Teachers and students perceptions about the suit ability of thư listening tasks in american english file 3

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY
UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE
❧❧❖ ❧❧

TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS ABOUT
THE SUITABILITY OF THE LISTENING TASKS
IN ‘AMERICAN ENGLISH FILE 3’

A minor thesis submitted to
the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature
in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL
By
NGUYEN THI LAM

Supervised by
NGUYEN THI KIEU THU, PH.D.

HO CHI MINH CITY, JANUARY 2021


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to those who support me in completing my
research.
First and foremost, I would like to owe my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen
Thi Kieu Thu for her great patience proofreading my thesis drafts over and over again.
She also commented my whole thesis with her expert guidance thoroughly and precisely.
Moreover, she always offers me positive encouragement to implement the current
research. I have never completed timely my thesis without her wholehearted support.
Secondly, I would also like to thank the Board of Directors and Board of Department of

Foreign Languages at University of People’s Security, who gave me good opportunities to
take part in Master’s program.
Thirdly, my special thanks go to my colleagues, Ms. Le Thi Nguyet, Ms. Huynh Thi Hoa
Sen, and Ms. Tran Hoa Mi at the department of foreign languages of University of
People’s Security. They gave me useful advice along with considerable assistance in
accomplishing my thesis.
Fourthly, I would like to extend my grateful thanks to the teacher and student participants
who have spent valuable time completing my questionnaires as well as answering the
interview questions. Thanks to their active participation, I have finished my thesis.
Last but not least, I am profoundly indebted to my husband and my beloved parents who
always provide me with deep understanding, great encouragement and continuous
support. Without them, I could have never overcome the obstacles in the way of
completing my thesis.

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STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled “TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’
PERCEPTIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY OF THE LISTENING TASKS IN
‘AMERICAN ENGLISH FILE 3’” is the result of my own work.
This minor thesis has not previously been accepted for any degree and submitted in any
other institutions.
Ho Chi Minh City, January 30th 2021

Nguyen Thi Lam

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RETENTION OF USE

I hereby state that I, Nguyen Thi Lam, being the candidate for the degree of Master in
TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of
Master’ Theses deposited in the Library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original copy of my thesis deposited in the
Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research in accordance with the
normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan and reproduction of theses.
Ho Chi Minh City, January 30th 2021

Nguyen Thi Lam

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LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 1.1 Percentage of Communication ........................................................................... 1
Table 2.1 A framework for describing tasks ..................................................................... 13
Table 2.2 Types of listening practice ............................................................................... 16
Table 2.3 Framework for describing tasks ........................................................................ 20
Table 3.1 Demographic characteristics of teacher respondents ........................................ 31
Table 3.2 Demographic characteristics of student respondents ........................................ 33
Table 3.3 The brief summary of questionnaire items ........................................................ 35
Table 3.4a Reliability statistics’ results for the factor of Goals for the first run ............... 35
Table 3.4b Reliability statistics’ results for the factor of Goals for the second run .......... 36
Table 3.5a Reliability statistics’ results for the factor of Input for the first run ................ 36
Table 3.5b Reliability statistics’ results for the factor of Input for the second run ........... 36
Table 3.6a Reliability statistics’ results for the factor of Integration for the first run ...... 36
Table 3.6b Reliability statistics’ results for the factor of Integration for the second run ........... 37

Table 3.7 Reliability statistics’ results of two items regarding Spearman value .............. 37
Table 3.8 The brief summary of main research questionnaire items for student
respondents ....................................................................................................... 38
Table 3.9 The brief summary of main research questionnaire items for teacher
respondents ....................................................................................................... 38
Table 3.10a Reliability of teacher questionnaire for the first run ..................................... 39
Table 3.10b Reliability of teacher questionnaire for the second run................................. 39
Table 3.11 Reliability of student questionnaire ................................................................ 39
Table 4.1 The teachers’ perceptions about students’ listening ability .............................. 44
Table 4.2 Teachers’ perceptions about the listening tasks in AEF3 in terms of “Goals” .......... 45
Table 4.3 Teachers’ perceptions about the listening tasks in AEF3 in terms of “Input” ........... 46
Table 4.4 Teachers’ perceptions about the listening tasks in AEF3 in terms of
“Integration” ..................................................................................................... 47
Table 4.5 Teachers’ overall perceptions of the listening tasks in AEF3 ........................... 47
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Table 4.6 Students perceived their listening ability .......................................................... 48
Table 4.7 Students’ perceptions about the listening tasks in AEF3 in terms of “Goals” ........... 48
Table 4.8 Students’ perceptions about the listening tasks in AEF3 in terms of “Input” ............ 49
Table 4.9 Students’ perceptions about the listening tasks in AEF3 in terms of
“Integration” ..................................................................................................... 50
Table 4.10 Students’ overall perceptions of the listening tasks in AEF3 ......................... 50
Table 4.11 Teachers’ perceptions of students’ memory ability towards knowledge of the
listening tasks in AEF3 .................................................................................... 51
Table 4.12 Teachers’ perceptions of students’ development towards listening skill ........ 52
Table 4.13 Teachers’ perceptions of students’ ability in applying listening knowledge to
real life ............................................................................................................. 52
Table 4.14 Teachers’ perceptions of input of the listening tasks in AEF3 ....................... 53
Table 4.15 Teachers’ perceptions of giving feedback ....................................................... 55

Table 4.16 Teachers’ overall perceptions of the listening tasks in AEF3 ......................... 56
Table 4.17 Students’ perceptions of development towards listening skill ........................ 57
Table 4.18 Students’ perceptions of ability in applying listening knowledge to real life .......... 58
Table 4.19 Students’ perceptions of input of the listening tasks in AEF3 ........................ 58
Table 4.20 Students’ perceptions of using prior knowledge ............................................. 60
Table 4.21 Students’ perceptions of giving feedback ....................................................... 60
Table 4.22 Students’ overall perceptions of the listening tasks in AEF3 ......................... 61

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LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure 2.1 The model of task components ........................................................................ 11
Figure 2.2 The different ways in classroom management ................................................ 13
Figure 2.3 The HURIER listening model ......................................................................... 15
Figure 2.4 Bottom-up and top-down processing ............................................................... 20
Figure 2.5 The conceptual framework............................................................................... 28
Figure 3.1 Data collection procedure at University of People’s Security ......................... 41

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AEF3

American English File 3

C

Colleague

T

Teacher

S

Student

N

Number of research participants

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................. i
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY .................................................................................... ii
RETENTION OF USE ....................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. iv
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ vi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................. viii
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... xii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1
1.1. Background to the study ............................................................................................... 1

1.2. Needs for the study ...................................................................................................... 2
1.3. Aims of the study ......................................................................................................... 4
1.4. Research questions ....................................................................................................... 4
1.5. Significance of the study .............................................................................................. 4
1.6. Scope of the study ........................................................................................................ 4
1.7. Organization of the study ............................................................................................. 5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................... 6
2.1. Definition of key terms ................................................................................................. 6
2.2. Listening skill in English language teaching and learning ........................................... 7
2.2.1. Definition of listening ........................................................................................... 8
2.2.2. Significance of listening in English language teaching and learning ................... 8
2.3. Tasks in English language teaching and learning ...................................................... 10
2.3.1. Definition of tasks ............................................................................................... 10
2.3.2. Importance of tasks ............................................................................................. 10
2.3.3. Task components ................................................................................................. 11
2.4. Listening tasks ............................................................................................................ 14
2.4.1. Purposes of listening tasks .................................................................................. 14
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2.4.2. Types of listening tasks ....................................................................................... 15
2.4.3. Processing of listening tasks ............................................................................... 19
2.5. Perceptions about the suitability of listening tasks .................................................... 20
2.6. Review of previous studies ......................................................................................... 22
2.7. The conceptual framework ......................................................................................... 27
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................ 29
3.1. Research design .......................................................................................................... 29
3.2. Research site ............................................................................................................... 30
3.3. The coursebook ‘American English File 3 (AEF3)’ .................................................. 30
3.4. Participants ................................................................................................................. 31

3.4.1. Teacher participants ............................................................................................ 31
3.4.2. Student participants ............................................................................................. 32
3.5. Research instruments .................................................................................................. 33
3.5.1. Questionnaires ..................................................................................................... 33
3.5.1.1 Pilot questionnaires ....................................................................................... 34
3.5.1.2. Research questionnaires ............................................................................... 37
3.5.2. Interviews ............................................................................................................ 39
3.6. Data collection procedure ........................................................................................... 40
3.7. Data collection analysis procedure ............................................................................. 41
3.7.1. Analyzing data from the questionnaires.............................................................. 41
3.7.2. Analyzing data from the interviews .................................................................... 42
3.8. Summary..................................................................................................................... 43
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ............................................................. 44
4.1. Data analysis .............................................................................................................. 44
4.1.1. Data analysis from the questionnaire .................................................................. 44
4.1.1.1. Data analysis from the questionnaire to teacher respondents ...................... 44
4.1.1.2. Data analysis from the questionnaire to student respondents ...................... 48
4.1.2. Data analysis from the interviews ....................................................................... 51
4.1.2.1. Data analysis from the interview with teacher respondents ........................ 52
4.1.2.2. Data analysis from the interview with student respondents ........................ 57
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4.2. Discussion of results ................................................................................................... 61
4.2.1. Perceptions about “Goals” of the listening tasks in AEF3 ................................. 61
4.2.2. Perceptions about “Input” of the listening tasks in AEF3 .................................. 62
4.2.3. Perceptions about “Integration” of the listening tasks in AEF3 ......................... 63
4.2.4. Overall perceptions of the listening tasks in AEF3 ............................................ 64
4.3. Major findings ............................................................................................................ 64
4.4. Summary..................................................................................................................... 65

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION, SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..... 66
5.1. Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 66
5.1.1. Research question 1............................................................................................. 66
5.1.2. Research question 2............................................................................................. 67
5.2. Implications ................................................................................................................ 68
5.2.1. For the teachers .................................................................................................. 68
5.2.2. For the students ................................................................................................... 68
5.3. Limitations of the study .............................................................................................. 69
5.4. Recommendations for further study ........................................................................... 69
5.5. Summary..................................................................................................................... 70
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 71
APPENDICES ................................................................................................................... 77
APPENDIX 1 Listening scores of four recent school years ............................................. 77
APPENDIX 2 Item-total statistics’ results of student pilot questionnaire ........................ 78
APPENDIX 3 Item-total statistics’ results of research questionnaires ............................. 80
APPENDIX 4 Reliability analysis of student research questionnaire ............................... 82
APPENDIX 5 Questionnaire for teachers (English version) ............................................ 84
APPENDIX 6 Questionnaire for teachers (Vietnamese version) ...................................... 86
APPENDIX 7 Questionnaire for students (English version) ............................................ 89
APPENDIX 8 Questionnaire for students (Vietnamese version) ...................................... 91
APPENDIX 9 Interview for teachers (English version) .................................................. 93
APPENDIX 10 Interview for teachers (Vietnamese version) ........................................... 94
APPENDIX 11 Interview for students (English version) ................................................. 95
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APPENDIX 12 Interview for students (Vietnamese version) ........................................... 96
APPENDIX 13 Teacher interview transcripts ................................................................... 97
APPENDIX 14 Student interview transcripts ................................................................. 100

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ABSTRACT
Listening skill plays an indispensable role in daily communication as well as in education
these days. Listening tasks are one of the vital listening parts providing students with
necessary activities in order to help them practice and improve their listening skill. The
suitability of listening tasks is very important for students while learning listening and
helping them enhance their listening proficiency. That is the reason why the current study
attempted to investigate teachers’ and students’ perceptions about the suitability of the
listening tasks in AEF3. Besides that, similarities and differences in perceptions between
the two groups were explored. So as to achieve the purposes, three components including
“Goals”, “Input”, and “Integration” adapted from theories of Ellis (2003) and Nunan
(2004) were given to construct a theoretical guideline in the conceptual framework of the
thesis. Moreover, the study exploited a mixed methods research with quantitative and
qualitative analysis. Specifically, 170 students and 15 teachers at University of People’s
Security were invited to do the research questionnaires. The follow-up interviews elicited
responses from ten students and eight teachers to gain insightful information about these
listening tasks. The results from collected data indicated that teachers and students
perceive quite positively the suitability of the listening tasks in AEF3 in terms of three
mentioned components. Given the research findings, teachers also showed many similar
perceptions with students’; however, there were some differences between the two
groups. Specifically, students emphasized on culture integration which should be involved
in the listening lessons whereas teachers expressed more concern about redesigning the
listening tasks’ types in AEF3. Last but not least, the listening tasks should be adapted
and adjusted to suit students’ ability and motivate them in learning according to both
teachers’ and students’ perceptions.
Key words: listening tasks, perceptions, suitability, goals, input, integration.

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background to the study
There is no denying that English is currently spoken by many people around the
world. Using English is indeed becoming more important to many parts of the world in
the Industrial Revolution 4.0 era in general and in this age of Vietnamese
industrialization and modernization in particular. As Islami (2010) stated that the
importance of English cannot be neglected in the interconnected and globalized society.
English has seen as an obligatory subject in a diverse educational environment so far.
Teaching English is currently being concerned much more with a strong desire for
enhancing skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) along with coordinating
language areas (pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar). Listening is regarded as one
of the most important skills in the realm of educational and communicative field. In
traditional opinions, listening was considered as a passive process and the listeners were
receivers of information (as cited in Schmitt, 2002). By contrast, this viewpoint on
listening is not completely true anymore because Schmitt (2002) argued that listening
has become active and interpretive. Moreover, Celce-Murcia (2001) gave a statistical
table (Table 1.1) about the percentage communication with using four skills in social
life. As the numbers shown in the table, we can see that the listening skill becomes
predominant with the percentage of 45. The speaking skill is at the second position with
30%. Next, people spend 16% reading activities and finally the lowest rate of writing
which occupied only 9% in communication. It concluded that the listening skill plays an
indispensable role in both communication and education as well.
Table 1.1 Percentage of Communication (Celce-Murcia, 2001)
Mode of communication
Writing
Reading
Speaking
Listening

Formal Years of Training
12 years
6-8 years
1-2 years
0-few years

Percentage of Time Used
9%
16%
30%
45%

Morley (2001) and Rost (2001) also added the considerable significance of listening
skill in learning a foreign language. They supposed that the listening skill facilitates
the other skills to develop faster and helps learners achieve proficiency more quickly.
In addition, Rost (2009) stated that listening becomes one of the most significant
elements which contributes to success of communication in order that people can use
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their listening capacity to widen fundamental knowledge of the world around.
Furthermore, the listening skill is considered as a good method for learners to acquire
comprehensible input effectively because the learning process cannot take place unless
the input is established (Hamouda, 2013). In the same way, Jafari and Hashim (2015)
paid attention to the significance of listening skill towards comprehensible input for
learners in daily communication. They demonstrated a significantly high number of
more than 50 percent of those who spend time on this skill.
Nevertheless, the listening skill is not easy for many learners, especially most
Vietnamese students. Similarly, students at University of People’s Security has been

encountering a lot of listening obstacles and consequently gained low scores in this skill.
According to the department records of listening tests which were permitted by the
board of Department of Foreign Languages to show in this research through four recent
school years, a large percentage of listening scores belonged to low and average scores
while students gained high scores occupied the small percentages (see Appendix 1).
Generally speaking, students receive low scores deriving from many factors. One of
those factors is from their perceptions. It is, therefore, necessary to increase the
perceptions of students about the importance of the listening skill, namely, the listening
tasks which would be mentioned in the following section so as to help them have an
exact look to enhance their listening ability and complete the listening tasks better.
1.2. Needs for the study
Although listening is an important skill in communication as well as in education, it
is the difficult skill for learners to achieve its proficiency easily. Actually, listening was
seen as “one of the least understood processes” (Osada, 2004). Carter and Nunan (2001)
gave more information about listening as “a complex process that allows us to understand
spoken language” (p. 7). It proved that the listening skill is a complicated one and it
requires learners to devote hard effort to learn. Vandergrift (2007) shared a similar
opinion on the listening skill, that is, the listening skill is considered as “the least
researched of all four language skills” (p. 291). In other words, the listening skill has
appealed less interests owing to its difficulties. Additionally, Morley (2001) shared an
opinion of neglecting the listening skill in many schools and universities’ curriculum.
Teachers and students tend to achieve ultimate goals such as communication ability
instead of paying attention to listening which is the easiest way to develop speaking.
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Bress (2006) also illustrated this analogously common phenomenon happening in
classroom, that is, teaching listening in language classroom is almost ignored because
teachers do not recognize its vital importance. That is the reason why the listening skill
has been taught at the lowest rate in the practical language teaching for a long time.

Taking teaching listening at University of People’s Security as a particular example is not
concerned much.
In the listening sections, the listening tasks are designed differently to help students
understand the contents of the lessons. The listening tasks help guide students achieve
learning outcomes. Similarly, the listening tasks designed in the coursebook ‘American
English File 3’ have been desired to encourage students to better in learning. However,
students face a lot of difficulties in completing these tasks because of various reasons such
as lacking listening background knowledge, lacking vocabulary and so forth while doing
the listening tasks in this book. For instance, Ito (2001) showed that students found the
listening skill difficult because of the reduced forms. Buck (2001) supposed that the
listening skill is difficult for learners due to their limited processing process. It means
that students have not had effective learning strategies in learning listening. What is
more, Buck (2001) stated that students have lacked vocabulary and could not control
the rate of speech well. Consequently, they have not been good at completing the
listening tasks and felt demotivated to learn this skill. Osada (2004) also shared the
same point of views with Buck’s (2001) about the inadequate knowledge of students.
Moreover, Gilmore (2007) added more listening’s drawbacks that students often
encounter such as “irregular pauses, false starts and intonation patterns”. The above
obstacles obstruct students’ learning process towards listening tasks. The more
listening-task difficulties there are, the more depressed students expressed. When
students cannot complete listening tasks, they fail to succeed in listening skill. From
difficulties in lacking necessary knowledge, students feel more anxious in listening
lessons, especially in completing listening tasks. As Graham (2006) indicated some
listening comprehension problems of learners, including restricted vocabulary, poor
grammar, and misinterpretations about the listening tasks. Therefore, this study should
be conducted to consider to what extend the listening tasks in American English File 3
(henceforth AEF3) are suitable for students’ ability and suggest better solutions for
them to learn the listening tasks in this coursebook.
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1.3. Aims of the study
Because of the vital roles of the listening tasks, the current study aims to
investigate the teachers’ and students’ perceptions about the suitability of the listening
tasks in AEF3 in order to analyze and find out their insightful opinions about the
listening tasks. Furthermore, after investigating teachers’ and students’ perceptions,
the similarities and differences between the two groups’ responses would be analyzed.
1.4. Research questions
In order to accomplish the purposes of the study, the research questions are
formulated as follows:
(1) What are the perceptions of the teachers and students at University of
People’s Security about the suitability of the listening tasks in AEF3?
(2) What are the similarities and differences between teachers’ perceptions and
students’ perceptions about the suitability of the listening tasks in AEF3?
1.5. Significance of the study
In terms of theoretical contributions, the current study displayed the basic
theories related to listening skills in English language teaching and learning, tasks, and
listening tasks in order to explore the suitability of the listening tasks based on
listening tasks’ components through investigating teachers’ and students’ perceptions.
More importantly, the similarities and differences between their perceptions are taken
into careful consideration as the results of the study. Besides, the study devoted to
practical teaching by suggesting pedagogical implications in order to help students
learn the listening tasks more effectively.
1.6. Scope of the study
The current study spotlights the exploration of the suitability of the listening
tasks in AEF3 through perceptions of teachers and students. Moreover, whether
teachers’ perceptions about the suitability of the listening tasks in AEF3 are similar to
students’ or different is also a focus of this study. However, the study merely focuses
on listening tasks instead of all contents in the coursebook, which is considered as one
of the limitations of the study. In this study, the researcher would like to find out the

perceptions of teachers and students based on considering the components of the
listening tasks, excluding the effectiveness of the listening tasks. Moreover, the

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findings collected and analyzed are only appropriate in the scope of surveyed
participants at University of People’s Security.
1.7. Organization of the study
The thesis comprises five main chapters; namely, (1) Introduction, (2) Literature
Review, (3) Methodology, (4) Results and Discussion, and (5) Conclusion,
Implications and Recommendations.
The first chapter, Introduction, displays background to the study, which raises the
importance of listening in education and communication. Besides, the reasons why the
current study is conducted are illustrated in this chapter, namely, needs for the study.
Moreover, aims of the research, research questions, significance of the study, scope of
the study and organization of the study would be provided.
The next chapter which is known as Literature Review provides the theoretical
background about the perceptions, the listening tasks, and perceptions about the
suitability of the listening tasks. Moreover, reviewing of previous studies is illustrated
in this chapter. Finally, the conceptual framework is established as the guideline for
the research collection and analysis process.
Chapter 3, namely, Methodology, describes precisely the research design of a mixed
methods research, research site, research participants, research instruments, data
collection procedure and data analysis procedure.
The fourth chapter, Results and Discussion, depicts the results of the questionnaires
and interviews. Discussion of the results and major findings were demonstrated in this
chapter.
The last chapter entitled Conclusion, Implications and Recommendations
summarizes the important points of the current study, presents some limitations and

then suggests some useful recommendations for the further research.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter displayed theories related to the research purposes of the study. The
first section presented the operational definitions of perception as well as other related
terms. Theories of listening skill and listening tasks were demonstrated in the next
sections. Moreover, the study would review previous studies with the purpose of
investigating the research gap. Last but not least, the conceptual framework of the
study was built as the firm fabric with the purpose of guiding the researcher to
implement the following chapters.
2.1. Definition of key terms
In this section, some operational terms were presented to provide an overall
understanding about the way of using these definitions and help the researcher identify
the key terms which are used operationally in the study.
Firstly, Rao and Narayan (1988) defined perception as “the process whereby people
select, organize, and interpret sensory stimulations into meaningful information about
their work environment” (p. 329). In a similar way, perception is referred to “constructing
and understanding of the social world from the data we get through our senses”
(Michener, Delamater and Myers, 2004, p. 106). Compared with previous definitions,
perception is defined as the way people regard, understand or interpret something (Oxford
Dictionary, 2012). Whereas, Quick and Nelson (1997) discussed perception in view of
understanding someone. In the current study, perception is adapted from a part of
Michener, Delamater and Myers’s (2004) definition. Specifically, perception is
understood through one’s personal past experiences and thoughts. Hence, the teachers as
well as students shared their perceptions about the suitability of the listening tasks in
AEF3 based on their own experiences.
Secondly, perspective is the angle or direction in which a person looks at an object. In

other words, perspective is people’s viewpoints about the objective world. The term
‘perspective’ is used very differently in each field. In philosophy, for example,
perspective is seen as the context of opinion, beliefs and experiences. In literature, on
the other hand, perspective represents the point of view related to this area.
Next, belief is referred as “an individual’s judgment of the truth or the falsity of a
proposition” according to Pajares (1992) stated in the article entitled: “ESL/EFL

6


Instructors’ beliefs about Assessment and Evaluation”. Belief is understood simply as
an individual opinion about something or someone.
Finally, Eagly and Chaiken (1993) identified attitude as an implicit state that allows
psychologists to understand why a person reacts in a particular way to particular
stimuli. Attitudes are not only directly observable themselves, but can be also inferred
through behavior and are recognized by a core notion of evaluation. More specifically,
Ajzen (2001, p. 28) summarized the definition of an attitude as a “summary evaluation
of a psychological object captured in such attribute dimensions as good-bad, harmfulbeneficial, pleasant-unpleasant, and likeable-dislikeable”.
Four definitions were displayed precisely; however, as the current research aims to
indicate the personal feelings, experiences and thoughts of teachers and students about
the suitability of the listening tasks in AEF3, the operational term ‘perception’ is
highly recommended to use.
Besides, the term ‘suitability’ needs to be defined in this section. Suitability is
considered as “the quality of being right or appropriate for a particular person, purpose,
or situation” (Oxford Dictionary, 2012). In the current study, suitability represents to
what extent the appropriateness of the listening tasks in AEF3 for students at University
of People’s Security is in terms of the components suggested by Nunan (2004) and Ellis
(2003). In other words, suitability is considered through teachers’ and students’
perceptions to what extent the listening tasks in AEF3 are difficult or easy compared
with students’ ability in terms of goals, input and integration.

2.2. Listening skill in English language teaching and learning
As Morley (2001) pointed out that “Listening is used for 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 write” (p. 70),
listening can be seen at first with a vital role in daily communication. For example,
when children were born, they started their life with listening before other skills when
they even were at school, they were practiced listening first, then learned speaking,
reading and writing. Harmer (2001) showed that listening provides a great opportunity
to hear voices from others and create students a good habit in speaking in order to help
them improve their pronunciation in learning the language. Furthermore, Field (2008)
stated that teachers had used listening to teach new grammar through model dialogues
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in teaching English before. Listening becomes an essential factor for people to be
successful in their daily communication in general and in learning a foreign language
in particular.
2.2.1. Definition of listening
Traditionally, listening was considered as a passive skill which students just accept the
input of knowledge, but not produce any new languages. In contrast to traditional
opinions, the modern theories indicated that listening is evaluated in a completely
different way with positive viewpoints. As Purdy (1997) made comments on listening
as “the active and dynamic process of attending, perceiving, interpreting,
remembering, and responding to the expressed (verbal and nonverbal), needs,
concerns, and information offered by other human beings" (p. 8). Rost (2002) shared
the same opinions about listening which is the process of receiving the responses from
speakers, constructing and presenting the meaning along with creating through
involvement, imagination and empathy. He also presented listening as “an active and
important mental ability” in one of his researches in 2007. The two authors
emphasized that listening has become an active skill and linked closely to the listening

of speakers. In other words, listeners must have enough ability to apply a variety of
strategies and interactive processes in decoding deep messages and understanding the
purposes which speakers would like to mention. Understanding in an insightful way,
learning listening can convey aspects in lieu of thoughts, feelings, and intentions. This
is demonstrated relatively clearly in Hamouda’s viewpoint (2013). He defined
listening as the ability of comprehending what other people are talking about,
including speakers’ pronunciation, speakers’ grammar and vocabulary, and finally
speakers’ interpretation.
2.2.2. Significance of listening in English language teaching and learning
Similar to Celce-Murcia (2001) mentioned the role of listening in communication and
in education above, Hedge (2000) acknowledged the statistics as well as recognized
the essential role of listening in communication. Therefore, the importance of listening
cannot be neglected in daily life. He also emphasized that listening is not only strongly
influential on communication but also crucial in English language learning. Rost
(2001), Vandergrift (2007) and Kurita (2012) stated that listening is extremely
important to promote in second language learning. Specifically, Rost (2001) and
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Kurita (2012) said that learners’ listening ability is seen as an instrument of learning to
decide their success in learning a foreign language because learners who can receive
language input well also learn a new language quickly. Rost (2001) expressed the
development of listening in his book which was published in 2002 entitled “Teaching
and Researching Listening” by focusing on the importance of listening used widely in
normal daily life as well as effectively in language learning. What is more, Anderson
and Lynch (2003) specified that we only recognize familiar listening feats when we
live in that environment. Hence, the environment is very significant to boost up
listening ability. They stated that listening is as important as speaking skill because
speaking cannot happen face-to-face unless there is the listening process taking place
at the same time. As a result, listening develop simultaneously with other skills,

particularly speaking skill. Because students use their listening ability to receive
information and attain insightful knowledge, the listening skill is a key factor in
learning purposes (Wallace, Stariha & Walberg, 2004). In order to raise the
importance of listening, Guo and Wills (2006) said that listening is considered as a
means that learners use in their learning process and understand the outside world. One
more opinion comes from Hamouda (2013) about the importance of listening towards
both language learning and daily communication like the previous authors. In these
above authors’ theories, Rost (1994) gave the most detailed list of the importance of
listening skill in his book named “Introducing Listening” as follows:
(1) Listening is vital in the language classroom because it provides input for the learner.
Without understanding input at the right level, any learning simply cannot begin;
(2) Spoken language provides a means of interaction for the learner. Because learners
must interact to achieve understanding. Access to speakers of the language is
essential. Moreover, learners’ failure to understand the language they hear is an
impetus, not an obstacle, to interaction and learning;
(3) Authentic spoken language presents a challenge for the learner to understand
language as native speakers actually use it;
(4) Listening exercises provide teachers with a means for drawing learners’ attention
to new forms (vocabulary, grammar, new interaction patterns) in the language.
(Rost, 1994, pp. 141-142).
In conclusion, besides its contributive roles in daily communication, listening supports
learners in the development of language learning process.
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2.3. Tasks in English language teaching and learning
2.3.1. Definition of tasks
A task is defined in many different ways by several authors. As Skehan (1998)
gave the definition of a task as “(a) meaning is primary, (b) learners are not given other
people’s meanings to regurgitate, (c) there is some sort of relationship to comparable

real-world activities, (d) task completion has a priority, and (e) the assessment of tasks
are done in terms of outcome” (p. 147). According to him, a task mainly focuses on
meaning and task completion. Moreover, tasks should be related to the practice and
perform the results through outcomes of the learning process, whereas, Lee (2000)
suggested that a task should have the connection among participants and become a
procedure for learners to achieve the target. He illustrated a task as “(1) a classroom
activity or exercise that has: (a) an objective obtainable only by the interaction among
participants, (b) a mechanism for structuring and sequencing interaction, and (c) a focus
on meaning exchange; (2) a language learning endeavor that requires learners to
comprehend, manipulate, and/or procedure the target language as they perform some set
of work plans” (p. 32). Similarly, Bygate, Skehan, and Swain (2001) stated that a task
can help students use the language and focus on meaning to attain an objective. In
contrast, Richards and Schmidt (2010) disagreed with Skehan’s opinion with giving an
opposite definition of task. They stated that a task is "an activity or action which is
carried out as the result of processing or understanding a language (i.e. as a response)”
(p. 584). They affirmed that the more various the tasks are, the more communicative the
language teaching achieve. The task in this definition is the result of understanding the
language and serving for communicative purposes.
2.3.2. Importance of tasks
From the various definitions of tasks above, tasks play a significant role in English
language teaching and learning. Tasks are considered as a guidance for teachers to
design different activities in class. Students become more motivated to engage in
English lessons when teachers use interesting and enjoyable tasks. As a result, they
participate actively to complete tasks that teachers give. It was proved in David
Crabbe’s (2007) opinion about perceiving a good task. He stated that the good task
will increase students’ motivation when they achieve task’s goals. Success of tasks is
usually evaluated through students’ participation and satisfaction. However, in some
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cases, the degree of awareness in which students achieve after learning the tasks will
decide success of these tasks. It means that many tasks are designed in a funny way,
but students cannot learn anything after finishing the lessons. Therefore, teachers
should know learner’s needs when applying tasks to English teaching in order that
students can feel the true value of learning tasks (Mojibur, 2010).
2.3.3. Task components
Task components were illustrated differently by several authors. According to Wright
(1987a, as cited in Nunan, 2004), tasks minimally consist of two elements that are ‘input
data’ and ‘initiating questions’. In his theory, input can be provided by materials, by
teachers or learners because the purpose of initiating questions is to help students know
what to do with the input. He neglected to mention other aspects such as objectives,
outcomes, and so on. In contrast, Nunan (2004) emphasized the key component of tasks
is ‘goal’ which orientates students to follow the right way during learning tasks. He
summarized and gave a simple model of task components as follows:
Goals
Input

Teacher role
TASK

Procedures

Learner role
Settings

Figure 2.1 The model of task components (Nunan, 2004, p.41)
From the above diagram, each component is illustrated precisely. Firstly, goals are
defined as “the vague general intentions behind any learning task” (Nunan, 2004, p. 41).
Goals express the link directly to the learning outcomes or what the students can be able
to achieve when they complete the learning task. One task can lead students to several

different goals such as communicative ability, learning-how-to-learn, or etc. Besides,
Nunan recommended that the language used in the communicative goals is to:
(1) Establish and maintain interpersonal relationships and, through this, the exchange of
information, ideas, opinions, attitudes and feelings, and to get things done.
(2) Acquire information from more or less ‘public’ sources in the target language (e.g.
books, magazines, newspapers, brochures, documents, signs, notices, films,
television, slides, tapes, radio, public announcements, lectures or written reports,
etc.) and use this information in some way.

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(3) Listen to, read, enjoy and respond to creative and imaginative uses of the target
language (e.g. stories, poems, songs, rhymes, drama) and, for certain learners,
creating themselves.
Secondly, Nunan (1989) stated that input is referred to “the data that form the point of
departure for the task” (p. 53). He argued this viewpoint in the book that was published in
2004. Input consists of more comprehensive materials such as the spoken, written and
visual data in order that students can interact, work with and complete the task. Sources
of data are provided by both teachers or created by students such as articles from
newspapers, radio, documentaries, and so on. When evaluating inputs of the task, we
need to consider whether input is authentic or uses real-world materials or not. From the
authenticity, students feel at ease to perceive the learning contents compared with
common texts in the course book.
Thirdly, activities and procedures are understood completely similarly. Nunan (1989)
used the term “activities” to express what he would like to talk about the authenticity,
skills development and fluency/accuracy while Nunan (2004) preferred the term
“procedures” to illustrate the same things. Procedures are seen as steps that learners
use input established earlier and manipulate these different activities. There is a variety
of rich kinds of tasks so as to give students more chances to approach these tasks easily.

In this aspect, the author also introduced useful techniques for students to help their
learning better.
Next, Nunan (2004) also discussed the teacher role and learner role in the same part.
Role was referred to the part that learners and teachers develop the relationships in
terms of social and interpersonal aspects to conduct the learning tasks. The teachers
and learners absolutely have their own roles in the learning environment. Teacher
roles and learner roles are two sides of a coin (Nunan, 2004). Teachers need to have
different roles so as to create a creative environment for learners in the classroom.
Therefore, the interaction between learners and teachers plays a very important role.
Finally, settings was understood as the classroom arrangements for students to be able
to interact with the teacher effectively. The arrangement depends on the class size and
the number of students. Wright (1987, as cited in Nunan, 2004) gave a diagram the
different positions in class below.

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