Designing listening tasks using authentic materials on websites as supplementary materials for the teaching of listening skills to the second-Year students at English Department - Tay Bac University

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale In the light of communicative approach, “communicative competence” is the ultimate aim of foreign language teaching and learning or in other words, it is the “goal” of the teaching and learning process (Richards & Rodgers, 1995:67). In order to obtain the communicative competence, foreign language learners are supposed to focus on all the four skills, namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Among these four skills, listening is often considered to be the most important skill to be acquired as “in the foreign language environment, the ability to make sense of these messages is often crucial for survival” (Hood, 1994:65). As a result, listening has been paid much attention to by language researchers and teachers. Many researches have been conducted on how to teach and learn listening skills effectively. For instance, on the website: www.abax.co.jp/listen, an article named “Teaching Listening Better: is listening being taught as well as it could be?” provides readers with a thorough overview of how listening should be taught; Penny Urr (1992) dedicated a nearly-two-hundred-page book on “Teaching Listening Comprehension” and Gillian Brown (1984) also wrote “Listening to spoken English”. All these contributions are very useful for enhancing the listening skills. However, as far as the writer has investigated, most of the researches focus largely on methods of teaching and learning rather than on exploring new sources of authentic materials for teachers to make use of. Nowadays, together with the already diversified published materials for teaching listening, there co-exists a new abundant source of listening materials on the World Wide Web. The use of the Internet has changed the world dramatically. Yet in Vietnam, where the Internet had not been known until 1997, it is still new to many teachers of English who are hesitant to use it even when it is accessible. For the time being, several teachers at the English Department, Tay Bac University are employing available materials to teach listening skills to their students. However, the use of authentic materials in designing listening tasks is done spontaneously without any formal guidelines. Thus, a study on designing listening tasks with authentic materials would be of value. It is hoped that the thesis would bring about some benefits to EFL teachers who teach listening skills. 2. Objectives This study is intended to address the following issues: Theoretically, it aims at providing a literature review that should be taken into consideration when listening skills are taught with CLT orientation. It places focus on investigating how listening skills are taught to the 2nd – year EFL students at the English Department – Tay Bac University with what supplementary materials are used. Practically, it outlines possible prospects to use authentic materials on websites as supplementary materials to teach listening skills to the 2nd –year students at the English Department- Tay Bac University. Also, it suggests some techniques for designing listening tasks using authentic materials to teach listening skills, ranging from how to choose authentic materials to what listening activities to design and how to design them. 3. Scope of the study It should be made clear that this study aims at neither a discovery of the whole process of teaching listening skills nor that of conducting listening tasks in class. It would focus on the ways to develop the use of online supplementary listening materials for the 2nd –year students. 4. Methods of the study First of all, intensive and extensive reading helps equip the author with sufficient background knowledge and also obtain data for the literature review. Secondly, survey, questionnaires, observation as well as interview would be made among the 2nd-year students and their teachers at the English Department- Tay Bac University. Collected data, then, would be processed and analyzed. 5. Design of the study The study is composed of 4 main chapters, each of which focuses on a particular issue: Chapter 1 is the introduction to the study Chapter 2 deals with theoretical background concerning CLT approaches, authentic materials, listening and listening task design. Chapter 3 studies on the use of authentic materials in teaching listening skills to the 2nd – year students at the English Department, Tay Bac University. Chapter 4 introduces some ways to exploit online materials for teaching listening. Also, from the information in chapter 3, implications for listening task design will be presented. Chapter 5 is the conclusion CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 COMMUNICATIVE VIEW ON TEACHING LISTENING 2.1.1 The importance of listening The importance of listening skills in foreign language teaching and learning has been reflected in a 30-year shift towards interaction-based acquisition (Krashen, 1981; Pica et al.., 1987; Swain, 1985), rather than learning through the translation of written texts and through formal grammar learning. Though regarded as a receptive skill, listening actually requires an active process in which listeners have to activate all their knowledge of different fields such as phonology, vocabulary, culture and their life experience in selecting and interpreting information (Richards, 1983; Rubin, 1995 quoted from Duzer, Listening skills are obviously important since first of all, a good speaker needs to be a good listener. Although listening is described as the most difficult of the four skills the beginner of a foreign language has to develop (Eastman, 1987 quoted in it has traditionally been considered secondary to speaking skills (G.H Bower and R.K. Cirlio, 1985; G. Brown and G. Yule, 1983, quoted in in that listening task tends to be viewed as supplementary to reinforce grammar learning. David Nunan, a famous linguist, in his featured speech at the 4th Pan-Asian Conference in Taiwan in November, 2002 remarked that listening is “the Cinderella skill in second language learning” ( What is meant in Nunan’s comment is shared by Belasco (1965) that listening comprehension has also been called the “most underestimated and least understood aspect of foreign language learning”(quoted in Despite of the fact that listening is a critical element in the competent language performance of second language learners, this skill has not been paid enough attention to in comparison with other skills namely speaking, reading and writing. A classic study of listening conducted by Rankin (1930) suggests that adults spend 42.1% of their communication time listening in contrast with 39.1% speaking, 15% reading and 11% writing. Moreover, real communication in the classroom should be based on effective input through listening or reading. According to Lewis, “almost all the world’s natural language output is spoken rather than written” (1993:32, quoted in Therefore, listening takes up a major proportion in communication time as Sam Smith noticed, that is at least 90% of his interaction time ( Listening is, in fact, the most crucial medium for input in learning a foreign language and by increasing students’ ability to perceive speech and thus aiding language acquisition (Lewis, 1993 quoted in In fact, listening provides a “foundation” for all aspects of “language and cognitive development” ( It plays a life-long role on the process of learning and communication essential to productive participation in life. 2.1.2. Characteristics of listening Most linguists and educators share the similar opinion of the characteristics of listening. According to Winkinson, Stratta, Dudley (1974) ans Brubridge (1986) and Penny Urr (1996), they all agree upon the common characteristics of listening as follows: First of all, looking at the characteristics of listening is actually looking at those of spoken language. Spoken language is normally disorganized due to the fact that it is spontaneous. The speaker talks impulsively rather than reading aloud something written beforehand. As a result, the speech is full of incomplete sentences, paraphrases, hesitation, repetition and interruptions. This is also the explanation to the fact that the students who are good at listening tasks with artificial dialogues are not necessarily good at real - life listening situations. The understanding of spoken language could be facilitated a great deal by non-verbal clues. It is said that people listen more effectively when they can see the speaker’s facial expression, gestures or especially be directly involved in the context in which the speech is happening. In turn speakers may rely on such hints to interpret listeners’ implication so that they can adapt their speech accordingly to attain a successful communication. These non-verbal cues could reveal what the speaker means better than just listening to the speech alone because both listeners and speakers are put in a certain context. In real-life listening, listeners often know in advance some information to aid their understanding such as to whom they are listening, what they are going to listen and why they are listening. Therefore, teachers of listening should always bear in mind this characteristic so that they can have suitable pre-listening activities to prepare students for what they are to listen. Penny Urr additionally thinks that listening is an interactive process. Listeners do not passively just listen to what speakers say. They take turns to speak. Both sides actively involve in the communication because they do it for a purpose. 2.1.3. Types of listening and listening tasks 2.1.3.1. Types of listening Much as research has pointed out, adults spend almost half of their communication time listening and for EFL students the figure mounts up to 90%. Listening is the most widely used skill though it is also “the least understood aspect of language of foreign language learning” (Belasco, 1964, quoted from There is no fixed set of criteria for different types of listening. It is categorized from various views. 2.1.3.1.1. Top-down listening process vs. Bottom-up listening process Top-down listening Bottom-up listening It is listener-based. The listener privies to background knowledge of the topic, the situation or context, the type of text, and the language (Richards, 1990). This background knowledge activates a set of expectations that help the listener to interpret what is heard and anticipate what will come next. According to David Nunan, the top-down view suggests that the listener actively constructs the original meaning of the speaker using incoming sounds as clue ( It is text-based. The listener relies on the language in the message, that is, the combination of sounds, words, and grammar that creates meaning (Richards, 1990). The bottom-up processing model assumes that listening is a process of decoding the sounds that one hears on a linear fashion, from the smallest meaningful units (phonemes) to complete texts. The distinction between Top-down and Bottom-up listening process is visualized vividly by Helgesen and Brown as they employ the metaphor of a brick wall, “if you are standing at the bottom looking at the wall brick by brick, you can easily see details. It is difficult, however, to get an overall view of the wall. And if you come to a missing brick (e.g: an unknown word or unfamiliar structure), you get stuck. If, on the other hand, you are sitting on the top of the wall, you can easily see the landscape. Of course, because of distance, you will miss some details” (Helgesen and Brown, 1994:xii). 2.1.3.1.2. Real-life listening vs. Classroom listening Additionally, listening can be realized according to the space where it occurs. In general, listening may be divided into real-life listening and classroom listening. Real-life listening This is what we have to do in our daily life. We hear music, radio, the noise and people talking, etc. Sometimes, people just listen without paying much attention to. People may listen and do something else at the same time. This kind of listening is called Casual listening (cited in Bang Nguyen, Ngoc Nguyen, 2002). On the other hand, people listen with a certain purpose in mind, hence, they really concentrate on getting the content of what is said, which constitutes another type if real-life listening, called Focused listening (cited in Bang Nguyen, Ngoc Nguyen, 2002). Classroom listening Penny Urr argues that classroom listening should be addressed accurately as real-life listening in the classroom. Though a paradox can be sensed in this way of addressing, it is not only true that classroom listening is not real-life listening; but a clear envision of the notion “classroom listening” is also created. All the listening activities in the classroom aim at equipping students with skills to deal with real-life listening. Even in classroom listening, it can be subdivided into intensive and extensive listening as collected and classified by Bang Nguyen, Ngoc Nguyen (2002). According to Broughton et al (1987) extensive listening is concerned with the more general listening to natural English. It serves the function of letting the students hear the vocabulary items and structures which are unfamiliar to them. Rixon (1986) added that extensive listening is listening for pleasure and interest without having to pay a lot of attention to content and language. Extensive listening keeps students’ motivation and interest high, as well as gives valuable contact with English in its spoken form. In contrast, intensive listening is much more controlled, with one or two specific points. Intensive listening can be primarily for language items as part of the language teaching program or it can be for general comprehension and understanding (Broughton et al. 1978). Rixon (1986) also stated that intensive listening is the more widely used form in the classroom. In intensive listening, students have to collect or organize information. The listening passages used usually contain more concrete information and may be quite densely packed. On Allen’s stand, listening is categorized as follows (1976): Simple listening – hearing sounds without any particular meaning to the sounds Discriminative listening - listening to hear and identify the likenesses and differences in sounds Listening for specific information Listening for organizing ideas Listening for main points Listening for varied points of view Critical listening Creative listening Meanwhile, Burn and Lowe (1966) categorized listening into three types: Appreciational listening (enjoying the development of s story; listening for pleasing rhythm; reacting to the mood set by the author). Informational listening (listening for the answer to a specific question; listening to follow directions; following sequence; listening for main ideas). Critical listening (discriminating between fact and opinion; detecting prejudice and bias; sensing the speaker’s purpose). According to Burn and Lowe (1966) some authors have also suggested levels of listening such as little conscious listening, half listening, listening passively, listening and expressing some reaction and listening with a real meeting of the minds. However, Burn and Lowe (1966) pointed out that there is no research evidence to indicate such levels. 2.1.3.2. Types of Listening Tasks Having investigated into the characteristics of listening as well as the types of listening, I now move on to review different listening tasks that reputable educators have suggested in order to develop students’ listening skills. These listening tasks are various, though sorted respective to the way listening is viewed from different perspectives, they consist of a rather fixed set of tasks. As held by Penny Ur, the kinds of the listening tasks are classified by the natures of students’ response. No overt response - Following a written text: sts listen to and read it at the same time - Listening to a familiar text: sts listen to an already known text. This kind of task requires not much listening comprehension skills but simply gives pleasant experience in listening to meaningful English sounds. - Listening aided by visuals (e.g. pictures, diagrams..): sts look at visual materials while simultaneously following a spoken description of it. - Listening to an informal talk: teacher or any good speakers of English can be excellent material. Some general topics may be used (e.g. your family, your childhood, your hobby…). This activity may well serve as relaxing break from more intensive work. - Listening to something entertaining (e.g. stories, songs, films, and television programs): Such kind of activities provides useful interludes to put in before or after more demanding exercises, or when sts’ concentration is at low ebb. Short response Students are asked to do some tasks in the form of simple and short answers. For example: - Following instructions: sts listen to commands; they will show their comprehension by complying with the commands. Responses can be physical movement (e.g. stand up, sit down…), building models and picture dictation (draw as you are told to). - Ticking off items: Learners tick beside the items: Learners tick beside the items that they hear in the listening - True/False: Identify whether the statement is true or false based on the listening. - Detecting mistakes: Some fact is mentioned with intentional mistakes for students to point out. - Cloze: students make a guess of what can be fill in the blanks in the listening text. - Guessing definitions: this is synonymous with guessing games. Sts listen to a definition or description of something and guess what it is. For example, a number of pictures which have some similarities are not given. Sts have to listen and choose the right choice. - Skimming and scanning: learners have to make out some general ideas (skimming) and details (scanning) of the listening. - Pictures: one picture or a series of pictures may be used. Sts are then asked to identify pictures or components as they are referred to, either naming or ordering them in the order in which they are mentioned - Maps: Using a map, sts are asked to name a specific place as they listen. Besides that, changes can be made. Sts have to listen and mark these changes. - Ground-plans: ground-plans are a kind of maps but single sketch can be interpreted in many different ways relating to various listening tasks. Its advantages lies in its simplicity: it can be very easy to trace. -Grids: a grid is simply a rectangle marked off into squares and used to display data. Sts may be presented with an inadequately or inaccurately filled-in grid, fill in or correct the information on the grid as they listen. - Family trees: family tree is a kind diagram. Sts listen to stories or descriptions of families, then identify family member relationship. - Graphs: sts are given a graph with some missing details. While listening to the information, they fill in the missing details. Moreover, “multiple choice items” is also introduced by Bang, Nguyen and Ngoc, Nguyen. To do this task, learners listen and choose the suitable option from the list of alternatives given in advance. Longer response - Answering questions: based on the content of the listening, students are required to give longer and full answer to the questions. - Note-taking: students take notes of the talk. - Paraphrasing and translating: students use their own words to rewrite or retell the listening texts either in the same language or in their mother tongue. - Summarizing: learners write a summary of the content of what they have just listened. - Long gap-filling: similar to a cloze exercise, the only difference is that the information to be filled in the gap is longer. - Dictation is also a recommended kind of task which can boost learners’ listening skills a lot. - Predictions: after hearing the first part of an utterance o