How do people develop their listening ability in English?

Graduation Thesis

Presented to

the Faculty of the Department of

English Language and Literature

Notre Dame Seishin University

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirement for the Degree

Bachelor of Arts

by

Miki Moriya

2013

Contents

Abstract 1

Chapter One: Introduction of the listening

1.1 Introduction 2

1.2 Listening 2

1.2.1 Listening levels 3

1.2.2 How listening develops 5

1.2.3 Comprehension 6

1.3 Strategies 7

1.3.1 Attentive listening 7

1.3.2 Intensive listening 7

1.3.3 Selective listening 8

1.3.4 Interactive listening 8

1.4 Research Question 9

1.5 Conclusion 9

Chapter Two: The data of questionnaire

2.1 Introduction 11

2.2 The questionnaire 11

2.2.1 Introduction the questionnaire 11

2.2.2 Method 11

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2.2.3 Results 15

2.3 Summary 20

Chapter Three: The results of the questionnaire

3.1 Introduction 21

3.2 Summary of the results 21

3.3 Discussion of the results 22

3.4 Research questions 28

3.5 Implication 29

3.6 Limitation of the experiments 29

3.7 Further research 30

3.8 Conclusion 30

References 32

Appendices 33

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Abstract

Most Japanese people start studying English when they are elementary school

students and continue studying English for a long time. However, many of them study

and learn English more and more, especially people who take a TOEIC test study

English of listening section and reading section. It is difficult to get higher score in

TOEIC test when they take a TOEIC test next time. Through this paper we want to find

that how people develop their listening to English ability.

In Chapter One, we reviewed several aspects of listening. The chapter first reviewed

listening levels, how listening develops, listening comprehension and listening

strategies.

Chapter Two, presented the data from a questionnaire which asked for the subject’s

listening time to English outside class, the level of listening comprehension and how to

study listening to English.

Chapter Three showed the results of the experiment, and answered two

research questions. It referred to the results from the experiments. Finally, we can see

the conclusion of this paper.

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Chapter One: Introduction of listening

1.1 Introduction

Nowadays, English is so important language all over the world, because English

is used as common language. In Japan, students started learning English from the first

grade of junior high school until last year, but now, students start learning English from

the five grades of elementary school. In addition, many of teenagers and children go to

an English conversation school after they go back home. English education system in

Japan focuses on grammar, vocabularies, reading and listening, because students study

to pass the entrance examination of high school or university. Especially, in the Center

test, listening to English test’s score is very important for high school students.

Listening to English part is 50 points, so high school students who take the Center test

necessarily study listening to English for test. Nowadays university students also need a

good TOEIC score to pass a class, to graduate university or to get a job. Many

companies ask for the TOEIC score of students, so many Japanese university students

study TOEIC for job hunting. There are listening parts on these tests, so people have to

develop their listening to English skills, but it is not easy to develop listening to English

skills.

In this way, listening to English is a very important element in studying English. his

thesis will focus on listening to English and think how we develop our listening ability

in English.

1.2 Listening

According to Rubin and Thompson (1994), listening, quite possibly, is the most

important of the language skills, since people spend approximately 60% of their time

listening. The most important first step in learning is to make an effort to listen. This is

much like the process people followed as child. They listened for a long while before

attempting to speak. In addition, listening will give them an opportunity to get a “feel”

for the language and will help them improve your overall ability in it. If they don’t learn

to listen effectively, they will not be able to participate.

Rivers and Temperley (1978) said that listening is not a passive but an active

process of constructing a message from a stream of sound with what one knows of the

phonological, semantic, and syntactic potentialities of the language (Takei, 2002)

Celce-Murcia (2001) and Nunan (1999) said that listening have not been

emphasized until recently and there are fewer research pages about listening than the

other fields such as speaking, writing and reading (JACET SLA workshop.listening,

2005). 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, 2002:163) so we need to continue to

research hereafter.

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Listening is the most important element of the language. Our listening Japanese

ability is trained since we were born, but our listening to English ability is different. The

age of starting to learn English is different, so some people have good listening to

English ability but some people have poor listening ability.

Learners need top-down skills, which refers to “using background knowledge or

previous knowledge of the situation, context, and topic to interpret meaning” (Norris,

1995) and bottom-up skills, which refer to “decoding the sounds of a language into

words, clauses, sentences, and using one's knowledge of grammatical or syntactic rules

to interpret meaning” (Norris, 1995).

1.2.1 Listening levels

To develop people’s listening ability, they need to know their listening level and

weak points, and then, they can start to study listening to English to improve their

listening abilities. These listening level were determined by Kakita and Yoshida. (1984)

The level of voice perception

This level is to understand sounds of words and the change of sound. The change of

sounds are grouped into assimilation, elision, liaison and weakening. These are

examples.

Assimilation: that cup →/ ðət kʌ'p/

Elision: next day →/ néks déi/

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Liaison: door of →/ dɔ':r əv/

Weakening: a cup of tea →/ ə kʌ'p əv tí:/

The level of sentence processing

This level is to understand English grammar. These are examples:

1. He sent a letter about it to Masao, the great Japanese scientist.

2. Masao, the great Japanese scientist, sent a letter about it.

3. A letter about it was sent to Masao, the great Japanese scientist.

These sentences have the same meaning, but ways of expression are different, so

people should know English grammar deeply.

The level of meaning interpretation

This level is to understand the sentence meanings and what speakers want to tell

listeners. These are examples:

1. This Christmas she forgot to give a Christmas present to her friend again.

2. I don’t want to get very drunk on my birthday again.

In the first sentence, it includes the meaning that last Christmas she forgot to give a

Christmas present for her friend. In second sentence, it includes the meaning that I get

very drunk on my birthday. Listeners have to understand that listeners realize the

meaning as assumption.

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1.2.2 How listening develops

According to Rubin and Thompson (1994), there are some problems developing

listening to English and they put forward some answers to these problems.

Problem 1 : People talk too fast.

Let the speaker know that you are not following.

Ask for repetition.

Ask your conversational partner to slow down.

Seek clarification.

Rephrase.

Repeat

Pay attention to intonation and tone of voice.

Focus on question words.

Assume that the here and now are relevant.

Most the learners think that people talk too fast, because they do not listen to

English often enough to catch the speed. Rubin and Thompson’s answers are useful for

us to improve and develop our listening to English skill, but it is difficult for us to focus

on these in the same time.

Problem 2 : People are not getting anything out of foreign TV and movies.

Use visual clues.

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Use your background knowledge.

Use information from the segment itself.

Determine the genre of the segment.

Listen to familiar elements.

Listen to familiar-sounding words.

Listen to and jot down repeated words/phrases.

Learn to recognize numbers.

Learn to recognize proper names.

When we watch TV or movies, we use Japanese subtitles. But we cannot

understand the meaning what the actors and actresses say as we don’t know a lot of

idioms or slang, so if we can listen to them, we can understand their meaning. We have

to know more words and listen to again and again.

Problem 3 : People tend to stop listening when they hear unfamiliar word or phrase.

Concentrate on familiar elements.

Keep listening.

People have a lot of unknown word or phrase. This problem sometimes appears at

TOEIC test. So we have to practice concentrating on familiar elements and keeping

listening. Because listening test cannot stop and listen to again. When we study listening

to English, we listen to again and again, and we can understand what speaker says.

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1.2.3 Comprehension

Aural comprehension

Leontiev (1981) said that in order to hear correctly in the future, we must start by

uttering the sound of the phonetic word with the right pronunciation. Spoken utterances

in a foreign language are therefore an essential precondition for aural comprehension.

The letter is possible only when the learner has already formed sufficiently operative

verbal meaning; that is, when he has formed the images of phonetic words.

This comprehension needs the guessing. We sometimes guess the unknown word’s

meaning through sentence.

Auditory comprehension

Lado (1965) said that auditory comprehension of foreign language means

recognition control of the signalling elements of the language in communication

situation that is daily life. The object of auditory comprehension doesn’t include special

vocabulary and expression.

This comprehension needs good listening and have problems with sound such as /r/

sound and /l/ sound.

1.3 Strategies

Strategies change with the level of listening, so we have to know about the

relationship between strategies and the level of listening.

According to Listening in Action, there are two ways of studying listening to

English. The first is “one-way listening” tasks and the other is “interactive listening”

tasks.

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One-way listening is about acquiring information and knowledge. When we are

listening to the radio, speaker’s speech and lecture or watching TV, it is called one-way

listening. 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, inform

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 students practice listening to English by making them

respond to the speaker. This needs an immediate decision and information processing so

they can practice real time listening.

1.3.2 Intensive listening

Intensive listening makes students concentrate on the language form. This makes

them realize that it is difficult for them to pronounce, choose, and structure the English

words. This makes them practice real life listening situation. According to Michael Rost

(1991), listening intensively—in order to appreciate the language form of messages—is

a vitally important aspect of language acquisition. In order to listen effectively and to

learn the language effectively, learners need to recognize critical grammatical

distinctions ‘in real time’ while they listen. For instance, they will need to recognize

differences in verb tense, aspect, and voice (present vs. past; unmarked vs. progressive;

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active vs. passive) and differences between singular and plural markings of nouns and

pronouns. Further, they will need to recognize the important function of stress and

intonation in signalling focal elements of an utterance. (p. 49)

1.3.3 Selective listening

Selective listening will help students to know the purpose of listening. By

learning to concentrate on words, hints and fact selectively, the students 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:

• 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

• listening for specific information in service encounters (p. 83)

1.3.4 Interactive listening

Interactive listening will help students to suppose active roles in shaping and

controlling an interaction. It is necessary for students to take an active role as a listener,

so it can help students make the challenges of interpersonal communication. .

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There are a number of ‘real-world links’ to the interactive listening activities in this

section:

chatting and discussing topics with friends

making arrangements

exchanging news, reports, or anecdotes

interviewing and being interviewed

acknowledging and bridging

giving non verbal signs of attention

working collaboratively on projects (p. 122)

1.4 Research Questions

This chapter described the importance of listening and we need to study about

listening. 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 that how students develop their

listening to English abilities by themselves and the effect.

The research questions for thesis are:

1. How do people study listening in English?

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2. What is the effect of studying?

In Chapter Two we will look at the results of the questionnaire.

1.5 Conclusion

This chapter introduced aspects of listening and described listening level,

listening comprehension, the problem of developing listening to English and strategies.

Now, we take a listening test when we take entrance examination, TOEIC, TOEFL

or English certificate examinations. These make us learn to listen to English with “one-

way listening” and “interactive listening”. But we need many strategies such as

Attentive, Intensive, Selective and Interactive listening.

In the next chapter, we will look at the way of listening outside the classroom, how

much time they spend using listening to English, how much they can understand

listening to English and the way of studying listening to English through a

questionnaire.

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Chapter Two: The data of questionnaire

2.1 Introduction

Chapter One focused on understanding how listening develops, and reviewed

comprehension, perception, listening levels, difference between people in their hearing

ability and motivation. In this chapter, it will focus on the questionnaire. It researched

about people study the way of listening in English and the result of studying.

2.2 The questionnaire

2.2.1 Introduction the questionnaire

The aim of this questionnaire was to find out the learners’ level of listening to

English and their way of method of studying. Also, it is to find out the difference of

good and poor learners of listening to English.

2.2.2 Method

a) Subject

The subjects were 33 female students in Notre Dame Seishin University, and their

major were English linguistic and English literature. Their ages were from 20 to 22

years old. 61% of students have been learning English from 7 to 10 years. 27% of

students have been learning English from 11 to 15 years. 12% of students have been

learning English for more than 15 years. 100% of all have taken the TOEIC test. 16% of

students have improved their score from 10 to 50 points since their first TOEIC test.

42% of students have improved their score from 50 to 100 points. 19% of students have

improved their score from 100 to 150 points. 23% of students have improved their score

more than 150 points. 63% of students use or listen to English outside the university

(not including homework) from 0 to 2 hours every week. 16% of students use or listen

to English from 3 to 4 hours. 9% of students use or listen to English from 5 to 6 hours a

week. 13% of students use or listen to English more than 6 hours a week.

b) Questionnaire design

The questionnaire found out student’s listening levels, their method of studying

listening and the best method for improving their listening skill.

The questions from number one to three asked about how long they have been

studying English, whether they have taken the TOEIC test, how much they improved

their score of TOEIC since they took it the first time and the time of using or listening

to English outside the university. Number four asked the amount of time spent listening

to English. There are kinds of listening to English. From number 5 to 13, the

questionnaire asked about their English listening level what they can understand when

listening to English. Question 16 asked about the methods of studying English for

improving their listening skill. Number 14 and 15 asked about the most difficult aspect

of listening to English and the way of learning listening in English. This questionnaire

was made by the researcher.

c) Procedure

The questionnaire was done at Notre Dame Seishin University. There was no time

limitation to answer the questionnaire and they marked and wrote all questions. After

collecting the data, it was put into Excel, made charts and categorized their writing

opinion.

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2.2.3 Results

We will now discuss the results.

Table 1-1: How much time do you spend doing these forms of listening each week

outside classroom

A B C D

Listening to radio 0 min 1~60 mins 61~100 mins 101~mins

Songs0 song 1~50 songs 51~200 songs

201~

songs

Conversation practice 0 min 1~60 mins 61~180 mins 181~ mins

Listening with technology 0 min 1~30 mins 31~60 mins 61~ mins

Using text books for

listening0 min 1~10 mins 11~20 mins 21~ mins

Table 1-1 shows the meaning of table 1-2’s A to D. Conversation practice includes

4c: (Speak with a native speaker), 4f. (Practice pronunciation and intonation), 4i:

(Watching English movies, plays(like EDC) and drama), 4j: (Watching English online

videos (e.g You Tube), 4k. (Chatting and discussing in English with friends) and 4m.

( Watching TV while listening in English). Listening with technology includes 4d. (Do

shadowing), 4g.( Listening to a conversation on CD or music player (e.g speed

learning) and 4h. (Read English sentences aloud). Using text books for listening

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includes 4e. (Do fill in the blank exercises as you listen to English) and 4l. (Listening to

practice CDs from my textbook).

Table 1-2 the result of listening time to English outside class

A B C D

4a. Listen to English talk radio 88% 6% 6% 0%

4b. Listen to English songs 15% 73% 6% 6%

4c. Speak with a native speaker 55% 30% 6% 9%

4d. Do shadowing 88% 9% 3% 0%

4e. Do fill in the blank exercises as you listen to

English 85% 6% 9% 0%

4f. Practice pronunciation and intonation 76% 18% 6% 0%

4g. Listen to a conversation on CD or music player

(e.g speed learning) 79% 18% 3% 0%

4h. Read English sentences aloud 61% 21% 12% 6%

4i. Watching English movies, plays(like EDC) and

drama 55% 21% 12% 12%

4j. Watching English online videos(e.g You Tube) 61% 27% 3% 9%

4k. Chatting and discussing in English with friends 73% 21% 3% 3%

4l. Listening to practice CDs from my textbook 85% 0% 9% 6%

4m. Watching TV while listening in English 82% 12% 0% 6%

Table 1-2 shows that how long students spent listening to English outside classes.

From 4a: (Listen to English talk radio) to 4m: (Watching TV while listening in English)

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except 4b: (Listen to English songs), most of students didn’t use listening to English

over 50%. In 4b: (Listen to English songs), 73% of students listened to English songs

Table 2: Answer the question and choose your listening level.

5. Very true for

me

4. True 3. So-so 2. Not true 1. Very not true

5 4 3 2 1

5. I can understand what native speakers say. 3% 52% 39% 6% 0%

6. I can understand English news. 0% 6% 48% 39% 6%

7. I can understand English movie or drama without subtitle. 0% 48% 39% 3% 9%

8. I can understand English play. 15% 3% 30% 52% 0%

9. I can understand the words of English songs. 0% 18% 45% 27% 9%

10. I can understand what non-native speakers say in English. 0% 42% 55% 3% 0%

11. I can remember what non- native speakers says in English 0% 15% 52% 27% 6%

12. I can guess the meaning if speaker said unknown word for

you.

3% 12% 58% 27% 0%

13. I can understand what speaker says without translating

from English into Japanese.

3% 36% 45% 9% 6%

under 50 songs for a week. In 4c: (Speak with a native speaker), 55% of students didn’t

speak with native speakers outside class, but 30% of students spoke with native

speakers under an hour. In 4i: (Watching English movies, plays(like EDC) and drama),

55% of students didn’t watch English movies, plays and dramas, but 21% of students

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watched English movies, plays and dramas under an hour and 12% of students watched

these over an hour under three hours and 12 % of students watch these over 3hours. In

4j: (Watching English online videos (e.g You Tube)), 61% of students didn’t watch

English online videos, but 27% of students watch English online videos under an hour.

Table 2 shows that the level of listening to English. In Question 5: (I can understand

what native speakers say.), 55% of students answered that they can understand what

native speaker say and 39% of students answered so-so, so most of students can

understand what native speaker say, but question 6: (I can understand English news.),

45% of them answered they cannot understand English news. In question 7: (I can

understand English movie or drama without subtitle.), 87% of students answered true or

so-so, but 52% of them answered not true in question 8: (I can understand English

play.). The difference of question 7: (I can understand English movie or drama without

subtitle.) and 8: (I can understand English play.) is they can understand English movie

or drama without subtitles or English. In Question 9: (I can understand the words of

English songs.), 18% of students answered true that they can understand the words of

English songs and 45% of them answered so-so. In Question 10: (I can understand what

non-native speakers say in English.), 42% of students can understand what non-native

speakers say in English, and 15% of student can remember what non-native speakers

say in English and 52% of students answered so-so in Question 11: (I can remember

what non- native speakers says in English). In Question 12: (I can guess the meaning if

speaker said unknown word for you.), 15% of students answered very true or true and

58% of students answered so-so, so they can guess the meaning of unknown words. In

Question 13: (I can understand what speaker says without translating from English into

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Japanese.), 39% of students answered very true or true and 45% of them answered so-so

but 15% of them answered not true or very not true. Some people need translating from

English to Japanese when they are listening to English.

Table 3: Which of those methods do you feel is best for improving your listening skill?

It works very

well

It’s good So-so It’s not very

good

It doesn’t work at

all

5 4 3 2 1

5 4 3 2 1

16a. Listening to native-level texts 36% 39% 21% 3% 0%

16b. Repeating sentences aloud 45% 30% 21% 3% 0%

16c. Listening and talking to native speakers 70% 24% 3% 3% 0%

16d. Listen to the same recording again and again 45% 33% 12% 9% 0%

16e. Learning pronunciation and intonation 27% 48% 18% 6% 0%

16f. Do shadowing 45% 36% 12% 6% 0%

16g. Do fill in the blank exercises as you listen to English 18% 39% 33% 3% 6%

16h. Practice pronunciation and intonation 33% 33% 30% 0% 3%

16i. Listen to a conversation on CD or music player (e.g.

speed learning)

33% 42% 21% 3% 0%

16j. Listening to practice CDs from my textbook 33% 39% 24% 3% 0%

16k. Learning how sounds change (e.g. liaison, assimilation,

elision)

12% 27% 55% 3% 3%

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16l. Understanding the accent 21% 39% 36% 0% 3%

16m. Being dictated English sentences again and again from

my textbook

24% 39% 30% 6% 0%

16n. Listening while reading English sentences silently 21% 21% 33% 18% 6%

Table 3 shows students answered their opinion for the method of studying of

listening. In Questions 16a: (Listening to native-level texts) to 16f: (Do shadowing), and 16i

to 16j, over 70% of students answered that this way works ‘very well’ or ‘good’, and

over 90% of students answered ‘very well’ or ‘good’ in Question 16c: (Listening and

talking to native speakers). Most of students think that listening and talking to native

speakers is useful for improving their listening skill. In Question 16a: (Listening to

native-level texts), 16d: (Listen to the same recording again and again), 16i: (Listen to a

conversation on CD or music player (e.g. speed learning)) and 16j: (Listening to practice CDs

from my textbook), these ways consider with the studying of listening and dates are

similar. In these four questions, about 70% of students answer ‘very well’ or ‘good’,

about 20% of them answered ‘so-so’ and about 10% of students answered ‘not very

good’. These ways use listening text or school’s textbook. In Question 16b: (Repeating

sentences aloud), 75% of students answered ‘very well’ or ‘good’, 21% of them answered

‘so-so’ and 3% of them answered ‘not very good’. In Question 16e: (Learning

pronunciation and intonation), 75% of students answered ‘very well’ or ‘good’, 18% of

them answered ‘so-so’ and 6% of them answered ‘not very good’. In Question 16h:

(Practice pronunciation and intonation), 66% of students answered ‘very well’ or ‘good’,

30 % of them answered ‘so-so’ and 3% of them answered ‘not work at all’. Question

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16e: (Learning pronunciation and intonation) and 16h: (Practice pronunciation and intonation)

is similar question. The difference is to learn or to practice. In Question 16e: (Learning

pronunciation and intonation), nobody chose ‘not work at all’, but nobody chose ‘not very

good’ and little people chose ‘not work at all’ in Question 16h: (Practice pronunciation

and intonation).

In Question 16f: (Do shadowing), 81% of students answered ‘very well’ or

‘good’, 12% of them answered ‘so-so’ and 6% of them answered ‘not very good’. In

Question 16g: (Do fill in the blank exercises as you listen to English) and 16k: (Learning how

sounds change (e.g. liaison, assimilation, elision)) to 16n: (Listening while reading English

sentences silently), about 50% to 60% of students answered ‘very well’ or ‘good’ and

about 30% of them answered so-so except Question 16k: (Learning how sounds change

(e.g. liaison, assimilation, elision)). In Question 16k: (Learning how sounds change (e.g.

liaison, assimilation, elision)), 55% of students answered ‘so-so’. In Question 16g: (Do fill

in the blank exercises as you listen to English) and 16k: (Learning how sounds change (e.g.

liaison, assimilation, elision)) to 16m: (Being dictated English sentences again and again from

my textbook), about 10% of students answered ‘not very good’ or ‘not work at all’. In

Question 16n: (Listening while reading English sentences silently), 24% of students

answered ‘not very good’ or ‘not work at all’. Questions which over 70% of students

answered ‘very well’ or ‘good’ are the method of studying of listening to English or

learning pronunciation and intonation. It is thought when they study listening to

English, they use their class’s textbook or TOEIC’s textbook and it is useful to study

listening to English.

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2.3 Summary

Chapter Two showed the questionnaire’s data. From the data, it could find out their

time of listening to English outside classes, their listening level and their thinking about

studying listening way. In Chapter Three, we will discuss the results.

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Chapter 3: The results of the questionnaire

3.1 Introduction

In Chapter One, we looked at the information of listening, listening ability,

comprehension, perception and listening strategies. In Chapter Two, we saw the time

spent listening to English outside class, the method of studying of listening to English

and the level of listening to English comprehension. In Chapter Three, we will look at

the results carefully.

3.2 Summary of the results

In Chapter Two, we looked at the results of listening to English time outside class,

the level of listening to English comprehension and how to study listening to English. In

the multiple-choice questions, we could see many results. For example, in the listening

level question, 55% of the subjects answered that they can understand what native

speakers say. It means that over half of the subjects can listen to what native speakers

say and understand the sentence. 94% of the subjects answered that listening and talking

to native speakers is best for improving their skills.

In addition, there are many interesting results in the questionnaire. We will look at

some opinions and dates about listening with their results carefully in the next section.

3.3 Discussion of the results

In this section, we will discuss the results of the questionnaires.

(a) The results of the listening to English time outside class

This section will discuss Question 4 and refer to Table 1-2 in Chapter Two.

In Question 4, over 50% of the subjects don’t listening to English outside class. In

Question 4a: (listen to English talk radio), 88% of the subjects don’t do that, and this

percentage is the highest all of question 4. In Question 4b: (listening to English songs,)

73% of the subjects spend listening to English songs outside class. They listen to at least

10 songs a week. In Question 4c: (speaking with a native speaker), 55% of the subjects

don’t do that, but 30% of them speak with a native speaker outside class. In Question

4d: (do shadowing), 88% of the subjects don’t do that, and this is also the highest

percentage in Question 4. In Question 4e: (do fill in the exercises as you listen to

English), 85% of the subjects don’t do that, and this question is the second highest

percentage in Question 4. In Question 4f: (practice pronunciation and intonation), 76%

of the subjects don’t do that, and 18% of them do that. In Question 4g: (listen to a

conversation on CD or music player (e.g. speed learning)), 79% of the subjects don’t do

that, but 18% of them do that. In Question 4h: (read English sentences aloud), 61% of

the subjects don’t do that, but 21% of them do that. In Question 4i: (Watching English

movies, plays (like EDC) and drama), 55% of the subjects don’t do that, but 21% of

them do that under an hour, 12% of them do that from an hour to three hours and 12%

of them do that over three hours. In Question 4j: {watching English online videos (E.g

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YouTube)}, 61% of the subjects don’t do that, 27% of them do that under an hour, 3%

of them do that from an hour to three hours, and 9% of them do that over three hours. In

Question 4k: (chatting and discussing in English with friends), 73% of the subjects

don’t do that, 21% of them do that under an hour, 3% of them do that from an hour to

three hours, and 3% of them do that over three hours. In Question 4l: (listening to

practice CDs from my textbook), 85% of the subjects don’t do that and this question is

also the second highest percentage in Question 4. In Question 4m: (watching TV while

listening in English), 82% of the subjects don’t do that, 12% of them do that under an

hour and 6% of them do that over three hours.

Subjects are divided with good listening skill subjects and normal listening skill

subjects, good listening skill subjects spend longer time listening to English than normal

subjects. Especially, good listeners spend watching English movies, plays (like EDC)

and drama. They spend over 30 minutes watching English movies, plays and drama.

(b) The results of written questions

In Question 14: What is the most difficult aspect of listening in English for you?

These list are the student’s answers

Subjects cannot understand the quick conversation. 12 subjects

Subjects cannot understand the meanings of sentence if it appears difficult

English words. 8 subjects

Liaison 7 subjects

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They are difficult to understand listening to English test of long sentences.

5 subjects

They are difficult to distinguish the words of similar sounds for them. For

example, right or light. 4 subjects

They are difficult to understand slangs or idioms through conversation when

they hear them at first time. 3 subjects

Subjects are difficult to listen English dialect. 2 subjects

To understand the flow of conversation 2 subjects

To look for the end of sentence. 1 subjects

Native speaker’s jokes 1 subjects

In Question 14, most subjects think that listening to English is the most difficult to

understand the quick conversation. The common point is similar for everyone.

In Question 15: How do you learn to listen in English?, these list are the student’s

answers.

To use TOEIC textbook. 16 subjects

To listen to English songs and to think about the word’s meaning 12subjects

To watch English dramas and movies with Japanese subtitle. 2 subjects

To talk with teacher of native speaker 6 subjects

To listen to NHK’s English radio 2 subjects

To listen to native speaker’s English through You Tube or radio 2 subjects

To use Podcast 1 subject

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Reading aloud 1 subject

Shadowing 1 subject

To talk with other countries friends on Skype 1 subject

Most of people answered that to use TOEIC’s textbook and it is interesting way

to talk with other countries friends.

(b) The level of listening to English comprehension

This section will discuss from Question 5 to Question 13 and refer to Table 2 in

Chapter Two.

In Question 5, 55% of the subjects answered that they can understand what native

speaker say and 39% of the subjects answered so-so, so most of the subjects can

understand what native speakers say, but Question 6, 45% of them answered they

cannot understand English news. In Question 7, 87% of the subjects answered true or

so-so, but 52% of them answered not true in Question 8. The difference of Question 7

and 8 is they can understand English movie or drama without subtitles or English play.

In question 9, 18% of the subjects answered that they can understand the words of

English songs and 45% of them answered so-so. In Question 10, 42% of the subjects

can understand what non-native speakers say in English, and 15% of student can

remember what non-native speakers say in English and 52% of the subjects answered

so-so in Question 11. In Question 12, 15% of the subjects answered very true or true

and 58% of the subjects answered so-so, so they can guess the meaning of unknown

words. In Question 13, 39% of the subjects answered very true or true and 45% of them

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answered so-so but 15% of them answered not true or very not true. Some people need

to translate from English to Japanese when they are listening to English.

c) The good improving way of listening to English

This section will discuss Question 16 and refer to Table 3 in Chapter Two.

In Question 16a: (Listening to native-level texts), over 70% of the subjects answered

that this way works ‘very well’ or ‘good’, 21% of them answered so-so, 3% of them

answered not very good. In Question 16b: (Repeating sentences aloud), over 70% of the

subjects answered that this way works ‘very well’ or ‘good’, 21% of them answered so-

so, 3% of them answered not very good. In Question 16c: (Listening and talking to

native speakers), over 90% of the subjects answered that this way works ‘very well’ or

‘good’, 3% of them answered so-so, 3% of them answered not very good. In Question

16d: (Listen to the same recording again and again), over 70% of the subjects answered

that this way works ‘very well’ or ‘good’, 12% of them answered so-so, 9% of them

answered not very good. In Question 16e: (Learning pronunciation and intonation), over

70% of the subjects answered that this way works ‘very well’ or ‘good’, 18% of them

answered so-so, 6% of them answered not very good. In Question 16f: (Do shadowing),

over 70% of the subjects answered that this way works ‘very well’ or ‘good’, 12% of

them answered so-so, 6% of them answered not very good. In Question 16g: (Do fill in

the blank exercises as you listen to English), over 50% of the subjects answered that this

way works ‘very well’ or ‘good’, 33% of them answered so-so, 3% of them answered

not very good, and 6% of them answered not work at all. In Question 16h: (Practice

pronunciation and intonation), over 60% of the subjects answered that this way works

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‘very well’ or ‘good’, 30% of them answered so-so, 3% of them answered not work at

all. In Question 16i: (Listen to a conversation on CD or music player (e.g. speed

learning)), over 70% of the subjects answered that this way works ‘very well’ or ‘good’,

21% of them answered so-so, 3% of them answered not very good. In Question 16j:

(Listening to practice CDs from my textbook), over 70% of the subjects answered that

this way works ‘very well’ or ‘good’, 24% of them answered so-so, 3% of them

answered not very good. In Question 16k: (Learning how sounds change (e.g. liaison,

assimilation, elision)), over 30% of the subjects answered that this way works ‘very

well’ or ‘good’, 55% of them answered so-so, 3% of them answered not very good and

3% of them answered not work at all. In Question 16l: (Understanding the accent), over

60% of the subjects answered that this way works ‘very well’ or ‘good’, 36% of them

answered so-so, 3% of them answered not work at all. In Question 16m: (Being dictated

English sentences again and again from my textbook), over 60% of the subjects

answered that this way works ‘very well’ or ‘good’, 30% of them answered so-so, 6%

of them answered not very good. In Question 16n: (Listening while reading English

sentences silently), over 40% of the subjects answered that this way works ‘very well’

or ‘good’, 33% of them answered so-so,18% of them answered not very good, 6% of

them answered not work at all.

3.4 Research questions

We will first answer the two research question:

1. How do people study listening in English?

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Most of the subjects use a TOEIC textbook to study listening in English. In fact,

many subjects think that listening to native-level texts or listening to practice CDs from

their textbook are very good or good to improve their listening skill. To use a TOEIC’s

textbook is easy for them to study listening in English, because they can get information

about the way of solving from TOEIC’s textbook.

2. What is the effect of studying?

In case of TOEIC test, most of the subjects study listening to English to get better

score than before. The effect of studying can be seen in their TOEIC score. 42% of the

subjects improved from 50 to 100 points since their first TOEIC test. 23% of the

subjects improved over 150 points since their first TOEIC test. 19% of the subjects

improved from 100 to 150 points since their first TOEIC test. 16% of the subjects

improved from 10 to 50 points since their first TOEIC test.

3.5 Implications

For language learners, this result means that there are many ways of studying

listening in English. At first, they should spend long time listening to English for a

week, because to develop listening to English is not easy for them and it takes long time

to develop listening skills. They should use listening ability every day.

For language learning, the results mean that it is important for people to develop

their listening ability in English. Nowadays, English is the most important language all

over the world, and English is used to communicate with other country’s people. So we

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should develop English skill more and more, and subjects should develop or improve

their listening ability.

3.6 Limitations of the Experiment

From these data we could get some good results. However, there are some

limitations to the study. First, all the subjects were university subjects. 13 subjects were

third graders, and 20 subjects were fourth graders, so this experiment needed more

subjects in many other grades in university.

Secondly, the subjects who could answer this questionnaire were all women. We

need to know about the opinions of male. We might have found the differences of

answers and opinion of male.

Thirdly, for the question: what’s your listening score is, some subjects did not know

their listening score, so they did not answer the question. In this question, it should ask

TOEIC score and if they knew their listening score, it should ask listening score.

3.5. Further research

Through the experiments, we could see how subjects spend their time listening to

English, their understanding level of listening to English, their way of studying and the

most difficult point of listening to English. Considering the results, we could think of

more possibilities of some research in the future. For example, we could compare men

and women’s opinion and results. How long did it take to develop your listening skill?

Moreover, we could have found out more interesting results of experiments.

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3.6. Conclusion

In the written question, most of the subjects answered same things. It can think that

people feel the point which is poor at listening to English is similar whichever they are

good listener or normal listeners. And it also answered the same point the method of

studying. Most of people use their TOEIC textbook.

Subjects like watching something to study listening. Because they can enjoy

listening time and don’t feel negative feelings. People should use the most enjoyable

way to study listening.

Finally, they develop their listening ability through they take a TOEIC test or watch

something.

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ReferencesCarreira Matsuzaki J. undated How can we enhance EFL learners listening fluency ?

Teaching connected speech to Japanese university students using songs.

Carter, R. & Nunan, D. 2001. Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Celce-Murcia (2001) Teaching English as a second or foreign language (3rd ed.).

Boston: Heinle & Heinle

Lado, R. 1965. Memory Span as a Factor in Second Language Learning

Leonitiev, A. 1981. Psychology and the Language Learning Process. Oxford: Pergamon

Press Ltd.

Nunan, D. 1999 Second language teaching and learning. Boston: Heinle and Heinle

Rivers and Temperley. 1978. A Practical Guide to The Teaching of English as a Second

or Foreign Language: Oxford University Press

Rubin, J. and I Thompson. 1994. How to be a more successful language learner:

toward learner autonomy. Heinle, Boston

Rost. M. 1991. Listening in Action: Activities for Developing Listening in Language

Teaching. United Kingdom: Prentice Hall International Ltd.

Rost, M. 2002. Teaching and Researching Listening. Pearson Education

JACET SLA workshop. 2005. 『文献からみる第二言語習得研究』東京: 開拓社

Kakita, N. and Yoshida K.1984. 『英語のリスニング』　東京:大修館書店

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

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Appendices

The questionnaire

Name ______________ Year.

1. How long have you been learning English?

a) Less than 7 years b) 7~10 years c) 11~15 years d) More than 15 years

2a. Have you ever taken the TOEIC test?

a) Yes b) No What’s your listening score.

2b. How much has your score improved since your first TOEIC test?

a)10~50 b)50~100 c)100~150 d)More than 150

3. How much time every week do you use or listen to English outside the university (not

including homework)?

a) 0~2 hours b) 3~4 hours c)5~6 hours d)more than 6 hours

How much time do you spend doing these forms of listening each week outside class

4a. Listen to English talk radio ______ minutes

4b. Listen to English songs ______ songs

4c. Speak with a native speaker minutes

4d. Do shadowing minutes

4e. Do fill in the blank exercises as you listen to English minutes

4f. Practice pronunciation and intonation minutes

4g. Listen to a conversation on CD or music player (e.g speed learning)

minutes

4h. Read English sentences aloud minutes

4i. Watching English movies, plays (like EDC) and drama 　　　minutes

4j. Watching English online videos (E.g YouTube) 　　　minutes

4k. Chatting and discussing in English with friends minutes

4l. Listening to practice CDs from my textbook 　　　minutes

4m. Watching TV while listening in English minutes

Please answer the question and choose your listening level.

5. Very true for

me

4. True 3. So-so 2. Not true 1. Very not true

5. I can understand what native speakers say. 5 4 3 2 1

6. I can understand English news. 5 4 3 2 1

7. I can understand English movie or drama without subtitle. 5 4 3 2 1

8. I can understand English play. 5 4 3 2 1

9. I can understand the words of English songs. 5 4 3 2 1

10. I can understand what non-native speakers say in English. 5 4 3 2 1

11. I can remember what non native speaker says in English. 5 4 3 2 1

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12. I can guess the meaning if speaker said unknown word for

you.5 4 3 2 1

13. I can understand what speaker says without translating

from English into Japanese.5 4 3 2 1

14. What is the most difficult aspect of listening in English for you?

15. How do you learn to listen in English?

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Which of these methods do you feel is best for improving your listening skill?

It works very

well

It’s good So-so It’s not very

good

It doesn’t

work at all

5 4 3 2 1

16a. Listening to native-level texts 5 4 3 2 1

16b. Repeating sentences aloud 5 4 3 2 1

16c. Listening and talking to native speakers 5 4 3 2 1

16d. Listen to the same recording again and again 5 4 3 2 1

16e. Learning pronunciation and intonation 5 4 3 2 1

16f. Do shadowing 5 4 3 2 1

16g. Do fill in the blank exercises as you listen to English 5 4 3 2 1

16h. Practice pronunciation and intonation 5 4 3 2 1

16i. Listen to a conversation on CD or music player (e.g. speed

learning)

5 4 3 2 1

16j. Listening to practice CDs from my textbook 5 4 3 2 1

16k.Learning how sounds change (e.g. liaison, assimilation, elision) 5 4 3 2 1

16l. Understanding the accent 5 4 3 2 1

16m. Being dictated English sentences again and again from my

textbook

5 4 3 2 1

16n. Listening while reading English sentences silently 5 4 3 2 1

Thank you very much. Miki Moriya

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The questionnaire

Year.

1.あなたは今までどのくらい英語を勉強していますか?a)7 年以下 b) 7~10 年 c) 11~15 年 d)15 年以上

2a.今まで TOEIC を受けたことがありますか?b) Yes b) No listening score.

2b.初めて TOEIC を受けたときからどのくらいリスニングの点数があがりましたか? （わからなかったら、全体の点数でお願いします。）

a)10~50 b)50~100 c)100~150 d) 150 以上3.週にどのくらい学校以外で英語を使ったり、聞いたりしていますか？（ 宿題は含まないでください）

b) 0~2 時間 b) 3~4 時間 c)5~6 時間 d)6 時間以上週にどのくらい授業以外で英語使用していますか？4a.英語のラジオを聴く ______ minutes4b.英語の歌を聞く ______ songs4c.ネイティブスピーカーと話す minutes4d. シャドーイングする minutes4e.英語を聞きながら、穴埋め問題をする minutes4f.発音やイントネーションの練習をする minutes4g. 英会話を CD や音楽機器で聞く(e.g speed learning)

minutes4h.声にだして英文を読む minutes4i.英語の映画、ドラマ、演劇を見る 　　　minutes4j.英語のオンラインビデオを見る(e.g YouTube) 　　　minutes4k.友達と英語で会話や討論する minutes4l.授業のテキストの CD でリスニングの勉強をする 　　　minutes4m.英語を聞きながら、英語の TV を見る minutes

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Please answer the question and choose your listening level.

5. よくできる 4. できる 3. ふつう 2. できない 1. 全くできない

5.ネイティブスピーカーの言っていることが理解できる 5 4 3 2 1

6.英語のニュースが理解できる 5 4 3 2 1

7.字幕なしで英語の映画やドラマが理解できる 5 4 3 2 1

8.英語の劇が理解できる 5 4 3 2 1

9.洋楽の詩を理解できる 5 4 3 2 1

10.非ネイティブスピーカーの英語を理解できる 5 4 3 2 1

11. 非ネイティブスピーカーの言っている英語を覚えておくことができる 5 4 3 2 1

12.もし自分の知らない英単語を話者に使われても、推測することができる

5 4 3 2 1

13. 英語から日本語に訳さなくても話者の言っていることがわかる 5 4 3 2 1

14. 英語のリスニングにおいて、何が一番難しいですか？

15.あなたはどうやって英語のリスニングの勉強をしていますか？

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Which of these methods do you feel is best for improving your listening skill?

とてもよい

よい ふつう よくない とてもよくない

5 4 3 2 1

16a.ネイティブのテキストを聞く 5 4 3 2 1

16b.何度も声にだして、英文を読む 5 4 3 2 1

16c.ネイティブスピーカーと聞いて話す 5 4 3 2 1

16d.同じ英文を繰り返して聞く 5 4 3 2 1

16e.発音やイントネーションを学ぶ 5 4 3 2 1

16f.シャドーイングする 5 4 3 2 1

16g.リスニングの穴埋め問題をする 5 4 3 2 1

16h.発音やイントネーションを練習する 5 4 3 2 1

16i. 英会話を CD や音楽機器で聞く(e.g. speed learning) 5 4 3 2 1

16j. 授業のテキストの CD でリスニングの勉強をする 5 4 3 2 1

16k.音の変化を学ぶ (e.g.音の連結, 音の同化,音の欠如) 5 4 3 2 1

16l. アクセントを理解する 5 4 3 2 1

16m.テキストの英文を繰り返しディクテーションする 5 4 3 2 1

16n. 英文を黙読しながら、聞く 5 4 3 2 1

どうもありがとうございました。

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守屋美紀

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