USING TED TALKS AS AN EXTENSIVE LISTENING RESOURCE TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ LISTENING SKILLS AT SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES – THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate students’ perceptions about the factors that affected their choice of TED Talks as an extensive listening resource outside classroom, to assess if they can improve their listening abilities by using TED materials, and to investigate whether or not they think this strategy is beneficial for other aspects of English language learning. The participants in this study were 60 second-year students in their fourth semester at School of Foreign Languages – Thai Nguyen University. To collect the data, questionnaire, tests and interviews were used. The findings revealed that a variety of factors influenced their choice of TED videos. The most often reported factors were the speakers' accent, speech rate, vocabulary complexity and length of the talks. Students reported that the lectures improved their listening comprehension as well as other areas of the English language such as bettering vocabulary and background knowledge, enhancing pronunciation and accent, developing presentation skills, and increasing their learning motivation.