VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES
NGUYỄN THỊ HÀ

USING VIDEO TO REDUCE STUDENTS’ ANXIETY IN
ENGLISH LISTENING LESSONS: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT
THANH HOA MEDICAL COLLEGE

Sử dụng phương tiện nghe nhìn để làm giảm sự lo lắng của sinh viên trong
giờ học nghe: Một nghiên cứu hành động tại trường Cao Đẳng Y Tế
Thanh Hóa

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology
Code: 60 14 10 Ha Noi – 2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv
LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS v
LIST OF ABBREVIATION vi
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1. Statement of the problem and rationale of the study 1
1.2. Research Aims and Research Questions 2
1.3. Significance of the study 2
1.4. Scope of the study 2
1.5. Design of the study 3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4
2.1. Overview of anxiety and listening anxiety 4
2.1.1. Anxiety 4
2.1.2. Anxiety in listening comprehension 6
2.1.3. Causes of listening anxiety 7
2.1.4. Effects of FLA on listening comprehension 8
2.2. Definition and benefits of using videos in learning English in general and in
learning listening skill in particular 9
2.3. Previous studies 12
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 14
3.1. Action Research 14
3.1.1. What is action research? 14
3.1.2. Rationale for the use of an action research 15
3.2. The context of teaching and learning listening skill at THMC 17
3.3. Participants 17
3.4. Classroom setting 18
v

3.5. Instruments 18
3.5.1. Interviews 18
3.5.2. Questionnaires 19

Tables

Table 1: Students‟ attitude toward listening before using video
Table 2: Students‟ anxiety in listening lesson without video
Table 3: The causes of the students‟ anxiety in the listening lessons
Table 4: Students‟ attitude toward listening after using video
Table 5: Students‟ anxiety in listening lesson using video
Table 6: Students‟ preference in doing listening activities
Table 7: Students‟ preference toward video techniques used by the teacher in listening
lessons

Figures
Figure 1: Change in percentage of students‟ comprehension after using video
Figure 2: Change in percentage of students‟ retention after using video

Pie charts
Chart 1: Students‟ assessment on the importance of video
Chart 2: Students‟ assessment on effectiveness of video material
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Statement of the problem and rationale of the study
Recently, technology has been recommended to be used in education with a view of
providing learners with more learning opportunities. Videos are among the
technologies that are believed to have significant influences on second or foreign
language learning. This type of technology is said to allow teacher to create
virtually the target language environment into classroom so that live or prerecorded
news, music, sports from all over the world can be viewed by students in real time.
The advantages of using video in the language classroom have been recognized by
many researchers in applied linguistics. The main advantage of using video as a
technology for language teaching is considered to be its ability to present and
immerse learners into complete communicative situations (Lonergan, 1984).
Another important advantage is the ability of video to cover non-verbal aspects of
communication and its cross-cultural comparison potential (Stempleski & Tomalin,
1990). In addition, using video in the classroom allows differentiation of teaching
and learning according to students‟ abilities, learning styles and personalities.
Despite those benefits to language learners, the issue of how videos help to reduce
the students‟ listening anxiety is not yet adequately explored. As a teacher I believe
that anxiety inhibits students‟ participation in the learning processes, which affects
negatively the students‟ acquisition of the target language. Listening comprehension
in foreign language learning causes a lot of anxiety among learners because of a

understand the lesson, help them to be confident when performing listening tasks.
Placing second-year students majoring in nursing at the centre of analysis, the study
intends to help the population to succeed in improving listening comprehension. On
an other hand, the study can be beneficial to teachers of English at other colleges,
who may undergo the same context of teaching and learning this skill.
1.4. Scope of the study
As an action research study, the study reported here is limited itself to the
exploration of the extent to which the use of videos in teaching listening
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comprehension helps to reduce their listening anxiety, thereby changing their
attitudes towards listening comprehension. I believe that once the students feel more
self-confident in listening comprehension and they have a positive attitude towards
listening comprehension they will learn English better. After all, nobody can learn a
foreign language well without the ability to understand the spoken language. The
results of this study will be used to deepen my understanding of how to use
technology to reduce the my own students‟ learning anxiety. I do not intend to
investigate other aspects of technology or the impact of video-based listening
instruction on students‟ listening comprehension performance although this could
be the focus of the second cycle of this action research project.
1.5. Design of the study
This study is divided into five chapters:
Chapter 1, INTRODUCTION, presents the research problem and rationale of the
study, the aims, scope, significance, methods as well as the design of the study.
Chapter 2, LITERATURE REVIEW, deals with the theories involving anxiety in
listening comprehension and the need of using video in listening comprehension.
Chapter 3, METHODOLOGY, presents the methodology applied in the study
including participants, instrumentation, research process.
Chapter 4, RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION, presents the results of the
research and data analysis, from which major findings are revealed and discussed.

Affective Filter Hypothesis ascribes variation between learners to their
psychological states. If the filter is “ up”, comprehensible input cannot get through;
if it is “ down”, they can make effective use of it. In particular the reason why
younger learners are better at L2 acquisition over the long term is that “ the
affective filter gains dramatically in strength at around puberty” (Krashen, 1985,
p.13). Older learners are cut off from proper access to comprehensible input by the
increased strength of the filter. In Krashen‟s words, “ comprehensible input and
the strength of the filter are the true causes of second language acquisition”
(Krashen, 1982, p.33), one positively, one negatively.
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There are few, if any, disciplines in the curriculum which lay themselves
open to anxiety production more than foreign or second language learning. There
is a great deal of vulnerability involved in trying to express oneself before others in
a shaky linguistic vehicle. It is possible in some cases that the methodology used
can contribute to furthering anxiety. With the grammar-translation method one
might assume a reduction of the possibility of anxiety, since the learners have
relatively little of themselves invested in the activities required. However, with
the advent of methods which focus on communication, and especially communication
involving more personal aspects of one‟s being, such as feelings, if care is not
taken to provide emotionally safe atmosphere, the chance for the development
of anxiety provoking situations can increase greatly. This is particularly true if at
the same time the stakes involved are very high, such as academic settings,
where the evaluation of the learner can conceivably have far-reaching
consequences. When anxiety is present in the classroom, there is a down- spiraling
effect. Anxiety makes us nervous and afraid and thus contributes to poor
performance; this in turn creates more anxiety and even worse performance. The
feelings of fear and nervousness are intimately connected to the cognitive side of
anxiety, which is worry. Worry wastes energy that should be used for memory and
processing on a type of thinking which in no way facilitates the task at hand

foreign language being studied (Gardner et al. 1987). Therefore, addressing foreign
language listening comprehension anxiety is fast becoming a priority in the
classroom.
Gonen (2009) mentioned that the authenticity of the listening text, incomprehensibility of the
listening material and other external environmental factors such as noise and inaudibility
can create anxiety among L2 learners.
However Dunkel (1991) believes that those students who do not have the
confidence might experience anxiety more. In a study done by Vogely (1998),
students reported the cause of their anxiety on being more concentrated on the
nature of speed, level of difficulty, ambiguity, lack of visual support and lack of
repetition. Kim (2000) in her study analyzed foreign language anxiety scale and
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concluded that lack of confidence and being worried over listening are the main
reasons of anxiety in L2 learners. Moderate negative correlation between listening
anxiety and listening proficiency was another finding of her study. In another study
conducted by Chang (2008) English learners‟ listening anxiety was higher than their
speaking anxiety and this anxiety was more significant in testing situation rather
than class environment.
According to Scarcella and Oxford (1992), listening anxiety occurs when students
feel they are faced with a task that is too difficult or unfamiliar to them. This
anxiety is exacerbated if the listeners are under the false impression that they must
understand every word they hear. Many learners believe that in order to be “good at
a language they need perfect pronunciation, massive amounts of vocabulary,
extensive grammar knowledge, overseas experience, and a natural aptitude for
language before they even open their mouths (Horwitz1986). As a result, the
anxiety that arises during the listening process often springs form what Joiner
(1986) calls a negative “listening self-concept,” that is, a low level of self-
confidence in the area of listening.
Gardner and MacIntyre (1995) show that the most negative element that

FLA is the “fear” or “apprehension” occurring when a student is required to
perform in the second or foreign language. Anxiety refers to an emotional state
which can have both positive and negative influences, and which fosters and
facilitates or disturbs and impedes learning (MacIntyre, 1995). Anxiety can harm
learners‟ performance in many ways such as not participating in the activities or not
using the language in public. In contrast, it can be helpful in some ways such as
keeping student alert and trying to make the necessary preparation beforehand for
the learning activities.
MacIntyre (1999) lists five major effects of anxiety on second/foreign language
learning and performance. First, academically, language anxiety is one of the best
predictors of language proficiency since high levels of language anxiety are
associated with low levels of academic achievement in second/foreign language
learning. The second effect is the social effect. Learners with high anxiety level are not
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interested to take part in interpersonal communication with others. Third, cognitively,
anxiety can occur at any stage of language acquisition. Anxiety can become an
affective filter that prevents certain information from entering a learner‟s cognitive
processing system. Fourth, anxiety arousal can influence the quality of
communication output as the retrieval of information may be interrupted when
learners get anxious. Finally, personally, language learning experience could, under
some circumstances, become a traumatic experience. This kind of unpleasant
experience may dramatically disturb one‟s self-esteem or self-confidence as a
learner (Crookall and Oxford, 1991)
2.2. Definition and the need of using videos in learning English in general and
in learning listening skill in particular
According to Lonergan (1994), the term „video‟ has two meanings. For some, it
means no more than replaying television program on a video recorder, for viewing
in class or private study. For others, it implies the use of video camera in class to
record and play back to learners their activities and achievements in a foreign

expression, posture, dress and surrounding are as eloquent as what we actually say.
Video allows us to see this in action and to freeze any moment to study the non-
verbal communication in detail.
The M.A thesis conducted by Nguyen M., T. (2005) also summarized general
benefits of using video in language classroom as follow:
- It is quite easy to notice the compelling power of video in the classroom, a power
that is even enhanced by concentration on short sequences. Video, in other words,
stimulates students‟ motivation, and maintains their interest and concentration better
than sound-only learning environment.
- Using video in language teaching can enhance students‟ understanding and
retention of information. It also brings students kinds of situation, with full
contextual back-up.
- Video is used to help enhance the meaning of message trying to be conveyed by
the speakers through the use of paralinguistic cues. In addition, it allows students to
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see body language and speech rhythm in second language discourse through the use
of authentic language and speech in various situations.
- Video is a window on English-language culture.
- Video can be used as stimulus or input for discussion, for writing assignment,
projects or the study of other subjects.
- Video, as a moving picture book, gives access to things, places, people, events and
behaviors, regardless of the language used.
- Using video in language teaching allows differentiations of teaching and learning
according to the students‟ abilities, learning styles and personalities. Teaching with
video can widen the range of activities in the classroom.
- The students dealing with video in their learning improve a range of social skills,
including communication, negotiation, decision-making and problem-solving.
He also found out that video course not only teaches English through video but gets
students to use the English they have learned in talking about the video. In addition,

students at pre-intermediate level with the purpose of improving listening and
speaking skills. The study was conducted on students of the above level in May
School, at 36 Ly Thai To, Hanoi, where most teaching materials were aided with
audio-video. The method used in this study is qualitative including comments,
remarks, comparisons and suggestions based on factual research, observation,
experiences and discussion. Although the findings and syllabus were valuable and
practical in the context of language teaching and learning in Vietnam, there are still
several limitations in this study. Firstly, the subjects of the study were students from
a school- a foreign languages center, who were totally different from university or
college students in terms of classroom setting, English proficiency, linguistic
competence as well as materials and teaching method applied by teachers.
Secondly, the reliability of data collected was not sufficient as he did not present his
questionnaires in the thesis, which might fail to depict the need analysis.
Another thesis conducted by Bach, T., H., Y., (2009) studied on the effectiveness of
video-assisted instruction on teaching listening for non-English majors at Phuong
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Dong university. This is quasi-experimental research in which the participants wee
divided into two groups: the control (A) and the treatment (B). Both of the classes
were second-year non-major students. The results from pre-test showed that the
listening competence in class A was better than class B. However, after one
semester applying video-assisted instruction to class B, the students‟ listening
competence was better than those in class B who were not taught with video
materials. The only limitation of this study is its instrumentation The only instruments
are pre-test and post-test whose validity and reliability are not high enough. It is
better if included other instruments such as journals or observation checklist.
To sum up, I felt an urge to conduct an investigation on the use of video- assisted
instruction on students at The THMC in listening class. However, I only
investigated on aspect of listening anxiety and exploited the impact of video on
reducing students‟ listening anxiety.

procedures”. Looking at the effectiveness of action research, Tsui (1993) states
that: “ Action research is a very effective way of helping teachers to reflect on their
teaching and to come up with their own alternatives to improve their practice”
(Tsui, 1993, p.33).
Grebhard and Oprandy (1999) define action research at two levels, the inside
classroom level and the outside classroom level: “ At one level, action research is
about teachers identifying and posing problems, as well as addressing issues and
concerns related to the problem. It is about working toward understanding and
possibly resolving these problems by setting goals and creating and initiating a plan
of action, as well as reflecting on the degree to which the plan work. At another
level, it can be about addressing educational practices that go beyond each teacher‟s
classroom” (p.12 ).
In the “ Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied linguistics”.
Rechards and Platt give the following definition of action research:
“ Research which has the primary goal of finding ways of solving problems, bring
about social change or practical action, in comparison with research which seeks to
discover scientific principles or develop general laws and theories”.
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To sum up, action research is a kind of scientific study which is often carried out by
a teacher or an educator in order to solve a practical problem in a classroom. As it
named, it focuses mainly on the actions both students and teachers. So, it can solve
the problems which are related to all actions and activities in a classroom. The
problems which are solved by action research are often practical and useful for
teachers.
3.1.2. Rationale for the use of an action research
As defined by Milss (2003:4), an action research is “ any systematic inquiry
conducted by teacher researchers to gather information about the ways that their
particular school operates, how they teach, and how well their students learn. The
information is gathered with the goals of gaining insight, developing reflective

Moreover, action research was also for teachers‟ professional developments. He
would become a better teacher because he knew how to find out and solve his
problems in teaching scientifically on his own. This also showed his dynamic,
activeness and imagination in his teaching.
As stated in Chapter 1, the purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which the
application of a video-based approach to teaching listening comprehension helps to
reduce my own students‟ listening anxiety. The research was conducted by me as a
classroom teacher with my own students, and in my own classrooms. The results of
the study would be helpful to my own teaching and professional development.
Hence, an action research approach is appropriate to the purpose and the nature of
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the study
3.2. The context of teaching and learning listening skill at THMC
Most students at THMC are non-English majors; therefore they are expected to be
fluent in English communication. They have 2 year course for studying English.
The first year they are taught to get general background of English proficiency. In
the second year, students concentrate on English for special purpose relating
nursing mainly.
The learning materials for English non-major students in the first year are “New
Head Way”. A large number of students come from different parts and provinces of
the country where English belittled, and they have opportunities to get a full access
to the learning of four skills. Consequently, this learning stage mainly focuses on
the development of four skills in order to help students get a general background of
English proficiency. Four skills are focused in teaching English in our curriculum.
In listening lesson, students listen to a text or conversation from radio. After that
they have to finish some tasks in the text book. This method, from my point of
view, do not bring good results, in contrast, it always make students stressful or
anxious.
The ESP materials are designed by the teachers of English from Foreign Language

connected to the projector will have 2 speakers that are fixed at two corners in the
class. The students sat in the class with 2 students in one table, no cabins and no
headphones. The teacher will guide students do the listening tasks and she will
control all stages on her or his computer. It means that the teacher has to prepare the
video and save it in her or his computer. Although cabins with headphones are not
available because of poor facilities, this still keeps the interactions between the
students and teacher to have good communication. All students will listen as audio
but with the use of video- assisted instruction.
3.5. Instruments
3.5.1. Interviews
Four students were interviewed for approximately 10 or 15 minutes. The interviews
were made Vietnamese due to the preferences of all respondents. The choice of
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language did not affect the reliability of the data; in contrast, it helps to avoid any
misunderstanding between interviewees and interviewer. The aims of using these
interviews were to help I get the ideas, perception and evaluation from the students
toward listening with video – assisted instruction. The comments and opinions of
the students are really helpful for me to self evaluate later and anticipate the problem
and implement some modifications in teaching listening as well. In addition, when
reporting the data, this type of information can add credibility to the reports and
vitality to the findings.
3.5.2. Questionnaires
Two questionnaires were designed and administered: one prior to the use of the
videos in teaching listening comprehension and the other after the intervention.
The purpose of the questionnaires was to collect information about the students‟
attitudes towards listening comprehension as well as their listening anxiety. All the
questions in the questionnaire were developed with reference to the data gained
through the interviews as described in the previous section and the literature on
listening anxiety.