8

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND RESEARCH

aaaaaaaThis chapter aims to review the literature and the related studies relevant to the

study The contents of theories and some key elements related to the study are

presented under the following headings aaaaaaa1aaListening comprehension

aaaaaaa2aaListening problems

aaaaaaa3aaListening strategies aaaaaaa4aaRelated studies

Listening comprehension

aaaaaaaOne view of listening comprehension by Clark he stated that listening

comprehension describes comprehension of a speakerrsquos message as the internal

reproduction of that message in the listenerrsquos mind so that successful listening

reproduces the meaning much as the speaker intended The second view proposed by

Rost focusing on the goals and internal meaning structures of listener listener does not

get meaning but rather constructs meaning (Celce-Mercia 2001 pp 88-89) The

intended message and the constructed message are different in some points The

factors which influenced the message are context purpose for listening and listenerrsquos

own prior knowledge Both views involve listening process and the importance of both

top-down and bottom-up operations

aaaaaaaNunan clarified the bottom-up processing that it involves constructing meaning

from the smallest unit of the spoken language to the largest one in a direct mode

(Kusumarasdyati 2004 p 2) Thus the learners attempt to understand a spoken speech

by decoding a number of sounds to form words Next a connection of words is linked to

form phrases which make up sentences These sentences build a complete text the

meaning of which is then constructed by the listeners

9

aaaaaaaOn the other hand Nunan claimed that the top-down processing refers to

interpreting meaning as intended by the speakers by means of structures of data in the

mind (Kusumarasdyati 2004 p2) This view highlights the importance of background

knowledge already possessed by the learners in making sense of the information they

hear In the aural perception prior knowledge may help their attempt to grab the

received information by relating the familiar with the new one and mainly the lack of such

knowledge can impede their efforts to understand a particular utterance Therefore

learners are comfortable to performing this processing by extracting the general idea of

the exchange they listen to The picture is shown in Figure 1

Bottom-up

Processing

Top-down

Processing

Identification of Details and

Facts (DETAIL)

Recognition of Supporting Ideas (SUPPORT)

Identification of Controlling

Idea or Topic (GIST)

Inferences that are Text-

Based about Content and

Relationships (TEXT INF)

Deduction of Vocabulary through Context (VOCAB)

Interferences about Speakersrsquo

Attitudes and Pragmatic Meaning

(PRAG INF)

Figure 1 Operationlization of a Model of

Second Language Listening Comprehension

(Wagner 2002 Online)

10

aaaaaaaThis view of listening comprehension is in accordance with second-language

theory which views listening to spoken language as an active and a complex process in

which listeners focus on selected aspects of aural input construct meaning and relate

what they hear to existing knowledgerdquo (Hason 2000 Online) It should be also made

clear that learnersrsquo perceptions of their listening problems may or may not correspond to

what actually happens as different factors which the listener may not be aware of may

interact and influence learnersrsquo perceptions The listener however might identify one

factor among others which he thinks can be behind some of his listening problems

aaaaaaaCamp and Sattlewhite also suggested the listening model which has four

components The picture is shown in Figure 2 (Camp amp Satterwhite 1988 pp 64-65)

Hearing

Listening

Interpreting

Retaining

Figure 2 The Listening Model

(Camp amp Satterwhite 1988 pp 64-65)

aaaaaaa1aaHearing it is the physiological aspect of listening Hearing is non selective

process of sound waves impinging on the ear and the ear responding to those waves

that fall within a certain frequency range and are sufficiently loud For example the

listener may hear a nearby conversation or the hum of a computer without focusing on

these sounds

aaaaaaa2aaListening the act of filtering out interruptions to allow the listener to

comprehend the meaning of sounds For example when you ask someone question

then you listen for a response

aaaaaaa3aaInterpretation a mental function whereby you analyze the sounds that you

comprehended You relate your experience with what you have heard

aaaaaaa4aaRetaining the ability to recall information or the act of remembering the

interpreted sounds for later use

11

Importance of listening

aaaaaaaListening requires effort and concentration and it is difficult to know whether

someone is listening what the speaker says or not If the listeners are not ready to listen

the failure of listening will occur The importance of effective listening poor listening skills

can create serious problems For student poor listening can result in lower grades

incorrect assignments lost job opportunities etc When you are not talking or reading

mostly you are listening to something or someone

aaaaaaaThere are several language experts who support the idea of the importance of

listening that people spent most of their time on listening Wilt found that 45 percent of

communication was spent listening 30 percent speaking 16 percent reading and 9

percent writing (Hyslop amp Tone 1988 Online) The chart is shown in Figure 3 Moreover

the study of Adler amp Rodman found that college students spent average of their

communication time composed of 14 percent writing 16 percent speaking 17 percent

reading and a whopping 53 percent listening (Adler amp Rodman 1976 p 74) People

become conscious that listening is the most frequent type of communication behavior

Baker and several colleagues found that college students spend nearly half of their

communication time listening or 42-53 30-32 speaking 15-17 reading and 11-14

writing (Seiler amp Beall 1999 p 135) Because is such a routine Few people think of

developing their listening skills In fact businesses lose millions of dollars each year

because of a failure to listen to and understand customersrsquo needs Effective listeners

welcome new information and new idea to create and adapt to apply with their lives

Same to the survey of graduates from a major university who were professional and

business people all wished they had more training in listening They believed that

effective listening leads to job success (Thill amp Bovee 2002 p 117)

12

05

1015202530354045

Writing Reading Speaking Listening

Time()

Figure 3 The Communication Time of People

(Hyslop amp Tone 1988 Online)

aaaaaaaAccording to Nunan amp Miller there are four main importance of listening in

second and foreign language learning which are firstly listening is vital in the language

classroom It provides input for the learner Any learning basically cannot begin without

understanding input at the right level Secondly spoken language gives a mean of

interaction for the learner Learners must cooperate to achieve understanding access to

speakers of the language is necessary Furthermore learnersrsquo failure to understanding

the language they hear is a drive not a barrier to interaction and learning Thirdly

authentic spoken language shows a challenge for the learner to try to comprehend

language as native speakers actually use it Lastly teacher can use listening exercises

to draw learnersrsquo attention to new forms (vocabulary grammar new interaction patterns)

in the language (Nunan amp Miller 1995 p 211)

aaaaaaaThere are many levels of involvement in listening which depended on different

kinds of situations as shown in Figure 4 a continuum that runs from minimum to

maximum involvement

13

Listening for

Evaluation

Listening for

Understanding

Levels of Receiver Involvement in Various Situations LEAST

Involvement

MOST

Involvement

Listening

for Pleasure Hearing

Listening to Remember

Figure 4 Levels of Involvement in Listening Situation

(Taylor et al 1986 p 143) aaaaaaa1aaHearingrdquoHearing is little more than being in range of and receiving soundrdquo

(Taylor et al 1986 p 143) We may not pay attention to sounds we hear except calling

our attention Environmental sounds and surroundings music usually are heard not listen

to When we turn on the radio and then go to have a conversation with friends you

usually will not even become aware of hearing the sounds

aaaaaaa2aaListening for pleasure It involves more personal participation than hearing

ldquoWe receive sounds more consciously and actively decoderdquo (Taylor et al 1986 p 143)

We may listen to music to a speech or to television and radio at the level of listening for

pleasure

aaaaaaa3aaListening to understand This stage requires a upper degree of involvement

We try to understand all the messages we receive and give the feedback back to the

source of messages It usually occurs with friends and family in informal setting or in

school talking to friends and listening to professorrsquos lectures or in public communication

(Taylor et al 1986 pp 144-145)

aaaaaaa4aaListening to evaluate It needs high involvement of receiver because many

features of listening to understand involve This stage goes further than understanding

for the reason that it has to analyze the received messages to decide how credible and

meaningful they are before responding (Taylor et al 1986 p 144)

14

aaaaaaa5aaListening to remember We frequently want to remember as much as we

can at all stage of listening Remembering is essential for both understanding and

evaluation It has need of special effort to accomplish this level of receiver involvement in

listening situation (Taylor et al 1986 p 144)

aaaaaaaMoreover Rost commented that listening is used in language teaching It helps

learners to comprehend spoken language Listening is not only a critical means of

acquiring a second language but also a skill area in language performance (Rost 1990

p 7) Purpose of Listening

aaaaaaaListeners do not pay attention to everything they listen selectively according to

the purpose of the task This in turn determines the type of listening required and the

way in which listeners will approach a task According to Richards he differentiated

between an interactional and a transactional purpose for communication Interactional

use of language is socially oriented to please the social needs of the participants eg

small talk and casual conversations Therefore interactional listening is highly

contextualized and two-way involving interaction with a speaker A transactional use of

language on the other hand is more message-oriented and is used primarily to

communicate information eg news broadcasts and lectures In contrast with

interactional listening transactional listening requires correct comprehension of a

message with no opportunity for clarification with a speaker or one-way listening

(Richards 1990 unpaged) Knowing the communicative purpose of a text or utterance

will help the listener decide what to listen for and thus which processes to start As with

the advantages of knowing the context knowing the purpose for listening also really

reduces the load of comprehension since listeners know that they need to listen for

something very specific instead of trying to comprehend every word

aaaaaaaMoreover there are three general purposes of listening The first purpose is to

understand ideas When we listen to understand we listen for the main idea or central

concepts The listener seeks to identify key words and phrases that will help them to

9

aaaaaaaOn the other hand Nunan claimed that the top-down processing refers to

interpreting meaning as intended by the speakers by means of structures of data in the

mind (Kusumarasdyati 2004 p2) This view highlights the importance of background

knowledge already possessed by the learners in making sense of the information they

hear In the aural perception prior knowledge may help their attempt to grab the

received information by relating the familiar with the new one and mainly the lack of such

knowledge can impede their efforts to understand a particular utterance Therefore

learners are comfortable to performing this processing by extracting the general idea of

the exchange they listen to The picture is shown in Figure 1

Bottom-up

Processing

Top-down

Processing

Identification of Details and

Facts (DETAIL)

Recognition of Supporting Ideas (SUPPORT)

Identification of Controlling

Idea or Topic (GIST)

Inferences that are Text-

Based about Content and

Relationships (TEXT INF)

Deduction of Vocabulary through Context (VOCAB)

Interferences about Speakersrsquo

Attitudes and Pragmatic Meaning

(PRAG INF)

Figure 1 Operationlization of a Model of

Second Language Listening Comprehension

(Wagner 2002 Online)

10

aaaaaaaThis view of listening comprehension is in accordance with second-language

theory which views listening to spoken language as an active and a complex process in

which listeners focus on selected aspects of aural input construct meaning and relate

what they hear to existing knowledgerdquo (Hason 2000 Online) It should be also made

clear that learnersrsquo perceptions of their listening problems may or may not correspond to

what actually happens as different factors which the listener may not be aware of may

interact and influence learnersrsquo perceptions The listener however might identify one

factor among others which he thinks can be behind some of his listening problems

aaaaaaaCamp and Sattlewhite also suggested the listening model which has four

components The picture is shown in Figure 2 (Camp amp Satterwhite 1988 pp 64-65)

Hearing

Listening

Interpreting

Retaining

Figure 2 The Listening Model

(Camp amp Satterwhite 1988 pp 64-65)

aaaaaaa1aaHearing it is the physiological aspect of listening Hearing is non selective

process of sound waves impinging on the ear and the ear responding to those waves

that fall within a certain frequency range and are sufficiently loud For example the

listener may hear a nearby conversation or the hum of a computer without focusing on

these sounds

aaaaaaa2aaListening the act of filtering out interruptions to allow the listener to

comprehend the meaning of sounds For example when you ask someone question

then you listen for a response

aaaaaaa3aaInterpretation a mental function whereby you analyze the sounds that you

comprehended You relate your experience with what you have heard

aaaaaaa4aaRetaining the ability to recall information or the act of remembering the

interpreted sounds for later use

11

Importance of listening

aaaaaaaListening requires effort and concentration and it is difficult to know whether

someone is listening what the speaker says or not If the listeners are not ready to listen

the failure of listening will occur The importance of effective listening poor listening skills

can create serious problems For student poor listening can result in lower grades

incorrect assignments lost job opportunities etc When you are not talking or reading

mostly you are listening to something or someone

aaaaaaaThere are several language experts who support the idea of the importance of

listening that people spent most of their time on listening Wilt found that 45 percent of

communication was spent listening 30 percent speaking 16 percent reading and 9

percent writing (Hyslop amp Tone 1988 Online) The chart is shown in Figure 3 Moreover

the study of Adler amp Rodman found that college students spent average of their

communication time composed of 14 percent writing 16 percent speaking 17 percent

reading and a whopping 53 percent listening (Adler amp Rodman 1976 p 74) People

become conscious that listening is the most frequent type of communication behavior

Baker and several colleagues found that college students spend nearly half of their

communication time listening or 42-53 30-32 speaking 15-17 reading and 11-14

writing (Seiler amp Beall 1999 p 135) Because is such a routine Few people think of

developing their listening skills In fact businesses lose millions of dollars each year

because of a failure to listen to and understand customersrsquo needs Effective listeners

welcome new information and new idea to create and adapt to apply with their lives

Same to the survey of graduates from a major university who were professional and

business people all wished they had more training in listening They believed that

effective listening leads to job success (Thill amp Bovee 2002 p 117)

12

05

1015202530354045

Writing Reading Speaking Listening

Time()

Figure 3 The Communication Time of People

(Hyslop amp Tone 1988 Online)

aaaaaaaAccording to Nunan amp Miller there are four main importance of listening in

second and foreign language learning which are firstly listening is vital in the language

classroom It provides input for the learner Any learning basically cannot begin without

understanding input at the right level Secondly spoken language gives a mean of

interaction for the learner Learners must cooperate to achieve understanding access to

speakers of the language is necessary Furthermore learnersrsquo failure to understanding

the language they hear is a drive not a barrier to interaction and learning Thirdly

authentic spoken language shows a challenge for the learner to try to comprehend

language as native speakers actually use it Lastly teacher can use listening exercises

to draw learnersrsquo attention to new forms (vocabulary grammar new interaction patterns)

in the language (Nunan amp Miller 1995 p 211)

aaaaaaaThere are many levels of involvement in listening which depended on different

kinds of situations as shown in Figure 4 a continuum that runs from minimum to

maximum involvement

13

Listening for

Evaluation

Listening for

Understanding

Levels of Receiver Involvement in Various Situations LEAST

Involvement

MOST

Involvement

Listening

for Pleasure Hearing

Listening to Remember

Figure 4 Levels of Involvement in Listening Situation

(Taylor et al 1986 p 143) aaaaaaa1aaHearingrdquoHearing is little more than being in range of and receiving soundrdquo

(Taylor et al 1986 p 143) We may not pay attention to sounds we hear except calling

our attention Environmental sounds and surroundings music usually are heard not listen

to When we turn on the radio and then go to have a conversation with friends you

usually will not even become aware of hearing the sounds

aaaaaaa2aaListening for pleasure It involves more personal participation than hearing

ldquoWe receive sounds more consciously and actively decoderdquo (Taylor et al 1986 p 143)

We may listen to music to a speech or to television and radio at the level of listening for

pleasure

aaaaaaa3aaListening to understand This stage requires a upper degree of involvement

We try to understand all the messages we receive and give the feedback back to the

source of messages It usually occurs with friends and family in informal setting or in

school talking to friends and listening to professorrsquos lectures or in public communication

(Taylor et al 1986 pp 144-145)

aaaaaaa4aaListening to evaluate It needs high involvement of receiver because many

features of listening to understand involve This stage goes further than understanding

for the reason that it has to analyze the received messages to decide how credible and

meaningful they are before responding (Taylor et al 1986 p 144)

14

aaaaaaa5aaListening to remember We frequently want to remember as much as we

can at all stage of listening Remembering is essential for both understanding and

evaluation It has need of special effort to accomplish this level of receiver involvement in

listening situation (Taylor et al 1986 p 144)

aaaaaaaMoreover Rost commented that listening is used in language teaching It helps

learners to comprehend spoken language Listening is not only a critical means of

acquiring a second language but also a skill area in language performance (Rost 1990

p 7) Purpose of Listening

aaaaaaaListeners do not pay attention to everything they listen selectively according to

the purpose of the task This in turn determines the type of listening required and the

way in which listeners will approach a task According to Richards he differentiated

between an interactional and a transactional purpose for communication Interactional

use of language is socially oriented to please the social needs of the participants eg

small talk and casual conversations Therefore interactional listening is highly

contextualized and two-way involving interaction with a speaker A transactional use of

language on the other hand is more message-oriented and is used primarily to

communicate information eg news broadcasts and lectures In contrast with

interactional listening transactional listening requires correct comprehension of a

message with no opportunity for clarification with a speaker or one-way listening

(Richards 1990 unpaged) Knowing the communicative purpose of a text or utterance

will help the listener decide what to listen for and thus which processes to start As with

the advantages of knowing the context knowing the purpose for listening also really

reduces the load of comprehension since listeners know that they need to listen for

something very specific instead of trying to comprehend every word

aaaaaaaMoreover there are three general purposes of listening The first purpose is to

understand ideas When we listen to understand we listen for the main idea or central

concepts The listener seeks to identify key words and phrases that will help them to

10

aaaaaaaThis view of listening comprehension is in accordance with second-language

theory which views listening to spoken language as an active and a complex process in

which listeners focus on selected aspects of aural input construct meaning and relate

what they hear to existing knowledgerdquo (Hason 2000 Online) It should be also made

clear that learnersrsquo perceptions of their listening problems may or may not correspond to

what actually happens as different factors which the listener may not be aware of may

interact and influence learnersrsquo perceptions The listener however might identify one

factor among others which he thinks can be behind some of his listening problems

aaaaaaaCamp and Sattlewhite also suggested the listening model which has four

components The picture is shown in Figure 2 (Camp amp Satterwhite 1988 pp 64-65)

Hearing

Listening

Interpreting

Retaining

Figure 2 The Listening Model

(Camp amp Satterwhite 1988 pp 64-65)

aaaaaaa1aaHearing it is the physiological aspect of listening Hearing is non selective

process of sound waves impinging on the ear and the ear responding to those waves

that fall within a certain frequency range and are sufficiently loud For example the

listener may hear a nearby conversation or the hum of a computer without focusing on

these sounds

aaaaaaa2aaListening the act of filtering out interruptions to allow the listener to

comprehend the meaning of sounds For example when you ask someone question

then you listen for a response

aaaaaaa3aaInterpretation a mental function whereby you analyze the sounds that you

comprehended You relate your experience with what you have heard

aaaaaaa4aaRetaining the ability to recall information or the act of remembering the

interpreted sounds for later use

11

Importance of listening

aaaaaaaListening requires effort and concentration and it is difficult to know whether

someone is listening what the speaker says or not If the listeners are not ready to listen

the failure of listening will occur The importance of effective listening poor listening skills

can create serious problems For student poor listening can result in lower grades

incorrect assignments lost job opportunities etc When you are not talking or reading

mostly you are listening to something or someone

aaaaaaaThere are several language experts who support the idea of the importance of

listening that people spent most of their time on listening Wilt found that 45 percent of

communication was spent listening 30 percent speaking 16 percent reading and 9

percent writing (Hyslop amp Tone 1988 Online) The chart is shown in Figure 3 Moreover

the study of Adler amp Rodman found that college students spent average of their

communication time composed of 14 percent writing 16 percent speaking 17 percent

reading and a whopping 53 percent listening (Adler amp Rodman 1976 p 74) People

become conscious that listening is the most frequent type of communication behavior

Baker and several colleagues found that college students spend nearly half of their

communication time listening or 42-53 30-32 speaking 15-17 reading and 11-14

writing (Seiler amp Beall 1999 p 135) Because is such a routine Few people think of

developing their listening skills In fact businesses lose millions of dollars each year

because of a failure to listen to and understand customersrsquo needs Effective listeners

welcome new information and new idea to create and adapt to apply with their lives

Same to the survey of graduates from a major university who were professional and

business people all wished they had more training in listening They believed that

effective listening leads to job success (Thill amp Bovee 2002 p 117)

12

05

1015202530354045

Writing Reading Speaking Listening

Time()

Figure 3 The Communication Time of People

(Hyslop amp Tone 1988 Online)

aaaaaaaAccording to Nunan amp Miller there are four main importance of listening in

second and foreign language learning which are firstly listening is vital in the language

classroom It provides input for the learner Any learning basically cannot begin without

understanding input at the right level Secondly spoken language gives a mean of

interaction for the learner Learners must cooperate to achieve understanding access to

speakers of the language is necessary Furthermore learnersrsquo failure to understanding

the language they hear is a drive not a barrier to interaction and learning Thirdly

authentic spoken language shows a challenge for the learner to try to comprehend

language as native speakers actually use it Lastly teacher can use listening exercises

to draw learnersrsquo attention to new forms (vocabulary grammar new interaction patterns)

in the language (Nunan amp Miller 1995 p 211)

aaaaaaaThere are many levels of involvement in listening which depended on different

kinds of situations as shown in Figure 4 a continuum that runs from minimum to

maximum involvement

13

Listening for

Evaluation

Listening for

Understanding

Levels of Receiver Involvement in Various Situations LEAST

Involvement

MOST

Involvement

Listening

for Pleasure Hearing

Listening to Remember

Figure 4 Levels of Involvement in Listening Situation

(Taylor et al 1986 p 143) aaaaaaa1aaHearingrdquoHearing is little more than being in range of and receiving soundrdquo

(Taylor et al 1986 p 143) We may not pay attention to sounds we hear except calling

our attention Environmental sounds and surroundings music usually are heard not listen

to When we turn on the radio and then go to have a conversation with friends you

usually will not even become aware of hearing the sounds

aaaaaaa2aaListening for pleasure It involves more personal participation than hearing

ldquoWe receive sounds more consciously and actively decoderdquo (Taylor et al 1986 p 143)

We may listen to music to a speech or to television and radio at the level of listening for

pleasure

aaaaaaa3aaListening to understand This stage requires a upper degree of involvement

We try to understand all the messages we receive and give the feedback back to the

source of messages It usually occurs with friends and family in informal setting or in

school talking to friends and listening to professorrsquos lectures or in public communication

(Taylor et al 1986 pp 144-145)

aaaaaaa4aaListening to evaluate It needs high involvement of receiver because many

features of listening to understand involve This stage goes further than understanding

for the reason that it has to analyze the received messages to decide how credible and

meaningful they are before responding (Taylor et al 1986 p 144)

14

aaaaaaa5aaListening to remember We frequently want to remember as much as we

can at all stage of listening Remembering is essential for both understanding and

evaluation It has need of special effort to accomplish this level of receiver involvement in

listening situation (Taylor et al 1986 p 144)

aaaaaaaMoreover Rost commented that listening is used in language teaching It helps

learners to comprehend spoken language Listening is not only a critical means of

acquiring a second language but also a skill area in language performance (Rost 1990

p 7) Purpose of Listening

aaaaaaaListeners do not pay attention to everything they listen selectively according to

the purpose of the task This in turn determines the type of listening required and the

way in which listeners will approach a task According to Richards he differentiated

between an interactional and a transactional purpose for communication Interactional

use of language is socially oriented to please the social needs of the participants eg

small talk and casual conversations Therefore interactional listening is highly

contextualized and two-way involving interaction with a speaker A transactional use of

language on the other hand is more message-oriented and is used primarily to

communicate information eg news broadcasts and lectures In contrast with

interactional listening transactional listening requires correct comprehension of a

message with no opportunity for clarification with a speaker or one-way listening

(Richards 1990 unpaged) Knowing the communicative purpose of a text or utterance

will help the listener decide what to listen for and thus which processes to start As with

the advantages of knowing the context knowing the purpose for listening also really

reduces the load of comprehension since listeners know that they need to listen for

something very specific instead of trying to comprehend every word

aaaaaaaMoreover there are three general purposes of listening The first purpose is to

understand ideas When we listen to understand we listen for the main idea or central

concepts The listener seeks to identify key words and phrases that will help them to

11

Importance of listening

aaaaaaaListening requires effort and concentration and it is difficult to know whether

someone is listening what the speaker says or not If the listeners are not ready to listen

the failure of listening will occur The importance of effective listening poor listening skills

can create serious problems For student poor listening can result in lower grades

incorrect assignments lost job opportunities etc When you are not talking or reading

mostly you are listening to something or someone

aaaaaaaThere are several language experts who support the idea of the importance of

listening that people spent most of their time on listening Wilt found that 45 percent of

communication was spent listening 30 percent speaking 16 percent reading and 9

percent writing (Hyslop amp Tone 1988 Online) The chart is shown in Figure 3 Moreover

the study of Adler amp Rodman found that college students spent average of their

communication time composed of 14 percent writing 16 percent speaking 17 percent

reading and a whopping 53 percent listening (Adler amp Rodman 1976 p 74) People

become conscious that listening is the most frequent type of communication behavior

Baker and several colleagues found that college students spend nearly half of their

communication time listening or 42-53 30-32 speaking 15-17 reading and 11-14

writing (Seiler amp Beall 1999 p 135) Because is such a routine Few people think of

developing their listening skills In fact businesses lose millions of dollars each year

because of a failure to listen to and understand customersrsquo needs Effective listeners

welcome new information and new idea to create and adapt to apply with their lives

Same to the survey of graduates from a major university who were professional and

business people all wished they had more training in listening They believed that

effective listening leads to job success (Thill amp Bovee 2002 p 117)

12

05

1015202530354045

Writing Reading Speaking Listening

Time()

Figure 3 The Communication Time of People

(Hyslop amp Tone 1988 Online)

aaaaaaaAccording to Nunan amp Miller there are four main importance of listening in

second and foreign language learning which are firstly listening is vital in the language

classroom It provides input for the learner Any learning basically cannot begin without

understanding input at the right level Secondly spoken language gives a mean of

interaction for the learner Learners must cooperate to achieve understanding access to

speakers of the language is necessary Furthermore learnersrsquo failure to understanding

the language they hear is a drive not a barrier to interaction and learning Thirdly

authentic spoken language shows a challenge for the learner to try to comprehend

language as native speakers actually use it Lastly teacher can use listening exercises

to draw learnersrsquo attention to new forms (vocabulary grammar new interaction patterns)

in the language (Nunan amp Miller 1995 p 211)

aaaaaaaThere are many levels of involvement in listening which depended on different

kinds of situations as shown in Figure 4 a continuum that runs from minimum to

maximum involvement

13

Listening for

Evaluation

Listening for

Understanding

Levels of Receiver Involvement in Various Situations LEAST

Involvement

MOST

Involvement

Listening

for Pleasure Hearing

Listening to Remember

Figure 4 Levels of Involvement in Listening Situation

(Taylor et al 1986 p 143) aaaaaaa1aaHearingrdquoHearing is little more than being in range of and receiving soundrdquo

(Taylor et al 1986 p 143) We may not pay attention to sounds we hear except calling

our attention Environmental sounds and surroundings music usually are heard not listen

to When we turn on the radio and then go to have a conversation with friends you

usually will not even become aware of hearing the sounds

aaaaaaa2aaListening for pleasure It involves more personal participation than hearing

ldquoWe receive sounds more consciously and actively decoderdquo (Taylor et al 1986 p 143)

We may listen to music to a speech or to television and radio at the level of listening for

pleasure

aaaaaaa3aaListening to understand This stage requires a upper degree of involvement

We try to understand all the messages we receive and give the feedback back to the

source of messages It usually occurs with friends and family in informal setting or in

school talking to friends and listening to professorrsquos lectures or in public communication

(Taylor et al 1986 pp 144-145)

aaaaaaa4aaListening to evaluate It needs high involvement of receiver because many

features of listening to understand involve This stage goes further than understanding

for the reason that it has to analyze the received messages to decide how credible and

meaningful they are before responding (Taylor et al 1986 p 144)

14

aaaaaaa5aaListening to remember We frequently want to remember as much as we

can at all stage of listening Remembering is essential for both understanding and

evaluation It has need of special effort to accomplish this level of receiver involvement in

listening situation (Taylor et al 1986 p 144)

aaaaaaaMoreover Rost commented that listening is used in language teaching It helps

learners to comprehend spoken language Listening is not only a critical means of

acquiring a second language but also a skill area in language performance (Rost 1990

p 7) Purpose of Listening

aaaaaaaListeners do not pay attention to everything they listen selectively according to

the purpose of the task This in turn determines the type of listening required and the

way in which listeners will approach a task According to Richards he differentiated

between an interactional and a transactional purpose for communication Interactional

use of language is socially oriented to please the social needs of the participants eg

small talk and casual conversations Therefore interactional listening is highly

contextualized and two-way involving interaction with a speaker A transactional use of

language on the other hand is more message-oriented and is used primarily to

communicate information eg news broadcasts and lectures In contrast with

interactional listening transactional listening requires correct comprehension of a

message with no opportunity for clarification with a speaker or one-way listening

(Richards 1990 unpaged) Knowing the communicative purpose of a text or utterance

will help the listener decide what to listen for and thus which processes to start As with

the advantages of knowing the context knowing the purpose for listening also really

reduces the load of comprehension since listeners know that they need to listen for

something very specific instead of trying to comprehend every word

aaaaaaaMoreover there are three general purposes of listening The first purpose is to

understand ideas When we listen to understand we listen for the main idea or central

concepts The listener seeks to identify key words and phrases that will help them to

12

05

1015202530354045

Writing Reading Speaking Listening

Time()

Figure 3 The Communication Time of People

(Hyslop amp Tone 1988 Online)

aaaaaaaAccording to Nunan amp Miller there are four main importance of listening in

second and foreign language learning which are firstly listening is vital in the language

classroom It provides input for the learner Any learning basically cannot begin without

understanding input at the right level Secondly spoken language gives a mean of

interaction for the learner Learners must cooperate to achieve understanding access to

speakers of the language is necessary Furthermore learnersrsquo failure to understanding

the language they hear is a drive not a barrier to interaction and learning Thirdly

authentic spoken language shows a challenge for the learner to try to comprehend

language as native speakers actually use it Lastly teacher can use listening exercises

to draw learnersrsquo attention to new forms (vocabulary grammar new interaction patterns)

in the language (Nunan amp Miller 1995 p 211)

aaaaaaaThere are many levels of involvement in listening which depended on different

kinds of situations as shown in Figure 4 a continuum that runs from minimum to

maximum involvement

13

Listening for

Evaluation

Listening for

Understanding

Levels of Receiver Involvement in Various Situations LEAST

Involvement

MOST

Involvement

Listening

for Pleasure Hearing

Listening to Remember

Figure 4 Levels of Involvement in Listening Situation

(Taylor et al 1986 p 143) aaaaaaa1aaHearingrdquoHearing is little more than being in range of and receiving soundrdquo

(Taylor et al 1986 p 143) We may not pay attention to sounds we hear except calling

our attention Environmental sounds and surroundings music usually are heard not listen

to When we turn on the radio and then go to have a conversation with friends you

usually will not even become aware of hearing the sounds

aaaaaaa2aaListening for pleasure It involves more personal participation than hearing

ldquoWe receive sounds more consciously and actively decoderdquo (Taylor et al 1986 p 143)

We may listen to music to a speech or to television and radio at the level of listening for

pleasure

aaaaaaa3aaListening to understand This stage requires a upper degree of involvement

We try to understand all the messages we receive and give the feedback back to the

source of messages It usually occurs with friends and family in informal setting or in

school talking to friends and listening to professorrsquos lectures or in public communication

(Taylor et al 1986 pp 144-145)

aaaaaaa4aaListening to evaluate It needs high involvement of receiver because many

features of listening to understand involve This stage goes further than understanding

for the reason that it has to analyze the received messages to decide how credible and

meaningful they are before responding (Taylor et al 1986 p 144)

14

aaaaaaa5aaListening to remember We frequently want to remember as much as we

can at all stage of listening Remembering is essential for both understanding and

evaluation It has need of special effort to accomplish this level of receiver involvement in

listening situation (Taylor et al 1986 p 144)

aaaaaaaMoreover Rost commented that listening is used in language teaching It helps

learners to comprehend spoken language Listening is not only a critical means of

acquiring a second language but also a skill area in language performance (Rost 1990

p 7) Purpose of Listening

aaaaaaaListeners do not pay attention to everything they listen selectively according to

the purpose of the task This in turn determines the type of listening required and the

way in which listeners will approach a task According to Richards he differentiated

between an interactional and a transactional purpose for communication Interactional

use of language is socially oriented to please the social needs of the participants eg

small talk and casual conversations Therefore interactional listening is highly

contextualized and two-way involving interaction with a speaker A transactional use of

language on the other hand is more message-oriented and is used primarily to

communicate information eg news broadcasts and lectures In contrast with

interactional listening transactional listening requires correct comprehension of a

message with no opportunity for clarification with a speaker or one-way listening

(Richards 1990 unpaged) Knowing the communicative purpose of a text or utterance

will help the listener decide what to listen for and thus which processes to start As with

the advantages of knowing the context knowing the purpose for listening also really

reduces the load of comprehension since listeners know that they need to listen for

something very specific instead of trying to comprehend every word

aaaaaaaMoreover there are three general purposes of listening The first purpose is to

understand ideas When we listen to understand we listen for the main idea or central

concepts The listener seeks to identify key words and phrases that will help them to

13

Listening for

Evaluation

Listening for

Understanding

Levels of Receiver Involvement in Various Situations LEAST

Involvement

MOST

Involvement

Listening

for Pleasure Hearing

Listening to Remember

Figure 4 Levels of Involvement in Listening Situation

(Taylor et al 1986 p 143) aaaaaaa1aaHearingrdquoHearing is little more than being in range of and receiving soundrdquo

(Taylor et al 1986 p 143) We may not pay attention to sounds we hear except calling

our attention Environmental sounds and surroundings music usually are heard not listen

to When we turn on the radio and then go to have a conversation with friends you

usually will not even become aware of hearing the sounds

aaaaaaa2aaListening for pleasure It involves more personal participation than hearing

ldquoWe receive sounds more consciously and actively decoderdquo (Taylor et al 1986 p 143)

We may listen to music to a speech or to television and radio at the level of listening for

pleasure

aaaaaaa3aaListening to understand This stage requires a upper degree of involvement

We try to understand all the messages we receive and give the feedback back to the

source of messages It usually occurs with friends and family in informal setting or in

school talking to friends and listening to professorrsquos lectures or in public communication

(Taylor et al 1986 pp 144-145)

aaaaaaa4aaListening to evaluate It needs high involvement of receiver because many

features of listening to understand involve This stage goes further than understanding

for the reason that it has to analyze the received messages to decide how credible and

meaningful they are before responding (Taylor et al 1986 p 144)

14

aaaaaaa5aaListening to remember We frequently want to remember as much as we

can at all stage of listening Remembering is essential for both understanding and

evaluation It has need of special effort to accomplish this level of receiver involvement in

listening situation (Taylor et al 1986 p 144)

aaaaaaaMoreover Rost commented that listening is used in language teaching It helps

learners to comprehend spoken language Listening is not only a critical means of

acquiring a second language but also a skill area in language performance (Rost 1990

p 7) Purpose of Listening

aaaaaaaListeners do not pay attention to everything they listen selectively according to

the purpose of the task This in turn determines the type of listening required and the

way in which listeners will approach a task According to Richards he differentiated

between an interactional and a transactional purpose for communication Interactional

use of language is socially oriented to please the social needs of the participants eg

small talk and casual conversations Therefore interactional listening is highly

contextualized and two-way involving interaction with a speaker A transactional use of

language on the other hand is more message-oriented and is used primarily to

communicate information eg news broadcasts and lectures In contrast with

interactional listening transactional listening requires correct comprehension of a

message with no opportunity for clarification with a speaker or one-way listening

(Richards 1990 unpaged) Knowing the communicative purpose of a text or utterance

will help the listener decide what to listen for and thus which processes to start As with

the advantages of knowing the context knowing the purpose for listening also really

reduces the load of comprehension since listeners know that they need to listen for

something very specific instead of trying to comprehend every word

aaaaaaaMoreover there are three general purposes of listening The first purpose is to

understand ideas When we listen to understand we listen for the main idea or central

concepts The listener seeks to identify key words and phrases that will help them to

14

aaaaaaa5aaListening to remember We frequently want to remember as much as we

can at all stage of listening Remembering is essential for both understanding and

evaluation It has need of special effort to accomplish this level of receiver involvement in

listening situation (Taylor et al 1986 p 144)

aaaaaaaMoreover Rost commented that listening is used in language teaching It helps

learners to comprehend spoken language Listening is not only a critical means of

acquiring a second language but also a skill area in language performance (Rost 1990

p 7) Purpose of Listening

aaaaaaaListeners do not pay attention to everything they listen selectively according to

the purpose of the task This in turn determines the type of listening required and the

way in which listeners will approach a task According to Richards he differentiated

between an interactional and a transactional purpose for communication Interactional

use of language is socially oriented to please the social needs of the participants eg

small talk and casual conversations Therefore interactional listening is highly

contextualized and two-way involving interaction with a speaker A transactional use of

language on the other hand is more message-oriented and is used primarily to

communicate information eg news broadcasts and lectures In contrast with

interactional listening transactional listening requires correct comprehension of a

message with no opportunity for clarification with a speaker or one-way listening

(Richards 1990 unpaged) Knowing the communicative purpose of a text or utterance

will help the listener decide what to listen for and thus which processes to start As with

the advantages of knowing the context knowing the purpose for listening also really

reduces the load of comprehension since listeners know that they need to listen for

something very specific instead of trying to comprehend every word

aaaaaaaMoreover there are three general purposes of listening The first purpose is to

understand ideas When we listen to understand we listen for the main idea or central

concepts The listener seeks to identify key words and phrases that will help them to

15

summarize the concepts being discussed The second purpose is to retain information

Once the listeners are able to focus your attention on what another person is saying and

they are able to understand what the person has said they are ready to move their

listening to the next level which called ldquoListening to retainrdquo If you retain what you hear

you must learn The last purpose is to analyze and evaluate content This purpose is

greater skill than retention When listener learns to analyze and evaluate content

successfully the learner can find the gaps in the arguments and statements the listener

encounters during interpersonal communication (Gamble amp Gamble 1987 pp 91-96) Listening Problems

aaaaaaaAcquiring EFL listening skills is one of the most difficult tasks for any learners

According to study of Hason and Osada can be summarized into 5 main listening

problems related to the speaker as follows (Hason 2000 Online) (Osada 2004 Online)

aaaaaaa1aaIt is difficult to understand natural speech which is full of hesitation and

pauses The learners usually get used to listening to tape cassettes teacherrsquos speech

which slower and easier than the natural speech in real life

aaaaaaa2aaIt is difficult to understand the meaning of words which are not pronounced

clearly such as the word ldquothe teacherrdquo and ldquoT-shirtrdquo

aaaaaaa3aaIt is difficult to understand the meaning of the spoken text without seeing the

speakerrsquos body language Most people want to see the mouth of the speaker to catch the

pronunciation and translate the meaning of words or see the body language like the

hands eyes to get the meaning

aaaaaaa4aaIt is difficult to understand well when speakers speak too fast The listeners

especially L2 learners try to catch every word therefore they cannot get the main idea

aaaaaaa5aaIt is difficult to understand well when speakers speak with varied accents

Learners tend to be used to their teacherrsquos accent or to the standard variety of British or

American English They find it is quite hard to understand speakers with other accents

aaaaaaaFrom the study of many researchers about listening problems related to the

listener can be concentrated in to ten main problems as follows

16

aaaaaaa1aaListeners cannot control the speed of the deliveryrdquo Many English language

learners believe that the greatest difficulty with listening comprehension is listeners

cannot control how quickly a speaker speaks (Osada 2004 Online)

aaaaaaa2aaListeners cannot always have words repeated This is a serious problem

because the listeners cannot replay the speech Itrsquos hard for the speakers to judge

whether the listeners understand what they say or not (Osada 2004 Online)

aaaaaaa3aaListeners have a limited vocabulary The speaker may focus on the words

the listener does not know and it can make the listeners to miss the next part of the

speech (Osada 2004 Online)

aaaaaaa4aaListeners may fail to recognize the signal which indicates that the speaker

is moving from one point to another giving example or repeating a point The listeners

can notice some markers like ldquosecondlyrdquo or ldquothenrdquo the body language the different

intonation and the gestures (Osada 2004 Online)

aaaaaaa5aaListeners may lack related knowledge If the listeners have some relevant

knowledge then it can make the communication easier (Osada 2004 Online)

aaaaaaa6aaIt can be difficult for the listeners to concentrate in a foreign language

Students sometimes feel listening is very tiring even if they are interested because it

requires a strong effort to follow the meaning (Osada 2004 Online)

aaaaaaa7aaListeners may have their own certain habits such as wish to understand

every word By tradition teachers want students to understand every word they hear by

repeating and pronouncing words carefully and slowly Therefore students tend to

become worried if they fail to understand a particular words or phrases and they will feel

bored and tired to dealing with listening (Hason 2000 Online)

aaaaaaa8aaListeners are out listening It means you let your mind wander to things You

do not remember what the speaker actually said but you remember what you think the

speaker probably said (Thill amp Bovee 2002 pp 121-123)

aaaaaaa9aaPrejudgment It is the most common barrier Most people must have some

assumption in their mind They try to defend other personrsquos opinions or views They think

that every comment as a personal attack (Thill amp Bovee 2002 pp 121-123)

17

aaaaaaa10aaSelf-centeredness It causes people to take control of conversation rather

than listening to what is being said They think that they know more than the speaker and

determine to prove it (Thill amp Bovee 2002 pp 121-123)

Listening Strategies

aaaaaaaListening ability like speaking reading and writing abilities can be improved

There are some guidelines which should be of considerable value if followed According

to the study of DeVito there are six listening strategies as follows (DeVito 1978 pp 145-

153)

aaaaaaa1aaListening for recognition It is not a passive activity it is not a process that

will happen if we simply do nothing to stop it We may hear without effort but we cannot

listen without effort Listening is a difficult process In speaking we can control the

situation we can talk about what we like in the way we like In listening however we are

forced to follow the pace the content and the language set by the speaker Perhaps the

best preparation for active listening is to act like an active listener

aaaaaaa2aaListening for the total meaning The total meaning is not only in the words

used but also in the nonverbal behavior of the speaker Listen for main ideas

connections between ideas and important details Listen answers to these questions

related to the topic Who What Where Why How

aaaaaaa3aaListening with empathy The listener needs to feel what the speaker feels

we need to empathize with the speaker If the listeners understand the feeling of what

speakers say then the listeners can easily understand the real intended meaning of the

speakers aaaaaaa4aaListening with an open mind It is not easy to do or listen to criticisms of

what we think is just great If the listeners cannot accept the otherrsquos opinions then the

listeners will try to avoid listening which makes them not understand the meaning of the

message

18

aaaaaaa5aaTaking selective notes To remind your remembrance and the key words

that helping your understanding This strategy is very useful for the listeners especially

the students who study second language They can look at the note whenever they want

aaaaaaa6aaAsking questions The listener can ensure your own understanding of the

speakerrsquos thoughts and feelings by using this technique However your questions should

support the speakerrsquos feelings and thoughts and confirm your interest

aaaaaaaIn addition from the study of Noonan there are two more strategies of EFL

listening as follows (Noonan 2005 Online)

aaaaaaa1aaSpending more time to practice The person who takes time to practice

language the more knowledge and improvement they gain Moreover the person who

has confidence will be easier to practice English and develop their listening and

speaking skills quickly

aaaaaaa2aaBehaving like a good listener such as stop talking listener cannot listen

when you are talking Listener will only be thinking about what you are going to say next

instead of paying attention to what the other person is trying to say consciously focus

the attention on the speaker pay attention to the speakers do not interrupt allow plenty

of time for the speaker to convey ideas and meaning Be courteous and give the speaker

adequate time to present the full message concentrate on what is being said react to

the idea expressed and look at a speaker

aaaaaaaBesides EFL listeners can use following websites on the internet to practice their

listening skills by listening to online TV or radio stations which offer online broadcast

aaaaaaa1aaBBC This site provides information on frequency and program schedule for

learning English through BBC radio program (httpwwwbbccoukworldservice

learningenglishradioindexshtml)

aaaaaaa2aaCNN This site offers free viewing of news videos on the international edition

of the cnncom site (httpeditioncnncomvideo)

aaaaaaa3aaVoice of America Choose NewsNow for live broadcasts Try the Special

English section and click on the Feature scripts (httpwwwvoagov)

aaaaaaaIf the language learners want to practice their listening on the internet the

16

aaaaaaa1aaListeners cannot control the speed of the deliveryrdquo Many English language

learners believe that the greatest difficulty with listening comprehension is listeners

cannot control how quickly a speaker speaks (Osada 2004 Online)

aaaaaaa2aaListeners cannot always have words repeated This is a serious problem

because the listeners cannot replay the speech Itrsquos hard for the speakers to judge

whether the listeners understand what they say or not (Osada 2004 Online)

aaaaaaa3aaListeners have a limited vocabulary The speaker may focus on the words

the listener does not know and it can make the listeners to miss the next part of the

speech (Osada 2004 Online)

aaaaaaa4aaListeners may fail to recognize the signal which indicates that the speaker

is moving from one point to another giving example or repeating a point The listeners

can notice some markers like ldquosecondlyrdquo or ldquothenrdquo the body language the different

intonation and the gestures (Osada 2004 Online)

aaaaaaa5aaListeners may lack related knowledge If the listeners have some relevant

knowledge then it can make the communication easier (Osada 2004 Online)

aaaaaaa6aaIt can be difficult for the listeners to concentrate in a foreign language

Students sometimes feel listening is very tiring even if they are interested because it

requires a strong effort to follow the meaning (Osada 2004 Online)

aaaaaaa7aaListeners may have their own certain habits such as wish to understand

every word By tradition teachers want students to understand every word they hear by

repeating and pronouncing words carefully and slowly Therefore students tend to

become worried if they fail to understand a particular words or phrases and they will feel

bored and tired to dealing with listening (Hason 2000 Online)

aaaaaaa8aaListeners are out listening It means you let your mind wander to things You

do not remember what the speaker actually said but you remember what you think the

speaker probably said (Thill amp Bovee 2002 pp 121-123)

aaaaaaa9aaPrejudgment It is the most common barrier Most people must have some

assumption in their mind They try to defend other personrsquos opinions or views They think

that every comment as a personal attack (Thill amp Bovee 2002 pp 121-123)

17

aaaaaaa10aaSelf-centeredness It causes people to take control of conversation rather

than listening to what is being said They think that they know more than the speaker and

determine to prove it (Thill amp Bovee 2002 pp 121-123)

Listening Strategies

aaaaaaaListening ability like speaking reading and writing abilities can be improved

There are some guidelines which should be of considerable value if followed According

to the study of DeVito there are six listening strategies as follows (DeVito 1978 pp 145-

153)

aaaaaaa1aaListening for recognition It is not a passive activity it is not a process that

will happen if we simply do nothing to stop it We may hear without effort but we cannot

listen without effort Listening is a difficult process In speaking we can control the

situation we can talk about what we like in the way we like In listening however we are

forced to follow the pace the content and the language set by the speaker Perhaps the

best preparation for active listening is to act like an active listener

aaaaaaa2aaListening for the total meaning The total meaning is not only in the words

used but also in the nonverbal behavior of the speaker Listen for main ideas

connections between ideas and important details Listen answers to these questions

related to the topic Who What Where Why How

aaaaaaa3aaListening with empathy The listener needs to feel what the speaker feels

we need to empathize with the speaker If the listeners understand the feeling of what

speakers say then the listeners can easily understand the real intended meaning of the

speakers aaaaaaa4aaListening with an open mind It is not easy to do or listen to criticisms of

what we think is just great If the listeners cannot accept the otherrsquos opinions then the

listeners will try to avoid listening which makes them not understand the meaning of the

message

18

aaaaaaa5aaTaking selective notes To remind your remembrance and the key words

that helping your understanding This strategy is very useful for the listeners especially

the students who study second language They can look at the note whenever they want

aaaaaaa6aaAsking questions The listener can ensure your own understanding of the

speakerrsquos thoughts and feelings by using this technique However your questions should

support the speakerrsquos feelings and thoughts and confirm your interest

aaaaaaaIn addition from the study of Noonan there are two more strategies of EFL

listening as follows (Noonan 2005 Online)

aaaaaaa1aaSpending more time to practice The person who takes time to practice

language the more knowledge and improvement they gain Moreover the person who

has confidence will be easier to practice English and develop their listening and

speaking skills quickly

aaaaaaa2aaBehaving like a good listener such as stop talking listener cannot listen

when you are talking Listener will only be thinking about what you are going to say next

instead of paying attention to what the other person is trying to say consciously focus

the attention on the speaker pay attention to the speakers do not interrupt allow plenty

of time for the speaker to convey ideas and meaning Be courteous and give the speaker

adequate time to present the full message concentrate on what is being said react to

the idea expressed and look at a speaker

aaaaaaaBesides EFL listeners can use following websites on the internet to practice their

listening skills by listening to online TV or radio stations which offer online broadcast

aaaaaaa1aaBBC This site provides information on frequency and program schedule for

learning English through BBC radio program (httpwwwbbccoukworldservice

learningenglishradioindexshtml)

aaaaaaa2aaCNN This site offers free viewing of news videos on the international edition

of the cnncom site (httpeditioncnncomvideo)

aaaaaaa3aaVoice of America Choose NewsNow for live broadcasts Try the Special

English section and click on the Feature scripts (httpwwwvoagov)

aaaaaaaIf the language learners want to practice their listening on the internet the

17

aaaaaaa10aaSelf-centeredness It causes people to take control of conversation rather

than listening to what is being said They think that they know more than the speaker and

determine to prove it (Thill amp Bovee 2002 pp 121-123)

Listening Strategies

aaaaaaaListening ability like speaking reading and writing abilities can be improved

There are some guidelines which should be of considerable value if followed According

to the study of DeVito there are six listening strategies as follows (DeVito 1978 pp 145-

153)

aaaaaaa1aaListening for recognition It is not a passive activity it is not a process that

will happen if we simply do nothing to stop it We may hear without effort but we cannot

listen without effort Listening is a difficult process In speaking we can control the

situation we can talk about what we like in the way we like In listening however we are

forced to follow the pace the content and the language set by the speaker Perhaps the

best preparation for active listening is to act like an active listener

aaaaaaa2aaListening for the total meaning The total meaning is not only in the words

used but also in the nonverbal behavior of the speaker Listen for main ideas

connections between ideas and important details Listen answers to these questions

related to the topic Who What Where Why How

aaaaaaa3aaListening with empathy The listener needs to feel what the speaker feels

we need to empathize with the speaker If the listeners understand the feeling of what

speakers say then the listeners can easily understand the real intended meaning of the

speakers aaaaaaa4aaListening with an open mind It is not easy to do or listen to criticisms of

what we think is just great If the listeners cannot accept the otherrsquos opinions then the

listeners will try to avoid listening which makes them not understand the meaning of the

message

18

aaaaaaa5aaTaking selective notes To remind your remembrance and the key words

that helping your understanding This strategy is very useful for the listeners especially

the students who study second language They can look at the note whenever they want

aaaaaaa6aaAsking questions The listener can ensure your own understanding of the

speakerrsquos thoughts and feelings by using this technique However your questions should

support the speakerrsquos feelings and thoughts and confirm your interest

aaaaaaaIn addition from the study of Noonan there are two more strategies of EFL

listening as follows (Noonan 2005 Online)

aaaaaaa1aaSpending more time to practice The person who takes time to practice

language the more knowledge and improvement they gain Moreover the person who

has confidence will be easier to practice English and develop their listening and

speaking skills quickly

aaaaaaa2aaBehaving like a good listener such as stop talking listener cannot listen

when you are talking Listener will only be thinking about what you are going to say next

instead of paying attention to what the other person is trying to say consciously focus

the attention on the speaker pay attention to the speakers do not interrupt allow plenty

of time for the speaker to convey ideas and meaning Be courteous and give the speaker

adequate time to present the full message concentrate on what is being said react to

the idea expressed and look at a speaker

aaaaaaaBesides EFL listeners can use following websites on the internet to practice their

listening skills by listening to online TV or radio stations which offer online broadcast

aaaaaaa1aaBBC This site provides information on frequency and program schedule for

learning English through BBC radio program (httpwwwbbccoukworldservice

learningenglishradioindexshtml)

aaaaaaa2aaCNN This site offers free viewing of news videos on the international edition

of the cnncom site (httpeditioncnncomvideo)

aaaaaaa3aaVoice of America Choose NewsNow for live broadcasts Try the Special

English section and click on the Feature scripts (httpwwwvoagov)

aaaaaaaIf the language learners want to practice their listening on the internet the

18

aaaaaaa5aaTaking selective notes To remind your remembrance and the key words

that helping your understanding This strategy is very useful for the listeners especially

the students who study second language They can look at the note whenever they want

aaaaaaa6aaAsking questions The listener can ensure your own understanding of the

speakerrsquos thoughts and feelings by using this technique However your questions should

support the speakerrsquos feelings and thoughts and confirm your interest

aaaaaaaIn addition from the study of Noonan there are two more strategies of EFL

listening as follows (Noonan 2005 Online)

aaaaaaa1aaSpending more time to practice The person who takes time to practice

language the more knowledge and improvement they gain Moreover the person who

has confidence will be easier to practice English and develop their listening and

speaking skills quickly

aaaaaaa2aaBehaving like a good listener such as stop talking listener cannot listen

when you are talking Listener will only be thinking about what you are going to say next

instead of paying attention to what the other person is trying to say consciously focus

the attention on the speaker pay attention to the speakers do not interrupt allow plenty

of time for the speaker to convey ideas and meaning Be courteous and give the speaker

adequate time to present the full message concentrate on what is being said react to

the idea expressed and look at a speaker

aaaaaaaBesides EFL listeners can use following websites on the internet to practice their

listening skills by listening to online TV or radio stations which offer online broadcast

aaaaaaa1aaBBC This site provides information on frequency and program schedule for

learning English through BBC radio program (httpwwwbbccoukworldservice

learningenglishradioindexshtml)

aaaaaaa2aaCNN This site offers free viewing of news videos on the international edition

of the cnncom site (httpeditioncnncomvideo)

aaaaaaa3aaVoice of America Choose NewsNow for live broadcasts Try the Special

English section and click on the Feature scripts (httpwwwvoagov)

aaaaaaaIf the language learners want to practice their listening on the internet the

19

following sites are designed especially for non-native speakers of English They may

have graded activities transcripts exercises and answers

aaaaaaa1aaESLnotescom This website offers notes and English language resources

for movies (httpwwweslnotescom)

aaaaaaa2aaEveryday English in Conversation Try a variety of everyday conversation

topics with scripts (httpwwwfocusenglishcomdialogues conversationhtml)

aaaaaaa3aaLearn English by the British Council Listen to songs read lyrics and do

activities (httpwwwlearnenglishorguksongsindexasp)

aaaaaaa4aaCharles Kellys Quizzes Based on VOAs Special English Programs

Program scripts audio files and grammarvocabulary quizzes are based on Voice of

Americas Special English programs A variety of topics are offered

(httpwwwmanythingsorgvoa) aaaaaaaMoreover another researcher recommended the dissimilar strategy for instance

paired listening in second language (L2) listening instruction (Fernandez-Toro 2005 p

4) The EFL teachers can implement this strategy for their instructions Listening to

recording allows listeners to control the tape by going back to difficult parts of the

message This approach can help reduce anxiety because responsibility for the task is

shared with a partner The method also gives the learners the chance to cooperate in

order to learn more efficiently through shared scaffolding The theory of scaffolding was

proposed by Evelyn Hatch refers to the cooperative attempt between learners and their

interlocutors in building discourse (Ellis 2002 p 48) This principle helps the learners to

listen to the message and then produce utterance they would not be able to produce on

their own

Related Studies

aaaaaaaMany researchers studied EFL listening in many aspects There were three main

research areas which related with this study They concerned about importance of

listening listening problems and listening strategies

20

Listening Comprehension

aaaaaaaMany people consider listening is an essential skill when compare with other

skills for instance writing reading speaking This idea was supported by the study of

Petchkij The study showed the problems of ward nurses in private hospitals in Bangkok

in communicating English with foreign patients It revealed that listening is the important

aspect to achieve their communications The researcher pointed that most samples

spent most of their times on listening to instruction management of conflict routine

information exchange advising small group communication persuading giving orders

and public speaking From the findings speaking and listening skills are the skills most

frequently used by nurses to accomplish their work objectives (Petchkij 2001 p 21)

The answer might result from peoplersquos awareness According to the communication a

vital part of our every life it mostly involves with oral communication which composed of

listening and speaking Every activity and situation in oral communication concerned with

listening begins since we were born Most people assume that listening is an automatic

they can hear or can listen all the times but in speaking they cannot Consequently

listening becomes the critical skill for the communication Listening Problems

aaaaaaaTo acquire EFL listening skill language learners have to encounter with many

problems which correlated with the study of Pengsritong about problems of English

listening of Ramkhamheang University students The findings indicated that the

experience in using English showed the difference in listening results and the frequency

in practicing listening skills of students show the difference in listening results

(Pengsritong 2001 Online)

aaaaaaaIn addition Hason studied the difficulties of listening and discovered that some

problems in listening are related to the speed of delivery and the language used by the

speaker Since these are outside the learners control the learner cannot keep up with

the speaker Consequently the listener fails to understand the whole meaning of the text

21

Being unfamiliar with the sounds stress and intonation of naturally spoken English the

learner also faces obstacles especially if the speaker has a different accent (Hason

2000 Online)

aaaaaaaOther problems are due to a lack of concentration distractions inside and

outside the classroom the tendency of the listener to try to understand every thing in the

listening text

Listening Strategies aaaaaaaThere are many strategies for language learners to utilize in order to develop

their listening According to the study of Tienttaeng-Ngam about the communicative

strategies of foreign exchange officers it showed that the subjects applied many

listening strategies such as observation to customersrsquo body language asking questions

asking customers to speak slowly Repeating what customers say to ensure mutual

understanding and writing down messages to show to customers (Tienttaeng-Ngam

2001 pp 72-73)

aaaaaaaBesides other researchers also suggested other dissimilar strategy which is

watching DVDs or soundtrack movies Joochim Ratchaneeladdachit amp Janyakulwong

studied on the impacts of reaching EFL listening through DVD-based films It was found

that students statistically improved their listening ability and their attitudes toward

learning listening through the innovative teaching method were very positive The finding

suggested that DVD-based films are helpful for studentsrsquo listening improvement The

researcher has used DVDs to help students learn how to express themselves orally in

English (Joochim Ratchaneeladdachit amp Janyakulwong 2006 pp 42-49)

aaaaaaaMoreover another researcher Elvin studied about listening in English with

English subtitles it was the most popular choice among my students Students showed

significant improvement in listening and reading comprehension as well as word

remembrance and vocabulary acquisition (Elvin 2004 Online) Moreover the survey

investigated studentsrsquo preferred audio and subtitle options and sequences for studying

aural English using DVD when a repeated viewing strategy is employed The finding

22

reveals that almost all of the students want to listen to English every time the DVD is

played

aaaaaaaOn the other hand the problems such as subtitles that shown on the screen are

not the same as what is being said can occur The students feel worry about specific

words and phrases students want to read and listen for general understanding at the

same time Sometimes it is hard to know that the students understand the meaning

through the listening or through reading the subtitles or just looking the visuals

(Helgesen 2004 unpaged)

aaaaaaaBased on the findings of some researchers they proposed the guidelines of

listening activities for solving learnersrsquo problems of listening comprehension which is very

useful for EFL teachers They consisted of three stages as follows (Hason 2000 Online)

(Pospieszynska 2000 Online)

aaaaaaa1aaPre-listening

aaaaaaaIn real life situations a listener almost always knows in advance what is going to

be said who is speaking or what the subject is going to be about The pre-listening

stage helps learners to find out the aim of listening and provides the background

information

aaaaaaaaaaaaDiscussion starting a discussion about the topic (possibly based on

visuals and titles) then let the students think about a suitable topic of conversation and

the teacher encourages them to exchange ideas and opinions about the topic

aaaaaaaaabaaPrediction asking the students to predict the content or what speakers

are going to say based on the information in discussion section

aaaaaaaaacaaQuestions guessing and preparing some questions to be answered

during listening to the passage

Aaaaaaa2aaWhile-listening or listening in progress

aaaaaaaThis stage concerned about all tasks that students are asked to do during the

listening to the text

aaaaaaaaaaaaIdentifying the idea students jot down main points and key words

23

aaaaaaaaabaaIdentifying features of natural input students listen to natural oral

discourse They are asked to classify stress patterns intonation etc aaaaaaaaacaaFilling in gaps while listening to a dialogue students hear only the

utterances of one speaker and are asked to write down the word or sentence

aaaaaaaaadaaFilling in blanks of a transcript of a spoken text with the words missing

(eg lyrics of a song) aaaaaaaaaeaaInformation search listening for specific items eg answer a particular

question from the pre-listening stage

aaaaaaa3aaPost-listening

aaaaaaaThe post-listening stage includes all the exercises which are completed after

listening to the text

aaaaaaaaaaaaEvaluation students answer true-false questions or multiple-choice

questions as an evaluation of their understanding

aaaaaaaaabaaSpeaking students act as a role play or interview on topics related to the

text

aaaaaaaaacaaWriting students write postcards letters etc on topics related to the text

aaaaaaaTo summarize accessing to the target language is not the simply exploit of EFL

learners Therefore the learners have to realize the importance of listening skill Their

capacity to arouse the learnersrsquo motivation and their potential to engage the learners in a

variety of fruitful activities and listening development strategies related to aural

perception in the target language can hardly be denied It is therefore the language

learners who want to develop their listening skill should analysis their listening problems

first and then apply the appropriate strategies to be proper with their learning style

which could lead the learner to be more successful in the communication world

• COVER
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
• Abstract
• CONTENT
• CHAPTER I
• CHAPTER II
• CHAPTER III
• CHAPTER IV
• CHAPTER V
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• APPENDIX
• BIOGRAPHY

21

Being unfamiliar with the sounds stress and intonation of naturally spoken English the

learner also faces obstacles especially if the speaker has a different accent (Hason

2000 Online)

aaaaaaaOther problems are due to a lack of concentration distractions inside and

outside the classroom the tendency of the listener to try to understand every thing in the

listening text

Listening Strategies aaaaaaaThere are many strategies for language learners to utilize in order to develop

their listening According to the study of Tienttaeng-Ngam about the communicative

strategies of foreign exchange officers it showed that the subjects applied many

listening strategies such as observation to customersrsquo body language asking questions

asking customers to speak slowly Repeating what customers say to ensure mutual

understanding and writing down messages to show to customers (Tienttaeng-Ngam

2001 pp 72-73)

aaaaaaaBesides other researchers also suggested other dissimilar strategy which is

watching DVDs or soundtrack movies Joochim Ratchaneeladdachit amp Janyakulwong

studied on the impacts of reaching EFL listening through DVD-based films It was found

that students statistically improved their listening ability and their attitudes toward

learning listening through the innovative teaching method were very positive The finding

suggested that DVD-based films are helpful for studentsrsquo listening improvement The

researcher has used DVDs to help students learn how to express themselves orally in

English (Joochim Ratchaneeladdachit amp Janyakulwong 2006 pp 42-49)

aaaaaaaMoreover another researcher Elvin studied about listening in English with

English subtitles it was the most popular choice among my students Students showed

significant improvement in listening and reading comprehension as well as word

remembrance and vocabulary acquisition (Elvin 2004 Online) Moreover the survey

investigated studentsrsquo preferred audio and subtitle options and sequences for studying

aural English using DVD when a repeated viewing strategy is employed The finding

22

reveals that almost all of the students want to listen to English every time the DVD is

played

aaaaaaaOn the other hand the problems such as subtitles that shown on the screen are

not the same as what is being said can occur The students feel worry about specific

words and phrases students want to read and listen for general understanding at the

same time Sometimes it is hard to know that the students understand the meaning

through the listening or through reading the subtitles or just looking the visuals

(Helgesen 2004 unpaged)

aaaaaaaBased on the findings of some researchers they proposed the guidelines of

listening activities for solving learnersrsquo problems of listening comprehension which is very

useful for EFL teachers They consisted of three stages as follows (Hason 2000 Online)

(Pospieszynska 2000 Online)

aaaaaaa1aaPre-listening

aaaaaaaIn real life situations a listener almost always knows in advance what is going to

be said who is speaking or what the subject is going to be about The pre-listening

stage helps learners to find out the aim of listening and provides the background

information

aaaaaaaaaaaaDiscussion starting a discussion about the topic (possibly based on

visuals and titles) then let the students think about a suitable topic of conversation and

the teacher encourages them to exchange ideas and opinions about the topic

aaaaaaaaabaaPrediction asking the students to predict the content or what speakers

are going to say based on the information in discussion section

aaaaaaaaacaaQuestions guessing and preparing some questions to be answered

during listening to the passage

Aaaaaaa2aaWhile-listening or listening in progress

aaaaaaaThis stage concerned about all tasks that students are asked to do during the

listening to the text

aaaaaaaaaaaaIdentifying the idea students jot down main points and key words

23

aaaaaaaaabaaIdentifying features of natural input students listen to natural oral

discourse They are asked to classify stress patterns intonation etc aaaaaaaaacaaFilling in gaps while listening to a dialogue students hear only the

utterances of one speaker and are asked to write down the word or sentence

aaaaaaaaadaaFilling in blanks of a transcript of a spoken text with the words missing

(eg lyrics of a song) aaaaaaaaaeaaInformation search listening for specific items eg answer a particular

question from the pre-listening stage

aaaaaaa3aaPost-listening

aaaaaaaThe post-listening stage includes all the exercises which are completed after

listening to the text

aaaaaaaaaaaaEvaluation students answer true-false questions or multiple-choice

questions as an evaluation of their understanding

aaaaaaaaabaaSpeaking students act as a role play or interview on topics related to the

text

aaaaaaaaacaaWriting students write postcards letters etc on topics related to the text

aaaaaaaTo summarize accessing to the target language is not the simply exploit of EFL

learners Therefore the learners have to realize the importance of listening skill Their

capacity to arouse the learnersrsquo motivation and their potential to engage the learners in a

variety of fruitful activities and listening development strategies related to aural

perception in the target language can hardly be denied It is therefore the language

learners who want to develop their listening skill should analysis their listening problems

first and then apply the appropriate strategies to be proper with their learning style

which could lead the learner to be more successful in the communication world

• COVER
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
• Abstract
• CONTENT
• CHAPTER I
• CHAPTER II
• CHAPTER III
• CHAPTER IV
• CHAPTER V
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• APPENDIX
• BIOGRAPHY

22

reveals that almost all of the students want to listen to English every time the DVD is

played

aaaaaaaOn the other hand the problems such as subtitles that shown on the screen are

not the same as what is being said can occur The students feel worry about specific

words and phrases students want to read and listen for general understanding at the

same time Sometimes it is hard to know that the students understand the meaning

through the listening or through reading the subtitles or just looking the visuals

(Helgesen 2004 unpaged)

aaaaaaaBased on the findings of some researchers they proposed the guidelines of

listening activities for solving learnersrsquo problems of listening comprehension which is very

useful for EFL teachers They consisted of three stages as follows (Hason 2000 Online)

(Pospieszynska 2000 Online)

aaaaaaa1aaPre-listening

aaaaaaaIn real life situations a listener almost always knows in advance what is going to

be said who is speaking or what the subject is going to be about The pre-listening

stage helps learners to find out the aim of listening and provides the background

information

aaaaaaaaaaaaDiscussion starting a discussion about the topic (possibly based on

visuals and titles) then let the students think about a suitable topic of conversation and

the teacher encourages them to exchange ideas and opinions about the topic

aaaaaaaaabaaPrediction asking the students to predict the content or what speakers

are going to say based on the information in discussion section

aaaaaaaaacaaQuestions guessing and preparing some questions to be answered

during listening to the passage

Aaaaaaa2aaWhile-listening or listening in progress

aaaaaaaThis stage concerned about all tasks that students are asked to do during the

listening to the text

aaaaaaaaaaaaIdentifying the idea students jot down main points and key words

23

aaaaaaaaabaaIdentifying features of natural input students listen to natural oral

discourse They are asked to classify stress patterns intonation etc aaaaaaaaacaaFilling in gaps while listening to a dialogue students hear only the

utterances of one speaker and are asked to write down the word or sentence

aaaaaaaaadaaFilling in blanks of a transcript of a spoken text with the words missing

(eg lyrics of a song) aaaaaaaaaeaaInformation search listening for specific items eg answer a particular

question from the pre-listening stage

aaaaaaa3aaPost-listening

aaaaaaaThe post-listening stage includes all the exercises which are completed after

listening to the text

aaaaaaaaaaaaEvaluation students answer true-false questions or multiple-choice

questions as an evaluation of their understanding

aaaaaaaaabaaSpeaking students act as a role play or interview on topics related to the

text

aaaaaaaaacaaWriting students write postcards letters etc on topics related to the text

aaaaaaaTo summarize accessing to the target language is not the simply exploit of EFL

learners Therefore the learners have to realize the importance of listening skill Their

capacity to arouse the learnersrsquo motivation and their potential to engage the learners in a

variety of fruitful activities and listening development strategies related to aural

perception in the target language can hardly be denied It is therefore the language

learners who want to develop their listening skill should analysis their listening problems

first and then apply the appropriate strategies to be proper with their learning style

which could lead the learner to be more successful in the communication world

• COVER
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
• Abstract
• CONTENT
• CHAPTER I
• CHAPTER II
• CHAPTER III
• CHAPTER IV
• CHAPTER V
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• APPENDIX
• BIOGRAPHY

23

aaaaaaaaabaaIdentifying features of natural input students listen to natural oral

discourse They are asked to classify stress patterns intonation etc aaaaaaaaacaaFilling in gaps while listening to a dialogue students hear only the

utterances of one speaker and are asked to write down the word or sentence

aaaaaaaaadaaFilling in blanks of a transcript of a spoken text with the words missing

(eg lyrics of a song) aaaaaaaaaeaaInformation search listening for specific items eg answer a particular

question from the pre-listening stage

aaaaaaa3aaPost-listening

aaaaaaaThe post-listening stage includes all the exercises which are completed after

listening to the text

aaaaaaaaaaaaEvaluation students answer true-false questions or multiple-choice

questions as an evaluation of their understanding

aaaaaaaaabaaSpeaking students act as a role play or interview on topics related to the

text

aaaaaaaaacaaWriting students write postcards letters etc on topics related to the text

aaaaaaaTo summarize accessing to the target language is not the simply exploit of EFL

learners Therefore the learners have to realize the importance of listening skill Their

capacity to arouse the learnersrsquo motivation and their potential to engage the learners in a

variety of fruitful activities and listening development strategies related to aural

perception in the target language can hardly be denied It is therefore the language

learners who want to develop their listening skill should analysis their listening problems

first and then apply the appropriate strategies to be proper with their learning style

which could lead the learner to be more successful in the communication world

• COVER
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
• Abstract
• CONTENT
• CHAPTER I
• CHAPTER II
• CHAPTER III
• CHAPTER IV
• CHAPTER V
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• APPENDIX
• BIOGRAPHY