VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES o0o PHÙNG THỊ MƠ USING DICTOGLOSS TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF 8 TH FORM STUDENTS’ LISTENING COMPREHENSION (Sử dụng kỹ thuật Dictogloss để nâng cao hiệu quả học nghe hiểu của học sinh lớp 8) M.A. Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hanoi – 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITYHANOI UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES o0o PHÙNG THỊ MƠ USING DICTOGLOSS TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF 8 TH FORM STUDENTS’ LISTENING COMPREHENSION (Sử dụng kỹ thuật Dictogloss để nâng cao hiệu quả học nghe hiểu của học sinh lớp 8) M.A. Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr. Trần Thị Tuyết Hanoi – 2014 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby state that I: Phùng Thị Mơ, am the author of the thesis entitled: ―Using Dictogloss technique to improve the effectiveness of 8 th form students‘ listening comprehension‖, which is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, and that this thesis has not been submitted for any other degrees. The thesis also integrates the publication with my supervisor during my candidature. The publication is included in appendix III. Hanoi, 2014 Phùng Thị Mơ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to Dr. Tran Thi Tuyet, my honorable supervisor for her great guidance and encouragement without which the study would not be completed. Her patience and the amount of time she spent on revising manuscripts with muddled up contents have been truly appreciated. Besides, her sense of thoughtful criticism and recognition of the work have played a crucial role to the progress and completion of this study. I also take this opportunity to express my thankfulness to all of my course instructors and lecturers of University of Foreign Languages and International Studies - Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their valuable advice and suggestions throughout my study. In addition, I am appreciative of my students of class M5 at Clever school for their wholehearted cooperation in involving in the lessons and participating in interviews which gave great help to form a significant part of this study. Last but not least, my heartfelt gratitude goes to all those who have kindly advised and helped me towards the completion of my study report. iii ABSTRACT Despite the growing need for the communicative English skills suited for global integration and curriculum innovations to teach English through communicative language teaching over the years, studies conducted in Vietnam education system report that most language teachers still follow the traditional methods in teaching English. Given that the four language skills namely listening, speaking, reading and writing are taught separately, and especially listening skill which has not been paid due attention in EFL seems to be the most challenging issue with learners. This study reports the findings of a case study where Dictogloss technique was used to enhance the effectiveness of students‘ listening comprehension. Dictogloss technique is an integrated skills technique for language learning in which students work together to create a reconstructed version of a text. Accordingly, the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing were integrated in a lesson with a focus on both communicating meaning and correct use of grammar. The findings show that although Dictogloss tasks are challenging, students hold positive attitudes towards dictogloss tasks. Additionally, the dictogloss technique used gives a great help in the development of students‘ listening comprehension. For these reasons, Dictogloss technique is recommended to be used more extensively in Vietnam in order to increase the effectiveness of listening in particular and English teaching and learning process in general. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL English as a foreign language ESL English as a second language ELT English language teaching LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: INTERVIEW QUESTIONSAND SOME KEY ANSWERS APPENDIX 2: STUDENTS‘ REFLECTION FORMS APPENDIX 3: REPORT v TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv LIST OF APPENDICES iv PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 1. Statement of the problem and rationale for the study 1 2. Aims and research questions 4 3. Significance of the study 4 4. Scope of the study 5 5. Methods of the study 6 6. Thesis organization 6 PART B: DEVELOPMENT 8 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 8 1.1. Listening comprehension in ESL 8 1.1.1. What is listening comprehension? 9 1.1.2. Nature of learning listening 10 1.1.2.1. Listening is more than hearing 10 1.1.2.2. Listening has a strong attachment to other skills 10 1.1.3. Significance of listening 11 1.2. Overview of current teaching and learning ESL learning situation in Vietnam 12 1.2.1. Current teaching and learning ESL learning situation in Vietnam 12 1.2.2. Problems of teaching and learning listening comprehension in Vietnam14 1.3. General concepts of Dictogloss technique 15 1.3.1. What is Dictogloss? 15 1.3.2. Dictogloss Procedure 16 1.3.3. Significance of Dictogloss 17 vi CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 19 2.1. Setting of the study 19 2.2. Participants 20 Students 20 2.3. Data collection methods 20 2.3.1. Class observation 21 2.3.2. Students’ reflection 22 2.3.3. Semi-structured interviews 22 2.4. Qualitative data analysis 23 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS OF DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 24 3.1. The students’ attitudes towards Dictogloss – applied listening lessons 24 3.1.1. Dictogloss tasks foster students’ interest for listening comprehension 24 3.1.2. Dictogloss tasks: challenging but interesting 26 3.2. The roles of Dictogloss tasks in improving the effectiveness of students’ listening comprehension. 27 3.2.1. Dictogloss tasks increase students’ comprehension of the information heard 27 3.2.2. Dictogloss tasks offer students different strategies to develop listening comprehension skills 28 3.2.3. Dictogloss tasks improve students interactions in listening lessons 29 3.2.4. Dictogloss helps to direct students’ focus on both meaning and form of the language 31 3.2.5. Dictogloss tasks help to develop students’ critical thinking and autonomy 31 PART C: CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 33 1. Implications of the study 33 2. Limitations of the study 35 3. Suggestions for further studies 36 4. Conclusions 37 REFERENCES 39 vii APPENDICES: I Appendix I I Appendix II V Appendix III: VI 1 PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Statement of the problem and rationale for the study It can be seen that language is the most important communicative tool of humankind and English is an important tool for today‘s international communication (Richards & Rodgers, 2001). As ―the last 50 years have witnessed the rise of English from an international language to the position of the first truly global language in the history of the world‖ (Hung, 2002, p.33), the need for English in Vietnam has increased significantly. It is likely that the needs and requirements of Vietnamese learners have changed. In the past, students put more focus on learning grammar and tried to be good at grammar, attempting to achieve good results in formal examinations. Nowadays, English is needed for daily communication and employment. However, despite the fact that in English teaching, one of the main objectives is to prepare students for the communication in the real life and it is of great importance and necessity to efficiently equip students with the four skills together with relatively sufficient background knowledge, the teaching of English in Vietnam has been widely criticized for the weak ability of the students in using the language outside the classroom. Indeed, the outcome of English as a foreign language (EFL) education in secondary schools and universities is far from effective (Ngan, 2004; Nguyen, 2002; Tran, 2006). Compared with other students in Asian region, Vietnamese students generally have lower proficiency; most can hardly communicate or pursue a study program in English, and thus experience disadvantages in the international work force (Huynh, 2006). Although some students are very good and achieve such high scores in grammar-based examinations, they are unable to produce a perfect sentence in both written and spoken forms (Huy, [...]... The first time, they should not take notes Kondo et al (2012) claim that during the 16 first reading, learners are instructed to grasp the gist of the text They are not allowed to take notes, so that they can focus on the meaning of the text (Prince, 2013) In the second listening, they need to take notes about the key words used to put the text together in the reconstruction stage (3) The reconstruction... this thesis Accordingly, the aims of the study were to discover the how the students think about English listening lessons with the implementation of Dictogloss technique and the roles of Dictogloss technique in enhancing the effectiveness of students‘ listening comprehension Those were done through all three methods: class observations, student‘s reflection and semi-structured interviews 3.1 The students’. .. attempts to research on a small group of participants, namely 18 8th form students Added to this, the researcher only studies on the use of Dictoloss technique to teach and enhance students‘ effectiveness in their listening comprehension Other approaches or techniques to teach listening skills for students would be beyond the scope 5 5 Methods of the study To seek the answers to the research questions, the. .. questions 1) What are the students‘ attitudes towards Dictogloss – applied listening lesson? 2) To what extent does Dictogloss technique help to enhance the effectiveness of students‘ listening comprehension? Based on the rationale of the study, the research hypothesis is formulated as follows: Dictogloss technique can improve the effectiveness of students‘ listening comprehension of 8th graders at Clever... involvement 2.3.2 Students’ reflection At the end of each lesson, the researcher delivered the reflection sheets for the students in the class to write their thoughts about the lesson with the application of dictogloss technique The aim of writing reflection is to discover factors such as students‘ difficulties, students‘ preferences in the listening lesson, the advantages and disadvantages of dictogloss lessons... to exploring the gaps between the theory and the real context From then on, theory of Dictogloss technique is introduced in the hope of solving problems raised in the real context Those are considered to be the theoretical and conceptual framework for the present study 1.1 Listening comprehension in ESL The topic of the study listening comprehension‖ has been received a wide variety of approaches... attitudes towards Dictogloss – applied listening lessons The triangle data gained from three sources mentioned above at the end of the course showed that generally the majority of students got involved in the lesson and they hold their positive attitudes towards dictogloss tasks.I organized into some perspectives as the reasons why the students hold this attitude towards dictogloss technique, namely dictogloss. .. face -to- face interviews with students and the teacher in one of the classes using dictogloss technique in their listening lessons Using these kinds of instrument allows the researcher to collect the data in ―qualitative form Besides, the researcher found it easy to summarize, analyze and report the collected data Besides, the participants had an opportunity to express their attitudes towards listening. .. comprehension 3.2.1 Dictogloss tasks increase students’ comprehension of the information heard The data collection instruments evidenced the opportunities that dictogloss tasks offered to participants in order to improve their overall understanding of the listening text In this study, dictogloss tasks were included so the participants had other alternatives to comprehend the aural information; this particular... related to the role of listening and 22 their attitudes toward dictogloss technique, the researcher would identify the effectiveness of students‘ listening learning in the dictogloss- applied lessons Accordingly, the data collected from the classroom observations, students‘ reflections and mainly from the interview was analyzed to find out students‘ attitudes towards Dictogloss technique used in listening . USING DICTOGLOSS TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF 8 TH FORM STUDENTS’ LISTENING COMPREHENSION (Sử dụng kỹ thuật Dictogloss để nâng cao hiệu quả học nghe hiểu của học sinh lớp 8) . USING DICTOGLOSS TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF 8 TH FORM STUDENTS’ LISTENING COMPREHENSION (Sử dụng kỹ thuật Dictogloss để nâng cao hiệu quả học nghe hiểu của học sinh lớp 8) . comprehension in Vietnam14 1.3. General concepts of Dictogloss technique 15 1.3.1. What is Dictogloss? 15 1.3.2. Dictogloss Procedure 16 1.3.3. Significance of Dictogloss 17 vi CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY