The Language Teacher
October 2002
Learning Listening Comprehension Skills in English:
The Analysis of Japanese Learners' Beliefs and Its Implications
Etsuko Shimo
State University of New York, University of Buffalo
Introduction
An unacceptably high proportion of students who have learned English in the Japanese formal education system generally do not have much training in listening comprehension and therefore lack listening skills. This report will approach the deficiency that many Japanese learners of English show in listening comprehension skills by revealing a sample of their beliefs.
Research has indicated that exploring learners' beliefs about language learning is effective in various aspects of language teaching. Horwitz (1987), for example, points out the importance of discovering learners' beliefs about strategies by suggesting that "erroneous beliefs about language learning lead to less effective learning strategies" (p. 126). Likewise, beliefs that might interfere with effective learning processes to acquire better listening comprehension skills may be found among Japanese learners of English. Teachers may be able to assist their students in dealing well with such erroneous—or at least negative—beliefs, so that the students can approach listening activities with more positive attitudes.
This report is based on the findings from a qualitative analysis with a small number of learners. As for qualitative research, Seidman (1991) comments that "the researcher's task is to present the experience of the people he or she interviews in compelling enough detail and in sufficient depth that those who read the study can connect that experience, learn how it is constituted, and deepen their understanding of the issues it reflects" (p.41). The aim of this report is to provide useful information that teachers can refer to, when they are faced with Japanese students of similar educational backgrounds.
Study Participants and Data Collection
Data were collected from five Japanese learners of English studying at an American university: Ayako, Koichi, Misae, Sayaka, and Toru.* Ayako, twenty-seven years old, had taught English at a junior high school for two years in Japan before coming to the US. She was studying at the English Language Institute (ELI) in the university. Koichi, thirty-two years old, had worked for a newspaper company for eight years in Japan and then was studying economics in a master's program. Misae, twenty-one years old, was a student at the English Language Institute. Sayaka, eighteen, was enrolled in the undergraduate program, her major yet to be decided. Lastly, Toru, thirty years old, was attending classes at the ELI and auditing graduate level courses in the MBA program. The electric power corporation for which he was working had provided him with this opportunity to study in the US. He had been working for the company for seven years.
Data was collected over a period of approximately two months. The procedures include the following four parts:
- Participants kept written records about their listening activities on several occasions.
- Participants were interviewed three times. All the interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed by the researcher. (Japanese was used in the interviews. The author of this report has translated the participants' utterance into English with fidelity.)
- Participants shared their strategies (i.e. what they did in the engagement of listening activities as well as what they did in order to improve their listening skills) by means of a compiled list of their strategies.
- Participants made reflections on the above procedures at the end of the study and submitted written feedback.
These methods were combined in order to maximize the amount of data that could be elicited from the participants.
Discovered Beliefs
The data have disclosed the learners' various beliefs about the learning of listening comprehension skills. Many beliefs such as those regarding effective ways to improve listening skills reflect individual differences and preferences. This report will focus on the following two negative or perhaps erroneous beliefs, which were commonly found among the learners: a) listening is difficult, and b) one cannot learn listening effectively in Japan.
"Listening is difficult."
All the learners except Sayaka explicitly expressed how difficult they thought listening activities were compared to other types of activities (e.g. reading activities). The learners all mentioned the relationship between pronunciation and listening comprehension skills as a key to improving their listening comprehension skills. They stated that those who can pronounce English well can catch English sounds better, and that katakana pronunciation is one of the factors that makes listening comprehension difficult for Japanese learners. Previous research has also pointed out this issue (e.g. Uda, 1998; Yamada & Adachi, 1998).
Toru's example helps to illustrate this problem. He insisted throughout the three interviews that one should improve his/her pronunciation in order to enhance listening comprehension skills. He explained the shock that he had in an ELI class, when he mistook the word God for GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) because he had learned that God was pronounced as /goddo/, as it is in katakana pronunciation. He continued, "Now I thought about it, I learned h, o, t as /hotto/, and knot, /notto/. Well, I learned them in katakana and when I hear different sounds, I cannot understand them."
In addition to the above linguistic factor, this study has shown that educational and personal factors caused the learners to create the belief that listening is difficult. Koichi, for instance, said that he finds listening difficult because he believes himself to be a learner who learns more effectively through visual than aural resources, and because reading, not listening, activities were the major activities provided in English classes in Japan. In fact, all the five learners agreed on the point that they did not have enough opportunities to practice listening at Japanese schools. The fact that schools did not provide much listening training seems to have eventually fostered the belief among learners that listening is more difficult. Similarly, the learning environment has contributed to the formation of the other belief that will be reported next.
"One cannot learn listening effectively in Japan."
These Japanese learners who were studying in the US were given chances to reflect on their learning in Japan. They believed that they had limited opportunities to promote listening comprehension skills in Japan. The reasons can be categorized into four general groups: Japanese teachers of English, entrance exams as a short-term goal, availability of useful materials, and Japanese students' reluctance to be distinct from others.
First, the learners did not consider Japanese teachers of English to have contributed very much to the improvement of their listening comprehension skills. They believed that teachers needed native-like pronunciation in order to facilitate listening skills, as can be seen in the following comments:
I don't think we can expect Japanese teachers to help us with listening skills. Well, they (their pronunciations) are different, after all. (Sayaka)
. . . I want them (Japanese teachers of English) to learn better pronunciation. (Misae)
As for [helping to improve] listening, people, except Americans or native speakers [of English] have a limitation. (Toru)
Secondly, the learners attributed their beliefs to the severe entrance examinations. Listening comprehension skills are not emphasized in most cases on those exams, and therefore formal education usually does not provide enough good training in those skills. Toru's statement to explain why listening activities such as fill-in-the-blank exercises were never provided in class alludes to this reality: "These kinds of things won't be tested on the entrance exams."
Additionally, it seems that some Japanese learners have developed another belief due to the entrance exam system. This belief is closely related to learners' attitudes towards reading practice described by Day and Bamford (1998) as "no reading pain, no reading gain" (p. 92). The words mean that if one does not go through tough reading training, he/she will not be able to learn how to read. For instance, Ayako explained her surprise when her junior high school English teacher had them listen to a song in class for the first time. She stated in a criticizing manner, "I thought, for a moment, why are we supposed to do this kind of thing [in class]? Well, I was perplexed, kind of. I thought, for what?" Misae experienced the same feeling when her English teacher had them watch a film and introduced colloquial English to them in her senior high school.
Not only do some learners show doubts over objectives of entertaining listening activities, some also underestimate listening activities in general or listening classes. Misae and Sayaka mentioned that Japanese high school students are likely to fall in the latter group. Misae, for example, commented on her Oral English classes at high school:
. . . we didn't have any difficult and thick textbooks for listening and speaking classes and those classes turned into just fun places. Easy-going. . . we didn't study so seriously and it was like a kind of period when you could take a rest.
These words imply that Misae's high school classmates generally did not find listening activities or classes important because they were not very demanding.
Availability of useful materials is another factor that has formed the learners' disbelief in effectiveness of learning listening comprehension skills in Japan. Koichi commented that though he found watching videos with English captions (not Japanese subtitles) fairly effective, he did not have much access to the former type of videos in Japan. English films are usually either subtitled or dubbed, and it is often difficult to find English films with English captions in Japan. Toru also touched on this point by saying that the tapes which he listened to in Japan were generally far too difficult for him or were not about topics he considered interesting.
Lastly, the learners' unfavorable attitude towards being distinct by doing something unfamiliar seems to be partially related to the negative belief that one cannot learn listening effectively in Japan. The five learners all believed in the importance of improving pronunciation in order to obtain better listening comprehension skills. Toru and Koichi articulated their frustration about pronunciation practice by stating that they both were concerned about what their classmates would think of them and were trying not to be distinct for fear that the classmates might pick on them:
. . . it seems that Japanese people's personalities now explain my poor English ability. Well, in Japan, people will find it detestable if you pronounce [English] neatly, right? Maybe, after I go back to Japan in one year, if I say ice hockey (he said the words in the correct English pronunciation), I will be bullied. . . I regret now. I should have tried to mimic the sounds on the tape or something, not yielding to that [concern]. (Toru)
. . . when speaking or reading a book aloud, nobody ever reads it with correct pronunciation. Coz it's very "uncool." So, everyone uses very Japanese pronunciation, everyone uses Japanese pronunciation on purpose. (Koichi)
Koichi called such attitudes a "psychological barrier" and suggested that the barrier was one of the factors that prevent Japanese learners from pronouncing with native-like accents and intonations.
On the other hand, some learners show no such "psychological barrier." Misae and Sayaka mentioned that they would rather try to pronounce English like native speakers. These opposite attitudes may be explained by the level of their motivation, or by their sex or age differences. Teachers will meet with many different students, and thus it is helpful to note that some learners conceive that trying out native-like pronunciation may lead to their classmates' mockery. Therefore, the vicious cycle—poor pronunciation leads to poor listening skill leads to poor pronunciation—stays as it is (cf. Uda, 1998; Yamada & Adachi, 1998), and listening comprehension skills show little improvement.
In summary, the learners showed a lot of frustration about what they were able to do in Japan. The learners' skeptical attitudes towards learning listening comprehension skills in Japan was actually reflected in Koichi's and Sayaka's statements that the improvement was made mostly after coming to study in the U.S.
Pedagogical Implications and Conclusions
This report has revealed a sample of Japanese learners' unfavorable attitudes towards learning listening comprehension skills, including negative or mistaken beliefs. Such attitudes are likely to impede learners from being engaged in more effective learning. Considering the backgrounds or causes of the learners' beliefs will probably bring answers for what teachers can do for them.
First, the lack of training seems to have led learners to lack confidence and to believe that listening is difficult. Many more listening activities should be integrated into English classes. One simple way of increasing listening activities is teachers using English more in class, whether they are native speakers of English or not.
English input even from non-native teachers should be helpful. In fact, it offers a significant number of positive effects. In spite of the critical comments towards English input from Japanese teachers, Sayaka and Misae supported the idea that English teachers use more English in class because students could learn words and expressions from their teachers' speech and such vocabulary enhancement could give a solid foundation in listening. According to Misae and Ayako, students can also psychologically be ready to listen to English by getting used to the act, regardless of the accent, and gain confidence as they catch sounds.
Furthermore, Ayako shared her thoughts as a teacher; she did not want to depend too much on such machines as a tape player, but wanted to have as much human interaction as possible in class. Wakabayashi (1982) also suggests the same idea and insists that the accent does not matter unless it is so strong that native speakers can hardly understand. English input from non-native speakers can help students realize that English has a variety of accents, as do other languages. Also, it can create real interactions in which listening activities occur in authentic situations. Students can be engaged in real-time listening activities with the teacher, where they can get immediate responses and feedback.
Helping students set up goals or objectives for learning English (in addition to passing the entrance exams), and introducing useful listening materials and various ways of learning listening skills, are among other things that English teachers can do in order to help learners to develop positive attitudes towards learning listening skills. Quite a few learners, like Toru, probably have difficulty in finding materials suitable to their level and interests, and teachers should give advice in this regard, as well.
Additionally, it should be noticed that the five learners' comments have indicated that they believe in certain scientific approaches to learning listening. They referred to the important roles of pronunciation improvement or vocabulary enhancement in order to obtain better listening comprehension skills. Teachers are expected to provide practices designed on the basis of scientific reasoning. It is also proposed that the approach to teaching listening includes consideration of learners' feelings and attitude, so that they are positively engaged in learning activities, with less anxiety. Teachers may have to consider "the psychological barrier" that their students may have in attempting "good" pronunciation.
To conclude, this report has hopefully provided useful information that teachers can refer to in order to better understand how their students participate in listening activities and why. Teachers may be able to assist their students in modifying their negative or incorrect beliefs that might interfere with effective learning processes by providing a sufficient amount of listening training, after considering its scientific and psychological effects on the learners.
References
Day, R., & Bamford, J. (1998). Extensive reading in the second language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge Language Education.
Horwitz, E. K. (1987). Surveying student beliefs about language learning. In A. L. Wenden & J. Rubin (Eds.), Learner strategies in language learning (pp. 119-129). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall International.
Seidman, I. (1991). Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in education and the social sciences. New York: Teachers College Press.
Uda, Y. (1998). 30-on de masutaasuru eikaiwa [English conversation which can be mastered with 30 sounds]. Retrieved July 2, 2001, from www.uda30.com.
Wakabayashi, S. (1982). Korekarano eigo kyoushi: Eigojugyougakuteki apurouti niyoru 30 shou [English teachers from now: A 30-chapter approach to English class study]. Tokyo: Taishukan.
Yamada, T., & Adachi, T. (1998). Eigo risuningu kagakuteki joutatsuhou [Scientific methods to improve listening skills in English]. Tokyo: Koudansha.
Note:
* The participants' names have been changed in order to protect their privacy.
Acknowledgment
The author would like to express her special thanks to Torkil Christensen and Daniel Kirk for reviewing the manuscript of this report and making thoughtful suggestions.
The author studied for her master's thesis at the State University of New York, University at Buffalo, from 2000 to 2001, and this paper is based on her research there. She currently teaches JSL at Aichi Shukutoku University and EFL at Chubu University. She can be reached at eshimo@rio.odn.ne.jp.
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