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

TRẦN THỊ THANH XUÂN

AN EVALUATION OF THE LISTENING COMPONENT IN THE
TEXTBOOK NEW HEADWAY ELEMENTARY TO TEACH LISTENING
SKILLS FOR NON-MAFOR ENGLISH COLLEGE FRESHMEN
AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY
(Đánh giá phần nghe trong cuốn giáo trình New Headway Elementary
để dạy kĩ năng nghe cho sinh viên cao đẳng không chuyên Tiếng Anh
tại trường Đại học Công nghiệp Hà Nội)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology
Code : 60.14.01.11

Hanoi - 2014


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

TRẦN THỊ THANH XUÂN

AN EVALUATION OF THE LISTENING COMPONENT IN THE



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Ms. Duong
Thu Mai, PhD from Vietnam National University, University of Languages and
International Studies, for her precious advice, academic guidance and support.
Without her invaluable assistance, this thesis would not have been fulfilled.
I would also like to express my sincere thanks to all lecturers and the staff
of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies, University of Languages and
International Studies, Vietnam National University for their useful lessons and
materials which are of great values to my thesis.
I am appreciative of all my colleagues, and the non- major English college
freshmen at Hanoi University of Industry for their precious cooperation in giving
valuable information.
Last but not least, I find myself in debt to my dear family, and my friends
who are always supporting me with their considerations and encouragement.

ii


ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to obtain knowledge about the evaluation of the
textbook New Headway Elementary used for non- major English college freshmen
at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI) from the perspectives of the users of the
material (i.e. non- major English college freshmen and their listening teachers). It
took into consideration the listening needs of the target students in order to suggest
changes for the improvements for teaching listening skill to non- major English
college freshmen at HaUI.
The participants included 110 students chosen randomly among non- major
English college freshmen at HaUI and 22 teachers who were in charge of teaching

ESP

: English for specific purposes

FCE

: First Certificate in English

HaUI

: Hanoi University of Industry

MA

: Master of Arts

NA

: Needs analysis

SPSS

: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

Ss

: Students

Ts


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................... iv
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ...........................................................................v
PART I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................1
1. Rationale for the thesis .........................................................................................1
2. Aims of the study ....................................................................................................2
3. Scope of the study ...................................................................................................2
4. Significance of the study .........................................................................................2
6. Design of the study..................................................................................................3
PART II: DEVELOPMENT .......................................................................................4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................4
1.1. Materials in language teaching and learning........................................................4
1.1.1. Definitions and Classifications of materials .....................................................4
1.1.2. Roles of materials in language teaching and learning.......................................4
1.2. Materials Evaluation ............................................................................................5
1.2.1. Definitions of materials evaluation ...................................................................5
1.2.2. Materials evaluation in English language teaching and learning ......................6
1.2.3. Criteria for materials evaluation .......................................................................6
1.3. Listening comprehension and teaching listening comprehension .......................8
1.3.1. Definition of listening comprehension ..............................................................8
1.3.2. Communicative competence in teaching listening comprehension ..................9
1.3.3. Three stages of listening sessions ...................................................................11
1.3.4. Methods of teaching listening communicatively ............................................12
1.3.5.Potential problems in learning listening comprehension .................................13
1.4. Needs analysis (NA) in language teaching ........................................................14

vi


CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY ............................................................................16
2.1. Current situation of teaching and learning English listening at Hanoi University


3.3.2. Students‟ opinions on the book‟ changes in order to better meet their needs.39
3.4. Discussion of findings ........................................................................................39
3.4.1. Students‟ needs analysis ..................................................................................39
3.4.2. Evaluation of the textbook New Headway Elementary for non –major
freshmen at HaUI as perceived by the Ss and Ts ......................................................40
PART III: CONCLUSION ........................................................................................42
1. Conclusion of the study.........................................................................................42
2. Recommendations for material improvements .....................................................42
3. Limitations and suggestions for further studies ....................................................43
REFERENCES ..........................................................................................................45
APEENDIX ................................................................................................................. I

viii


PART I. INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the thesis
Listening comprehension plays a key role in language learning. Rost (1994,
as cited in Nunan & Miller, 1995) confirms that listening is vital in language
classrooms because it provides input for learners. Without understanding inputs at
the right level, any kind of learning simply cannot occur. Listening, therefore, is
essential not only as a receptive skill but also to the development of spoken
language proficiency.
An important issue in the teaching and learning of listening is the material.
Hutchinson and Torres (1994: 3) state that the material is “an almost universal
element of English language teaching and learning”. Tomlinson (2003: 2) also
asserts that material “include anything which can be used to facilitate the learning of
a language.”
Among available material, careful consideration is needed in order to

1. What are the non- major English college freshmen‟s needs when learning
listening skills at HaUI?
2. To what extent does the current listening in-class component in New
Headway Elementary meet their needs at HaUI?
3. Scope of the study
Due to the small scale of the study as well as the limitation of time, this study
only focuses on evaluating the current listening component in the New Headway
Elementary for non- major English college freshmen at HaUI from the perspectives
of the users of these materials (e.g. the students and teachers taking part in teaching
and learning with the New Headway Elementary in school year 2013-2014. The
other components such as speaking, reading and writing are not within the scope of
this study.
4. Significance of the study
The findings of the thesis may serve as useful information not only for the
researcher, the course book designers but also for the teaching staff and the nonmajor English college freshmen at HaUI. It is also hoped that the thesis will make
great contributions towards the development of the listening materials at HaUI.

2


5. Method of the study
To achieve the aims stated, both quantitative and qualitative methods were
used. The data collected for the study come from two survey questionnaires (of 110
non- major English college freshmen at HaUI who have just finished studying New
Headway Elementary ,and 22 teachers who have taught non- major English college
freshmen using the textbook) and interviews from 10 random ones among 110
students
6. Design of the study
Part I: Introduction includes the rationale, aims, scope, significance and
methodology of the study

According to McGrath (2002), materials include those that have been either
specifically designed for learning and teaching language (e.g. textbooks,
worksheets, computer software); authentic materials ( e.g. off-air recordings,
newspaper articles) that have been specially selected and exploited for teaching
purposes by the classroom teacher; teacher-written materials; and learner-generated
materials. However, in the local setting, textbook seem to be most widely used
material in the language program.
As being a kind of materials, the textbook New Headway Elementary is used
in this study for evaluation of teaching and learning listening skills at HaUI.
1.1.2. Roles of materials in language teaching and learning
In the English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom, materials are an
important aspect of the curriculum. They are the most observable feature of a
teacher‟s methodology, and can contribute greatly to a course‟s syllabus (White,
1988)
Stressing on the role of materials, Richards (2001) points out that materials
can serve as the basis for much of the language input that the learners receive and as
the source for much of the language practice that occurs in the classroom. Richards
(2001) further explains that materials provide basis for the content of the lesson, the
balance of skills taught, and the kind of language practice students take part in. In

4


addition, good materials are of great help to inexperienced teachers and poorly
trained teachers (Nunan, 1991). They can serve as “a form of teacher training”
(Richard, 2001: 251) and teachers can get ideas on how to plan and teach the lesson
from the materials.
According to Bell and Gower (1998, as cited in Rubdy 2003: 39), materials
“provide teachers and learners with a range of professionally developed materials
within tried and tested syllabus structures”, allowing teachers to spend their

relation to the objectives and requirements determined.
1.2.2. Materials evaluation in English language teaching and learning
Ellis (1997) gives two main reasons for carrying out materials evaluation.
The first reason is that there are too many materials available to choose, and it is
needed to get the most suitable one. The second one relates to a need for materials
evaluation to determine whether the material which has been chosen works for that
situation after it has been used for a period of time
Robinson (1991) adds that evaluation can be used as part of quality control.
The advantages and disadvantages as well as the effectiveness of the being used
materials can be seen by evaluating. Therefore, the decision choosing materials for
language teaching and learning can be reused or it needs to be adapted to meet the
need of the particular teaching situation or needs to be changed absolutely.
In short, materials evaluation will provide the input for responsible people to
evaluate the effectiveness of the materials.
1.2.3. Criteria for materials evaluation
Criteria are what evaluators use to “reach a decision regarding what needs to
be evaluated” (Tomlinson, 1998: 220). Before evaluating materials, evaluators must
know the definition of criteria. Criteria for materials evaluation depend on what is
being evaluated and why they need to be evaluated (Dudley – Evans and St. John,
1998).
Ur (1996 ) presents a

list of several criteria composed of nineteen

features.These features include: objectives

being explicitly laid out in an

introduction and implemented in the material, approach educationally and socially
to the target community, clear attractive layout and easy print to read, appropriate


Zabawa

Cunningsworth Harmer

(1996 )

(2001)

(2002)

Objectives

√

Target community

√

√

Layout/ design

√

√

Topics and tasks

√

√

Test/ exam practice

√

Pronunciation

√

Method

√

Guidance for teacher

√

√

Audio/ cassettes

√

√

√
√

√

Listening comprehension is more than obtaining meaning from utterance. It
also involves a process in which students match utterance with what they already
know about the topic. When knowing the concept or the topic, they can activate
their prior knowledge to get something from that knowledge which is needed for
comprehending the message. Brown (2001: 2) states “One very important idea for
teaching listening is that listening courses must make use of student‟s prior
knowledge in order to improve listening comprehension”.
According to Buck (2001: 31), listening comprehension is an active process
of constructing meaning and this is done by “applying knowledge to the incoming
8


sounds” in which “number of different types of knowledge are involved: both
linguistic knowledge and non-linguistic knowledge”.
Vandergrift (1999: 168) states that “listening comprehension is an active
process in which the listener must discriminate between sounds, understand
vocabulary and grammatical structures, interpret stress and intonation, retain what
was gathered in all the above and interpret it with the immediate as well as the
larger context of the utterances”
To sum up, there are two points to note. One of these is that listening is an
active, conscious and complex process and the other characteristics is that listening
is the interpretation of what listeners hear. It matches with what they already know
to comprehend the messages taken in. The next one is that listeners do not receive
information passively but applied and moderated their background knowledge to
assist the understanding of input actively. Therefore, in the current study, the term
“listening” would be treated the same as the term “listening comprehension”
due to its learners‟ ultimate goal of listening is to comprehend what they hear as
defined in this part.
1.3.2. Communicative competence in teaching listening comprehension
English language teaching profession has changed tremendously in the light

sociolinguistic competence is related to the sociocultural conditions that can affect
participants‟ language use. The strategic competence involves a set of

9


strategies which may be used to solve any problem caused during the
communicative event. Finally, the discourse competence is understood as the
ability to produce and interpret coherent and cohesive spoken or written texts
beyond the level of the sentence.
In addition to this, Bachman and Palmer‟s model (1996) proposes a
communicative model which consists of organisational knowledge and pragmatic
knowledge. Organisational knowledge is composed of abilities which engage in a
control over formal language structures, i.e. of grammatical and textual knowledge.
Grammatical knowledge includes several rather independent areas of knowledge
such as knowledge of vocabulary, morphology, syntax, phonology, and graphology.
Textual knowledge enables comprehension and production of (spoken or written)
texts. It covers the knowledge of conventions for combining sentences or utterances
into texts. Pragmatic knowledge refers to abilities for creating and interpreting
discourse. Two areas of knowledge are contained: knowledge of pragmatic
conventions for expressing acceptable language functions and for interpreting the
illocutionary power of utterances or discourse (functional knowledge) and
knowledge of sociolinguistic conventions for creating and interpreting language
utterances which are appropriate in a particular context of language use
(sociolinguistic knowledge). Strategic knowledge is conceived in the model as a set
of metacognitive components which enable language user involvement in goal
setting, assessment of communicative sources, and planning.
It can be seen from models of Canale and Swain (1980), Canale (1983), and
Bachman and Palmer (1996) that Bachman and Palmer‟s model is more complex,
more comprehensive and much clearer than the model of Canale and Swain. It is



make students aware of the type of text they will be listening to, the role they

will play, and the purpose(s) for which they will be listening


provide opportunities for group or collaborative work and for background

reading or class discussion activities
While-listening stage
The while-listening stage involves activities that students are asked to do
during the time that they are listening to the text. This stage gives students a guide
of framework to practice listening. It helps students to listen better, more accurately
through carefully designed comprehension tasks. Good while-listening activities
help learners find the way through the listening text and build upon the expectation
raised by pre-listening activities.
Post-listening stage

11


Post-listening stage involves activities related to a particular listening text
(whether recorded or spoken by the teacher) which are done after the listening is
completed.
The purposes of post-listening activities are:


To check whether the learners have understood what they need to or not.


Applying appropriate teaching methods and techniques
It is important that teachers should apply the following methods and techniques

to make the lessons challenging, effective, and interesting to the students.
Use a variety of activities
If a teacher always uses the same activities, they will become boring for
students. It is necessary to vary activities to stimulate the students‟ interest and
challenge them with something new. It is also important to consider activities that
involve group work and problem solving and that instigate communication and
listening comprehension development.

12


1.3.5.Potential problems in learning listening comprehension
Underwood (1989) presents seven problems which learners often encounter
in learning listening. Firstly, it is difficult for them to catch speakers‟ speed.
Secondly, the listeners are not able to get things repeated. Another difficulty is
learners‟ limited vocabulary. The next, they are not able to recognize the „signals‟
by which a speaker can indicate that he/she is moving from one point to another, or
giving an example, or repeating a point, or whatever. Listeners‟ problems of
interpretation are also mentioned by Underwood. Students who are unfamiliar with
the recording may have considerable difficulty in interpreting the words even if they
can understand their „surface‟ meaning. Especially, this can even occur when the
speaker and listener are from the same background and use the same language.
Besides, inability to concentrate is a major problem to the listeners, because even
the shortest break in attention can seriously impair comprehension. The last
problem is learners‟ established learning habits due to the fact that their teachers
aim to teach them to understand everything in the English lesson. Consequently,
students are worried if they fail to understand a particular word or phrase when they

expectations, motivations, lacks, constraints, and requirements. From this point
of view, needs of students may be in a great harmony or in opposition to the
requirements of course designers.
Hutchinson and Waters (1987) categorize two types of needs:
Needs

Targets needs

Necessities Lacks Wants

Learning needs

Psychological

Attitudinal/

Material

motivational
Target needs are defined as “what the learner needs to do in the target
situation” (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987, p. 54). They are broken down into three
categories: necessities, lacks and wants. Necessities are considered to be “what the

14


learner has to know in order to function effectively in the target situation” (p. 55).
Lacks are defined as
• Teaching and learning styles with which the learners are familiar
• Appropriate or ineffective teaching and learning methods