English Listening Skills

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background to the study

Nowadays, English becomes one of the most important foreign language. To be good at English, it requires everyone to master four skills (reading, speaking, writing, and listening). Among these skills, listening plays an important role in communication as it is said that, of the total time spent on communicating, listening takes up 40-50%; speaking, 25-30%; reading, 11-16%; and writing, about 9% (Mendelsohn, 1994). And its role is also proven by many other researchers. For instance, Harmer (2007, p.133) affirms that: “It is worth remembering that successful spoken communication depends not just on our ability to speak, but also on the effectiveness of the way we listen”. Likewise, according

However, most of studies focus on students at high schools and universities as well as young learners (children). How about students at the secondary schools? Their English level at this stage also affects their English studying process when they continue studying at high schools and universities. And in listening section, whether students are satisfied or dissatisfied with their teachers’ using bottom-up strategies to teach English listening skill. Therefore, I would like to set the first footstep towards the matters by investigating secondary students’ attitudes towards their teachers’ using bottom-up strategies to teach English listening skill. In this study, I will deliver a small-scale survey for students in two classes in grade 7 in order to find the answers for the research questions and set a foundation for further research into this

While direct strategies (specific ways that involve use of language) include: memory, cognitive and compensation strategies, indirect strategies (do not directly involve using the language, but they support language learning) divided into metacognitive, affective, and social strategies. These types of LSs are illustrated in detail in Appendix 3.Among these listening strategies, O‘Malley and Chamot (1990) claimed three main types of strategies: meta-cognitive, cognitive and social strategies. The cognitive strategies are related to comprehending and storing input in working memory or long-term memory for later retrieval. They are investigated from the aspects of bottom-up strategies, top-down strategies. In this paper, the researcher will focus on teachers’ using bottom-up strategies to teach listening