ACTION PLAN: SYSTEMATIC PRESENTATION OF LISTENING SKILLS

NAME: ZURAIMI BIN MOHD ZUBER (850728115451)

INSTITUTION: POLITEKNIK SULTAN IDRIS SHAH

PART A
INTRODUCTION
I am teaching English language at Politeknik Sultan Idris Shah and have been teaching for three
years since 2011. Apart from my teaching responsibilities, I am also involved in developing
assessment items for English language subjects and also responsible for managing my
departments staff trainings.
Since I am teaching at a polytechnic, most of my students are of technical background.
Most of the students are from Electrical Engineering Department, Civil Engineering Department
and Information Technology Department. Some of them are from Department of Department of
Commerce and Tourism and Hospitality Department. The students have to take English language
subjects in polytechnic as a requirement for them to complete their diploma.
There are three English language subjects that students have to take throughout their
studies. These include Communicative English 1 which focuses on developing their oral
communication skill, Communicative English 2 which focuses on developing skills to cope with
their working environment and Communicative English 3 which focuses on job hunting and job
interview skills. Besides, the students also have to sit for MUET (Malaysian University English
Test) as a part of the requirements for them to further their studies at local universities.
The group that I have chosen to carry out this action plan on is DKA1A students. This
group consists of 46 Diploma in Civil Engineering students who entered Politeknik Sultan Idris
Shah after finishing their secondary school. Out of the total number, 7 students scored an A for
English language subject in SPM; 13 students achieved B; 12 students achieved a C while 14 of
them achieved either D or E for the subject.





ISSUE IDENTIFICATION
Based on my previous lesson on listening, I found that most of my students face difficulties in
understanding listening texts that I base my activity on. I realized this after checking the answers
in the worksheets that they submitted after the listening activity. Most of them were not able to
show their understanding of the listening text. This is evident in the incorrect answers that that
they produced in the worksheet given. After reflecting on the activities that I carried out, I
realized that this situation is rooted in the way I conducted the activity and the students lack of
exposure in listening tasks.
Upon reflecting, I realized that the inability of my students to give relevant responses to
the listening tasks is partly due to the way I conducted it. As I recalled, I asked the students to
listen to an audio text which was played twice and the students need to answer the questions on
the worksheet given to them. I realized that I did not present the skills in listening systematically
to the students. The student did not go through the necessary steps in understanding the listening
text. They were also not guided throughout the activity. Instead, they were only given a
worksheet as a guide for them in finding the main ideas and the details. As a result, the students
ended up listening without any purpose and they did not know what they should listen for.
The activity was carried out in such way because I had mistakenly assumed that the
students are familiar with listening tasks at school and already acquired the necessary skills in
listening. However, I found that this was not the case for my students. Based on a survey I
carried out, I found that most of the students are not familiar with listening tasks. Majority of
them stated that their teachers had not carried out any listening activities when they were in their
secondary school. Therefore, I believe that the lack of exposure is the main cause of their
inability to respond appropriately to listening tasks. I found that there is a need to expose the
students to (1) listening for main ideas and (2) listening for details so that the students can
become intentional listeners who have a purpose for listening.
As mentioned by Brown (2008), listening is a complex activity, therefore teachers have
to help students comprehend what they hear by activating their prior knowledge. As listeners,
students do not only receive and record aural input passively. They need to actively involve
themselves in interpreting what they hear, bringing their own background knowledge and
linguistic knowledge to comprehend on the information contained in the aural text. Language
learning requires intentional listening that employs strategies for identifying sounds and making
meaning from them. Therefore, I strongly believe that the students need to be made aware that
they need to set purposes in listening as to make them able to use their background knowledge
and linguistic knowledge to help them comprehend what they listen to.


PART B
THE ACTION PLAN
Aims and expected outcomes
The aim of this plan is to expose students to listening for main ideas and listening for details.
Besides, students are also expected to carry out a group discussion using the inputs that they get
from the listening activity. Thus, by the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
1. Identify at least five questions posed throughout the video.
2. Identify at least one opinion from one of the teenagers for each questions posed
throughout the video.
3. Carry out a group discussion on the topic Cyberbully by using the questions as a guide.
Strategies chosen
There are a number of strategies that I am going to use in the lesson. These include:
1. Questioning: As to promote active participations from the students I will employ
questioning strategies while carrying out the activities. According to Nystrand and
Gamoran (1997), only authentic discourse can engage students, and it is important that
the questions asked to be able to stimulate pupils to think and reflect on the consequences
of their ideas. To make my lesson in line with this, I will pose question to lead them to
think of their past experience and put themselves in the shoes of the victim in the video
that I am going to use. I will also ask question to make them think of possible ways of
solving the problems identified. By asking such questions, I believe that my students will
participate more actively during the lesson as well as think critically and creatively.
However, it is important also to note that there is a limit to this strategy. Based on
previous lesson, I noticed that some students are reluctant to respond to questions. This is
partly due to their low confidence level which is rooted in their lack of proficiency in
English language.

2. Activation of prior knowledge: Brown (2006) states it is important that a listening activity
make use of students prior knowledge in order to improve listening comprehension.
Parallel to this statement, I plan to activate my students prior knowledge to enable them
to understand the listening text that they will listen. This will be done through
questioning strategy that I have mentioned before.

This strategy also has its own drawbacks as I am dealing with a very big class
which consists of almost 50 students. Therefore, it is important to note that I might not be
identify whether the students are able to use their prior knowledge or not.

3. Use of authentic listening material: Based on my observation, most of the listening
activities carried out by my colleagues are audio text based listening tasks. For example,
the students are asked to listen to audio texts played and answer questions based on the
texts they listened to. The tasks that are involved usually include filling in the blanks,
answering wh-questions and answering true-false questions. In other words, most of the
post listening activities are worksheet based activities. In terms of listening materials
used, the texts that are usually chosen for this kind of activity are audio texts which
involve pre-recorded dialogues, a talk on a subject matter, a speech or a long and dull
audio text of a person reading an article.

However, I found that most of the audio texts used are not real in a sense that they
do not represent the actual listening that the students do in real life. It is often the case
that the students do not experience the listening situation as represented by the texts
usually chosen for listening activities. Therefore, they find such listening text as boring
and dull since they cannot relate it with their real life situation. They only listen for the
sake of answering the worksheet given and not to get new knowledge from it, which I
think goes against the objective of teaching listening skills.

Therefore, in this lesson I will use a video which shows an actual event where
teenagers give their opinion on the case of cyber bullying which has caused Amanda
Todd to commit suicide. The language used by the teenagers is not scripted and is more
real than the language used in audio texts that are normally used in listening tests or
tasks. I believe that using an audio text which portrays the real discussion will help the
students grasp what kind of language that they should use in the group discussion that
they are going to carry out in the production stage.

Despite the fact that using authentic listening audio material can help students to
understand the language use in actual situation, the students might also face difficulties in
understanding the content of what is presented in the material. This is because the
speakers in the audio material are native speakers. Hence, they might find it difficult to
follow what is being said by the speaker. This in a way might impede their understanding
of the text.







Procedures of the plan
Stage 1 Procedures Teaching Aids
Set
induction

(Warm up)

Duration: 5
minutes
1. Lecturers shows a picture to students and asks them an
issue that comes to their mind when they see the
picture. (The issue is a road bully Steering Lock Lady
Driver)

2. Lecturer illicit students responses on the issue.
Picture of a
steering lock

Rationale: This stage is important to carry out as a warm up and to draw students attention
towards issue that is about to be brought later. This issue is chosen because it is a common issue
and students are familiar with the incident that happened.


Stage 2 Procedures Teaching Aids
Pre
Listening

(Activating
prior
knowledge)


1. Lecturer plays a video recording of Amanda Todd.
2. Lecturer illicit students responses on the video.
Questions that can be asked:
What happened to the girl?
What did she/he/ others do?
Why do you think this happened?
What would you do if you were in her situation?

Video posted on
Youtube by
Amanda Todd
four hours before
her death.

Rationale: This video was chosen as I believe that it can trigger students emotion and create
awareness in them about the seriousness of the issue. I will also ask question to guide students
thoughts towards the issue that is about to be discussed in the video that is going to be shown in
stage 3. This is important to be done to activate students prior knowledge of the issue and also to
familiarize the students with the difficult words that are going to be used in the video that will be
played in stage 3.

Stage 3 Procedures Teaching aids
While
listening
(Getting
inputs)
1. Lecturer tells students that they are going to listen to
responses from some teenagers regarding this issue.
Lecturer also informs the students that the video will
be played three times and that they will have a task to
carry out.

2. Lecturer plays the video for three times

1
st
time: Lecturer asks students to watch and listen
only.
Video from
youtube Teens
React to
Cyberbullying.







2
nd
time: Lecturer asks students to jot down questions
asked throughout the video.

o Lecturer asks students to sit in groups of five.
Provide an A3 paper for each group.
o Then, the students are to share the questions
that they managed to jot down.
o After that, lecturer appoints one student from
each group to become a spy. The spies need to
go to other groups and spy on the questions
that they missed out. Once they are done
collecting the missed out questions, they are to
report back to their respective group.
o The students need to write the questions that
they get in the A3 paper provided.

3
rd
time: Lecturer asks students to jot down responses
from at least one of the teenagers for each of the
questions asked.

3. Lecturer asks students to go back to their group and
share their findings. Lecturer reminds the students that
it is important for everyone to be involved in this
session since they are going to use the inputs in stage




A3 papers and
marker pens.









Rationale:
The video for this stage was chosen because it portrays what a real discussion really look like. I
prefer this type of video to be shown because it shows how people give opinion in the actual way
compared to pre-recorded audio texts which portrays very artificial and unreal discussions.

The video also will be played three times to get the students adapt themselves with the speed of
speech of the speaker. This is important to be done so that the students will have a second chance
to clarify word, phrases and information that they are not clear of.

Besides, students will also be given tasks to carry out during the second and third time the video
is played. This is done so that the students will have a purpose in listening. In the second play of
the video, the students are required to jot down questions posed during the discussion. This is
planned to be done this way so that I can present the listening sub-skills namely, listening for
main ideas and listening for details, in a systematic way. This is important so as to give a clearer
purpose of listening in each stage.



Stage 4 Procedures Teaching aids
Post
listening
(Production)
1. Lecturer asks each group to choose FIVE questions
that they think are very important to ask their friends
regarding the issue. The questions are to be divided
between the group members. As a result, each person
will be assigned with one question from the five
questions chosen.

2. Lecturer tells the students that they are going to carry
out a discussion which is similar to the discussion in
the video they watched.

3. Lecturer asks the students to take turns asking
questions. All students are expected to give their
responses to each of the questions posed by their
friends.


Rationale:

This activity will be carried out as to give students an opportunity to use the inputs that they get
to further improve their speaking skill, which is productive in nature. It is important to connect
listening and speaking to make students aware that there are purposes in listening where they can
listen to understand an issue further or they can listen for vocabularies and expressions that can
be useful to improve their proficiency level.

Closure 1. Lecturer reflects back with the students on the
activities that have been carried out throughout the
lesson.

2. Lecturers discusses on the processes that have
experienced themselves in each stages by making
them aware of the purposes set for listening.

3. Lecturer discusses the importance of listening with a
purpose with students.

Rationale:

This stage is also important to create awareness in the students of the challenges that they face in
listening as well as making them aware that there are strategies that they can use to overcome the
difficulties. Besides, the students can also be made aware of how listening to authentic and actual
conversations can help them improve their proficiency level.



PART C
REFLECTION

The Strengths of the Action Plan
After carrying out the activity, I was able to identify the strengths of the action plan that I carried
out. Most of my students were able to identify the questions posed during the discussion in the
audio texts thanks because in the beginning of the activity, I have set some tasks for them to
carry out. Therefore, they have a purpose in listening to the material and tend to focus while
listening to the audio material.
Besides, I found that most of my students were able to use the points that they jot down
during the while listening stage in their group discussion. I also found that some of them even
used a number of polite expressions in carrying out a group discussion.


The Limitation of the Action Plan
There are some limitations to this lesson plan. I found that it is difficult for me to monitor my
students when they were carrying out the group discussion. This is due to the class size which is
almost 50. Therefore, I find it hard to point out and correct mistakes made by my students
throughout the lesson.
Besides, I found that some students really struggle to understand the audio listening
material. This is due to the speed of speech of the native speakers in the video. This makes it
hard for them catch the words uttered by the speaker. As a result, they find it a challenge to grasp
some of the main ideas in the discussion. This is due to their proficiency level in English
language. Besides, I believe that this is also partly due to their being not familiar with listening to
speech of native speakers.

The Impact of the Action Plan on Me
There are a number of things that I learned while preparing this action plan. These include the
importance of a thoughtful planning, the importance of referring to various sources and the role
of reflection in improving my teaching methodology.
While preparing the action plan, I realized that I have to consider variety of factors in
planning a lesson. This involves the activities that I am going to carry out, the materials that I am
going to use in the lesson as well as my students background knowledge and level of proficiency.
I realized that I overlooked at some of these factors while preparing for this action plan. For
example, I overlooked at my students level of proficiency. This result in my mistake where I
chose a material which is difficult for some of them, especially those who have low proficiency
level to comprehend. Therefore, I realized that I need to consider a lot of factors in planning my
lesson next time.
In preparing the action plan, I was also required to relate my action plan with some of the
theories and principles in English Language Teaching. In doing so, I have to read from a number
of sources to achieve a better understanding of what I am about to plan and carry out. This has
broaden my view of my teaching perspectives. I realized that there are still many strategies that I
am ignorant of. As I read through the articles written by experts in ELT, I came to understand
that teaching is a creative process and I have to be flexible at times in carrying out my lesson.
This in a way has improved my knowledge and skills as an English language lecturer.
This action plan also requires me to reflect on my teaching activities. While doing the
reflections, I realized that there are a lot of mistakes that I did while carrying out the activities.
Upon realizing the mistakes, I began to think of the causes of the problems and ways to improve
my lesson. Doing a reflection also has enabled me to be empathetic towards my students. As I
stepped back from the lesson and see the implementation from the eyes of a student, I came to
understand the challenges that my students face in understanding listening in second language.
Therefore, I realized there are still rooms for improvement for the activities I carried out as to
make my students become a proficient listener as well as speakers of English language.
In a nutshell, I believe that this action plan has improved me to become a better educator.
I have learnt that I need to be careful in planning my teaching and learning activities for my
students, I have learnt that I need to read a lot to broaden my perspective in teaching
methodologies and I have learnt that it is important to step back to see the loopholes in my
teaching processes.




References
Brown, S. (2006). Teaching Listening. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nystrand, M. & Gamoran, A. (1997). The Big Picture: Language and Learning in Hundreds of
English Lessons in Nystrand et al. Opening Dialogue: Understanding the Dinamics of
Language and Learning in the English Classroom. New York: Teachers College Press pp. 30-
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