can probably distinguish between different voices, male and
female, young and old and also gain some understanding about what is going
on around you based on the tone of voice, mannerisms and body language of
the other people. You are not understanding what is being said but using
discriminative listening to gain some level of comprehension of your
surroundings.”
b. Comprehensive Listening
Comprehensive listening involves understanding the message or messages that

are being communicated. Like discriminative listening, comprehensive listening
is fundamental to all listening sub-types.
In order to be able use comprehensive listening and therefore gain understanding
the listener first needs appropriate vocabulary and language skills. Using overly
complicated language or technical jargon, therefore, can be a barrier to
comprehensive listening. Comprehensive listening is further complicated by the
fact that two different people listening to the same thing may understand the
message in two different ways. This problem can be multiplied in a group
setting, like a classroom or business meeting where numerous different
meanings can be derived from what has been said.
Comprehensive listening is complimented by sub-messages from non-verbal
communication, such as the tone of voice, gestures and other body language.
These non-verbal signals can greatly aid communication and comprehension but
can also confuse and potentially lead to misunderstanding. In many listening
situations it is vital to seek clarification and use skills such as reflection aid
comprehension.

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1.2.2. Specific Listening Types
Discriminative and comprehensive listening are prerequisites for specific
listening types. Listening types can be defined by the goal of the listening.
The three main types of listening most common in interpersonal communication
are:
 Informational Listening (Listening to Learn)
 Critical Listening (Listening to Evaluate and Analyse)
 Empathetic Listening (Listening to Understand Feeling and Emotion)
a. Informational Listening
Whenever you listen to learn something, you are engaged in informational

listening. This is true in many day-to-day situations, in education and at work,
when you listen to the news, watch a documentary, when a friend tells you a
recipe or when you are talked-through a technical problem with a computer.
Although all types of listening are ‘active’ – they require concentration and a
conscious effort to understand. Informational listening is less active than many
of the other types of listening. When we’re listening to learn or be instructed we
are taking in new information and facts, we are not criticising or analysing.
Informational listening, especially in formal settings like in work meetings or
while in education, is often accompanied by note taking – a way of recording
key information so that it can be reviewed later.
Developing your informational listening skills is a great way to set yourself up if
you’re starting a new job, beginning a new academic adventure, or fancy doing
some self-development studies around things that really interest you.
b. Critical Listening
Critical listening involves just that – being critical about what is being said,
taking the important bits and making a judgment as needed. Essentially, this
type of listening is great in the business world – it helps listeners get to the point
quickly and keeps things streamlined and efficient.

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By using critical listening as a skill, we can make decisions sooner as well as
coming up with solutions to problems and analysis of situations much quicker.
‘Critical’ can often have a negative connotation, but in this context, it simply
means cutting through what is being said to lift out the most important, relevant
parts.
This is a great skill to learn when it comes to business meetings, anything
involving finances, and any kind of high-stress situation.
By taking on board the most crucial information from what someone says, we

can learn to reach a conclusion much sooner and more easily.
‘Critical’ also means to scrutinize what is being said and take some things with a
pinch of salt. It requires us to seek the truth amongst the noise of opinion and
exaggeration.
Critical listening is a key part of the critical thinking process.
c. Empathic Listening
This is really similar to sympathetic listening, but takes things to a new level.
Rather than looking on as an observer and feeling for the person (be it sadness,
anger, or joy!), empathetic listeners essentially experience the feelings for
themselves. This is a sign of a really close friendship or relationship – to feel
someone’s pain or happiness is to love them and care deeply for them. It can be
quite intense at times and can really weigh deeply on the listener if they are not
careful. This style of listening is also known as Therapeutic Listening, and for
obvious reasons. By putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes, we’re better able
to help them through their situation.
Counsellors, therapists and some other professionals use therapeutic or empathic
listening to understand and ultimately help their clients. This type of listening
does not involve making judgements or offering advice but gently encouraging
the speaker to explain and elaborate on their feelings and emotions. Skills such
as clarification and reflection are often used to help avoid misunderstandings
We are all capable of empathic listening and may practise it with friends, family
and colleagues. Showing empathy is a desirable trait in many interpersonal
relationships – you may well feel more comfortable talking about your own
feelings and emotions with a particular person. They are likely to be better at
listening empathetically to you than others, this is often based on similar
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perspectives, experiences, beliefs and values – a good friend, your spouse, a
parent or sibling for example.

1.3. The importance of listening
Listening is getting increasingly more critical in lots of foreign language
contexts, that have tilled tremendously currently focused their efforts at the
development of different language skills including writing abilities. This
growing significance is reflected within the proliferation of commercially
listening guides. The importance of listening in second and foreign language
gaining knowledge of is admirably summarized in the latest e-book via Rost
(1994): “ Listening is crucial in the language classroom as it gives input for the
freshmen. Without information enter on the proper stage, any learning actually
cannot start ”. Brett (1997: 39) additionally states that "listening is a key
language skill. It has a crucial role inside the language acquisition procedure".
In assessment with other language abilities, a few research on listening shows
that on average human beings can expect to concentrate "two times as plenty as
we talk, four times greater than what we read and five times extra than we
generally write" (Morley, 2001).
Greater importantly, there is an increasing number of research indicating the
sheer importance of listening in the communique and language studying
(Anderson and Lynch, 1988; Dunkel, 1991). What's greater, Michael Lewis
(1993: 32) highlights "almost all the international's natural language output is
spoken rather written". Being an critical ability for almost interaction, listening
is therefore the maximum primary medium for input in language gaining
knowledge of technique and with the aid of speeding up the scholars' capacity to
understand speech, the amount of enter they get will increase and hence aid
students' language acquisition. It is obvious that we listen for many different
purposes in and out of the classroom; this has an effect on the way we listen.
Yule and Brown (1983) make a useful distinction between interactional and
transactional communication.
Mccarthy, (1991) in discourse, defines transactional talk (and listening) as
verbal exchange for buying commercial enterprise achieved. Interactional verbal
exchange, then again, has to do with lubricating the social wheels. In listening

(1988) Anderson and Lynch illustrate them as (transactional) listening when the
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main purpose is to reap a successful transfer of information, whilst interactional
listening is described as listening for social reasons, and to set up or maintain
pleasant relations among interlocutors. In short, listening is essential not only as
receptive skill but also to the development of spoken language prophecy.
1.4. The difficulty of listening
It is quintessential to acknowledge that listening can be quite challenging,
mainly for young rookies. When supplied with a new language, inexperienced
persons attempt to apprehend it in terms of cues of their first language
(Cameron, 2001), which is still in a growing technique itself. As human beings
aren't always communicating face-to-face listeners can not expect the verbal
exchange because there is no visible guide, nor can they ask someone to copy or
try and provide an explanation for it in a different way, for example, while you
concentrate to a cd. For that reason, listening is regarded as one of the most
tough competencies to learn and therefore to educate (subject, 2008) because of
the reality that listening is pretty complicated and calls for an active process of
interpretation wherein listeners must attempt to understand the messages they
pay attention with using the expertise they already possess (rost, 2002).
Further, they can not manipulate the selection of vocabulary, structure or rate of
conveyance of the speakers. As language instructors we must additionally
ensure that children are aware that regardless of their best attempt, at times, they
will nevertheless stumble upon some problems and challenges as improving
listening is a process that requires time and exercise and that they're not
predicted to recognize each phrase on every occasion that they're asked to do
listening activities (Brewster, Ellis & Girard, 2002).
According to Bloomfield et al. (2011), there are some other elements concerning
the traits of the listeners that can additionally have a main impact on their

capacity to hear efficiently. Namely, listeners’ working memory capability
which is mirrored by using their capability of understanding more of what they
hear when they are listening to L2 (A person's second language ) languageIn
addition, more than a few of factors pertaining to listeners’ enjoy with the l2
impact their listening talents, which include the amount of publicity to the
language, familiarity and ability to apprehend the phonology of the goal

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language, the quantity of vocabulary supplied and history information
approximately the subject.
Bloomfield et al. (2011) also claim that it is necessary to be aware that listeners’
nervousness affects their capability to apprehend what they can hear,
specifically young newbies who have a tendency to succumb to distractions
every now and then and are unable to focus their attention for long duration of
time on the same activity, which makes it even extra difficult for them to hear
efficaciously.
Therefore, we ought to strive to maximize our students’ getting to know
capacity in class thru listening (Rivers, 1981) as this ability is the first segment
that connects language with that means. Furthermore, speaking, proceeds
listening cognitively (Bozorgian, 2012) as a consequence, listening affords the
input that resources the premise for language acquisition and lets in beginners to
interact in spoken verbal exchange.
1.5. The types of problems in listening
Fan Yagang (1996) has conducted a study on “Listening: Problems and
Solutions”. It has been indicated that in teaching listening comprehension one
must be careful not to go to extremes, either by being concerned too exclusively
with theories without thinking about their application to teaching, or by
obstinately following frozen routines-opening the textbook and explaining new

words, playing the tape recorder, and asking/answering questions. It has been
suggested that a teacher should have an overall understanding of what listening
is, why it is difficult for foreign language learners and how to bridge the gap
between analysis of listening and actual classroom teaching. In his study, the
evidence that shows why listening is difficult divided into mainly four sources:
 The message
 The speaker
 The listener
 The physical setting.

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1.5.1. The Message
Content. Many learners find it more difficult to listen to a taped message than to
read the same message on a piece of paper, since the listening passage comes
into the ear in the twinkling of an eye, whereas reading material can be read as
long as the reader likes.
The listening material may deal with almost any area of life. It might include
street gossip, proverbs, new products, and situations unfamiliar to the student.
Also, in a spontaneous conversation speakers frequently change topics.
The content is usually not well organized. In many cases listeners cannot predict
what speakers are going to say, whether it is a news report on the radio, an
interviewer’s questions, an everyday conversation, etc.
Messages on the radio or recorded on tape cannot be listened to at a slower
speed. Even in conversation it is impossible to ask the speaker to repeat
something as many times as the interlocutor might like

1.5.2.Linguistic Features.
 Liaison is the linking of sounds or words. When we say a sentence in

English, we join or “link” words to each other. Because of this linking, the
words in a sentence do not always sound the same as when we say them
individually. .
E.g : Make-up /meik: ʌp/ ˃ /’meikʌp/
More ice /mɔ:r ais/ ˃ /mɔː rais/
 Elision is the omission of a sound (a phoneme) in rapid speech. More
specifically, elision may refer to the omission of an unstressed vowel,
consonant, or syllable.
E.g : potato /pə’teitou/ > /p’teitou/
polite /pə’lait/ > /p’lait/
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Two things on above are common phenomena that make it difficult for students
to distinguish or recognize individual words in the stream of speech. They are
used to seeing words written as discrete entities in their textbooks.
If listening materials are made up of everyday conversation, they may contain a
lot of colloquial words and expressions, such as stuff for material, guy for man,
etc., as well as slang. Students who have been exposed mainly to formal or
bookish English may not be familiar with these expressions. In spontaneous
conversations people sometimes use ungrammatical sentences because of
nervousness or hesitation. They may omit elements of sentences or add
something redundant. This may make it difficult for the listener to understand
the meaning.

1.5.3. The Speaker
Ur (1984:7) points out that “ In ordinary conversation or even in much
extempore speech-making or lecturing we actually say a good deal more than
would appear to be necessary in order to convey our message. Redundant
utterances may take the form of repetitions, false starts, re-phrasings, selfcorrections, elaborations, tautologies, and apparently meaningless additions such

as I mean or you know.” This redundancy is a natural feature of speech and may
be either a help or a hindrance, depending on the students’ level. It may make it
more difficult for beginners to understand what the speaker is saying; on the
other hand, it may give advanced students more time to “tune in” to the
speaker’s voice and speech style. Learners tend to be used to their teacher’s
accent or to the standard variety of British or American English. They find it
hard to understand speakers with other accents. Spoken prose, as in news
broadcasting and reading aloud written texts, is characterized by an even pace,
volume, pitch, and intonation. Natural dialogues, on the other hand, are full of
hesitations, pauses, and uneven intonation. Students used to the former kinds of
listening material may sometimes find the latter difficult to understand.
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1.5.4. The Listener
Foreign-language students are not familiar enough with clichés and collocations
in English to predict a missing word or phrase. They cannot, for example, be
expected to know that rosy often collocates with cheeks nor to predict the last
word will be something like rage when they hear the phrase he was in a
towering. This is a major problem for students. Lack of sociocultural, factual,
and contextual knowledge of the target language can present an obstacle to
comprehension because language is used to express its culture (Anderson and
Lynch 1988).
Foreign-language learners usually devote more time to reading than to listening,
and so lack exposure to different kinds of listening materials. Even our college
students majoring in English have no more than four hours’ regular training per
week. Both psychological and physical factors may have a negative effect on
perception and interpretation of listening material. It is tiring for students to
concentrate on interpreting unfamiliar sounds, words, and sentences for long
periods.

1.5.5.Physical Setting
Noise, including both background noises on the recording and environmental
noises, can take the listener’s mind off the content of the listening passage.
Listening material on tape or radio lacks visual and aural environmental clues.
Not seeing the speaker’s body language and facial expressions makes it more
difficult for the listener to understand the speaker’s meaning. Unclear sounds
resulting from poor-quality equipment can interfere with the listener’s
comprehension.

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