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

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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

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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.

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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? ↓

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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:

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･ 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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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(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.

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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.

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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.

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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%

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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

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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%

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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.

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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.

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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