VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************
ĐỖ THỊ NGÂN THE REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH
LISTENING SKILLS IN GRADE 10 AT YEN MO B HIGH SCHOOL
NINH BINH PROVINCE

THỰC TRẠNG DẠY VÀ HỌC KỸ NĂNG NGHE TIẾNG ANH
TẠI KHỐI LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT YÊN MÔ B, TỈNH NINH BÌNH M.A. Minor Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60 14 10
Hanoi - 2012


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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
LIST OF TABLES
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
2. Aims of the study
3. Research questions
4. Scope of the study
5. Method of the study
6. Design of the study
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Definitions of listening
1.2. Significance of listening
1.3. Listening process
1.4. Micro-skills of listening
1.5. Effective teaching of listening
1.6. Stages of a listening lesson
1.6.1. Pre-listening stage
1.6.2. While-listening stage
1.6.3. Post-listening stage
1.7. Potential problems in listening

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1. Overview of the current situation of teaching and learning English at
Yen Mo B high school
2.1.1. The school context
2.1.2. The new textbook English 10 (the standard textbook) and its
listening section
2.2. Methodology
2.2.1. Research questions
2.2.2. Participants
2.2.3. Data collection instruments
2.2.3.1. Survey questionnaire
2.2.3.2. Classroom observation
2.2.4. Data collection procedure
2.2.5. Data analysis procedure
2.3. Summary
CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
3.1. Findings from questionnaires for the teachers and the students
3.1.1. The teachers’ and the students’ perceptions of the importance of
listening in language teaching and learning at school
3.1.2. The teachers’ and students’ opinions about the students’ listening
competence
3.1.3. The teachers’ and the students’ opinions about the listening
sections of the textbook English 10
3.1.4. The teachers’ and the students’ ways of teaching and learning
English listening skills
3.1.4.1. Teachers’ ways of teaching English listening skills
3.1.4.1.1. The teachers’ preparation before listening lessons
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lessons
3.1.4.1.3. The teachers’ classroom practices in listening lessons
3.1.4.1.4. The factors affecting the teachers’ ways of teaching in
listening lessons
3.1.4.2. The students’ ways of learning English listening skills
3.1.4.2.1. The students’ evaluation of the teachers’ ways of
teaching English listening skills
3.1.4.2.2. The students’ preparation before listening lessons
3.1.4.2.3. The students’ favorite practices in listening lessons
3.1.4.2.4. The students’ home practices on listening skills
3.1.5. Difficulties in teaching and learning English listening skills
perceived by the teachers and the students
3.1.6. The teachers’ and the students’ suggested solutions to improve the
current situation of teaching and learning English listening skills
3.2. Findings from classroom observations
3.3. Discussion of the findings
3.4. Summary
PART C: CONCLUSION
1. Conclusions
2. Recommendations for more effective listening lessons
3. Limitations of the study
4. Suggestions for further research
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Survey questionnaire for the teachers
Appendix 2: Survey questionnaire for the students
Appendix 3: Classroom observations 23
MOET: Ministry of Education and Training
YMBHS: Yen Mo B high school ix

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: The teachers‟ and the students‟ perceptions of the importance of teaching
and learning English listening skills at school

communication. That is the reason why the Ministry of Education and Training
(MOET) has implemented a curricular change in schools since 2002. The new
curriculum aims to enable school students to communicate in English at the basic
level in all modes of communication i.e. listening, speaking, reading, and writing
(Van et al, 2006, p. 3). In order to achieve this aim, a set of textbooks has been
issued for students from grade 6 to grade 12. The textbook is claimed to be theme-
based and skill-based, with the adoption of the “two currently popular teaching
approaches, i.e. the learner-centred approach and the communicative approach. A
focus is on task-based teaching as the leading methodology” (Van et al, 2006, p.12).
Obviously, the ultimate goal of the textbook is to develop students‟ communicative
competence.
However, as a teacher of Yen Mo B high school (YMBHS), I find that the
teaching and learning here still focus too much on grammar, vocabulary and
structures. Although the teachers and the students follow the English course book
issued by MOET, in which each unit is designed to be composed of five parts -
reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus; assessment and testing
focus on grammar, vocabulary, reading and partial writing. Therefore, listening skill
is paid less attention to. Consequently, many students who may have mastered the
basic elements of English grammar and vocabulary are weak at listening.
The above situation has inspired me to do the research entitled “The reality
of teaching and learning English listening skills in grade 10 at Yen Mo B high
school, Ninh Binh province” with the hope of making some contributions to
improving the teaching and learning of English listening skills in grade 10 at
YMBHS.

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2. Aims of the study
Generally this study aims to investigate the reality of teaching and learning
English listening skills in Grade 10 at YMBHS.

The study was designed to use both quantitative and qualitative methods,
involving two instruments: survey questionnaires and classroom observations.
Besides, reviewing the related documents is also a method to establish the
theoretical background for the study.
6. Design of the study
The study is divided into three parts: Introduction, Development, and
Conclusion.
The Introduction presents an overview of the study including the rationale,
aims, research questions, scope, method, and design of the study.
The major part of the study, the Development, is divided into three chapters.
Chapter one provides theoretical background for the study. Chapter two presents the
methodology of the study and the last chapter is devoted to analyzing the data and
discussing the findings of the study.
The Conclusion part provides a brief summary of the findings in
correspondence with the three proposed research questions and offers some
recommendations for better listening teaching and learning. The limitations of the
study and suggestions for further study are also discussed in this chapter.
Besides, the survey questionnaire for the teachers and students, and the
classroom observation notes are included in the Appendices.

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Findings of research have demonstrated the significant role of listening in
communication. Wilt (1950, as cited in Guo, N. & Wills, R., 2006) found that 45%
of the communication time people spent listening, 30% speaking, 16% reading, and
9% writing. This clearly shows how important this skill is in communication.
In terms of language teaching and learning, the importance of listening is
clearly summarized by Rost (1994): "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" (pp. 141-142).
Sharing this view, Wallace, Stariha and Walberg (2004) state that: “Listening
skills are essential for learning since they enable students to acquire insights and
information and to achieve success in communicating with others” (p. 13).
Similarly, Nunan (1998) believes that “listening is the basic skill in language
learning. Without listening skill learners will never learn to communicate
effectively” (p. 1)
It is obvious that language learning depends on listening since it provides the
aural input that serves as the basis for language acquisition and enables learners to
interact in spoken communication. Thus, language acquisition is achieved mainly
through receiving understandable input and listening ability is the critical
component in achieving understandable language input (Guo, N. & Wills, R., 2006,
p.3).
Given the importance of listening in language learning and teaching, it is
essential for language teachers to help students become effective listeners. In the
communicative approach to language teaching, teachers should model listening
strategies and provide listening practice in authentic situations.
1.3. Listening process
Over the past few decades, there have been numerous studies showing
different views on listening process, of which the concepts of bottom up and top

different intonation patterns and uses of stress, etc., which give clues to meaning
and social setting, (9) understanding inferred information, e.g. , speakers' attitude or
intentions.

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Rost (1994) provides a different list of micro-skills for listening. They are:
(1) discriminating between sounds, (2) recognizing words, (3) identifying stressed
words and groupings of words, (4) identifying functions (such as apologizing) in a
conversation, (5) connecting linguistic cues to paralinguistic cues (intonation and
stress) and to non-linguistic cues (gestures and relevant objects in the situation) in
order to construct meaning, (6) using background knowledge (what we already
know about the content and the form) and context (what has already said) to predict
and then to confirm meaning, (7) recalling important words, topics and ideas, (8)
giving appropriate feedback to the speaker, (9) reformulating what the speaker has
said.
The list of micro-skills offered by Richards (1985) may be the most
comprehensive. He has identified 33 micro-skills for conversational listening and
18 micro-skills for academic listening. Some of the skills are: the ability to identify
purpose and scope of the lecture; the ability to recognize lexical terms related to
subject/topic; the ability to deduce meanings of words from context; the ability to
recognize markers of cohesion; etc.
To sum up, students need to integrate a variety of skills in order to listen
successfully. All these skills form a person‟ listening ability. Therefore, it is
essential for the teachers to design suitable tasks to help students develop these
skills.
1.5. Effective teaching of listening
Many scholars such as Rixon (1986), Anderson and Lynch (1988),
Underwood (1989), Rost (1990) have emphasized the need for effective teaching of
listening and have provided different teaching methods and procedures.

learners during listening lessons, which ensures that learners experience success as
often as possible. Moreover, positive feedback helps to diagnose the cause of the
failure to understand the discourse so that remedial actions can be taken (Sheerin,
1987; Rost, 1990).
In short, to teach listening skills effectively, it is essential for the teachers to
make necessary preparations, provide necessary supports during actual classroom
practices, and help students find suitable listening strategies for different listening

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tasks. However, all these may be practical when teachers are well-qualified and
engaged in continuous professional development trainings (Palmer, 1993)
1.6. Stages of a listening lesson
In general, a listening lesson often consists of three stages: pre-listening,
while-listening and post-listening stages (Rixon, 1986; Underwood, 1989; Yagang,
1993)
1.6.1. Pre-listening stage
Pre-listening stage is the preparation stage in which the content is made
explicit; listening purpose is clarified; and roles, procedures and goals for listening
are established (Rost, 1990). The main purposes of this stage are (1) to motivate
students since it is obvious that students feel interested and focus on the listening
discourse when they are clear about the aim and the content of the incoming
listening; (2) to activate students‟ prior knowledge as it is important for students to
be able to relate what they already know to the listening content; (3) to focus
students‟ attention on the topic by narrowing down the things they expect to hear;
and (4) to provide students with an opportunity to gain some background
information for the coming listening topic. To achieve these purposes, the teachers
need to set appropriate pre-listening activities. Underwood (1989) and Yagang
(1993) have proposed a list of pre-listening activities: giving background
information, discussion about the topic, looking at pictures, guiding questions,

message; (3) to give students the opportunity to consider the attitude and manner of
the speakers in the listening text; (4) to expand on the topic or language of the
listening text, and perhaps transfer things learned to another context; and (5) to
offer an opportunity to integrate listening with other language skills. Some of the
post-listening activities are problem solving and decision making, role play,
summarizing, written work. The choice of post-listening activities depends on such
factors as the time available, the material available, the ability of the class, the
interests of the class and the teacher.
In general, a lesson consisting of three stages mentioned above is a common
listening lesson framework. Although it is not the only way of conducting a

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listening lesson, it is one of the most effective ways that are widely used in
classrooms today.
1.7. Potential problems in listening
Listening is widely acknowledged as the most difficult skill to master by a
large number of language learners. There exist some problems in listening from the
learners‟ viewpoint (Ur, 1996; Underwood, 1989; Yagang, 1993).
Underwood (1989) identifies seven problems that learners often face in
learning listening: lack of control over the speed at which speakers speak, not being
able to get things repeated, the listener‟s limited vocabulary, failure to recognize
signals, problems of interpretation, inability to concentrate and established learning
habits.
Ur (1996) shares some points with Underwood (1989) in listening problems
when she indicates the following six major problems: difficulties in perceiving
sounds, following natural speed and native accent, catching up with the load of
information, the need to understand everything, to get things repeated and to have a
rest.
Yagang (1993) attributes the difficulties of listening comprehension to four

recommended that in order to develop teachers‟ awareness of the newly introduced
communicative language teaching approach, officials at the Ministry of Education,
school administrators, department heads and the teachers themselves should take
responsibilities to organize practice-based in-service professional development
programmes; school libraries and audiovisual centers should be equipped with
current reference materials on language teaching methodology and equipment that
are useful for teaching listening comprehension.
In the context of Vietnam, there have been a few studies on teaching and
learning English listening skills that were conducted in classrooms. However, most
of the studies focus on the difficulties that the teachers and the students face during
listening lessons (e.g. Thu, 2008; Hoa, 2010) or on the ways to improve students‟
listening comprehension (Lan, 2006; Hanh, 2010). To date, there has been only a
study focusing on the reality of teaching and learning English listening skills in

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classrooms, that is the research entitled “Reality of Teaching and Learning
Listening Skills to First-year Non-English Major Students at Phuong Dong
University: Problems and Solutions” by Mai Thi Thu Trang (2010). In this study,
Trang investigated the problems that the teachers and first-year non-English major
students at Phuong Dong University encountered during listening lessons and
provided some solutions to overcome those problems. The findings of the study
revealed that the teachers and the students at Phuong Dong University encountered
many obstacles in teaching and learning listening. Some of the major problems
were: large, noisy and multilevel class; lack of teaching equipments; speed of
speech, unfamiliar sounds; limited vocabulary and structures; and students‟ low
motivation. Coping with each difficulty, teachers and students found their own
solutions. However, this study only focused on finding out the difficulties that
teachers and students faced in listening lessons. It did not explore the teachers‟ and
the students‟ real classroom practices in listening lessons as well as their attitudes

school in Ninh Binh Province. This is the reason why English has not been paid as
much attention to as other subjects such as Math, Chemistry, and Physics at junior
secondary schools. Consequently, the English proficiency level of most students is
quite low when they enter YMBHS. English is the compulsory subject for all the
students at YMBHS. The students have three regular periods and a follow-up period
of English a week. There is a fact that the administrators of YMBHS are in favour
of natural science subjects, so English is not paid much attention to. Most students
learn English in order to pass exams, not because of their interest.
In terms of teaching materials, the textbook used in the school is the standard
one by the MOET for all the grades. In addition to the textbook, there are few
reference books in the library. However, reference books are limited in number as
well as in type. Therefore, not all the students and the teachers can get access to this
source of materials.
Regarding the teaching facilities, there are three CD players in total, a set of
CD for each grade, a room equipped with a projector for all the subjects and classes
at the school.

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Concerning the teaching staff, there are nine teachers of English, whose ages
range from 23 to 36. All of them are female. All the teachers majored in English at
university. In general, they are enthusiastic and supportive to their students and to
one another.
2.1.2. The new textbook English 10 (the standard textbook) and its listening
section
 The new textbook English 10 (the standard textbook)
The new English 10 is the fifth volume which succeeds the new series of
textbook for grade 6 to grade 9. The textbook consists of 16 units and 6 review
units. Each unit covers one topic which is updated and relevant to many aspects of
the daily life such as Daily activities, School talks, People‟s background, The mass

2. What are the difficulties in teaching and learning English listening skills in
grade 10 at YMBHS as perceived by the teachers and the students?
3. What solutions do the teachers and the students suggest to improve the
current situation of teaching and learning English listening skills in grade 10 at
YMBHS?
2.2.2. Participants
The participants in the study included 8 teachers of English and 128 tenth
graders at YMBHS in Ninh Binh province.
Eight teachers who are currently teaching English at YMBHS participated in
the study. Five of the teachers were in charge of teaching English in grade 10 this
academic year, the other three taught the 10
th
graders the previous academic year.
Two teachers had more than 10 years of teaching experience. All of them majored
in English at University and none of them had Master of Art degree.
The target population of students consisted of 434 tenth graders at YMBHS.
These students, aged from 16 to 17, were equally divided into eleven classes in
terms of number and level. Most of them started learning English when they entered
grade 6. The researcher employed a cluster random sampling technique to select the
sample for the study. The reason was that it was difficult and time-consuming to
select a random sample of individuals and gather these subjects because they had
been already assigned to different classes with different timetables. In this case,

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according to Fraenkel and Wallen (2005), cluster random sampling was more
feasible. Therefore, the researcher decided to randomly select three classes by
writing the numbers of classes from 10A1 to 10A11 on 11 cards respectively and
putting them in a hat; then mixing the cards thoroughly and randomly taking out
three cards. The numbers chosen were 10A2, 10A4, and 10A11. The total number

 Survey questionnaire for the teachers
The survey questionnaire for the teachers had two main parts which were
written in English. The first part was to get personal information including the
teachers‟ gender, age and years of teaching English. The second part that consisted
of 9 questions was about:
- the current situation of teaching English listening skills in grade 10 at
YMBHS;
- the teachers‟ difficulties in teaching English listening lessons; and
- their suggested solutions to improve the current situation of teaching and
learning English listening skills.
2.2.3.2. Classroom observation
Along with two sets of survey questionnaires for the teachers and the
students, classroom observations were also applied. The purpose of classroom
observations in the context of the present study was aimed at discovering how the
teachers and students actually taught and learnt English listening skills in the
classroom. This helped the researcher double-check the validity and reliability of
the data that were collected through the questionnaires and also gain more
information concerning the research questions. The observation was carried out in
four English listening lessons in four random classes before and after the delivery of
the questionnaires. The researcher acted as a non-participant in the classroom and
took notes about the teachers‟ and the students‟ practices during the lessons.
2.2.4. Data collection procedure
All the participants were informed in Vietnamese about the purposes,
methods and requirements of the collection of the data to make sure they were clear
about what they would have to do and were willing to participate in the study.
Two sets of questionnaires - one for teachers and the other for students -