9
PRE-LISTENINGACTIVITIESFORFACILIATING
LISTENINGCOMPREHENSIONSKILLSINEFLCLASSES
TranThiDung1
NguyenThiTrung2
Abstract:Theskilloflisteningisprovedtobethemostdifcultskilltoacquire
for learnersof Englishin generaland Business Englishstudents inparticular. There
are a lot of factors affecting the students’ listening comprehension such as sound
linking,speedrate,poorintonation,variousaccents,andlearners’limitedknowledge.
Thestudyinvestigatestheeffectsofpre-listeningactivitiesinfacilitatingthestudents’
listeningcomprehensioninEnglishasForeignLanguage(EFL)classes.203freshmen
of Business English classes participated in this study. Data were collected through
questionnairesandthenquantitativelyandqualitativelyanalyzed.Thendingsindicated
thatpre-listeningactivitiesarebelievedtobeofgreatsignicanceinbuildingcondence,
generating interests, activating background or cultural knowledge, increasing input
andgreatlyassistingcomprehension.Accordingly,pedagogicalimplicationsaswellas
recommendationsonhowtoemploypre-listeningactivitiesatthepreparatorystagemore
effectivelyinthelisteningprocesswillbeprovided.
Key words: pre-listening activities, perception, attitudes, benets, listening
comprehension
1.Introduction
Listeningplasakeroleindailcommunicationbecausepeoplenotonlexpress
theirfeelingsorthoughtsbutalsohavetounderstandandreacttowhathasbeensaidb
othersaswell.Wehardlhavetroubleinlisteningtoourmothertongue,butinaforeign
orsecondlanguage,listeningisprovedtobethemostdifcultskillstodevelopdueto
unfamiliarsounds,words,structuresorspeed.Thisisevenmoredifcultifwedonot
knowthetopicunderdiscussion,orwhoisspeakingtowhom.Itseemsalittleunfairto
simplaskstudentstolistentosomethingandanswersomequestionswithouttelling
thembeforehandwhattoexpectandwhattolistenfor.Asaresult,itmakeslistening
comprehension reall challenging. It ma be greatl useful for language learners to
performsomeactivitiesnamedpre-listeningactivitiesbeforetheactualldoalistening
task.Thesekindsofactivitiesgetstudentstobeinterested,tobecondent,andtofacilitate
theirlistening comprehension (Berne,1995; Rost,2001). The notonlhelp learners
develop background knowledge, but improve their understanding of the spoken text
as well. Therefore, how to designand carr out pre-listeningactivities in classrooms
occupiesacrucialpositionindeterminingthesuccessofalisteninglesson.Inthispaper,
1.ThSTrnThDung,KhoaNgoingữ,TrờngĐihctàichínhTPHCM,
2.ThSNgunThTrung,KhoaNgoingữ,TrờngĐihcQuảngNam;
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PRE-LISTENING ACTIVITIES FOR FACILIATING LISTENING...
weshalltakethebenetsofpre-listeningactivitiesintoconsideration,focusingonhow
pre-listeningactivitiesareperformedandwhatdifcultiesthestudentsfaceintheprocess
oflearninglisteningskillsandgivingsomerecommendationsonhowtoemplopre-
listeningactivitiesinordertohelpthestudentsactivatetheirownschematicknowledge
thatarerelevantandcloselrelatedtothelisteningtextandhaveeducatedanticipationsin
suchawathattherelationshipbetweenpredictionsisrelevanttothelistener;asaresult,
facilitatingtheirlisteningcomprehension.
2.LiteratureReview
2.1.Previousstudies
Therehavebeenanumberofstudiesconductedsofarintermsofndingoutthe
causesandsolutionstolisteningproblemsinEnglishasForeignLanguage(EFL)classes.
Forexample,Chiu(2006)foundthatadultlanguagelearnersfrequentladoptedsuch
listening comprehension strategies as guessing unknown items, translating incoming
messages,andnote-taking,etctoregeneratetheirlearningmotivationandimprovetheir
Englishprocienc.
Gilakjani&Ahmadi(2011)identiedsomefactorsthatinuencestudents’English
listeningcomprehensionskillsandsuggestedthatteachersshouldcreateanenvironment
which provides students with opportunities to practice listening skills and to engage
activelinthelisteningprocess,transformingteachingandlearningprocessesfrombeing
teacher-dominatedtostudent-centered.Inasimilarvein,Wang&Fan(2015)indicated
thattextandprocessingrelatedvariablesarethemostimportantfactorsleadingtolow-
prociencChineselearners’listeningdifculties,andsuggestedbuildingupsubstantial
linguistic knowledge should be given priorit for an tangible improvement in the
listeningskill.
Bao(2017)conductedastudinvestigatinghownon-Englishmajorstudentsuse
and teachersteachlisteningstrategiesand concludedthattherewas correlationinthe
teachers’andstudents’usinglisteningstrategies.However,thereisstillacertaingapon
theapplicationofcognitiveandsocial/affectivestrategies,towhichtheteachersattach
muchimportancewhilethestudentsneglectthelater.
Itcanbeinferredfromthereviewedliteraturethatthemajoritofstudiesfocuson
factorsaffectingstudents’Englishlisteningcomprehensionskillandlisteningstrategies,
thecurrentstudexploreshowpre-listeningactivitiesarecarriedoutinEFLclassesatthe
FacultofEconomicsatVietnamNationalUniversitHoChiMinhcitinordertogive
someimplicationsforeffectivedeplomentofpre-listeningactivitiesinaccordancewith
thesituation.
2.2.Theoreticalbackground
Denitionofpre-listeningactivities
Asthewordssuggest–pre-listeningactivities,thesekindsofactivitiesshouldbe
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TRầNTHịDUNG,NGUyễNTHịTRUNG
performedbeforelisteninginordertogetthelearnerspreparedforthecominglistening
tasks. According to Medle (1977), pre-listening activities can be subdivided into
“readinessactivities”and“guidanceactivities”.“Readinessactivities”aimatactivating
students’priorknowledgebreadingthetitle,newwordsofthetext,sometimeslooking
atthepicturegivenbeforetheexercisesinthetextbook,andalsobaskingprovocative
questions or introducing background knowledge. “Guidance activities” are intended
forspecicaspectsoflanguageinputblettingthembearcertainpurposesinmindin
advance,thatis,lettingstudentsknowwhattaskortasksthearegoingtodowiththetext,
orlettingthestudentsthemselvesdecidewhatthewanttodowiththetext.
Nunan(2006)alsosharestheideathatinpre-listeningactivities,learnersdotasks
to“activatetheirschemata”,thatis,helpingthemanticipateasituationandwhatthema
hearbasedontheirpreviousknowledge.Inaddition,hedenes“Pre-listeningishowwe
canhelplearnersachievethebalancebetweentop-downandbottom-upprocessing.”
Underwood(1989)describespre-listeningactivitas“preparatorwork”inwhich
ateacherpreparessomepreviousknowledgeandhelpslearnersexpectsomepossible
answers,thenmatcheswhatthehearwithwhattheexpecttohearandnall,usestheir
schematatomakesenseofit.
Tosumup,pre-listeningactivitiesarethoseservedasapreparationforlistening.
Thearecarriedoutbeforestudentsbeginlisteningtoapassagewithaviewtogenerating
interest,buildingcondence,andfacilitatingcomprehension.
Commonpre-listeningactivities
Pre-listeningactivitiescancompriseofreading,writing,speakingorallthree.It
providesopportunitiesforlisteningtobeintegratedwithotherpartsofthestudents’work.
Thiskindofintegratedapproachprovidesopportunitiesforstudentstouselanguagein
thewainwhichitisusedinreallife,andenablesthemtoassociatewrittenandspoken
languagewithlanguagereadandheard(Underwood,1989).
ManresearchersandmethodologistssuchasAndrew(1989),Baker&Westrup
(2000),Craven,Doff(1988),Hassan(2000),Lingzhu(2003),Rees(2002),Rost(1990),
Sui&Wang(2005),Underwood(1989),andUr(1984)studingpre-listeningactivities
tendtoagreethattheseactivitiesaimatactivatinglearners’priorknowledgeandthenhelp
increase their listening comprehension. For learners with/without sufcient schematic
knowledgeofthetopic,forinstance,suchactivitiesprovideanopportunittoremindor
gainsomerelatedknowledge,whichhelpsthemtofollowthelisteningtext.Additionall,
thepaaparticularattentiontothesixkindsofactivitiesthankstotheiradvantageous
andbenecialfactors,includingBrainstorming,Usingaclassdiscussion,Questioning
andanswering session, Predicting the content of thelisteningtext,Pre-teaching new
wordsordifcultkeywords,Studyingthelisteningtasks.
3.Methodology
As the purpose of this research isto investigate the students’ perspectives and
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PRE-LISTENING ACTIVITIES FOR FACILIATING LISTENING...
attitudestowardsthepre-listeningactivitiesappliedbtheteachersinEFLclassesandto
ndoutbasicfactorsthathavenegativeinuenceonthestudents’listeningcomprehension,
quantitativeandqualitativeapproacheswerecombined.Qualitativeapproachwasuseful
fordescribing,explaining,andinvestigatingthefactorsthathaveaninuenceontherst-
earstudents’listeningcomprehensionskillsinthehopeofgainingeffectivepedagogical
strategies and techniques. Quantitative approach, in contrast, was mainl for a full
analsisofthedescriptivedatarelatingtotheanswerstotheresearchquestionsbasedon
theresponsesfromthequestionnaires.
Thequestionnairesweredistributedto203rst-earstudentsofBusinessEnglish
classestolearnabouttheirperceptions,attitudes,difcultiesandrequirementsforlearning
listeningskills,
Thedatafromthelearners’responsestothequestionnairearecodedinnumerical
valuesrankingfrom(1),(2),(3),(4),(5)andthestatisticshavebeenprocessedbmeans
ofSPSSsoftwareprogram.
4.FindingsandDiscussion
Thedatafromthequestionnaireswerecategorizedintothreemainthemes,namel
(1) students’ attitudes towards English skills and listening comprehension skills; (2)
students’ perceptions of pre-listening activities; (3) students’ evaluations about their
materialandsuggestions
4.1.Students’attitudestowardsEnglishskillsandlisteningcomprehesionskills
Thesurverevealsthatthemajoritoftherespondentsviewlisteningasthemost
difcultskillstoimprovewith49.8%and38%choosingtheresponse‘verdifcult’and
‘difcult’respectivelevenwhenitiscomparedtospeaking(22.2%,‘verdifcult’and
55.7%,‘difcult’).Aroundhalfofthestudents(45.3%)rankwritingandmorethanhalf
ofthem(52.2%)viewreadingasneutral.
Table 1. First-earstudents’ perceptions toward the difcult level of the four
Englishskills
Skills
Numberofresponses/percentage
Total
responses
Ver
difcult
(1)
Difcult
(2)
Neutral
(3)
Eas
(4)
Ver
eas
(5)
Listening 101
(49.8%)
77
(38%)
23
(11.2%)
2
(1.0%)
0
(1.0%)
203
(100%)
Speaking 45
(22.2%)
113
(55.7%)
38
(18.7%)
6
(3.0%)
1
(0.5%)
203
(100%)
Reading 16
(7.9%)
58
(28.6%)
106
(52.2%)
17
(8.4%)
6
(3.0%)
203
(100%)
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TRầNTHịDUNG,NGUyễNTHịTRUNG
Writing 21
(10.3%)
74
(36.5%)
92
(45.3%)
14
(6.9%)
2
(1.0%)
203
(100%)
Inordertocheckhowimportantthestudentsconsiderlisteningcomprehensionskills,
thelevelofimportanceofthosefourskillsisraised.Ingeneral,thelevelofimportanceis
ratherequallputforlisteningandspeakingskillsandreadingandwritingskillsasshown
inTable2.Moreinterestingl,likethedegreeofdifcult,listeningisrankedthever
prioritforlanguagelearningwiththehighestpopulationof156(76.8%).
Table2.First-earstudents’evaluationtowardtheimportance levelofthefour
Englishskills
Skills
Numberofresponses/percentage
Total
responses
Completel
Unimportant
(1)
Unimportant
(2)
Important
(3)
Ver
important
(4)
Listening 1
(0.5%)
46
(22.7%)
156
(76.8%)
203
(100%)
Speaking 53
(26.1%)
150
(73.9%)
203
(100%)
Reading 1
(0.5%)
2
(1.0%)
138
(68%)
58
(28.6%)
203
(100%)
Writing 2
(1%)
8
(3.9%)
141
(69.5%)
50
(24.6%)
203
(100%)
Thisraisesahugequestionthatwhthestudentslabellisteningthemostdifcult
skillswhilethearefullawareofitsimportance.ItmightbeinferredthatEFLlearners’
awarenessofimportancetoacertainskillfailstogetpositiveeffectontheirlanguage
learningbutotherfactorsoughttobetakenintoconsideration.Itislikelthatlisteninghas
beensupposedtobesonew,challenging,andhardtodigest.Besides,listeningstrategies
andlisteners’linguisticknowledgeshouldbetakenintoaccount.Itmabetruethatnotall
listenersaretrainedtolisteneffectivelandthatlinguisticknowledgeconsiderablaffects
theirlisteningcomprehension.
As a matter of fact, nearl all language learners (87.7%) view listening skills
amongthefourlanguageskillsasthemostdifcultandstrugglingtoimprove.Partl,
thelevelofdifcultinlisteningmahaveanegativeinuenceonthestudents’learning
attitudetowardtheskillasFigure1belowrevealsthatasmallerproportionofthestudents
ndslisteninglessonsenjoablewith42.4%and7.4%selectingmuchandvermuch
respectivel.Additionall, while 34% of the participants sa thatthe enjo listening
lessonsalittle,halfofthemconfess the donotenjoitatall.Itisobviousthatthe
ndingemergesaproblem.Whilethestudentsranklisteningimportant(22.7%)orver