iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration
Acknowledgements
Abstract
Table of contents
List of charts and tables
Part one: Introduction………………………………………………………
1. Rationale……………………………………………………………………
2. The aims of the study……………………………………………………
3. Scope of the study………………………………………………………….
4. Research questions…………………………………………………………
5. Research methodology……………………………………………………
6. The design of the study……………………………………………………
Part two: Development……………………………………………………
Chapter one: Literature review……………………………………………
1.Introduction………………………………………………………………
1.1. Listening strategies……………………………………………………
1.2. Listening test/task……………………………………………………….
2. Listening Strategies in Second Language Learning
3. Listening Task in Relation to Task Performance and Strategy Use
Chapter two: Methodology………………………………………………….
II.1.The setting of the study…………………………………………………
II.1.1.Overview of the new ―Tiếng Anh 12‖ textbook…………………………
II.1.1.1.General description………………………………………………
II.1.1.2.Listening skill in the textbook………………………………….…
II.1.1.2.1. Stages of teaching listening ………………………
II.1.1.2.2. Listening skills, tasks and activities………………………



LP: language proficiency
HLP: High language proficiency
MLP: Medium language proficiency
LLP: Low language proficiency
* Strategy likely stimulated by the treatment.
◊ Strategies reported by students.
vii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Summary of the Test Procedure

developing and consolidating communicative skills like speaking ,reading , writing and
listening was introduced to schools over our country for several years.
For several years of the application of the new textbook at my upper-secondary school, there
are many listening problems emerge .One of the most serious problem is that students find
listening difficult and touch to listen to and they are anxious, not confident enough to do
listening tasks or listening tests successfully. For more than ten- year- teaching English
experience and through the observation and talking with students, I find that what make them
anxious and fail in listening tasks or listening tests is the strategies they use. Therefore, my
minor thesis here studies the use of listening test-taking strategies and their relationship with
Students‘ performance.
2.The aims of the study
The study aims to reach the following targets:

2
-Studying the listening strategies used by students when taking a listening test: the frequency
and vary in listening proficiency in using strategies at three diffirent phases through survey
questionaire and students‘written report
-Investigating their use of test-taking strategies correlate with their listening performance
-Suggesting recommendations to improve listening teaching and learning at Que Vo I upper-
secondary school.
3.Scope of the study
This minor thesis conducted at Que Vo I upper-secondary school used a listening test-taking
strategy questionnaire to explore listeners‘ general picture of test-taking strategies at three
different stages—before, during, and after a test, then further investigated any correlation with
listening test performances, and finally a student report was used to examine how HLP and
LLP students adjusted their strategy use under different test task conditions. There are a
number of reasons for this choice:
- Listening is still a rather new skill to the students and teachers at Que Vo I upper-secondary
school
-It is difficult and a nightmare to the students

out with the students to gather the most reliable data for analysis to find the answers to the
research questions as mentioned above.
6. Design of the study
The study consists of three parts: Introduction, development and conclusion
The first part is the introduction, which provides information about rationale, purposes,
scope and significance of the topic as well as research questions, method and design of the
study
The development part consists of four chapters: literature review, research methodology,
results and discussion, and recommendations. Chapter one, literature review of listening
comprehension problems, listening comprehension strategies and Listening Task in Relation
to Task Performance and Strategy Use. Chapter two, methodology, presents in details the
setting, and procedures as well. Chapter three, results and discussion concerns the findings,
discussions and implications of the study. Chapter four, recommendations, concerns the

4
researcher‘s recommendations and suggestions for enhancing the effectiveness of teaching and
learning listening skill.
The last part, conclusion, summarizes the main issues touched upon so far in the study.
Apart from that, the research addresses some limitations of the study and gives suggestion for
further studies.


1.1. Listening strategies
In the realm of L2 learning and instruction, language strategy has been defined in a number of
different ways (see Chamot, 1987; Oxford, 1990, Cohen, 1998; Macaro, 2006), as has
language task (Breen, 1987; Nunan, 1989; Skehan, 1996; Richards & Rodgers, 2001);
therefore, I will not elaborate on these definitions here. However, to limit the scope of this
study, listening strategy will refer to ―conscious plans to manage incoming speech,
particularly when the listener knows that he or she must compensate for incomplete input or
partial understanding‖ (Rost, 2002, p. 236),
1.2. Listening test/task
Task will be defined as ―an activity that requires learners to arrive at an outcome from
given information through some processes of thought, and which allows teachers to control
and regulate that process‖ (Prabhu, 1987, p. 17). In many cases, including the case here, a
task often means a test, and the terms are often used interchangeably. Due to there being so
many language strategies, for example, strategies for vocabulary learning, the four-skill
learning strategies, and many task types as well (see Bygate et al., 2001), the scope of this

6
study will be limited to listening test-taking strategies under varying task characteristics. A
brief review of L2 listening strategies will be undertaken before focusing on a more
contextualized situation, specifically testing.
2. Listening Strategies in Second Language Learning
Over the past two decades, listening comprehension skills have become an essential
component of learning an additional language, and listening strategy use has been studied
extensively (see Berne, 2004, for a comprehensive review).Rubin (1994) classifies research
topics on listening strategies in the L2/FL field. These topics parallel those of general learning
strategies. They include the types of the strategies used, contrasting strategy use at several
proficiency levels, the use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies, the relation of the
strategy use to text, task, and setting, etc. These topics concern the types and applications of
listening strategies and the relationship to other learning factors. There has been little research
on the barriers that listeners face in acquiring listening strategies. Nevertheless, some of the

The comprehension processes of learners were examined across different factors. The results
show that there are significant differences between male and female listeners in strategies,
confidence, and affective response (1992a). And, significant differences could also be found
between effective and less effective listeners in both their level of comprehension and learning
(1992b). Positive views were expressed regarding the use of authentic input for listening
(1992c).
Goh (2002) looked into the mental tactics or specific techniques through which a general
strategy is operationalized. The subjects were Chinese learners of ESL in Singapore.
Immediate retrospective verbalizations were conducted to collect data. It was found that, for
instance, in order to operate the contextualization strategy, learners related new information to
a wider familiar context by using tactics such as placing input in a social or linguistic context,
finding related information on hearing a key word, or relating one part of text to another.
Similarly, to operate monitoring strategy, the learners might use tactics such as identifying
words or ideas not understood, checking current interpretation within the context of the
message or prior knowledge, or confirming that comprehension has taken place.
These studies have focused on identifying the relationship between strategy use and other
variables, such as higher versus lower proficiency learners, quality and quantity, the effect of
strategy instruction on listening performance, and most recently, strategy development over
time. Research in this area has generally shown:

8
1. More advanced listeners use more and varying strategies than less advanced ones
(Murphy, 1987; Chien & Li, 1998; Goh, 2002; Chao & Chien, 2005). [1]
2. The better a listener‘s proficiency, the more metacognitive strategies he/she uses
(Vandergrift, 1997a, 1997b).
3. When encountering more difficult texts, listeners tend to use bottom-up strategies
(Bacon, 1992; Vogely, 1995).
4. Successful learners are able to use both linguistic and background knowledge at the
same time, however, poor learners may over rely on one kind of knowledge (Rost &
Ross, 1991; Vandergrift, 1997b).

Chang & Read, 2006, 2007). Although its effectiveness varies according to learners‘ listening
proficiency, text types, task types, and many other factors, few studies investigate how
students utilize the information provided by their L2 instructors or test developers, through
which it is anticipated that their comprehension is enhanced.
As mentioned, research into listening task-based strategy use is limited. A study by Ikeda and
Takeuchi (2000) reports that reading task difficulty had some impact on the types and
frequencies of strategy use. Students reported using more strategies when doing a difficult
task, and high-proficiency students also reported using a wider range of strategies and more
analytic types of strategy for difficult tasks. Another study by Oxford et al. (2004) using tests
to elicit students‘ reading strategy use, found that reported reading strategies were not
significantly influenced by task difficulty or proficiency alone, but when specific items were
examined, it was found that high proficiency learners used top-down and holistic strategies,
whereas low proficiency ones used more mechanical and bottom-up strategies.
Vogely (1995) studied listening comprehension strategies used and perceived by learners of
Spanish on an authentic task. Vogely‘s students report using the following strategies (in order
of importance): getting the overall meaning of the text, relating the background knowledge
with the information in the text, understanding the meaning of each word, focusing on the
details, and mentally sounding out the words and phrases. However, it is of interest that
strategies considered effective by listeners were not actually used because they did not know
either when or how to use them. Another aspect of listening strategy use that has received little
attention is the effect of text difficulty (topic familiarity) on strategy use. Bacon‘s (1992)
research shows that university Spanish learners utilized more bottom-up strategies when
encountering difficult input, such as faster speech and unfamiliar topics. This finding seems to
confirm Vogely‘s results. The study also reveals that less successful listeners usually followed

10
the same plan of attack for each task, and suggests that learners must adjust their strategies
according to different tasks.
More recently, Chang (2008) investigated the test-taking strategies of Chinese college students
with high and low levels of anxiety under four different task conditions—previewing test

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CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY
II.1.The setting of the study

understanding a speaker‘s accent or pronunciation, his grammar and his vocabulary and
grasping his meaning (Goh, 2002).An able listener is capable of doing these four things
simultaneously. Hence, listening is an important skill and probably the most difficult one.
Traditionally, listening passages and methodology was not the matter of universal interest
in English curriculum at upper-secondary school. Listening did not make up any part of the
unit procedure and testing as well. The only means of listening was that the teacher or students
read the texts, questions and answered. Even though this language skill was mentioned and
teachers seemed to ignore and made no effort to improve it.
In contrast, the new “Tiếng Anh 12‖ fosters to develop language skills, including listening
comprehension. Indeed, listening lessons make up 20% of 86 periods of English syllabus.
Noticeably, each lesson is divided into stages: pre-listening, while-listening and post-listening
in order to obtain certain language comprehension or skills.
II.1.1.2.1. Stages of teaching listening
Listening lessons attempt to develop students‘ listening skills such as intensive and
extensive listening. Procedure of a listening lesson consists of three stages: pre-listening,
while-listening, and post-listening.
Pre-listening stage prepares students by getting them to think about the topic or situation
before they listen to the texts. In other words, it gives students a purpose to listen .It also gets
students to relate to what they already know about the topic and not least important arouse
their interests in listening. There are certain goals that should be achieved before students
attempt to listen to any text. They are motivation, contextualization, and preparation
.Regarding students‘ motivation, the teachers should select a text or task arousing students‘
interest and curiosity. Contextualization, in addition, is concerned with natural environment
that gives us a huge amount of information about the linguistic content we are likely to hear.
Listening to a tape recording in a classroom is very unnatural process. Therefore, the teachers
need to design tasks that will help students to contextualization the listening and access their
existing knowledge and expectations to help them understand the text which has been taken
from its original environment. Moreover, preparation is one of necessary process in pre-
listening stage. It is vital to cover specific vocabulary or expression that student will need



15
In an analytic approach to teaching, the teacher systematically spends time on the
component skill that makes up overall ability. In teaching listening, the teacher will identify
component skills of discriminating sounds, recognizing words and so on, and design specific
tasks and activities that include the use of such skills.
The new “Tiếng Anh 12‖ textbook, different listening skills are utilized depending on
what to listen for. Listening for general understanding, listening for specific or detailed
information, predicting, guessing, and interpreting are several typical examples. Listening
tasks are various and flexible based on linguistic difficulty level, topics and students‘ interest.
Students do not have to concentrate on every word or sound but general information to
develop their listening comprehension via true or false sentences, multiple-choice questions,
short answers…
II.1.2.The context of teaching and learning listening skill at upper-secondary school
II.1.2.1.In Vietnam
It is clear that English has been taught in Vietnam as an important language for a long time.
However, the teaching and learning of this foreign language have merely centered upon
reading and grammar. Due to grammar- translation method of teaching, Vietnamese students
of English are relatively good at grammar but not good at communicatively competence.
According to a large project to investigate the English teaching method reform in northern
parts of Vietnam, only 5% of students are able to communicate in English after graduation
(Hoang et al, 2005). This fact gives the rises to the need for nationwide innovation in the
teaching methodology. As a result, The Ministry of Education, in 2006, made a great effort to
implement Communicative Language Teaching at all secondary schools. A set of the new
textbook was compiled and officially used in the light of communicative approach, in which
four skills of English are highly prioritized.
Concerning the teaching of listening skill, sixteen out of 86 periods in the syllabus are
spent on listening, accounting for 20% (Hoang et al, 2005). Moreover, like the other skills,
listening is designed as an independent part of the lessons with three different phases: pre-
listening, while-listening, post-listening. Furthermore, the theme of listening coincide with

th
form students, the implementation of
the new textbook has created a dynamic change. Students from that on had a chance to inquire
listening skill formally. The teachers made effort to apply communicative approach in order to
realize the objectives set out for teaching listening skill. It can be figured out that teachers and

17
students may face some difficulties in the listening lessons because this is still the early stage
listening skill is taught at secondary schools.
II.2. Research methodology
II.2.1. Research questions
Given the purposes stated in the chapter 1, the thesis is intended to seek out information on the
three research questions as following:
1. What strategies are the most and the least frequently used by the learners when taking a
test? How are students of varying listening proficiencies similar or different in their strategy
use at the three different phases?
2. How does the use of test-taking strategies correlate with learners‘ listening performance?
3. Do students of different levels of listening proficiency use different strategies for different
test tasks? If so, what are the strategies?
II.2.2. Subject of the study
The study was conducted on 180 students aged 18, 19 in classes 12 A1, 12A3, 12A4,
12A8 at Que Vo I upper-secondary school will participate in the study. They are all non-
English major students. These students have studied English formally in school for six years.
They are taking a required English listening section in the new English textbook by Tư Anh,
Mai Phương Vi (for English -major students) and Hoàng Văn Vân (For non-English major
students) as mentioned above, and are in the final year of the course of the set of the new
English textbook used all over the country when this research was undertaken.
Since this study will take listening proficiency into account, the participants will be
classified into three different levels of proficiency: low, intermediate, and high, based on
scores gained from a listening comprehension tests of their first term and their teachers‘

A 40-item listening test comprising four subtests was constructed based on four comparable
levels of difficulty of different stories (The talks were limited to no more than three minutes
each and each subtest had 10 questions spread evenly over the three test formats: 4 multiple-
choice questions, 3 short answer questions, and 3 true-or-false questions.
Study Materials

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A vocabulary list: For the subtest involving vocabulary support, four key words and four key
phrases were chosen to be taught before the test Apart from the equivalent Vietnamese
meaning, pronunciation of these words and phrases was also demonstrated by their instructor.
Topical material: For the subtest involving topical knowledge support, an approximately 500-
word handout in Vietnamese story relating to the topic was prepared for the students. To
ensure every student obtained the topical knowledge necessary for the subtest, the instructor
led the whole class in reading through the material.

II.2.4.Procedure
I conducted my study within 6 weeks at the end of the second term at classes 12 A1,
12A3, 12A4, 12A8 at Que Vo I upper-secondary school , Bacninh province where I have been
teaching English for more than nine years. Firstly, The listening test-taking strategies
questionnaire was administered to the participants a week before the listening test. Before
filling in the questionnaire, all students were informed of the purpose of the study. If they
consented to participate, they signed a consent form and returned the questionnaire to the
researcher. To elicit students‘ best performance, the test results counted for part of their course
grade, as without this, student motivation and effort in the test could have been profoundly
affected (Young, 1990; In‘nama, 2006).
To decide which support type should come first was a difficult decision; however,
according to previous research (Chang & Read, 2007, 2008), students showed a higher level of
confidence with vocabulary support and repeated input than with background knowledge.
Accordingly, students took the test with repeated input first, followed by vocabulary
instruction, question preview only, and topical knowledge. Since repeated input and

Listening to stories
Vocabulary
instruction
Listening to stories
Topical knowledge
inducement
↓
↓
↓
↓
Preview questions
Preview questions
Preview questions
Preview questions
↓
↓
↓
↓
Take the test with 2
hearings
Take the test with 1
hearing
Take the test with 1
hearing
Take the test with 1
hearing
↓
↓
↓
↓