FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROBLEMS EFL ...

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As indicated in chapter one, before this study was started, there was an assumption that (1) Ethiopian students learn EFL listening at the lower classes and (2) college students are experienced with EFL listening activities. From the data obtained through the questionnaire, however, many of the subjects reported their experiences which seem to sharply contradict with the above assumptions. Thus, cross-checking questions were asked to cross-examine the reliability of the data obtained from the questionnaire. Q1: Before you joined the university, what experiences did you have in gaining listening skills? • Did you get opportunities to practice listening skills? If that was so, in what way? - What kind of listening activities did you practice? - Were you exposed to the native speaker English? Most of the interviewees reported that they have deep-rooted difficulties of EFL listening for the reason that they didn’t practice it at lower classes. Different students gave different reasons for this case. One learner (S1) reported that she didn’t practice EFL listening while she was in high school. This was because her English teacher always skipped over the listening lessons of the textbook “My English teacher used to skip over the listening lesson whenever he got to the lesson.” The other learner’s (S2) blame his poor listening performance on his rural background and on lack of access to resources of the EFL listening, “I came from rural area where there was no DS-TV or video that can help me to practice the EFL listening.” The researcher got some students who went through EFL listening practices while they were at high schools. The EFL listening experiences of these students was, however, based on the teachers’ ‘reading aloud’. Therefore, they have not been exposed to the native speaker English. The reason they presented for this case is that they did not get opportunity to be acquainted with the speech of the native speakers. This can be one factor which makes the students unfamiliar with the natural feature of spoken English. 55
Q2: After you joined a university, particularly at the time you were taking the listening course, when and how much time did you practice listening, in and outside the class? • What kinds of listening tasks did you do in class? • Were the listening tasks you did in the course (FLEE 105) similar to the ones you had done in the English classes of your high schools? All participants reported that they spent about two hours a week practicing listening in the language laboratory. The researcher got only three students whose average time of practicing listening outside class was 3 days a week and 40 minutes a day. Among whom, one was a student who had a personal habit of listening to English music and the other two were students who had a habit of watching movies. However, the remaining students reported that they never practice listening outside class. Their reason for not doing this was lack of opportunity to do so. The researcher disagrees with this idea to the fact that this reason was not true. At least, there is DS-TV in the auditorium of the University which gives 24-hour free service for all students. Students were asked to report the kinds of listening tasks they do in the listening classes, and some of the tasks mentioned by the students are summarized as follows. In the listening course, there were activities in which the students were made to listen to a recorded interview (of native speakers) and then to carry out various tasks (such as, multiple choice, filling the blank, matching), to listen to a recorded ‘real life’ conversation (of native speakers) and then to carryout various tasks, to listen to a recorded story or an incident and to fill charts, and transfer information, to listen to a recorded speech of BBC and to answer comprehension questions, to listen to live English radio broadcasts and to report it to the class, and to listen to live BBC television news and to write the summary of the news, etc,. Many of the interviewees reported that these listening tasks they carried out in the listening course were quite different from the listening practice they experienced in the English classes of their high schools. Some students also reported that their listening difficulty of understanding the native speech was related to the impact of their past experience of listening at lower levels. Some of such students reported that their difficulties of understanding 56
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ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF
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ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to exp
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3. Methods of the Study------------
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LIST OF TABLES Table-1: Factors rel
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ABSTRACT This study explores the fa
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laboratories of the university. The
Page 15 and 16: same course to different groups. Fu
Page 17 and 18: speakers speak, not being able to g
Page 19 and 20: Chapter Two: Review of Related Lite
Page 21 and 22: descriptions concerning the influen
Page 23 and 24: years (Penny Ur, Mary Underwood, Fa
Page 25 and 26: From the above points it seems reas
Page 27 and 28: of main clause and subordinate clau
Page 29 and 30: problem. She says that perception o
Page 31 and 32: given, rate, and pacing of informat
Page 33 and 34: It is obvious that students will fi
Page 35 and 36: sounds that are unusual to the L2 l
Page 37 and 38: epetitions and other elaborations a
Page 39 and 40: part of the speech.” This tells t
Page 41 and 42: These factors are important not onl
Page 43 and 44: Samuels, 1994; Ur, 1984; Underwood,
Page 45 and 46: statements arranged, on the basis o
Page 47 and 48: is the cognitive complexity of the
Page 49 and 50: However, to make the analysis easil
Page 51 and 52: Item No. partly due to the structur
Page 53 and 54: particular, unfamiliar words, compl
Page 55 and 56: Item No. Table-2b shows that the ma
Page 57 and 58: Item No. Students’ No. Never Stud
Page 59 and 60: Item No. students. In the Ethiopian
Page 61 and 62: grammar, its vocabulary, all the pi
Page 63 and 64: organized into four categories acco
Page 65: The target students were asked to i
Page 69 and 70: also reported, “What I have learn
Page 71 and 72: input, activating related schemata,
Page 73 and 74: from his poor listening ability: "I
Page 75 and 76: of delivery of the native speakers.
Page 77 and 78: egarding his approach in the teachi
Page 79 and 80: necessary skills and knowledge of E
Page 81 and 82: headphones for each student, and th
Page 83 and 84: 4.6.1 The Listening Materials As sh
Page 85 and 86: for the teaching of listening and t
Page 87 and 88: 5. The listening material introduce
Page 89 and 90: Strength of the module 1. The modul
Page 91 and 92: the skills and the strategies again
Page 93 and 94: 4.6.2.2 Achievement scores in ‘Co
Page 95 and 96: Chapter Five Summary, Conclusion an
Page 97 and 98: Speaker 21. the pronunciation of na
Page 99 and 100: which pose the most difficulty for
Page 101 and 102: context of the discourse before ask
Page 103 and 104: Bibliography Asher, J. (1969) 'The
Page 105 and 106: Oxford, Rebecca (1993) Research Upd
Page 107 and 108: APPENDIX-A Questionnaire Dear stude
Page 109 and 110: APPENDIX-B Students Interview Guide
Page 111 and 112: Item No. APPENDIX-D Observation che
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FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROBLEMS EFL ...

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