Abstract
The aim of this thesis was to find out what efficient listeners do. Recently, listening has
been becoming more and more important in learning English; however, most of Japanese learners
of learning English think listening skill is more difficult than speaking, reading and writing.
Listening is connected to every skill. Therefore, the aim of this research is to find out improve
learners’ listening comprehension.
In Chapter One, we could see aspects of the listening skill. First, there were five main
factors that affect the learners’ listening ability. They looked at vocabulary, grammar,
pronunciation and intonation, stress and accent. Many learners studied about these aspects of the
listening skill. Secondly, we focused on listening aims. It showed the history and background of
listening, what is active listening and the differences of global and local listening. Thirdly, we
focused on listening strategies. Listening strategies were cognitive and metacognitive strategies,
and more over we had to know listening to English with “one-way listening” and “interactive
listening”. Also, we needed a lot of strategies such as Attentive, Intensive, Selective and
Interactive.
Chapter Two presented the experimental data. We carried out a listening experiment to
discover to improve learners’ listening skills. The experiment had three parts. The test
instruments and overall data were written in every part of the experiment.
Chapter Three showed the results of the experiment, and answered two research
questions. When we referred to the results, we considered the opinions of learners when they are
1
listening and give some ideas of ways to practice listening. For example, teachers advised
students.
Chapter One: Aspects of the Listening skill
1.0. Introduction
English is a common language in the world and many people learn English as a second
language or a foreign language. For example, in some countries like Japan, Korea, France and
Spain, people learn English as a foreign language at schools, and in some countries like Pakistan
and India takes English as an official language for government and business. However, in a
contrasting situation, in some countries like the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia,
English is spoken by the vast majority of the population and is the only language used in
government institutions; but, these countries do not have an official language.
The aim of learning English depends on the learners, because they have different
motivations to learn English. For instance, people might learn English because it is the language
of business or they might learn it entertainment. At the same time, there are different ways of
learning English too. If people want to have conversation in English, they need to build their
listening and speaking skills first and they want to master it.
For many years, in junior high and high school English class in Japan, it is common to
learn the reading and writing skills. However, the situation is changing. In junior high school,
teachers should teach English in pseudo-communication situations with communicative activities
and learning activities. Recently, many textbooks for first year students have a lot of 2
conversations and students have a class with an ALT. In high school, students have oral
communication classes. These classes are developing the students’ listening, speaking abilities
and practical communication abilities. So, they have to take oral communication classes. In this
way, listening and speaking skills are becoming to be seen as important elements in studying
English. In this thesis, we would like to focus on listening skills and think how we get ability for
listen to English effectively.
1.1 Factors that affect the learners’ listening ability
1.1.1 Introduction
Languages have rules for grammar, pronunciation and words and these are affected by
culture and English has a different rules and culture from Japanese, so we need to know its rules
and what culture people have in English speaking countries for better listening comprehension.
In the next section, we will look at five main factors that affect the learners’ listening ability.
1.1.2 Vocabulary
Knowing “the meaning of the words and the meaning of relations between words in a
sentence” also helps listening comprehension (Flowerdew and Miller, 2005), and vocabulary is a
much more important element to understand the language. If we know the meaning of words in a
sentence, we can guess the meaning of the sentence; however, we do not know the structure of
the sentence if we do not know the meaning of the words or grammar. For example, if someone
3
says, ‘Please tell me the way to the station.’ and we can catch the words, tell, way and station, we
can guess that s/he wants to know where a station is. On the other hand, if we know the structure
of the sentence and do not know the meaning of the words, it is impossible to guess what the
sentence means.
1.1.3 Grammar
We said that vocabulary is a more important element than other elements because it
carries meaning, however, grammar also sometimes carries meanings.
The woman fed a dog.
In this case, we need to know that English basic word order is SVO, not SOV like Japanese.
Here is another example that the word order changes the meaning:
The woman prefers dogs to cats.
The woman prefers cats to dogs.
In sentence 1, it shows that she likes dogs, not cats, but sentence 2 shows that she likes cats, not
dogs, so we can understand the meaning of the sentence when we know the usage of ‘prefer to’.
When we understand complicated sentence, grammar knowledge helps us to understand
the sentence.
It was the dog that the woman gave the water to.
4
This sentence means the woman gave the water to the dog, and we can add the information by
using ‘that’. If we do not know what ‘that’ means, we may not understand the meaning of the
sentence. In this way, grammatical knowledge is also useful in listening to understand the
meaning of sentences and listening texts.
1.1.4 Pronunciation and intonation
It is also necessary to understand the English pronunciation systems if we wish to listen
better, because the meaning of a word changes when the pronunciation changes even if it is a
little change, for example, Japanese people often hear ‘right’ as ‘light’. They have different
meanings, and it will be hard to listen to a listening text if we do not know how the English words
are pronounced. English has five vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and 21 consonants and we need to know
how each consonant and vowel is pronounced and how it sounds in words, so that we can identify
what we are listening to. We have to also identify the difference between /b/ and /p/, /i/ and
/iː/, /a/ and /ʌ/, and so on. If we hear the sentence: ‘Please show me the map’ and we mistake
‘map’ (/mæp/) for ‘mop’ (/máp/), the sentence might not make sense.
Secondly, we can notice the difference between English and Japanese intonation. An
intonation is the utterance’s pitch of rising or falling intonation, there are three patterns.
1. Falling intonation
a. [2 – 3 – 1 ↓]: I’m from Japán. ↓
What time should we cóme? ↓
5
b. [2 – 3 – 2]: It would be gréat if you could hélp us prepare for the párty. ↓
2. Rising intonation
c. [2 – 3 – 3 ↑]: Are you a new stúdent? ↑
Can I bring some of my fríends? ↑
1.1.5 Stress and accent
We can notice the difference between English and Japanese stress and accent. When we
listen to a listening text, it may be sometimes difficult because English stress is different from
Japanese one. It is helpful to understand the difference between English and Japanese stress and
accent to listen better.
Stess and Accent
English Japanese
1. swéet potato スイートポ˥テト
2. soccer サッカ˥ー
Finally, we need to understand how English is pronounced in a sentence because elision
and assimilation happen. Elision is the omission of one or more sounds in a word or phrase when
6
two sounds are connected and assimilation is that the phonetics of a speech segment becomes that
of another segment in a word. Here are some examples of elision and assimilation:
Elision
Full form Elided form
1. This school is very popular. /ðis skúːl iz véri páːpjələr/ /ði skúːl iz véri páːpjələr/
2. Good luck. /gûd lʌk/ / gû lʌk /
Assimilation
Full form Assimilated form
1. What would you like? /whət wud ju láik/ /whət wudʒu láik/
2. You can call me at three. /ju kən kɔːl mi ət θriː/ /ju kəŋ kɔːl mi ə θriː/
1.2 Listening aims
1.2.1. Listening
7
Listening has not been emphasized until recently (JACET) and there are fewer research
pages about listening than the other fields such as speaking, reading and writing (Celce-Murcia,
2001; Nunan, 1999). Moreover, according to JACET, in recent years, useful various theories to
analyze the process of listening have been advocated, and the directions and the way of
evaluation based on those theories have been built; but, there is a perception that listening is like
“a mysterious black box” (Rost, 2001), so we need to continue to research it from now.
Therefore, we can understand that listening is a mysterious part of studying English and we think
that there is a little chance to study listening through leaning English.
1.2.2. Background, theory types and methods of listening
Listening is the skill which relates to practice pronunciation which was important in the
Audiolingual method until in the 1960’s (JACET). However, in the middle of the 60’s, Rivers
(1966) indicated the importance of listening capability which is needed to communicate with
other people, and then in the 1970’s, Asher (1977) advocated Total Physical Response (TPR);
thus, listening was recognized. In the 1980’s, listening was noted as an ability which we could
not ignore because people wanted more practical language teaching to improve their ability to
communicate. Krashen (1982) said that it is useful for the learners to understand higher level
input than learners’ ability in the input hypothesis. In addition, Krashen and Terrell (1983) paid
attention to the importance of listening and suggested the Natural Approach. This tendency
continued during the 1990’s and the perception of the role in listening as an activity of
communication was deepened.
8
1.2.3. Active Listening
Active listening skills are a communication technique that requires the learners to
understand, interpret and evaluate what they hear. The ability also can improve personal
relationships through reducing conflicts and fostering understanding. Here are four main types of
listening: Paraphrasing, Clarifying, Perception Checking and Summarizing.
・ Paraphrasing: restating a message. Where possible try and get more to the point.
E.g.
S: I just don’t understand, one minute she tells me to do this, and the next minute to do
that.
X: She really confuses you.
S: I really think he is a very nice guy. He’s so thoughtful, sensitive, and kind. He calls
me a lot. He’s fun to go out with.
X: You like him very much, then.
Purpose:
1. To test your understanding of what you heard.
2. To communicate that you are trying to understand what is being said. If you are
successful, indicates that you are following the speaker’s basic thinking message and that
you are beginning to understand the basic feeling message.
・ Clarifying: the process of bringing vague material into sharper focus.
9
E.g. I’m confused, let me try to sate what I think you were trying to say.
You’ve said so much, let me see if I’ve got it all.
Purpose:
1. To untangle unclear or wrong listener interpretation
2. To get more information
3. To help the speaker see other points of view
・ Perception Checking: request for verification of your perceptions.
E.g.
Let me see if I’ve got it straight. You said that you love your children and that they are
very important to you. At the same time you can’t stand being with them. Is that what
you are saying?
Purpose:
1. To give and receive feedback
2. To check out your assumptions
・ Summarizing: pulling together, organizing and integrating the major aspects of your
dialogue. Pay attention to various themes and emotional overtones. Do not add new
ideas.
10
E.g.
A number of good points have been made about rules for the classroom. Let’s take a few
minutes to go over them and write them on the board.
Purpose:
1. To give a sense of movement and accomplishment in the exchange
2. To establish a basis for further discussion
3. Pull together major ideas, facts and feelings
1.2.4. Global listening vs. local listening
Global listening means that learners listen to sentences or passages as a whole and try to
understand them generally. It is grasping the main point for the story, text and content. Global
means “a message”, so it is not focus on listening for details. On the other hand, when learners
listen to sentences or passages in detail and try to understand their detail information, it is local
listening. Local listening is pieces of information; therefore, the pieces focus on a message, and
people want to tell something for other people.
1.3 Listening strategies
There are cognitive strategies and metacognitive strategies. Cognitive strategies are
practices of collecting information, analyzing or guessing. Metacognitive strategies are practices
of making plans, deciding a learning style or criticizing oneself, and evaluating comprehension.
Cognitive strategies are employed when learners think how to perceive information when they 11
have learning problems and focus on direct learning of the target language. Metacognitive
strategies are used when learners input language when carefully thinking and measuring language
comprehension and refer to managing your learning. We can see many other listening strategies
with different proficiency levels; for example, key word strategy, contextual, grammar strategies
and self-monitoring. Strategies use varies with proficiency, and so learners have to know the
relationship between strategy use and proficiency level is an important one.
Learning from listening we think, there are basically two ways of learning English. The
first thing is “one-way listening” tasks and the other is “interactive listening” tasks. One-way
listening is about acquiring information and knowledge without interaction for example when we
are listening to the radio, speakers’ speech and lecture or watching TV. On the other hand,
interactive listening is about exchanging words with other people as a communication face to
face. In this method, we can ask questions and express our opinion, so this is well-balanced
method. We can practice in listening with some of the following strategies by using one-way
listening and interactive listening.
1.3.1 Attentive listening
Attentive listening makes learners practice listening to English by making them responds
to the speaker. While active listening usually happens when we are very interested in what
someone is saying, we can also choose to listen actively. This needs an immediate decision and
information processing so they can practice real time listening.
12
1.3.2 Intensive listening
Intensive listening makes learners concentrate on the language form. This makes them
realize that it is difficult for the students to pronounce, choose and structure the English words.
This is crucial to help learners develop effective listening strategies and build bottom-up listening
skills, in addition to the top-down listening skills that are emphasized in global listening
activities. It makes learners practice real life listening situations.
Intensive listening may target different goals such as:
・ getting more detailed understanding of particular segments of the text
・ transcribing certain segments in the text
・ guessing the meaning of a word or phrase from context
・ looking at certain grammatical structures in the text to see how they can aid
comprehension
1.3.3 Selective listening
Selective listening will help learners to know the purpose of listening. By learning to
concentrate on words, hints and fact selectively, learners can treat short naturalistic text such as
announcements as well as longer and more complex text such as authentic video programs.
There are several ‘real-world links’ for the activities in this section:
13
・ listening to announcements for specific information
・ listening to news reports to update your knowledge of a situation
・ listening to speeches or lectures
・ listening to recorded messages to note important information
・ listening to stories to understand the main points
・ listening to songs for appreciation of the lyrics
1.3.4 Interactive listening
Interactive listening will help learners to adopt active roles in shaping and controlling an
interaction. It is necessary for learners to take an active role as a listener. Therefore, interactive
listening can help the students navigate the challenges of interpersonal communication.
There are a number of ‘real-world links’ to the interactive listening activities in this
section:
・ chatting and discussing topics with friends
・ making arrangements
・ clarifying and confirming
・ acknowledging and bridging14
・ giving non verbal signs of attention
・ working collaboratively on projects
1.4 Research questions
This chapter described the importance of listening and we need to learn to listen. We
know that we can practice listening to English with some Attentive, Intensive, Selective and
Interactive listening activities by using either one-way listening or interactive listening.
However, we do not know the learners’ attitude and feelings toward listening, what types of
strategies they have and what methods they use to improve their listening skills.
The research questions for this thesis are:
1. What do the learners think toward listening to English?
2. What types of strategies do the learners use?
1.5 Conclusion of Chapter One
This chapter introduced an overall outline of listening and described factors that builds
listening comprehension, listening aims and listening strategies.
Now in Japan, we take listening tests when we take entrance-examination, TOEIC or
English certificate examinations. This makes us learn to listen to English with “one-way
15
listening” and “interactive listening”. But we need a lot of strategies such as Attentive, Intensive,
Selective and Interactive listening.
In Chapter Two, we will look at the learners’ attitude and feelings toward listening and
find out a good way to improve their listening abilities.
16
Chapter Two: The Experimental data
2.1. Introduction
In Chapter One, we investigated many aspects of the listening skill that are useful in
learning to listen. In Chapter Two, we will look at learner’s attitude to study listening to English,
their thoughts of listening and attitude to improve their listening skills.
2.2. The experiment
2.2.1. Introduction to the experiment
The aim of this experiment was to find out the learner’s attitude to listening to English
and what types of strategies they use. Many learners seem to think that listening is difficult and
have problems with listening. If they know their own weak points in listening as they can do it
when learning grammar, they could focus on the point and improve their listening skills. Most
Japanese have learned English since they were junior high school students and they have been
learning grammar, vocabulary, how to pronounce words and how to write essays or useful
phrases. However, we have not learned how to listen and practice listening. In listening classes,
we just listen to a CD and answer questions. Listening is not an isolated factor. However in
learning a second language, we might ignore learning to listen.
The subjects were going to answer questions in the experiments about listening. Through
the experiments, we could see learners’ actual conditions and their thoughts of listening.
17
2.2.2. Method
1) Subjects
70 female and 10 male Japanese were subjects in this experiment. Their ages were from
18 to 22, 50 students were in the freshmen and 20 seniors at Notre Dame Seishin University, 10
juniors at Okayama University. They had studied English at least for 7 years while they were
junior high school and high school students. The average of their studying time of English was
1.5 hours per a week.
2) Test design – the experiment
We made the experiment for subjects to find out their thoughts about listening to English
and how to study listening to English. There were three parts in the experiment: written
questions, choosing questions and interaction questions.
(a) Written questions
This section looked at the subjects’ opinions and attitudes toward listening through the
questions. The aim of these questions was to find out their ideas and problems of listening. They
have different feelings and thoughts about language learning and listening in English.
18
(b) Choosing questions
These questions were to find out what subjects could do in English. The aim of these
questions was to find out their ability to understand the listening. They circled the most
appropriate number for them among 0, 1, 2 and 3. For example, do you usually understand what
native speakers say when they talk to you? In this question, 0 means that they rarely understand
what native speakers say when they talk to them, 1 means that they sometimes understand, 2
means that they usually understand and 3 means that they almost always understand. Subjects
chose the best answers for them. There were 15 questions.
(c) Interaction questions
In this section, the questions were about the skills of listening in English. The aim of
these questions was to find out the methods of improving the subjects’ listening skills. I would
like to know their ways and means of studying. There were 14 choices: for example, listen to the
radio, try to listen to what native speakers say in town or on the bus, shadowing and
pronunciation and intonation practice. Subjects chose the 5 most methods they actually do in
their daily life. The questionnaire is in the Appendix 2.
19
3) Procedure
Subjects read and answered these questions from the start. In written questions, subjects
wrote their opinions and reasons. When choosing questions, they had to circle the best answer.
In the interaction questions, subjects circled 5 choices.
2.3. Results
2.3.1. Overall data
First, we will look at the data about the perceived difficulty of the four skills, Speaking,
Listening, Writing and Reading and the data of written question numbers 3, 4 and 5. Second, we
will look at the data for multiple choice questions. Finally, we will look at the data of their
attitude to improve their studying listening to English.
(a) Written questions
Table 1 shows the perceived difficulty of the four skills, Speaking, Listening, Writing and
Reading in order from the most difficult to the least difficult. 35 subjects thought that Speaking
is the most difficult skill. They wrote the reasons and the most people said that it is difficult to
express in English what they wanted to say; however, 10 subjects said that they learn a lot from
talking with a native speaker, so speaking is not difficult. The fact led to Speaking being the
second most common reason of the least difficult skill. On the other hand, 30 subjects thought 20
that Reading is the least difficult skill. They said that they have studied reading a lot because
they can use dictionaries and go at their own speed.
Table 1: Perceived difficulty of the four skills, Speaking, Listening, Writing and Reading
Most difficult Second most difficult Third most difficult Least difficult
Speaking 35 21 13 21
Listening 18 25 17 16
Reading 15 16 16 30
Writing 12 18 34 13
Total 100% 100% 100% 100%
In Question 4, “what do you find the most difficult part of language learning”, 60.0% of
the subjects said that learning grammar is the most difficult language skill. Because grammar is
different from their mother language, so they felt that it is difficult to learn. These subjects said
that when we talk with native speakers, if we cannot understand what they say, but we can get
through by using a noncommittal response such as “I see”, “All right”; however, if we cannot
understand the grammar (usage, rule and nuance), we can do little or nothing when reading a long
passage or the story. Moreover, there are some interesting answers. 23.8% of the subjects said
that memorizing vocabulary is difficult; especially, if a word has the various meanings (for
example, poor means impoverished or not good at). Others, 16.3% of the subjects said that
pronunciation is difficult that English is different from Japanese. They answered that because it
is also very different from Japanese and there are a lot of them.
21
In Question 5, “what do you find particularly difficult about listening in English”, 75.0%
of the subjects said that the speed of an utterance of a speaker is difficult when listening in
English. If the speed is fast, they get lost a little and cannot understand and listen the whole what
the speakers said. Some people, especially 48.3% of the students were in the freshmen, said that
they cannot get used to the speed. Moreover, there are some reasons about sounds. The results
also showed that linking words (assimilation, elision), speakers’ pronunciation, catching on the
prepositions (e.g. at, for) or the articles (e.g. a, the, of) are difficult in listening.
At the same time, in Question 5, “what do you usually do if you do not understand when
someone is speaking to you”, 47.5% of the subjects answered that they ask them to repeat.
However, 23.8% of the subjects said that they pretend to understand after asking them to repeat a
few times. 17.5% of the subjects said that they ask the interlocutor to repeat the part of the part
what they could not understand. Moreover, 11.3% of the subjects said that they show their
confused face or gesture.
(b) Choosing questions
Table 2 presents the data for section B of the questionnaire. It shows what the subjects
feel they can do. The highest scores for each question will be discussed.
22
Table 2: Data for the questions concerning what the subjects feel they “can do”.
Question almost always
usually sometimes Rarely
1 Do you usually understand when you hear native speakers speak in College?
16% 50% 29% 5%
2 Do you usually understand when you hear native speakers speak outside?
6% 12% 57% 18%
3 Do you usually understand movies with no subtitles in English?
0% 5% 63% 27%
4 Do you usually understand the main message when speaking to a native speaker? (but not all the words)
6% 50% 37% 0%
5 Can you understand the news in English? 0% 5% 60% 29%
6 Can you understand the meaning (but not all the words) in slow songs for example, a ballad?
6% 30% 45% 13%
7 When a native speaker talking to you, do you usually know when it’s your turn to speak?
14% 50% 27% 3%
8 Can you usually identify when someone asks you a question or is making a statement?
26% 46% 20% 2%
9 Can you repeat what a native speaker said? 9% 23% 47% 15%
10 Can you understand what native speakers say without translating from English into Japanese?
7% 21% 39% 26%
11 Do you get tired or get bored when listening? 19% 32% 35% 8%
12 Can you remember what a native speaker said? 4% 32% 46% 12%
13 Can you guess the meaning of unknown words which a native speaker said?
3% 30% 46% 15%
14 Is it easier to understand if you hear someone speak English with Japanese pronunciation?
23% 32% 35% 4%
15 Do you usually practice listening more than writing, speaking and reading?
4% 20% 44% 26%
23
In Question 1, 50% of the subjects usually understand when you hear native speakers
speak in College. In Question 2, 57% of the subjects sometimes understand when you hear
native speakers speak outside. In Question 3, 63% of the subjects sometimes understand movies
with no subtitles in English. In Question 4, 50% of the subjects usually understand the main
message when speaking to a native speaker. In Question 5, 60% of the subjects can sometimes
understand the news in English. In Question 6, 45% of the subjects can sometimes understand
the meaning in slow songs. In Question 7, 50% of the subjects usually know when it’s their turn
to speak when a native speaker talking to them. In Question 8, 46% of the subjects can usually
identify when someone asks you a question or is making a statement. In Question 9, 47% of the
subjects can sometimes repeat what a native speaker said. In Question 10, 39% of the subjects
can sometimes understand what native speakers say without translating from English into
Japanese. In Question 11, 35% of the subjects sometimes get tired or get bored when listening.
In Question 12, 46% of the subjects can sometimes remember what a native speaker said. In
Question 13, 46% of the subjects can sometimes guess the meaning of unknown words which a
native speaker said. In Question 14, 35% of the subjects sometimes think it is easier to
understand if they hear someone speak English with Japanese pronunciation. In Question 15,
44% of the subjects sometimes practice listening more than writing, speaking and reading.
(c) Interaction questions
Table 3 shows the subjects do to improve their listening skills. 85.0% of the subjects said
that they try to watch English movies, 66.3% of the subjects said practice the pronunciation and
intonation, 52.5% of the subjects said talk to a native speaker. We found out many people tried
24
to do these ways to improve their listening skills. On the other hand, a small group of the
subjects said that they try to use world wide web to listen to something that they are interested in,
listen to the language learning tapes to complete some tasks and watch play in English.
Table 3: What do you do to improve your listening skill in English?
Circled 5 choices
Number of responses
Percentage of all responses
Count %
a) Listen to book from the CD 9 11.3% 2.7%
b) Listen to the radio 9 11.3% 2.7%
c) Watch the news with no subtitles 11 13.8% 3.3%
d) Talk to a native speaker 42 52.5% 12.7%
e) Watch English movies 68 85.0% 20.5%
f) Try to listen to what native speakers say in town or on the bus
35 43.8% 10.6%
g) Use world wide web to listen to something that you are interested in
4 5.0% 1.2%
h) Watch the play in English 6 7.5% 1.8%
i) Listen to the language learning tapes to complete some tasks
5 6.3% 1.5%
j) Listen to your partner’s utterance to complete the gap-fill information
12 15.0% 3.6%
k) Shadowing 39 48.8% 11.8%
l) Pronunciation and intonation practice 53 66.3% 16.0%
m) Understanding the accent (For example, American, England or Australian accent)
11 13.8% 3.3%
25
n) Learn how sounds change (e.g. I miss you-> I miSu)
27 33.8% 8.1%
Total 100%
2.4. Summary
In this chapter, we saw the data from the three types of questions and we also saw some
subjects’ opinions in written questions. Every section has very interesting results. Through the
data, we could find out how much they can understand listening to English, their thoughts of
listening English and attitudes to improve their listening skills. In Chapter Three, we will discuss
the results.
26
Chapter Three: Discussion of the experiment
3.1 Introduction
In Chapter One, we looked at the importance of listening. In Chapter 2, we saw the
learners’ attitude, feeling and attitude to improving of listening from data in a questionnaire. In
Chapter 3, we will look at the results carefully.
3.2 Summary of the results
In Chapter 2, we could see interesting results of the attitudes and feelings that Japanese
learners have with listening. In the written questions, subjects said that the speed and linking
words are difficult for them. In the multiple-choice questions, we could see many interesting
results. For example, 60.0% of the subjects answered that they sometimes understand the news
in English. In the interaction questions, we could understand how to improve their listening skills
in English intentionally. For example, 85.0% of the subjects said it was the most effective way
that watching English movies.
In addition, however, there are many interesting results in written and interaction
questions. We will look at some opinions about listening with their results carefully in the next
section.
27
3.3 Detailed discussion of the results
In this section, we will discuss the results of three each questionnaire: written questions,
choosing questions and interaction questions, and will answer to two research questions at last.
3.3.1. Analyze the results of the research questions
We will first answer the two research questions: What do the learners think toward
listening to English?, and What types of strategies do the learners use?
1. What do the learners think toward listening to English?
Most people feel that listening is enjoyable and it is not so hard to listen to English. In
fact, many people think that are bad at listening skill; but, they do not dislike listening. The
human voice may be more intelligible to the subjects than the sounds from the machine, and
feeling that listening to English is their favorite part or not depends on what they listen to. Yet it
seems that most people do not improve their listening skills on their own accord.
2. What types of strategies do the learners use?
67% of the subjects are likely to study one-way listening and 15% of the subjects are
likely to study it with interactive listening and the rest of the subjects are likely to study it with
both one-way and interactive listening. In one-way listening, they like watching English movies;
on the other hand, only 11.3% of the subjects listen to the radio and book from the CD to improve
their listening skills. In interactive listening, 52.5% of the subjects prefer talking to native
speakers; on the contrary, only 15.0% of the subjects listen to your partner’s utterance to
complete the gap-fill information to improve their listening skills.
28
(a) The results of written questions
In Question 3, most of the subjects think that listening is the second most difficult of the
four skills. The many reasons that listening is difficult skill are that it is related to
communication and the speed of the speakers is too fast. They also said that the speakers’
pronunciation is not easy to hear, and they do not have enough chances to listen to what native
speakers say and they have been focusing on writing and reading since junior high school.
At the same time, the reason for 5 subjects’ opinions are that listening is the second most
difficult skill and that they like writing and reading skills because they can study at their own
pace; they don’t like listening skill because they have to adjust to the pace of others.
However, we can see some more interesting results. First, 23.5% of the subjects who
think that listening is the most difficult skill thinks speaking is the second most difficult skill. On
the other hand, 16.3% of the subjects who think that listening is the second most difficult skill
also thinks that speaking is the most difficult. They said that they did not get used to use
listening and speaking skills; because, they think that listening is particularly difficult when the
sounds change and the speed when they are listening. Secondly, however, 4.0 % of the subjects
who think that listening is the least difficult skill. They said that they like listening because they
enjoy talking with other person and listening is an informative for conversation. Also, they said
that they enjoy a sense of fulfillment when they are listening; therefore, they would like to fully
use their listening skill.
In Question 4, ‘what do you find the difficulty of language learning?’, 60.0% of the
subjects said that grammar is the most difficult part of language learning because it is different
from their mother tongue. Then, they also said that memorizing vocabulary and pronunciation 29
are the second most difficult part of language learning too. They said that memorizing
vocabulary is different from their mother language, too and there are huge numbers of words to
learn. They also said that subjects cannot understand what native speakers say due to they have
still not got used to pronounce English.
In Question 5, ‘what do you find particularly difficult about listening in English?’,
75.0% of the subjects said that the speaking speed of speakers was difficult when they are
listening, because they have not got used to the native speed and they cannot listen well or follow
a conversation and understand the content of the conversation. They also said that similar sounds
or linking sounds, assimilation and elision, and speakers’ pronunciation in listening were
difficult.
At the same time, in Question 5, ‘what do you usually do if you do not understand when
someone is speaking to you?’, 47.5% of the subjects said that they asked them to repeat because
they want to understand what speakers said. However, 23.8% of the subjects said that they
pretended they understood, or they asked them to speak slowly or make simple sentence, asked
others what they said.
(b) The results of the multiple choice questions
More than 80% of the subjects have some problems with listening to English and
especially movies, news and lectures. About 6% of the subjects do not feel a problem in listening
to these. It shows that it is the most difficult to listen to movies and the second most difficult is
listening to the news and the third most difficult is listening to lectures. When they are listening
30
to slow songs, about 50% of the subjects also have some problems; but, this percentage is smaller
than the number for listening to movies and news. It means that it is more difficult for Japanese
learners to listen to movies, news and lectures than slow songs.
Moreover, more than 65% of the subjects are poor at repeating what a native speaker said
and listening to what native speakers say when they are translating from English into Japanese.
More than 70% of the subjects said that they can remember what a native speaker said
and guess the meaning of unknown words which a native speaker said.
In Question 14 shows more than 85% of the subjects think that Japanese pronunciation is
easier to understand than to hear the Japanese speak English. It shows that many Japanese
learners have some problems about phonemes and their mother language is affected by listening
to the second language very much.
In question 15 shows about 70% of the subjects said that they sometimes or rarely
practice listening more than writing, speaking and reading. As we saw in the written questions,
many people think that listening is a difficult skill, but they do not practice listening. Some
subjects said that they have learned reading and speaking at high school or university, but they
have had much less time to hear English in a class.
(c) The results of interaction questions
In this section, we will look at how the subjects improve their listening skill in English
intentionally. 85.0% of the subjects watched English movies, 66.3% of the subjects practiced
31
pronunciation and intonation, and 52.5% of the subjects talked to a native speaker. These
methods are known for improving learner’s listening skill, many subjects studied under these
methods.
48.8% of the subjects used shadowing, 43.8% of the subjects tried to listen to what
native speakers say in town or on the bus and 33.8% of the subjects learned how sounds change.
We were surprised at shadowing that is familiar to about 50% of the subjects, and we thought that
the method of trying to listen to what native speakers say in town or on the bus is closer than
shadowing; but, shadowing is higher of the two.
On the other hand, 7.5% of the subjects watched the play in English, 6.3% of the subjects
listened to the language learning tapes to complete some tasks and 5.0% of the subjects used
World Wide Web to listen to something that you are interested in. We could find these methods
are unfamiliar to the subjects.
3.4 Implications
Some subjects mentioned that they did not have enough chances to listen to and have
conversation with native speakers. Their learning had been focused on writing and reading since
junior high school. They feel that they have not practice listening sufficiently. Some of the
subjects also answered that it is difficult to improve their listening skill. Moreover, we can see
the interesting result that 70% of the subjects sometimes and rarely practice listening more than
writing, speaking and reading in Table 2. It seems that many learners think that studying
listening to English is very important; but, they do not how to improve their listening in English
32
intentionally. The data in Table 3 demonstrates this fact. Listening is not only one-way learning;
it is like just listening to questions, movies or news. We have to catch not only sounds but also
the meaning. Learners need to be taught to activate the processes and skills and try to use them
all the time. Therefore, it is necessary for the teachers to tell the importance of studying listening
to English to their students. The teachers ought to make the students realize that it is important
for the students to know their roles as a listener through the tasks of Interactive listening.
Although teachers cannot teach them now to understand what speakers said, they can help
learners, give some guidelines, provide opportunities for meaningful practice and trust that
learners will learn these things for themselves. Teachers should provide the students with
opportunities to learn them for themselves.
3.5 Limitations of the Questionnaire
From these data we could get some good results. However, there are some limitations to
the study. First, all the subjects were university students. 50 students were freshmen; but 30
students were seniors and juniors, so this experiment needed more subjects in many other grades
in university. Therefore, we need to collect more data for different subjects.
Secondly, 90% of the subjects were female; we need to know more about the opinions of
male. So, we could have found the differences of thinking and opinion between male and female.
Thirdly, the question: how much time do you spend listening in English in the written
question. It did not show the amount of time, for example, hours or minutes per day or week.
Some subjects answered what two times or three times, so we could not get good answers.
33
3.6 Further research
Through the experiments, we could see what kind of problems learners have when they
are listening, and their feelings or opinions about listening. Considering the results, we could
think of more possibilities of some research in the future. For example, we could compare the
method of improving listening skill of the Japanese learners with these of learners in other
countries. What do learners in other countries think about listening? Are there any differences in
attitude or ability to hear sounds between countries? Moreover, we could have found more
interesting results of learners between Japan and other countries.
3.7 Conclusion
In the written questions, most of the subjects said that following the speed is the most
difficult part of language learning. From seeing the result about speed and the multiple choice
questions, we can think that many Japanese learners do not easily get used to listening to English
or natural speed and they have not got enough listening practice. Moreover, they feel the
differences between Japanese and English. For example, the questionnaire showed the
differences are homonyms, how sounds change, translating from English into Japanese when
listening or feeling it easier to listen to someone speak English with Japanese pronunciation.
Therefore, to make an efficient listener, the teachers should make their students study
listening to English with each task of the strategies. We can expect the students to get good score
34
by depending on the teachers’ selection from a lot of tasks. In addition, showing some images or
illustrations is good method for the students’ interest but it is not meaningful to understand the
construction of a sentence.
According to Behavioral Science of Hearing, the easiest way of making a good listener
may be a giving a sense of achievement. The teachers did not mark papers and said to each
students ‘good work!’ or ‘well done!’ This brought the good results of tests because the students
were motivated by their teacher and there is a confidence between that teacher and his students
(107).
We also would expect the students to become an efficient listener with good speaking
ability because they need both listening and speaking ability when they communicate with
people.
35
References
Carter, Ronald & Nunan, David. 2001. Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Cook, V. 2001. Second Language Learning and Language Teaching. New York: Oxford
University Press
Harmer, J. 2001. The practice of English language teaching. London: Longman
JACET SLA workshop. 2005. Second Language acquisition from the Literatures. Tokyo:
Kaitakusha
Rost, M. 2002. Teaching and Researching Listening. Pearson Education
Rost, M. 1991. Listening in Action: Activities for Developing Listening in Language Teaching.
United Kingdom: Prentice Hall International Ltd.
Takei, A. 2002. 『英語リスニング論-聞く能力と指導を科学する-』東京:桐原書店
Takegai, Y. 1984. 『ヒアリングの行動科学-実践的指導と評価への道標』東京 :研究社出版株式会
社
36
Appendices
SCHOOL SEX
Frequency Percent
University 1st
50 62.5%
University 3rd
10 12.5%
University 4th
20 25%
Total 80 100%
LEVEL MOTIVATION
Frequency Percent
Beginner 0 0%
Elementary 19 23.8%
Intermediate 42 52.5%
High Intermediate
13 16.3%
Advanced 3 3.8%
Total 77 96.3%
Missing 3 3.8%
Total 80 100%
37
Frequency Percent
Male 10 12.5%
Female
70 87.5%
Total 80 100%
Frequency Percent
High 25 31.3%
Middle
42 52.5%
Low 13 16.3%
Total 80 100%
FOREIGN COUNTRY
Frequency Percent
Never 48 60.0%
Less than 1 months
21 26.3%
Less than 3 months
10 12.5%
Less than 6 months
0 0%
Less than 1 year 1 1.3%
Total 80 100%
38
Appendix 2. The listening questionnaire. English version
Questionnaire
A. The English questionnaire (Written)I’d like to know about studying how you try to listen to English effectively.
1. How old are you and how long study English?Age study length
2. What is your English level now? Circle one. Beginner / Elementary / Inter-mediate / Upper-intermediate / Advanced
3. Which do you prefer? Please place your favorite method in order 1-4.( ) listening ( ) speaking ( ) writing ( ) reading
Why did you choose this order?
4. What do you find the most difficult part of language learning?Why?
5. What do you find particularly difficult about listening in English?Or, what do you usually do if you don’t understand when someone is speaking to you?(For example, do you ask them to repeat, or pretend you understand, or something else?)
6. How much time do you spend listening in English? 7. How is your motivation to learn English?
High middle low8. How long have you spent in another country?
39
B. Which of these can you do in English?3 = almost always 2 = usually 1 = sometimes 0 = rarely
1. Do you usually understand when you hear native speakers speak in College?
Daily conversation 3 2 1 0 In a lecture 3 2 1 0
2. Do you usually understand when you hear native speakers speak outside?From the radio 3 2 1 0 On TV program 3 2 1 0Tapes without text 3 2 1 0 In movies 3 2 1 0In songs 3 2 1 0
3. Do you usually understand movies with no subtitles in English? 3 2 1 0
4. Do you usually understand the main message when speaking 3 2 1 0to a native speaker? (but not all the words)
5. Can you understand the news in English? 3 2 1 0
6. Can you understand the meaning (but not all the words) in slowsongs for example, a ballad? 3 2 1 0
7. When a native speaker talking to you, do you usually knowwhen its your turn to speak? 3 2 1 0
8. Can you usually identify when someone asks you a questionor is making a statement? 3 2 1 0
9. Can you repeat what a native speaker said? 3 2 1 0
10. Can you understand what native speakers say without translatingfrom English into Japanese? 3 2 1 0
11. Do you get tired or get bored when listening? 3 2 1 0
12. Can you remember what a native speaker said? 3 2 1 0
13. Can you guess the meaning of unknown words which a nativespeaker said? 3 2 1 0
14. Is it easier to understand if you hear someone speak English withJapanese pronunciation? 3 2 1 0
15. Do you usually practice listening more than writing, speakingand reading? 3 2 1 0
40
C. Interaction questionsWhat do you do to improve your listening skills in English? Please circle 5 for you.
a) Listen to book from the CD b) Listen to the radio c) Watch the news with no subtitles
d) Talk to native speaker e) Watch English movies f) Try to listen to what native speakers say in town or on the bus
g) Use world wide web to listen h) Watch the play in English to something that you are interested in
i) Listen to the language learning tapes j) Listen to your partner’s utterance to to complete some tasks complete the gap-fill information
k) Shadowing (following the text by reading after it)
l) Pronunciation and intonation practice
m) Understanding the accent n) Learn how sounds change (For example, American, (e.g. I miss you- I miSu) England or Australian accent)
Thank you for your help.
Ayumi OnoNotre Dame Seishin University 4th year
41
Appendix 3. The listening questionnaire. Japanese version
Questionnaire
A. The English questionnaire (Written)
あなたの(英語の)リスニングに対する考えを教えて下さい。
1.現在あなたは何歳ですか?また、英語を勉強してどのくらいですか?
年齢 歳 英語を勉強している期間 年 2.現在のあなたの英語のレベルは何ですか? 1つ丸を囲んで下さい。
習い始めたばかり・初級者・中級者・上級者・完璧に使いこなせる
3.どれが好き又は得意ですか? 好きな順番に1-4の記号を書いて下さい。
( ) リスニング ( ) スピーキング ( )ライティング ( )リーディング
上のような順番にしたのは何故ですか?
4.言語(英語)を学ぶ中で、あなたが一番難しいと思うことは何ですか?
また、それはどうしてですか?
5.英語のリスニングの中で、あなたが特に難しいと思うことは何ですか?
また、もしあなたが英語話者の話すことが分からなかったらどうしますか?
(例:もう一度聞き返す、分かっている振りをする等)
42
6.一週間にどのくらいリスニングを勉強しますか? 時間/回/日
7.あなたの英語を身につけようとする意欲(英語に取り組む姿勢)はどのくらいですか?
高い ふつう 低い
8.どのくらいの間、海外で過ごしたことがありますか?(ホームスティ、語学留学、旅行など) ヵ月 / 年
B. Which of these can you do in English?
0~3の一つに丸をつけて下さい。
3=できる 2=だいたいできる 1=少しできる 0=全くできない1.大学内であなたは英語話者(ネイティブスピーカー)の話すことを理解していますか?
日常会話 3 2 1 0 講義 3 2 1 02. 学校の外であなたは英語話者の話すことを理解していますか?
ラジオ 3 2 1 0 テレビ番組 3 2 1 0
教科書なしのテープ 3 2 1 0 映画 3 2 1 0 歌 3 2 1 0
3. 映画を字幕なしで理解することができる 3 2 1 0
4. 英語話者と話しているとき、相手の伝えようとしていることを
理解することができる 3 2 1 0
5. 英語で話されているニュースを聞き取れる 3 2 1 0
6. 洋楽を聞いたとき、歌詞の内容が理解できる
(バラードやテンポのゆっくりした音楽で) 3 2 1 0
7. 英語話者が話しかけているとき、あなたはいつ相づちを打つか、
いつ答えていいのかが分かる 3 2 1 043
8. 相手があなたに質問をしているのか、または意見を言っている
だけなのかが区別できる 3 2 1 0
9. 英語話者が言ったことを繰り返して言うことができる 3 2 1 0
10. 聞いたことを頭の中で英語から日本語に直さなくても
理解できる 3 2 1 0
11. 英語を聞いているとき、途中で疲れたり、あきたりする 3 2 1 0
12. 英語話者の言ったことを思い出せる 3 2 1 0
13. 英語話者の言った言葉の意味が分からないとき、
その言葉の意味を推測できる 3 2 1 0
14. もし相手が、日本語の発音で英語を話していたら、
ネイティブ スピーカーが話す英語よりも聞き取れ理解できる ・ 3 2 1 0
15. あなたは、ライティング、リーディング、スピーキングよりも
リスニングに時間をかけて学習する 3 2 1 0
*問 11には、3=あてはまる・2=だいたいあてはまる・1=少しあてはまらない
0=全くあてはまらない で答えてください。
C. Interaction questions
英語のリスニングを改善するために、あなたは何をしていますか?
5つ○をつけてください。
a) 物語をCDで聴く b) 英語のラジオを聞く c) 字幕なしでニュース
を見る
44
d) ネイティブ・スピーカーと話す e) 英語の映画を観る
f) 町やバス・電車の中、学校でネイティブが g) 興味のある物事を聞くために
何を話しているか理解しようと試みる world wide webを使う
h) 英語で劇を鑑賞する i) 作業を完成させるためにテープを聞く
例)リスニングをして絵と文章をつなげる
j) 穴埋め問題を完成させるために相方の発話を聞く
k) シャドウィングする(文章が読まれた後、すぐそれについて声に出して読む)
l) 発音やイントネーションを練習する
m) アクセントを理解する(アメリカ、イギリス、オーストラリアアクセント等)
n) 音の変化を学習する(連結、脱落、同化等)
例)I miss youが I miSuになる。
貴重な時間をありがとうございました。
ノートルダム清心女子大学 4年 小野 亜由美45