THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG

UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH

4112792 - RESEARCH METHODS

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

An investigation into the difficulties and solutions to enhance English Listening

Comprehension skills for 2nd year students of the English Department - University of
Foreign Languages - Danang University

Word count: 1130 words

We declare that this submission is wholly our own work

Class: [PPNCKH-04]
Group: [9]
Group members:
Nguyễn Anh Chi
Lê Khánh Linh
Nguyễn Thị Hiếu Thiện
Nguyễn Ngân Thương
1. Introduction
1.1 Rationale
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). If the input is comprehensible, it would lead
to improvement of other aspects of language such as pronunciation, speaking , even
reading and writing (Anderson and Lynch, 1988). As a result, according to Pourhosein
Gilakjani and Sabouri (2016), Listening Comprehension is one of the most important
skills in English language learning.
However, Listening comprehension is a complicated and interdependent process.
Hamouda (2013) emphasized that comprehending speech is very difficult activity for
students.
This study is conducted to investigate the current difficulties and propose solutions to
improve English Listening skills for 2nd year students of the English Department -
University of Foreign Languages - Danang University.
1.2 Aims and objectives
1.2.1 Aims
This study aims to investigate the difficulties. Then, propose some solutions for 2nd year
students of the English Department – University of Foreign Languages – Danang
University to help them find appropriate methods and improve their Listening skill.
1.2.2 Objectives
The research is carried out to point out the challenges that second year students of the
English Department – University of Foreign Languages – Danang University are facing in
the process of learning Listening skills. The research goals include:
- To identify the factors that affect students’ Listening Comprehension skill.
- To figure out the difficulties while studying Listening Comprehesion skill.
- To suggest some effective solutions.
1.3 Research questions
1. What factors affect the Listening Comprehension skill of 2nd year English department
students at UFLS?
2. What are the difficulties encountered in the process of listening to English by the
second-year students of the English Faculty at UFLS?
3. What is the solution to help students improve their English Listening skills?
2. Literature review
2.1. Theoretical background
2.1.1. What is the definition of Listening Comprehension skill.
Listening skill contributes to your ability to receive information or sound accurately,
understand the messages conveyed in the information you hear, and evaluate all these
sounds when communicating with others. Underwood (1989) simplified the definition of
listening to "the activity of paying attention to and trying to get meaning from something
we hear". Mendelsohn (1994) defines listening comprehension as- the ability to
understand the spoken language of native speakers''. Purdy (1997) defined listening as
"the active and dynamic process of attending, perceiving, interpreting, remembering, and
 responding to the expressed (verbal and nonverbal), needs, concerns, and information
offered by other human beings". Thomlison (1984) defines listening as, “Active listening,
which is very important for effective communication”.
2.2. Previous studies
According to Hamouda (2013), EFL learners have crucial problems in listening
comprehension because universities pay attention to grammar, reading, and vocabulary.
Listening and speaking skills are not significant parts of many books and teachers do not
consider these skills in their classes. According to H.V. Sau & D.C. Dat (2020), Learning
methods in high schools do not focus on listening skills, and activities in the pre-listening
stage during lessons are not yet effective and diverse which leads to difficulties for
students when learning this skill.
This claim is supported by Underwood (1989), who stated that inability to concentrate "is
a major problem because even the shortest break in attention can seriously impair
comprehension." Besides, Flowerdew and Miller (1992) indicated difficulty in
concentration and maintaining concentration for a long time.
Another problem is the difficulty to listen with native speakers. Listen to native speakers
when they speak different accents and their intonation is different from what students
learned. According to Goh (1999), one of the most important aspects affecting listener
comprehension is a speaker's accent. Unfamiliar accents, both native and non-native, can
cause major listening comprehension problems, whereas familiarity with an accent
improves a learner’s comprehension. According to Buck (2001) indicates that when
listeners hear an unfamiliar accent such as Indian English for the first time after studying
only American English will encounter critical difficulties in listening.
Furthermore, according to Goh (1999) the most common problems faced by students in
listening in the order of frequency are quickly forgetting what is heard , not recognizing
the words they know, understanding the message but not the intended message, neglecting
next part while thinking about meaning, unabling to form a mental representation from
words heard. According to Gilakjani and Sabouri (2016), some factors may cause
difficulties in the listening process. They include listeners’ lack of control of speakers’
rate of speech, length of the passage, listeners’ failure to recognize words or phrases in the
passage, listeners’ insufficient contextual knowledge, and pronunciation of words that are
quite different from what listeners might expect from the spelling.

3. Research design
3.1. Sample and Sampling technique
The population of this study will be all second-year students in the University of Foreign
Languages - Da Nang. The researcher will need to make a list of from a population of the
second- year students at UFLS by name, then number them in the list. The next step, we
will use the random method which is to use the random function of the computer to select
the population into 30 samples.

3.2. Instrument
In this study, we will conduct a quantitative research approach in the form of a questionnaire.
A questionnaire titled “ an investigation into the difficulties and solutions to improve English
ListeningComprehension skills for 2nd year students of the English Department - University
of Foreign Languages - Danang University” will be used to get information from students.
The questionnaire will consist of 21 questions with response options: Strongly Agree (SA),
Agree (A), Neither agree nor disagree, Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD).
In which, questions 1-3 will be about personal information (age, class,...), questions 4-7 are
factors affect students’ Listening skills, questions 8- 14 are mainly about difficulties in
learning English, questions 15-21 are solutions to help Improve your ability to listen and
understand English.

3.2.1. Reliability
We will give the same questionnaire to the subjects for them to answer at one point in
time, and then compare the responses to assess the consist of the test results.
3.2.2. Validity
To ensure the validity of the study, we will discuss with teacher who understands our
topic and goes through our questionnaire, literature review to make certain their clarity
and relevance. She will review our questionnaire to guarantee it captures the theme under
investigation, identifying any questions that are difficult to understand or leading. This
enables us use correct grammar and apply them appropriately so as not to impact the
research result.
3.3. Provisional produce of data collection
In this research, we will design a questionnaire on Google Form software. We will
disseminate the link via social networking sites (Facebook,Zalo, Instagram, Teams) to
those people. As forecast, responses from participants will be collected and completed
within approximately 2 days from the date of distribution.
4. References
Hamouda, A. (2013). An Investigation of Listening Comprehension Problems
Encountered by Saudi Students in the EL Listening Classroom. International Journal of
Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development 2(2), 113-15.
Anderson, A., and Lynch, T. (1988). Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Goh, C. (1999). Teaching Listening in the Language Classroom. Singapore: SEAMEO
Regional Language Centre.
Buck, G. (2001). Assessing Listening. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Mendelsohn, D. (1994). Learning to listen: A strategy-based approach for the second-
language learner. San Diego, CA: Dominie Press
Thomlison, T. D. (1984). Relational Listening: Theoretical and Practical Considerations.
Annual Meeting of the International Listening Association
 APPENDIX

(The range of tables below are used to assess the degree of difficulties of learning
Listening skills. Each statement is ranged in different degrees: strongly agree, agree,
neither agree nor disagree, disagree, and strongly disagree)

1. What factors affect students’ Listening skills?

Neither
Strongl agree Strongly
Agree Disagree
y agree nor disagree
disagree
You inhibited by the language
barriers.
You lose motivation and interest
in Listening skills.
You lack study and practice
facilities.
Listening skills are not
emphasized in the lower grades

2. What are some problems that students encounter in the process of listening to English?

Neither
Strongly agree Strongly
Agree Disagree
agree nor disagree
disagree
You easily lose focus while
listening.
You can not understand when the
speakers use a local accent.
You find it difficulty to
remember information from the
speaker.
You can not keep up with the
speaker’s speed.
You can not hear when the
speaker is linking sounds and
elision.
You have a limited vocabulary
 about the topic the speaker
mentioned.
You find it difficult to analyze
questions before listening.

3. What is the solution to help students improve their English Listening skills?

Strongly Agree Neither Disagree Strongly

agree agree disagree
nor
disagree
Actively listening helps you
avoid distractions.
Taking a lot with local people
helps you improve my Listening
comprehension.
Practicing summarizing listening
content helps you improve my
note-taking ability.
Choosing suitable material
enables you to increase my
listening speed.
Learning the IPA table enables
you distinguish and hear words
clearly.
Learning vocabulary by the topic
and context allows you to expand
your knowledge.
Analyzing the questions in detail
and underlining key words before
listening allows you to track
better.