1 BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE SKILLS AMONG FRESHMAN STUDENTS IN THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SYSTEM : BASIS FOR LISTENING AND SPEAKING ACTIVITIES A Dissertation Proposal Presented to The Faculty of Graduate School Batangas State University Batangas City, Philippines In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Major in English By: Hoang Thi Nhung (Dimples) December 2014 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TABLE OF CONTENT i LIST OF TABLE iii CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Introduction Statement of the Problem 10 Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study 12 Significance of the Study 13 II REVIEW OF LITERATURE 15 Conceptual Literature 15 Research Literature 34 Synthesis 40 Theoretical Framework 43 Conceptual Framework 46 Hypothesis 48 Definition of Terms 48 III RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURE 51 Research Environment 51 Research Design 53 Subjects of the Study 53 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Data Gathering Instrument 55 Data Gathering Procedure 57 Statistical Treatment of Data 58 IV PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 59 INTRODUCTION 83 V SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 101 Conclusions 111 Recommendations: 112 BIBLIOGRAPHY 113 APPENDICES ………………………………………………………… 124 A Letters of Request B Questionnaires C Documentations CURRICULUM VITAE BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam LIST OF TABLES Table Title Page Distribution of Sample Respondents 54 Gender Profile of the Student Respondents 59 Residence Profile of the Student Respondents 62 Parent's Education Profile of the Student Respondents 63 Years of Exposure to English Media of the Student RespondentsError! Bookmark Type of English Media Exposure of the Student Respondents 65 Level of student's performance in the listening skill test 66 Ranking of student's performance in the listening skill test according to degree of difficulty 78 Ranking of student's performance in the speaking skill test according to degree of difficulty 79 10 List of listening and speaking skills validated to be employedError! Bookmark n in teaching the Basic English course by the respondents.Error! Bookmark not de 11 List of listening and speaking skills and their frequency of use by the respondents Error! Bookmark not defined 12 List of listening and speaking skills and their degree of importance Error! Bookmark not defined 13 Parameters used as basis for the design of remedial learning and speaking activities 80 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Introduction In the day to day life, language plays a very vital role in communication Most of daily activities need the interplay of these four language skills listening, speaking, reading and writing A balance among them should be required for an individual to become an efficient and effective speaker of the language but there seem to be factors that lead to its incompleteness causing problems to users of the second language It has been claimed that over 50 percent of the time that students spend functioning in a foreign language will be devoted to listening (Nunan,1998) Despite this, among the four language skills, listening is taken for granted, it is least understood and most overlooked Since the natural precursor to speaking is listening, in a person‟s first language, the early stages of language development are dependent on listening In first language education on going attention is needed for both listening and speaking development Before, first language speakers were taken for granted in terms of instruction relative to reading and writing but not for listening and speaking because these skills were acquired by native speakers automatically THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines In the 1980‟s, listening had a very important role in second language learning This notion resulted to a corresponding drop in the importance of speaking in the early stages of learning and that even in a course it is discouraged to speak early Based on the insight on what it means to learn a language support the contention of giving emphasis to listening and delay speaking One way of learning the language is attributed to listening There are approaches to language teaching that gave importance to listening Nord‟s (1980) view was clearly expressed when he stated that some people now believe that learning a language is building a map of meaning in the mind and these people believe that talking may indicate that the language was learned, but they not believe that practice in talking is the best way to build up this cognitive map in the mind and in doing this, they feel that the best method is to practice listening Through listening, the learner is given information from which the knowledge necessary for using the language is built up The learner can start speaking when knowledge is built up There are many benefits if learners concentrate to listening and delay speaking One of these is cognitive benefit wherein there will be no overloading relative to focus of the learner on two or more skills Another is the speed of coverage, wherein, since receptive knowledge grows faster than productive knowledge, there is a possibility to experience and to learn THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines more about language through listening Further, there is a strong effect on motivation if there is a move to realistic communicative listening activities It is a psychological benefit also to have listening activities involved in language learning as it reduces stress and in independent learning these activities are well suited Listening before is viewed as passive process wherein the listener acts as receiver of information transmitted by the speaker Recently, a much more active and interpretive process is attributed to listening as the message is not fixed since it is created through interactional space between participants Listeners constructed meanings that are shaped by context through the act of interpreting meaning, rather than receiving it intact (Lynch, 2002) Listening comprised not only of one skill but varied sub- skills There is better performance in comprehension questions for listeners with more skills A fundamental platform for second language development and content learning is provided through experiences with meaning-focused listening Directed attention to perceptual processing and parsing skills enriched these experiences Finding an appropriate balance between providing opportunities for listening skill development through meaning – focused listening and through language learning focused listening which focuses on bottom-up listening practice is needed by teachers THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines In listening comprehension, there are problems of learners identified These include problems in recognizing word forms, and keeping up with what is coming in Learners not have enough time to turn perceived form into an appropriate message Goh (2000) stated that listening problems can occur at the levels of perception, parsing and utilization and that they can benefit from training in listening strategies which include communication strategies to assist comprehension, like making predictions before listening, listening selectively, and knowing how to interrupt politely Other problems of learners identified in listening are not being able to discriminate or distinguish English sounds or learners lack of phonological awareness; not knowing the meaning of English words or lack of vocabulary; and their lack of pacing or speed in understanding spoken language Speaking on the other hand is said to be acquired by all human beings who are normally endowed without explicit instruction Among the four skills, speaking is the most demanding and challenging skill It is an activity that requires an integration of many subsystems One of the most difficult aspects of the spoken language is accomplished through interaction with another speaker Since speech is the most basic means of human communication, for most people, knowing the language is synonymous to the ability to speak a language Reduced forms like contractions, vowel THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines reduction, and elision comprised fluent speech These are features that interact to make speaking a very important central skill In the oral mode, speaking is a productive skill and it is also complicated like the other skill components of language as it involves many aspects There are three situations where speakers are engaged when speaking In interactive speaking situations, the speaker has the chance to request from conversation partner to clarify, repeat, or slow down speaking while in partially interactive speaking situations, the speaker can gauge whether there is understanding of the message conveyed on the part of the conversation partner through facial expressions and body language Recording a speech for radio broadcast is a form of a non-interactive speaking situation A number of situational factors to help convey meaning and intention rely on speaking There are some characteristics that speaker must carry out in order to become successful speaker These include giving much time or opportunity to the students to speak as often as possible Allocating as much time as possible to students talking can create the best environment for engaging in oral activities The following features are considered for successful speaking activities These are making sure that students participation is not dominated by a few talkative students; that students want to speak because THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines they are interested in the topic; that students have something relevant to say; that students can be understood by anyone; and that there aren‟t frequent interruptions while student is speaking There are also several factors to consider when planning for a variety of speaking tasks to push learner‟s output First is that learners should be able to speak on a range of topic, as covering a good range of topics improves learner‟s vocabulary Range of text types is another factor that though these text types which include intimate interpersonal interaction, scientific exposition, and imaginative narrative were written types, they contain spoken equivalents As for the range of performance conditions, planning before speaking is very important as it involves task preparation before performance Time pressure also affects speaking performance in the sense that providing learner‟s ample time to perform speaking task increase the quality of the learner‟s spoken output With regard to amount of support as performance condition, an important requirement in supportive listening is providing the speaker a way in finding needed items in language without giving overwhelming attention to that given support For the standard of performance affecting speaking, while it can be supportive to speak with others, it can also be demanding Some problems in an English class are attributed to the failure of some speaking activities The problems faced by learners in speaking 124 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines 125 BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Appendix B Questionnaire on Teacher’s Assessment of the RECEPTIVE PRODUCTIVE SKILLS of FRESHMAN STUDENTS OF TNU SYSTEM and I Demographic profile of the teachers Respondents Name: Age: _ Gender: Place of origin: Civil Status: _ Educational qualification: Years of teaching experience: _ II Assessment of the RECEPTIVE and PRODUCTIVE SKILLS of FRESHMAN STUDENTS OF TNU SYSTEM (Validation) Please indicate whether the following student skills are examples of RECEPTIVE and PRODUCTIVE SKILLS of FRESHMAN STUDENTS Place a check-mark on the space corresponding to the rating of your choice Student Skills RECEPTIVE SKILLS LISTENING TEST: Accuracy The student is able to write the complete dictated phrase correctly Spelling The student is able to write the correct spelling of all the words in the dictated phrase Vocabulary The student is able to give the correct meaning of a given word Comprehension The student is able comprehend the question by giving the correct answer SPEAKING TEST: Pronunciation The student is able to pronounce all the words correctly Fluency Do you agree or disagree that the following skills are Strategic competence skills? Agree (1) Disagree (2) 126 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines The student is able to speak fluently in English without breaks and interruption Comprehension The student is able to comprehend the question asked orally and answer the question correctly Vocabulary The student is able to answer the question asked orally using the correct words III Assessment of the RECEPTIVE and PRODUCTIVE SKILLS of FRESHMAN STUDENTS OF TNU SYSTEM (Frequency of use) Rate the frequency by which you think the students‟ use their RECEPTIVE and PRODUCTIVE SKILLS Place a check-mark on the space corresponding to the rating of your choice Student Skills RECEPTIVE SKILLS LISTENING TEST: Accuracy The student is able to write the complete dictated phrase correctly Spelling The student is able to write the correct spelling of all the words in the dictated phrase Vocabulary The student is able to give the correct meaning of a given word Comprehension The student is able comprehend the question by giving the correct answer SPEAKING TEST: Pronunciation The student is able to pronounce all the words correctly Fluency The student is able to speak Frequency of Assessment Always Often Sometimes Rarely Not (5) (4) (3) (2) at all (1) 127 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines fluently in English without breaks and interruption Comprehension The student is able to comprehend the question asked orally and answer the question correctly Vocabulary The student is able to answer the question asked orally using the correct words IV Assessment of the RECEPTIVE and PRODUCTIVE SKILLS of FRESHMAN STUDENTS OF TNU SYSTEM (Degree of importance) Rank the following students skills in terms of degree of importance Place a check-mark on the box corresponding to the rating of your choice Student Skills RECEPTIVE SKILLS LISTENING TEST: Accuracy The student is able to write the complete dictated phrase correctly Spelling The student is able to write the correct spelling of all the words in the dictated phrase Vocabulary The student is able to give the correct meaning of a given word Comprehension The student is able comprehend the question by giving the correct answer Degree of Importance Very Moderately Slightly Less Not Important Important Important Important Important (5) (4) (3) (2) (1) 128 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam SPEAKING TEST: Pronunciation The student is able to pronounce all the words correctly Fluency The student is able to speak fluently in English without breaks and interruption Comprehension The student is able to comprehend the question asked orally and answer the question correctly Vocabulary The student is able to answer the question asked orally using the correct words BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines 129 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Questionnaire on RECEPTIVE and PRODUCTIVE SKILLS AMONG FRESHMAN STUDENTS OF TNU SYSTEM: BASIS FOR LISTENING AND SPEAKING ACTIVITIES Guide in answering the questionnaire Welcome! You are currently participating in a descriptive research on RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE SKILLS AMONG FRESHMAN STUDENTS OF TNU SYSTEM: BASIS FOR LISTENING AND SPEAKING ACTIVITIES Below you will find a list of questions that will test your skill RECEPTIVE and PRODUCTIVE SKILLS Follow carefully the instructions for each test section Do not forget to fill in your personal data Do not leave any questions unanswered as this will invalidate your answer sheet If you need further clarification, not hesitate to ask your examiner Thank you! Personal Data Respondents Name: Age: _ Gender: Parent‟s Educational Attainment: Residence: _High School Graduated from: Family Income: Exposure to English media: (Please put a check mark corresponding to the rating of your choice.) Rating Least exposed Moderately exposed Highly exposed (1) (2) (3) Extent of exposure Type of media Television Magazines Radio Internet Newspaper Books Pamphlets Others, specify PART I – LISTENING TEST (DICTATION) for accuracy and spelling DIRECTIONS: Write each dictated phrase as you hear it THE PSYCHOLOGY OF COMICS The phenomenal development /of national comics addiction /puzzles professional educators/ and leaves the literary critics grasping /Comics, they say, /are not literature- adventure strips/ that lack of artistic form /of mental substance and emotional appeal/ to any but the most moronic minds /Can it be /that 100,000.000 Americans are morons? / Possibly so; /but there seems to be /a simpler explanation /- Nine humans out of ten / 130 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines first react with their feelings /rather than with their minds; / the more primitive the emotion stimulated, /the stronger the reaction /Comics defy the limits /of accepted fact and convention, /thus amortizing to apoplexy / the ossified arteries of routine thought /But by these very tokens, /the picture story fancy/ cuts loose the hampering debris /of art and artifice /and touches the tender spots/ of universal human desires and aspirations, /customarily hidden beneath /protective coverings/ of indirection and disguise Strange as it may seem, / it is the form of comics- storytelling, / artistic or not, / that constitute the crucial factor / over this appeal./ The potency of the picture story/ is not a matter of modern theory/ but of anciently established truth./ Before man thought in words,/he felt in pictures./ Man still prefers to short cut/ his mental processes/ by skipping the laryngeal substitutes/ and visualizing directly/ the dramatic situations/ that rouse his emotions./ Eight or nine people/ out of ten more/ get emotional kickout/ of seeing a beautiful girl on the stage,/ the screen, or the picture- magazine page,/ displaying her charm in person,/ or via camera or artist‟s pen,/ than they derive from/ verbal substitutes/ describing her compelling charms./ II Test for vocabulary Based on the dictated selection, get the meaning of the underlined word/words in context Write the letter of the correct meaning The (1.) phenomenal development of (2.) national comics addiction puzzles professional educators and leaves the literary critics (3.) gasping (a.) miraculous (b.) awe- inspiring (c.) outstanding (d.) remarkable (a.) devotion to comics (b.) giving oneself to (c.) dedicated to (d.) compulsion to (a.) wondering (b.) asking (c.) reprimanding (d.) catching one‟s breath from shock The comics, they say (4.) appeal only to (5.) moronic minds (a.) stimulate _5 (a.) brain-damaged (b.) excite (b.) below-average (c.) facilitate (c.) lunatic (d.) arouse interest (d.) feeble-minded 131 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines The more (6.) primitive the emotion stimulated, the stronger the (7.) reaction is _6 (a) basic 7.(a ) response (b.) facilitated (b.) stimuli (c.) channelled (c.) answer (d.) aroused (d.) desire Comics defy the limits of accepted fact and (8.) convention, thus (9.) amortizing to (10.) apoplexy the ossified arteries of routine thought _8 (a.) moral code (a.) rupturing (b.) ethics (b.) blocking (c.) customs/traditions (c.) writing off (d.) rules (d.) deadening 10 (a.) loss of sensation (b.) loss of consciousness (c.) rupturing (d.) blocking III Test for Comprehensions Answer the following questions correctly Write only the letter of the correct answer _ The article is about A The problem of comics addiction B The phenomenon of magazines C The effectiveness of reading in stimulating emotions D The potency of reading a story as compared to listening to a story told Why are some people addicted to comics? A Pictures can tell a thousand words B Comics have more emotional appeal C Comics have involved people more completely and emotionally D People prefer to cut short their mental processes by skipping the talking and visualizing directly the dramatic situations that rouse their emotions _3 How have comics threatened the art of story-telling/talking? A They have involved people more directly B They have involved people more completely C They have involved people more emotionally D They have imparted messages more briefly and directly than the printed page or the verbalizing of it According to the article A Comics have more emotional appeal B A picture story visualized is better than reading the story from a printed page C A picture story visualized is better than listening to somebody tells the story in so many words 132 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines D The effectiveness of picture story is an ancient established truth _5 It is safe to conclude that one of these factors was responsible for the popularity of the comics A The artistry of comics B The emotional appeal of comics C The direct involvement of one reading seeing stories in pictures D Pictures speak a thousand words in a short time more than the printed page What is the implication of comics addiction to the young? A They can‟t read and speak B They have little exposure to the printed page C They have no patience in listening to stories told because they don‟t understand what is being told D They‟re poor listeners While not directly stated, it can be reasoned from the article that A It will be hard to wean away comic addicts from comics B Comics have drawn children away from books C Comics are much cheaper than books D Comics directly tell stories in artistic visualized forms The article is written by A Comparing/contrasting picture stories in comics with that of listening to stories B Comparing/contrasting picture stories in comics with that of reading dramatic situations in printed form C A listing of advantages of the comics over that of verbalization D Giving emphasis to the emotional involvement of a comics-addict when reading comics The article seems to A Condemn the proliferation or spread of comics addiction among the young B Underscore the direct effect of comics addiction on the reading and listening skills of children C Emphasize the educational effect of comics addiction D Anticipate the danger posed by comics on the skill acquisition of children 10 The comics viewer prefers to see the compelling charms of a beautiful girl than hear them described A exciting B stimulating C captivating D awe-inspiring 133 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines PART II SPEAKING TEST (Pronunciation, Fluency, comprehension, vocabulary) Answer the following questions: Why is college education important? Why you like to study English? 134 BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam Appendix C Photographs of Research Environment Thai Nguyen University of Economic and Business Administration Thai Nguyen University of Sciences [ Thai Nguyen University of Education Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry 135 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Appendix D Documentation Dry-Run for Test Questionnaire for Student Respondents Dry-Run for Survey Questionnaire for Teacher Respondents 136 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines The Researcher with the Administrator for asking permission to conduct study Teachers accomplishing the Questionnaires 137 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines Students answering the test Questionnaires 138 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY Socialist Republic of Vietnam BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY Republic of the Philippines CURRICULUM VITAE PERSONAL DATA Name : Hoang Thi Nhung Nickname : Dimples Address : ≠ 472 Phan Dinh Phung Street, Thai Nguyen City Date of birth : July 17, 1980 Place of birth : Pho Yen district, Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam Nationality : Vietnamese Religion : No Civil Status : Married EDUCATION Graduate Studies : Laguna State Polytechnic University Laguna Philippines Master of Arts in Teaching English Tertiary : Thai Nguyen University of Education Bachelor of Arts Major in English High School : Thai Nguyen High School, Thai Nguyen City Secondary : Thai Nguyen Secondary School, Thai Nguyen City Elementary : Dong Quang Elementary School, Thai Nguyen City WORK EXPERIENCE April 1, 2005 to Present : Officer- Teacher at Thai Nguyen University of Sciences December 5, 2014 Hoang Thi Nhung ... language through listening Further, there is a strong effect on motivation if there is a move to realistic communicative listening activities It is a psychological benefit also to have listening activities... influence of learning activities on performance in language activities in pre-schools in Ndeiya The study includes 30 preschools in the division The study made use of questionnaires Findings revealed... in the study include: schools should be provided with language activity materials; that teachers should encourage children to the activities during language lessons; that school teachers should