1 | Page Supervised By: Dr.Nadhim Saeed 2009-2010 Ministery of Higher Education Sana’a Univeristy Education College M A Program English Department Prepared By: Yasser Mohammed Al-Refaee Supervised By: Nadhim A. Saeed Associate Professor of Phonetics
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
1 | P a g e
Supervised By: Dr.Nadhim Saeed
20029jsfahhjaskfd 2009-2010
Ministery of Higher Education
Sana’a Univeristy
Education College
M A Program
English Department
Prepared By:
Yasser Mohammed Al-Refaee
Supervised By:
Nadhim A. Saeed
Associate Professor of Phonetics
2 | P a g e
Supervised By: Dr.Nadhim Saeed
Dedication
To the most kind father and mother who always give me what I
need. To my brothers, especially Malik
Al-Refaee and Mohammed, who have
supported me during my study. To my classmates and to
everybody hopes me a successful life
3 | P a g e
Supervised By: Dr.Nadhim Saeed
Acknowledgement
I am so grateful to Dr.Nadhim A. Saeed, Associate Prof of
Phonetics and vice-dean of Higher Academic Affairs, Education
College, for his valuable advices which have enlighten my path
and showed me the real meaning of Education. I am profoundly
indebted to Dr. Abdullah Al-Ghurbani, head of the department
of English, Rada’a Education College, Al-Baida University for
his help to me to complete my research.
4 | P a g e
Supervised By: Dr.Nadhim Saeed
Abstract
The study aimed to investigate the relationship between students’
overall proficiency in listening skill and its effect on their
performance in the IBT TOEFL integrated task of writing. Its
purpose is also to investigate the balance between the students' four
skills. Senior students of Rada’a Education College of Al-Baida
University participated in the study. Analysis of the data revealed
that the scores obtained in the writing task based on listening were
very low ,if compared with the scores obtained in the writing task
of no listening section.It showed that the lower performance of the
students in the integrated task is not also attributed to students
reading, grammatical and lexical weakness, rather, it is due to the
students, listening weakness since most of the words given in the
listening passage are familiar to the students and some where given
again in the reading passage .The paper findings imply that the
students poor listening comprehension is merely a reflection of what
they were taught.They have almost received no training in listening
if compared with other language skills ,most notably reading, writing
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................. 5
Background of the problem .............................................................................................................................. 7
Statement of the problem ................................................................................................................................ 7
Objective of the research .................................................................................................................................. 8
Hypotheses ........................................................................................................................................................ 8 Population and sample ...................................................................................................................................... 8
Method of sampling ........................................................................................................................................... 8
Data collection instrument ................................................................................................................................. 8
Experimental design ........................................................................................................................................ 12 Definition of terminologies’ ............................................................................................................................ 12
Chapter two
Review of related literature ................................................................................................................................. 14
Theoretical basis of listening comprehension ..................................................................................................... 14 Definition of listening .......................................................................................................................................... 14 Combining listening with other skills ................................................................................................................... 14 Significance of listening ..................................................................................................................................... 15 Current problem of teaching practice in Yemen ................................................................................................. 17 Causal analysis of listening comprehension problems ......................................................................................... 18
The Three Basic Listening Modes ........................................................................................................................ 18 Chapter three
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 20 Data analysis .part one ....................................................................................................................................... 20 Data analysis .part two ....................................................................................................................................... 23 Findings ............................................................................................................................................................... 24 Discussion and conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 25 References ........................................................................................................................................................... 26 Appendix ............................................................................................................................................................. 27
Introduction
Careful observation of College English teaching practice in Yemen
has found that the teaching of listening skills is still the weakest link
in the language teaching process. Despite students having mastered
6 | P a g e
Supervised By: Dr.Nadhim Saeed
the basic elements of English grammar and vocabulary, their
listening comprehension is often weak. The traditional grammar-
translation method of teaching English in Yemen has been found
inadequate to the demands for producing efficient English speakers
and listeners. The objective of this paper, thus, is to cast light on the
students listening proficiency of Al-Baida University, Rada’a
Education College and compare it with the other skills .This was
tested through their performance in the writing integrated task of
TOEFL exam, this kind of integrated task was chosen deliberately
to show how listening is going to affect their performance in writing
and to compare listening proficiency with the other skills. This
paper contains three chapters; the first one introduces the research
problem, objectives, hypothesis, population, sampling and the
instrument used. The second chapter reviewed listening related
literature .The last chapter is an analysis of the data obtained from
the tests.
Background of the problem
Most Yemeni University students are good and proficient in
reading and writing language skills but when it comes to
listening and speaking, they are suffering defects due to the
7 | P a g e
Supervised By: Dr.Nadhim Saeed
insufficient materials taught in the college accompanied by
the students' awareness absence .as a result, students are
encountering difficulties either in their jobs or higher studies
programs where English is needed. For example, having a
TOFFL test, especially the new version, IBT TOEFL. The
new integrated tasks, which require more than one language
skill to complete, reflect the way language is used on campus
every day life,from the classroom to the bookstore. The new
test of writing requires test takers to write a response to
material they have heard and read. This kind of tests are new
when it comes to Yemeni university students whose study
is based on individual skills .They were trained well to
write and read .They have taken four courses in writing and
four in reading in the first and second levels, unlike
listening which is totally ignored in the university curricula
.This paper is meant to figure out the extent of students
weakness in listening, if compared with other skills, and
its effect in the overall understanding of the language.
Statement of the problem
The purpose of this paper is to show the effect of listening
proficiency weakness of the students of Rada'a Education College,
fourth level, on their performance in the integrated writing task of
IBT TOEFL.
Listening courses are almost absent from the B A program, English
Department, thus, the present study is also an attempt to find out
the students competence in other skills, most notably, writing and
reading, where the students have received some trainings during the
study years and compare it with listening where students have
received almost nothing except what they hear orally from the
teachers.
Objective of the research
8 | P a g e
Supervised By: Dr.Nadhim Saeed
The aim of this paper is mainly to investigate the effect of listening
proficiency of senior students of Rada'a Education College on their
performance in the TOEFL exam.
Hypotheses
The poor performance of the students in the writing integrated
task is attributed to the their low proficiency of listening
The students' proficiency in the other skills, writing and reading, is much
better than in listening in which they have received some training while
studying
Population and sample
The population is the students of senior level in Al-Baida
University at the education college .The total number of the
students is 80 but due to time limitation and instrument
unavailability, the researcher has systematically chosen 30
students.
Method of sampling
The researcher uses serial numbers for all the individuals in
the research population .Then the researcher selects every
fourth person till the required number is taken.
Data collection instrument
Responses to all writing tasks also are going to be collected. The
responses, thus, will be rated by 2 to 4 raters, colleagues in the
college, on a score scale of 0 to 20 according to the Rubrics
below. The response to the integrated writing task is scored on
the quality of writing (organization, appropriate and precise use
of grammar and vocabulary) and the completeness and
accuracy of the content. The independent writing essay is scored
on the overall quality of the writing: development, organization,
and appropriate and precise use of grammar and vocabulary. It is
important to note that the raters recognize the responses are first
9 | P a g e
Supervised By: Dr.Nadhim Saeed
draft. They do not expect test takers to produce a well-
researched, comprehensive essay. For that reason, test takers can
earn a high score with a response that contains some errors.
Independent Writing Rubrics
marks Basis of correction
10-8 An essay at this level largely accomplishes all of the following:
effectively addresses the topic and task
Is well organized and well developed, using clearly appropriate
explanations, exemplifications, and/or details
Displays unity, progression, and coherence
Displays consistent facility in the use of language, demonstrating
syntactic variety, appropriate word choice, and idiomaticity,
though it may have minor lexical or grammatical errors
7-5 An essay at this level largely accomplishes all of the following:
Addresses the topic and task well, though some points may not be fully
elaborated
Is generally well organized and well developed, using appropriate and
Displays unity, progression, and coherence, though it may contain
occasional redundancy, digression, or unclear connections
Displays facility in the use of language, demonstrating syntactic variety
and range of vocabulary,
though it will probably have occasional noticeable minor errors in
structure, word form, or use of idiomatic language that do not interfere
with meaning
10 | P a g e
Supervised By: Dr.Nadhim Saeed
4-2 An essay at this level may reveal one or more of the following weaknesses:
Limited development in response to the topic and task
Inadequate organization or connection of ideas
Inappropriate or insufficient exemplifications, explanations, or details
to support or illustrate generalizations in response to the task
A noticeably inappropriate choice of words or word forms
An accumulation of errors in sentence structure and/or usage
2-1 An essay at this level is seriously flawed by one or more of the following
weaknesses:
Serious disorganization or underdevelopment
Little or no detail, or irrelevant specifics, or questionable
responsiveness to the task
Serious and frequent errors in sentence structure or usage
0 An essay at this level merely copies words from the topic, rejects the
topic, or is otherwise not connected to the topic, is written in a foreign
language, consists of keystroke characters, or is blank
Integrated task
marks
11 | P a g e
Supervised By: Dr.Nadhim Saeed
10-8 A response at this level successfully selects the important information
from the lecture and coherently and accurately presents this information in
relation to the relevant information presented in the reading.
The response is well organized, and occasional language errors that
are present do not result in inaccurate or imprecise presentation of
content or connections
7-5 A response at this level is generally good in selecting the important
information from the lecture and in coherently and accurately presenting this
information in relation to the relevant information in the reading, but it may
have minor omission, inaccuracy, vagueness, or imprecision of some content
from the lecture or in connection to points made in the reading. A response
is also scored at this level if it has more frequent or noticeable minor
language errors, as long as such usage and grammatical structures do not
result in anything more than an occasional lapse of clarity or in the
connection of ideas
4-2 A response at this level contains some important information from
the lecture and conveys some relevant connection to the reading,
but it is marked by one or more of the following:
Although the overall response is definitely oriented to the
task, it conveys only vague, global, unclear, or somewhat
imprecise connection of the points made in the lecture to
points made in the reading.
The response may omit one major key point made in the lecture.
Some key points made in the lecture or the reading, or
connections between the two, may be incomplete,
inaccurate, or imprecise.
Errors of usage and/or grammar may be more frequent or may
result in noticeably vague expressions or obscured meanings in
conveying ideas and connections
1 A response at this level contains some relevant information
from the lecture, but is marked by significant language
difficulties or by significant omission or inaccuracy of
important ideas from the lecture or in the connections
between the lecture and the reading; a response at this level
is marked by one or more of the following:
The response significantly misrepresents or completely
omits the overall connection between the lecture and the
reading.
The response significantly omits or significantly
misrepresents important points made in the lecture.
The response contains language errors or expressions that largely
obscure connections or meaning at key junctures or that would
likely obscure understanding of key ideas for a reader not already
12 | P a g e
Supervised By: Dr.Nadhim Saeed
familiar with the reading and the lecture
0 A response at this level merely copies sentences from the
reading, rejects the topic or is otherwise not connected to the
topic, is written in a foreign language, consists of keystroke
characters, or is blank
Note .This basis of correction was taken from the TOEFL website, modification, omission were also
made to meet the purpose of the study with the help of Dr. Abdullah Al-Ghurbani.
The experimental design
The chosen students, as mentioned, are the senior students of education college of Rada'a
.They have never been exposed to such test before, and some might not have even heard of
such exam. The 20 students encountered two tests of writing .Since the aim of this paper is
to investigate the students proficiency of listening, the students are given a prior test
instruction of how to get the test answered and how to take notes while listening and
reading .Then ,test reading passage were distributed and the students were given one
minute to read and take notes while reading ,students then listened to a lecture related to the
same topic and finally they wrote essays based on what they have read and heard .The
second test was meant to test the student writing ability to ensure that the lower
performance in the integrated test of writing is as a result of listening .The test given to the
students was taken from the TOEFL program ,Kaplan version 2008.
Definition of terminologies
TOEFL
Test of English as a foreign language is a standardized test to measure the
ability to understand and use English .the TOEFL is produced and administered
by the educational test service, a private, nonprofit making company based in
Princeton, New Jersey.
IBT TOEFL
First introduced in 2005, TOEFL IBT is being gradually introduced throughout
the world. The new TOEFL iBT consists of four sections: Reading, Listening,
Speaking, and Writing. The entire test is about four hours long and all sections
are taken on the same day. Results are posted on the test takers profile in
TOEFL homepage.
13 | P a g e
Supervised By: Dr.Nadhim Saeed
Writing integrated task
This task requires test takers to write a response to material they have heard and
read.
Writing independent task
A task of writing where students express an opinion and support it based on
their own knowledge and experience.
14 | P a g e
Supervised By: Dr.Nadhim Saeed
Chapter two
Review of related literature.
Theoretical basis of listening comprehension
Beginning in the early 70's, work by Asher, Postovsky, Winitz and, later,
Krashen, brought attention to the role of listening as a tool for
understanding and emphasized it as a key factor in facilitating language
learning. Thus, listening has emerged as an important component in the
process of second language acquisition (Feyten, 1991).
Definition of listening
According to Howatt and Dakin (1974), listening is the ability to identify
and understand what others are saying. This process involves
understanding a speaker's accent or pronunciation, the speaker’s grammar
and vocabulary, and comprehension of meaning. An able listener is
capable of doing these four things simultaneously.
Thomlison's (1984) definition of listening includes "active listening," which
goes beyond comprehending as understanding the message content, to
comprehension as an act of empathetic understanding of the speaker.
Furthermore, Gordon (1985) argues that empathy is essential to listening and
contends that it is more than a polite attempt to identify a speaker's
perspectives. Rather more importantly, empathetic understanding expands to
"egocentric pro social behavior". Thus, the listener altruistically acknowledges
concern for the speaker's welfare and interests. Ronald and Roskelly (1985)
define listening as an active process requiring the same skills of prediction,
hypothesizing, checking, revising, and generalizing that writing and reading
demand; and these authors present specific exercises to make students active
listeners who are aware of the "inner voice" one hears when writing.
Combining listening with other skills
According to language acquisition theory, human capacity for discrimination
between language intention and language content is a crucial step in the
language acquisition process. Thus listening comprehensive ability plays an
important role in acquisition and improvement of language skills. Therefore, in
15 | P a g e
Supervised By: Dr.Nadhim Saeed
listening teaching, there is a need to combine the development of listening
ability with the development of other skills such as reading.
In order to improve listening ability, it is necessary to listen frequently to a
teacher reading well, since it is very difficult to generate a high quality output
without appropriate input. Secondly, students need to practice reading aloud
amongst them. By such activity students will learn to combine the act of
listening with reading. Students must be actively engaged in producing
language of high quality if they are to improve their English proficiency
levels. Similarly, by combining listening with writing, teachers can divide the
work into two parts. First, students might answer teachers’ questions in
written English after listening to spoken language material. It is also important
to remember that good listening entails recalling the essence of the material
rather than the precise detail. Thirdly, teachers should combine listening
activities with speaking in ways that bring out the basics of oral
communication. Inevitably, listeners will lose the information resources
without speaking; speaking will lose its objective without careful listening
and, as a result, speaking ability will not be acquired. Listening and speaking
rely on each other and regulate each other.
It is important to strengthen listening through speaking and to improve
speaking through listening. Students need to retell and discuss the material
they have just heard in order to synthesize their understanding. In this way,
they learn to combine listening with speaking properly. Students who are able
to do this are able to overcome their passive response to the situation and
gradually they learn to feel safe when they respond. In order for this to
happen, a truly interactive and penalty free listening class is required.
Teacher/student and students/student exchanges should be emphasized as
opportunities for a free exchange of opinions when participants can
consolidate their listening approaches and skills during the process of
communication.
Through a variety of listening-reading, listening-writing and listening-speaking
activities, students can not only strengthen their language skills but also sharpen
their interests and raise their motivation to improve their learning efficiency.
Significance of listening Trudy Wallace, (2004).Listening skills are essential for learning since they
enable students to acquire insights and information, and to achieve success in
communicating with others. Life within and outside school affords many
16 | P a g e
Supervised By: Dr.Nadhim Saeed
listening opportunities, but some students fail to seize them because they let
their minds wander or they may concentrate on what they want to say
themselves rather than on what a speaker is saying. Teachers can show students
why good listening is useful and even crucial in some situations. Poor listening
can lead to unnecessary arguments and problems. As in the case of doctors,
careful listening and questioning might even save lives. Students’ listening
skills may be enhanced and tested by asking them questions about what they
have heard. They may be given practice in note-taking and could be asked
questions about the facts and inferences that may be made from their notes.
They can be taught to recognize the difference between the main points and
incidental or less relevant ideas and information. Learners can also benefit from practice in recognizing the purpose of presentations and other information they hear. It can be useful if they are taught to set goals for what they want to learn from a presentation and to monitor how well they accomplish their goals. Students can be taught to listen selectively for specific kinds of information, such as the main purpose, the themes, the details and any implications. They can even be tested for their ability to identify the essential information in the presence of irrelevant material and distractions, as is the case in much of adult life. Language learning depends on listening since it provides the aural input that serves as the basis for language acquisition and enables learners to interact in spoken communication. Listening is the first language mode that children acquire. It provides the foundation for all aspects of language and cognitive development, and it plays a life-long role in the processes of communication. A study by Wilt (1950), found that people listen 45 % of the time they spend communicating. This study is still widely cited (e.g., Martin, 1987; Strother, 1987). Wilt found that 30 % of communication time was spent speaking, 16 % reading, and 9 % writing. That finding confirmed what Rankin discovered in 1928, that people spent 70 % of their waking time communicating and that three-fourths of this time was spent listening and speaking.
According to Bulletin (1952), listening is the fundamental language skill. It is the medium through which people gain a large portion of their education, their information, their understanding of the world and of human affairs, their ideals, sense of values, and their appreciation. In this day of mass communication, much of it oral, it is of vital importance that students are taught to listen effectively and critically.
According to second language acquisition theory, language input is the most essential condition of language acquisition. As an input skill, listening plays a crucial role in students’ language development. Krashen (1985) argues that people acquire language by understanding the linguistic information they hear. Thus language acquisition is achieved mainly through receiving understandable input and listening ability is the critical component in
17 | P a g e
Supervised By: Dr.Nadhim Saeed
achieving understandable language input. Given the importance of listening in language learning and teaching. It is essential for language teachers to help students become effective listeners. In the communicative approach to language teaching, this means modeling listening strategies and providing listening practice in authentic situations: precisely those that learners are likely to encounter when they use the language outside the classroom. Therefore, we should establish “listening-first” as fundamental in foreign language teaching.
Current problems in English teaching practice in Yemen.
Since the beginning of English teaching in Yemen, the Grammar-Translation
Method has held dominant ways in college English teaching. Traditionally,
teachers of English focused on passing on knowledge; their attention was on
written examination scores and they paid much less attention to cultivating
students’ listening and speaking abilities. In this kind of regime students
tended to rely excessively on their teachers and, by comparison with European
students, they would be considered very passive learners. Although Yemeni
students have often learned significant amounts of grammar, and memorized
many English words, they have commonly been unable to apply their
knowledge to real life. Generally they have found it difficult to make them
understood in spoken conversation; conversely, understanding what is said to
them is often a challenge.
Currently, in the early stage of college English teaching, there are problems in
listening teaching that may have their origins in high school where few
students have been the recipients of listening teaching. Consequently students
find it difficult to adapt to college English teaching. All too often, these
students are unable to understand what is taught in listening classes because
they do not understand the spoken content of the lessons. Frequently such
students lose all confidence as second language practitioners. During their first
and second year of college English, the problem of listening deficiency is not
particularly noticeable since language teaching at this level tends to focus on
vocabulary and grammar structure. However, after this period, when listening
content increases and the range of listening texts widens, some students feel
they have some understanding, but all too often they do not. While listening,
they are struggling to grasp each word and the meaning of every sentence.
When the listening task is complete, they are disappointed to find they have
been unable to understand. Although they might hear every word, they are
often unclear about speakers’ intention. The stress of the situation frequently
18 | P a g e
Supervised By: Dr.Nadhim Saeed
results in the student forgetting the first sentence when they hear the second
one, totally disrupting their efforts to gain meaning. Thus, the goal of
developing an integrated language capacity is to achieve teaching that will