VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
****** ĐỖ THỊ THÚY A STUDY ON PROBLEMS 10
TH
GRADE STUDENTS AT
HUNG YEN HIGH SCHOOL ENCOUNTER WHEN DOING
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH LISTENING
EXERCISES AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

(Nghiên cứu về những vấn đề học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Hưng
Yên gặp phải khi làm những câu hỏi nghe hiểu trong phần bài tập
nghe tiếng anh và một số giải pháp khắc phục) M.A. Minor Programme Thesis
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.140.111 M.A. Minor Programme Thesis
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.140.111
Supervisor: Prof. Nguyễn Hòa

HANOI - 2014

i
DECLARATION
I - Đỗ Thị Thúy, a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts (TEFL) hereby state
that I accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of
Master‟s Graduation Paper deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the
library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance
with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or
reproduction of the paper.

of tenth graders at the local high school when dealing with English listening
comprehension questions in the course book 10 and also give some pedagogical
implications for the teachers at the research site. The study used questionnaires and
interviews for the collection of quick, valid, and updated data from the respondents.
There were four prevailing problems which coincidentally emerged from both
questionnaires and interviews namely new words, fast speech rate, speakers‟
unclear pronunciation and inability to recognize words that students already know.
From these findings, some suggestions were given to help the teachers improve
their teaching of listening comprehension skills at high school.

iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page
Declaration i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
Table of contents iv
List of abbreviations vii
List of charts viii
INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Significance of the study 3
4. Scope of the study 3
5. Method of the study 3
6. Design of the study 3
DEVELOPMENT 4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Definition of key terms 4
1.1.1. Listening 4
1.1.2. Listening problems 4

vi
4. Suggestions for further studies 39
REFERENCES 40
APPENDICES I vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
L2: Second language
EFL: English as a Foreign Language
MOET: Ministry of Education and Training viii
LIST OF CHARTS
Chart 1: Message-related problems
Chart 2: Speaker-related problems
Chart 3: Listener-related problems
Chart 4: Physical setting problems
1

INTRODUCTION
The initial chapter encompasses five sections. Starting with the rationale, it
continues with setting the research‟s aims, its significance, scope and method,
followed by the design of the study in the last section.
1. Rationale
No one can deny the great important role of listening. According to Gilakjani and
Ahmadi (2011), “of the total time spent on communicating, listening takes up 40-
50%, speaking 25-30%, reading 11-16%, and writing about 9%”. Likewise,
Stepanovienė (2012) and Wolvin and Coakley (1988) claimed that listening was the

Moreover, according to Supornsirisin (2007), “the question-answer approach is one
of the most frequently used ways of giving language practice in the classroom.
Similarly, in testing listening skills, very often a teacher gives students questions in
order to test their listening ability”. Further, the survey results (see Appendix 2)
showed that the local students found short-answer questions the most problematic.
This survey‟s finding was also in accordance with that of Le, S.‟s (2013) study.
By investigating problems of 10
th
graders at Hung Yen high school when they deal
with short-answer listening comprehension questions, the researcher hopes to offer
some new and useful information that the predecessors have not found out.
2. Aims of the study
The research is conducted to pinpoint most common difficulties, underlying reasons
and then generate pedagogical implications for the local teachers to overcome the
existing drawbacks.
With these aims, the study finds answers to the following research question:
What are the problems that 10
th
graders at Hung Yen high school encounters when
doing comprehension questions in English listening exercises?
3

3. Significance of the study
The awareness of problems that students encounter when doing English listening
comprehension questions in the listening exercises would benefit teachers. First,
they will know what hinders their students‟ listening comprehension most in this
kind of exercise. Then, they can modify their teaching methods and take necessary
treatment measures to improve their students‟ listening ability.
4. Scope of the study
Due to time constraints, instead of dealing with all kinds of exercises available in

wide range of “sub-skills”. It is more than simply hearing; it is “decoding” sounds
and understanding the meaning behind those sounds.” (Forseth, 1996)
It should be added that English learning process includes four skills namely writing,
speaking, reading and listening. The last skill can be also referred to as listening
comprehension, “the skill of being able to understand the oral messages that people
transmit” (Landa & Santos 2003). Listening comprehension is, then, a complete
process that a learner hopes to acquire when she or he manages the listening skill
successfully.
1.1.2. Listening problems
In the current study, the author adopts Goh‟s (2000) definition of listening problems
as “the internal and external characteristics that might interrupt text understanding
and real-life processing barriers directly related to cognitive procedures that take
place at various stages of listening comprehension” (as cited in Hamouda, 2013).

5

1.1.3. Listening exercise
Oxford dictionary defines “exercise” in two senses. First, it is “an activity requiring
physical effort, carried out to sustain or improve health and fitness”. Second, it is
“an activity carried out for a specific purpose”. In this paper, the term will be
understood in the second meaning. Particularly, “exercise” is “a task set to practise
or test a skill”.
The following section will further discuss the concept of “a task” to have a full
understanding about “listening exercise”.
Bygate et al. (2001) defined a task as an activity which requires learners to use
language, with emphasis on meaning, to attain an objective.
Rost (2002) supposed that although there are many ways to define a task, there is a
convergence at three points. First, a task is a fundamental “learning structure”,
designed for the purposes of increasing learning. Second, a task involves distinct
input (oral and/ or visual), a clear set of procedures, and a tangible outcome. Third, a


comprehension”
and “
Contributory

meaning

comprehension”, Philips

(2006)
suggested

five

types

of

listening

comprehension

questions

as

follows:

1.2.
1.


in

the

passage”.

They are
grouped into 2 kinds including gist questions and detailed ones.

a.

Gist

questions

Gist

questions

ask

about

the

overall

ideas



passage by

hearing the direct statement in

the

passage,

or
by
synthesizing

information from

different

parts

of

the

passage
.
The

following

are typical


of

the

passage?

- What

is

the

main

idea

of

the

passage?

- What

is

the

purpose

are

stated

in

a
passage, exemplified

by

the

two

questions

below.

7

-

What

is

stated

in

level

of

pragmatic

understanding consist

of one

question

type,

called

pragmatic

understanding

questions.

c
.

Pragmatic

understanding

questions


it. In other words, they must

listen

to

what

is

said
in

a

particular

context

and

draw

a

conclusion

about


change

of

opinion,

or

suggest

a

new

action (
Supornsirisin, 2007).
A

typical

wording

of

this

question

type



or

sad,

impressed

or unimpressed,

or

enthusiastic

or

bored”

about

a

particular

topic. To identify how he or she feels,
learners must combine what they hear with the context and also the way the
utterance is made because the

speaker
hardly
reveals

of

view

of

the

speaker?

-

Select

the

sentence

that

best

expresses

how

the

speaker



involve

a

number

of

ideas

rather

than a

single

detail.

The
se questions are categorized into two
types encompassing

organization

questions

and

relationship


heard

information

is

organized,

or they

may

ask

students

to

fill

out

a

chart

that

shows


the

main

points

and

how

they
are

organized

rather

than

on

a

single

point,

as


chart

to

show

the

organization

of

the

passage.

e.

Relationship

questions

Relationship

questions

ask

about



type

are

shown

below.

-

What

is

most

likely… ?

-

What

is

implied……?

-

What


suggested

three

types

of

questions

to

assess

the

learners‟

listening

ability

according to

the

variety

of


students

to

synthesize
information,

draw

conclusions and

focus

on

cause

and

effect

relationships

and

inferences.

The


support,

paraphrase

or

9

recognize

facts.

The

last

type

of

question

is

the trivial

question

which


are

a

subcategory

of

local

questions

and usually

relate

to

numerical

details

such

as

numbers,

dates,



topic.

Similarly,

Davey

(1988)

proposed

three

types

of

questions

to

assess

different levels

of

comprehension

based


or

with

only

minor

changes in

the

lexical

form

of

the

text.

The

answers

to

these


copied. These

questions involve

finding

information

about

who,

what,

when,

and

where. Next,

synthesis questions

require

students

to

connect


requires

an

understanding of

the

relationships

in

the

text

such

as

cause

and

effect,

sequence,

comparison

one place.

Finally,

according

to

Buck

(2001),

inference

questions

which

require

students to

make

a

deduction,

inference,


can

be

utilized

at

many levels

of

language

processing.

In

another

way,

inference

questions

may

be


choice

of words

or

tone

of

voice

or

asking

the

meaning

of

indirect

speech

acts.

The



questions

and

inference

questions respectively

(Nuttal,

1996).

Like

replication

questions,

literal

comprehension questions

require

answers

that

are


10

Davey‟s

synthesis

questions

require students

to

reinterpret

or

obtain

information

from

various

parts

of

a


that are

not

stated

explicitly

but

require

listeners

to

draw

a

conclusion

from

the

available
information. Among various ways to name and group listening comprehension
questions, the author of the current paper is in favor of the last one.

161) pointed out, “there are fewer insights about the process of listening and the
way it is learned”. Similarly, Richard (1983) claimed that “there is little direct
research on second language listening comprehension”. For that reason, skills of
listening “shifted to a secondary position” (Kavaliauskienė, 2008).
Although studies on the L2 listening comprehension is limited, some valuable
sources offer valid comments on the problems associated with this kind of receptive
skill (Wu, 2013). Specifically, Underwood (1989) identified seven obstacles to
efficient listening comprehension including: (1) lack of control over the speed at
which speakers speak, (2) not being able to get things repeated, (3) the listener's
limited vocabulary, (4) failure to recognize the signals, (5) problems of
interpretation due to the lack of contextual knowledge, (6) inability to concentrate,
(7) established certain learning habits. To clarify the last problem, Underwood
supposed that students may wish to understand every word, which results in their
mood of embarrassment or discouragement when they fail to understand a particular
word or phrase. According to him, vagueness and incompleteness of understanding
should be tolerated by listeners.
Another investigation conducted on Arabic speakers by Hasan (2000) showed three
groups of factors that hindered L2 listening comprehension encompassing message
factors, speaker elements and listener issues. With regard to the first one,
„unfamiliar words‟, „difficult grammatical structures‟, and „the length of the spoken
12

text‟ were found most problematic to listeners. In terms of speaker factor, it was
revealed that „clarity‟ was the main cause of EFL listening difficulties. Referring to
the last group, „lack of interest‟ and „the demand for full and complete answers to
listening comprehension questions‟ were two main barriers of EFL students.
Focusing on EFL learners with Chinese backgrounds, Goh (2000) investigated
listening comprehension drawbacks by collecting data from learner diaries, small
group interviews, and immediate retrospective verbalization. Findings include ten
problems in relation to three cognitive processing phases proposed by Anderson

Hence, some taxonomy of factors affecting L2 Listening comprehension was
proposed. Boyle (1984) suggested a division into four groups including listener,
speaker, stimulus and context factors. Yagang (1994) followed a categorization of
four aspects: the message, the speaker, the listener, and the physical setting.
Meanwhile, Rubin (1994) classified these elements into five categories
encompassing text, interlocutor, task, listener and process characteristics.
Within the scope of the present study, the author adopted the second taxonomy of
Yagang (1994) because it is clear, easy to understand and best serves the study.
Summary
This chapter has provided the definitions of several key terms, selected theoretical
background and a review of related studies on students‟ English listening
comprehension problems. The details of the research, including the methodology
and the findings, will be described in the next chapters.
14

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODS
This chapter focuses on describing the research implementation. Starting with the
context of teaching and learning English at Hung Yen high school, it continues with
the details of participants, methods and procedures of data collection, accompanied
by data analysis methods and procedures at the end.
2.1. Context of teaching and learning English at Hung Yen high school
Hung Yen high school is a public educational institution located in the centre of
Hung Yen city. In the school year 2013-2014, there were eleven tenth grade classes
encompassing seven natural science oriented classes (from 10A1 to 10A7), another
two groups of social science major (10C1, 10C2) and the rests belonging to D
group (10D1 and 10D2). Although students are taught up to three periods of English
each week, they have not put much attention to this subject compared with others
such as Maths, Physics and Chemistry.
Regarding the official learning material, the New English Coursebook 10 compiled
by Hoang Van Van et al. is chosen for all classes. This document consists of

supported to ensure the validity, reliability and objectivity of the present study.
2.3. Data collection methods
In the current study, both quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed to
address the aforementioned research question. While the former provided
objective, quantifiable and generalized data (Bordens & Abbott, 1999), the latter
was “close to the insider perspective” and helped to yield “real, rich and deep data”
(Brown & Rodgers, 2002, p.103). Hence, as Nunan (1992) recommended, the
combination of these two research methods helped to reduce potential limitations of
applying a single approach and consequently enhanced confidence in the collected
data. In other words, it would provide “confirmatory results” for the whole study
(Harris & Brown, 2010).