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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1. Rationale
In English teaching, the main objective is to prepare students for
communication in the real world and it is very important for a learner to
efficiently equip himself with four skills, together with relatively
sufficient background knowledge. However, obtaining a good command
of English communication is not easy for all students; it needs a great
effort from them which emphasizes much practice, especially self-study.
Of the four language skills-Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writingthat all language learners are supposed to acquire. Listening is believed
to be the most challenging due to the complex and subtle nature of
listening comprehension in a second or foreign language. Teaching
listening is not an easy job at all when we, the English teachers, face the
fact that learners have met many difficulties in comprehending the
information due to unfamiliarity with the pronunciation of the target
language and a lack of listening skills. To overcome those difficulties, it
is necessary for students to keep on practice overtime, and one of the
ways to make students practice is by using portfolios to learn at home.
This means of study is rather effective for students to improve their
listening skills as portfolios are systematic, purposeful, and meaningful
collections of students' works in one or more subject areas and they
reflect the actual day-to-day learning activities of students.
For the third year English major students at Hong Duc University, they
can not avoid common problems related to listening. When dealing with
a listening lesson, they often experience a lack of background
knowledge and cultural understanding, poor ability to understand
spoken language, irrelevant teaching materials etc. Besides, two periods
(45 minutes each period) of listening every week is not enough for
students to be good listeners if they do not spend much more time than
that on their self-study. Clearly, portfolios which reflect what has been


at

Division

of

Language

skills

Development and give some suggestions for applying the portfolios to
enhance the students' self - learning for improvements in their listening
skills. The specific aims of the research are as follows:
-

To investigate the teachers' and students' attitudes towards the
application of listening portfolios in self-learning.

-

To find out the most common portfolio contents exploited by the
teachers at Division of Language skills Development

-

To examine the students’ preferences for the portfolios.

-


and Discussions and Chapter V: Conclusion.
Chapter I: Introduction
This chapter provides an overview of the study such as the rationale,
the scope, the aims, research questions, significance and methods of
the study.
Chapter II: Literature review
This chapter conceptualizes the nature of the listening comprehension,
the importance of listening and the importance of students' self-access
listening, definitions of the portfolio, portfolio based learning, the
content of portfolio, principles in using portfolio, portfolio assessment,
stages of portfolio implementation and the importance of portfolio in
learning listening.
Chapter III: The study
The chapter presents the methodology used in the study including the
setting, sample, instrumentation, data collection and data analysis. It
also points out the detailed results of the surveys and covers a
comprehensive analysis on the data collected from the questionnaires.
Chapter IV: Major findings and Discussions
The chapter shows some major findings, suggestions for using the
portfolios.
Chapter V: Conclusion
The chapter revisits the main points discussed in the paper and some
limitations of the study and future research will be presented.

Chapter 2: Literature review
2.1. Introduction
This chapter discusses a variety of issues in the theories of the listening
skills and portfolios. Three main features will be presented: theoretical
background of listening skills, theoretical background of portfolio and its
importance in learning the listening skills.

Scarcely and Oxford (1992) also point out that comprehension of a
spoken message can either through isolated word recognition within the
sound stream, phrase or formulae recognition, clause or sentence, and
extended speech comprehension.


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Woven and Coakley (1985) hold the different idea. They see listening as
"the process of receiving, attending to and assigning meaning to aural
stimuli". This definition indicates that listening is a complex process
which students have to deal with. The task of listening is not only
perception of sound, but it also requires comprehension of meaning.
This definition is the same with second language theory which regards
listening to spoken language as an active and complex process in which
listeners pay much attention to aspects of aural input, generate
meaning, and link what they hear to existing knowledge (O'Malley &
Chabot, 1989; Byrnes, 1984; Richards, 1985; Howard, 1983).
Scott Shelton (2008) thinks that listening effectively is a demanding
and involved process. One must be able to deal with different accents or
pronunciation,

unfamiliar

lexical

items

and


listeners are able to recognize the speaker’s main points or ideas and
identify the supporting details and examples. Comprehensive listening
is the ability to identify and understand what others are saying. This
involves understanding a speaker’s accent, pronunciation, grammar,
vocabulary

and

meaning

(Howatt

and

Dakin

1974).

Listening

comprehension is influenced by the listener’s world knowledge,
linguistic knowledge, text structure knowledge, and met cognitive
knowledge.
The following figure shows that the listening comprehension process is
established through the relationship between the two main sources of
information which Widowson (1983) refers to as (1) systematic or
linguistic

knowledge


E
H
context

(written)

E
N
S
I

Knowledge of the language
system
- semantic
- syntactic
- phonological

O
M

discourse

etc
Knowledge of co-text
- what has been/ will be said

C

O
N

their relationship?)
How? (tone? mood?)
What? (what is it
about?)
Why? (goal?
particular
circumstances?)
Figure 2. Performance Checklist for Listening Comprehension
(Adapted from Mendelson (1994: 94, cited by Vandergrift, 1999: 176)
V= Verification (check in this column when your guess has been
verified)
What I found easy: .....................................................................................
What I found difficult: ................................................................................
What I will do the next time: .....................................................................
A number of researches in L2 listening instruction have been done by
different authors such as Rost (2002); Lynch (1988, 2002); Rubin (1994);
Mendelsohn (1988); Richards (1990). All focus on the critical role of both


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bottom-up and top-down processes in comprehension. Listeners use topdown process when they use context and prior knowledge (topic, genre,
background knowledge, and other schema knowledge in long-term
memory) to construct framework for comprehension. Listeners use
bottom-up process when they build meaning by accretion, gradually
combining increasingly larger units of meaning from the phoneme-level
up to discourse-level features.
Richards

(1990:50)

a vital role in the language acquisition process". In comparison with
other language skills, some researches on listening suggests that on
average people can expect to listen "twice as much as we speak, four
times more than what we read and five times more than we usually
write" (Morley, 2001). More importantly, there are more and more
studies indicating the sheer importance of listening in communication
and language learning (Anderson and Lynch, 1988; Dunkel, 1991).
What's more, Michael Lewis (1993: 32) highlights "Almost all the world's
natural language output is spoken rather written".
Being an essential skill for almost interaction, listening is therefore the
most primary medium for input in language learning process and by
speeding up the students' ability to perceive speech, the amount of
input they get will increase and thus aid students' language acquisition.
It is obvious that we listen for many different purposes in and out of the
classroom; this has an effect on the way we listen. Yule and Brown
(1983) make a useful distinction between interactional and transactional
communication. McCarthy, (1991) in Discourse, defines transactional


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talk (and listening) as communication for getting business done.
Interactional communication, on the other hand, has to do with
lubricating the social wheels. In listening (1988) Anderson and Lynch
describe them as (transactional) listening when the main purpose is to
achieve a successful transfer of information, while interactional listening
is defined as listening for social reasons, and to establish or maintain
friendly relations between interlocutors.
In short, listening is essential not only as receptive skill but also to the
development of spoken language prophecy.

finally; etc, (7) recognizing cohesive devices, e.g., such as and which,
including linking words, pronouns, references, etc, (8) understanding
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.
Edurne Scott (2008) also points out that the sub-skills that can be
emphasized in a listening lesson include: (1) listening for specific
information, (2) following topic shifts, (3) predicting, (4) recognizing
transitions and sequence markers, (5) recognizing word boundaries, (6)
identifying key words, (7) and taking notes.


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According to Austin Shrope (1970), it is listening on the fourth level that
primarily concerns us in our teaching. Such listening may add an
emotional and dramatic quality. Radio and recordings highlight the
importance of listening. Listening is as active as speaking (the other
productive skill), and in some ways even more difficult. It well requires
attention, thought, interpretation, and imagination. To improve our
learners' listening skills, they should be allowed to: (1) adopt a positive
attitude, (2) be responsive, (3) shut out distractions, (4) listen for the
speaker's purpose, (5) look for the signals of what is to come, (6) look
for summaries of what has gone before, (7) evaluate the supporting
materials, (8) and look for non-verbal clues.
Richards, J. C. (2005) also provides such skills taxonomy for developing
students' listening skills as presented in Appendix P.xix
To sum up, as the focus of language teaching and learning has moved
from teacher-centered approaches to more learner-centered ones, the
focus of listening teaching and learning has also changed a lot. That's

Exposure to different types of the passage and to the possibilities of
interaction with the speaker is very important in increasing students'
experience of handling the spoken word.
•

Helping students to see the reasons behind exercises

It is obvious that if students see the point of what they are doing, this
will encourage them to see the approaches to listening that teachers are
trying to promote, even when they find themselves in real situations.
Explaining the point of exercises needs to be done with great care,
however. Teachers should try to be concrete rather than technical or
abstract.
•

Observing students' reactions

Even if teachers are careful in choosing their passages and activities to
suit the idea of students' needs, they cannot guarantee that all
students' difficulties and interests will be met by teachers' lesson as
planned. The most unexpected things can cause problems. On the other
hand, difficulties that teachers anticipate can produce no trouble at all.
Teachers must be prepared to interrupt their planned sequence to cover
points that are causing difficulty, or that students themselves bring up,
rather than working mechanically from step one to the end of their
lesson plan, with no deviations for student needs.
•

Allowing students time to reconsider


understand. So they can read them back later.
- The teachers should always try to use listening experiences to
illustrate 'reasons to be hopeful about making sense of spoken English.

2.2.3.3. Teacher's roles
According to Austin Shrope (1970), a teacher's roles in a listening lesson
are to create interest, reasons for listening, and the confidence to listen.
For each listening lesson the teacher must bear in mind:
- What kind of listening process is appropriate to the text?
- How the learner will "tune in" to the context, express attitudes towards
the topic, and emphasize schematic knowledge.
- Pictures that could be used to contextualize the talk.


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- And the forming of the learner's opinion on the topic (i.e. making
explicit opinions in a class discussion, and then comparing them to the
opinions of the listening material).

2.2.3.4. Importance of students' self-listening
Obviously, the purpose of effective teaching is to enable students to
develop to a point where they are independent of the teacher's
assistance. This is really true with the listening. According to Shelagh
Rison (1986), self-listening is one of the main ways in which a learner
can "tune in" by himself to a foreign society when he visits or goes to
live in it. It is also the most private and least tangible of the four
language skills. We can do research on a learner's writing or speaking
difficulties to some extent, and observe how he reads, but what goes on
inside each student's head is more of a mystery. Each student is on his


to

Shelagh

Rison

(1986),

a

good

catalogue,

usable

worksheets and your guidance will all contribute as follows:
•

The teacher's role changes in self-access work. He becomes more

of a manager and a counselor than an informant. All the students need
the teacher to be available as a source of advice, or just as someone to
boast to about an achievement.
•

Having the right equipment also counts. Cassettes are much more

convenient and tangle-free than reel-to-reel tape for use in a self-access

for pleasure. Two kinds of listening outside the school have been
suggested as follows:
•

Listening assignments outside the classroom

Self-access listening has been discussed as a stepping stone between
listening guided by the teacher and greater independence. Students
who have met certain types of listening experiences in the listening
library may feel prepared to try them in their own time. Radio programs
are an obvious example.
•

Listening for pleasure outside the classroom

According to the author, opportunities for making contact with the
language outside the school will vary, as will the amount of enthusiasm
shown by students about non-obligatory, extra-mural listening. Students
have a perfect right not to be keen, but they should be equipped with
good information on what is available should they relent.

2.2.4. Summary
In conclusion, the section has so far conceptualized the discussion of
relevant issues relating to the topic of the study. The concepts and ideas
concerning the definitions of listening comprehension, the models of
listening process, importance of listening and teaching listening skills
have been analyzed and discussed.

2.3. Theoretical background of Portfolio
2.3.1. Introduction

There is a variety of definitions of portfolio which have been presented
by various scholars with different points of view. Some definitions limit
and see the portfolio as a summary of a student's accomplishments;
others talk about their purposes and characteristics, including the
merits of the strategy (Wiener and Cohen, 1997; Richter, 1997; Karoly,
1996; Snider Lima and Devito, 1994); their contents and their
implementation. For instance, Patricia L. Rieman and Jeanne Okrasinski
(2000) state that " a portfolio is an assessment tool that allows creator
to put his or her best foot forward and document the knowledge and
skills mastered through the learning process". Other authors share the
same idea that the portfolio is a part of an alternative assessment
program. Arter and Spandell (1996: 210) consider portfolio as "a
purposeful collection of student work that tells the story of the student's
efforts, progress or achievement". Also Freeman and Lewis (1998: 271)
state portfolio as "a collection of materials assembled by students to
demonstrate achievement".
The portfolio definition given by Murray (1995) is that the teacher
should decide how the portfolio is to be used before deciding on the
content. If the portfolio is to be used for summary evaluation, such as
tenure decisions, then it should probably only contain the best of a
student's work.
Our working definition for our students' listening portfolio is a collection
of materials related to our class interactions and readings. You may put
them in any appropriately-sized binder or folder'. In other words, the
students' self-listening portfolio is 'an organized collection of their work
in listening skills that indicates the products of their own learning
process'. The collection is made up of listening portfolio cover sheet,
declaration and statement of authorship, index of listening files,
listening portfolio - File identification, text outline, team work collaboration peer assessment, portfolio assessment checklist. This
working definition is regarded as a good foundation for the researcher to

the self-reflection process. Their aim is to help students find out the
strengths and weaknesses of their own work, to discover the process
they experienced, recognize the feedback they received, identify the
distinctive qualities of their work.
As mentioned before, contents of portfolios depend on its intended use
because of the extent of student engagement, like the nature of the
contents of portfolios informed by the perception of portfolio purpose.
There are many sources which offer a variety of suggestions and
categories for building the portfolio.


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Crockett (1998) in Nunes (2004) divides portfolio contents into five
categories as follows:
•

Found samples, which refer to pieces done to fulfill the class
assignment;

•

Processed samples, or the students' analyses and self-samples of
students' work of a works already graded by the teacher;

•

Revisions or samples of student work that have been graded and
then revised, edited and rewritten;


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E. Reflection checklist
Students are to write only one reflection for the whole portfolio, and this
should not exceed 600 words (two pages). The reflection should contain
the following components:
1. Reflection on strategies used.
- The steps students went through when doing the portfolio.
-

The strategies students used while transcribing the files, especially

how they coped with words that are hard to identify.
2. Reflection on the contents of the files.
- What (background) knowledge students have gained through flowing
the issues.
- What contents students like and dislike most or any information that
makes a deep impression on them.
F. Glossary (See Appendix 7, p. xii)
G. Work distribution (See Appendix 8, p. xiii)
H. Collaboration peer assessment sheets (See Appendix 9, p. xiv)
I. Portfolio assessment sheet (See Appendix 10, p. xvi)
Do not fill in this page.
J. Final grades report form (See Appendix 11, p. xviii)
Fill in the team members' names. Leave others blank.
K. Attached disc or/ and tape.
To sum up, the portfolio contents play a very important role in very
study. However, a certain design of the portfolio contents should be
based on the purpose of the course in the real context and condition.



Principle 4: the criteria for choosing and evaluating the portfolio
contents must be clear to the teacher and the students at the
beginning of the process. The entries in an English as a foreign
language classroom can demonstrate learning and improvement
in all language skills, or can focus on a specific skill such as
listening.

Nunes's study (2004) indicates that portfolios in English as a foreign
language classroom can be a useful tool for speeding up students'
active participation. Nevertheless, the two following principles should be
carefully considered so as to apply its full advantages to practice.
Principle 1: a portfolio should be dialogic, and facilitate ongoing
interactions between the teacher and the students. To put it in another
way, it must be developed interaction in order to facilitate focused
intervention, decision-making or joint problem-solving in due time.
Principle 2: a portfolio should document the reflective thought of
the learner.

2.3.5. Stages of Portfolio implementation
There are various authors whose recommendations for portfolio
implementation emerge in the literature (Wiener and Cohen, 1977; Hill,


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Kamber and Norwich, 1994; Valencia and Place, 1994) and include
criteria to be observed for effective implementation and procedures to
be done. For instance, Hill et al. (1994) recommend a range of steps
including defining the

other achievement standards and indicators and set learning goals for
the future.
Stage 5: Celebration


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The celebration or presentation means that students share their
portfolios with their peers. This is the stage where appropriate public
commitments can be made to encourage collaboration and commitment
to professional developments and lifelong learning (Barrett, 2001).
In short, each author applies different stages in carrying portfolios. Thus,
the researcher should take his or her own context and learning and
teaching situation into account before deciding the stages of portfolio
implementation.

2.3.6. The importance of Portfolios in learning the
Listening skill
It can’t be denied that portfolio plays a very important role in teaching
and learning the L2 as it may affect the students’ success in learning.
Consequently, it is essential to find out how important it is to learn the
listening skills. It can not only help the teachers diagnose the students'
skills and competences, but also make them more aware of the
students' preferences, styles and learning strategies. As the benefits of
this, more teachers have lately started applying in their teaching
because portfolios are regarded as a useful support to the new
instructional approaches that highlight the students' role in building
understanding

and


samples with attached outcomes thereby supplying tangible proofs for
the teachers and students. They also concentrate on real work and
actual performance in classrooms.
Brookfield (1995) lists some benefits of learner reflection in portfolios as
follows:
There are many other authors who suggest using portfolios in teaching
and learning foreign languages in general and English in particular. For
instance, Abrami and Sclater (2005); Nunes (2004); Banfi (2003);
Matthew and Shimo (2002); Rea (2001); Fenwick and Parsons (1999)
and et al point out that portfolios can be a useful tool for evaluating


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students' outcomes; and that using portfolios in listening courses
improves students' autonomy, reflection, teamwork, and self-learning.

2.4. Summary
In this chapter, the relevant literature which is needed to form the
theoretical and conceptual framework for the current study is presented.
To begin with, prominent definitions of listening comprehension are
introduced according to some outstanding scholars, and then the
listening process is presented so as to investigate the nature of listening
comprehension.
What's more, the presently prominent groups of models of the listening
process have been discussed as they all have important contributions to
the nature of listening comprehension and the listening process. Also,
the importance of listening is mentioned including some small points
relating to the issue.