Listening competencies in English: a descriptive study of primary school teacher trainees in Kenya

English language in Kenya is important as it is the medium of instruction, among other things, from class four upwards. Listening on the other hand is a key factor in facilitating language learning because it is the foundation of the other language skills. It is also the skill that facilitates the interaction of the instructor and the learner in any learning situation. Lack of listening competence in English therefore means poor language skills and poor performance in all the subjects taught in English. This paper presents the findings of a study conducted in teacher training colleges in Kenya. The study sought to establish the levels of listening competencies in English of primary school teacher trainees. The study further sought to establish the influence of sex on acquisition of these competencies. A sample of 30 male and 30 female trainees was used. Data were collected using three subtests namely dictation, cloze test and listening comprehension. Research findings showed that listening competence levels in English among teacher trainees were below the desired levels in all the subtests but above the minimum competence levels in all except in cloze test. Female trainees performed better than the male trainees in all subtests. However, the differences were statistically insignificant except in dictation. There was correlation between sex and performance in dictation but there was no correlation between sex and performance in th e listening comprehension and cloze test. I.INTRODUCTION: LISTENING COMPETENCES IN ENGLISH Most people sincerely believe that they listen effectively. Consequently, they do not see the need to develop their listening skills (Bwire, 2007). However, listening effectively is something that very few of us do. It is not that listening effectively is difficu lt, but rather, most of us just never develop the skill (Wilkinson, 1974). Effect ive listening is a process that involves actively absorbing the information given by a speaker, showing that you are attentive and providing feedback to the speaker so that he/she knows that the message has been received. Effect ive listeners show speakers that they have been heard and understood by responding effectively (Barker, 1971). There is a difference between listening and hearing. Whereas hearing is a physical activity, listening is a mental process (Adler & Brown, 2003). We do not learn how to hear but we must learn how to listen. As expressed by Wyatt and Roach (1999) “far from being a natural process, listening is a consciously purposive activity for which we need systematic training and supervision to learn to do well” (p. 197). Th is is because it involves psychological skills such as recognising words, parsing speech into constituent parts and processing the discourse in terms of cohesion, logic and relevant underlying skills. It also involves social skills such as giving back-channelling signals and making improvements when misunderstandings occur. Gilman and Moody (1984) observe that adults spend 40 -50% of communication time listening but the importance of listening in language learning has only been recognised relatively recently as observed by Oxford (1993). Listening has been assuming greater and greater importance in language classrooms because of the development of second language acquisition research, which has given a major boost to listening by emphas ising the role of comprehensible input (US-China Foreign Language, 1987). Krashen (1982) suggest that comprehensible input is an important factor in second language acquisition. Rost (1990) argues that unless listening is given priority at the right level, learning cannot begin because listening is the foundation of the other language skills. He fu rther says one has to listen to be able to speak; one has to speak to be able to read, and one has to read to be able to write. Apart from second language classroom contexts, the process of listening is of crucial importance in social interactions. Mark Twain observed, if we were supposed to talk more than we listen, we would have two tongues and one ear ( Evans, 1999). Cheesebro, O’connor, and Rios (2009) write in Communication Skills,” people are fired, customers are lost and working relat ions are strained because of ineffective listening. Likewise, friendships suffer, marriages fail and families grow apart when individuals fail to listen with genuine concern” (Cheesebro et al; 2009:25). Dr. Lydiah W. Wangungu et al, International Journal of Research in Engineering and Social Sciences, ISSN 2249-9482, Impact Factor: 6.301, Volume 06 Issue 07, July 2016, Page 11-18 www.indusedu. org Page 12 The above observations show that listening is a crucial communicat ion skill. Communicat ion cannot successfully take place until what is spoken is understood. Importance of listening skill is attached to both the classroom and social interactions. Since 1974 Act of Parliament, English has been the official language in Kenya (The Kenya Constitution, 2010). The role of English in the Kenya school curriculum is of paramount importance. The acquisition of the four basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) is key to acquisition and total mastery of the second language. The student’s performance in English and all other school subjects (except in Kiswahili and foreign languages) depends to a larger extent, on the efficiency of listening in English. Training both the learner and the instructor is needed to enhance the learning interactions especially in the Kenyan context where Mogaka (2001) reports that teachers dominated the interaction in Kenyan English language classroom with lecturing and question and answer methods dominating the lesson. The revised Primary Teacher Education syllabus re-emphasises the importance of English as the official language of communication in Kenya as well as the medium of instruction in schools, colleges and universities. It is also the pre-eminent language of interactional communication. The revised syllabus states consequently “those who master English reap many academic, social and professional benefits” (K.I.E, PTE Revised English Syllabus, 2006: 2). In a study, Groenwegen (2008) came up with English Literacy Norms (ELNs). These are the bench marks or levels of competence in listening skills that are expected in a learner at finishing primary school. Groenwegen (2008) defined the Desired Competence Level (DCL) as 75% and above and the Minimum Competence Level (MCL) as between 50% and 74%. W ith MCL, one has limited ability in the skill and therefore one is not able to use the skill effectively. Listening has been assuming greater and greater importance in language classrooms because of development of second language acquisition research which has emphasised the role of comprehensible input (Krashen, 1982). Th is is also evident in the new syllabus which has corrected the imbalance o f emphasising reading and writing at the expense of listening and speaking by incorporating listening skills in the teaching and evaluation syllabus in national examinations. It is on this emphasis on listening skill in general and listening skill in English in particular that this paper was pegged with a view to establishing whether primary school teacher trainees in Kenya have the desired levels of competence in listening skills in English. The influence of the social variable of sex on the listening ability of primary school teacher trainees in Kenya was also established. Listening involves skills such as recognising words, parsing speech into constituent parts and processing the discourse in terms of cohesion, logic and back channelling signals. Listenin g competences include discriminating between sounds, recognising words, identifying stressed words, identifying functions in a conversation, connecting linguistic cues to nonlinguistic cues in order to construct meaning, recalling important words, topics and ideas, giving appropriate feedback to the speaker and reformulat ing what the speaker has said. In this paper the researchers focused on discriminating between sounds through dictation, recalling important words through cloze test and connecting linguistic and non-linguistic cues to construct meaning as well as using background knowledge and context to predict and confirm meaning in the listening comprehension. II. METHODOLOGY AND MATERIALS This study was conducted as a descriptive survey of listening competences of teacher trainees in teacher training colleges in Kenya. The study comprised of 60 teacher trainees in the second year of their training. 30 female trainees and 30 male trainees were sample for the study. Simple random sampling was used to sample the trainees since it gives unbiased representation of a group. The study used a listening test comprising three subtests namely: listening comprehension, cloze test and dictation (see appendix i). The test was used to determine the listening levels of the trainees. Listening comprehension tested the ability to: p ick main ideas, fo llow topic development, guess meaning of words, predict outcomes, and recall from spoken discourse. Cloze test on the other hand tested the ability to use: context to construct meaning, vocabulary, critical thinking, semantic and syntactic cues to construct meaning. Dictation comprised of ten min imal pairs; five pairs of consonants, three pairs of vowels and two pairs of both vowels and consonants. The choice of the sounds was guided by Brown (1995) who recommends use of sounds with high functional load. The test was administered at 8A.M. This was deemed good time as the trainees would not be fatigued by the day’s activities. The classrooms were used for the exercise. Physical conditions such as good ventilation and comfortable sitting were ensured. The trainees were briefed on the purpose of the study. The different listening tasks and their formats were exp lained to the trainees and the pre-taped verbal instructions repeated fo