TAY DO UNIVERSITY

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY

(Logo Đại Học Tây Đô)

Research paper

An investigation into factors causing

difficulties in listening of English Juniors
at Tay Do University

Supervisor: Student:

Dang Thi Bao Dung,Ph.D Vo Thi Ngoc Thom

Pham Thi Hong Nhung

Nguyen Thi Cam Quynh

Class: English 15B

April, 2023
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to the teachers of the Faculty of Foreign Languages,
Tay Do University for imparting valuable knowledge to me and enabling me to complete this research.
Next, I would like to thank my classmates in 15A and 15B who enthusiastically participated in the survey
and commented. In particular, I would like to thank Ms. Dang Thi Bao Dung, teacher of Scientific Research
Methodology, Faculty of Foreign Languages, who has always been dedicated to teaching, guiding and giving
me suggestions to complete this research.
Finally, I would like to give special thanks to my family for their constant encouragement and support in
completing this research.

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 COMMENTS

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...............................................................................................................................i
COMMENTS.....................................................................................................................................................ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................................................................iii
ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................................................v
CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................1
1.1.Rationale...................................................................................................................................................1
1.2.Significance of the research.....................................................................................................................1
1.3. Organization of the research...................................................................................................................2
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW........................................................................................................3
2.1.Definition and the importance of listening...............................................................................................3
2.1.1.Definition of listening......................................................................................................................3
2.1.2. The importantce of listening...........................................................................................................3
2.2 Factors causing difficulties in listening....................................................................................................4
2.2.1. Linguistic factors.............................................................................................................................4
2.2.1.1.Vocabulary...............................................................................................................................4
2.2.1.2.Grammatical structure..............................................................................................................5
2.2.1.3 Pronunciation...........................................................................................................................5
2.2.2.Listening comprehension.................................................................................................................6
2.2.2.1.Length of listening...................................................................................................................7
2.2.2.2.Speakers’speed of speech........................................................................................................7
2.2.2.3.Different accents......................................................................................................................7
2.2.2.4.Noisy environments.................................................................................................................8
2.2.3.Background knowledge....................................................................................................................8
2.2.4.Psychological factors.......................................................................................................................9
2.2.4.1.Motivation................................................................................................................................9
2.3. Related studies.......................................................................................................................................10
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH AIMS - RESEARCH QUESTION - HYPOTHESIS...................................11
3.1. Research aims........................................................................................................................................11
3.2.Research questions.................................................................................................................................11
3.3.Research hypothesis...............................................................................................................................11
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..........................................................................................12
4.1.Research design......................................................................................................................................12
4.2.Participants.............................................................................................................................................12
4.3.Instruments.............................................................................................................................................12
4.3.1.Questionnaire.................................................................................................................................12
4.3.2. Observation..................................................................................................................................13
4.4. Data analysis........................................................................................................................................13

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 4.5. Procedure..............................................................................................................................................13
CHAPTER 5 : EXPECTED OUTCOMES...................................................................................................14
5.1.Linguistic factors....................................................................................................................................14
5.1. Listening comprehension......................................................................................................................14
5.3.Background knowledge..........................................................................................................................14
5.4. Psychological factors.............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................................vii
APPENDIX.....................................................................................................................................................viii

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 ABSTRACT

Listening is the most important skill for success in any communication, making an important contribution to
the language learning success of language learners as well as to the success of teachers' teaching. However, it
is worrisome that many English Juniors still have difficulty listening to English. Therefore, the study "An
investigation into factors causing difficulties in listening of English Juniors at Tay Do University" is
mistakenly conducted to find out the main factors causing difficulties for students majoring in English when
listening to English. 83 students of two English classes 15A and 15B of Tay Do University are selected to
participate in this study. The two research tools used to collect data are questionnaires and observations. The
research method is a combination of quantitative and qualitative research. The findings of this research will
be analyzed to point out the elements affecting participants' difficulties in linguistic factors (vocabulary,
grammatical structures, and pronunciation), listening comprehension (length of listening, speakers' speed of
speech, different accents, and noisy environments), background knowledge, and psychological factors
(inhibition, motivation, and confidence).

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 CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION
(This chapter mentions The rationale, The significance, and The organization of the research)

1.1.Rationale
English is currently the most widely used language in the world. In addition to the UK and the US,
there are over 60 countries that choose English as the official language or list it as a second native language.
No matter which country you go to, you just need to know how to communicate in English. communicate
and work with complete strangers (What is the role of English? Is learning English really necessary?,
eiv.edu.vn). Therefore, teaching and learning English in Vietnam is currently of great interest.
English is currently the most widely used language in the world. In addition to the UK and the US,
there are over 60 countries that choose English as the official language or list it as a second native language.
No matter which country you go to, you just need to know how to communicate in English. communicate
and work with complete strangers. Therefore, teaching and learning English in Vietnam is currently of great
interest. In the process of learning English, students will be taught all 4 skills of listening, speaking, reading
and writing. But listening is considered an even more important skill in English communication. There is no
denying that listening is an important skill in mastering any language. According to Nunan (1998), listening
is a fundamental skill in language learning and without listening skills, learners will never learn how to
communicate effectively. In fact, more than 50% of the time students use a foreign language should be spent
listening. Similarly, Hamouda (2013) who confirms that listening is a fundamental language skill in foreign
language because the key to acquire a language is to receive understandable language input. Without
understanding inputs at a right level, any kind of learning cannot occur. Rost (2002) also points out that
developing listening is the key to achieving fluent speaking.
However, despite its importance to foreign language learning, teaching listening in general and
listening comprehension in particular has long been neglected and remains a poorly taught aspect of English
in many chapters EFL program (Mendelson & Rubin, 1994). In fact, listening comprehension remains one
of the least understood processes that often consider listening to be the most difficult language skill to
acquire. According to observations, the researcher found that most students studying at TDU Foreign
Language Department, especially third-year students, face a lot of difficulties in listening comprehension.
Compared to other languages, listening skills are considered as one of the most challenging.
In order to determine the students' awareness of the role of listening skills as well as the problems
students encounter in the process of learning English listening comprehension at TDU, the author decided to
carry out the topic “An investigation into factors causing difficulties in listening of English Juniors at Tay

Do University ”. This study aims to help both teachers and students recognize the difficulties in listening to
English and then find suitable solutions. merge for better improvement.
1.2.Significance of the research
This study mainly focuses on finding out the factors causing difficulties in listening of English
Juniors at Tay Do University and through those issues, the researcher expects to help students realize their
problems in speaking. Consequently, thanks to this, these English-majored students can find out some useful
solutions to improve their communication skills.

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1.3. Organization of the research
The study is made up of five main chapters as follows:

 Chapter 1: Introduction provides the rationale, research aims, research questions. Besides,
the significance and organization of the research are also listed here.
 Chapter 2: Literature Review covers the theoretical background of listening, consisting of
definitions of listening, the importance of listening, and the factors causing difficulties in
listening.
 Chapter 3: Research Methodology indicates the study is method employed in this thesis
including such features as research design, participants, instruments, and procedure.
 Chapter 4: Results and Discussion reports the findings of the research to figure out the
participants' difficulties in listening and what factors are causing the difficulties.
 Chapter 5: Conclusion, Implications, Limitations, and Recommendations gives the
conclusion, implication, reflect on the limitations of the study, and put forward
recommendations for further research.

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 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
(This chapter consists of Definitions and The importance of speaking, Factors causing difficulties, and
Related studies)

2.1.Definition and the importance of listening

2.1.1.Definition of listening
Many academics have offered distinct definitions of the concepts of listening. It is completed with several
definitions of the term, some of which are included below.
According to Rost (1994) Listening is very important in the language classroom because it provides
information to the brain for learners. Without understanding the starting information at the right level, any
learning cannot begin, if the learner does not determine the correct language acquisition. Do that, listening is
the foundation for speaking. In addition, Michael Purdy (1996:8) The active and dynamic process of
attending, perceiving, interpreting, remembering, and reacting to the wants, concerns, and information
presented (verbally and nonverbally) by other people is known as listening .
In another definition, Merry(1996) listening is defined Receiving, forming messages from, and
responding to spoken or nonverbal messages is what is referred to as listening. Moreover, Brown (2001),
listening is not simply a one-way process of receiving sound symbols, but he thinks that one aspect of
hearing comprehension is the psycho-motor process of receiving sound waves sound through the ear and
transmit nerve impulses to the brain. Therefore, listening consists of three elements: the sender, the
message, and the listener. Following Nunan (2002), listening is a receptive skill that requires a great deal
of patience on the aspect of both students and teachers. Even though listening is a receptive skill, the
process still requires students to actively listen in order to gain understanding.
After all the discussion above, listening skill is defined in different ways by scholarly and by field of
study. However, it is also simply defined as the process of receiving information from the speaker to the
listener. The main purpose of listening is to help people convey and express the information that the
speaker wants to convey. In general, speaking is an indispensable need in daily life.
2.1.2. The importantce of listening.
Listening skill is the most important skill for success in any communication. Listening helps us gather a
lot of information to solve problems; help us understand others and behave accordingly.
Listening is the first mode of communication that children learn, it is the basis for all aspects of language
and cognitive development, and it plays a lifelong role in communication processes, Wilt (1950) saw that
individuals listen for 45% of the time they communicate. In any case, people spend a lot of time
interacting through their ears because listening skills are essential to communication. Language input is
the most important condition for language acquisition, according to second language acquisition theory,
listening is an important input skill in students' language development, Krashen (1985), people develop
speaking skills by comprehending the linguistic information they hear. In the other words, language
acquisition is primarily accomplished through the receipt of understandable input, and the ability to listen
is a critical component in obtaining understandable language input.
According to Iwankovitsch, Ron (2001:5) "The Importance of Listening", Paul T. Rankin conducted a
survey on the four communication processes. He found that the average person spends 9% of his time
writing, 16% reading, 30% speaking, and almost half, 45% listening. However, to listen to English is not

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easy because the listener must know many important parts such as pronunciation, vocabulary ,
intonation,etc. Students need to meet all the factors to be able to listen to understand English.
Furthermore, Babita Tyagi (2011) also asserts that listening skills are key to effective message
recognition, and that speaking skills are overlooked in classrooms, mainly emphasizing only a few reading
and writing sections. The integration of other language abilities essentially serves to highlight the
importance of listening. Students benefit from listening as they build their vocabulary, grammar, and
speaking abilities. In response to the information they have heard, students might react and express their
feelings. Outside of the classroom, listening is really essential. The potential of receiving a better
education, landing a decent career, and being promoted is higher for students who can listen to English
very well. Moreover, Hasan (2000) stated that listening comprehension creates the ideal environment for
language acquisition and the development of other language skills. Students who listen well can achieve
half of their communication success because listening comprehension entails processing information
obtained from visual and auditory cues in order to define what is going on and what the speakers are
attempting to express. Students majoring in English must take care of this skill because it is an important
factor in language. As a result, the success of listening is dependent on a variety of factors.
In general, listening English is increasingly taking on increased significance in a number of colleges as
well as in real-world settings. So that they can have plenty of opportunity to practice and improve their
skills, pupils should become aware of the advantages of listening as soon as feasible.
2.2 Factors causing difficulties in listening
The difficulties in listening vary according to different aspects .There are a number of factors that
facilitate or impede successful spoken communication.They can be divided into four types including
linguistic factors, listening comprehension background knowledge, and psychological factors. Linguistic
factors commonly refer to the elements of English as a language itself, which include
vocabulary,grammatical structures, and pronunciation. Listening comprehension problems include the length
of listening, speakers' speed of speech, different accents, and noisy environments. Psychological factors
include students' inhibition, students motivation, and students' confidence. These are all factors influencing
students' listening skills.
2.2.1. Linguistic factors
The linguistic factors greatly influence students' communication skills as well as the their future.
This is also one kind of barrier that students always meet during their learning process or communication
process. Nevertheless. sometimes they do not realize how important it is and pay no attention to it .
Therefore, in this part, the researcher will clarify some problems related to linguistics such as vocabulary,
grammatical structures, and pronunciation so that students can recognize the linguistic barriers that they
are meeting.
2.2.1.1.Vocabulary
Doan Hieu Phung and Hung Tan Ha (2022:1) argue that vocabulary knowledge can be
considered a determinant of a number of factors affecting listening comprehension. Lack of vocabulary
causes difficulty in listening, (Thornbury, 2002),lack of grammar little can be communicated, but lack of
vocabulary nothing can be conveyed,learning vocabulary is one of the first and important steps to

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language learning, however learners never end up acquiring vocabulary. In fact, lack of vocabulary also
makes students limited in learning to listen.
Wanting to improve listening skills takes a lot of time to practice and increases vocabulary. While
listening, the listener does not grasp the keyword that causes him to not understand the content that the
speaker wants to convey, as Underwood (1989) only makes the point that when students listen to a foreign
language, it is certain that they cannot know all the words in the speech as their mother tongue. Therefore,
when they hear an unknown word that can seem like a barrier to conflict is lowered, they may stop and
think about the word is meaning, distracting them from listening. Rich vocabulary will help the listener
understand the problem specifically and quickly, in order to become an effective learner, one must
understand an overall range of vocabulary” (Samuels, 1984).The importance of vocabulary in developing
for learners is the main focus of current research. Insufficient vocabulary is the main obstacle affecting
listening skills. So we need to find the right learning method to make it richer and longer remembered.
2.2.1.2.Grammatical structure
Besides vocabulary, grammar plays a relatively important role in listening to English.According
to Debata(2013), when linguistics becomes ambiguous, grammatical knowledge serves as a solid ground
for referencing .The same view, Yen-Fen Liao (2007:38) conducted a much-needed survey on grammar.
In English, in addition to the vocabulary element, the grammar factor is also a very important factor and
that causes difficulties for third-year students because they cannot remember all the grammar components
because they are very complicated . Hinkel and Fotos (2002) stated speakers can use knowledge grammar
to organize and express ideas in their heads. Due to the influence of Vietnamese language, students have
difficulty in word form during the listening process. They frequently use incorrect words and misinterpret
the meaning and context of the sentences in the conversation. Communicative competence entails
understanding and applying grammar as well as making appropriate use of the language's vocabulary to
convey meaning in a socially acceptable manner. It focuses on three aspects of grammar: form, meaning,
and usage, and provides learners with the attention they require to advance in their language ability.
Students often have the habit of applying their native grammar structure to practice speaking
skills, Nguyen (2007) ,leading to problems with listening comprehension skills. Besides, the resources are
very rich, and you can search easily in many ways, such as through books, newspapers, the internet, etc.
On the other hand, it is because of this factor that students cannot access the right materials for their level.
Because students do not understand the rules of grammar and how to use them, there have been many
cases of listeners misinterpreting the speaker's content, causing conflicts in relationships. Therefore,
students need to learn basic grammar structures and upgrade according to their level. Pay attention to
context when using structure to improve English writing skills.
2.2.1.3 Pronunciation
According to Fergina Lengkoan (2017:219) suggests that learning pronunciation rules improves
your listening skills. The learner cannot recognize familiar words due to mispronunciation, this is a
mistake that most beginners make. If the listener learns to pronounce the sound correctly on his own, he
will easily hear it correctly. Beside, pronunciation has a large influence on the listening process, it is one
of the factors influencing students' listening skills, as per the Yates (2001), pronunciation is the production
of sounds that are then used to form meaning. Pronunciation is essential because it is a component of

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successful oral production or communicative competence, as demonstrated by Hismanoglu (2016), while
listening, students must not only remember but also know how to pronounce words.
Ur (1984), in addition, self-studying English pronunciation will also help learners to remember more
easily. Therefore, listeners need to acquire important skills to identify the main idea of information, their
mother tongue sometimes affects their pronunciation. In English with homonyms such as "ship" and
"sheep", nothing happens if you do not know the pronunciation rules. This interrupts you from speaking in
conversation because you do not understand what message the speaker wants to convey.
Moreover, intonation is no less important than pronunciation and stress. Intonation is the rhythm of a
person's voice raising and lowering the volume at a certain point in a sentence. In addition, intonation in
English can also convey a speaker's emotions into a conversation. Intonation is an indispensable feature in
countries such as England, Brazil... In communication, when the speaker has different intonation, it will
confuse the listener because different intonation makes the same sentence have different meaning. In
addition, if there is a misunderstanding in the conversation, the reason often lies in the rather large
difference in stress and intonation to misunderstand Boyle (1984). Not surprisingly, if the speaker changes
intonation, the listener often misinterprets the meaning of the sentence. Therefore, learners should learn to
control their intonation correctly.
In addition, connect speech also confuses you when trying to improve listening skills, this is a
very common use of native speakers to help speakers speak faster but for beginners this is a fear.
Moreover, not learning how to pronounce the end of a word also hinders listening, many students often
overlook this error, if we do not pay attention, we will never improve this skill.
2.2.2.Listening comprehension
In the past, listening was a skill that was often overlooked because universities and schools only
focused on writing, reading, and vocabulary. Most teachers do not apply listening in their classrooms.
However, nowadays, listening comprehension is one of the important skills in communication. Besides
English speaking skills, listening comprehension plays an extremely important role in helping listeners
understand the message the speaker wants to convey. According to Rost (2009), listening helps us to
understand the world around us and is one of the necessary elements in creating successful
communication. Thomlison's (1984) listening is the ability to identify and understand what others are
saying. This process involves understanding a speaker's accent or pronunciation, the speaker’s grammar
and vocabulary, and comprehension of meaning. An able listener can do these four things simultaneously.
Listening comprehension is regarded as a complex, interactive process in which listeners are
involved in a dynamic construction of meaning. Listeners understand the oral input from sound
discrimination, prior knowledge of vocabulary, grammatical structures, stress and intonation, as well as
other use linguistic, paralinguistic, or even nonlinguistic clues in contextual utterance (Saraswaty ,
2018). Brown and Yule (1983), listening comprehension means that a person understands what he/she
has heard. If he/she learns the text through hearing it, he/she will understand it.
In order to help learners to recognize the barriers influencing their listening skills, in this part,
these above-mentioned difficulties related to listening comprehension mentioned will be more clearly
analyzed through 4 main issues such as length of listening, speakers’ speed of speech, different accents,
and noisy environments.

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2.2.2.1.Length of listening
The length of the listening section is also a factor in developing listening skills. To develop listening skills,
we need students to pay attention to time and topic; if their listening skills are not good, it is not possible to
choose lessons that are many minutes long (University of Maryland, 2010:i) because when presenting. Azmi
Bingol, Celik, Yidliz, and Tugrul Mart (2014) stated that the level of students can have a significant role
when they listen to long parts and keep all information in their minds. It is very difficult for lower-level
students to listen for more than three minutes and complete the listening tasks. Short listening passages make
easy listening comprehension for learners and reduce their tiredness. At the beginner level, you have a lot of
limitations, such as a limited vocabulary and grammatical structures that make many mistakes, making it
difficult to listen and understand. Not only that, choosing a topic that is too academic or a topic that you
never use in practice makes you feel confused when you want to improve this skill and wastes time because,
when anyone is familiar with any language, you have to learn from the most basic knowledge; when you
master it, you can absorb more advanced lessons. Short listening texts facilitate listening comprehension and
diminish boredom, keeping learners' concentration alive (Atkins et al. 1995). If the text contains a lot of
information, it is not easy to store everything in the mind; exceptional listening ability and strategy are
required to understand (Carroll, 1977).

To maintain motivation, we need to choose a reasonable listening time and listen effectively. Currently, there
are many methods to improve listening skills, one of which is listening to dictation. i.e., we listen and write
them down on paper; this method both helps you improve your listening skills and helps you improve your
vocabulary. Besides, we should choose the right topic according to our level and ability. Instead of you
spending an hour listening, but your topic is too difficult and abstract, you do not take notes and do not focus
on the lesson. listening, which leads to your not grasping the knowledge. Therefore, choosing the right topic
makes it easier for you to absorb and learn more effectively.

2.2.2.2.Speakers’speed of speech
Another reason makes listening text difficult is the speed. If the speakers speak faster than
normal listener may have difficulties to catch target words. Creative Education (2017:107) points out that
speaking speed is the main factor causing difficulty in listening comprehension. The speaker talks too fast,
the listener can not keep up with the pace of the conversation, and there are many cases where the
speakers come from Asian countries, typically India; they have a very strange accent, plus the fast speed
makes the listener obsessive, and the conversation becomes less productive. According to Underwood
(1989), speed can make listening passage difficult. If the speakers speak too fast students may have
serious problems to understand L2 words. In this situation, listeners are not able to control the speed of
speakers and this can create critical problems with listening comprehension. It is clear for most language
learners and teachers that a slower speech speed would facilitate beginner learners’ listening
comprehension (Flaherty, 1979; Griffiths, 1990, 1992; King & Behnke, 1989; Zhao, 1997). Blau (1990)
concluded that lessen the input speed is one of the effective technics that helps comprehension for second
language learners. Therefore, sometimes we should ask the speaker to slow down so that the listener
understands the content that he or she wants to convey. At the same time, we try to improve our listening
skills by practicing every day and getting acquainted with the accents of many countries so that the
conversation flows naturally and is comfortable.
2.2.2.3.Different accents
Habib, Indawan & Rini(2021:2) argue that voice is also a factor in listening difficulties.
Undeniably, many different voices will make the learner's listening comprehension good, but besides the
positive side it also brings trouble. Due to the different languages of different countries, they use different
substances. Their accents are somewhat influenced when they speak English. There are some countries

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that use very confusing accents ,Buck (2001) indicated 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. The listener will feel confused because it is far from the learned voice, Munro and Derwing
(1995) stated that too many accented speeches can lead to an important reduction in comprehension .Also
66% of listeners referred speakers' accents as one of the most important factors that impact on listening
comprehension Goh (1999). The students' inability to listen is also influenced by the speakers' various
accents , this has happened not only to students studying English as a foreign language, but also to native
speakers. This is demonstrated by Hamouda (2013), who claims that some students believed they had
different versions of English since their teacher attempted to teach them British English at school while
they mostly heard American English on television at home.
Because learners are used to the voice of native speakers, students should not hear many difficult voices
when listening skills are not really good, it takes time get acquainted.
2.2.2.4.Noisy environments
The noisy environment is the last factor that causes difficulties in listening comprehension skills.
Ryoko Fujita(2017:640) conducted a survey of learners with noise and quiet, the results showed that
participants were capable of hearing poorly in noisy environments.With the same opinion, the noise that
occurs during the listening process interferes with the learners' ability to concentrate on the material.
Kurniawati (2016) discovered that the noisy situation in the classroom is caused by an ineffective soundproof
system. The lack of a soundproof system also allows outside noise to enter the classroom. It means that
students struggle to understand English as a foreign language when the sounds are unclear.According to Rost
(2011), a medium of input such as video or audio aids students' listening comprehension. A well-prepared
video presentation with graphics or text can help students perform better. This may cause students to pay
more attention and listen more carefully. Treasure (2017) agrees, stating that listening is a composite of
listening and attention. Because of the poor audio quality, the provided input is unclear, causing a problem
with listening comprehension. This is supported by Chao's (2013) finding that 62% of Technology and
Education students failed the listening test due to unclear pronunciation . Therefore, 3rd year students who
want to study effectively should choose a quiet place to receive knowledge more easily
2.2.3.Background knowledge
Rost ((2002 as cited in Vandergrift 2002):113) argues that background knowledge is an important
component of the listening process. Having background knowledge you will easily absorb difficult
knowledge more easily than novices. For example, if you like to learn about animals, the speaker mentions
the knowledge you have learned, and students are more receptive to the information that the speaker wants to
convey, since familiarity with the text makes listening easier for the listeners as he is able to relate to his own
background knowledge Gebhard (2000). In addition, because the infrastructure in rural areas is still poor
quality, the quality of teaching is not guaranteed, leading to the knowledge of students in rural areas is
broken, even losing basic knowledge in urban areas, students can use modern equipment for teaching and
learning, so students can use modern equipment for teaching and learning. longer memorization of
knowledge, trying not to be distracted by noise. Background knowledge, according to Vanniarajan (1990),
includes knowledge of the target culture, current events, art, politics, and literature. The majority of listening
materials in class are related to social issues, and students rarely listen to these issues. However, in everyday

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life, they typically listen to topics such as life, family, society, and so on. As a result of their lack of
knowledge about various topics, students face difficulties when dealing with unfamiliar topics. The topic has
a significant influence on listening comprehension in the listening material. On the one hand, understanding
will be enhanced and improved if the listener has the necessary prior knowledge. On the contrary side, if the
listener has no previous knowledge, he will have to study hard to understand what he listens.
Moreover, lack of background knowledge is an obstacle in the learning process. Anderson and
Lynch (2000) mentioned that the lack of socio-cultural, factual, and contextual knowledge of the target
language can also interfere with understanding because the language used to express cultural show. And
the link between language and culture goes hand in hand, according to Brownell (1990). In fact,
background knowledge includes knowledge of culture, art, politics, and literature. Culture provides
language for development and, conversely, language works to serve culture. For this reason, learners need
to have knowledge of the cultural background of the language they are learning.
2.2.4.Psychological factors

Schwartz (2005) posits that the

psychological side of a learner has
a major role in language learning
along
with the success and failure of
this process
Schwartz (2005) posits that the
psychological side of a learner has
a major role in language learning
along
with the success and failure of
this process

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Schwartz (2005) posits that the
psychological side of a learner has
a major role in language learning
along
with the success and failure of
this process.
Schwartz (2005) posits that the
psychological side of a learner has
a major role in language learning
along
with the success and failure of
this process.
Schwartz (2005) posits that the psychological side of a learner has a major role in language
learning along with the success and failure of this process. Psychological factors are one of the
problems affecting 3rd year students' skills.Although students have quite good grammar and vocabulary
knowledge, they still have difficulty using the language to listen to understand. These are not only
problems related to linguistics but also psychological factors, it occupies a significant position in the
listening comprehension of students.To be able to hear well, students need a solid mentality to overcome
in the process of wanting to improve listening skills. This section discusses the psychological problems of
students including inhibitions and dynamics.
2.2.4.1.Motivation.
Motivation is crucial to achieving success in language learning. In particular, learning listening
comprehension plays an increasingly important role in the process of teaching and learning foreign
languages. As quoted in Nguyen (2011), Littlewood, (1984) stated that motivation is the important force
that determines whether the listener embarks on a task or not. In the process of learning listening needs
motivation to be able to support and improve their skills.
There is a close relationship between motivation and interest. Motivation is something that
encourages a student to achieve a certain goal and interest is a desire for a student to pay attention to

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something. Brown (2007) asserted that motivation is commonly thought of as an inner voice, urge ,
stimulus , emotion, or desire that moves or compels a person toward a particular action or task mainly.
When a student learns listening comprehension, that student must be stimulated, we must try to avoid
boring or overly theoretical subjects, using as much as possible those subjects that we think our students
have. may be interested. Often students are unmotivated because the topic is irrelevant; activities that are
not suitable for the student's level; or the content of the lesson is not related to the reality of the students.
When any of these limitations occurs, the student may not feel interested, i.e. the student may not be
paying attention to the class and therefore, the student may not be engaged in the class.
According to Byrne (1988) sometimes the amount of time we have to listen without participating can
cause memory problems or even fatigue, so we eventually stop listening with understanding. In short,
their motivation has a huge influence on how well they hear in class.
2.3. Related studies.
In the past, many researchers have conducted a number of studies related to the problem of
English listening as well as the difficulties hindering third-year English major students. However, the
content of their research is not exactly the same, but they all share the same opinion on the factors that
cause students' listening difficulties. The following related studies may provide supporting evidence for
this study.
Active study in September 2013 by Janet Yu-gi Chao with the topic "FactorsAffecting College
EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension and Listening Problems" to investigate non-English majors'
English listening performance and listening problems. Seventy-five college students participated in the
study. At last, sixty-eight valid data were used in this study. The instruments comprised of a General
English Proficiency Test (GEPT) at the intermediate level and a Listening Comprehension Problem
Questionnaire (LCPQ). The results showed that, the listening problems met by the subjects were mainly
from the input factor, followed by the listener factor and the task factor. Most frequently encountered
listening problems included easily forgetting the content, long listening texts, not knowing which strategy
to use, unclear pronunciation, and unfamiliar intonation patterns.
In 2015 and 2016, a research team consisting of Meilisa Trismasari, Sudarsono and Eni Rosnija
conducted the survey "FACTORS INFLUENCING ENGLISH LISTENING DIFFICULTIES" to find out
the most influential factor of English listening difficulties encountered by Year-11 students at "SMA
Negeri 1 Sungai Raya" in Academic Year of 2015/2016. The research method was descriptive. The data
were collected using questionnaire with 35 items designed on a five-point likert-type scale. The
questionnaire were distributed to 38 students. The data were analyzed by calculating the percentage of
each factor. The study found out that the students of Year-11 at "SMA Negeri 1 Sungai Raya"
encountered listening difficulties because of listening text (21.53%), speaker (21.67%), teacher (9.72%),
listener (22.18%), physical environment (24.90%); and of these factors, physical environment was the
biggest influential factor and teacher- related factors was the last influential one.
Similarly, in 2021 a study from Amik Ludfatun Nuriah was born that is "MI Subulussalam 1
Sriwangi Ulu, OKStudents' Difficulties in Listening for Daily Context Course on the Second Semester of
English Education Program".The purpose of this research is to understand the problems that students
encounter when listening to the daily situational topics. The writer chose STKIP Nurul Huda's second

11
semester English Education Program, with 34 students in the second semester. Collect data through
questionnaire surveys, interviews and observations. The questionnaire was conducted from three aspects:
listening materials, listening factors and physical environment. The research results show that there are 30
problems in listening to daily situational topics. They have 7 problems in the listening material, 14
problems in the audience factor, and 9 problems in the physical environment.
In short, listening practice is not an easy process, learners will encounter some difficulties due to
many factors. Although there have been many studies on the difficulties of listening in English to
discover how to improve foreign language ability, there are still many factors that have not been clearly
analyzed for learners to apply effectively. Therefore, in this study, the author explores the factors that
cause difficulties in listening and speaking encountered by English majors at Tay Do University,
especially Junior. As a result, these students not only realize their obstacles but also overcome and
develop their foreign language ability.

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH AIMS - RESEARCH QUESTION - HYPOTHESIS

(This chapter includes Research aims, Research question, and Hypothesis)
3.1. Research aims
This study aims to investigate the factors causing difficulties in listening that English-major Juniors
at Tay Do University may encounter. Thanks to this result, students can find out their own obstacles and
choose better methods to improve their listening skills effectively. At the same time, lecturers can base on
this research to find out suitable teaching methods to help students listen English better.
3.2.Research questions
This study is conducted in order to answer the following questions:
- Do English-major Juniors at Tay Do University have difficulty in listening ?
- What factors are causing difficulties in listening of English Juniors at Tay Do University ?
3.3.Research hypothesis
According to English-major Juniors of Tay Do University, listening is the most difficult part for
them during their three years of studying English. Therefore, based on relevant references and research
questions, the researcher hypothesizes that third-year English majors at Tay Do University have difficulty
listening stemming from the following factors. factors related to language factors, listening comprehension,
background knowledge and psychological factors. These factors help students realize the difficulties they
face and thereby find ways to develop their listening skills better.

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 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
(In this chapter, the methodology of the research includes Research design, Participants, Instruments, Data
analysis, and Procedure)
4.1.Research design
The study is conducted to answer the research questions and test the hypothesis. To find out the
factors that cause difficulties that third-year English majors at Tay Do University face when listening, both
quantitative and qualitative tools are used. Questionnaires are distributed to students to poll their opinions.
In addition, observation is used to enhance the specificity of the study. Finally, data from questionnaires,
interviews and observations will be analyzed and conclusions will be drawn.
4.2.Participants
The study is conducted with the participation of 83 third-year English majors from two English
classes 15A and 15B of Tay Do University. Typically, the participants are between the ages of 21 and 23
years old. They all speak Vietnamese and consider English as a foreign language. Besides, most of them
come from rural areas and they have studied English for at least 9 years. However, most of you are
influenced in high school before, so they do not have many opportunities to practice listening regularly in
class and do not receive proper listening instruction. For this reason, when entering Tay Do University, their
listening skill level is limited and they face many difficulties in listening to English as well as learning
English. They will be provided with questionnaires about their difficulties in listening to English to collect
data for the study.
4.3.Instruments
In this study, questionnaires and observations are the two main tools used. The questionnaire is
used to collect basic information of the students and to investigate the problems that interfered with the
students' English listening. Furthermore, to make the study more reliable, the researcher also uses
observation to confirm the hypothesis truthfully.
4.3.1.Questionnaire
In this research, the questionnaire includes 5 questions and 20 statements and it is classified into the
following group:
Group Summary of question group
A.From 1 to 6 Students' personal background

13
 B.From 7 to 11 The difficulties related to linguistic factors
C.From 12 to 16 The difficulties related to listening comprehension
D.From 17 to 21 The difficulties related to background knowledge
E.From 22 to 26 The difficulties related to background knowledge
In group A, there are 6 questions surveying the students' English speaking skills background.
Students are asked to choose the answer that best fits their opinion. In some cases, a specific answer will be
given (sentence 4) and multiple answers will be selected (verse 5 and 6).
The remaining group of 20 sentences related to students' difficulty in listening English is designed
on a scale of 5 levels: Strongly disagree (1), Disagree (2), Normal (3), Agree. (4), Strongly agree (5). In this
section, students are required to circle the number next to each statement provided in the answer sheets to
indicate their level of difficulty in listening.
4.3.2. Observation
Observation is used to make the study more realistic. The researcher will attend about 3 English
speaking lessons of the participants. While observing the activities of the participants, the researcher will
recognize the difficulties that the participants may face. At the same time, from observations during the
years of learning English, the researchers also realized the difficulties of themselves and those around them.
The researcher then takes notes, and this helps the study to be highly accurate.
4.4. Data analysis
After data collection, the data from the questionnaire will be analyzed using SPSS software
(descriptive test, reliability test). The data from the observations are mainly interpreted using qualitative
analysis methods. All collected data will be aggregated and calculated.
4.5. Procedure
This study is conducted for 2 weeks and the procedure was divided into 4 steps as shown in the
following table:
Duration (2 weeks) Activities in study process
Step 1: from day 1 to day 3 - Find research papers.
- Correcting the research topic.
- Submitting the framework of the research.
- Writing chapter 1,3 and 4.
- Start observing.
Step 2: from day 4 to day 7 - Designing questionnaire.
Step 3: from day 8 to day 10 - Delivering questionnaire to students to collect the
data.
Step 4: from day 11 to day 14 - Analyzing the data collected from questionnaires.
- Writing chapter 1,2 and chapter 5.
- Completing the paper.

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 CHAPTER 5 : EXPECTED OUTCOMES
(This chapter shows the expected results of the research)
Listening is one of the important skills in communication and language learning of students
majoring in English. However, in order to listen more easily, English learners need to overcome their own
fears and difficulties. Even so, there are many third-year students majoring in English at Tay Do University
who still have a lot of difficulties in listening to English related to language factors (vocabular grammatical
structures, and pronunciation), listening comprehension (length listening, speakers' speed of speech, different
accents, and noisy environments), background knowledge, and psychological elements (inhibition,
motivation, confidence).
5.1.Linguistic factors
Difficulties related to linguistics are often encountered by most students. In particular, pronunciation
is the first factor that makes listening difficult for students because they do not recognize the sounds that the
speaker says. Besides, learners often have difficulty listening because of lack of vocabulary and grammar,
they have the habit of having to understand all the words in a sentence to understand the content of the lesson
and need to listen many times to understand it. Therefore, learners find it difficult to grasp all the information
and do not predict what the speaker is about to say.
5.1. Listening comprehension
Listening comprehension plays a key role for students to improve their listening ability. However, if
they have to listen for a long time, learners will feel tired and lack concentration, sometimes they will feel
confused when a large amount of information is conveyed to them at once. In addition, students often cannot
understand the message being conveyed because the speaker speaks too fast. Equally important, a different
accent is also a factor that makes it easy for you to have difficulty in listening comprehension, if the learner
hears an unfamiliar accent like English - Philippines for the first time after only learning American - English,
or maybe, they only listen to Vietnamese English but then listening to British English for the first time they
may have difficulty with their listening comprehension. In addition, the noisy environment significantly
affects the listening skills of the learners, leading to the listener not absorbing the speaker's message well.
5.3.Background knowledge
Foundational knowledge is an essential component of learning a language. If students have little or
no basic knowledge of what they are hearing, they may have difficulty receiving and responding to the

15
speaker's message. Therefore, having good background knowledge means that students can succeed in
communication.
5.4. Psychological factors
Psychological problems are a barrier many students face but most underestimate its impact. It
cannot be denied that inhibition makes students' listening skills slow to develop, students often lack
motivation to practice listening, making them feel bored when learning to listen to English, they can only
improve their skills if motivated. Besides, the lack of listening skills and shyness in communication also
make it more difficult for students to listen to English.
In general, based on the issues mentioned in the survey, the author hopes that this study will help students
recognize some difficulties in listening skills and thereby find a better method to practice listening in English
effective.

16
 REFERENCES
M. H. Dong (2022), An investigation into English – Majored students’ difficulties in doing their listening
comprehension tasks, European Journal of Foreign Language Teaching 6(1), 90-101.
Henny Yulia, Neti Lastri (2019), An investigation of listening comprehension problems encountered by third
semester students of English education study program at Baturaja university, Jurnal Elsa 17(1), 55-71.
K. Pratiwi, E. Andriyanti (2019), External factors causing students’ difficulties in listening, Journal of
English Language Teaching and Linguistics 4(2), 227-238.
N.Walker (2014), Listening: The most difficult skill to teach, Encuentro 23, 167-175.
Alex Case (2008), Why your students have problems with listening comprehension [Online]. Available:
https://www.usingenglish.com/teachers/articles/why-your-students-have-problems-with-listening-
comprehension.html .

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 APPENDIX

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS

☺☺☺

Hi guys ! We are group 4 of Scientific Research Methodology and we come from English 15B. We are
conducting a study on An investigation into factors causing difficulties in listening of English Juniors at
Tay Do University
I would like to ask for your help. Please complete the following questionnaire about the factors that
make it difficult for you to listen to English .

Before starting this questionnaire, please fill in the following blanks,please.

Personal information

Class: ............................................................................................................................................................

Gender: Male Female

Age: ..............................................................................................................................................................

Please read the following questions and circles the appropriate answer for each question.

Give the specific answers if needed.

1. Where do you come from?

A. Urban place/ City

B. Rural/ Countryside

2. How long have you studied English?

………………….years.

3. How much time do you spend on practicing listening English per day?

………………….minute(s).

………………….hour(s).

4. What skill do you think is the most difficult?

A. Listening

B. Speaking

C. Reading

D. Writing

5. How do you evaluate your listening skills?

A.Very good

B. Good

C. Average

D. Bad

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E. Very bad

6. What aspects of language affect your listening skills? (You can choose more than one answer)

A. Linguistics

B. Listening comprehension

C. Background knowledge

D. Psychology

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Please read these sentence below and circle the number 5,4,3,2 or 1 on your answer sheet to ondicate
the level to each of the corresponding sentences.

Statements Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

agree
(4) (3) (2) Disagree
(5)
(1)

LINGUISTIC FACTORS

7. You cannot understand the 5 4 3 2 1

information the speaker is
expressing because of the lack of
vocabulary.

8. You lose focus and cannot 5 4 3 2 1

continue listening to the speaker
when you hear a word you do not
know yet.

9.You cannot memorize the 5 4 3 2 1

information the speaker wants to
express because the vocabulary is
not familiar.

10. You have trouble listening 5 4 3 2 1

because you cannot remember
complex grammatical structures.

11. You misinterpret the speaker's 5 4 3 2 1

information because you do not
understand the grammatical
structure.

12. When listening you cannot 5 4 3 2 1

recognize familiar words due to
mispronunciation.

13. You often apply the 5 4 3 2 1

pronunciation of your mother
tongue to English pronunciation,
which leads to difficulties in
listening.

14.You misinterpret the speaker's 5 4 3 2 1

meaning when the intonation
changes.

15. You have difficulty hearing 5 4 3 2 1

words that have the last
pronunciation.

LISTENING COMPREHENSION

16. You cannot memorize and 5 4 3 2 1

record all important information

x
when listening for a long time.

17. You hear a lot of information 5 4 3 2 1

but do not know what is important.

18. You cannot understand or 5 4 3 2 1

capture important information from
the speaker because they speak too
fast.

19. Speakers from other countries 5 4 3 2 1

have a strange accent and speak
quickly, making it difficult for you
to understand and capture
information.

20. Unfamiliar voices make your 5 4 3 2 1

and others' conversations less
effective.

21. Noisy environments make you 5 4 3 2 1

lose focus when listening.

22. The noisy environment makes 5 4 3 2 1

it difficult for you to receive
information when listening.

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

23. Your background knowledge of 5 4 3 2 1

the fields is limited.

24. You lacked background 5 4 3 2 1

knowledge since high school.

25. Because of the lack of 5 4 3 2 1

background knowledge, it is
difficult for you to absorb the
information that the speaker wants
to convey.

26. You cannot understand all the 5 4 3 2 1

information while listening because
of lack of knowledge in different
areas.

27. Lack of background knowledge 5 4 3 2 1

hinders you in the language
learning process.

28. Stress is the reason why you 5 4 3 2 1

cannot concentrate to absorb
information while listening.

29. You are afraid of making 5 4 3 2 1

mistakes when checking your
answers after listening to the tapes
in front of the class.

xi
30. Small classrooms, poor quality 5 4 3 2 1
equipment make you not interested
in listening to English.

31. Poor listening comprehension 5 4 3 2 1

makes you have low self-esteem,
not daring to face the difficulties
ahead.

32. There is no motivation that 5 4 3 2 1

makes you uninterested in
practicing your listening skills.

33. You are not motivated to listen 5 4 3 2 1

to English because the topic is
irrelevant, not suitable for your
level and the content is not
connected with reality.

34. You have to listen to English 5 4 3 2 1

for too long, making you feel tired
and depressed, not motivated to
continue listening.

♥Thanks for your kind help !!!♥

xii