Chapter three: IMPLICATIONS
3.1. SUGGESTED TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE LISTENING SKILLS TO 10
TH
GRADE STUDENTS AT HEBHS
The effectiveness of the using pictures and pair work/group work has been
described and approved in the experimental listening lessons in the previous chapter. In this
chapter, the investigator with the desire to help students listen to English more effectively,
would like to suggest some more techniques, which should be employed by the teachers to
improve their students’ listening skills. Moreover, the suggested listening strategies also
can help students achieve more success in listening comprehension.
3.1.1. Giving background information
As a whole, students will take a listening session more effectively if they are given
some background information about the topic, situation or context of the listening text. The
technique is usually performed by the teacher in pre-listening stage. Because in while-
listening, students may encounter some potential problems. For example, it can be
confusing for students to distinguish the words which have similar sounding like bed and
bad, see and sea, pat and pet, knew and new, etc. The homophones and homonyms in the
language are not many but as existing in listening, they may lead students to mishear what
the speaker saying. Therefore, if the students are provided the background information as
an overall view of the listening text, they will place the context into the consideration while
listening, this will help them to understand the listening text with less confusion. Moreover,
the native speakers often speak very fast, so if students are foretold about the overall view
of the listening passage, they can guess the meaning of the sentence or predict the missing
words according to what they expect or what they think may happen. The techniques can
“bring to the forefront” (Ur, 1996, p.113). Especially, giving background information can
draw students’ attention to the listening, encourage them to work together of known lexis
and syntax which will assist students to over come obstacles created from their infrequency
and inexperience in listening practice. However, the technique employed by the teacher
should be simple, brief and realistic to students which can both draw students’ attention and
arouse their interest as well as the curiosity from the listening text. The time for giving
background information can be from two to five minutes depends on the students’ English

that relate to the topic and may appear in the listening text. When students have a certain
vocabulary in their minds, they will be able more self-confident in a listening lesson.
For example: Unit 1 (English 10, 2006, p.16)
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In the task 1 of the listening lesson in unit one (English 10, 2006, page 16), students
will hear Mr. Lam, a cyclo driver in Ho Chi Minh, talks about his morning activities. The
pictures in the textbook on page 16 describe his activities. Listen to the tape, and then
number the pictures in the correct order. By asking students to look at the pictures and
predict what tense may be mostly used in the listening text, most students guess that Mr
Lam will use present simple tense to talk about his morning activities. Besides, students
may guess a list of words which relates to Mr Lam’s morning activities based on the
pictures. such as: get up, passengers, ride, park, routine, district, breakfast, etc. This will
help them find the listening task more interesting and less challenging.
3.1.3. Presenting essential items
It is very important for the teacher to be aweare of the special role of presenting the
essential to students in a listening lesson. New words, new grammar structures and
expressions which are essential for students to understand, are considered as essential items
in a listening lesson. However, sometimes teachers only need to present a particular word
which is so important that if students do not know this word, they may fail to catch the
main idea of the text. When presenting the essential items, the teacher should help students
know its pronunciation and its spelling. These are fairly obvious characteristics that should
be paid proper attention. The teacher needs to make sure that both these aspects are
accurately presented and learned. In presenting a grammar structure, it is necessary for the
teacher to be aware that good presentation should include both oral and written forms and
both forms and meaning. The teacher should avoid spending too much time on how to
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pronounce the new words or how to use the new grammar structures. Another important
thing is that before the listening lesson, teacher must be sure of word or structures that need
presenting.
However, each teacher has his/her own way to present the essential items and the

are interested in. Before giving dictation, it is important for the teacher to present the new
words or essential items by speaking out and writing them on the board. Moreover, the
teacher must be sure that all students know what they are supposed to do.
Secondly, the teacher should let students hear the text at least three times. The first
time, the teacher reads the text aloud at rather high speed, students listen only and get the
general idea of the listening text. The second time, the teacher reads the text, sentence by
sentence at normal speed, students listen and take notes. When dictating the passage to the
students, the teacher should go round and see how their students write it. The thirst time,
the teacher can read the whole text through again. This helps students correct their dictation
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themselves. After the dictation, the teacher should check students’ work and encourage
them by giving mark for the best ones.
For example: I have let students dictate the following passage which seems to be
suitable to 10
th
grade students at HEBHS. After dictation, most students are satisfied with
their work, they are interested in dictating the passages with popular topics which have
average length, simple expressions and grammar structures.
HELP YOUR DOCTOR TO HELP YOU
The leading causes of death in many countries are now heart disease, cancer,
accidents, flu, pneumonia, etc. Moreover cigarettes, alcohol, physical inactivity and
overeating also add to the causes of several of these killing diseases. Medicine has little
help to offer, however, to persons who cannot get rid of habits harmful to their health.
Surgery is the only means to offer any chance of survival for the people with lung cancer.
Although psychiatrists have tried to stop people from drinking, they have not been
successful. Neither have doctors. How then can our health be improved? The answer is
simple, though perhaps not very pleasing. Ordinary people can do it themselves. They are
able to make good advances in the prevention of disease.
If: The overweight could eat less
If: Drinkers could drink less

tactics manage cognitive process and difficulties during listening; social tactics involve
other people in achieving understanding; effective tactics manage unproductive emotions
during comprehension” (p. 71).
The following suggested types of practice in perception and listening strategies by
Goh(2000) can help students improve their listening skills. In fact, listening strategies are
vital for students’ success in listening, the more the students exploit listening strategies,
and the more successful they get in a listening lesson.
Types of practice for improve listening skills perception parsing utilization
I. Perception practice
1. Listen to how new vocabulary items are
pronounced
2. Write down content words from short passages
3. Identify the most prominent word in short
utterances
4. Identify meaning groups in sentences of varying
lengths
5. Identify tones and their communicative value
6. Identify common discourse markers and their
functions
7. Identify common phrasal verbs & their meaning
II. Listening strategy practice
Cognitive tactics
1. Infer missing or unfamiliar words using contexts
2. Predict general content before listening using
context & prior knowledge
3. Use prior knowledge to elaborate and complete
interpretation
4. Take short notes of important content words
5. Relate limited interpretation to a wider social /
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4. Pay attention to discourse markers
5. Pay attention to visuals and body language
6. Pay attention to tones and pauses
7. Monitor comprehension using contexts and prior
knowledge
8. Evaluate comprehension using contexts and prior
knowledge and external resources
9. Continue to listen for clarification in spite of
difficulty
10. Assess the importance of problematic parts and
decide whether to ignore them or actively seek
clarification
Social-affective tactics
1. Ask speaker for clarification and repetition
2. Paraphrase what speakers say to check
understanding
3. Learn to relax before and during listening
4. Encourage oneself to continue listening
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develop not only their listening skills but the other skills may also be improved.
Moreover, the teacher should adjust the time and effort to manage the class and
make their students more involved in the listening tasks. Students may need various
strategies in the three phases of a listening lesson. Being aware of these listening strategies
can help students become better listeners of English. So that, in teaching listening the
teachers should pay attention to the types of practice for improving listening
comprehension.
It can be said that both the teachers and students expect the success after each
listening task. Therefore, it can be helpful and necessary for them to consider the
suggestions in this chapter.
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