Study listening difficulties perceived by upper-Secondary school teachers and students in using the new “Tieng Anh 10” textbook

1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1. Rationale Listening has long been considered a difficult and boring subject by many second language learners. It takes much time and energy to make progress in this skill. For listening teachers, correspondingly, it is a difficult task to get students involved in listening lessons. Nonetheless, just as other teachers do, listening teachers should create an interesting and motivating learning environment on one hand; and on the other hand, they must become aware of difficulties and problems facing their students, then, select the best techniques to help them. At my upper secondary school, teaching and learning listening is a really new challenging job. In addition to the lack of well-equipped facilities, teaching listening methods are quite new and unfamiliar to teachers. Since the new English textbook was in use, they have been inexperienced in teaching listening methodology and approaches. Another problem is students’ low levels of proficiency in term of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, skills and so forth. It is the reason why students find it difficult and tough to listen to and they are not confident enough to do listening tasks successfully. Moreover, learning habits do not help much to improve their listening in classroom. The students often get bored, tired and indifferent in listening lessons because of the quality of teacher’s voice and pronunciation, uncreative tasks and activities, topics, and so on. In my opinion, there is a must to work out current and potential problems, then, create better suitable teaching methods and strategies that can facilitate the effectiveness of listening lessons. In literature so far, there have been so few studies on the difficulties in teaching and learning listening in a foreign language. Moreover, most of researchers have come to an agreement to a list of common problems facing both students and teacher in general. On one hand, students’ factors which may influence in their listening are their background knowledge, language items such as vocabulary and pronunciation, and their listening strategies. On the other hand, the teacher’s employment of different techniques and methodology has impacts on successful listening lessons. Moreover, not many researchers 2 study listening difficulties perceived by upper-secondary school teachers and students in using the new “Tieng Anh 10” textbook. Hence, it is in urgent need of taking a serious look at such issue. 1.2. Aims of the study The new “Ti
ng Anh 10” , which deals with the four language skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening, is first introduced. Thus, there are a number of problems facing both the teachers and the students. The main purpose of the study was to probe difficulties in teaching and learning listening among the teaching staff and the 10 th form students at Que Vo II upper-secondary school, in Bac Ninh province. Within this purpose the three central objectives were: (i) To describe the difficulties perceived by the teachers and the 10 th -form students when teaching and learning listening skill in the new text book “Ti
ng Anh 10” . (ii) To investigate factors affecting the success of this process in listening lessons (iii) To suggest some solutions to stimulate students and give recommendation to improve listening methodology for the teachers at Que Vo II upper-secondary school. 1.3. Scope of the study This minor thesis is conducted at Que Vo II upper-secondary school in order to perceive difficulties in teaching and learning listening skills of both teachers and 10 th form students. The study focuses on describing the problems and factors causing such challenges, for instance, facilities, students’ English listening proficiency, and teachers’ methodology. To go ahead, the thesis also offers some appropriate suggestions to better the current context. 1.4. Methodology The research is done by both quantitative and qualitative methods; it is carried out on the basic of situation analysis, material collection, survey questionnaires, class observations and follow-up interviews. In the first place, situation analysis has a look at the background to the study including the description of the current context at Que Vo II upper-secondary school and listening skill in the new textbook “Ti
ng Anh 10”. Secondly, for the theoretical basis, a lot of reference materials on listening teaching methodology and problems have been 3 gathered, analyzed and synthesized thoroughly with the due consideration for teacher’s teaching and students’ learning situations. Eventually, for the practical basis, questionnaires, class observations, follow-up interviews were carried out with the teachers and students to gather the most reliable data for analysis to find answers to the research questions mentioned above. 1.5. Design of the study This study is divided into four main chapters in order to get better insights into different aspects of the problems. Chapter 1 presents reasons for choosing the topic, aims, scopes, methodology and overview of the thesis design. Chapter 2 consists of three sub-parts of which the current upper-secondary school context in general and in particular is first presented. Two other parts deal with introduction of the new “Ti
ng Anh 10” textbook and literature review of listening skills and teaching listening approaches. In chapter 3, the methodology underlying the research and descriptions of data analysis are presented. In terms of methodology, the background information of the research questions, the subjects, the data collection instruments, and data collection procedure are discussed. More importantly, data analysis provides specific explanations, interpretation and the findings of the study. Chapter 4, Conclusion and Implication, summarizes the major findings and offers personal recommendations for such currents problems in teaching and learning listening skill at Que Vo II upper-secondary school. Limitation and suggestions for further research are also discussed. 4 CHAPTER 2 CURRENT UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL CONTEXT AND INTRODUCTION OF THE NEW “”TIENG ANH 10” TEXTBOOK 2.1. The current upper-secondary school context 2.1.1. The general context in Vietnam English has become a part of upper-secondary school curriculum since 1980s when Vietnam carried out its economic policy reformation emphasizing the open market economy, integration, and globalization. However, a more than two-decade history of English teaching and studying seems not to make much progress in using English to communicate practically and efficiently. The effectiveness of English language learning is very low with the outcome that the students are unable to use English for communicative purposes. For the last few years, English has been taught and studied more intensively and extensively. The situation, reported by Ministry of Education and Training, Secondary Division (2006: 95) is quite optimistic that the ratio of upper-secondary students learning English counts for 98.5%. Actually, this figure only shows the increasing needs of English in our society, not the levels of real teaching and learning qualities at schools. It is a matter of fact to discuss herein some controversial problems of the upper-secondary school context in Vietnam concerned with English learning and teaching conditions. 2.1.1.1. Teachers To start with, the teachers’ qualification and proficiency are unequal. According to the researches of Ministry of Education and Training (2006: 97, 98), the ratio of regular teachers who officially graduated from Universities of Education, English Department is very low. A small number of those graduated from Vietnam National University, College of Foreign Languages, English Department. Many others received in-service training or regular training at other local or provincial universities and colleges. This can be an excuse for shortage of a skillful and professional staff in terms of language knowledge and methodology. Moreover, the researches of Ministry of Education and Training (2006: 98) also point out that the percentage of teachers experiencing in teaching English for 15 years or 5 more is rather high. In other words, the age gap is another matter of discussion. Consequently, their proficiency of language theory and communicative skills is remarkably low. In fact, teachers of English have few opportunities or even no to communicate in person with foreigners or native speakers at schools. This discourages their motivation, regardless of age and background knowledge, to practice communicative skills and to update modern technologies in language teaching. Noticeably, many teachers have hardly attended training programmes or professional workshops given by the national or provincial trainers. Frankly speaking, most of them have no opportunities to get acquainted with reformation of new language teaching methods and approaches. Hence, they do not acknowledge the communicative language teaching or learner-centered approaches in theory and in practice at all. In addition, few of teachers have a chance to study abroad and enjoy various English teaching experiences in person. These facts result in ineffective and theoretical outcome which is backward and no longer meet the demand of the development, the integration and globalization of our country in the modern time. 2.1.1.2. Students In Vietnam, the upper-secondary school curriculum, textbook and reformation of language teaching are all prescribed and administrated by the Ministry of Education and Training. Although English has been popularized at every lower and upper-secondary school in Vietnam, students’ English competence is very low. It can be due to the lack of native speaking environment which discourages students’ interests. Another reason results from their attitudes to importance of other subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, literature, and so forth. As the result, upper-secondary students are merely able to acquire a limited basic knowledge of English in terms of vocabulary and grammar structures, except for pronunciation, intonation or communicative skills like speaking or listening. In short, upper-secondary students’ language background, including those studying at normal and gifted schools, is at elementary level after graduation. In general, Vietnamese upper-secondary students’ motivation is not highly appreciated. There is a big gap between urban and rural students in terms of ambition to acquire English language. Although many students are aware of the importance and necessity of learning English, they hesitate to speak English in real-life communication or even at school. This can be influenced by their introvert characteristics. 6 Methodologically, traditional grammar-translation approach is dominant at schools rather than communicative language teaching approach. In other words, it emphasizes students’ language competence; meanwhile CLT approach is interested in developing students’ communicative ability. Thus, it has bad impact on students’ passive and dependent learning method and awareness. They are confused and strange to new communicative activities such as pair work, group work, discussion, and so on. Another disadvantage facing students at almost upper-secondary schools is the lack of actual native learning environment. Students have no chance to interact with English foreigners at schools, except for some urban schools. Understandably, they have neither motivation nor experience in communicating or using English in actual situation 2.1.1.3. Facilities Obviously, facilities are in urgent need to adapt with new language teaching approaches. In other words, physical settings of the current upper-secondary schools come up for discussion. First of all, an average class size of forty-five to fifty students is too big to carry out communicative language teaching approaches. Consequently, teachers get in troubles with class management and organization if they want to apply group work or pair work activities, for example. Secondly, traditional desk arrangement does not encourage communicative interaction between teacher and students as well as among students. It constrains students’ motivation, comfort and creativeness and dynamic to master language comprehension and skills. Thirdly, unclear sounds resulting from poor-quality equipment can interfere with students’ comprehension. Indeed, noise, including both background noises on the recording and environmental ones, can take students’ mind off the content of listening passage. To be worse, the lack of appropriate equipment and language teaching aids is universal and controversial in Vietnam. According to the research of Ministry of Education and Training (2006:105, 106) among investigated upper-secondary schools all over in Vietnam, the number of tapes and cassette players, overhead projectors, CD players, visual aids such as pictures, teacher cards is countable. It is undeniable that modern technology encourages much any aspects of language teaching and learning. However, little technology support is given appropriately and evenly among different parts of the country. Moreover, many of such limited devices are misspent because no one takes advantage of them. Finally, reference books for teachers and students, including supplementary exercises, methodology or training books, dictionaries, magazine or 7 newspapers in English, tapes and recorders and so on, are hardly available in every upper- secondary school. Frankly speaking, there is also a big gap among urban, rural and mountainous schools in Vietnam regarding facility investment and potentiality of practical use. In short, well-equipped conditions, especially modern technology, encourage much of language teaching and learning effectiveness. Vice versa, unfulfilled facility also has bad impacts on making progress in this issue. 2.1.1.4. Textbooks English was officially introduced as a subject of secondary school curriculum in Vietnam in the late 1980s, Since then, two series of English textbooks have been taught simultaneously at upper-secondary schools. The three-year English textbook, “B sách h 3 nm” (from grade 10 to grade 12), by ng Trn C ng, Nguy n M Dung, Phm Kh i Hoàn, Lê c Nhun, and Hoàng Vn Sít, was introduced since 1980s. The seven-year English student’s book, “B sách h 7 nm (from grade 6 to grade 12), was compiled by T Anh, Phan Hà and May Vi Phng. In the first place, though the two series of textbooks are designed based on different approaches they share several similarities Firstly, those textbooks are dominated by integrate approach between language knowledge, especially grammar and vocabulary, and language skills, i.e. speaking, listening, writing, and reading. It is a matter of fact that there no distinctive focus on certain language knowledge or language skills. Secondly, they attempt to teach only target upper-secondary students. Finally, there is no English pronunciation or phonetics or intonation section which is very important to practice the real language. In the second place, the two textbooks differ distinctively. In terms of target students’ levels of proficiency, the three-year English student’s book, “B sách h 3 nm”, is appropriate to those who start learning English at grade 10. Meanwhile, the seven-year English one, “B sách h 7 nm”, is used by students experiencing in English from grade 6. Therefore, the contents and the levels of difficulties are completely differential. In respect of methodology, the three-year English student’s book is dominated by Situational approach which focuses on pieces of situational communication language, especially speaking skills. In contrast, the seven-year English student’s book is influenced by 8 Traditional Grammar-Translation approach. In other words, this series of textbook focuses on teaching reading skills, vocabulary and grammar structures. Although, the two series of textbooks have had remarkable contributions to English teaching and learning at Vietnam upper-secondary schools over more than two decades, they have become outdated as the modern language teaching requires more communicative approaches. In addition to those textbooks, there have recently been also some other pilot textbooks which are implemented in certain upper-secondary schools in Vietnam. However, they were no longer popularized as the standard textbook for upper-secondary curriculum like the new. The new “Ti
ng Anh 10” is a great improvement over the previous ones in terms of methodology, input and presentation. It is designed to provide a comprehensive course for senior secondary students who have completed the new series of English from “Ti
ng Anh 6” to “Ti
ng Anh 9”. With its much strength, it is expected that the new textbook will contribute to better quality of English language learning at the Vietnamese upper- secondary school. In terms of curriculum development, the introduction of the new textbook can be a new fresh air current blown into the teaching-learning situation at upper- secondary school in Vietnam. From my point of view, textbooks have important role in foreign language education. However, teachers and influence on textbooks and the use of textbooks are also significant. As a result, students’ language learning and percipience or achievements are significant, too. Challenges in implementing the new textbook are not small, facing both teachers and students. It is a matter of fact that low quality of teachers (regarding both methodology and experience in language skills teaching), and students naturally leads to low quality of teaching and of learning. 2.1.2. The current context at Que Vo II upper-secondary school Students at Que Vo II upper-secondary school are sixteen years old and have experienced in English, including listening skill, for four years at lower-upper schools. Nevertheless, they basically are beginners of English. Moreover, they do not have clear determination on English learning goals. Thus, they are likely to be motivated or demotivated easily. This matter of fact should be taken into account in using teaching methods and approaches in order to foster and develop their listening skills efficiently. 9 General speaking, the class size of an average of 45 students is big and inconvenient enough. The desks are arranged traditionally with rows of four desks. There is a narrow isle in the middle and two narrower on the sides. There is no other empty space left where teachers and students move to and fro if they conduct different interaction and activities. In addition, noise in a big class is inevitable which badly affect student concentration and sound quality. Moreover, the class is not equipped with any necessary facilities such as tapes, cassette players, speakers, television, CDs and over head projectors, except for a board, chalks, pictures or other visual aids designed by teachers themselves. The teachers all graduated form Vietnam National University, college of foreign languages, English department. A majority of them are young and novice teachers. In general, these teachers are well-qualified in terms of their proficiency in English and knowledge; however, they lack teaching experience, particularly teaching English skills. Some of them have had opportunities to attend some short in-service workshops run by either local or expatriate trainers. Since the new textbook was introduced, few of them ha