MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

PHAM THI XUAN HUONG

EXTENSIVE LISTENING FOR DEVELOPING
EFL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ LISTENING ABILITY

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION
CODE: 8.14.01.11

SUPERVISOR: DR. TRAN THI NGOC YEN

LONG AN, 2018


ABSTRACT
This study researches about using the extensive listening to improve the listening skills
of the high school students. This study does the survey with high school students in the 11th
grade class in Long An province. The research observes the control group and the treatment
group clarify the improvement in the listening skills of the high school students. It is indicated
that there is the significant improvement in the listening skills of the treatment group when
employing the extensive listening methods.

ii


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would first and foremost like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor,
Dr. Tran Thi Ngoc Yen, for seeing me through this rewarding, yet challenging process

whose reference materials, support, stimulating suggestions and encouragement helped
me in all stages of this research. I am so grateful that I had a chance to work with her.
In addition, I would also like to thank the students of the classes I taught in order
to collect information for my research. Without their help, this study could not have been
successful.
I also would like to extend my gratefulness to all of my classmates, who provide
me with necessary help as well as good suggestions whenever I get into trouble. They
shared with me both joys and sorrows during the course and I learned a lot from them.
Last but not least, my special thanks are sincerely sent to my parents, my friends
and so many others who continuously offer spiritual support and encouragement during
the process of carrying out this thesis.

iii


TABLES OF CONTENT
ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………………….ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT…………………………………….………………………..iii
LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………………………….vi

LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………………….vii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………1
1.1.

Rationale for the study……………………………………………………………..1

1.2.

Scope of the study …………………………………………………………………3


1.3.

Aims of the study…………………………………………………………………..4

1.4.

Research questions…………………………………………………………….…..4

1.5.

The significance of the study……………………………………………………...4

1.6.

Thesis design………………………………………………………………………5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………………6
2.1. The listening process…………………………………………………………………6
2.1.1. Definition of listening process………………………………………………6
2.1.2 Definition of listening comprehension ……………………………………...8
2.1.3 Types of listening……………………………………………………………8
2.1.4. Factors affecting listening comprehension………………………………...11
2.1.5. Listening strategies………………………………………………………...14
2.1.5.1 Conscious and unconscious strategy use…………………………….15
2.1.5.2 Metacognitive, cognitive and socio-affective strategies ……………15
2.2. Teaching EFL listening……………………………………………………………..18
2.2.1. Difficulties EFL learners have when listening…………………………….18
2.2.2. Stages in a EFL listening lesson…...………………………………………20
2.2.3. Techniques to teach listening………………………………………………21
2.3. Extensive listening…………………………………………………………………..22

2.3.1. Definition of extensive listening…………………………………………...22
2.3.2. Principles of extensive listening…………………………………………...23
2.3.3. Extensive listening in EFL learning……………………………………….24
2.4. Foreign language acquisition………………………………………………………..26
2.4.1. Theories of learning………………………………………………………..30
2.4.2. Language transfer…………………………………………………………..34
2.4.3. Input, interaction and output in EFL……………………………………….35
iv


2.5. How do we select extensive listening material?.........................................................39
2.6 Relationship between listening and other skills……………………………………..40
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY……………………………………………………….43
3.1. Participants…………………………………………………………………………..43
3.2. Materials……………………………………………………………………………..44
3.2.1. Lesson plans………………………………………………………………..45
3.2.2. Listening logs………………………………………………………………45
3.3. Procedures…………………………………………………………………………...45
CHAPTER 4: FIDINGS AND DISCUSSION…………………………………………..47
4.1. Results……………………………………………………………………………….47
4.1.1. Pre test results…………………………………………………………….. 47
4.1.2. Post test results……………………………………………………………..49
4.1.3. The increase in listening comprehension…………………………………..50
4.1.4. The relationship between extensive listening time and listening ability….50
4.2. Discussion…………………………………………………………………………..51
4.2.1. The effects of extensive listening on EFL learners’ listening
comprehension…………………………………………………………………………..51
4.2.2. The relationship between listening time and listening comprehension
development……………………………………………………………………………..52
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………..56

5.1. Summary of main findings………………………………………………………….56
5.2. Implications…………………………………………………………………………57
5.3. Limitation and suggestions for further research…………………………………….60
REFERENCES…………………………………………….…………………………….62
APPENDIX 1……………………………………………………………………………67
APPENDIX 2……………………………………………………………………………80

v


LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: The results of equivalent in English competence in the 1st semester
Table 2: The results of the number of questions that learners gained in pre - test
Table 3: The procedure of the research
Table 4: Relationship between the listening time and improvement

vi


LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: The controlling group
Figure 2: The treatment group
Figure 3: The treatment group
Figure 4: The controlling group

vii


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION


This study is intended to experiment the applying Extensive Listening on
teaching and learning EFL at high schools as well as investigate the effects of
applying Extensive listening developing their language proficiency. This chapter
starts with the rationale for the study, research questions, aims of the study,
significance of the study, scope of the study, and organization of the study.
1.1 Rationale for the study
In today's our modern world, it is believed that listening plays a vital role and
is one of the most important skills to master in second language acquisition
especially in learning a language for communicative purpose. It helps the language
learners to acquire pronunciation, word stress, vocabulary, syntax and the
comprehension of messages. In addition, as recently, English has developed as an
international language that can be used as a means of communication between people
from non-English speaking countries. Without listening skill, no communication can
be achieved. Effective listening skills are also recognized to considerably improve
oral production (Andrews, Andrews and Williams, 2002). However, when listening
to a second language, many language students face difficulties. Listening, unlike the
other language skills, is felt comparatively difficult by the learners, as it has all its
interrelated sub-skills such as receiving, understanding, remembering, evaluating,
and responding. Moreover, listening is not yet fully integrated into the curriculum.
Second language learners have significant problems in listening comprehension
because of the fact that high schools pay more attention to structure, writing, reading
and vocabulary. In Vietnam, the primary goal of the teaching and learning of English
as a foreign language (EFL) at high schools was to equip students with abilities in
reading comprehension and grammar tests. Although with English Curriculum
frameworks suggested by MOET for students at high schools - EFL instruction is
expected to meet the demand to master all the four language skills and these four
skills need to be taught in an integrated way - all graduated tests and examinations
tend to be mainly tested about grammar, vocabularies, reading and a few about
pronunciation. This means communicative skills still neglected by teachers in

teaching. In listening lessons, students are asked to do comprehension questions,
1


true/false statements, table completions, to name a few. Students focus only on the
answers of these tasks but not on the skill. Teachers tend to use the same textbooks
and the workbooks from years to years without innovation. In addition, many
students complain that they often fall asleep owning to do listening in their textbook.
Furthermore, the use of reference books to deal with exercises in the textbook has
been so popular with most of the students that they do not need to prepare the
listening lesson beforehand. Students themselves are not interested in the contents of
the texts they have to listen in class while what they pay much attention to is the
answers for the tasks. This means listening is not important parts of many course
books or syllabus and most teachers do not attach importance to listening. Student
textbooks often offer some kinds of listening tasks and there is usually a one-sizefits-all approach to the way the texts are presented and to the choice of listening
comprehension exercises. Students feel bored and even de-motivated when they face
with those texts in listening lessons. Widdowson (1990) argues that textbooks can
only present the situation of language produced which has been collected and placed
for demonstration purposes and to emphasize the usage rather than its use. He also
focuses on the necessity of language data whereas the experience of language and
communicative competence should form the ground for English learning.
In the broader context of EFL teaching, there seems to be a change in
speaking and listening in the field of language teaching and learning. It is a shift from
viewing them as passive skills to acquiring them in complex processes. Previously,
the development of techniques and materials for teaching the listening skill seemed
to be neglected in language teaching methodology. Generally, it was also often
assumed that listening skills could be acquired through exposure, but not really
taught. Currently, with the expansion of instructional frameworks relating to
international language degrees and communicative approaches, listening began to be
given special attention and it seems unavoidable in EFL learning. It is a necessary

skill because it can essentially facilitate the development of learners’ English
proficiency. Skills in listening can facilitate learners to participate well in oral
communication.

2


Helping students develop listening proficiency has always been a particularly
difficult aspect of foreign language teaching, not least because listening involves of a
number of complex processes. In recent years in second language (L2) teaching
programs, the status of listening has undergone a substantial change. Listening is no
longer considered just a skill to comprehend a target spoken language but an avenue
to acquire linguistic knowledge. This change implies that developing good listening
skills can facilitate L2 development. However, listeners face a number of challenges,
such as connected speech, fast speech rates, accents, or colloquial usages and slang,
which seldom appear in formal L2 textbooks. To arouse students’ attention and
provide them with real languages for practice as well as create an active learning
environment, language teachers bring in the class supplementary materials as well as
apply as many as new methods

in teaching and learning. Since textbooks for

listening skill are thought to be insufficient in many ways to present the language and
communication, extensive listening, a new concept has been introduced.
If, however, our intention is to help student listen, then why are we using these
compulsory texts for teaching year after year? Will they face those listening
comprehensions in real life? Those issues raise an alarm for us, English teachers, to
shift from the traditional way of following the textbook-based approach to applying
extensive listening into teaching. In order to achieve better results, issues about
applying extensive listening have to be taken into account.

So far, however, there has been little discussion about the applying extensive
listening in teaching and learning English at high school, especially when the
curriculum for teaching is strictly governed by the MOET. Therefore, this paper is
designed to address the question whether or not applying extensive listening develop
EFL high school students' language proficiency, arouse students’ interests and
change their negative attitudes towards learning listening
1.2 Scope of the study
It is mentioned that the study is conducted to not research for entire students
which is conducting with the high- school students. The other kinds of the students
such as university students are not included in the research.

3


In the context of the language skills, there are four skills such as listening skills,
writing skills, reading skills and the speaking skills. The research is strongly focused
on the listening skills.

1.3 Aims of the study
Based on the research questions above, the study aims to examine how
extensive listening influences on the development of eleventh students’ language
proficiency as well as their listening comprehension for communication in
comparison with the traditional listening method that they have applied for several
years so far. This study will focus on the effect of extensive listening on students’
language achievement. Besides, the time they spend on extensive listening was
investigated to see how it correlates to their result of listening comprehension.
1.4 Research questions
The purpose of this research paper is to answer two following research
questions:
(1) How does Extensive Listening affect EFL high school students' listening

comprehension?
(2) Is there any correlation between the students' listening comprehension and
the amount of time they spend on EL?
1.5 The significance of the study
The research paper is expected to provide some evidence on the effective use of
extensive listening. In addition, the research also aims to supply the teachers with
insights on encouraging their students to use this method within efficiently to
increase students’ listening competence. Besides, the success of the thesis make great
contribution to changing the traditional way of teaching and learning listening which
focuses on the same textbooks without modification from one year to another.
Moreover, it is believed that the findings might help the teachers design and develop
their own new programs and curricula in teaching listening to provide the best
condition for students' acquisition of the language and also the highest motivation for
their students in listening learning. Last but not least, it significantly brings fresh air
for those who are interested in listening skill.
4


1.6. Thesis design

The report of this study includes five chapters.
Chapter one presents an overview of the study which comprises rationale for the
study, aims of the study, research questions, scope of the study, the significance of
the study and outline of the study.
Chapter two, literature review, presents theoretical background of the thesis
relating to extensive listening.
Chapter three is a detailed discussion of the method used in the study with all of
its components encompassing the justification for using the experimental design,
consisting of the participants of the study, data collection instruments, data collection
procedure, data analysis, a detailed description of exploited extensive listening, and

reliability and validity of the data collection instruments.
Chapter four - the results and discussions chapter – the researcher will draw out
findings underlying the numbers and figures and presents a discussion of the major
findings. Listening logs were also noted down. The main focus of chapter is to
answer the two research questions based on the data collected from research
instruments.
The thesis is concluded in chapter five in which the conclusion, limitation of the
study, suggestions, and recommendation for further research are presented.

5


CHAPTER 2: LITURATURE REVIEW

In the previous chapter, background of the thesis has been clearly and
concisely presented. In this section, a review of literature on listening comprehension
and extensive listening is introduced in detail. The concept of listening, extensive
listening, the benefits of using extensive listening are initially mentioned. In addition,
the relationship between listening and other skills are specifically described.
2.1. The listening process
2.1.1 Definition of listening process

Listening is a process that allows the listener to understand a message, help
them engage in dialogue and succeed in communication. Without listening skills,
people engaged in communication activities will not receive the message, and
therefore, they cannot respond quickly and efficiently. Many researchers agree that in
language learning, listening plays an important role in the reception of a language.
In recent decades, listening skills have been gaining much attention among
researchers in teaching, learning foreign languages in general and studying English
as a Foreign Language (EFL) in particular. Many scholars believe that the most

important step to start learning a language other than your mother tongue is to try to
hear that language. Rubin and Thompson [1, 85] asserted: Listening skills are
probably the most important language skills, because people spend about 60% of
their time listening. . . In addition, listening skills bring you the opportunity to feel
the language and improve the overall language ability. Rost [2,141] also emphasizes
that Listening can be seen as a necessary skill in the training of a learner of a foreign
language and may even be considered as a tool for predicting the likelihood of
language success speaker's language. As such, listening skills play an important role
in learning a foreign language.
According to Hasan (2000), "hearing" and "understanding" are two distinct
processes in which "hearing" is a process by which listeners receive information, and
this process takes place one way at a time, ask for any interpretation or interaction
with the text. Listening understands the process of two-way interaction between the
listener and the listening text, and this interaction gives the listener an overall
understanding of the text. This "hearing" and "understanding" process is performed
6


when the listener selects and interprets the information received through the hearing
organ and other visual cues (if any) for the purpose of understanding the message of
the speaker.
This view of listening comprehension is also in agreement with the second
hypothesis of the language spoken by Richards and O'Malley and Chamot. This
assumes that listening to spoken language is an activity and a complex process in
which the listener focuses on the chosen aspects of the listening. From the sounds
they hear, they find the meaning of the listening message, and relate what they hear
to the knowledge they currently have. Brette states that “hearing” is a decisive
language skill. It plays an important role in the acquisition of language. "When
comparing listening with other language skills, Morley also points out that on
average each of us hears "twice as much as we say, four times what we read, and five

times what we write."
The researchers distinguish between listening and hearing. Listening is an active
process, including sound analysis, which is different from hearing, which only
captures sounds passively. In the same way, Harmer (2001) states that listening is a
"receptive skill" when learners receive the main idea through what they hear.
Listeners receive the message of the speaker through accent, pronunciation,
grammar, and words that the speaker uses and understands the meaning of their
message.
Richards and Schmidt describe listening as comprehension of speech in the first
or second language, and listening comprehension of a second language involves both
top-down and bottom-up processes. Brown also shares this view and argues that the
"top-down" process occurs when learners use background knowledge and vocabulary
available to capture the content of the listening, while the process of "bottom-up" is
to use the context of the listening to predict the meaning of the new word. According
to Helgesen, hearing is an active and purposeful skill. During the listening process,
the listener not only captures the content they are listening to but also can listen to
the information they have previously known to understand the listening. In addition,
Helgesen also said that when listening, the listener is not just listening to the words,
but also understand the implications behind the words.
7


2.1.2 Definition of listening comprehension
There a lot of definitions of listening comprehension. Listening comprehension
is the different processes of understanding the spoken language. These include
knowing speech sounds, comprehending the meaning of individual words, and
understanding the syntax of sentences. According to Hamouda (2013), listening
comprehension refers to the understanding of what the listener has heard and it is
his/her ability to repeat the text despite the fact that the listener may repeat the
sounds without real comprehension. According to Chastain (1971) the aim of

listening comprehension is understand the native conversation at normal rate in a
spontaneous condition. Listening comprehension is a rational phenomenon listeners
try to establish a meaning when they obtain the information from the listening source
(Goss, 1982). Steinberg (2007) mentioned listening process as “the ability of one
individual perceiving another via sense, aural organs, assigning a meaning to the
message and comprehending it”. Nunan (1998) has stated that listening is the basic
skill in language learning. Without listening skill, learners never learn to
communicate effectively. Students spend 50% of the time operational in a foreign
language is dedicated to listening.
O'Malley, Chamot, and Kupper (1989 cited in Pourhossein Gilakjani &
Ahmadi, 2011) say that listening comprehension is a process of activity in which the
listener builds meaning through the use of signals from the context information and
knowledge available, and rely on a variety of strategic resources to perform the task
request.

2.1.3 Types of listening
According to Rubin (1994), listening skills are divided into two categories
based on the type of listening process. (i) Reciprocal Hearing: This process occurs
when the listener is asked to participate in the interaction process and to alternate
between listening and speaking. Situations that require interactive listening include
live and telephone conversations. In these situations, listeners have the opportunity to
ask the speaker to speak more clearly, repeat or speak slowly. (ii) Non-reciprocal
listening: This kind of hearing takes place when the listener participates in a passive
8


passage of a monologue, a speech or a conversation. Richards, Anderson, Wolvin
and Coakley, Underwood, and Buck claim that listening is a positive and complex
process that determines the content and extent of information understandable. These
processes use speech as the basis for meaning building, based on the amount of

information emitted. This information is initially identified in short-term memory and
is stored in the long-term memory of the listener.
Anderson distinguishes three processes of hearing comprehension: (i)
perceptual processing, (ii) parsing and (iii) use, while Duzer (1997) identify the nine
stages of hearing comprehension: (1) determine the reason for the hearing, (2) make
a short speech memory, (3) organize the information by identifying the genre and the
function of the message, (4) predicting the information that can be conveyed in the
message, (5) recalling background information for understanding the message, (6)
determining the meaning of the message, (8) redefine the information to be stored in
long-term memory, and (9) delete the original form of the message received in shortterm memory.
Psychologists and linguists are based on the interaction of two cognitive
processes, distinguishing two processes of bottom-up information and top down.
According to Nunan (1991), in the process of rising up, the learner "separates speech
into composite sounds, connects these sounds to form words, and connects words to
form words and the sentence, and so on. In the process of processing top-down
information, listeners understand the meaning of the message as intended by the
speaker through the use of schematic or structures of knowledge in the brain. This
view emphasizes the importance of background knowledge that learners use to
understand the information they hear. Knowledge that learners have in the past has
helped streamline the information-listening effort by linking familiarity with new
knowledge, and the lack of background knowledge that can damage the effort of the
listener to understand a particular statement of the speaker.
Successful listeners are those who can incorporate "inside the head" knowledge
- which is the amount of knowledge not directly coded in words – and "outside the
head" knowledge to understand what they are hearing (Nunan (1991)). Anderson and
Lynch also distinguish these two processes by contrast. The bottom-up process of the
9


listener - like the "tape recorder" - with the top down process - is "modeling" (model

builder). Therefore, the use of both types of knowledge is essential. The concept of
downward and upward processes in listening comprehension is also discussed by
Anderson and Lynch and Rubin. According to them, the bottom up process involved
initiating by identifying sounds, distinguishing words and understanding grammatical
structures, and finally understanding the meaning of the message. This is a
mechanical process and a research focus of some teaching methods (Brown). The
above process takes place when the listener focuses on the general meaning of the
listening text and the application of the schemata. According to the researchers, the
schema is an intellectual framework built on past experiences that can be used to help
listeners understand current situations. Examples of top-down processes may be: the
reflection of ideas and the guessing of words and the identification of the subject.
The bottom line is that understanding language is a process that goes through many
stages, and the output of each step becomes the input of the next stage. This is why
Buck calls this process one-way street.
Anderson and Lynch (1988: 21) provide the definition of listening
comprehension as follows: Hear what it means to understand what the speaker has
said. Listeners play a particularly important role in the listening process by using
their diverse knowledge to analyze what they hear so they can understand the speech
of the speaker.
Wolvin and Coakley (1985) defines hearing in a simpler way: Hearing is the
process by which the hearing organ receives, processes, and identifies the message of
speech. The definition of listening comprehension, according to Van Tan and
Nguyen Van Dam (1997) in Vietnamese Dictionary, is as follows: Listening is a
process in which auditory reception of external sounds and transitions it reaches the
central nervous system. Here, these sounds are analyzed, converted into signals, and
transmitted to the senses that help shape human reflections for those sounds. The
above definitions show that listening comprehension is a complex problem-solving
skill. The task of hearing is not just the reception of sound but also the analysis and
identification of the message of speech.


10


In our view, bottom-up exercises are often more useful for beginner learners,
because at this level learners are limited by their linguistic ability, so they do not
automatically handle the information heard. Newborns should focus on the hearing
details and should be given shorter exercises, which are suitable for limited memory
training and sound effects are slow. Intermediate and advanced learners will be more
suited to these types of exercises when they have a good knowledge of vocabulary,
grammar and vocabulary enough to meet the requirements of the types of this
exercise.
2.1.4 Factors affecting listening comprehension
According to Underwood (1989), foreign language learners often face the
following seven challenges: (1) uncontrollable speed of speech, (2) (3) the
constraints of the listener, (4) the failure to recognize the signal, (5) not
understanding the information, (6) not concentrating, and (7) no learning habits.
Rubin and Thompson also identify three issues and suggest solutions. First, the
speaker speaks too fast. If the listener cannot keep up with the speed of the speaker,
he or she can ask the speaker to repeat, say more loudly, or express the same idea but
in a more understandable way. Second, listeners do not understand the target
language on television or in movies. Listeners need to know what to judge, or
anticipate what they will hear next, based on visual cues, teacher questions, warmups, and background knowledge. Third, listeners tend to stop listening, when they
hear a new word or phrase. As a result, they lose information that can help explain
unfamiliar words or phrases. Listeners need to focus on the familiar parts and keep
listening to get the complete information.
According to Hasan, learners are sometimes unaware of their mistakes in
identifying the causes of their problems. They often (i) use ineffective listening
strategies and (ii) try to listen and try to understand each word, the detail of the text.
Trying to listen and trying to understand each word in the listening is wrong, because
even native speakers do not listen in this way. Good listeners usually only hear

keywords to understand the gist of the message and always try to guess the meaning
of the new word in the context of the listening. Nguyen Bang and Nguyen Ba Ngoc
[20] cite some difficulties as regards the Tai sound, English vocabulary and speed.
11


And Hoang Van Van, Nguyen Thi Chi and Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa point out the
difficulties of the learner as (1) difficulty in listening to TA, (2) trying to understand
all the words to catch the mind (3) I do not understand native speakers when they
speak naturally, (4) I need to hear them over and over again, (5) it is difficult to
capture all the information and not anticipate further information. Follow, (6) do not
concentrate on listening. Rubin [216] indicates five factors that may affect hearing
comprehension. These are (i) the characteristics of the posture, such as speech speed,
stop, accent and rhyme, the difference between first language and second language v.
v. , (ii) dialogue characteristics such as sex and language proficiency; (iii) exercise
characteristics such as type of exercise; (iv) Listener characteristics such as language
proficiency, memory, concentration, age, gender, ability to use the first language,
background knowledge; and (v) such as using top-down, bottom-up processes,
parallel processing, listening strategies.
Yagang assesses the difficulty of listening based on four factors: (1) listening
message, (2) speaker, (3) listener, and (4) listening context. Rubin also shared this
view. When learning a foreign language, listening and understanding unfamiliar
sounds over a long period of time is very tired. Although successful listeners do not
try to understand every word they hear (in fact, they only hear the words), they find it
difficult to separate keywords from a long and dense word list. In addition, if the
message contains too much information that cannot easily be stored in short-term
memory, the listening strategies may not be feasible. Short-term listening is more
effective, as it reduces the complexity of the content, and helps the listener reduce
fatigue and shorten the concentration time. When discussing the thickness of
information in a listening post, many researchers, including Ur [23] and Underwood

[14], have indicated that information in spoken language needs to be presented more
sparingly than written language.
According to Rubin [209], background knowledge has a great impact on
understanding the subject. Learners build the meaning of the listening by breaking
down what they hear (or read) into meaningful units, then pair them up, based on
their social and linguistic knowledge, and then use them. Speculate logic fill in the
blanks. Learners with background knowledge of a topic at varying levels understand
12


and interpret new information in different ways as they decode new information. By
using their existing knowledge and strategies, learners try to interpret new
information by linking to familiar information. Boyle [25] sees "knowledge of a
particular subject or topic" as a factor influencing foreign language comprehension.
Learners find it easier to listen to a familiar topic than to hear a new subject. To help
learners become familiar with the subject of the listening, the instructor should
initiate the learner's background before performing the listening task, helping them
use what they already know about the topic.
Instructors do not allow learners to listen to material repeatedly. Although
listening to one double listening activities can have disadvantages, especially for
elementary school learners for this opportunity. When students are used to hearing
twice, they may not understand listening activities until they hear if the second.
However, early level learners should be given second chance. This will help them to
understand easily and increase their motivation to achieve more in listening
exercises. Language knowledge is the key factors to help learners better understand.
Vocabulary level of learners help learners recognizes words that are easy to play an
important role in understanding. Grammar and pronunciation knowledge allows
learners to understand and decipher key ideas easily. Learners who do not have good
language proficiency may not understand listening way materials because they do not
recognize the signal when the speakers move from one point to another.

Speakers use terms like -first of all‖, -thirdly‖ when they talk about a problem to
enumerate points. If the learner is not aware of these signals, understanding the
material can be difficult.
Contextual knowledge helps the learner gain the advantage to better
understand the material. As practitioners know the context they will listen to it more
attentively, and when he knows what the main idea is learners will have more
motivation that can lead to better performance. While chatting, learners will be able
to respond more appropriately when they know the context. Contextual knowledge
will allow them to better understand the problem. Learning a foreign language is not
an easy process; it requires the learner to pay attention not to divide. Enthusiasm is
essential; if learners are not interested in what they are doing, they can finish the
13


language study. Therefore, do not pay attention and learn the language of learning
enthusiasm.
While listening, if the learner does not receive the message that is not an
easy task, the learner can be disappointed, and their motivation may be reduced.
Learners need special continuous effort in developing listening skills. Learners can
expect the whole understanding of a listening activity. Language learners may not
always understand the whole listening exercise. But this can be considered as
unsuccessful by language learner. However, mastering the pronunciation, grammar
and vocabulary, these are the main elements in listening understand, is a long
process. They cannot be achieved in a short time. Students should know the
development of listening comprehension will increase. Therefore, when the learner
cannot gain a full understanding of a listening activity, they should not let this
distract them.
2.1.5 Listening strategies
Listening is best described as a series of interwoven the process of building
and integrating, and it includes bottom-up and top-down processes. The process from

the bottom up includes awareness of code surface of a mouth text, set a mental
representation of language input and build the overall meaning of the text. The topdown process refers to linking text with prior knowledge by integrate it into existing
and evoked diagrams. Listeners are effective use both of these processes. Since
listening comprehension is included in the Scholastic College Ability Test (CSAT)
section English, more emphasis has been placed on listening skills in the classroom
although it is necessary to develop listening skills reading comprehension skills,
almost all the teachers have instructed the test Tactics related to CSAT listening
questions. Tactics and problems solving skills can help students score high in tests,
but it is not clear that they have improved their listening ability. Therefore, in this
study, the listening strategies are considered effective to improve the listening ability
of high school students recommended and check their effectiveness, and some
meanings will be drawn.
2.1.5.1 Conscious and unconscious strategy use

14


Ridgway (2000) shows this with examples definitions from various scholars.
He believed that definition less definitions almost has nothing to do with language
learning, while Oxford (1993) assert that there are more specific characterizations,
such as conscious and unconscious awareness: "use strategy some degree of
consciousness on the part of the learner "(p. 9), but the line between unconscious and
conscious not fixed, it varies from individual to individual. There is no automatic,
which means that you will repeat it repeatedly up in your unconsciousness. This is it
has multiplicity multiplied by two times and cognitive resources. However, we, as
future teachers, should focus on learning consciously, since Oxford (1993) claim: "If
the strategies are unconscious and automatic to use, then clear strategic training
makes little or no sense "(p. 12)

2.1.5.2 Metacognitive, cognitive, and socio-affective strategies

Listening strategies is based on the Vandergrift Awareness, cognitive and
social-emotional strategies are based on O'Malley and Chamot's (1990) approach to
identifying language learning strategies, dividing strategies into three categories:
• Metacognitive strategies: “planning for, monitoring or evaluating the
success of a learning activity”; (1) Planning: ‘Developing an
awareness of what needs to be done to accomplish a listening task,
developing

an

appropriate

action

plan

and/or

appropriate

contingency plans to overcome difficulties that may interfere with
successful completion of the task’ (2) Monitoring: ‘Checking,
verifying, or correcting one’s comprehension or performance in the
course of a listening task’ (3)Evaluation: ‘Checking the outcomes of
one’s listening comprehension against an internal measure of
completeness and accuracy’
• Cognitive strategies: “operating directly on incoming information,
manipulating it in ways that enhance learning”. (1) Inference: Use
information in the text or conversation context to guess the meaning
of unfamiliar language items is combined with the listening task, to

predict results, or fill in the missing information. (2) Elaboration:
15


Use prior knowledge from outside the text or conversation context
and relate to knowledge gained from text or conversation to predict
results or missing information. (3) Summarization: Set summary on
the language and information about the metal or text display in one
server. (4) Translation: Using knowledge of one language
• Socio affective strategies: interacting with another person to assist
learning.
a. Questioning

for

clarification:

Request

explanation,

verification, repetition or for example, about language / tasks;
Ask questions for yourself
b. Cooperation: Work with other people in addition to dialogue
to solve problem, pool information, test learning tasks,
language modeling or reception performance feedback orally
or in writing
c. Lowering anxiety: Reduce the listen of use of the digital
statistics we got the ability to over to perform tasks
d. Self-encouragement: Provide personal motivation through

self-talk and / or self-motivation Arrange the reward for
yourself in a listening activity or when completed
e. Taking emotional temperature: Become aware and contact
with a person emotions while listening, to prevent the
negative and make the most positive use

When discussing strategies used by listeners to understand messages in
communication, Harmer [183] presents the concept of micro skills. These skills (also
known as strategy) include (i) predictive skills, (ii) distilling specific information,
(iii) visualizing the panorama, (iv) distilling information details, (v) identification of
functions and patterns discoursing, and (vi) interpretation of meaning from context.
Harmer also thinks that effective listeners are capable of applying all the right
strategies at the same time. He advises the learner to exploit and thoroughly use these

16


strategies, as the listener's success in understanding the content of what he or she
hears depends very much on their proficiency in using the micro skills.
Learners need to understand some basic listening strategies to be able to practice
their listening comprehension skills. O'Malley and Chamot point out three basic
listening strategies (i) self-examination, (ii) background-based inference, and (iii)
verbal reasoning in the context of use. They argue that the application of these
strategies depends on the group of listeners. Rubin [199-221] argues that the
application of listening strategies depends on a variety of factors such as hearing,
situation, or task completion. Rost and Ross [235- 273] examine whether the use of
listening strategies correlates with language proficiency and with practice, and
whether the enhancement of listening skills goes away whether to improve the
quality of listening comprehension or not. The results of this study indicate that the
more skilled listeners often adopt strategies such as hypothesis testing strategies,

progressive reasoning strategies, and signaling communication strategies. Listening
strategies are techniques or actions that directly provide for understanding and
withdrawal input listening. Listening strategies can be categorized according to how
the listener processes the input. The listener taps on a basic knowledge of the subject,
situation or context, type of text, and language. This basic information activates a
wide range of audience support expectations explain what he has heard and anticipate
what he will hear next. These are listener based on:
• Listening for the major idea
• Predicting
• Drawing assumptions
• Cutting
The listener depends on the language in the message, that is, the
arrangement of words, sound, and grammar that creates meaning. These are text
based on:
• Listening for specific information
• Recognizing cognates
• Recognizing word-order patterns
Some listening strategies are classified:
17


• Before listening: Plan for the listening task
1. One should consider the aim advance what one wants to listen.
2. One should decide if more background information is needed
3. One should determine to join in the overall meaning or focus on
the words and phrase

• During and after listening: Monitor comprehension
1. One should confirm predictions and check for inaccurate guesses.
2. One should decide what is important to understand and what is not

important to understand.
3. One should view again to ensure comprehension.
4. One should ask for help if needed.

• After listening: Evaluate comprehension and strategy use
1. One should assess comprehension in a particular area.
2. One should evaluate overall progress in listening and in particular
types of listening tasks.
3. One should come to a decision if the strategies used were suitable
for the purpose.
4. One should modify strategies if necessary.
In summary, there are a lot of listening strategies applied to each subject, each
situation, each listening, and so on. Teachers and learners should actively learn,
select appropriate methods and strategies and apply them to each type of listening.
The bottom line is that regardless of the method or strategy employed, the ultimate
goal of all listening is to understand the message of the speaker and respond
appropriately to the message.
2.2 Teaching EFL listening
2.2.1 Difficulties EFL learners have when listening
According to Ur, P. (1996), author of many books on language teaching,
learners often face the following difficulties while learning to listen: (1) There is a
habit of understanding all the words in a sentence that are understandable, (2) Cannot
understand when the English speaks naturally, (3) Need to hear a lot. (4) It is difficult
18