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perspective, solve problems and successfully utilize the personnel in-charge of the Learning Center who
steps and processes presented in this training will depend administered the test, most students were not able to get the
significantly on how effectively we are able to required passing mark for the listening part. Students got an
communicate with others (Windle and Warren, 1999). At average score of 180 over 495. By 2020, RMUTL requires
present, people are drawn closer with the use of technology all graduating students to get at least 500 TOEIC marks as
like face time, video chat and the like. It requires real time it will serve as their exit exam from the university.
face-to-face interaction, which uses listening and speaking
skills. This research is designed to investigate English listening
comprehension problems of EIC students of RMUTL. One
English as we all know is the common language used way to help students develop their listening skills is to
internationally for communication. Along with the identify and highlight areas where learners have listening
realization of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), the difficulties.
importance of the English language is highlighted
especially here in Thailand, and to the rest of the ASEAN
member state, as English will be the lingua franca within
the community. With the rise in the number of English 2. Objectives of the Study
users, English language teaching professionals have
This study has two objectives:
increased. The demand for English proficiency among
students is rising. To cope with the demands for English 1. To determine listening comprehension problems
skills, the Ministry of Education funded programs and encountered by Thai English learners related to
projects such as English Development Program (EDP), the listening texts, the speaker, and the listener.
which were adapted, modified and implemented by schools
and universities. Though programs have been implemented,
2. To identify listening strategies used by Thai
Thailand is still low in English language proficiency.
English Learners in improving their listening
comprehension problems.
In spite of the fact that students having studied the basic
elements of English from kindergarten to university levels,
particularly in grammar and vocabulary, their listening and 3. Methodology
speaking are still generally weak compared to other
ASEAN member state. The Nation (June 2014), reported This study was conducted at Rajamangala University of
that within the ASEAN countries, Thailand is among the Technology Lanna (RMUTL), Phitsanulok Campus, in
bottom three with an average score of 76 followed by May 2014.
Cambodia and Laos with an average score of 69 and 68
The respondents were Thai students taking Bachelor of
respectively.
Arts in English for International Communication (EIC)
under the Faculty of Business Administration and Liberal
In a country where English is learned as a foreign language, Arts (BALA), RMUTL, Phitsanulok, Campus. At the time
EFL learners are less exposed to listening materials. of study, 30 students were randomly selected from second
Listening lags behind other skills though listening skills are to fourth year to participate in the study. There were 7
also of crucial importance in language acquisition. Low males and 23 females, from ages 19 to 23.
level learners of the EFL have problems in listening
comprehension and listening seems the most demanding The respondents underwent a video demo class and a real
demo class in a length of 15 minutes each on a separate
skills. Most educators test listening and consider it as a
time and day. The researcher used a questionnaire
product without regarding the processes and skills through developed based on the study made by Sriprom (2011), as
which listening takes place. Unfortunately, teachers, related for the purpose of the study. The Questionnaires
especially in EFL contexts, often are not aware about the were distributed to the respondents after having attended
process of listening and learners’ problems in listening the last demonstration class and were collected by the
comprehension. As a result, the common practice in the researcher right after the students finished answering.
class is that teachers and educators focus on the outcome of Data gathered were collated and tabulated. Descriptive
statistics (frequency and percentile) were used to analyze
the listening rather than listening itself i.e. the process of the data.
listening (Rezaei & Hashim, 2013).
4. Results and Discussion
The researcher focused on listening comprehension rather
than other skills resulting from the low scores from the pre- The result of the study will be presented in three main
TOEIC mock test held in January 2014. According to the parts:
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A Research paper presented and submitted to the University of the Cordilleras, Baguio City, Philippines 2014
Sriprom (2011) stated in her study that the process of Listening deals with almost all walks of life and many
studying English in the Thai education system still places learners find it more difficult to listen to a recording than to
less emphasis on listening and speaking skills and put more read the same message on a written page because the
emphasis on the use of grammar, writing and reading skills. listening passage comes directly into the ear, whereas
She also observed that English is taught by having students reading material can be read as many times as the reader
memorize new words and sentence structures and then prefers to read it.
responding to the teacher only when called upon. In
addition, most Thai English teachers use Thai in explaining Table 1 shows listening problems related to listening text.
English grammar rules. Therefore, students have less The respondents felt the problem with the highest
opportunity to listen and speak English resulting to having percentage were unfamiliar vocabulary and difficult
poor listening and speaking skills. grammar structure at 90%, followed by unfamiliar
situations (87%), long spoken text (83%), and slang and
4.1 English Listening Comprehension Problems idiomatic expression (77%).
Listening is an active process which we receive, that is to Saengpakdeejit (2014) stated that vocabulary learning plays
hear and understand what a speaker has spoken. It involves an important role in language teaching especially in the
more than just hearing sounds. A listener cannot remain context where English is taught as a foreign language. The
passive while listening. A listener has to react to what he or reason she mentioned is that lexical competence is now
she listens in order to comprehend the meaning of what is seen as the heart of language learning and the ultimate goal
spoken. In order to acquire listening skills, background of language teaching is to improve the language
knowledge is vital because it leads to the awareness competence of learners. Vocabulary has been recognized as
towards a particular topic. As they listen further, they make an important factor for language learning because
expectations and add on their own judgment to be more insufficient vocabulary knowledge leads the learners to
competent listeners. Thai students may face difficult encounter difficulties in language learning. Learners can
problems in listening comprehension due to many factors. significantly improve their language competence by
It may involve: 1) the listener; 2) the speaker; 3) the content developing their ability to use vocabulary learning
of the message; and 4) any accompanying visual support strategies (VLSs).
(Grognet and Van Duzer 2003).
Thai students tend to just respond with a smile whenever
In this study the respondents were requested to complete they cannot comprehend what the speaker is talking about.
the questionnaires indicating listening problems in three In Thai culture, questioning authority is very impolite. In
main areas: the listening text, the speaker, and the listener. the classroom, students nearly never ask questions to their
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A Research paper presented and submitted to the University of the Cordilleras, Baguio City, Philippines 2014
teachers. It is implied that even students didn’t understand difficulty in understanding different accents from different
the lesson or the subject, they will never ask a question speakers at 90%, difficulty in understanding speakers with
even when they are encouraged to do so. Thus, pushing the a lot of pauses and hesitations (87%), difficulty in
understanding speakers using reduced form such as gonna
students to ask question equates to encouraging them to be
(going to), wanna (want to) etc. (83%), difficulty in
impolite. understanding without seeing the speakers’ body language
and difficulty in listening and understanding unclear
In Thai education system, students are taught to focus much pronunciation (80%).
on memorization of grammar rules and vocabulary. As a
result, students have better reading and writing skills than Pronunciation instruction has sometimes been neglected in
oral and listening skills. According to Oxford University most EFL classroom. In another word, it is not given much
studies (One Stop English), adopting a maximum student attention by the teacher in the classroom. In EFL
curriculum in Thailand, spoken English has been played
talk time will help to re-balance this issue.
through these following main contents: language for
communication, language and culture, language and
Table 2. Listening Comprehension Problems Related to relationship with other learning areas and language and
the Speaker relationship with community and the world (Ministry of
Education 2001).
Agree Dis- Total
Statements agree According to Yule (1998), most Thai schools prefer
N % N % N % “farang” (foreigner) teachers due to more informal teaching
styles but also because a speaker of the native tongue can
1. Difficult to listen and address pronunciation issues in a way non-native speaker
understand unclear 24 80 6 20 30 100 cannot. Scott (2006) added that lifetime knowledge of
pronunciation. conversational English is more relevant than the rigid,
sometimes rarely used vocabulary and structure used in
textbooks. Primarily the main problem Thai students are
2. Difficult to understand facing is that the Thai alphabet is entirely different to the
native speakers speaking 28 93 2 7 30 100 Roman alphabet. Opportunely, Roman alphabet is taught in
at a normal speed. Matthayum (secondary school) so most Thais are familiar
with Roman scripts. There is a problem though in the
Romanization for Sanskrit names in Thailand that many
3. Difficult to understand foreigners find confusing and that Thai learners of English
speakers using reduced 30 100 may find it confusing as well. For example:
25 83 5 17
form such as gonna
(going to), wanna (want Thai word Romanized word Pronunciation
to) etc.
สุ วรรณภูมิ Suvarnabhumi su-wan-na-phum
ศรี นคริ นทร์ Srinagarindra si-nakha-rin
4. Difficult to understand
speakers with full of 26 87 4 13 30 100 Another problem is that, Thai speakers often have problems
pauses and hesitations. in pronouncing /r/, /l/, /v/, /w/, /s/, /z/. For example:
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A Research paper presented and submitted to the University of the Cordilleras, Baguio City, Philippines 2014
Table 3. Listening Comprehension Problems Related to language. Forms for numbers, gender, case or person when
the Listener used as nouns or verbs do not change, instead separate
words are used. Inflection confuses Thai students. In the
Agree Dis- Total subject-verb-object structure, the subject and object are
agree often left out in Thai. Thai learners tend to apply this to
Statements N % N % N % English so sentences are rendered with no subject or object.
Articles are not used in Thai noun phrases so adjectives
1. Difficult to get a
general understanding 27 90 3 10 30 100 occur after a modified noun. Many adjectives in Thai act as
from the first listening. verbs which can lead the student to omit the verb (e.g. that
food good).
2. Lack of background
knowledge on difficult 25 83 5 17 30 100 Thai students need to hear a lot of English words before
topics. they can develop a feel for the sounds of English. Teaching
aids such as pictures, video materials, tape recordings etc.
3. Poor grammar 27 90 3 10 30 100 serves as a motivation and provides positive reinforcement
knowledge.
in the classroom (Mohamad 2013).
4. Lack of listening 24 80 6 20 30 100
strategies and listening According to Van de Bogart (2006), role play and
skill training conversation provides the learner with a quick reference by
which he/she familiarizes himself or herself with specific
5. Concentrating on every 23 77 7 23 30 100 situation of the English language.
detail to get the main idea
4.2 Strategies Used by Students to Resolve their
6. It is more difficult to Listening Comprehension Problems
listen to a recording than 26 87 4 13 30 100
listening to my teacher.
Table 4 Strategies Used by Students to Resolve their
7. I feel worried when I Listening Comprehension Problems
don’t understand what I 23 77 7 23 30 100
hear. Strategies N (30) % (100)
30% of the respondents claim to have been using English to word or new words frightened them. Students suggested
communicate. that teachers should use basic vocabulary while introducing
new words.
The British Council stated that singing songs and watching
movies are great ways to get better at listening and Difficult topics encouraged students to be lazy. One
speaking English. Songs and movies are very popular to observation made is that, when students cannot follow the
topic, they would just relax and fall asleep in class. Of the
teenagers. Pearson Education (2011) also confirmed that
respondents, 50% suggested that teachers should choose
listening to songs, watching TV programs, films and news interesting topics and that teachers should not just stick to
are common and effective strategies for teaching and the material but instead provide more fun activities.
reviewing grammar, vocabulary (including idioms and
useful expressions), pronunciation, culture and social British materials and books are widely used here in
issues. Most importantly it is a great tool to improve Thailand. Thus, 27% of the respondents suggested the use
listening and reading comprehension skills. of both American and British listening materials for them to
get used with the American and British vocabulary,
idiomatic expressions and terms.
Watthajaukiat, Chatupote, and Sukseemuang (2012),
recommended that cognitive (e.g. using grammar or prior
knowledge, and summarizing), and metacognitive (e.g.
practicing intonation and pronunciation, practicing listening Related to the Speaker
to news, and reviewing in advance) strategy training should
be exercised since they have great influence on listening Table 6 Opinions and Suggestions to Resolve the
comprehension. Listening Comprehension Problems related to the
speaker
4.3 Opinions and Suggestions to Resolve the Listening
Comprehension Problems Total
Statements
N (30) % (100)
After analyzing the collected data from the questionnaire
and with the gathered information from the respondents, the
problems and suggestion in the open-ended questions are 1. Teachers should talk at a reduced 28 93
discussed as follows: speed during the first few meetings.
Total
Statements Students complained about the speed of speech of the
N (30) %(100)
teachers. Students think that most foreign teachers speak
too fast and that they cannot catch up with what the
1. Teachers should use basic teachers are talking about. Ninety three percent (93%) of
vocabularies while introducing new 19 63 the respondents suggested that during first meetings,
words. teachers should slow down their speed.
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A Research paper presented and submitted to the University of the Cordilleras, Baguio City, Philippines 2014
and a British teacher confused the students and can obstruct to translate English grammatical structures with the aid of
their listening comprehension. In some cases students do electronic dictionary, most of the time the translation states
not only have difficulties in understanding teachers’ different ideas. Seven percent (7%) of the respondents
pronunciation and intonation but it also includes accent. suggested that application of the learned grammar rules
The foreign teachers (native speakers and non-native should be integrated in the listening skills.
speakers) have different accents. Despite of the difficulty in
making adjustments to their hearing, 83% of the Students admitted that they don’t have much time to
respondents said they were grateful having different practice English in everyday life. The students are also
exposures to accents, pronunciation and intonation from thankful for having foreign teachers to whom they practice
their different teachers. their English skills. Twenty nine percent (29%) of the
respondents think that fun activities such as English games
in class, more listening activities such as listening to
English songs and guided English movie class, English
Related to the Listener Camps, and excursion abroad should be offered to enhance
and develop their listening comprehension skills and their
Table 7 Opinions and Suggestions to Resolve the English skills as a whole.
Listening Comprehension Problems related to the
listener
Other Related Problems
Total
Statements
N (30) % (100) Problems regarding physical environment such as soft
voice of some teachers and technical problems with the
sound systems and equipments affects their listening
1. For the students with low or less comprehension. Ten percent (10%) of the respondents
background of English, teachers 7 23 suggested the use of microphone when teaching and the
should be more patient in repeating constant checking of the conditions of the sound system
difficult lessons. might help in their listening comprehension development.
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A Research paper presented and submitted to the University of the Cordilleras, Baguio City, Philippines 2014
Based on the results of the study, the authors’ [8] Khamkhien, A. 2010. Thai Learner’s English
recommendation is for EFL teachers to raise learners’ Pronunciation Comptence: Lesson Learned from Word
awareness about different listening skills in their listening
Stress Assignment. Academy Publisher, Finland
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The study focused merely on problems students Journal of Language Teaching Research, Vol1, No.6
encountered on listening comprehension. Further study pp.771-775.
should be conducted on teaching strategies implemented by
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Alexandria.
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speaking.
[12] Ministry of Education, (2001) retrieved from
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A Research paper presented and submitted to the University of the Cordilleras, Baguio City, Philippines 2014
[13] Mohamad Ali N. 2013) A study on Problems Faced [20] Underwood, M. 1989. Teaching listening. Longman,
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A Research paper presented and submitted to the University of the Cordilleras, Baguio City, Philippines 2014
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