The Effects of Using Advance Organizers on Improving EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension: A Mixed Method Study

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Jafari, Khadijeh; Hashim, Fatimah

2012-01-01

This study investigated the effects of using two types of written advance organizers, key sentences and key vocabulary, on the improvement of EFL learners' listening comprehension. 108 second year university students at the higher and lower listening proficiency levels were randomly assigned to one control group and two experimental groups. Prior…

Impacts of Authentic Listening Tasks upon Listening Anxiety and Listening Comprehension

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Melanlioglu, Deniz

2013-01-01

Although listening is the skill mostly used by students in the classrooms, the desired success cannot be attained in teaching listening since this skill is shaped by multiple variables. In this research we focused on listening anxiety, listening comprehension and impact of authentic tasks on both listening anxiety and listening comprehension.…

The Role of Inference Making and Other Language Skills in the Development of Narrative Listening Comprehension in 4-6-Year-Old Children

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Lepola, Janne; Lynch, Julie; Laakkonen, Eero; Silven, Maarit; Niemi, Pekka

2012-01-01

In this two-year longitudinal study, we sought to examine the developmental relationships among early narrative listening comprehension and language skills (i.e., vocabulary knowledge, sentence memory, and phonological awareness) and the roles of these factors in predicting narrative listening comprehension at the age of 6 years. We also sought to…

Examining the Role of Concentration, Vocabulary and Self-Concept in Listening and Reading Comprehension

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Wolfgramm, Christine; Suter, Nicole; Göksel, Eva

2016-01-01

Listening is regarded as a key requirement for successful communication and is fundamentally linked to other language skills. Unlike reading, it requires both hearing and processing information in real-time. We therefore propose that the ability to concentrate is a strong predictor of listening comprehension. Using structural equation modeling,…

Listening Comprehension in Middle-Aged Adults.

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Sommers, Mitchell S

2015-06-01

The purpose of this summary is to examine changes in listening comprehension across the adult lifespan and to identify factors associated with individual differences in listening comprehension. In this article, the author reports on both cross-sectional and longitudinal changes in listening comprehension. Despite significant declines in both sensory and cognitive abilities, listening comprehension remains relatively unchanged in middle-aged listeners (between the ages of 40 and 60 years) compared with young listeners. These results are discussed with respect to possible compensatory factors that maintain listening comprehension despite impaired hearing and reduced cognitive capacities.

Learning to listen: Listening Strategies and Listening Comprehension of Islamic Senior High School Students

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DESMA YULISA

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research was to identify the correlation and the influence between listening strategies and listening comprehension. The eleventh grade students were selected as participants of this study. The instruments used in this research were listening strategies questionaire adapted from Lee (1997 and modified by Ho (2006 (as cited Golchi, 2012, and listening comprehension test conducted to measure students’ listening comprehension. Pearson product moment, regression analysis, R-square were used to find out the correlation and the influence between variables. The result revealed that there was a significant correlation between listening strategies and listening comprehension with r = .516. Besides, there was also a significant influence of listening strategies on listening comprehension with 26.6 %. This study could have implications for English language teachers, course designers, learners, and text book writers.

On the importance of listening comprehension.

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Hogan, Tiffany P; Adlof, Suzanne M; Alonzo, Crystle N

2014-06-01

The simple view of reading highlights the importance of two primary components which account for individual differences in reading comprehension across development: word recognition (i.e., decoding) and listening comprehension. While assessments and interventions for decoding have been the focus of pedagogy in the past several decades, the importance of listening comprehension has received less attention. This paper reviews evidence showing that listening comprehension becomes the dominating influence on reading comprehension starting even in the elementary grades. It also highlights a growing number of children who fail to develop adequate reading comprehension skills, primarily due to deficient listening comprehension skills (i.e., poor comprehenders). Finally we discuss key language influences on listening comprehension for consideration during assessment and treatment of reading disabilities.

Strategy-based listening and pragmatic comprehension

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Corsetti, Cristiane Ruzicki

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This article addresses the role of strategy-based listening as an alternative methodological approach to develop pragmatic comprehension in L2 contexts. Pragmatic comprehension refers to the understanding of speech acts and conversational implicatures. Listening comprehension comprises both bottom-up and top-down processes. Strategy-based listening encompasses the activation of pragmatic knowledge through pre-listening activities and the development of specific listening micro-skills. An empirical project which included a classroom project carried out with a group of eight learners preparing for the IELTS examination in 2009 corroborated the following assumptions: in order to achieve listening proficiency, learners need practice in making inferences as semantic and pragmatic inferences are embedded in verbal communication; semantic and pragmatic aspects affecting the meaning of utterances can be highlighted via comprehension activities focusing on specific listening subskills. The results of the classroom project suggested that strategy-based listening is potentially capable of directly enhancing pragmatic comprehension but were inconclusive with regards to pragmatic production

Effects of listening comprehension training on listening and reading

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Aarnoutse, C.A.J.; Van den Bos, K.P.; Brand-Gruwel, S.

1998-01-01

In this study the effects of providing text strategy instruction in a listening mode on listening and reading comprehension of experimental and control groups of 9- to 11-year-old poor readers were examined. All students were very poor in decoding and poor in reading comprehension. In addition, half

Listening comprehension across the adult lifespan.

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Sommers, Mitchell S; Hale, Sandra; Myerson, Joel; Rose, Nathan; Tye-Murray, Nancy; Spehar, Brent

2011-01-01

Although age-related declines in perceiving spoken language are well established, the primary focus of research has been on perception of phonemes, words, and sentences. In contrast, relatively few investigations have been directed at establishing the effects of age on the comprehension of extended spoken passages. Moreover, most previous work has used extreme-group designs in which the performance of a group of young adults is contrasted with that of a group of older adults and little if any information is available regarding changes in listening comprehension across the adult lifespan. Accordingly, the goals of the current investigation were to determine whether there are age differences in listening comprehension across the adult lifespan and, if so, whether similar trajectories are observed for age-related changes in auditory sensitivity and listening comprehension. This study used a cross-sectional lifespan design in which approximately 60 individuals in each of 7 decades, from age 20 to 89 yr (a total of 433 participants), were tested on three different measures of listening comprehension. In addition, we obtained measures of auditory sensitivity from all participants. Changes in auditory sensitivity across the adult lifespan exhibited the progressive high-frequency loss typical of age-related hearing impairment. Performance on the listening comprehension measures, however, demonstrated a very different pattern, with scores on all measures remaining relatively stable until age 65 to 70 yr, after which significant declines were observed. Follow-up analyses indicated that this same general pattern was observed across three different types of passages (lectures, interviews, and narratives) and three different question types (information, integration, and inference). Multiple regression analyses indicated that low-frequency pure-tone average was the single largest contributor to age-related variance in listening comprehension for individuals older than 65 yr, but

The Impact of Vocabulary Knowledge Level on EFL Reading Comprehension

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Shima Kameli

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The present study examined the impact of vocabulary knowledge level on reading comprehension performance among EFL language learners. The ultimate intention was to determine the association between levels of vocabulary knowledge and to clarify the relationship among vocabulary knowledge on reading comprehension performance of EFL Iranian students on subtest of VLT and IELTS. Quantitative data were collected from 220 EFL Iranian adult students at the beginning of second semester of 2011 in private English language institute (BAHAR, Shiraz, Iran. The Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT and Reading Comprehension Test (IELTS were performed in one session as research instruments. The findings indicated that there were positive relationships among different levels of vocabulary test and also test scores on vocabulary size/breadth of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension.

Helping Students Develop Listening Comprehension

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Cárdenas Beltrán Melba Libia

2000-08-01

Full Text Available Listening practice is often neglected or handled inappropriately in the teachinglearning process. This poses problem because listening is an integral part of conversations. Oral skills without equally welldeveloped listening abilities are of little practical value. In this article, I will take a look at issues related to the area of listening that may be considered when guiding students toward developing listening comprehension.

Optimizing Visually-Assisted Listening Comprehension

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Kashani, Ahmad Sabouri; Sajjadi, Samad; Sohrabi, Mohammad Reza; Younespour, Shima

2011-01-01

The fact that visual aids such as pictures or graphs can lead to greater comprehension by language learners has been well established. Nonetheless, the order of presenting visuals to listeners is left unattended. This study examined listening comprehension from a strategy of introducing visual information, either prior to or during an audio…

The Impact of Gloss Types on Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary Gain and Vocabulary Retention: A Comparative Study

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Atefeh Elekaei

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The significance and impact of vocabulary learning in reading comprehension and L2 language learning are apparent to teachers, researchers and language learners. Moreover, glosses are found as one of the most effective strategies regarding vocabulary retention. Therefore, the present study attempted to investigate the effect of different types of glosses on reading comprehension, vocabulary gain and vocabulary retention. To this end, 140 Iranian EFL learners learning English were selected and were divided into four groups (footnote gloss group, interlinear gloss group, marginal gloss group, and glossary group. They were required to read a text and answer four reading comprehension questions. In addition, one immediate vocabulary post-test and one delayed vocabulary post-test were taken in order to investigate learners' vocabulary gain and vocabulary retention. In order to analyze the data, one one-way ANOVA and one MANOVA were run. The results of one-way ANOVA revealed that participants who received interlinear glosses significantly outperformed the other groups regarding comprehending the text. Moreover, the immediate vocabulary post-test was conducted immediately after reading test and the delayed post-test was administered after four weeks. The results of MANOVA indicated that the group which received interlinear glosses outperformed the other groups in both vocabulary gain and vocabulary retention. The present study has implications for teachers and learners. Teachers can find better methods to teach new reading passages as well as vocabulary items. Also, glosses help learners to have a better comprehension of difficult passages and they facilitate learning. Moreover, learners can enhance their vocabulary knowledge with the help of glosses.

Dichotic listening performance predicts language comprehension.

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Asbjørnsen, Arve E; Helland, Turid

2006-05-01

Dichotic listening performance is considered a reliable and valid procedure for the assessment of language lateralisation in the brain. However, the documentation of a relationship between language functions and dichotic listening performance is sparse, although it is accepted that dichotic listening measures language perception. In particular, language comprehension should show close correspondence to perception of language stimuli. In the present study, we tested samples of reading-impaired and normally achieving children between 10 and 13 years of age with tests of reading skills, language comprehension, and dichotic listening to consonant-vowel (CV) syllables. A high correlation between the language scores and the dichotic listening performance was expected. However, since the left ear score is believed to be an error when assessing language laterality, covariation was expected for the right ear scores only. In addition, directing attention to one ear input was believed to reduce the influence of random factors, and thus show a more concise estimate of left hemisphere language capacity. Thus, a stronger correlation between language comprehension skills and the dichotic listening performance when attending to the right ear was expected. The analyses yielded a positive correlation between the right ear score in DL and language comprehension, an effect that was stronger when attending to the right ear. The present results confirm the assumption that dichotic listening with CV syllables measures an aspect of language perception and language skills that is related to general language comprehension.

Reading comprehension skills of young adults with childhood diagnoses of dyslexia.

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Ransby, Marilyn J; Swanson, H Lee

2003-01-01

This study explores the contribution of cognitive processes to comprehension skills in adults who suffered from childhood developmental dyslexia (CD). The performance of adults with CD (ages 17 to 23), chronological age-matched (CA) adults, and reading level-matched (RL) children was compared on measures of phonological processing, naming speed, working memory (WM), general knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension. The results showed that adults with CD scored lower on measures of phonological processing, naming speed, WM, general knowledge, and vocabulary when compared to CA readers but were comparable to RL children on the majority of process measures. Phonological processing, naming speed, vocabulary, general knowledge, and listening comprehension contributed independent variance to reading comprehension accuracy, whereas WM, intelligence, phonological processing, and listening comprehension contributed independent variance to comprehension fluency. Adults with CD scored lower than CA adults and higher than RL children on measures of lexical processing, WM, and listening comprehension when word recognition and intelligence were partialed from the analysis. In summary, constraints in phonological processing and naming speed mediate only some of the influence of high-order processes on reading comprehension. Furthermore, adults with CD experience difficulties in WM, listening comprehension, and vocabulary independently of their word recognition problems and intellectual ability.

You know what it is: learning words through listening to hip-hop.

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Chesley, Paula

2011-01-01

Music listeners have difficulty correctly understanding and remembering song lyrics. However, results from the present study support the hypothesis that young adults can learn African-American English (AAE) vocabulary from listening to hip-hop music. Non-African-American participants first gave free-response definitions to AAE vocabulary items, after which they answered demographic questions as well as questions addressing their social networks, their musical preferences, and their knowledge of popular culture. Results from the survey show a positive association between the number of hip-hop artists listened to and AAE comprehension vocabulary scores. Additionally, participants were more likely to know an AAE vocabulary item if the hip-hop artists they listen to use the word in their song lyrics. Together, these results suggest that young adults can acquire vocabulary through exposure to hip-hop music, a finding relevant for research on vocabulary acquisition, the construction of adolescent and adult identities, and the adoption of lexical innovations.

You know what it is: learning words through listening to hip-hop.

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Paula Chesley

Full Text Available Music listeners have difficulty correctly understanding and remembering song lyrics. However, results from the present study support the hypothesis that young adults can learn African-American English (AAE vocabulary from listening to hip-hop music. Non-African-American participants first gave free-response definitions to AAE vocabulary items, after which they answered demographic questions as well as questions addressing their social networks, their musical preferences, and their knowledge of popular culture. Results from the survey show a positive association between the number of hip-hop artists listened to and AAE comprehension vocabulary scores. Additionally, participants were more likely to know an AAE vocabulary item if the hip-hop artists they listen to use the word in their song lyrics. Together, these results suggest that young adults can acquire vocabulary through exposure to hip-hop music, a finding relevant for research on vocabulary acquisition, the construction of adolescent and adult identities, and the adoption of lexical innovations.

Relationship between Vocabulary Size and Reading Comprehension Levels of Malaysian Tertiary Students

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Angelina Wan Lin Tan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the relationship between vocabulary size and reading comprehension performance among students in a tertiary institution in a Malaysian context and examined the vocabulary size required for students to achieve reading comprehension at various levels of proficiency. The research questions that guided this study were: 1 What is the vocabulary size of second year diploma students studying Mass Communication?; 2 What is the reading comprehension proficiency of second year diploma students studying Mass Communication?; and 3 What vocabulary size is required for different levels of reading comprehension proficiency? This study used the quantitative approach. The participants were 53 Malaysian second-year students at a private university college in Malaysia who were reading for their Diploma in Mass Communication. The instruments used were the Vocabulary Size Test and the IELTS Reading Test (Academic Module. The findings showed that the average vocabulary size of the students was just over 6000 word families and this vocabulary size was generally insufficient for adequate reading comprehension. Students needed an average vocabulary size of about 8000 word families to achieve adequate reading comprehension and about 10000 word families to achieve proficient reading comprehension. Based on the individual student’s performance, this study did not find a linear relationship between vocabulary size and reading comprehension performance, nor was there a threshold vocabulary size for adequate reading comprehension.

Identifying Information Focuses in Listening Comprehension

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Zhang, Hong-yan

2011-01-01

The study explains the process of learners' listening comprehension within Halliday's information theory in functional grammar, including the skills of identifying focuses while listening in college English teaching. Identifying information focuses in listening is proved to improve the students' communicative listening ability by the means of a…

The Influence of Working Memory on Listening Comprehension

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张军

2008-01-01

@@ We many notice that in listening classroom, what proficient students complain most is that they can get every word in the listening material but the most difficult thing for them is to keep in mind what they have heard. Although listening comprehension is now widely considered to be of great importance in second language learning and is extensively studied, there has not been enough research on listening comprehensionfrom the language processing perspective. And there is not too much studies involving the concept of memory in listening comprehension,especially the relationship between working memory capacity and listening comprehension.

Proactive and reactive effects of vigorous exercise on learning and vocabulary comprehension.

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Salis, Andrea S

2013-06-01

College students (N = 90) were randomly assigned to participate in vigorous, moderate or no physical exercise and vocabulary recall and comprehension learning activities under varying conditions to assess whether or not increased intensities of exercise, performed either before a vocabulary recall and comprehension learning activity (i.e., proactive effect) or after a vocabulary recall and comprehension learning activity (i.e., reactive effect), would improve vocabulary recall and comprehension. The results demonstrated that performing exercise at a vigorous intensity before or after rehearsing for a vocabulary comprehension test improved test results.

Using Multimedia Vocabulary Annotations in L2 Reading and Listening Activities

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Jing Xu

2010-01-01

This paper reviews the role of multimedia vocabulary annotation (MVA) in facilitating second language (L2) reading and listening activities. It examines the multimedia learning and multimedia language learning theories that underlie the MVA research, synthesizes the findings on MVA in the last decade, and identifies three underresearched areas on…

How Age, Linguistic Status, and the Nature of the Auditory Scene Alter the Manner in Which Listening Comprehension Is Achieved in Multitalker Conversations.

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Avivi-Reich, Meital; Jakubczyk, Agnes; Daneman, Meredyth; Schneider, Bruce A

2015-10-01

We investigated how age and linguistic status affected listeners' ability to follow and comprehend 3-talker conversations, and the extent to which individual differences in language proficiency predict speech comprehension under difficult listening conditions. Younger and older L1s as well as young L2s listened to 3-talker conversations, with or without spatial separation between talkers, in either quiet or against moderate or high 12-talker babble background, and were asked to answer questions regarding their contents. After compensating for individual differences in speech recognition, no significant differences in conversation comprehension were found among the groups. As expected, conversation comprehension decreased as babble level increased. Individual differences in reading comprehension skill contributed positively to performance in younger EL1s and in young EL2s to a lesser degree but not in older EL1s. Vocabulary knowledge was significantly and positively related to performance only at the intermediate babble level. The results indicate that the manner in which spoken language comprehension is achieved is modulated by the listeners' age and linguistic status.

Vocabulary and syntactic knowledge factors in 5th grade students’ reading comprehension

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Kouider Mokhtari

2013-03-01

Full Text Available In this study, we examined 5th grade students’ levels of vocabulary knowledge and syntactic awareness relative to their reading comprehension performance. The aim was to explore the contributions of vocabulary and syntactic awareness as potential sources of reading comprehension difficulty for these readers. Overall, we found that both vocabulary knowledge and syntactic awareness contributed in significant yet unique ways to students’ reading comprehension performance. Students who showed weaknesses in vocabulary and syntax also performed poorly on measures of reading comprehension. Additionally, we found that syntactic awareness explained a small amount of additional variance in reading comprehension beyond what was explained by vocabulary. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of research and practice addressing the relationships among syntax, vocabulary, and reading comprehension for more and less skilled readers.

Listening Comprehension Strategies: A Review of the Literature

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Berne, Jane E.

2004-01-01

Numerous studies related to listening comprehension strategies have been published in the past two decades. The present study seeks to build upon two previous reviews of listening comprehension strategies research. Of particular interest in this review are studies dealing with the types of cues used by listeners, the sequence of listening,…

Developing an Instrument for Iranian EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension Problems and Listening Strategies

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Sara Noroozi

2014-06-01

Full Text Available In the body of literature on listening strategies to EFL learners, what seems to be lacking is that the focus is on teaching listening strategies to learners with little attention to their listening comprehension problems. No local research has been conducted on the nature of the Iranian tertiary level students' EFL listening comprehension problems or strategies. Therefore, no instrument is available to investigate these constructs. This paper reports the findings of a study that made an attempt to develop and test an instrument that will aid researchers identify students’ specific listening problems and listening strategy repertoire. The instrument was developed by integrating and validating the available instruments in the related literature. The two developed questionnaires were: the Listening Comprehension Problems Questionnaire (LCPQ and the Listening Strategy Use Questionnaire (LSUQ. Problems related to designing and testing this instrument is shared and the modifications made to it are presented. The instrument is expected to be useful for researchers interested to study the area of EFL listening in a similar setting.

Lexical Coverage of TED Talks: Implications for Vocabulary Instruction

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Nurmukhamedov, Ulugbek

2017-01-01

Teachers of English are often in search of authentic audio and video materials that promote learners' listening comprehension and vocabulary development. TED Talks, a set of freely available web presentations, could be a useful resource to promote vocabulary instruction. The present replication study examines the lexical coverage of TED Talks by…

Teaching Listening Comprehension: Bottom-Up Approach

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Khuziakhmetov, Anvar N.; Porchesku, Galina V.

2016-01-01

Improving listening comprehension skills is one of the urgent contemporary educational problems in the field of second language acquisition. Understanding how L2 listening comprehension works can have a serious influence on language pedagogy. The aim of the paper is to discuss the practical and methodological value of the notion of the perception…

The Relationship between Three Measures of L2 Vocabulary Knowledge and L2 Listening and Reading

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Cheng, Junyu; Matthews, Joshua

2018-01-01

This study explores the constructs that underpin three different measures of vocabulary knowledge and investigates the degree to which these three measures correlate with, and are able to predict, measures of second language (L2) listening and reading. Word frequency structured vocabulary tests tapping "receptive/orthographic (RecOrth)…

Second Language Listening Comprehension: A Schema-Theoretic Perspective.

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Long, Donna Reseigh

1989-01-01

Enormous potential exists for the transfer of listening comprehension theory to second language listening research. The need for such research is highlighted through an exploration of recurring themes in the literature on background knowledge and through application of these themes to second language listening comprehension. (CB)

Impacts of Captioned Movies on Listening Comprehension

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Abusaied Janfaza

2014-04-01

Full Text Available With the advent of technology, the implication of authentic multimedia-based teaching materials are using widely in language classrooms. Technology can be in service of teaching different skills such as listening, reading, speaking and writing. Among these skills listening comprehension is a skill in which the learners have problems to master. Regarding this issue, utilizing captions for the education purposes has been a good motivation for conducting some research on the effects of captions of listening skills. However, it seems that there is a gap in the literature whether to use captioned movies in the classroom and whether they are effective in improving listening comprehension. Many studies have been conducted on this issue. However, their findings are conclusive. While some studies refer to the effectiveness of using captions, others revel that they are not so effective for improving the learner’s language skills. Hence, the present study is a review of the effects of captioned movies on the improvement of listening skill. In this case, the findings of this study can clarify the role of using captioned movies in improving the listening skill Keywords: captioned movie, technology, listening comprehension, instruction

The Impact of Mobile Learning on Listening Anxiety and Listening Comprehension

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Rahimi, Mehrak; Soleymani, Elham

2015-01-01

This study aimed at investigating the impact of mobile learning on EFL learners' listening anxiety and listening comprehension. Fifty students of two intermediate English courses were selected and sampled as the experimental (n = 25) and control (n = 25) groups. Students' entry level of listening anxiety was assessed by foreign language listening…

Cognitive Style and EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension Ability

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Mandana Yousefi

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract     The current study aimed to investigate whether, and to what extent, there is a relationship between field independence / dependence cognitive styles and Iranian EFL learners' listening comprehension ability. For this purpose, a sample population of 131 Subjects was randomly selected.  A battery of tests including: a the Group Embedded Figures Test (1971, b the TOFEL listening test (1995, c the listening task preference questionnaire, and d the Michigan ECPE test (1996 were administered. The data analysis showed that the correlation between the TOFEL and the GEFT scores for FD learners (both males and females was significant(r =0.70, and higher scores on the GEFT led to an increase in the FD learners TOFEL scores. Conducting one-way and two-way ANOVAs, it was suggested that while there was a relationship between cognitive style and listening comprehension (F= 18.02 and also no relationship between sex and listening comprehension (F=0.267, the interactional effect was significant (f = 7.03. Therefore, sex can be regarded as a source of performance difference in listening comprehension but not by itself and it seems that the interaction of sex and cognitive style can have a stronger effect on this skill. Regarding the learners’ preference toward the different parts of the TOEFL listening section, most  learners favored the short conversations, informal assessment, and one item/one conversation, however, the FI ones did better on the longer conversations of the second and the third parts of the TOEFL listening test. Keywords: Cognitive style, Field dependence, Field independence, Listening comprehension.

Listening Comprehension: Approach, Design, Procedure.

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Richards, Jack C.

1983-01-01

Three dimensions in the teaching of listening comprehension are outlined: (1) a theory is presented that takes account of the cognitive processes used (approach); (2) listeners' needs are analyzed and a taxonomy of microskills and objectives for teaching them are proposed (design); and (3) classroom exercises and activities are suggested…

Enhancing Listening Comprehension through a Group Work Guessing Game

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Sasan Baleghizadeh

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The present paper is an attempt to introduce an innovative technique for a more effective teaching of L2 listening comprehension through a process-oriented approach. Much of what is traditionally known as listening practice is in fact testing material in which students are required to listen to a recording and answer a number of comprehension questions. However, as a preliminary step, teachers should focus on the process of listening comprehension by encouraging students to employ efficient learning strategies during the listening process and cooperatively evaluate them in the class. The suggested technique in this article provides students with appropriate metacognitive strategies, which pave the way for successful L2 listening practice.

The Impact of Cooperative Listening Materials Adaptation on Listening Comprehension Performance of Iranian EFL Learners

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Ghassemi, Mojtaba

2013-01-01

Listening comprehension has gained more prominence in EFL/ESL classes. Due to this prominence, scholars have tried to shed light on different ways of improving learners' listening comprehension. One of these ways is using listening strategies. There is still a controversy over the effective role of these strategies in improving listening…

Developing an Instrument for Iranian EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension Problems and Listening Strategies

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Noroozi, Sara Sara; Sim, Tam Shu; Nimehchisalem, Vahid; Zareian, Gholamreza

2014-01-01

In the body of literature on listening strategies to EFL learners, what seems to be lacking is that the focus is on teaching listening strategies to learners with little attention to their listening comprehension problems. No local research has been conducted on the nature of the Iranian tertiary level students' EFL listening comprehension…

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES AS PREDICTORS OF READING COMPREHENSION AND VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE

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Abbas Ali Zarei

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract: The present study was conducted to investigate types of Multiple Intelligences as predictors of reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge. To meet this objective, a 60-item TOEFL test and a 90-item multiple intelligences questionnaire were distributed among 240 male and female Iranians studying English at Qazali and Parsian Universities in Qazvin. Data were analyzed using a multiple regression procedure. The result of the data analysis indicated that musical, interpersonal, kinesthetic, and logical intelligences were predicators of reading comprehension. Moreover, musical, verbal, visual, kinesthetic and natural intelligences made significant contributions to predicting vocabulary knowledge.   Key words: Multiple intelligences, reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge.

A cross-language study of decontextualized vocabulary comprehension in toddlerhood and kindergarten readiness.

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Friend, Margaret; Smolak, Erin; Liu, Yushuang; Poulin-Dubois, Diane; Zesiger, Pascal

2018-04-05

Recent studies demonstrate that emerging literacy depends on earlier language achievement. Importantly, most extant work focuses on parent-reported production prior to 30 months of age. Of interest is whether and how directly assessed vocabulary comprehension in the 2nd year of life supports vocabulary and kindergarten readiness in the 4th year. We first contrasted orthogonal indices of parent-reported production and directly assessed vocabulary comprehension and found that comprehension was a stronger predictor of child outcomes. We then assessed prediction from vocabulary comprehension controlling for maternal education, preschool attendance, and child sex. In 3 studies early, decontextualized vocabulary comprehension emerged as a significant predictor of 4th year language and kindergarten readiness accounting for unique variance above demographic control variables. Further we found that the effect of early vocabulary on 4th year kindergarten readiness was not mediated by 4th year vocabulary. This pattern of results emerged in English monolingual children (N = 48) and replicated in French monolingual (N = 58) and French-English bilingual children (N = 34). Our findings suggest that early, decontextualized vocabulary may provide a platform for the establishment of a conceptual system that supports both later vocabulary and kindergarten readiness, including the acquisition of a wide range of concepts including print and number. Differences between parent-reported and directly assessed vocabulary and the mechanisms by which decontextualized vocabulary may contribute to conceptual development are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

A review of the studies on listening comprehension in the second language

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Fukuda, Michiko

2003-01-01

Few studies have been done on the listening comprehension processing, especially in second language. However, recent studies show that listening comprehension is considered as an active and cognitive process. This paper overviews studies on listening comprehension in the second language by presenting some models of listening comprehension processing. Then, listening comprehension was studied from cognitive psychology and educational point of view. Finally, the direction of future researches o...

Follow-up study on reading comprehension in Down's syndrome: the role of reading skills and listening comprehension.

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Roch, Maja; Florit, Elena; Levorato, Chiara

2011-01-01

According to the 'Simple View of Reading', reading comprehension requires some abilities such as reading skill and listening comprehension. Individuals with Down's syndrome show relative strengths in reading skills, mainly in word recognition, where they attain a reading age of about 7-8 years. Compared with word recognition, their reading comprehension is usually delayed by at least 6 months. Poor reading comprehension is paralleled by weak listening comprehension. It is claimed that poor listening comprehension might constrain the development of reading comprehension and, therefore, be a cause for the asynchrony between reading skills and reading comprehension. A follow-up study was carried out in order to analyse the improvements in reading skills, listening and reading text comprehension, and to support the hypothesis of a causal relationship between listening and reading comprehension. Ten children and adolescents with Down's syndrome, aged between 11 years 3 months and 19 years 10 months, were assessed twice over a one-year period as to their reading skills, listening and reading text comprehension. Three main findings emerged: (1) reading skills, on the one hand, and comprehension (both listening and reading), on the other hand, are independent; (2) reading comprehension development is determined mainly by listening comprehension, which in the present study proved to be very poor; and (3) an improvement after a one-year period, even though limited, occurred for all examined abilities except for listening comprehension. The results are discussed in the light of the theoretical framework of the 'Simple View of Reading' and of their relevance for practical and educational issues. © 2011 Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists.

The Use of Help Options in Multimedia Listening Environments to Aid Language Learning: A Review

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Mohsen, Mohammed Ali

2016-01-01

This paper provides a comprehensive review on the use of help options (HOs) in the multimedia listening context to aid listening comprehension (LC) and improve incidental vocabulary learning. The paper also aims to synthesize the research findings obtained from the use of HOs in Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) literature and reveals the…

A Correlation Study between EFL Strategic Listening and Listening Comprehension Skills among Secondary School Students

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Amin, Iman Abdul-Reheem; Amin, Magdy Mohammad; Aly, Mahsoub Abdul-Sadeq

2011-01-01

The present study was undertaken to investigate the correlation between EFL students strategic listening and their listening comprehension skills. Eighty secondary school students participated in this study. Participants' strategic listening was measured by a Strategic Listening Interview (SLI), a Strategic Listening Questionnaire (SLQ) and a…

The effect of listening comprehension skills on students ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper presents the report of a study that investigated the effects of listening comprehension skill training on students' performance in Oral English Test. To investigate the effects that the teaching of listening comprehension skills would have on the performance in Oral English test, 82 Senior Secondary School 2 ...

The Effects of Pre-Learning Vocabulary on Reading Comprehension and Writing

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Webb, Stuart A.

2009-01-01

This study investigates the effects of pre-learning vocabulary on reading comprehension and writing. Japanese students studying English as a foreign language (EFL) learned word pairs receptively and productively; four tests were used to measure reading comprehension, writing, and receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge. The findings suggest…

EFFECTS OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING METHOD ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF LISTENING COMPREHENSION AND LISTENING SKILLS

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Abdülkadir

2017-04-01

Full Text Available In this study, the effect of the learning together technique, which is one of the cooperative learning methods, on the development of the listening comprehension and listening skills of the secondary school eighth grade students was investigated. Regarding the purpose of the research, experimental and control groups consisting of 75 students from, Yakutiye district Şair Nef'i Secondary School and Palandöken District, Alparslan Secondary School of Erzurum province were selected. Socio-economic statuses and success rates were taken into consideration when selecting the experimental and control groups. 'Listening-Comprehension Achievement Test' was applied to measure the listening skills of the experimental and control groups. In terms of pre-test scores, it was determined that the listening skills of the experiment and control group were similar. The selected experimental groups were taught by the learning together technique of cooperative learning method for seven weeks and the control group was taught in the traditional way. As a result of the research, the 'Listening-Comprehension Achievement Test', which was applied as the pre-test to the experimental and control groups, was applied again as the final test. When the findings obtained from the research were examined, it was determined that the students in the experimental group were more successful than the students in the control group in terms of post - test achievement scores. When the results of the study are examined, it can be said that the learning together technique, which is one of the cooperative learning methods, is more effective than the traditional learning method in improving the listening comprehension and the listening skills of the eighth grade students in Turkish class.

What makes listening difficult? Factors affecting second language listening comprehension

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

idioms in the passage on listening comprehension. The American Heritage Dictionary (2000) defines idiom as “an expression consisting of two or more...years of age and spoke English without a noticeable foreign accent had significantly poorer word recognition scores than monolingual listeners for...of reference: The experience of the Dutch CEFR Construct Project. Language Assessment Quarterly, 3(1), 3–30. American Heritage Dictionary of the

COMMUNICATIVE LISTENING IN THE LANGUAGE LABORATORY

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Nani Tiono

2001-01-01

Full Text Available Language laboratory actually is advantageous for ESL teaching-learning process. In the language lab, students can improve their language skill, especially their listening skill, since most of the activities done there deal with listening comprehension. However, ESL students often feel bored when they study at the language lab because they only do monotonous activities there. Thus, teacher should make a lively lab atmosphere through interactive listening; that is, by creating communicative listening tasks for the students. Through this communicative listening tasks, students will not only listen, but also interact with either the teacher or the other students so that they feel as if they do the real life listening. These communicative listening tasks will also help students to improve both their proficiency in language components (vocabulary and pronunciation and in language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing.

The Effect of Mnemonic Vocabulary Instruction on Reading Comprehension of Students

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Parima Fasih

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The present article was an investigation of mnemonic vocabulary teaching to improve reading comprehension in the EFL classrooms. A major problem with the most of the past researches was that they paid no or little attention to the effects of using mnemonic strategies to improve reading comprehension. The purpose of this paper was to investigate how key word mnemonic vocabulary teaching can improve reading comprehension of the students. To this end, 360 third grade senior high school students from 6 senior high schools of Zanjan were selected through multistage cluster random sampling method and based on Cambridge placement test (2010, 345 students proved to be upper intermediate. A quasi-experimental design was used to determine the effects of a mnemonic vocabulary intervention on reading comprehension. In this article there were one control group (A, n=115, and two experimental groups (B, n=115; C, n=115 all of which were male and there were selected randomly by the researchers. During one month in four weeks, every week in two thirty-minute session, group B received direct vocabulary instruction and group C received key word mnemonic instruction. The quantitative component of this article was comprised of the Unit Cloze test. In order to test the effects of Mnemonic Vocabulary Teaching on reading comprehension, the covariance analysis was employed and the results demonstrated that by eliminating the covariance factor of the pre-test, mnemonic vocabulary instruction improved the reading comprehension of the students. The use of keyword mnemonics as a means to differentiate instruction is an educational implication that can assist teachers seeking better student achievement outcomes.

A review of teaching second/ foreign language listening comprehension research(Part 5 Text production and comprehension)

OpenAIRE

尹, 松

2002-01-01

Among the four skills of the language acquisition, it has been pointed out that listening comprehension is the most difficult skill. The research on effective methods of teaching listening comprehension has been carried out from various viewpoints. After introducing the theory of listening comprehension, this review will describe recent trends in the teach-ing of listening as a second/foreign language. This will be done by focusing primarily on schema activator and strategy-instruction in tea...

The Relationship between Listening Strategies Used by Egyptian EFL College Sophomores and Their Listening Comprehension and Self-Efficacy

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Kassem, Hassan M.

2015-01-01

The present study explored listening strategy use among a group of Egyptian EFL college sophomores (N = 84). More specifically, it aimed to identify 1) the strategies used more often by participants, 2) the relationship between listening strategy use, and listening comprehension and self-efficacy, and 3) differences in listening comprehension and…

Overlapping genetic and child-specific nonshared environmental influences on listening comprehension, reading motivation, and reading comprehension.

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Schenker, Victoria J; Petrill, Stephen A

2015-01-01

This study investigated the genetic and environmental influences on observed associations between listening comprehension, reading motivation, and reading comprehension. Univariate and multivariate quantitative genetic models were conducted in a sample of 284 pairs of twins at a mean age of 9.81 years. Genetic and nonshared environmental factors accounted for statistically significant variance in listening and reading comprehension, and nonshared environmental factors accounted for variance in reading motivation. Furthermore, listening comprehension demonstrated unique genetic and nonshared environmental influences but also had overlapping genetic influences with reading comprehension. Reading motivation and reading comprehension each had unique and overlapping nonshared environmental contributions. Therefore, listening comprehension appears to be related to reading primarily due to genetic factors whereas motivation appears to affect reading via child-specific, nonshared environmental effects. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Overlapping Genetic and Child-Specific Nonshared Environmental Influences on Listening Comprehension, Reading Motivation, and Reading Comprehension

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Schenker, Victoria J.; Petrill, Stephen A.

2015-01-01

This study investigated the genetic and environmental influences on observed associations between listening comprehension, reading motivation, and reading comprehension. Univariate and multivariate quantitative genetic models were conducted in a sample of 284 pairs of twins at a mean age of 9.81 years. Genetic and nonshared environmental factors accounted for statistically significant variance in listening and reading comprehension, and nonshared environmental factors accounted for variance in reading motivation. Furthermore, listening comprehension demonstrated unique genetic and nonshared environmental influences but also had overlapping genetic influences with reading comprehension. Reading motivation and reading comprehension each had unique and overlapping nonshared environmental contributions. Therefore, listening comprehension appears to be related to reading primarily due to genetic factors whereas motivation appears to affect reading via child-specific, nonshared environmental effects. PMID:26321677

THE TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING LISTENING SKILL

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Hidayah Nor

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Listening is very important skill in language because by listening students can produce language like speaking and writing by vocabulary that they get from listening. The English teacher of MAN 3 Banjarmasin used some techniques in teaching listening using the facilities in language laboratory such as tape cassette, television, and VCD/DVD. This research described the techniques in teaching listening skill of the Islamic high school students. The subjects of this study were an English teacher and 48 students of the tenth grade at MAN 3 Banjarmasin in Academic Year 2009/2010. To collect the data, it was used some techniques such as observation, interview, and documentary. Then all data were analyzed using descriptive method qualitatively and quantitatively, by concluding inductively. The result indicates that the techniques in teaching listening applied by the English teacher of the tenth grade students at MAN 3 Banjarmasin in Academic Year 2009/2010 are: Information Transfer, Paraphrasing and Translating, Answering Questions, Summarizing, Filling in Blanks, and Answering to Show Comprehension of Messages. The students’ ability of listening comprehension using six techniques is categorized in very high, high, and average levels. Keywords: listening techniques, teaching listening skill

Vocabulary test Strategies used by the Students to answer Vocabulary Test the Reading Comprehension of TOEFL

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Suyatman Suyatman

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Test of English as a foreign Language or TOEFL is a standardized test of English for non-native speaker. It consists of three parts or three sections of tests. In Reading Comprehension test, it consists of vocabulary test. To get better result of score, it needs strategies. The purposes of this study are to know the strategies used by the students to answer the vocabulary test on reading section of TOEFL, to know the most strategy used by the students, to know the least strategy used by the students and to know the distribution of strategies used by the students to answer the Vocabulary test of Reading Comprehension of the TOEFL. The researcher used descriptive qualitative research. The subject was twelve students. The instrument was questionnaire that consisted of thirty questions. Data analyzes technique was by using mean score. The result of the research showed that; (1 students used all strategies to answer the vocabulary test of reading comprehension of TOEFL. (2 the most strategies used by the students was ‘Looking for contextual clues to the meaning of unknown words.(3 the least strategy used by the students to answer vocabulary test was ‘Developing a new vocabulary study system, and (4 the distribution of the strategy number 1 was 3.88,strategy number 2 was 3.61, number 3 was 2.94, number four was 2.91, strategy number 5 was3.88, strategy number six was 3.47, strategy number seven was 3.69, strategy number eight was 3.02, strategy number nine was 3.00 and the last strategy was 3.13.

The Effect of Question Position on Listening Comprehension: A Case Study

OpenAIRE

Naci Yildiz; Nikoloz Parjanadze; Mustafa Albay

2015-01-01

Though speaking has been considered as the most important skill in foreign language learning process, listening has a fundamental value because learning does not occur without comprehensible input. Listening is a complex process in which learners must do analysis to accurately interpret. In listening learners need to interpret with a speaker to construct meaning. This study tries to find out whether listening strategies are effective to influence listening comprehension and the major goal of ...

The Relationship between EFL Learners' Self-Regulation and Their Listening Comprehension

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Mohammad Ali Fatemi

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Self-regulated EFL students can comprehend better what they listen. The present study sought to investigate the relationship between EFL learners' listening comprehension and their self-regulation. To achieve the goals of this study, 103 intermediate EFL learners were selected in Torbat-e- Heydarieh, Iran. Two instruments were employed and the participants were to complete; first, Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ to assess their Self-Regulation; and second, Standard Listening Test (SLT to measure their listening comprehension. Results of Pearson Correlation Coefficient indicated a statistically significant correlation. This finding provides pedagogical implications for EFL teachers to use self-regulatory approach when teaching listening comprehension.

The Effect of Listening to English Songs on Iranian EFL Pre-intermediate Learners’ Listening Comprehension

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Mahin Rezaei

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to find out whether listening to English songs can improve pre-intermediate EFL learners’ listening comprehension. To this end, a non-randomized pretest-posttest control group design as one of the quasi-experimental research designs was employed. The sample of the study consisted of 40 male and female English learners from two classes in an Institute in Marand, Iran. The two classes were randomly assigned into the experimental and control groups.  Then, a PET test was used to check the homogeneity of both groups. The listening section of PET was also considered as the pretest of the study. Then, fifteen English songs were used in the experimental group during the treatment period. Each session, within 45 minutes, one song was played for and practiced with the learners. Meanwhile, the control group had their usual teacher -fronted class without listening to songs. At the end, both groups were post tested on their listening comprehension using the listening section of another version of PET. The collected data were analyzed using Independent-Samples and Paired-Samples t-tests. The results revealed a statistically significant improvement in the performance of the experimental group. It is implied that songs are not only an entertaining tool but they can also be used as a pedagogic material in improving learners’ listening comprehension.

Vocabulary and Syntactic Knowledge Factors in 5th Grade Students' Reading Comprehension

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Mokhtari, Kouider; Niederhauser, Dale S.

2013-01-01

In this study, we examined 5th grade students' levels of vocabulary knowledge and syntactic awareness relative to their reading comprehension performance. The aim was to explore the contributions of vocabulary and syntactic awareness as potential sources of reading comprehension difficulty for these readers. Overall, we found that both vocabulary…

Impacts of Captioned Movies on Listening Comprehension

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Janfaza, Abusaied; Jelyani, Saghar Javidi; Soori, Afshin

2014-01-01

With the advent of technology, the implication of authentic multimedia-based teaching materials are using widely in language classrooms. Technology can be in service of teaching different skills such as listening, reading, speaking and writing. Among these skills listening comprehension is a skill in which the learners have problems to master.…

The Effects of Controlled Language Processing on Listening Comprehension and Recall

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Jannejad, Mohsen; Shokouhi, Hossein; Haghighi, Somayeh Biparva

2012-01-01

This study seeks to determine the possible interactions between listening proficiency and the state of strategic self-awareness; second, and more importantly, to investigate the effects of learned strategies on listening comprehension and recall; and finally to describe the most common real-time listening comprehension problems faced by EFL…

Physical load handling and listening comprehension effects on balance control.

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Qu, Xingda

2010-12-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the physical load handling and listening comprehension effects on balance control. A total of 16 young and 16 elderly participants were recruited in this study. The physical load handling task required holding a 5-kg load in each hand with arms at sides. The listening comprehension task involved attentive listening to a short conversation. Three short questions were asked regarding the conversation right after the testing trial to test the participants' attentiveness during the experiment. Balance control was assessed by centre of pressure-based measures, which were calculated from the force platform data when the participants were quietly standing upright on a force platform. Results from this study showed that both physical load handling and listening comprehension adversely affected balance control. Physical load handling had a more deleterious effect on balance control under the listening comprehension condition vs. no-listening comprehension condition. Based on the findings from this study, interventions for the improvement of balance could be focused on avoiding exposures to physically demanding tasks and cognitively demanding tasks simultaneously. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: Findings from this study can aid in better understanding how humans maintain balance, especially when physical and cognitive loads are applied. Such information is useful for developing interventions to prevent fall incidents and injuries in occupational settings and daily activities.

Self-perceived Listening Comprehension Strategies Used by Iranian EFL Students

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Sara Nowrouzi

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Numerous studies are available on L2 learners’ strategy use; however, there is no study investigating the Iranian tertiary level EFL learners’ listening strategy use. The present paper reports the findings of a cross-sectional study that explored a group of Iranian EFL learners’ (n = 100 use of listening comprehension strategies. The instrument that was used for collecting the data was called the Listening Strategy Use Questionnaire (LSUQ by Nowrouzi, Tam, Nimehchisalem, and Zareian (2014. The instrument divides listening strategies into cognitive, metacognitive, and socio-affective categories. Based on the results, on average the respondents reported low levels of self-perceived use of cognitive, metacognitive, and socio-affective strategies. The results indicate a serious need to focus more on the students’ listening comprehension skills in general and their listening strategies in particular.

Working memory contributions to reading comprehension components in middle childhood children.

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Chrysochoou, Elisavet; Bablekou, Zoe; Tsigilis, Nikolaos

2011-01-01

This study examined working memory contributions to reading comprehension subskills in Greek children (mean age 9 years, 1 month). The phonological loop of the Baddeley and Hitch working memory model was assessed with 3 recall tasks (words, nonwords, and digits) and a word list matching task. The central executive (CE) was assessed with 3 tasks (listening, counting, and backward digit recall). Participants were also given a receptive vocabulary task, a reading fluency task, and written stories accompanied by comprehension questions. Canonical correlation analyses showed that the comprehension variables were related to the CE rather than the phonological loop measures. CE functions were more strongly associated with elaborative inference generation (involving significant offline processing) and comprehension control (involving metacognitive monitoring). Smaller yet significant associations were observed between the CE and the necessary inference and literal comprehension measures, whereas a moderate relationship was found in the case of the simile comprehension variable. Among the CE variables, listening recall demonstrated the highest loading on the canonical function, followed by moderate yet significant counting and backward digit recall loadings. Vocabulary was found to fully mediate several associations between working memory and comprehension measures; however, the relationship between listening recall and elaborative inferences was partly mediated. Reading fluency and, on several occasions, Greek vocabulary knowledge did not mediate the relationships between CE measures and comprehension skills assessed. This study demonstrates the usefulness of CE measures for identifying young children's possible difficulties in carrying out specific reading comprehension processes.

Phonological Awareness and Listening Comprehension among Chinese English-Immersion Students

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Li, Miao; Cheng, Liying; Kirby, John R.

2012-01-01

This study investigates the relationship between English listening comprehension and English and Chinese phonological awareness (PA), and the cross-linguistic transfer of PA in 48 Grade 2 and 47 Grade 4 Chinese English-immersion students. The results of the study indicate a correlation between English PA and English listening comprehension.…

A Diagnostic-Remediation Teaching System for Enhancing Elementary Students' Science Listening Comprehension

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Lin, Sheau-Wen; Liu, Yu

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore elementary students' listening comprehension changes using a Web-based teaching system that can diagnose and remediate students' science listening comprehension problems during scientific inquiry. The 3-component system consisted of a 9-item science listening comprehension test, a 37-item diagnostic test,…

Multimedia Glosses and Their Effect on L2 Text Comprehension and Vocabulary Learning

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Iñigo Yanguas

2009-06-01

Full Text Available The present study investigates the effects that different types of multimedia glosses, namely textual, pictorial, and textual + pictorial, have on text comprehension and vocabulary learning when the goal is exclusively comprehension of a computerized text. This study is based on the theoretical framework of attention, which maintains that attention is critical in the acquisition process of an L2 (Robinson, 1995; Schmidt, 1995, 2001; Tomlin and Villa, 1994. Ninety-four participants read a text under one of four gloss conditions while asked to think aloud. This study investigated whether any of the conditions promoted noticing and whether this noticing led to better comprehension of the text and learning of the target vocabulary words. Reading comprehension, recognition, and production measures were utilized in a pre-post test design. Results of quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data gathered showed first that all multimedia gloss groups noticed and recognized significantly more of the target words than the control group. Second, no significant differences were found among any of the groups in production of the target vocabulary items. Finally, regarding comprehension, results showed that the combination gloss group significantly outperformed all other groups. These results confirm that the multimedia glosses under investigation have a different effect on comprehension and vocabulary learning respectively.

Effect of Focused Vocabulary Instruction on 7th Graders' Reading Comprehension

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Horn, Mary; Feng, Jianhua

2012-01-01

This study reports an investigation on the effects of directed vocabulary and whole class instruction on improving students' vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension. Fifty-eight seventh grade students participated in the study, and a pre-test/post-test experimental design was employed. The results did not indicate any statistically…

The Priority of Listening Comprehension over Speaking in the Language Acquisition Process

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Xu, Fang

2011-01-01

By elaborating the definition of listening comprehension, the characteristic of spoken discourse, the relationship between STM and LTM and Krashen's comprehensible input, the paper puts forward the point that the priority of listening comprehension over speaking in the language acquisition process is very necessary.

Effects of Cooperative Learning Method on the Development of Listening Comprehension and Listening Skills

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Kirbas, Abdulkadir

2017-01-01

In this study, the effect of the learning together technique, which is one of the cooperative learning methods, on the development of the listening comprehension and listening skills of the secondary school eighth grade students was investigated. Regarding the purpose of the research, experimental and control groups consisting of 75 students from,…

Prediction of the development of reading comprehension: a longitudinal study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verhoeven, L.T.W.; Leeuwe, J.F.J. van

2008-01-01

Specific effects of word decoding, vocabulary and listening comprehension abilities on the development of reading comprehension were longitudinally examined for a representative sample of 2143 Dutch children throughout the elementary school period. An attempt was made to test two theoretical

Listening Comprehension Performance Viewed in the Light of Emotional Intelligence and Foreign Language Listening Anxiety

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Valizadeh, Mohammad Reza; Alavinia, Parviz

2013-01-01

The researchers in the current study were after probing the potential relationship between emotional intelligence, foreign language listening anxiety (FLLA), and listening comprehension performance of Iranian EFL learners. To this end, 233 participants, studying English language and literature at three different Universities in Urmia, were…

A Comparative Study of Authentic Listening Materials and their Simplified Versions on the Listening Comprehension and Motivation of Iranian EFL Learners

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Hossein Vossoughi

2010-11-01

Full Text Available The present study was an attempt, to empirically investigate if there was any significant difference between authentic listening materials and their simplified version in terms of the listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. To this end, two groups of thirty subjects were chosen. One group received authentic listening materials and the other group received the same topic in simplified version through ten sessions. The subjects studied Top Notch Book, level 3. The listening parts were followed with seven listening comprehension questions to assess the listening comprehension of the subjects. Then, at the end of the course, the listening comprehension scores of the two groups were compared by a T-Test. The result showed that simplified demonstration of materials had a benefit over the use of authentic version. A questionnaire was also given to the subjects at the beginning and at the end of the course to find out their motivation toward using authentic or simplified materials. The result indicated that there was no significant difference between two groups in terms of motivation.

Listeners' comprehension of uptalk in spontaneous speech.

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Tomlinson, John M; Fox Tree, Jean E

2011-04-01

Listeners' comprehension of phrase final rising pitch on declarative utterances, or uptalk, was examined to test the hypothesis that prolongations might differentiate conflicting functions of rising pitch. In Experiment 1 we found that listeners rated prolongations as indicating more speaker uncertainty, but that rising pitch was unrelated to ratings. In Experiment 2 we found that prolongations interacted with rising pitch when listeners monitored for words in the subsequent utterance. Words preceded by prolonged uptalk were monitored faster than words preceded by non-prolonged uptalk. In Experiment 3 we found that the interaction between rising pitch and prolongations depended on listeners' beliefs about speakers' mental states. Results support the theory that temporal and situational context are important in determining intonational meaning. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Prospective EFL Teachers' Perceptions of Listening Comprehension Problems in Turkey

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Solak, Ekrem; Altay, Firat

2014-01-01

Listening skill has been called as the "Cinderella Skill" which is overlooked by its elder sister speaking in language learning. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to reemphasize the importance of listening skill in ELT context and to determine prospective English teachers' perceptions of listening comprehension problems. The study…

Hypertext Glosses for Foreign Language Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Acquisition: Effects of Assessment Methods

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Chen, I-Jung

2016-01-01

This study compared how three different gloss modes affected college students' L2 reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition. The study also compared how results on comprehension and vocabulary acquisition may differ depending on the four assessment methods used. A between-subjects design was employed with three groups of Mandarin-speaking…

Improving Listening Comprehension through a Whole-Schema Approach.

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Ellermeyer, Deborah

1993-01-01

Examines the development of the schema, or cognitive structure, theory of reading comprehension. Advances a model for improving listening comprehension within the classroom through a teacher-facilitated approach which leads students to selecting and utilizing existing schema within a whole-language environment. (MDM)

Impact of Nursery Rhymes on Iranian EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension Skill Improvement-A Study

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Omid Pourkalhor

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The present study was an attempt to investigate the effect of nursery rhymes on the young language learners listening comprehension ability. To do so, 30 elementary learners were selected as the potential participants of the study. The learners’ perceptions about using nursery rhymes in teaching listening as well as teachers’ perceptions about teaching listening comprehension through nursery rhymes were taken into account. The listening pre- and post-tests and teachers and learners’ interviews were employed for data collection procedures. Quantitative as well as qualitative methodologies were adapted for data analysis. Findings showed that the young learners could improve their listening comprehension ability as a result of using nursery rhymes. Interview data also indicated that the learners’ perceptions about nursery rhymes were found to be positive since the rhymes provided an interesting atmosphere for the learners to improve their listening comprehension while benefiting from peer interaction and teacher’s support in the listening classroom. Teachers’ perceptions were also realistic regarding using nursery rhymes in teaching listening, especially for young learners. As to the implication side, finding can contribute to the positive application of nursery rhymes in paving the way for young learners to improve their listening comprehension ability.

Effects of Gloss Type on Text Recall and Incidental Vocabulary Learning in Mobile-Assisted L2 Listening

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Çakmak, Fidel; Erçetin, Gülcan

2018-01-01

This study investigates the effects of multimedia glosses on text recall and incidental vocabulary learning in a mobile-assisted L2 listening task. A total of 88 participants with a low level of proficiency in English were randomly assigned to one of four conditions that involved single channel (textual-only, pictorial-only) and dual-channel…

The Flipped Classroom Model to Develop Egyptian EFL Students' Listening Comprehension

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Ahmad, Samah Zakareya

2016-01-01

The present study aimed at investigating the effect of the flipped classroom model on Egyptian EFL students' listening comprehension. A one-group pre-posttest design was adopted. Thirty-four 3rd-year EFL students at the Faculty of Education, Suez University, were pretested on listening comprehension before the experiment and then posttested after…

Correlates of Early Reading Comprehension Skills: A Componential Analysis

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Babayigit, Selma; Stainthorp, Rhona

2014-01-01

This study had three main aims. First, we examined to what extent listening comprehension, vocabulary, grammatical skills and verbal short-term memory (VSTM) assessed prior to formal reading instruction explained individual differences in early reading comprehension levels. Second, we examined to what extent the three common component skills,…

The Role of First-Language Listening Comprehension in Second-Language Reading Comprehension

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Edele, Aileen; Stanat, Petra

2016-01-01

Although the simple view of reading and other theories suggest that listening comprehension is an important determinant of reading comprehension, previous research on linguistic transfer has mainly focused on the role of first language (L1) decoding skills in second language (L2) reading. The present study tested the assumption that listening…

76 FR 13143 - Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Grant Program; Office of Elementary and Secondary...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-10

... learning program environments that engage and motivate children and youth in speaking, listening, reading... and grade-level mastery of (A) oral language skills, both listening and speaking, (B) phonological..., fluently, and with comprehension, relying on knowledge of the vocabulary in those texts and of the...

Effects of Hierarchy Vocabulary Exercises on English Vocabulary Acquisition

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Lin, Ching-Ying; Hsu, Wei Shu

2013-01-01

The purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness of hierarchy vocabulary exercises and copying vocabulary exercises on EFL students' vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension. Two specific factors were probed: (a) vocabulary gains and retention from different exercises; (b) reading comprehension performance through different…

The Correlation Between Students’ Vocabulary Mastery and Their Interest in English Toward Reading Comprehension in Descriptive Text

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Eva Faliyanti

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract :Vocabulary is one aspects  in reading comprehension. By having  a lot vocabulary, the students understand in reading comprehension. The interest in English also gives effect of students mastery in English. Before the students start to read they are must be interested in English first. Reading is one of skills in English that very essential for the students, because by reading the students can get information from the text. In this research the researcher focoses on reading comprehension in descriptive text. The problems formulation in this research are;(1 How far is the students score of ability in vocabulary mastery toward reading comprehension in descriptive text? (2 How far is the students score of ability in students interest in English toward reading comprehension in descriptive text? (3 How far is the correlation between students’ score of vocabulary mastery and students interest in English toward reading comprehension in descriptive text?. The objective of the research are; (1 To identify the students’ score in vocabulary mastery toward reading comprehension in descriptive text. (2 To identify the students’ score in students interest in English toward reading comprehension in descriptive text. (3 To find out how far the correlation between students’ score of vocabulary mastery and students interest in English toward reading compregension in descritive text.Theresearch was conducted at the second semester of Muhammadiyah University Students in Academic Year 2014/2015. The population of this research was 127 students. The researcher used cluster ramdom sampling in taking sample. In collecting the data the researcher used test and questionnarie, namely vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension in descriptive text. In questionnarie used to students interest in English and in analyzing the data, the researcher used Product Moment Formula.After analyzing the data by using the correlation product moment and Regression

Functional anatomy of listening and reading comprehension during development.

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Berl, Madison M; Duke, Elizabeth S; Mayo, Jessica; Rosenberger, Lisa R; Moore, Erin N; VanMeter, John; Ratner, Nan Bernstein; Vaidya, Chandan J; Gaillard, William Davis

2010-08-01

Listening and reading comprehension of paragraph-length material are considered higher-order language skills fundamental to social and academic functioning. Using ecologically relevant language stimuli that were matched for difficulty according to developmental level, we analyze the effects of task, age, neuropsychological skills, and post-task performance on fMRI activation and hemispheric laterality. Areas of supramodal language processing are identified, with the most robust region being left-lateralized activation along the superior temporal sulcus. Functionally, this conjunction has a role in semantic and syntactic processing, leading us to refer to this conjunction as "comprehension cortex." Different from adults, supramodal areas for children include less extensive inferior frontal gyrus but more extensive right cerebellum and right temporal pole. Broader neuroanatomical pathways are recruited for reading, reflecting the more active processing and larger set of cognitive demands needed for reading compared to listening to stories. ROI analyses reveal that reading is a less lateralized language task than listening in inferior frontal and superior temporal areas, which likely reflects the difficulty of the task as children in this study are still developing their reading skills. For listening to stories, temporal activation is stable by age four with no correlations with age, neuropsychological skills or post-task performance. In contrast, frontal activation during listening to stories occurs more often in older children, and frontal activation is positively correlated with better performance on comprehension questions, suggesting that the activation of frontal networks may reflect greater integration and depth of story processing. 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Effectiveness of Multimedia Application on Students Listening Comprehension

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Pangaribuan, Tagor; Sinaga, Andromeda; Sipayung, Kammer Tuahman

2017-01-01

Listening comprehension is a complex skill particulaly in mastered by non-native speaker settings. This research aimed at finding out the effect of multimedia application on students' listening. The research design is experimental, with a t-test. The population is the sixth semester of HKBP Nommensen University at the academic year of 2016/2017,…

An Overview of Teaching Listening in Islamic Tertiary Level of Education

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Andang Saehu

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The ultimate aim of this paper is to depict listening activities in teaching Basic Listening designed by lecturers in an EFL classroom observation of Islamic tertiary level of education in Indonesia. Qualitative methods, used to collect and analyze data gained from observation and interview. The result showed that the lecturer designed various activities in teaching Basic Listening in the EFL class, which they were set up in three stages: pre-listening, while-listening, and post-listening. The activities in the pre-listening were aimed at generating students’ interest, activating student’s prior knowledge, and trying to anticipate any difficult vocabularies.  The while-listening stage is to invite students to be involved at listening through various physical movements, such as story telling, dialogue, listening to songs, and drama. The post-listening stage is to internalize what they have heard with other language skills and to check students’ comprehension. 

USE OF PODCASTING TECHNOLOGY TO DEVELOP STUDENTS’ LISTENING SKILLS

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Alla V. Naidionova

2018-02-01

Full Text Available A wide range of English teaching and learning approaches have emerged due to information and communication technology advancement. Podcasting is one such novel tool being exploited by teachers to enhance language skills and to encourage learning outside the classroom. Research on podcasting pedagogy suggests that podcasting helps learners boost their English language skills and support areas such as grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. This study proves that teaching listening to students by using podcasts makes it possible to increase student listening comprehension, as this technology provides students with authentic and contextual material. The findings also suggest that such listening practice should be an integral part of ESL teaching at university level.

Effects of Audiovisual Media on L2 Listening Comprehension: A Preliminary Study in French

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Becker, Shannon R.; Sturm, Jessica L.

2017-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether integrating online audiovisual materials into the listening instruction of L2 French learners would have a measurable impact on their listening comprehension development. Students from two intact sections of second-semester French were tested on their listening comprehension before and…

A view of studies on listening comprehension within the theory of working memory

OpenAIRE

福田, 倫子

2004-01-01

The present paper discusses four aspects : (1) the relation between the process of language comprehension and working memory, (2) overview of studies on working memory model, (3) application of the working memory to studies of listening comprehension in previous studies, (4) potentiality of application of the working memory model to studies of listening comprehension of second language acquisition.

Differences in the predictors of reading comprehension in first graders from low socio-economic status families with either good or poor decoding skills.

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Edouard Gentaz

Full Text Available Based on the assumption that good decoding skills constitute a bootstrapping mechanism for reading comprehension, the present study investigated the relative contribution of the former skill to the latter compared to that of three other predictors of reading comprehension (listening comprehension, vocabulary and phonemic awareness in 392 French-speaking first graders from low SES families. This large sample was split into three groups according to their level of decoding skills assessed by pseudoword reading. Using a cutoff of 1 SD above or below the mean of the entire population, there were 63 good decoders, 267 average decoders and 62 poor decoders. 58% of the variance in reading comprehension was explained by our four predictors, with decoding skills proving to be the best predictor (12.1%, 7.3% for listening comprehension, 4.6% for vocabulary and 3.3% for phonemic awareness. Interaction between group versus decoding skills, listening comprehension and phonemic awareness accounted for significant additional variance (3.6%, 1.1% and 1.0%, respectively. The effects on reading comprehension of decoding skills and phonemic awareness were higher in poor and average decoders than in good decoders whereas listening comprehension accounted for more variance in good and average decoders than in poor decoders. Furthermore, the percentage of children with impaired reading comprehension skills was higher in the group of poor decoders (55% than in the two other groups (average decoders: 7%; good decoders: 0% and only 6 children (1.5% had impaired reading comprehension skills with unimpaired decoding skills, listening comprehension or vocabulary. These results challenge the outcomes of studies on "poor comprehenders" by showing that, at least in first grade, poor reading comprehension is strongly linked to the level of decoding skills.

Learner Variables in Second Language Listening Comprehension: An Exploratory Path Analysis

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Vandergrift, Larry; Baker, Susan

2015-01-01

Listening comprehension plays a key role in language acquisition, yet little is known about the variables that contribute to the development of second language (L2) listening ability. This study sought to obtain empirical evidence for the impact of some of the learner variables and the degree to which they might predict success in L2 listening.…

The Effects of Differing Densities of Glossing on Vocabulary Uptake and Reading Comprehension

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Elvenna Majuddin

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the effects of differing densities of glossing on the uptake of target words and the comprehension of idea units from a reading text. The focus was whether different densities of glossing would create trade-off effects. Thirty-three Malaysian ESL learners were assigned to three different conditions: high-density glossing, low-density glossing, and no-glossing. Three weeks after a vocabulary pretest the participants read a text under one of the conditions, and took a reading comprehension test and a vocabulary posttest. The results revealed that there were no trade-off effects between reading comprehension and uptake of the target words. However, the glossed words did appear to detract from the uptake of un-glossed vocabulary. The results also hinted at a trade-off effect between attention given to idea units containing glossed target words, and those that did not contain glosses. The findings suggested that teachers should be aware of potential side-effects of glossing.

Learner Variables Important for Success in L2 Listening Comprehension in French Immersion Classrooms

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Vandergrift, Larry; Baker, Susan C.

2018-01-01

Listening comprehension, which is relatively straightforward for native language (L1) speakers, is often frustrating for second language (L2) learners. Listening comprehension is important to L2 acquisition, but little is known about the variables that influence the development of L2 listening skills. The goal of this study was to determine which…

An Investigation of Classroom Practices in Teaching Listening Comprehension at English Education Program

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Nurhafni Siregar

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study is to investigate how the classroom practice in teaching listening comprehension at English Education Program of STKIP Tapanuli Selatan in 2016/2017 Academic Year is. The informants of this research were all of second semester students of STKIP Tapanuli Selatan in 2016/2017 academic year and a lecturer of listening comprehension at STKIP Tapanuli Selatan (63 students and one lecturer. A descriptive study was used to achieve the objective of the study. The sample was taken by cluster sampling. The data were collected by using interview to know how the lecturer carried out the teaching practice of listening, and questionnaire  for the students and observation were used to find out how the calssroom activities were conducted. The descriptive analysis was used to anayse the data. Based on the data analysis, it was found that: (1 the lecturer carried out listening activities into four parts, they are preparation, prediction stage, listening, and post listening, and (2 the practice of teaching listening was effective related to the teaching pedagogical procedures in teaching listening comprehension. although there were some points that should be practice further. Based on the findings, it was recomended that the lecturer and the students may apply the less activities that had not been done.

Teachers' practices and perceptions regarding listening strategies, and perceptions of difficulties likely to arise in English listening comprehension lessons

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Yükselci, Sema

2003-01-01

Cataloged from PDF version of article. Students at English-medium universities (EMUs) in Turkey need to develop strategic listening abilities to prepare for English-medium content instruction. Listening strategies need to be taught because they help learners deal with incoming speech, particularly when comprehension is not complete. This study aimed to explore the extent to which teacher participants (a) incorporate listening strategies into teaching listening (b) perceive l...

The Effects of Using Podcast on Listening Comprehension among Iranian Pre-intermediate EFL Learners

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Islam NamazianDost

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the present study was to explore the effects of using podcast on listening comprehension among Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners. To fulfill the objectives of the study a Homogeneity test (Oxford Quick Placement Test was administered among 90 students at the pre-intermediate level of Poyesh language Institute and finally 60 participants were selected. Then, they were non-randomly divided into two sub­groups, namely control and experimental groups.  Before starting the treatment, a validated teacher-made listening comprehension test was administered to students as pre-test to assess the participants' listening comprehension at the beginning of the course. Then, the experimental group received the treatment, which was teaching listening comprehension through using podcasts while the control group was taught using traditional methods of teaching listening with no multimedia source. After 20 sessions of treatment, the two groups were administered the same teacher-made listening test as post-test. Data were analyzed by Paired and Independent Samples t-­test. The findings showed that the experimental group significantly performed better than the control group. Generally, the experimental groups outperformed the control groups. The results suggest that podcasts can be used in English classes to develop listening ability among Iranian EFL learners.

THE EFFECT OF FORMAL SCHEMA ON COLLEGE ENGLISH LISTENING COMPREHENSION IN EFL

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Shi Liyan; Wang Duqin; Chu Chunyan

2014-01-01

Abstract: Listening comprehension used to be thought of as a passive skill, and listeners were called as“tape-recorder” (Anderson & Lynch,1988). But in fact it is an active process, in which what the listener wants to get is an adequate understanding of what the speaker said and what the speaker meant. To achieve this purpose, English listeners should utilize contextual clues, background knowledge and depend on many learning strategies. Active listeners will understand what the speakers said ...

The Effect of Visual Advance Organizer and Types of Passages on EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension

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Gholam Reza Kiany

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Testing the comprehension of spoken language is of primary importance. A lot of factors may affect the performance of EFL learners on listening comprehension tests, among which are the use of visual advance organizers, and types of listening passages (dialogues or monologues. As B-Ikeguchi (1997 states a few studies have been carried out on the effects of these factors on EFL learners’ listening comprehension with controversial results. And even fewer studies have concentrated on the effects of these factors on EFL learners’ performance on listening comprehension tests, which is the purpose of this study. In the present study, 180 advanced EFL learners were randomly selected by administering the Oxford Placement Test (OPT. The subjects were randomly assigned to three groups each consisting of 60 students. As far as the performance of subjects on listening comprehension test was concerned, the following results were obtained: 1 There was a significant difference between the presence vs. lack of visual advance organizer; 2 There was a significant difference between the uses of short-interval vs. long-interval advance organizer; 3 There was a significant difference between different types of listening passages (dialogues vs. monologues; and 4 There was no significant interaction between the use of visual advance organizer and  different types of listening passages.

The Challenges of Listening to Academic Lectures for EAP Learners and the Impact of Metacognition on Academic Lecture Listening Comprehension

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Maryam Rahimirad

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Academic listening skill is an indispensable necessity for English for academic purposes (EAP students in English-medium universities and also critical for their future success in comprehending conference lectures. But due to the specific nature of such academic lectures, nonnative students all too often face challenges in getting a full command of this task. This study investigates the challenges of listening to academic lectures and the impact of related metacognitive strategies on academic lecture listening comprehension on a group of Iranian learners in an EAP workshop. Fifteen academic staff who took part in two intact classes at the University of Qom, Iran, were randomly assigned to treatment (N = 8 and control (N = 7 groups. The treatment group received 16 hr of metacognitive strategy instruction based on the models proposed by Vandergrift during academic listening instruction, while the control group was just exposed to academic lectures with no explicit strategy instruction. The academic listening sections of the British International English Language Testing System (IELTS were utilized to measure the listening comprehension of both groups before and after the treatment. The results of the data analysis determined that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in the listening posttest. The interviews before and after the treatment revealed details of challenges in academic lecture comprehension and also shed light on the perception of the learners regarding metacognitive strategy instruction and the frequency of main metacognitive strategies used in comprehending academic lectures.

The Importance Of Teaching-Listening Comprehension In Promoting Note-Taking Skill

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Dr. Boughelamallah Hanane-Algeria

2017-01-01

Note-taking is a hot topic that attracts much considerable attention over time due to its great importance in teachinglearning process. Teaching listening comprehension in the Algerian EFL classrooms is designed to solve the problem of failure in taking good notes while listening.

Textbook Evaluation: An Analysis of Listening Comprehension Parts in Top Notch 2A & 2B

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Afshin Soori

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Textbooks are the instruments that assist both teachers and learners in process of second language learning. With respect to the importance of textbooks in a language course, evaluation of course books is a significant issue for most researchers. The present study investigated and analyzed Listening Comprehension parts in Top Notch 2A & 2B 2nd edition. Top Notch 2A & 2B have 10 Units. The number of listening comprehension parts is in the range of 2 to 4 parts in each unit through the book. So the number of listening comprehension parts is not equally distributed. The participants of this study are 10 EFL teachers of two English language Institutes in Jahrom. Strong and weak aspects of Listening Comprehension parts have indicated in this research. The weaknesses involve the pictures and visuals are not clear enough to enhance students' motivation and interest, the audio is not completely suitable for students' English level, and Discussion parts are not stimulating students' talking. Furthermore this study revealed the crucial function of teachers in listening achievement of students. Keywords: textbook evaluation, listening comprehension, ELT

On the Effect of Negotiated Metacognitive Assessments on Improving Listening Comprehension: A Case of Iranian EFL Learners

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Masoud Yazdani Moghadam

2015-05-01

Full Text Available This paper reports a study investigating the role of negotiated assessment of metacognitive listening strategies in enhancing listening comprehension. To this aim, 60 Iranian EFL learners at intermediate level of language proficiency were assigned to an experimental (n = 30 and control group (n = 30. An attempt was made by the teacher in experimental group to raise students’ awareness of metacognitive strategies both prior to and after the doing listening comprehension tasks in a time bracket of eight weeks. Nonetheless, the control group followed conventional product-oriented approach to listening instruction; that is, no attempt was made to engage them in metacognitive instruction. Listening comprehension of both groups was assessed by listening section of IELTS at the onset and end of the study. Results of the study revealed that negotiated metacognitive assessment managed to significantly increase gains in listening comprehension. Furthermore, the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group. The results gave more credence to the positive role of process-based approach to teaching listening comprehension. The results are discussed in the light of metacognition and some pedagogical implications are included.

The Effect of Teaching Metacognitive Listening Strategy during Shadowing Activity on Field-Dependent and Field-Independent EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension

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Parastoo Alizadeh Oghyanous

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to compare the effect of teaching metacognitive listening strategies through shadowing activity on the listening comprehension of field-dependent (FD and field-independent (FI EFL learners. Since the researcher had access only to female participants,85 female EFL learners from a language institute in Tehran, at the pre-intermediate level of proficiency with the age range of 18-35 were selected out of the initial 120 participants based on their performance on a piloted PET. The Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT was administered to the selected participants in order to categorize them into the two experimental groups (49 FD and 36 FI. The participants including both FD and FI sat in several classes. During a five-week instruction period (twice a week, both groups practiced listening comprehension for 45 minutes through a combination of shadowing activity, and metacognitive strategy instruction with no difference in treatment. The results of the independent samples t-test demonstrated that there was no significant difference between listening posttest scores of FI and FD groups. Therefore, it was concluded that metacognitive strategy training coupled with shadowing activity could be equally beneficial in terms of listening proficiency for all students regardless of their perceptual tendency (FD/FI. The findings of the present study have implications for language teachers regarding metacognitive strategy training and listening comprehension enhancement.

Impacts of the Test of English Listening Comprehension on Students' English Learning Expectations in Taiwan

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Chou, Mu-Hsuan

2015-01-01

In Taiwan, English language learning in senior high school has predominantly focused on reading, with a heavy emphasis on memorising vocabulary and grammar rules. English listening has been marginalised and is not officially taught until the first year of university. In 2012, the Joint Board of College Recruitment Commission in Taiwan passed…

Determinants of success in native and non-native listening comprehension: an individual differences approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Andringa, S.; Olsthoorn, N.; van Beuningen, C.; Schoonen, R.; Hulstijn, J.

2012-01-01

The goal of this study was to explain individual differences in both native and non-native listening comprehension; 121 native and 113 non-native speakers of Dutch were tested on various linguistic and nonlinguistic cognitive skills thought to underlie listening comprehension. Structural equation

Language and Cognitive Predictors of Text Comprehension: Evidence from Multivariate Analysis

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Kim, Young-Suk

2015-01-01

Using data from children in South Korea (N = 145, M[subscript age] = 6.08), it was determined how low-level language and cognitive skills (vocabulary, syntactic knowledge, and working memory) and high-level cognitive skills (comprehension monitoring and theory of mind [ToM]) are related to listening comprehension and whether listening…

The Importance Of Teaching-Listening Comprehension In Promoting Note-Taking Skill

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Dr. Boughelamallah Hanane-Algeria

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Note-taking is a hot topic that attracts much considerable attention over time due to its great importance in teachinglearning process. Teaching listening comprehension in the Algerian EFL classrooms is designed to solve the problem of failure in taking good notes while listening.

Developing Native-Like Listening Comprehension Materials Perceptions of a Digital Approach

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Herri Mulyono

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper reported the attempt teachers did in developing native-like (NLS listening materials for their EFL learners using a text-to-speech (TTS technology. Observation was carried out to record teachers’ procedures for developing NLS materials. Interview with teachers were undertaken to explore their’ perceptions towards the NLS listening materials and the benefits they gained from developing instructional media using technology. In addition, a questionnaire was distributed to 65 eight-grade pupils to gather information related to their opinions regarding the listening materials developed and used by their teachers. The findings show that teachers and pupils responded positively towards the NLS materials for listening comprehension. In addition, teachers were found to have more confidence in teaching listening skill while using the technology. There are three conditions which endorse this teaching confidence: the suitability of instructional materials used with the learning curriculum and pupils’ level of English proficiency, teachers’ self-efficacy to the teaching task, and the integration of technology in classroom teaching. The study suggests that TTS system can be used as computer assisted language learning (CALL application particularly in the development of listening comprehension materials. The study also confirms earlier studies that teacher professional development can be promoted through integrated training on technology for classroom use.

High second-language proficiency protects against the effects of reverberation on listening comprehension.

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Sörqvist, Patrik; Hurtig, Anders; Ljung, Robert; Rönnberg, Jerker

2014-04-01

The purpose of this experiment was to investigate whether classroom reverberation influences second-language (L2) listening comprehension. Moreover, we investigated whether individual differences in baseline L2 proficiency and in working memory capacity (WMC) modulate the effect of reverberation time on L2 listening comprehension. The results showed that L2 listening comprehension decreased as reverberation time increased. Participants with higher baseline L2 proficiency were less susceptible to this effect. WMC was also related to the effect of reverberation (although just barely significant), but the effect of WMC was eliminated when baseline L2 proficiency was statistically controlled. Taken together, the results suggest that top-down cognitive capabilities support listening in adverse conditions. Potential implications for the Swedish national tests in English are discussed. © 2014 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology published by Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Developmental, Component-Based Model of Reading Fluency: An Investigation of Predictors of Word-Reading Fluency, Text-Reading Fluency, and Reading Comprehension.

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Kim, Young-Suk Grace

2015-01-01

The primary goal was to expand our understanding of text reading fluency (efficiency or automaticity)-how its relation to other constructs (e.g., word reading fluency and reading comprehension) changes over time and how it is different from word reading fluency and reading comprehension. We examined (1) developmentally changing relations among word reading fluency, listening comprehension, text reading fluency, and reading comprehension; (2) the relation of reading comprehension to text reading fluency; (3) unique emergent literacy predictors (i.e., phonological awareness, orthographic awareness, morphological awareness, letter name knowledge, vocabulary) of text reading fluency vs. word reading fluency; and (4) unique language and cognitive predictors (e.g., vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, theory of mind) of text reading fluency vs. reading comprehension. These questions were addressed using longitudinal data (two timepoints; Mean age = 5;24 & 6;08) from Korean-speaking children ( N = 143). Results showed that listening comprehension was related to text reading fluency at time 2, but not at time 1. At both times text reading fluency was related to reading comprehension, and reading comprehension was related to text reading fluency over and above word reading fluency and listening comprehension. Orthographic awareness was related to text reading fluency over and above other emergent literacy skills and word reading fluency. Vocabulary and grammatical knowledge were independently related to text reading fluency and reading comprehension whereas theory of mind was related to reading comprehension, but not text reading fluency. These results reveal developmental nature of relations and mechanism of text reading fluency in reading development.

The Impact of Vocabulary Enhancement Activities on Vocabulary Acquisition and Retention among Male and Female EFL Learners in Iran

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Sharafi-Nejad, Maryam; Raftari, Shohreh; Bijami, Maryam; Khavari, Zahra; Ismail, Shaik Abdul Malik Mohamed; Eng, Lin Siew

2014-01-01

In general, incidental vocabulary acquisition is represented as the "picking up" of new vocabularies when students are engaged in a variety of reading, listening, speaking, or writing activities. Research has shown when learners read extensively incidental vocabulary acquisition happens. Many EFL students cannot be involved in reading…

The Effect of Dictogloss on Listening Comprehension: Focus on Metacognitive Strategies and Gender

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Mina Taheri

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This study aimed at investigating the effect of dictogloss on EFL learners’ listening comprehension as well as on their use of metacognitive listening strategies with a focus on the effects on male and female learners. To this end, a total number of 50 female and male Iranian EFL learners, aged between 12 and 15 years old, at the intermediate proficiency level in a private language school in Iran were selected and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups with 25 male and female learners in each group. Dictogloss was employed to teach the learners in the experimental group for an instruction period of 12 sessions. Participants’ listening comprehension was determined through a pre/posttest which was adapted from the listening section of the standard test of PET and their use of metacognitive listening strategies via the MALQ, a questionnaire developed by Vandergrift et al. (2006. The data obtained were submitted to the t-test and results revealed significant improvement in the experimental group’s listening comprehension with no significant difference between male and female learners. Finally, the results showed that the listeners in the experimental group made noticeable gains in their choice of metacognitive strategies through using the dictogloss technique.  Findings are discussed in light of recent theories of language learning and teaching.

Multimedia Listening Comprehension: Metacognitive Instruction or Metacognitive Instruction through Dialogic Interaction

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Bozorgian, Hossein; Alamdari, Ebrahim Fakhri

2018-01-01

This study is an attempt to investigate the effect of metacognitive instruction through dialogic interaction in a joint activity on advanced Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' multimedia listening and their metacognitive awareness in listening comprehension. The data were collected through (N = 180) male and female Iranian…

Influence of text type, topic familiarity, and stuttering frequency on listener recall, comprehension, and mental effort.

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Panico, James; Healey, E Charles

2009-04-01

To determine how text type, topic familiarity, and stuttering frequency influence listener recall, comprehension, and perceived mental effort. Sixty adults listened to familiar and unfamiliar narrative and expository texts produced with 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% stuttering. Participants listened to 4 experimental text samples at only 1 stuttering frequency. After hearing the text samples, each listener performed a free recall task, answered cued recall questions, answered story comprehension questions, and rated their perceived mental effort. Free and cued recall as well as story comprehension scores were higher for narrative than for expository texts. Free and cued recall scores were better for familiar than for unfamiliar stories, although topic familiarity did not affect story comprehension scores. Samples with all levels of stuttering resulted in higher mental effort ratings for both text types and topic familiarities. Stuttering has a greater influence on listener recall and comprehension for narrative than for expository texts. Topic familiarity affects free and cued recall but has no influence on story comprehension. Regardless of the amount of stuttering, mental effort was high for both text types and levels of familiarity.

Simple View of Reading in Down's syndrome: the role of listening comprehension and reading skills.

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Roch, Maja; Levorato, M Chiara

2009-01-01

According to the 'Simple View of Reading' (Hoover and Gough 1990), individual differences in reading comprehension are accounted for by decoding skills and listening comprehension, each of which makes a unique and specific contribution. The current research was aimed at testing the Simple View of Reading in individuals with Down's syndrome and comparing their profiles with typically developing first graders. Listening comprehension and the ability to read both words and non-words was compared in two groups with the same level of reading comprehension: 23 individuals with Down's syndrome aged between 11 years 3 months and 18 years 2 months and 23 first-grade typically developing children aged between 6 years 2 months and 7 years 4 months. The results indicate that at the same level of reading comprehension, individuals with Down's syndrome have less developed listening comprehension and more advanced word recognition than typically developing first graders. A comparison of the profiles of the two groups revealed that reading comprehension level was predicted by listening comprehension in both groups of participants and by word-reading skills only in typically developing children. The Simple View of Reading model is confirmed for individuals with Down's syndrome, although they do not show the reading profile of typically developing first graders; rather, they show an atypical profile similar to that of 'poor comprehenders' (Cain and Oakhill 2006). The crucial role of listening comprehension in Down's syndrome is also discussed with reference to the educational implications.

The Relationship between EFL Learners' Self-Regulation and Their Listening Comprehension

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Fatemi, Mohammad Ali; Alishahi, Maral; Khorasani, Maryam Noori; Seifi, Monir

2014-01-01

Self-regulated EFL students can comprehend better what they listen. The present study sought to investigate the relationship between EFL learners' listening comprehension and their self-regulation. To achieve the goals of this study, 103 intermediate EFL learners were selected in Torbat-e- Heydarieh, Iran. Two instruments were employed and the…

Effects of computer-based immediate feedback on foreign language listening comprehension and test-associated anxiety.

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Lee, Shu-Ping; Su, Hui-Kai; Lee, Shin-Da

2012-06-01

This study investigated the effects of immediate feedback on computer-based foreign language listening comprehension tests and on intrapersonal test-associated anxiety in 72 English major college students at a Taiwanese University. Foreign language listening comprehension of computer-based tests designed by MOODLE, a dynamic e-learning environment, with or without immediate feedback together with the state-trait anxiety inventory (STAI) were tested and repeated after one week. The analysis indicated that immediate feedback during testing caused significantly higher anxiety and resulted in significantly higher listening scores than in the control group, which had no feedback. However, repeated feedback did not affect the test anxiety and listening scores. Computer-based immediate feedback did not lower debilitating effects of anxiety but enhanced students' intrapersonal eustress-like anxiety and probably improved their attention during listening tests. Computer-based tests with immediate feedback might help foreign language learners to increase attention in foreign language listening comprehension.

COMMUNICATIVE VALIDITY OF THE NEW CET-4 LISTENING COMPREHENSION TEST IN CHINA

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Chao Wang

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract: Based on the major dimensions of a communicative language test that Bachman proposed, this paper aims to have an investigation on the validity of the new CET-4 listening subtest in China from a communicative point of view. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are involved in the study. Material analysis falls into qualitative study, including analysis of the CET-4 testing syllabus and eight new CET-4 listening comprehension tests. Students’ scores of two tests and the questionnaires are analyzed quantitatively. Through analysis, it is found that the new CET-4 listening subtest has a high validity and can measure test-takers’ listening ability in real communication. First, the new CET-4 listening subtest has the quality of reliability. Second, the seven listening skills tested in this subtest can measure the communicative language ability required in the testing syllabus. The intra-correlation analysis shows that each part of the new CET-4 listening subtest focuses on different language abilities related to listening. Third, the authenticity of the new CET-4 listening subtest reaches a satisfactory level. The materials chosen in the test cover various topics and genres. Speakers’ pronunciation, tone and speed are in accordance with the real situation. However, some shortcomings also exist in the test design and should be improved later. For example, its limited item types cannot represent the task types in real life, and the actual input is too ideal to be authentic.   Keywords: Communicative language ability, communicative language testing, listening comprehension, test validity

Determinants of Success in Native and Non-Native Listening Comprehension: An Individual Differences Approach

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Andringa, Sible; Olsthoorn, Nomi; van Beuningen, Catherine; Schoonen, Rob; Hulstijn, Jan

2012-01-01

The goal of this study was to explain individual differences in both native and non-native listening comprehension; 121 native and 113 non-native speakers of Dutch were tested on various linguistic and nonlinguistic cognitive skills thought to underlie listening comprehension. Structural equation modeling was used to identify the predictors of…

Portfolio-work and its effects on listening comprehension of very young learners

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Leeck Piri

2015-01-01

Full Text Available At elementary school the focus often lies on listening and speaking. While listening comprehension is the basis for learning a new language, children often feel differently about that. Many measure their success in their ability to speak. Some become frustrated, because they initially are not able to express much, not noticing how much they understand already. In my research I tried to find a way to help such children appreciate more what they have achieved so far. Through portfolio-work (self-evaluation and reflection I wanted them to see what is ‘unseen’, as well as get them to think about strategies that improve listening comprehension, as the following study report shows.

Does Modality Matter? The Effects of Reading, Listening, and Dual Modality on Comprehension

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Beth A. Rogowsky

2016-09-01

Full Text Available With advancing technology, there is increasing interest in differences between listening versus reading comprehension or doing both simultaneously. Ninety-one participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups that received the same instructional material (the preface and a chapter from a non-fiction book, but each in a different input modality (digital audiobook, e-text, dual modality. After completing the material, participants took the same comprehension test in written form to establish both immediate comprehension (Time 1 and 2-week retention (Time 2. No statistically significant differences were found for any analyses pertaining to effects of the three different instructional conditions on comprehension at Time 1 or Time 2. Additional analyses showed that both males and females in each condition recalled an equal amount of information, regardless of whether they listened to an audiobook, read from an electronic tablet, or both listened and read simultaneously (dual modality.

Vocabulary comprehension and strategies in name construction among children using aided communication.

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Deliberato, Débora; Jennische, Margareta; Oxley, Judith; Nunes, Leila Regina d'Oliveira de Paula; Walter, Cátia Crivelenti de Figueiredo; Massaro, Munique; Almeida, Maria Amélia; Stadskleiv, Kristine; Basil, Carmen; Coronas, Marc; Smith, Martine; von Tetzchner, Stephen

2018-03-01

Vocabulary learning reflects the language experiences of the child, both in typical and atypical development, although the vocabulary development of children who use aided communication may differ from children who use natural speech. This study compared the performance of children using aided communication with that of peers using natural speech on two measures of vocabulary knowledge: comprehension of graphic symbols and labeling of common objects. There were 92 participants not considered intellectually disabled in the aided group. The reference group consisted of 60 participants without known disorders. The comprehension task consisted of 63 items presented individually in each participant's graphic system, together with four colored line drawings. Participants were required to indicate which drawing corresponded to the symbol. In the expressive labelling task, 20 common objects presented in drawings had to be named. Both groups indicated the correct drawing for most of the items in the comprehension tasks, with a small advantage for the reference group. The reference group named most objects quickly and accurately, demonstrating that the objects were common and easily named. The aided language group named the majority correctly and in addition used a variety of naming strategies; they required more time than the reference group. The results give insights into lexical processing in aided communication and may have implications for aided language intervention.

Effect of Content Schema, Vocabulary Knowledge, and Reading Comprehension on Translation Performance

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Reza Kafipour

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Schemata refer to all kinds of knowledge which are gained throughout the lifetime. Few studies tried to integrate schema theory and the next two crucial factors in translation and learning which are vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Thus, the present research aimed at delineating the potential effect of these three factors on translation performance of Iranian undergraduate students majoring in translator training. To this end, 172 Iranian undergraduate students majoring in translator training were selected based on two-step cluster sampling. To collect data, the participants answered a set of 6 open-ended questions to measure the students’ content schema along with a vocabulary size test, reading comprehension test, and translation task. To analyze data, Pearson correlation coefficient as well as stepwise multiple regressions was conducted through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 17. Data analysis indicated that the independent variables significantly correlated with translation performance. In addition, multiple regressions analysis specified reading comprehension as the main contributing variable and content schema as the second in students’ translation performance. It also showed that vocabulary knowledge could not be a predicting factor in translation performance of the learners; the reason may refer to the inseparable component of their translation task that is dictionary. The results highlighted the role of content schema in translation performance of the learners.

Assessing the Watson-Barker Listening Test (WBLT)-Form C in Measuring Listening Comprehension of Post-Secondary Hispanic-American Students

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Worthington, Debra L.; Keaton, Shaughan; Cook, John; Fitch-Hauser, Margaret; Powers, William G.

2014-01-01

The Watson-Barker Listening Test (WBLT) is one of the most popular measures of listening comprehension. However, participants in studies utilizing this scale have been almost exclusively Anglo-American. At the same time, previous research questions the psychometric properties of the test. This study addressed both of these issues by testing the…

Promoting At-Risk Preschool Children's Comprehension through Research-Based Strategy Instruction

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DeBruin-Parecki, Andrea; Squibb, Kathryn

2011-01-01

Young children living in poor urban neighborhoods are often at risk for reading difficulties, in part because developing listening comprehension strategies and vocabulary knowledge may not be a priority in their prekindergarten classrooms, whose curriculums typically focus heavily on phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge. Prereading…

A virtual speaker in noisy classroom conditions: supporting or disrupting children's listening comprehension?

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Nirme, Jens; Haake, Magnus; Lyberg Åhlander, Viveka; Brännström, Jonas; Sahlén, Birgitta

2018-04-05

Seeing a speaker's face facilitates speech recognition, particularly under noisy conditions. Evidence for how it might affect comprehension of the content of the speech is more sparse. We investigated how children's listening comprehension is affected by multi-talker babble noise, with or without presentation of a digitally animated virtual speaker, and whether successful comprehension is related to performance on a test of executive functioning. We performed a mixed-design experiment with 55 (34 female) participants (8- to 9-year-olds), recruited from Swedish elementary schools. The children were presented with four different narratives, each in one of four conditions: audio-only presentation in a quiet setting, audio-only presentation in noisy setting, audio-visual presentation in a quiet setting, and audio-visual presentation in a noisy setting. After each narrative, the children answered questions on the content and rated their perceived listening effort. Finally, they performed a test of executive functioning. We found significantly fewer correct answers to explicit content questions after listening in noise. This negative effect was only mitigated to a marginally significant degree by audio-visual presentation. Strong executive function only predicted more correct answers in quiet settings. Altogether, our results are inconclusive regarding how seeing a virtual speaker affects listening comprehension. We discuss how methodological adjustments, including modifications to our virtual speaker, can be used to discriminate between possible explanations to our results and contribute to understanding the listening conditions children face in a typical classroom.

The Effects of Classical Music on Listening Comprehension.

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Behar, Cara

A study determined the effectiveness of background classical music on listening comprehension. Nine special education students were read 10 different stories while music was either playing or not. They were asked the same four story element questions after each story. Results showed no significant differences between the two types of listening…

Effects of Strength of Accent on an L2 Interactive Lecture Listening Comprehension Test

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Ockey, Gary J.; Papageorgiou, Spiros; French, Robert

2016-01-01

This article reports on a study which aimed to determine the effect of strength of accent on listening comprehension of interactive lectures. Test takers (N = 21,726) listened to an interactive lecture given by one of nine speakers and responded to six comprehension items. The test taker responses were analyzed with the Rasch computer program…

Exploring the Causes of Listening Comprehension Anxiety from EFL Saudi Learners’ Perspectives: A Pilot Study

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Ibrahim Otair

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Anxiety is an important factor in foreign language learning. Very few studies have been done on English as a Foreign Language (EFL Saudi students in listening classes. Therefore, this pilot study was aimed at exploring the causes of listening comprehension anxiety from EFL Saudi learners’ perspectives at Majmaah University, Saudi Arabia. The pilot study involved two students who were selected based on the following criteria: 1 Only Saudi male undergraduate students who enrolled in Preparatory Year Program (PYP at Majmaah University would be involved in this study, 2 The students who had studied or lived in native English speaking countries would be excluded. The researcher used pseudonyms to refer to the participants as Mohammad and Ismail. This study employed a qualitative case study research design. The data were collected through Semi-structured interviews with the participants. The interview sessions were audiotaped and transcribed. The results show that the participants experienced a high level of anxiety when doing the listening comprehension tasks. Three main causes of listening comprehension anxiety emerged from this study: 1 the problematic nature of listening comprehension, 2 the classroom atmosphere, and 3 the low English proficiency of the students.

For US Students, L2 Reading Comprehension Is Hard Because L2 Listening Comprehension Is Hard, Too

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Sparks, Richard; Patton, Jon; Luebbers, Julie

2018-01-01

The Simple View of Reading (SVR) model posits that reading is the product of word decoding and language comprehension and that oral language (listening) comprehension is the best predictor of reading comprehension once word-decoding skill has been established. The SVR model also proposes that there are good readers and three types of poor…

Empirical Approaches to Measuring the Intelligibility of Different Varieties of English in Predicting Listener Comprehension

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Kang, Okim; Thomson, Ron I.; Moran, Meghan

2018-01-01

This study compared five research-based intelligibility measures as they were applied to six varieties of English. The objective was to determine which approach to measuring intelligibility would be most reliable for predicting listener comprehension, as measured through a listening comprehension test similar to the Test of English as a Foreign…

Once upon a time, there was a fabulous funambulist…: what children learn about the "high-level" vocabulary they encounter while listening to stories.

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Houston-Price, Carmel; Howe, Jodie A; Lintern, Natalie J

2014-01-01

Previous research has shown that listening to stories supports vocabulary growth in preschool and school-aged children and that lexical entries for even very difficult or rare words can be established if these are defined when they are first introduced. However, little is known about the nature of the lexical representations children form for the words they encounter while listening to stories, or whether these are sufficiently robust to support the child's own use of such "high-level" vocabulary. This study explored these questions by administering multiple assessments of children's knowledge about a set of newly-acquired vocabulary. Four- and six-year-old children were introduced to nine difficult new words (including nouns, verbs and adjectives) through three exposures to a story read by their class teacher. The story included a definition of each new word at its first encounter. Learning of the target vocabulary was assessed by means of two tests of semantic understanding-a forced choice picture-selection task and a definition production task-and a grammaticality judgment task, which asked children to choose between a syntactically-appropriate and syntactically-inappropriate usage of the word. Children in both age groups selected the correct pictorial representation and provided an appropriate definition for the target words in all three word classes significantly more often than they did for a matched set of non-exposed control words. However, only the older group was able to identify the syntactically-appropriate sentence frames in the grammaticality judgment task. Further analyses elucidate some of the components of the lexical representations children lay down when they hear difficult new vocabulary in stories and how different tests of word knowledge might overlap in their assessment of these components.

Using Vocabulary Notebooks for Vocabulary Acquisition and Teaching

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Dubiner, Deborah

2017-01-01

Vocabulary knowledge is recognized as an essential element for second language acquisition and reading comprehension. One known way to encourage and support vocabulary development amongst second language learners is keeping a vocabulary notebook. The primary purpose of the present study was to document two aspects of student teachers' own…

IV. NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB): measuring language (vocabulary comprehension and reading decoding).

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Gershon, Richard C; Slotkin, Jerry; Manly, Jennifer J; Blitz, David L; Beaumont, Jennifer L; Schnipke, Deborah; Wallner-Allen, Kathleen; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick; Gleason, Jean Berko; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; Adams, Marilyn Jager; Weintraub, Sandra

2013-08-01

Mastery of language skills is an important predictor of daily functioning and health. Vocabulary comprehension and reading decoding are relatively quick and easy to measure and correlate highly with overall cognitive functioning, as well as with success in school and work. New measures of vocabulary comprehension and reading decoding (in both English and Spanish) were developed for the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB). In the Toolbox Picture Vocabulary Test (TPVT), participants hear a spoken word while viewing four pictures, and then must choose the picture that best represents the word. This approach tests receptive vocabulary knowledge without the need to read or write, removing the literacy load for children who are developing literacy and for adults who struggle with reading and writing. In the Toolbox Oral Reading Recognition Test (TORRT), participants see a letter or word onscreen and must pronounce or identify it. The examiner determines whether it was pronounced correctly by comparing the response to the pronunciation guide on a separate computer screen. In this chapter, we discuss the importance of language during childhood and the relation of language and brain function. We also review the development of the TPVT and TORRT, including information about the item calibration process and results from a validation study. Finally, the strengths and weaknesses of the measures are discussed. © 2013 The Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Direct and Mediated Effects of Language and Cognitive Skills on Comprehension or Oral Narrative Texts (Listening Comprehension) for Children

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Kim, Young-Suk Grace

2016-01-01

We investigated component language and cognitive skills of oral language comprehension of narrative texts (i.e., listening comprehension). Using the construction--integration model of text comprehension as an overarching theoretical framework, we examined direct and mediated relations of foundational cognitive skills (working memory and…

Functional Anatomy of Listening and Reading Comprehension during Development

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Berl, Madison M.; Duke, Elizabeth S.; Mayo, Jessica; Rosenberger, Lisa R.; Moore, Erin N.; VanMeter, John; Ratner, Nan Bernstein; Vaidya, Chandan J.; Gaillard, William Davis

2010-01-01

Listening and reading comprehension of paragraph-length material are considered higher-order language skills fundamental to social and academic functioning. Using ecologically relevant language stimuli that were matched for difficulty according to developmental level, we analyze the effects of task, age, neuropsychological skills, and post-task…

Effects of nonfiction guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds on fourth grader's depth of content area science vocabulary knowledge and comprehension

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Hanna, Tania Tamara

Effects of nonfiction guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds as a supplement to basal science textbooks on three vocabulary measures, definitions, examples, and characteristics, and one multiple-choice comprehension measure were assessed for 127 fourth graders over three time periods: pretest, posttest, and a 2-week delayed posttest. Two of three fourth-grade elementary science teachers implemented a series of 12 content-enhanced guided interactive scripted lessons. Two of these teachers implemented two treatments each. The first condition employed basal science textbooks as the text for guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds while the second treatment employed basal science textbooks in conjunction with nonfiction text sets as the texts for guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds. The third teacher, guided by traditional lesson plans, provided students with silent independent reading instruction using basal science textbooks. Multivariate analyses of variance and analyses of variance tests showed that mean scores for both treatment groups significantly improved on definitions and characteristics measures at posttest and either stabilized or slightly declined at delayed posttest. The treatment-plus group lost considerably on the examples posttest measure. The treatment group improved mean scores on the examples posttest measure, outperforming the treatment-plus group and the control group. Alternately, the control group significantly improved on the delayed posttest examples measure. Additionally, the two groups implementing guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds performed better than the independent reading group on multiple-choice comprehension measures at posttest and sustained those gains 2 weeks later on delayed posttests. Findings maintain the incremental nature of vocabulary acquisition and development research and emphasize the roles of listening and speaking as critical features for integrating vocabulary into long

EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension and Awareness of Metacognitive Strategies: How Are They Related?

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Al-Alwan, Ahmed; Asassfeh, Sahail; Al-Shboul, Yousef

2013-01-01

Metacognitive strategies play an important role in many cognitive activities related to language use in oral communication. This study explored metacognitve listening strategies awareness and its relationship with listening comprehension on a convient sample of 386 tenth-grade EFL learners using two instruments: (a) Metacognition Awareness…

Captions and Reduced Forms Instruction: The Impact on EFL Students' Listening Comprehension

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Yang, Jie Chi; Chang, Peichin

2014-01-01

For many EFL learners, listening poses a grave challenge. The difficulty in segmenting a stream of speech and limited capacity in short-term memory are common weaknesses for language learners. Specifically, reduced forms, which frequently appear in authentic informal conversations, compound the challenges in listening comprehension. Numerous…

Grammar and vocabulary for First and First for schools with answers

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Thomas, Barbara; Matthews, Laura

2015-01-01

Grammar and Vocabulary reference and practice for the revised Cambridge English: First (FCE) and Cambridge English: First (FCE) for Schools from 2015 Cambridge Grammar and Vocabulary for First and First for Schools provides complete coverage of the grammar and vocabulary needed for the Cambridge First exams, and develops listening skills at the same time. It includes the full range of First and First for Schools exam tasks from the Reading and Use of English, Writing and Listening papers, and contains helpful grammar explanations. This edition is updated for the new exam to be introduced from 2015. It is informed by the Cambridge Learner Corpus to ensure that the language tackles real learner errors. The accompanying listening material is available online for download.

Reading and listening comprehension and their relation to inattention and hyperactivity

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Cain, Kate; Bignell, Simon

2014-01-01

Background: Children with diagnoses of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) frequently have reading problems. To date, it is not clear whether poor reading is associated with both inattention and hyperactivity and also whether poor reading comprehension is the result of poor word reading skills or more general language comprehension weaknesses. Aims: We report two studies to examine how reading and listening comprehension skills are related to inattention and hyperactivity/impulsiv...

Once upon a time, there was a fabulous funambulist…: what children learn about the “high-level” vocabulary they encounter while listening to stories

Science.gov (United States)

Houston-Price, Carmel; Howe, Jodie A.; Lintern, Natalie J.

2013-01-01

Previous research has shown that listening to stories supports vocabulary growth in preschool and school-aged children and that lexical entries for even very difficult or rare words can be established if these are defined when they are first introduced. However, little is known about the nature of the lexical representations children form for the words they encounter while listening to stories, or whether these are sufficiently robust to support the child's own use of such “high-level” vocabulary. This study explored these questions by administering multiple assessments of children's knowledge about a set of newly-acquired vocabulary. Four- and six-year-old children were introduced to nine difficult new words (including nouns, verbs and adjectives) through three exposures to a story read by their class teacher. The story included a definition of each new word at its first encounter. Learning of the target vocabulary was assessed by means of two tests of semantic understanding—a forced choice picture-selection task and a definition production task—and a grammaticality judgment task, which asked children to choose between a syntactically-appropriate and syntactically-inappropriate usage of the word. Children in both age groups selected the correct pictorial representation and provided an appropriate definition for the target words in all three word classes significantly more often than they did for a matched set of non-exposed control words. However, only the older group was able to identify the syntactically-appropriate sentence frames in the grammaticality judgment task. Further analyses elucidate some of the components of the lexical representations children lay down when they hear difficult new vocabulary in stories and how different tests of word knowledge might overlap in their assessment of these components. PMID:24570670

Once upon a time, there was a fabulous funambulist...: What children learn about the ‘high-level’ vocabulary they encounter while listening to stories

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Carmel eHouston-Price

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Previous research has shown that listening to stories supports vocabulary growth in preschool and school-aged children and that lexical entries for even very difficult or rare words can be established if these are defined when they are first introduced. However, little is known about the nature of the lexical representations children form for the words they encounter while listening to stories, or whether these are sufficiently robust to support the child’s own use of such ‘high-level’ vocabulary. This study explored these questions by administering multiple assessments of children’s knowledge about a set of newly-acquired vocabulary. Four- and 6-year-old children were introduced to nine difficult new words (including nouns, verbs and adjectives through three exposures to a story read by their class teacher. The story included a definition of each new word at its first encounter. Learning of the target vocabulary was assessed by means of two tests of semantic understanding – a forced choice picture-selection task and a definition production task – and a grammaticality judgment task, which asked children to choose between a syntactically-appropriate and syntactically-inappropriate usage of the word. Children in both age groups selected the correct pictorial representation and provided an appropriate definition for the target words in all three word classes significantly more often than they did for a matched set of non-exposed control words. However, only the older group was able to identify the syntactically-appropriate sentence frames in the grammaticality judgment task. Further analyses elucidate some of the components of the lexical representations children lay down when they hear difficult new vocabulary in stories and how different tests of word knowledge might overlap in their assessment of these components.

The Effect of Note Taking vs. Summarizing Strategy on Iranian EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension

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Mehri Khavazi; Mandana Yousefi; Naeemeh Kharaghani

2018-01-01

This study, specifically, investigated the effect of note taking and summarizing strategies on Iranian EFL learners’ listening comprehension. The study aimed at investigating the effects of note taking and summarizing on listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. The participants of the study included 75 female language learners in Bojnord who were homogenized in terms of language proficiency. They were divided into two experimental and onecontrol groups. ANCOVA test was used to analyze...

The Effect of Transcribing on Elementary Iranian EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension

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Mohammad Afsharrad

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This study is motivated by the gap existing between theory and practice in teaching listening. Most of the techniques used to teach listening put more emphasis on top-down processing while listeners’ problems are more of perceptive ones (bottom-up. In order to address the pervasive decoding problem in listening, this study suggests using transcribing exercise as an input enhancement device and investigates its effect on beginning learners’ listening ability. To this end, 31 learners participated in the study. The control group did not have any transcribing practice while the experimental group received transcribing exercise. In the data analysis step, an independent samples t test was employed to compare the two groups. The results show that transcribing has a significant positive effect on beginning learners’ listening comprehension. The findings of the study as well as advantages of transcribing exercise are discussed. Implications of the study and scope for future research are also addressed.

Why and How EFL Students Learn Vocabulary in Parliamentary Debate Class

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Eunice M. Aclan

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Vocabulary, the backbone of any language including English, is foundational for listening, speaking, reading and writing. These four macro-skills are necessary not only in gaining knowledge as English is the language to access major information sources particularly the World Wide Web but also in the demanding globalized workplace. Vocabulary is seen to be learned better when it is contextualized thus language teachers should design communicative activities such as debate. However, debate, being more known as a competitive rather than a classroom activity worldwide, has not been explored yet for its potential to develop vocabulary among EFL/ESL students although it has been identified for its power in developing communication skills in general as well as critical thinking and other soft skills. Thus, this qualitative study was conducted to explore why and how EFL students learn vocabulary in classroom debate. The data were gathered through end-of-course evaluation and focus group interview with seven participants from the Middle East, African and ASEAN countries. The findings show that students learned vocabulary due to debate’s interactive nature requiring contextualized and meaningful language use from preparation to actual debate. EFL students described how they learned vocabulary through debate which has implications for SLA and language teaching.   Keywords: Noticing hypothesis, Comprehensible input, Incomprehensible input, Vocabulary building strategies

Factors that Influence Comprehension of Connectives among Language Minority Children from Spanish-Speaking Backgrounds

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Crosson, Amy C.; Lesaux, Nonie K.; Martiniello, Maria

2008-01-01

This study explores factors influencing the degree to which language minority (LM) children from Spanish-dominant homes understand how connectives, such as "in contrast" and "because", signal relationships between text propositions. Standardized tasks of vocabulary, listening comprehension, word reading, and a researcher-designed text cohesion…

The Effects of Pictorial Contexts on Listening and Reading Comprehension in English : A Schematic Point of View

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西田, 正

1984-01-01

This paper begins with a brief examination of the relationship between reading and listening comprehension with emphasis placed on the similarities inherent in both the receptive skills. Goodman (1967) and Smith (1979) characterize reading as an interaction between printed information and the readers' knowledge. This characterization is true of listening comprehension because listeners make full use of the knowledge to understand the auditory information which is received. Schema theory p...

The Effectiveness of Song Technique in Teaching Paper Based TOEFL (PBT)'s Listening Comprehension Section

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Kuswoyo, Heri

2013-01-01

Among three sections that follow the Paper-Based TOEFL (PBT), many test takers find listening comprehension section is the most difficult. Thus, in this research the researcher aims to explore how students learn PBT's listening comprehension section effectively through song technique. This sounds like a more interesting and engaging way to learn…

Captioned Instructional Video: Effects on Content Comprehension, Vocabulary Acquisition and Language Proficiency

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BavaHarji, Madhubala; Alavi, Zhinoos Kamal; Letchumanan, Krishnaveni

2014-01-01

This experimental design study examined the effects of viewing captioned instructional videos on EFL learners' content comprehension, vocabulary acquisition and language proficiency. It also examined the participants' perception of viewing the captioned instructional videos. The 92 EFL students in two classes, who were undertaking the "Tape…

Modality of Input and Vocabulary Acquisition

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Tetyana Sydorenko

2010-06-01

Full Text Available This study examines the effect of input modality (video, audio, and captions, i.e., on-screen text in the same language as audio on (a the learning of written and aural word forms, (b overall vocabulary gains, (c attention to input, and (d vocabulary learning strategies of beginning L2 learners. Twenty-six second-semester learners of Russian participated in this study. Group one (N = 8 saw video with audio and captions (VAC; group two (N = 9 saw video with audio (VA; group three (N = 9 saw video with captions (VC. All participants completed written and aural vocabulary tests and a final questionnaire.The results indicate that groups with captions (VAC and VC scored higher on written than on aural recognition of word forms, while the reverse applied to the VA group. The VAC group learned more word meanings than the VA group. Results from the questionnaire suggest that learners paid most attention to captions, followed by video and audio, and acquired most words by associating them with visual images. Pedagogical implications of this study are that captioned video tends to aid recognition of written word forms and the learning of word meaning, while non-captioned video tends to improve listening comprehension as it facilitates recognition of aural word forms.

The Effects of Audiobooks on EFL Students' Listening Comprehension

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Kartal, Galip; Simsek, Harun

2017-01-01

This study investigates the effects of audiobooks on listening comprehension skills of EFL Students, and their attitudes towards using audiobooks in a foreign language classroom. The participants are 66 first-year students of a state university in Turkey. The research follows a pre- post-test control group research design using quantitative and…

How Setting Goals Enhances Learners’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Listening Comprehension

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Liliana Ballesteros Muñoz

2014-04-01

Full Text Available This article outlines a study that explores the relationship between SMART goal setting (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based and learning English in Colombia concerning a foreign language learners’ self-efficacy beliefs in listening. The participants were seventh and ninth grade students of two schools in Bogotá, Colombia. The results revealed that self-efficacy was highly positive when related to goal setting as students were able to set SMART goals to improve their listening comprehension and learners showed improvement in self-efficacy beliefs and felt more motivated while completing listening tasks related to songs. Furthermore this study shows that goal setting training can be incorporated successfully into the English as a foreign language classroom.

Effects of audio-visual aids on foreign language test anxiety, reading and listening comprehension, and retention in EFL learners.

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Lee, Shu-Ping; Lee, Shin-Da; Liao, Yuan-Lin; Wang, An-Chi

2015-04-01

This study examined the effects of audio-visual aids on anxiety, comprehension test scores, and retention in reading and listening to short stories in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. Reading and listening tests, general and test anxiety, and retention were measured in English-major college students in an experimental group with audio-visual aids (n=83) and a control group without audio-visual aids (n=94) with similar general English proficiency. Lower reading test anxiety, unchanged reading comprehension scores, and better reading short-term and long-term retention after four weeks were evident in the audiovisual group relative to the control group. In addition, lower listening test anxiety, higher listening comprehension scores, and unchanged short-term and long-term retention were found in the audiovisual group relative to the control group after the intervention. Audio-visual aids may help to reduce EFL learners' listening test anxiety and enhance their listening comprehension scores without facilitating retention of such materials. Although audio-visual aids did not increase reading comprehension scores, they helped reduce EFL learners' reading test anxiety and facilitated retention of reading materials.

The Effectiveness of Song Technique in Teaching Paper Based TOEFL (PBT’S Listening Comprehension Section

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Heri Kuswoyo

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Among three sections that follow the Paper-Based TOEFL (PBT, many test takers find listening comprehension section is the most difficult. Thus, in this research the researcher aims to explore how students learn PBT’s listening comprehension section effectively through song technique. This sounds like a more interesting and engaging way to learn language because music is a very powerful motivational tool for learning language. To reach the goal of this study, the researcher applied the grammar approach. It is an appropriate approach since the main idea of grammar-based listening exercises is to analyze the language by its components and reconstruct an incomplete text. Besides, the researcher employed an English song as the media the researcher uses the top- down model for the Listening Process.  In this research, the writer tries to share his experience in teaching listening in English department of Teknokrat College by implementing song technique.

The advantage of reading over listening text comprehension in Down syndrome: what is the role of verbal memory?

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Roch, Maja; Florit, Elena; Levorato, M Chiara

2012-01-01

The current study was designed to investigate the role played by verbal memory in the advantage shown by individuals with Down syndrome in reading over listening text comprehension (Roch & Levorato, 2009). Two different aspects of verbal memory were analyzed: processing load and coding modality. Participants were 20 individuals with Down syndrome, aged between 11 and 26 years who were matched for reading comprehension with a group of 20 typically developing children aged between 6;3 and 7;3 years. The two groups were presented with a listening comprehension test and four verbal memory tasks in which the degree of processing load and the coding modality were manipulated. The results of the study confirmed the advantage of reading over listening comprehension for individuals with Down syndrome. Furthermore, it emerged that different aspects of verbal memory were related respectively to reading and to listening comprehension: visual memory with low processing load was related to the former and oral memory with high processing load to the latter. Finally, it was demonstrated that verbal memory contributed to explain the advantage of reading over listening comprehension in Down syndrome. The results are discussed in light of their theoretical relevance and practical implications. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of Noise on English Listening Comprehension among Chinese College Students with Different Learning Styles

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Yang, Xiaohu; Jiang, Meng; Zhao, Yong

2017-01-01

This study was intended to determine whether the effects of noise on English listening comprehension would vary among Chinese college students with different learning styles. A total of 89 participants with different learning styles measured using Kolb’s (1985) Learning Style Inventory finished English listening comprehension tests in quiet and in white noise, Chinese two-talker babble, and English two-talker babble respectively. The results showed that the participants in general had significantly poorer performance in the two babble conditions than in quiet and white noise. However, the participants with assimilative and divergent learning styles performed relatively better in Chinese babble, and exhibited stable performance across the three noisy conditions, while the participants with convergent and accommodative learning styles had more impaired performance in both Chinese babble and English babble than in white noise. Moreover, of Kolb’s four learning modes, reflective observation had a facilitative effect on listening performance in Chinese babble and English babble. These findings suggest that differences in learning style might lead to differential performance in foreign language listening comprehension in noise. PMID:29085317

Effects of Noise on English Listening Comprehension among Chinese College Students with Different Learning Styles.

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Yang, Xiaohu; Jiang, Meng; Zhao, Yong

2017-01-01

This study was intended to determine whether the effects of noise on English listening comprehension would vary among Chinese college students with different learning styles. A total of 89 participants with different learning styles measured using Kolb's (1985) Learning Style Inventory finished English listening comprehension tests in quiet and in white noise, Chinese two-talker babble, and English two-talker babble respectively. The results showed that the participants in general had significantly poorer performance in the two babble conditions than in quiet and white noise. However, the participants with assimilative and divergent learning styles performed relatively better in Chinese babble, and exhibited stable performance across the three noisy conditions, while the participants with convergent and accommodative learning styles had more impaired performance in both Chinese babble and English babble than in white noise. Moreover, of Kolb's four learning modes, reflective observation had a facilitative effect on listening performance in Chinese babble and English babble. These findings suggest that differences in learning style might lead to differential performance in foreign language listening comprehension in noise.

Oral Language and Listening Comprehension: Same or Different Constructs?

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Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 2017

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to add to our understanding of the dimensionality of oral language in children and to determine whether oral language and listening comprehension are separate constructs in children enrolled in preschool (PK) through 3rd grade. Method: In the spring of the school year, children from 4 states (N = 1,869)…

Shadowing: Who Benefits and How? Uncovering a Booming EFL Teaching Technique for Listening Comprehension

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Hamada, Yo

2016-01-01

This study examines common claims associated with shadowing. Studies in Japan conclude that shadowing is effective for improving learners' listening skills. Two common claims are that shadowing is effective for lower-proficiency learners and that it enhances learners' phoneme perception, thus improving listening comprehension skills. The former…

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES AS PREDICTORS OF READING COMPREHENSION AND VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE

OpenAIRE

Abbas Ali Zarei; Nima Shokri Afshar

2014-01-01

Abstract: The present study was conducted to investigate types of Multiple Intelligences as predictors of reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge. To meet this objective, a 60-item TOEFL test and a 90-item multiple intelligences questionnaire were distributed among 240 male and female Iranians studying English at Qazali and Parsian Universities in Qazvin. Data were analyzed using a multiple regression procedure. The result of the data analysis indicated that musical, interpersonal, kin...

EFFECTIVENESS OF MOTHER TONGUE-BASED STORY BOOKS IN DEVELOPING LISTENING COMPREHENSION SKILLS

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Joe-Bren Lee Consuelo, Ed. D.

2017-04-01

Considering the garnered MPL of the experimental and control group in the four tested dimensions to determine the initial listening comprehension level of the subjects, it reveals that both of the experimental and control group fall under frustration level having an overall MPL 41.67 and 55.11, respectively. In literal dimension the subjects in the experimental and control group fall under instructional level having an MPL of 63.33 and 75.44 respectively. In lieu of this, it can be noted that there is a difference of 12.11 in the MPL of control group compared to the experimental group. For the interpretative dimension the experimental group got an MPL of 30.00 which means that pupils under this dimension belong to frustration level. In the control group under the interpretative level got ban MPL of 50.00 which also gives an indication that subjects are in frustration level under interpretative dimension. However, in critical dimension both the experimental and control group got an MPL of 43.34 respectively which means that the subjects in this dimension are under the frustration level. For vocabulary development an MPL of 30 was garnered by the experimental group, while the control group garnered an MPL of 46.67 which means that both the experimental and control group fall under the frustration level.

Development of decoding, reading comprehension, vocabulary and spelling during the elementary school years

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Aarnoutse, C.A.J.; Leeuwe, J.F.J. van; Voeten, M.J.M.; Oud, J.H.L.

2001-01-01

The goal of this study was (1) to investigate the development of decoding (efficiency), reading comprehension, vocabulary and spelling during the elementary school years and (2) to determine the differences between poor, average and good performers with regard to the development of these skills.

The Effect of Implementing the Experiential Learning Model in Listening Comprehension for the Eleventh Graders at SMAN 1 Telaga Biru

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Ismail Tahir

2017-11-01

Full Text Available This study is aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the experiential learning in listening comprehension with the focus on the implementation of the class story using language experience at SMAN 1 Telaga Biru. As the pre-experimental research, this study involved one class consisted of 27 students in the eleventh graders. However, most of the students of the eleventh graders in this school have some problems in their listening comprehension. This current research, therefore, aims at finding the result of the students’ listening comprehension by using experiential learning in focusing on the class story using language experience for the eleventh graders at SMAN 1 Telaga Biru and defining the students’ achievement in listening comprehension by using experiential learning focusing on the class story using language experience.  This study also explored the learners’ listening comprehension by analyzing the result of the students’ pre-test and post-test. It was found that the mean of the pre-test was 60 while the mean of the post-test was 80,6. By analyzing this result, it indicated that the post-test was higher than the pre-test. In conclusion, the finding of this research showed that teaching listening in the eleventh graders of SMAN 1 Telaga Biru using experiential learning in focusing on the class story using language experience was effective to teach students’ listening comprehension. Therefore, it can be suggested that it was an alternative way to use of experiential learning focusing on the class story using language experience in teaching listening.

ANALYSIS OF BARRIERS IN LISTENING COMPREHENSION AMONG JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

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Setia Muljanto

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This research paper identifies barriers and difficulties in listening comprehension faced by junior high school students. The research questions were what barriers did students encounter and how did they used strategies to overcome those barriers. This study used a qualitative method and was a case study involving 40 students and one English teacher. The data were obtained by ways of conducting a test of listening taken from TOEIC test. The tests indicated that the results scores were not quite satisfactory. This is primarily caused by speech delivery of the native speaker which was too fast. This means that students faced listening barriers especially in processing information. The data also indicated that students were also nervous when doing the test as habitual barrier. Strategies used to overcome these barriers are by making students get used to listen and use English and making them familiar with certain contexts in real life.

Development of Listening Comprehension Tests with Narrative and Expository Texts for Portuguese Students.

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Santos, Sandra; Viana, Fernanda Leopoldina; Ribeiro, Iolanda; Prieto, Gerardo; Brandão, Sara; Cadime, Irene

2015-03-03

This investigation aimed to develop and collect psychometric data for two tests assessing listening comprehension of Portuguese students in primary school: the Test of Listening Comprehension of Narrative Texts (TLC-n) and the Test of Listening Comprehension of Expository Texts (TLC-e). Two studies were conducted. The purpose of study 1 was to construct four test forms for each of the two tests to assess first, second, third and fourth grade students of the primary school. The TLC-n was administered to 1042 students, and the TLC-e was administered to 848 students. The purpose of study 2 was to test the psychometric properties of new items for the TLC-n form for fourth graders, given that the results in study 1 indicated a severe lack of difficult items. The participants were 260 fourth graders. The data were analysed using the Rasch model. Thirty items were selected for each test form. The results provided support for the model assumptions: Unidimensionality and local independence of the items. The reliability coefficients were higher than .70 for all test forms. The TLC-n and the TLC-e present good psychometric properties and represent an important contribution to the learning disabilities assessment field.

The comprehension skills of children learning English as an additional language.

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Burgoyne, K; Kelly, J M; Whiteley, H E; Spooner, A

2009-12-01

Data from national test results suggests that children who are learning English as an additional language (EAL) experience relatively lower levels of educational attainment in comparison to their monolingual, English-speaking peers. The relative underachievement of children who are learning EAL demands that the literacy needs of this group are identified. To this end, this study aimed to explore the reading- and comprehension-related skills of a group of EAL learners. Data are reported from 92 Year 3 pupils, of whom 46 children are learning EAL. Children completed standardized measures of reading accuracy and comprehension, listening comprehension, and receptive and expressive vocabulary. Results indicate that many EAL learners experience difficulties in understanding written and spoken text. These comprehension difficulties are not related to decoding problems but are related to significantly lower levels of vocabulary knowledge experienced by this group. Many EAL learners experience significantly lower levels of English vocabulary knowledge which has a significant impact on their ability to understand written and spoken text. Greater emphasis on language development is therefore needed in the school curriculum to attempt to address the limited language skills of children learning EAL.

Powerful Vocabulary Acquisition through Texts Comparison

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Mohammad Reza Hasannejad

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to investigate if dual version reading comprehension had a positive effect on Intermediate EFL students’ general vocabulary acquisition, receptive and productive knowledge of vocabulary and students’ synonymous power of words. Two groups were selected - the experimental group and the control group. The study included: (1 four pretests (2 the dual version reading comprehension, and (3 four posttests. It was found that there was no significant difference between the two groups of students on the pretests. However there was a significant difference between the two groups of the students on the posttests. Overall, the dual version reading comprehension vocabulary-learning made the experimental group learners outperformed the control groups in terms of their performance on four types of vocabulary tests. This indicates that students following dual version reading comprehension were more successful in vocabulary acquisition, and developing their receptive knowledge of vocabulary, transferring their receptive knowledge in to the productive knowledge and enhancing the memorization of the synonymous words.

Media Presentation Mode, English Listening Comprehension and Cognitive Load in Ubiquitous Learning Environments: Modality Effect or Redundancy Effect?

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Chang, Chi-Cheng; Lei, Hao; Tseng, Ju-Shih

2011-01-01

Although ubiquitous learning enhances students' access to learning materials, it is crucial to find out which media presentation modes produce the best results for English listening comprehension. The present study examined the effect of media presentation mode (sound and text versus sound) on English listening comprehension and cognitive load.…

The Effect of Digital Stories on Enhancing Iranian Pre-intermediate EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension

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Nasrin Hadidi Tamjid

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Learning a foreign language is a challenging process in which learners need motivation and encouragement through the use of modern techniques. The present paper investigates the effects digital stories may have on Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners’ listening comprehension. To this end, the researchers carried out a quasi-experimental research in a language institution in Tabriz (Iran. In total, forty, 11-14-year-old female students participated in this research. Twenty students were in the experimental group and twenty in the control group. The Preliminary English Test (PET was administered at the beginning of the study to check whether all participants were homogeneous in terms of English language proficiency. A pre-test of listening comprehension was designed to gather initial data on the learners' listening skill prior to the treatment. The experimental group was presented with digital stories in a technology-equipped classroom. After the treatment, a post-test was administered to both groups to test the learners' progression in listening comprehension. Then, using an ANCOVA test, the performance of two groups was compared.The findings indicated that the experimental group outperformed the control group in the final test. The results raise interesting issues related to the use of technology in the context of foreign language learning, substantiating the link between technology rich environment and improved language learning.

The Effect of Cultural Integration on the Development of Listening Comprehension among Iranian Upper-Intermediate EFL Learners

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Mohammad Ali Fatemi

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Cultural integration can be used as an effective learning practice in contexts of English as Foreign Language (EFL classrooms. The present study aimed at investigating the effect of cultural integration on the development of Iranian EFL upper-intermediate learners' listening comprehension.  To this end, fifty-two upper-intermediate EFL learners were selected based on the Quick Placement Test, developed by Oxford University Press and University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (2012. These participants were randomly assigned into experimental (N=26 and control (N=26 groups. T-test analysis indicated significant effects of cultural integration on the development of listening comprehension on upper-intermediate EFL learners. The findings offer pedagogical implications for integrating First Language (L1 culture in EFL listening comprehension classrooms.

Using Different Types of Dictionaries for Improving EFL Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Learning

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Alharbi, Majed A.

2016-01-01

This study investigated the effects of monolingual book dictionaries, popup dictionaries, and type-in dictionaries on improving reading comprehension and vocabulary learning in an EFL program. An experimental design involving four groups and a post-test was chosen for the experiment: (1) pop-up dictionary (experimental group 1); (2) type-in…

Effects of a virtual platform in reading comprehension and vocabulary: An alternative to improve reading abilities in Elementary school

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Cecilia Thorne

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Given, on the one hand, the poor results obtained by Peruvian children in the national and international reading assessments. And on the other hand, the increased investment intechnology for schools in the country, this study aimed to develop and test an online tool to improve reading comprehension. In order to do this, the reading comprehension strategies and vocabulary activities from the research-based digital environment ICON were adapted to design the platform LEO. A total of 88 fifth graders from urban middle-to-low-income private schools from Lima participated in this quasi-experimental study, which involved acontrol group and a treatment group that participated in a 12-week teacher-mediated digital intervention. All participants were administered reading and vocabulary assessments pre and post intervention. Results revealed that students who participated in the intervention achieved higher comprehension scores for narrative texts and higher vocabulary scores than those of the control group.

Functional Anatomy of Listening and Reading Comprehension during Development

OpenAIRE

Berl, Madison M.; Duke, Elizabeth S.; Mayo, Jessica; Rosenberger, Lisa R.; Moore, Erin N.; VanMeter, John; Ratner, Nan Bernstein; Vaidya, Chandan J.; Gaillard, William Davis

2010-01-01

Listening and reading comprehension of paragraph-length material are considered higher-order language skills fundamental to social and academic functioning. Using ecologically relevant language stimuli that were matched for difficulty according to developmental level, we analyze the effects of task, age, neuropsychological skills, and post-task performance on fMRI activation and hemispheric laterality. Areas of supramodal language processing are identified, with the most robust region being l...

Dictogloss or Dicto-Phrase: Which Works Better for Listening Comprehension?

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Marashi, Hamid; Khaksar, Mojgan

2013-01-01

This research compared the effect of using dictogloss and dicto-phrase tasks on EFL learners' listening comprehension. To fulfill the purpose of the study, a piloted sample Key English Test (KET) was administered to a total number of 90 Iranian female teenage EFL learners at Kish Language School, Tehran, and then 60 were selected based on their…

The Impact of Videos Presenting Speakers’ Gestures and Facial Clues on Iranian EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension

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Somayeh Karbalaie Safarali

2012-11-01

Full Text Available The current research sought to explore the effectiveness of using videos presenting speakers’ gestures and facial clues on Iranian EFL learners’ listening comprehension proficiency. It was carried out at Ayandeh English Institute among 60 advanced female learners with the age range of 17-30 through a quasi-experimental research design. The researcher administered a TOEFL test to determine the homogeneity of the participants regarding both their general English language proficiency level and listening comprehension ability. Participants were randomly assigned into two groups. After coming up with the conclusion that the two groups were homogeneous,  during 10 sessions of treatment, they received two different listening comprehension techniques, i.e. audio-visual group watching the video was equipped with the speaker’s gestures and facial clues, while the audio-only group could just listen to speaker’s voice and no additional clue was presented. Meanwhile, the participants were supposed to answer the questions related to each video. At the end of the treatment, both groups participated in the listening comprehension test of the Longman TOEFL test as the post-test. A t-test was used to compare the mean scores of the two groups, the result of which showed that the learners’ mean score in the audio-visual group was significantly higher than the learners’ mean score in the audio-only group. In conclusion, the result of this study suggests that foreign language pedagogy, especially for adult English learners, would benefit from applying videos presenting speakers’ gestures and facial clues.

Learner Perceptions of Reliance on Captions in EFL Multimedia Listening Comprehension

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Leveridge, Aubrey Neil; Yang, Jie Chi

2014-01-01

Instructional support has been widely discussed as a strategy to optimize student-learning experiences. This study examines instructional support within the context of a multimedia language-learning environment, with the predominant focus on learners' perceptions of captioning support for listening comprehension. The study seeks to answer two…

The Effect of Different Modes of English Captioning on EFL learners’ General Listening Comprehension: Full text Vs. Keyword Captions

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Sorayya Behroozizad

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the effect of different modes of English captioning on EFL learners’ general listening comprehension. To this end, forty five intermediate-level learners were selected based on their scores on a standardized English proficiency test (PET to carry out the study. Then, the selected participants were randomly assigned into two experimental groups (full-captions and keyword-captions and one control group (no-captions. Research instrumentation included a pre-test and a post-test following an experimental design. Participants took a pre-test and a post-test containing 50 multiple-choice questions (25question for pre-test and 25 question for post-test selected from a standard listening test PET, and also 15 treatment sessions. The findings showed significant differences among full-captions, keyword-captions, and no-captions in terms of their effect on learners’ general listening comprehension. This study provided some pedagogical implications for teaching listening through using different modes of captions. Keywords: Caption, full caption, keyword caption, listening comprehension

Cable TV: Bringing Home Native Speaker to Increase Listening Comprehension of the Students of English Education Department Teacher Training and Education Faculty Muria Kudus University

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Rismiyanto Nuraeningsih

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the use of cable TV to increase listening comprehension of the students of English education department of Muria Kudus University. The aims were to find out: (1 the listening comprehension achievement of the students taught by using cable TV, (2 the students’ response towards the teaching of listening comprehension class by using cable TV, and (3 the students’ difficulties when being involved in the listening class taught by using cable TV are. A classroom action research was conducted with three cycles. The data was collected by using test, observation checklist, & a questionnaire. The subject consisted of 29 students joining Advanced Listening class. The findings show that: (a The listening comprehension achievement of the students taught by using cable TV in cycle I, II, & III is fair, (b The students have enthusiasm and seriousness and motivation in joining the class in all cycles, (c In cycle III the students’ difficulties when being involved in the listening comprehension class taught by using cable TV are more and more decreasing. Keywords: Cable TV, Listening Comprehension

Test Method Facet and the Construct Validity of Listening Comprehension Tests

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Roya Khoii

2010-05-01

Full Text Available The assessment of listening abilities is one of the least understood, least developed and, yet, one of the most important areas of language testing and assessment. It is particularly important because of its potential wash-back effects on classroom practices. Given the fact that listening tests play a great role in assessing the language proficiency of students, they are expected to enjoy a high level of construct validity. The present study was dedicated to investigating the construct validity of three different test formats, namely, multiple-choice, gap filling on summary (also called listening summary cloze, and fill-in-the-blank, used to evaluate the listening comprehension of EFL learners. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, three passages with relatively similar readability levels were used for the construction of 9 listening tests, that is, each appeared in three formats. Following a counter-balanced design, the tests were administered to 91homogeneous EFL learners divided into three groups. The statistical analysis of the results revealed that the multiple-choice test enjoyed the highest level of construct validity. Moreover, a repeated measure one-way ANOVA demonstrated that the fill-in-the-blank task was the most difficult with the MC test as the easiest for the participants.

A Comparative Study of Listening Comprehension Measures in English as an Additional Language and Native English-Speaking Primary School Children

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McKendry, Mairead Grainne; Murphy, Victoria A.

2011-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the suitability of different measures of listening comprehension for Years 2, 3 and 4 children with English as an additional language (EAL). Non-standardised uses of reading comprehension measures are often employed as proxy measures of listening comprehension, i.e. for purposes for which they were not…

The Contribution of Vocabulary Knowledge and Spelling to the Reading Comprehension of Adolescents Who Are and Are Not English Language Learners.

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Reed, Deborah K; Petscher, Yaacov; Foorman, Barbara R

2016-04-01

This study examined the contributions of vocabulary and spelling to the reading comprehension of students in grades 6-10 who were and were not classified as English language learners. Results indicate that vocabulary accounted for greater between-grade differences and unique variance (Δ R 2 = .11 to .31) in comprehension as compared to spelling (Δ R 2 = .01 to .09). However, the contribution of spelling to comprehension was higher in the upper grade levels included in this cross-sectional analysis and functioned as a mediator of the impact of vocabulary knowledge at all levels. The direct effect of vocabulary was strong but lower in magnitude at each successive grade level from .58 in grade 6 to .41 in grade 10 while the indirect effect through spelling increased in magnitude at each successive grade level from .09 in grade 6 to .16 in grade 10. There were no significant differences between the language groups in the magnitude of the indirect impact, suggesting both groups of students relied more on both sources of lexical information in higher grades as compared to students in lower grades.

English Songs as an Effective Asset to Improve Listening Comprehension ability; Evidence from Iranian EFL Learners

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Samira Rahbar

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The present study has made an attempt to investigate the effectiveness of using English songs and lyrics on improving the listening comprehension ability of adult EFL learners in Iran. The participants of the study were selected based on their results in an OPT exam. 40 students whose score fell between 1SD below and above the mean were randomly assigned to two groups of control and experimental. At the beginning of the study a pre-test was run and the results of the groups were compared. The results didn’t show any specific difference between the groups. Experimental group received treatment via listening practice by English songs for two months. By the end of the study a listening post-test was run and the result of the independent sample t-test showed a significant difference between the control and experimental group. The findings of the study indicated that listening to English songs can be an effective way to improve listening comprehension ability of EFL learners.

Applying Language Learning Strategies in the Foreign Language Listening Comprehension: A Study of Islamic Senior High School Students

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DIAN PERTIWI

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The main purpose of the present study was to empirically investigate the possible correlation and the influence between students’ language learning strategies and listening comprehension. The population of this study was 138 eleventh grade students of Islamic Senior High School number 2 Palembang. The sample was all of eleventh grade students in social class. The total number of the student was 138. Since 16 students were absent, so the sample consisted of 122 students. To collect the data in order to measure the students’ language learning strategies and listening comprehension, SILL (strategy inventory in learning language and listening comprehension test from TOEFL Junior test were used in this study. The Pearson correlation was used in analyzing the data using SPSS 16. The result from questionnaire showed that most of the students used metacognitive strategies were in medium level and sometimes used language learning strategies. The result from listening comprehension test showed that most of the students were in very poor level. Furthermore, there was no significant correlation between the two variables that can be seen from the correlation coefficient or r-obtained (-.011 was lower than r-table (0.1779 then the level of probability or sig. value (.902 was higher than .05. From the result, it can be concluded that there was no significant correlation between language learning strategies and listening comprehension of eleventh grade students of Islamic Senior High School number 2 Palembang.

The Relation of Morphological Awareness and Syntactic Awareness to Adults' Reading Comprehension: Is Vocabulary Knowledge a Mediating Variable?

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Guo, Ying; Roehrig, Alysia D.; Williams, Rihana S.

2011-01-01

The authors' goal was to examine the structural relationships among vocabulary knowledge, morphological awareness, syntactic awareness, and reading comprehension in English-speaking adults. Structural equation analysis of data collected from 151 participants revealed that morphological awareness affected reading comprehension directly. Syntactic…

Improving reading comprehension in reading and listening settings: the effect of two training programmes focusing on metacognition and working memory.

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Carretti, Barbara; Caldarola, Nadia; Tencati, Chiara; Cornoldi, Cesare

2014-06-01

Metacognition and working memory (WM) have been found associated with success in reading comprehension, but no studies have examined their combined effect on the training of reading comprehension. Another open question concerns the role of listening comprehension: In particular, it is not clear whether training to improve reading comprehension must necessarily be based on processing written material or whether, as suggested in a recent study by Clarke et al. (2010, Psychol. Sci., 21, 1106), a programme based on verbal language could also be effective. The study examined the feasibility of improving text comprehension in school children by comparing the efficacy of two training programmes, both involving metacognition and WM, but one based on listening comprehension, the other on reading comprehension. The study involved a sample of 159 pupils attending eight classes in the fourth and fifth grades (age range 9-11 years). The listening and reading programmes focused on the same abilities/processes strictly related to text comprehension, and particularly metacognitive knowledge and control, WM (per se and in terms of integrating information in a text). The training programmes were implemented by school teachers as part of the class's normal school activities, under the supervision of experts. Their efficacy was compared with the results obtained in an active control group that completed standard text comprehension activities. Our results showed that both the training programmes focusing on specific text comprehension skills were effective in improving the children's achievement, but training in reading comprehension generated greater gains than the listening comprehension programme. Our study suggests that activities focusing specifically on metacognition and WM could foster text comprehension, but the potential benefit is influenced by the training modality, that is, the Reading group obtained greater and longer-lasting improvements than the Active control or

Variables Predicting Foreign Language Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Acquisition in a Linear Hypermedia Environment

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Akbulut, Yavuz

2007-01-01

Factors predicting vocabulary learning and reading comprehension of advanced language learners of English in a linear multimedia text were investigated in the current study. Predictor variables of interest were multimedia type, reading proficiency, learning styles, topic interest and background knowledge about the topic. The outcome variables of…

The impact of reading expressiveness on the listening comprehension of storybooks by prekindergarten children.

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Mira, William A; Schwanenflugel, Paula J

2013-04-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of oral reading expressiveness on the comprehension of storybooks by 4- and 5-year-old prekindergarten children. The possible impact of prosody on listening comprehension was explored. Ninety-two prekindergarten children (M age = 57.26 months, SD = 3.89 months) listened to an expressive or inexpressive recording of 1 of 2 similar stories. Story comprehension was tested using assessments of both free recall and cued recall. Children showed statistically significantly better cued recall for the expressive readings of stories compared to the inexpressive readings of stories. This effect generalized across stories and when story length was controlled across both expressive and inexpressive versions. The effect of expressiveness on children's free recall was not significant. Highly expressive readings resulted in better comprehension of storybooks by prekindergarten children. Further, because recordings were used, this effect might be attributed to the facilitation of language processing rather than to enhanced social interaction between the reader and the child.

The role of cardiac vagal tone and inhibitory control in pre-schoolers' listening comprehension.

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Scrimin, Sara; Patron, Elisabetta; Florit, Elena; Palomba, Daniela; Mason, Lucia

2017-12-01

This study investigated the role of basal cardiac activity and inhibitory control at the beginning of the school year in predicting oral comprehension at the end of the year in pre-schoolers. Forty-three, 4-year-olds participated in the study. At the beginning of the school year children's electrocardiogram at rest was registered followed by the assessment of inhibitory control as well as verbal working memory and verbal ability. At the end of the year all children were administered a listening comprehension ability measure. A stepwise regression showed a significant effect of basal cardiac vagal tone in predicting listening comprehension together with inhibitory control and verbal ability. These results are among the first to show the predictive role of basal cardiac vagal tone and inhibitory control in pre-schoolers' oral text comprehension, and offer new insight into the association between autonomic regulation of the heart, inhibitory control, and cognitive activity at a young age. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Comprehension Problems of Children with Poor Reading Comprehension despite Adequate Decoding: A Meta-Analysis.

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Spencer, Mercedes; Wagner, Richard K

2018-06-01

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine the comprehension problems of children who have a specific reading comprehension deficit (SCD), which is characterized by poor reading comprehension despite adequate decoding. The meta-analysis included 86 studies of children with SCD who were assessed in reading comprehension and oral language (vocabulary, listening comprehension, storytelling ability, and semantic and syntactic knowledge). Results indicated that children with SCD had deficits in oral language ( d = -0.78, 95% CI [-0.89, -0.68], but these deficits were not as severe as their deficit in reading comprehension ( d = -2.78, 95% CI [-3.01, -2.54]). When compared to reading comprehension age-matched normal readers, the oral language skills of the two groups were comparable ( d = 0.32, 95% CI [-0.49, 1.14]), which suggests that the oral language weaknesses of children with SCD represent a developmental delay rather than developmental deviance. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

The Application of Podcasting as a Motivational Strategy to Iranian EFL Learners of English: A View toward Listening Comprehension

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Saeed Shiri

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This study was conducted in order to inspect the impact of podcasts as learning and teaching tools on Iranian EFL learners’ motivation for listening as well as on their listening comprehension ability. It also investigated the learners’ perception towards podcasts. 34 intermediate learners who were homogeneous in terms of listening ability were chosen and then assigned into two groups. While the experimental group were given the treatment i.e. podcasts, the control group received the traditional practice. Data analysis results showed that the learners in the podcasting group surpassed the participants in the control group in their listening comprehension tests and in ELCMS scale as used to measure changes in the motivation of learners for listening. Students' views about the program were also elicited via podcast contribution questionnaire and individual interviews. The analysis of qualitative data showed that students perceived improvement in their listening achievement. Keywords: CALL, Listening skill, Motivation, Motivational strategies, Podcast

Syntactic comprehension in reading and listening: a study with French children with dyslexia.

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Casalis, Séverine; Leuwers, Christel; Hilton, Heather

2013-01-01

This study examined syntactic comprehension in French children with dyslexia in both listening and reading. In the first syntactic comprehension task, a partial version of the Epreuve de Compréhension syntaxico-sémantique (ECOSSE test; French adaptation of Bishop's test for receptive grammar test) children with dyslexia performed at a lower level in the written but not in the spoken modality, compared to reading age-matched children, suggesting a difficulty in handling syntax while reading. In the second task, syntactic processing was further explored through a test of relative clause processing, in which inflectional markers could aid in attributing roles to the elements in a complex syntactic structure. Children with dyslexia were insensitive to inflectional markers in both reading and listening, as was the reading age control group, while only the older normal reader group appeared to make use of the inflectional markers. Overall, the results support the hypothesis that difficulties in comprehension in dyslexia are strongly related to poor reading skills.

The Role of Comprehension Monitoring, Theory of Mind, and Vocabulary Depth in Predicting Story Comprehension and Recall of Kindergarten Children

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Strasser, Katherine; del Río, Francisca

2014-01-01

Recent studies have revealed that preschoolers' story comprehension is influenced by several basic as well as complex cognitive and linguistic processes. Among the abilities known to be relevant for young children's understanding of stories are the size of their vocabulary, their inference-making ability, and their working memory. In this study,…

The Effectiveness of Using an Explicit Language Learning Strategy-Based Instruction in Developing Secondary School Students' EFL Listening Comprehension Skills

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Amin, Iman Abdul-Reheem; Amin, Magdy Mohammad; Aly, Mahsoub Abdul-Sadeq

2011-01-01

The present study aimed at exploring the effectiveness of using explicit language learning strategy-based instruction in developing secondary school students' EFL listening comprehension skills. It was hypothesized that using explicit strategy-based instruction would develop students' EFL listening comprehension skill and its sub-skills. The…

Using Dictogloss As An Interactive Method Of Teaching Listening Comprehension

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Ramlatu Jibir-Daura

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Listening is one of the important language skills. Traditionally, listening skills have been taught in isolation or it is sometimes combined with speaking tasks. Dictogloss is an interactive method which promotes cooperative learning and can assist in the development of both the teacher and students’ listening skills. Unlike in the traditional method of dictation, in dictogloss only the gist of the text is expected to be produced by the students. To find the usefulness of the method in a second language learning context, twenty BA ED (Hausa one hundred level students from the Language Arts section of the Ahmadu Bello University were used. Two texts, one from ‘Oliver Twist’ and the other was ‘The Seven Voyages of Simbad’. These were dictated to the students, one for each day. The result of the second task was recorded. The first exercise served as practice for the students to become familiar with the procedure. Although it is a new procedure, the results showed an improvement from the results of the first task. The students enjoyed the excercise and were willing to continue the next day even though the first results were not very good. Recommendations were given on how second language teachers could use dictogloss to their advantage for cooperative learning in listening comprehension classes.

Effect of Constructivist Teaching Method on Students' Achievement in French Listening Comprehension in Owerri North LGA of Imo State, Nigeria

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Uwalaka, A. J.; Offorma, G. C.

2015-01-01

The study investigated the effect of constructivist teaching method on students' achievement in French listening comprehension in Owerri North Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigeria. Achievement in French listening comprehension over the years has been discouraging. The conventional method of teaching French Language has not improved the…

A Video-Based CALL Program for Proficient and Less-Proficient L2 Learners' Comprehension Ability, Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition

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Lin, Lu-Fang

2010-01-01

This study investigates first whether news video in a computer-assisted language learning (CALL) program can foster second language (L2) comprehension and incidental acquisition of adjectives, nouns, and verbs. Second, this study examines the relationship between the participants' vocabulary acquisition and their video comprehension. The…

Helping Children Learn Vocabulary during Computer-Assisted Oral Reading

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Gregory Aist

2002-04-01

Full Text Available This paper addresses an indispensable skill using a unique method to teach a critical component: helping children learn to read by using computer-assisted oral reading to help children learn vocabulary. We build on Project LISTEN’s Reading Tutor, a computer program that adapts automatic speech recognition to listen to children read aloud, and helps them learn to read (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~listen. To learn a word from reading with the Reading Tutor, students must encounter the word and learn the meaning of the word in context. We modified the Reading Tutor first to help students encounter new words and then to help them learn the meanings of new words. We then compared the Reading Tutor to classroom instruction and to human-assisted oral reading as part of a yearlong study with 144 second and third graders. The result: Second graders did about the same on word comprehension in all three conditions. However, third graders who read with the 1999 Reading Tutor, modified as described in this paper, performed statistically significantly better than other third graders in a classroom control on word comprehension gains – and even comparably with other third graders who read one-on-one with human tutors.

STRATEGIES IN IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH VOCABULARY ACQUISITION

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Khairil Razali

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Vocabulary acquisition concerns on how people expand the numbers of words they understand when learning a new language. Knowing words in a second or foreign language is vitally important because the reader will be able to understand the written text well and the speaker will be able to communicate basic ideas through vocabulary even if the person does not understand how to create a grammatically correct sentence. As Madsen argued, “mastering vocabulary is the primary thing that every student should acquire in learning English” (Harold, 1983. Therefore, acquiring a sufficiently large vocabulary is one of the important tasks faced by L2 learners in order to comprehend the written texts in reading as one of the four basic features of language learning.

Vocabulary Acquisition through Written Input: Effects of Form-Focused, Message-Oriented, and Comprehension Tasks

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Tajeddin, Zia; Daraee, Dina

2013-01-01

The present study investigated the effect of form-focused and non-form-focused tasks on EFL learners' vocabulary learning through written input. The form-focused task aimed to draw students' attention to the word itself through word recognition activities. Non-form-focused tasks were divided into (a) the comprehension question task, which required…

Application, results and perceptions of a think-aloud study in listening comprehension of Spanish

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Nogueroles López, Marta

2017-01-01

. After listening, they completed five comprehension questions, listened one more time with the transcript, reflected on their understanding and their strategic behaviour, and evaluated the protocol itself. These interviews were recorded, transcribed, analysed, categorized and computed. Results reveal......The present article outlines the procedure and shows the outcomes of a think-aloud study intended to, first, find out what listening strategies Hong Kong students of Spanish use to comprehend a particular oral passage in the target language, and, second, understand the participants’ perceptions...... of the think-aloud protocol. Such a protocol was developed during interviews in which students listened to an unidirectional text in Spanish twice, the first time interruptedly and the second without intermediate pauses, and were asked to verbalize the processes they had been using to understand such a passage...

The Listening Comprehension Strategies Used by College Students to Cope with the Aural Problems in EFL Classes: An Analytical Study

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Ghoneim, Nahed Mohamed Mahmoud

2013-01-01

The current study focused on the problems which students encounter while listening to the English language, the mental processes they activate in listening comprehension, and the strategies they use in different phases of comprehension. Also, it aimed to find out whether there were any differences between advanced and intermediate students in…

The Relationship between Listening Comprehension of Text and Sentences in Preschoolers: Specific or Mediated by Lower and Higher Level Components?

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Florit, Elena; Roch, Maja; Levorato, M. Chiara

2013-01-01

Two studies explored the relation between listening comprehension of text and listening comprehension of sentences in preschoolers aged 4 to 5 years, 11 months. The first study analyzed this relationship taking into account the role of lower level components, namely, word knowledge and verbal working memory, as possible mediators. These components…

The Challenges of Teaching EFL Listening in Iraqi (Kurdistan Region) Universities

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Avci, Rauf; Doghonadze, Natela

2017-01-01

The article is dedicated to the issue of teaching EFL listening in Kurdistan region of Iraq. The important role of listening skills in a FL learning is presented, and the difficulties of listening are analyzed, including language (vocabulary, grammar) and psychological (low motivation and self-confidence as well as a high level of listening…

Exploring the Causes of Listening Comprehension Anxiety from EFL Saudi Learners' Perspectives: A Pilot Study

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Otair, Ibrahim; Aziz, Noor Hashima Abd

2017-01-01

Anxiety is an important factor in foreign language learning. Very few studies have been done on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Saudi students in listening classes. Therefore, this pilot study was aimed at exploring the causes of listening comprehension anxiety from EFL Saudi learners' perspectives at Majmaah University, Saudi Arabia. The…

Utilizing Authentic Materials on Students’ Listening Comprehension: Does it have Any Influence?

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Resti Citra Dewi

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of using authentic materials on EFL students’ in listening comprehension. The participants of this study was the second year students of Junior High School in Indonesia, 2014/2015 academic year. The population of this study consisted of five parallel classes with the total number of the students was 190 students. Purposive sampling technique was used in this study. The participants were divided into two groups, the experimental was 38 students and the control group was 38 students. This study used experimental research. The instrument used in collecting data was multiple choice test. The total items of the test was 20 items. The finding shows that t-test (5.09 was higher than t-table (2.02 with the level of significance 0.05 and the degree of freedom (df = 36. It shows that the hypothesis alternative (ha was accepted. It means that using authentic materials has influence on students’ achievement in listening comprehension.

To Show or Not to Show: The Effects of Item Stems and Answer Options on Performance on a Multiple-Choice Listening Comprehension Test

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Yanagawa, Kozo; Green, Anthony

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study is to examine whether the choice between three multiple-choice listening comprehension test formats results in any difference in listening comprehension test performance. The three formats entail (a) allowing test takers to preview both the question stem and answer options prior to listening; (b) allowing test takers to…

Why and How EFL Students Learn Vocabulary in Parliamentary Debate Class

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Aclan, Eunice M.; Aziz, Noor Hashima Abdul

2015-01-01

Vocabulary, the backbone of any language including English, is foundational for listening, speaking, reading and writing. These four macro-skills are necessary not only in gaining knowledge as English is the language to access major information sources particularly the World Wide Web but also in the demanding globalized workplace. Vocabulary is…

Psychophysiological mechanisms of speech perception and their role in methods of listening comprehension teaching

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L A Khokhlova

2010-06-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the investigation findings of the listening comprehension mechanisms in left and right - hemisphere dominant students, factors contributing to effective language mastering being analyzed.

How age and linguistic competence alter the interplay of perceptual and cognitive factors when listening to conversations in a noisy environment

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Meital eAvivi-Reich

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Multi-talker conversations challenge the perceptual and cognitive capabilities of older adults and those listening in their second language (L2. In older adults these difficulties could reflect declines in the auditory, cognitive, or linguistic processes supporting speech comprehension. The tendency of L2 listeners to invoke some of the semantic and syntactic processes from their first language (L1 may interfere with speech comprehension in L2. These challenges might also force them to reorganize the ways in which they perceive and process speech, thereby altering the balance between the contributions of bottom-up versus top-down processes to speech comprehension. Younger and older L1s as well as young L2s listened to conversations played against a babble background, with or without spatial separation between the talkers and masker, when the spatial positions of the stimuli were specified either by loudspeaker placements (real location, or through use of the precedence effect (virtual location. After listening to a conversation, the participants were asked to answer questions regarding its content. Individual hearing differences were compensated for by creating the same degree of difficulty in identifying individual words in babble. Once compensation was applied, the number of questions correctly answered increased when a real or virtual spatial separation was introduced between babble and talkers. There was no evidence that performance differed between real and virtual locations. The contribution of vocabulary knowledge to dialogue comprehension was found to be larger in the virtual conditions than in the real whereas the contribution of reading comprehension skill did not depend on the listening environment but rather differed as a function of age and language proficiency. The results indicate that the acoustic scene and the cognitive and linguistic competencies of listeners modulate how and when top-down resources are engaged in aid of speech

How age and linguistic competence alter the interplay of perceptual and cognitive factors when listening to conversations in a noisy environment.

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Avivi-Reich, Meital; Daneman, Meredyth; Schneider, Bruce A

2014-01-01

Multi-talker conversations challenge the perceptual and cognitive capabilities of older adults and those listening in their second language (L2). In older adults these difficulties could reflect declines in the auditory, cognitive, or linguistic processes supporting speech comprehension. The tendency of L2 listeners to invoke some of the semantic and syntactic processes from their first language (L1) may interfere with speech comprehension in L2. These challenges might also force them to reorganize the ways in which they perceive and process speech, thereby altering the balance between the contributions of bottom-up vs. top-down processes to speech comprehension. Younger and older L1s as well as young L2s listened to conversations played against a babble background, with or without spatial separation between the talkers and masker, when the spatial positions of the stimuli were specified either by loudspeaker placements (real location), or through use of the precedence effect (virtual location). After listening to a conversation, the participants were asked to answer questions regarding its content. Individual hearing differences were compensated for by creating the same degree of difficulty in identifying individual words in babble. Once compensation was applied, the number of questions correctly answered increased when a real or virtual spatial separation was introduced between babble and talkers. There was no evidence that performance differed between real and virtual locations. The contribution of vocabulary knowledge to dialog comprehension was found to be larger in the virtual conditions than in the real whereas the contribution of reading comprehension skill did not depend on the listening environment but rather differed as a function of age and language proficiency. The results indicate that the acoustic scene and the cognitive and linguistic competencies of listeners modulate how and when top-down resources are engaged in aid of speech comprehension.

The effects of previewing questions, repetition of input, and topic preparation on listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners

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Afsar Rouhi

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In this study, an attempt was made to examine the effects of previewing questions, repetition of input, and topic preparation on listening comprehension of Iranian learners of English. The study was conducted with 104 high school students in 3 experimental and one control groups. The participants in the previewing questions group read the comprehension questions before hearing the text and answering the questions. The topic preparation group took advantage of topic-related texts in Persian followed by previewing questions; then they listened to the texts and answered the questions. The repetition of input group had two hearings with previewing before each hearing that preceded answering the comprehension questions. The control group, however, only had one hearing before answering the questions. The results obtained from data analysis showed that the topic preparation group performed better than the other participating groups. The repetition group, in turn, did better than the previewing group. There was, however, no statistically significant difference between the previewing and repetition groups. Based on the results obtained, it can be argued that providing and/or activating background knowledge and repeating a listening task might facilitate listening comprehension in EFL classroom settings. The findings and pedagogical implications of the study are discussed in detail.

Floating on a Sea of Talk: Reading Comprehension through Speaking and Listening

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Mills, Kathy A.

2009-01-01

Talk is the foundation for thought and understanding and the key to literacy learning. Research demonstrates that powerful metacognitive strategies can be taught to help students self-monitor their comprehension when reading print and digital texts. This article provides a repertoire of speaking and listening strategies to develop the…

Incidental Vocabulary Learning in Second Language Acquisition: A Literature Review

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Falcon Dario Restrepo Ramos

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This literature review aims to analyze previous studies that address the incidental learning of vocabulary in second language acquisition. The articles included in this literature review look into the understanding of vocabulary learning through incidental means, the relationship of reading and incidental vocabulary learning, and the strategies and tasks that promote the incidental learning of vocabulary. The findings show that L2 learners develop much of their vocabulary by incidental means through exposure to words in informative contexts. Moreover, this exposure is promoted by reading, and enhanced through multimodal glosses. Further research may focus on listening for higher lexical retention rates, the circumstances that allow incidental learning of multi-word phrases and collocations, and the use of technology-based methods for incidental vocabulary acquisition.

Listening Strategies of L2 Learners with Varied Test Tasks

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Chang, Anna Ching-Shyang

2008-01-01

This article investigates the strategies that EFL students used and how they adjusted these strategies in response to various listening test tasks. The test tasks involved four forms of listening support: previewing questions, repeated input, background information preparation, and vocabulary instruction. Twenty-two participants were enlisted and…

The Application of Podcasting as a Motivational Strategy to Iranian EFL Learners of English: A View toward Listening Comprehension

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Shiri, Saeed

2015-01-01

This study was conducted in order to inspect the impact of podcasts as learning and teaching tools on Iranian EFL learners' motivation for listening as well as on their listening comprehension ability. It also investigated the learners' perception towards podcasts. 34 intermediate learners who were homogeneous in terms of listening ability were…

Assessing school-aged children's inference-making: the effect of story test format in listening comprehension.

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Freed, Jenny; Cain, Kate

2017-01-01

Comprehension is critical for classroom learning and educational success. Inferences are integral to good comprehension: successful comprehension requires the listener to generate local coherence inferences, which involve integrating information between clauses, and global coherence inferences, which involve integrating textual information with background knowledge to infer motivations, themes, etc. A central priority for the diagnosis of comprehension difficulties and our understanding of why these difficulties arise is the development of valid assessment instruments. We explored typically developing children's ability to make local and global coherence inferences using a novel assessment of listening comprehension. The aims were to determine whether children were more likely to make the target inferences when these were asked during story presentation versus after presentation of the story, and whether there were any age differences between conditions. Children in Years 3 (n = 29) and 5 (n = 31) listened to short stories presented either in a segmented format, in which questions to assess local and global coherence inferences were asked at specific points during story presentation, or in a whole format, when all the questions were asked after the story had been presented. There was developmental progression between age groups for both types of inference question. Children also scored higher on the global coherence inference questions than the local coherence inference questions. There was a benefit of the segmented format for younger children, particularly for the local inference questions. The results suggest that children are more likely to make target inferences if prompted during presentation of the story, and that this format is particularly facilitative for younger children and for local coherence inferences. This has implications for the design of comprehension assessments as well as for supporting children with comprehension difficulties in the classroom

Does Multimedia Support Individual Differences?--EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension and Cognitive Load

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Yang, Hui-Yu

2014-01-01

The present study examines how display model, English proficiency and cognitive preference affect English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' listening comprehension of authentic videos and cognitive load degree. EFL learners were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The control group received single coding and the experimental group received…

Development of a Computer-Based Measure of Listening Comprehension of Science Talk

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Lin, Sheau-Wen; Liu, Yu; Chen, Shin-Feng; Wang, Jing-Ru; Kao, Huey-Lien

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a computer-based assessment for elementary school students' listening comprehension of science talk within an inquiry-oriented environment. The development procedure had 3 steps: a literature review to define the framework of the test, collecting and identifying key constructs of science talk, and…

The Impact of Note-Taking Strategies on Listening Comprehension of EFL Learners

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Hayati, A. Majid; Jalilifar, Alireza

2009-01-01

The main concern of the present study is to probe the relationship between note-taking strategy and students' listening comprehension (LC) ability. To conduct the study, a language proficiency test was administered to the undergraduate students majoring in English Translation at Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz and sixty students were selected…

The Effect of Noise on the Relationship Between Auditory Working Memory and Comprehension in School-Age Children.

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Sullivan, Jessica R; Osman, Homira; Schafer, Erin C

2015-06-01

The objectives of the current study were to examine the effect of noise (-5 dB SNR) on auditory comprehension and to examine its relationship with working memory. It was hypothesized that noise has a negative impact on information processing, auditory working memory, and comprehension. Children with normal hearing between the ages of 8 and 10 years were administered working memory and comprehension tasks in quiet and noise. The comprehension measure comprised 5 domains: main idea, details, reasoning, vocabulary, and understanding messages. Performance on auditory working memory and comprehension tasks were significantly poorer in noise than in quiet. The reasoning, details, understanding, and vocabulary subtests were particularly affected in noise (p comprehension was stronger in noise than in quiet, suggesting an increased contribution of working memory. These data suggest that school-age children's auditory working memory and comprehension are negatively affected by noise. Performance on comprehension tasks in noise is strongly related to demands placed on working memory, supporting the theory that degrading listening conditions draws resources away from the primary task.

An Automatic Caption Filtering and Partial Hiding Approach to Improving the English Listening Comprehension of EFL Students

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Hsu, Ching-Kun; Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Chang, Chih-Kai

2014-01-01

Fostering the listening comprehension of English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners has been recognized as an important and challenging issue. Videos have been used as one of the English listening learning resources; however, without effective learning supports, EFL students are likely to encounter difficulties in comprehending the video content,…

Why Not Non-Native Varieties of English as Listening Comprehension Test Input?

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Abeywickrama, Priyanvada

2013-01-01

The existence of different varieties of English in target language use (TLU) domains calls into question the usefulness of listening comprehension tests whose input is limited only to a native speaker variety. This study investigated the impact of non-native varieties or accented English speech on test takers from three different English use…

The Effect of Metacognitive Listening Strategy Training on EFL Learners’ Listening Sub-skills Performance

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Hassan Dousti

2013-05-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study is to examine the impact of metacognitive listening strategy instruction on the listening sub-skills performance of the Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners at the Foreign Language Center, Imam Ali University. The current study has been conducted with 64 participants. They were assigned into two groups randomly, an experimental group (n: 32 and a control group (n: 32. To determine the listening comprehension ability of the participants, a listening comprehension pretest based on the listening sub-skills was administered to the participants before the experiment. Then, the experimental group received an eight-week treatment on metacognitive listening strategies. After the treatment phase, a posttest was given to the participants in both the experimental and control group. The results of the independent t-test showed that there is a statistically significant difference (3.29>2; df = 62 between the posttest scores of the experimental group and the control group. Metacognitive strategy training promoted students’ listening comprehension remarkably; therefore, it should be integrated into the listening instruction programs to help language learners become more effective listeners.

Improving Speaking by Listening Cultivating English Thinking and Expression--Probe into the Teaching of "Business English Listening"

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Sun, Wencheng

2009-01-01

The comprehensive listening curriculum occupies an important position in elementary teaching stage for English major. How could we arrange the listening class better? Considering the characteristics of comprehensive listening curriculum for English major, teachers can help students improve speaking by listening, cultivating their thinking and…

The Effects of 3D Immersion on CSL Students' Listening Comprehension

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Lan, Yu-Ju; Liao, Chia-Ying

2018-01-01

The study aimed at enhancing Chinese as a second language (CSL) students' listening comprehension by using authentic contexts in Second Life (SL). Twenty-seven CSL students from 4 countries participated in the 6-week study. A within-subject design was adopted to confirm the effects of 3D immersive experiences on CSL students' listening…

A study of Chinese university EFL learners’ foreign language listening anxiety, listening strategy use and academic listening performance

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Liu, Meihua; Thondhlana, Juliet

2015-01-01

The present study examined foreign language (FL) listening anxiety and listening strategy use in relation to the FL listening comprehension performance of 1702 undergraduate EFL learners from 5 universities in China. The findings were: (1) more than half of the students generally did not feel anxious when listening to English, were low in English listening proficiency, and were not confident in or satisfied with their English listening proficiency, and usually moderately used different types ...

A Dynamic Speech Comprehension Test for Assessing Real-World Listening Ability.

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Best, Virginia; Keidser, Gitte; Freeston, Katrina; Buchholz, Jörg M

2016-07-01

Many listeners with hearing loss report particular difficulties with multitalker communication situations, but these difficulties are not well predicted using current clinical and laboratory assessment tools. The overall aim of this work is to create new speech tests that capture key aspects of multitalker communication situations and ultimately provide better predictions of real-world communication abilities and the effect of hearing aids. A test of ongoing speech comprehension introduced previously was extended to include naturalistic conversations between multiple talkers as targets, and a reverberant background environment containing competing conversations. In this article, we describe the development of this test and present a validation study. Thirty listeners with normal hearing participated in this study. Speech comprehension was measured for one-, two-, and three-talker passages at three different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), and working memory ability was measured using the reading span test. Analyses were conducted to examine passage equivalence, learning effects, and test-retest reliability, and to characterize the effects of number of talkers and SNR. Although we observed differences in difficulty across passages, it was possible to group the passages into four equivalent sets. Using this grouping, we achieved good test-retest reliability and observed no significant learning effects. Comprehension performance was sensitive to the SNR but did not decrease as the number of talkers increased. Individual performance showed associations with age and reading span score. This new dynamic speech comprehension test appears to be valid and suitable for experimental purposes. Further work will explore its utility as a tool for predicting real-world communication ability and hearing aid benefit. American Academy of Audiology.

Effects of noise and reverberation on speech perception and listening comprehension of children and adults in a classroom-like setting.

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Klatte, Maria; Lachmann, Thomas; Meis, Markus

2010-01-01

The effects of classroom noise and background speech on speech perception, measured by word-to-picture matching, and listening comprehension, measured by execution of oral instructions, were assessed in first- and third-grade children and adults in a classroom-like setting. For speech perception, in addition to noise, reverberation time (RT) was varied by conducting the experiment in two virtual classrooms with mean RT = 0.47 versus RT = 1.1 s. Children were more impaired than adults by background sounds in both speech perception and listening comprehension. Classroom noise evoked a reliable disruption in children's speech perception even under conditions of short reverberation. RT had no effect on speech perception in silence, but evoked a severe increase in the impairments due to background sounds in all age groups. For listening comprehension, impairments due to background sounds were found in the children, stronger for first- than for third-graders, whereas adults were unaffected. Compared to classroom noise, background speech had a smaller effect on speech perception, but a stronger effect on listening comprehension, remaining significant when speech perception was controlled. This indicates that background speech affects higher-order cognitive processes involved in children's comprehension. Children's ratings of the sound-induced disturbance were low overall and uncorrelated to the actual disruption, indicating that the children did not consciously realize the detrimental effects. The present results confirm earlier findings on the substantial impact of noise and reverberation on children's speech perception, and extend these to classroom-like environmental settings and listening demands closely resembling those faced by children at school.

The effects of dictionary training on Turkish EFL students' reading comprehension and vocabulary learning

OpenAIRE

Altun, Arif

1995-01-01

Ankara : The Institute of Economic and Social Sciences of Bilkent Univ., 1995. Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 1995. Includes bibliographical references leaves 55-59 The present study investigated the effects of monolingual dictionary training on Turkish EFL students' reading comprehension and vocabulary learning. Thirty-seven intermediate-level Turkish EFL preparatory students in the Department of English Language Teaching at Mustafa Kemal University participated in this st...

The Effects of Hypertext Gloss on Comprehension and Vocabulary Retention under Incidental and Intentional Learning Conditions

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Zandieh, Zeinab; Jafarigohar, Manoochehr

2012-01-01

The present study investigated comprehension, immediate and delayed vocabulary retention under incidental and intentional learning conditions via computer mediated hypertext gloss. One hundred and eighty four (N = 184) intermediate students of English as a foreign language at an English school participated in the study. They were randomly assigned…

Examining the Effects of Independent MALL on Vocabulary Recall and Listening Comprehension: An Exploratory Case Study of Preschool Children

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Terantino, Joe

2016-01-01

In recent years scholars have explored the use of mobile devices as potential sources for language learning and teaching. Mobile phones and tablets, especially, have been researched with a focus on effectively building vocabulary primarily among university-level students. Comparable research in other age groups has not been as widespread. This…

Revisiting Sticht: The Changing Nature of the Relationship between Listening Comprehension and Reading Comprehension among Upper Elementary and Middle School Students over the Last 50 Years

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Verlaan, Wolfram; Pearce, Daniel L.; Zeng, Guang

2017-01-01

This study investigated the relationship between listening comprehension and reading comprehension to determine if environmental factors might be contributing to a possible change in the equalization age for these two comprehension modalities from what was theorized by Thomas Sticht. The study employed a counterbalanced design to measure the…

The Impact of Word-Recognition Practice on the Development of the Listening Comprehension of Intermediate-Level EFL Learners

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Hossein Navidinia

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The present study aims at examining the effect of word-recognition practice on EFL students’ listening comprehension. The participants consisted of 30 intermediate EFL learners studying in a language institute in Birjand City, Iran. They were assigned randomly to two equal groups, control and experimental. Before starting the experiment, the listening section of IELTS was given to all of the students as the pretest. Then, during the experiment, the experimental group was asked to transcribe the listening sections of their course book while in the control group, the students did not transcribe. After 25 sessions (2 hours each of instruction, another test of listening (IELTS proficiency test was given to both groups as the post-test. The results of the two tests were then analyzed and compared using one way ANCOVA test. The results indicated that the experimental group outperformed the control group (p<0.05. Therefore, it was concluded that word-recognition practice is an effective way for the improvement of EFL learners’ listening comprehension. The overall results of the study are discussed and the implications for further research and practitioners are made.

Hear here: children with hearing loss learn words by listening.

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Lew, Joyce; Purcell, Alison A; Doble, Maree; Lim, Lynne H

2014-10-01

Early use of hearing devices and family participation in auditory-verbal therapy has been associated with age-appropriate verbal communication outcomes for children with hearing loss. However, there continues to be great variability in outcomes across different oral intervention programmes and little consensus on how therapists should prioritise goals at each therapy session for positive clinical outcomes. This pilot intervention study aimed to determine whether therapy goals that concentrate on teaching preschool children with hearing loss how to distinguish between words in a structured listening programme is effective, and whether gains in speech perception skills impact on vocabulary and speech development without them having to be worked on directly in therapy. A multiple baseline across subjects design was used in this within-subject controlled study. 3 children aged between 2:6 and 3:1 with moderate-severe to severe-profound hearing loss were recruited for a 6-week intervention programme. Each participant commenced at different stages of the 10-staged listening programme depending on their individual listening skills at recruitment. Speech development and vocabulary assessments were conducted before and after the training programme in addition to speech perception assessments and probes conducted throughout the intervention programme. All participants made gains in speech perception skills as well as vocabulary and speech development. Speech perception skills acquired were noted to be maintained a week after intervention. In addition, all participants were able to generalise speech perception skills learnt to words that had not been used in the intervention programme. This pilot study found that therapy directed at listening alone is promising and that it may have positive impact on speech and vocabulary development without these goals having to be incorporated into a therapy programme. Although a larger study is necessary for more conclusive findings, the

The Effects of Advance Organizers and Subtitles on EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension Skills

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Yang, Hui-Yu

2014-01-01

The present research reports the findings of three experiments which explore how subtitles and advance organizers affect EFL learners' listening comprehension of authentic videos. EFL learners are randomly assigned to one of two groups. The control group receives no treatment and the experimental group receives the experimental conditions of one…

Towards Understanding Listening Comprehension in EFL Classroom: The Case of the Saudi Learners

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Bano, Farah

2017-01-01

The present study aimed at making a pedagogical exploration into listening comprehension skills and examining the problems faced by learners in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom situation at Jazan University, Jazan city, Saudi Arabia. To analyze the problems, two very important processes were considered; namely, top-down and…

The Relationship among Iranian EFL Learners' Self-Efficacy, Autonomy and Listening Comprehension Ability

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Tabrizi, Haleh Mojarrabi; Saeidi, Mahnaz

2015-01-01

This study investigated the interrelationships among EFL learners' self-efficacy, autonomy and listening comprehension ability. Ninety female learners of intermediate level participated in the study. They were between 16 and 24 years old. In order to obtain the required data on the three variables (i.e., self-efficacy, autonomy, and listening…

The Impact of Note Taking On the Improvement of Listening Comprehension of Iranian EFL Learners

OpenAIRE

Mohammad Zohrabi; Farzaneh Esfandyari

2014-01-01

Note taking is a popular and operative strategy which increases the students? ability to remember, comprehend, and keep the material in mind. Nowadays, it is very common for teachers to use the note taking strategy in EFL listening classes due to the fact that taking notes can help students catch the main points easily and in turn promote their listening comprehension effectively. However, it creates areas of concerns for some researchers about whether taking notes is effective for students t...

Measuring Listening Comprehension Skills of 5th Grade School Students with the Help of Web Based System

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Acat, M. Bahaddin; Demiral, Hilmi; Kaya, Mehmet Fatih

2016-01-01

The main purpose of this study is to measure listening comprehension skills of 5th grade school students with the help of web based system. This study was conducted on 5th grade students studying at the primary schools of Eskisehir. The scale used in the process of the study is "Web Based Listening Scale". In the process of the study,…

The Correlation Between Students’Vocabulary Mastery and Their Interest in English Toward Reading Comprehension in descriptive Text at the Second Semester of Muhammadiyah University of Metro Academic Year 2014/2015

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Eva Faliyanti

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Abstarct -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vocabulary is one aspects  in reading comprehension. By having  a lot vocabulary, the students understand in reading comprehension. The interest in English also gives effect of students mastery in English. Before the students start to read they are must be interested in English first. Reading is one of skills in English that very essential for the students, because by reading the students can get information from the text. In this research the researcher focoses on reading comprehension in descriptive text. The problems formulation in this research are; (1 How far is the students score of ability in vocabulary mastery toward reading comprehension in descriptive text? (2 How far is the students score of ability in students interest in English toward reading comprehension in descriptive text? (3 How far is the correlation between students’ score of vocabulary mastery and students interest in English toward reading comprehension in descriptive text?. The objective of the research are; (1 To identify the students’ score in vocabulary mastery toward reading comprehension in descriptive text. (2 To identify the students’ score in students interest in English toward reading comprehension in descriptive text. (3 To find out how far the correlation between students’ score of vocabulary mastery and students interest in English toward reading compregension in descritive text. The research was conducted at the second semester of Muhammadiyah University Students in Academic Year 2014/2015. The population of this research was 127 students. The researcher used cluster ramdom sampling in taking sample. In collecting the data the researcher used test and questionnarie, namely vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension in descriptive text. In questionnarie used to students interest in English and in analyzing the data, the

Fifth-Grade Turkish Elementary School Students' Listening and Reading Comprehension Levels with Regard to Text Types

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Yildirim, Kasim; Yildiz, Mustafa; Ates, Seyit; Rasinski, Timothy

2010-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine fifth grade elementary school students' listening and reading comprehension levels with regard to text types. This study was conducted on 180 fifth grade elementary school students in Sincan-Ankara in the spring semester of the academic year 2008-2009. The comprehension test was administered to students. The…

The Effects of a Web-Based Vocabulary Development Tool on Student Reading Comprehension of Science Texts

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Karen Thompson

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The complexities of reading comprehension have received increasing recognition in recent years. In this realm, the power of vocabulary in predicting cognitive challenges in phonological, orthographic, and semantic processes is well documented. In this study, we present a web-based vocabulary development tool that has a series of interactive displays, including a list of the 50 most frequent words in a particular text, Google image and video results for any combination of those words, definitions, and synonyms for particular words from the text, and a list of sentences from the text in which particular words appear. Additionally, we report the results of an experiment that was performed working collaboratively with middle school science teachers from a large urban district in the United States. While this experiment did not show a significant positive effect of this tool on reading comprehension in science, we did find that girls seem to score worse on a reading comprehension assessment after using our web-based tool. This result could reflect prior research that suggests that some girls tend to have a negative attitude towards technology due to gender stereotypes that give girls the impression that they are not as good as boys in working with computers.

An Investigation of Three Methods of Teaching Vocabulary at the Junior High Level.

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Geiger, Evangeline Drury

This study of methods of teaching vocabulary in the junior high school investigated three approaches: use of a programed text in vocabulary development that emphasized context clues, use of the programed text augmented by listening assistance, and use of the programed text augmented by a word-analysis supplement. Over 300 students with I.Q.'s…

Mobile-Based Collaborative Learning in the Fitness Center: A Case Study on the Development of English Listening Comprehension with a Context-Aware Application

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Liu, Gi-Zen; Chen, Jing-Yao; Hwang, Gwo-Jen

2018-01-01

Mobile applications on the go have been adopted in many fields and areas. However, there has been little research regarding the development and use of a context-aware application for users to improve their English listening comprehension through collaboration. This research aimed at helping users improve their listening comprehension with a…

Does Listening to Mozart Affect Listening Ability?

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Bowman, Becki J.; Punyanunt-Carter, Narissra; Cheah, Tsui Yi; Watson, W. Joe; Rubin, Rebecca B.

2007-01-01

Considerable research has been conducted testing Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky's (1993) Mozart Effect (ME). This study attempts to replicate, in part, research that tested the ME on listening comprehension abilities. Also included in this study is an examination of control group issues in current day research. We hypothesized that students who listen to…

Vocabulary Acquisition without Adult Explanations in Repeated Shared Book Reading: An Eye Movement Study

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Evans, Mary Ann; Saint-Aubin, Jean

2013-01-01

When preschoolers listen to storybooks, are their eye movements related to their vocabulary acquisition in this context? This study addressed this question with 36 four-year-old French-speaking participants by assessing their general receptive vocabulary knowledge and knowledge of low-frequency words in 3 storybooks. These books were read verbatim…

An Investigation of Classroom Practices in Teaching Listening Comprehension at English Education Program

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Siregar, Nurhafni

2017-01-01

The objective of this study is to investigate how the classroom practice in teaching listening comprehension at English Education Program of STKIP Tapanuli Selatan in 2016/2017 Academic Year is. The informants of this research were all of second semester students of STKIP Tapanuli Selatan in 2016/2017 academic year and a lecturer of listening…

The Effect of Stories for Thinking on Reading and Listening Comprehension: A Case Study in Turkey

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Tok, Sükran; Mazl, Aysegül

2015-01-01

This study has been conducted in order to examine the effects of the stories for thinking on 5th graders' reading comprehension and listening comprehension. A pretest-post test control group quasi-experimental design was used in the study. The sample of the etstudy was composed of 74 5th graders attending public elementary schools. The data have…

Utilizing Authentic Materials on Students' Listening Comprehension: Does It Have Any Influence?

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Dewi, Resti Citra

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of using authentic materials on EFL students' in listening comprehension. The participants of this study was the second year students of Junior High School in Indonesia, 2014/2015 academic year. The population of this study consisted of five parallel classes with the total number of the…

Text-Based Vocabulary Intervention Training Study: Supporting Fourth Graders with Low Reading Comprehension and Learning Disabilities

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Solís, Michael; Scammacca, Nancy; Barth, Amy E.; Roberts, Garrett J.

2017-01-01

This experimental study examined the effectiveness of a text-based reading and vocabulary intervention with self-regulatory supports for 4th graders with low reading comprehension. Students with standard scores on the Gates MacGinitie Reading Test between 1.0 standard deviation (SD) and 0.5 SD below the normative sample were included (N=44) and…

Difficulties That English Teachers Encounter While Teaching Listening Comprehension and Their Attitudes towards Them

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Alrawashdeh, Ayah Isam; Al-zayed, Norma Nawaf

2017-01-01

This study is aimed at investigating the difficulties that English teachers encountered while teaching listening comprehension and their attitudes towards the subjectin Karak schools. To achieve the objectives of the study, the researcher used two instruments: a teacher's questionnaire and informal interviews. In order to answer the questions of…

The Impact of Scaffolding and Nonscaffolding Strategies on the EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension Development

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Ahmadi Safa, Mohammad; Rozati, Fatemeh

2017-01-01

Drawing on sociocultural theory, and a large number of empirical studies conducted on the effectiveness of scaffolding on second or foreign language learning, the authors investigated the application of different forms of scaffolding to improve listening comprehension of the Iranian intermediate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. To…

The Effects of using VoiceThread on Students’ Listening Comprehension and Attitudes Toward using VoiceThread

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Oraib Mango

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The current study investigated the effects of the use of VoiceThread (VT on the listening comprehension and attitudes of college students of Arabic as a foreign language. Thirty-five students in two 10-week classes of beginning Arabic participated in this study. The instruction in both classes was the same except that, for one group, the instruction was supplemented by the use of VT to enhance listening and speaking skills during the 10 weeks. Upon completion of the class, students using VT showed superior listening skills. Moreover, an Attitude and Engagement survey showed that the students enjoyed using VT and viewed it as a valuable tool that enhanced their language learning.

Scaffolding and co-operative learning : Effects on reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge in English as a foreign language

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wachyunni, Sri

2015-01-01

For university students in Indonesia, English reading comprehension, which partially depends on vocabulary knowledge, is key to success in academic achievement. The current study was set up to compare the effect of two commonly known teaching interventions during a whole semester to improve reading

Predicting expressive vocabulary acquisition in children with intellectual disabilities: a 2-year longitudinal study.

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Vandereet, Joke; Maes, Bea; Lembrechts, Dirk; Zink, Inge

2010-12-01

This study's objectives were to describe expressive vocabulary acquisition in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) and to examine specific pre- and early linguistic behaviors used to request and comment, chronological age, cognitive skills, and vocabulary comprehension as predictors of expressive vocabulary. This study included 36 children with ID, age 3;00 (years;months) to 6;05, with an average initial expressive vocabulary of 67 words. Expressive vocabulary acquisition was longitudinally followed over a 2-year period based on 4-monthly administrations of the Dutch version of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory/Words and Gestures (I. Zink & M. Lejaegere, 2002). Specific pre- and early linguistic behaviors used to request and comment as well as cognitive skills and vocabulary comprehension were measured at baseline. Individual growth modeling indicated that vocabulary comprehension was the only unique predictor of initial expressive vocabulary. Subsequent vocabulary growth was uniquely predicted by proportion of bimodal gesture + vocalization comments, chronological age, and cognitive skills. The results of this study underscore the great heterogeneity in expressive vocabulary skills in children with ID. The importance of prelinguistic communication, chronological age, cognitive skills, and vocabulary comprehension for explaining differences in expressive vocabulary skills is discussed.

Enhancing Social Studies Vocabulary and Comprehension for Seventh-Grade English Language Learners: Findings from Two Experimental Studies

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Vaughn, Sharon; Martinez, Leticia R.; Linan-Thompson, Sylvia; Reutebuch, Colleen K.; Carlson, Coleen D.; Francis, David J.

2009-01-01

Two experimental studies to improve vocabulary knowledge and comprehension were conducted in 7th-grade social studies classes with English language learners (ELLs). Two different nonoverlapping samples of classes of 7th-grade students (N = 381 and N = 507) were randomly assigned at the classroom (i.e., section) level to a social studies…

The Effect of Task-based Teaching on Incidental Vocabulary Learning in English for Specific Purposes

OpenAIRE

FALLAHRAFIE, Zahra; RAHMANY, Ramin; SADEGHI, Bahador

2015-01-01

Abstract. Learning vocabulary is an essential part of language learning linking the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing together. This paper considers the incidental vocabulary teaching and learning within the framework of task-based activities in the hope of improving learners’ vocabulary acquiring in English for Specific Purposes courses (ESP), concentrating on Mechanical Engineering students at Islamic Azad University of Hashtgerd, Iran. A total number of 55 male and fe...

Pre-listening stage and teaching listening from the adult learner’s perspective

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Ždímalová, Hana; Anýžová, P.

2012-01-01

Roč. 24, č. 2 /supplementary issue/ (2012), s. 23-38 ISSN 1210-0196. [New Ways to Teaching and Learning . Hrade Králové, 14.09.2012-15.09.2012] Institutional support: RVO:68378092 Keywords : listening comprehension * listening instruction * communicative competence * pre-listening stage Subject RIV: AI - Linguistics

Designing acoustics for linguistically diverse classrooms: Effects of background noise, reverberation and talker foreign accent on speech comprehension by native and non-native English-speaking listeners

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Zhao Ellen

The current classroom acoustics standard (ANSI S12.60-2010) recommends core learning spaces not to exceed background noise level (BNL) of 35 dBA and reverberation time (RT) of 0.6 second, based on speech intelligibility performance mainly by the native English-speaking population. Existing literature has not correlated these recommended values well with student learning outcomes. With a growing population of non-native English speakers in American classrooms, the special needs for perceiving degraded speech among non-native listeners, either due to realistic room acoustics or talker foreign accent, have not been addressed in the current standard. This research seeks to investigate the effects of BNL and RT on the comprehension of English speech from native English and native Mandarin Chinese talkers as perceived by native and non-native English listeners, and to provide acoustic design guidelines to supplement the existing standard. This dissertation presents two studies on the effects of RT and BNL on more realistic classroom learning experiences. How do native and non-native English-speaking listeners perform on speech comprehension tasks under adverse acoustic conditions, if the English speech is produced by talkers of native English (Study 1) versus native Mandarin Chinese (Study 2)? Speech comprehension materials were played back in a listening chamber to individual listeners: native and non-native English-speaking in Study 1; native English, native Mandarin Chinese, and other non-native English-speaking in Study 2. Each listener was screened for baseline English proficiency level, and completed dual tasks simultaneously involving speech comprehension and adaptive dot-tracing under 15 acoustic conditions, comprised of three BNL conditions (RC-30, 40, and 50) and five RT scenarios (0.4 to 1.2 seconds). The results show that BNL and RT negatively affect both objective performance and subjective perception of speech comprehension, more severely for non

Metacognition as Scaffolding for the Development of Listening Comprehension in a Social MALL App

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Elena Barcena

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This article focuses on the role that metacognition can effectively play in the development of second language listening comprehension, and specifically, how a mobile app can be specified for this end. A social mobile assisted listening app, ANT (Audio News Trainer, is presented as a prototype for exploring the way in which students can be helped to use metacognition to improve relevant linguistic communicative competences. A study has been undertaken with students using ANT to explore the intricate nature of the listening comprehension development process and the main metacognitive strategies that can be successfully applied. Special attention is paid to the implicitly and explicitly applied metacognitive strategies within the app, and related social network, where follow-on activities were undertaken, the strategies in question being: focus (a conscious effort on the gradual development of individual skills, engagement (interest is enhanced when a learning activity is enjoyable/successful, interaction (since collective activities seem to enhance emotional and social involvement, reflection (upon what works and does not work for each individual, self-regulation (through data about the students’ own progress and achievements, and attitude (here a further distinction is made between satisfaction, self-confidence and encouragement. The stages of engagement of a student with the app are explored in relation to the metacognitive strategy used and how they can contribute to the overall success of the learning experience. A final reflection is made about how metacognitive strategies offer an effective way to compensate for the lack of teacher presence, support and guidance on a medium/long term basis. However, although the study of the initial use of this social listening training app shows the potential for incorporating ‘knowing about knowing’ into mobile technology, it is suggested that future research is required to provide further finer

Improving Reading Comprehension in Reading and Listening Settings: The Effect of Two Training Programmes Focusing on Metacognition and Working Memory

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Carretti, Barbara; Caldarola, Nadia; Tencati, Chiara; Cornoldi, Cesare

2014-01-01

Background: Metacognition and working memory (WM) have been found associated with success in reading comprehension, but no studies have examined their combined effect on the training of reading comprehension. Another open question concerns the role of listening comprehension: In particular, it is not clear whether training to improve reading…

Measuring Listening Comprehension Skills of 5th Grade School Students with the Help of Web Based System

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M. Bahaddin Acat

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The main purpose of this study is to measure listening comprehension skills of 5th grade school students with the help of web based system. This study was conducted on 5th grade students studying at the primary schools of Eskisehir. The scale used in the process of the study is “Web Based Listening Scale”. In the process of the study, it was investigated that the level of differentiation listening skill and educational level of mother and father, family income level, Turkish Course grading note, the most popular and listened music genre. According to the results obtained that significant difference was found with listening skills and educational level of mother and father, family income level and the most popular and listened music genre. Also it was found that there is powerful relationship between listening skills and Turkish Course grading note. In the process of the research, it was observed the students used the web based system more attentive and motivated. Nevertheless, personalized measuring environment was provided by the web based system. Finally, it can be said that the web based systems can be used positively for language learning, teaching, and instruction, improving, measuring and assessing process.

Enhancing Social Studies Vocabulary and Comprehension for 7th Grade English Language Learners: Findings from Two Experimental Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Vaughn, Sharon; Martinez, Leticia R.; Reutebuch, Colleen K.; Carlson, Coleen D.; Thompson, Sylvia L.; Franci, David J.

2010-01-01

The authors identified instructional practices associated with improved outcomes for English language learners (ELLs): (1) research-based vocabulary and concept instruction, (2) the use of media to build comprehension and concept knowledge, (3) the use of graphic organizers, and (4) structured peer-pairings. The purpose of our two studies was to…

Comprehension of figurative language in Taiwanese children with autism: The role of theory of mind and receptive vocabulary.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Su-Fen; Oi, Manabu; Taguchi, Aiko

2015-01-01

First-order theory of mind (ToM) is necessary for comprehension of metaphors, and second-order ToM is necessary for comprehension of irony. This study investigated the role of ToM and language ability in comprehending figurative language in 50 Taiwanese children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASDs) compared with 50 typically developing children. Results showed that the No-ToM HFASDs group performed worse than the first-order ToM HFASDs group and the second-order ToM HFASDs group in comprehension of metaphors, irony, sarcasm and indirect reproach, but not for indirect request. Receptive vocabulary correlated only with metaphor comprehension. The volatility of results seen among studies in terms of the relationship between ToM and figurative language comprehension is discussed.

The Roles of Phonological Short-Term Memory and Working Memory in L2 Grammar and Vocabulary Learning

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Martin, Katherine I.; Ellis, Nick C.

2012-01-01

This study analyzed phonological short-term memory (PSTM) and working memory (WM) and their relationship with vocabulary and grammar learning in an artificial foreign language. Nonword repetition, nonword recognition, and listening span were used as memory measures. Participants learned the singular forms of vocabulary for an artificial foreign…

Do Questions Written in the Target Language Make Foreign Language Listening Comprehension Tests More Difficult?

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Filipi, Anna

2012-01-01

The Assessment of Language Competence (ALC) certificates is an annual, international testing program developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research to test the listening and reading comprehension skills of lower to middle year levels of secondary school. The tests are developed for three levels in French, German, Italian and…

Promoting Listening Reading Comprehension for Nonverbal English Language Learners Who Have a Severe Intellectual Delay

Science.gov (United States)

Kemper, Talya

2012-01-01

This study used an alternating treatment design to examine the use of a listening reading comprehension intervention package. This package was implemented in English as well as bilingually (on alternating days). This package was applied to four participants who were English Language Learners, were diagnosed with a severe intellectual delay, and…

Listening is my bugbear: Why Iranian L2 learners keep underperforming in the listening module

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Novid Armiun

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This paper shares the results of a study into the way Iranian TEF or TEFAQ candidates treat the listening comprehension as a skill as well as their awareness and exploitation of metacognitive strategies while listening to an audio document. A Persian translation of the Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ was used in addition to another questionnaire specifically developed for this research in order to gage how important candidates think listening in L2 is compared to the other skills, how much time they spent on practicing listening, and how often they take advantage of authentic documents to improve their listening. Not only did the results show an underestimation of the listening comprehension skill by the majority of Iranian L2 learners, but they also pointed to significant differences in the way men and women exercised their ears and treated the incoming audio stream. The paper concludes that learners’ awareness of listening strategies needs to be raised through classroom instruction and frequent exploitation of authentic documents outside the classroom setting should be encouraged.

Building English Vocabulary through Roots, Prefixes and Suffixes

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Yurtbasi, Metin

2015-01-01

Semantics, the study of the meaning of words, is the sum of the basic elements of four skills, namely, reading, writing, speaking and listening effectively. The knowledge of vocabulary words in lexico-semantics, on the other hand, is essential in every grade level, subject area and assessment for every student. In order to improve students'…

Effects of Listening While Reading (LWR on Swahili Reading Fluency and Comprehension

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Filipo Lubua

2016-10-01

Full Text Available A number of studies have examined the contribution of technology in teaching such languages as English, French, and Spanish, among many others. Contrarily, most LCTL’s, have received very little attention. This study investigates if listening while reading (LWR may expedite Swahili reading fluency and comprehension. The study employed the iBook Author tool to create weekly mediated and interactive reading texts, with comprehension exercises, which were eventually used to collect descriptive and qualitative data from four Elementary Swahili students. Participants participated in a seven week reading program, which provided them with some kind of directed self-learning, and met with the instructor for at least 30 minutes every week for observation and more reading activities. The teacher recorded their reading scores, and a number of themes on how LWR influenced reading fluency and comprehension are discussed here. It shows that participants have a positive attitude towards LWR and they suggest it for all the reading classes.

Implicit and Explicit Cognitive Processes in Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition

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Ender, Andrea

2016-01-01

Studies on vocabulary acquisition in second language learning have revealed that a large amount of vocabulary is learned without an overt intention, in other words, incidentally. This article investigates the relevance of different lexical processing strategies for vocabulary acquisition when reading a text for comprehension among 24 advanced…

Student's Second-Language Grade May Depend on Classroom Listening Position.

Science.gov (United States)

Hurtig, Anders; Sörqvist, Patrik; Ljung, Robert; Hygge, Staffan; Rönnberg, Jerker

2016-01-01

The purpose of this experiment was to explore whether listening positions (close or distant location from the sound source) in the classroom, and classroom reverberation, influence students' score on a test for second-language (L2) listening comprehension (i.e., comprehension of English in Swedish speaking participants). The listening comprehension test administered was part of a standardized national test of English used in the Swedish school system. A total of 125 high school pupils, 15 years old, participated. Listening position was manipulated within subjects, classroom reverberation between subjects. The results showed that L2 listening comprehension decreased as distance from the sound source increased. The effect of reverberation was qualified by the participants' baseline L2 proficiency. A shorter reverberation was beneficial to participants with high L2 proficiency, while the opposite pattern was found among the participants with low L2 proficiency. The results indicate that listening comprehension scores-and hence students' grade in English-may depend on students' classroom listening position.

Investigating Predictors of Listening Comprehension in Third-, Seventh-, and Tenth-Grade Students: A Dominance Analysis Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Tighe, Elizabeth L.; Spencer, Mercedes; Schatschneider, Christopher

2015-01-01

This study rank ordered the contributive importance of several predictors of listening comprehension for third, seventh, and tenth graders. Principal components analyses revealed that a three-factor solution with fluency, reasoning, and working memory components provided the best fit across grade levels. Dominance analyses indicated that fluency…

THE EFFECT OF SELECTIVE LISTENING AND LISTENING METHODSES BY NOTE-TAKING ON LISTENING COMPREHENSION SKILL OF SIXTH GRADE STUDENTS

OpenAIRE

Dilek CERAN

2015-01-01

Listening which is actively used beginning from birth in social life and learning process has a changeable quality as in other skill areas. The effective role of listening, especially in the process of education, makes the development of this skill essential in a certain program and a systematic way. Applying listening methods and techniques, teaching students how to use them consciously and effectively will result in achievement of targeted goals in this process. In this research, in order t...

The Effect of Video-Based Tasks in Listening Comprehension of Iranian Pre-Intermediate EFL Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Sarani, Abdullah; Behtash, Esmail Zare; Nezhad Arani, Saieed Moslemi

2014-01-01

This study aims at finding the effect of video-based tasks in improving the listening comprehension ability of Iranian pre-intermediate EFL (English Foreign Language) learners. After determining the level of learners, an experimental and control group, each of 20 participants, were nominated to contribute to the study. From the time the pre-test…

The Effects of Captioning Videos Used for Foreign Language Listening Activities

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Paula Winke

2010-02-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the effects of captioning during video-based listening activities. Second- and fourth-year learners of Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, and Russian watched three short videos with and without captioning in randomized order. Spanish learners had two additional groups: one watched the videos twice with no captioning, and another watched them twice with captioning. After the second showing of the video, learners took comprehension and vocabulary tests based on the video. Twenty-six learners participated in interviews following the actual experiment. They were asked about their general reactions to the videos (captioned and noncaptioned. Results from t-tests and two-way ANOVAs indicated that captioning was more effective than no captioning. Captioning during the first showing of the videos was more effective for performance on aural vocabulary tests. For Spanish and Russian, captioning first was generally more effective than captioning second; while for Arabic and Chinese, there was a trend toward captioning second being more effective. The interview data revealed that learners used captions to increase their attention, improve processing, reinforce previous knowledge, and analyze language. Learners also reported using captions as a crutch.

Textbook Evaluation: An Analysis of Listening Comprehension Parts in Top Notch 2A & 2B

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Soori, Afshin; Haghani, Elham

2015-01-01

Textbooks are the instruments that assist both teachers and learners in process of second language learning. With respect to the importance of textbooks in a language course, evaluation of course books is a significant issue for most researchers. The present study investigated and analyzed Listening Comprehension parts in Top Notch 2A & 2B 2nd…

Teaching Effective Second Language Listening

OpenAIRE

Lieske, Carmella

2007-01-01

In Japan, listening is given focused attention in the second language (L2) classroom.This paper begins by reviewing the nature of listening as well as the processinginvolved when listening. Content validity, purposefulness and transferability,listening or memory considerations, a teaching or testing orientation, and authenticlistening are discussed. By examining these five elements of effective listeningmaterials and also factors that affect comprehension, instructors can evaluatetextbooks an...

Effects of Multimedia Annotations on Incidental Vocabulary Learning and Reading Comprehension of Advanced Learners of English as a Foreign Language

Science.gov (United States)

Akbulut, Yavuz

2007-01-01

The study investigates immediate and delayed effects of different hypermedia glosses on incidental vocabulary learning and reading comprehension of advanced foreign language learners. Sixty-nine freshman TEFL students studying at a Turkish university were randomly assigned to three types of annotations: (a) definitions of words, (b) definitions…

Shared Reading to Build Vocabulary and Comprehension

Science.gov (United States)

Kesler, Ted

2010-01-01

The author presents four approaches to shared reading that he used with first through third graders in a high-needs, urban elementary school with a large population of students from immigrant homes. Using sociocultural and cognitive constructivist principles, the author shows how these approaches built students' academic vocabulary and…

LEARNING VOCABULARY THROUGH COLOURFUL PUZZLE GAME

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Risca Dwiaryanti

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Vocabulary plays an important role because it links to the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Those aspects should be integrated in teaching and learning process of English. However, the students must be able to know the meaning of each word or vocabulary of English in order to master the four skills. It is as a mean to create a sentence in daily communication to show someone’s feeling, opinion, idea, desire, etc. So that, both speakers understand what the other speaker mean. However, English as a second language in Indonesia seems very hard for the students to master vocabulary of English. It makes them not easy to be understood directly and speak fluently. The students, sometimes, get difficulties in understanding, memorizing the meaning of the vocabulary, and getting confused in using the new words. There must be an effective strategy to attract students’ interest, break the boredom, and make the class more lively. Based on the writer experience, Colourful Puzzle Game is able to make the students learn vocabulary quickly. It needs teacher’s creativity to create the materials of this game based on the class condition. The teacher just need a game board made from colourful papers, write any command and prohibition words on it. A dice is a tool to decide where the player should stop based on the number. Some pins as counter as sign of each player.

Comparison of Iranian Monolingual and Bilingual EFL Students' Listening Comprehension in Terms of Watching English Movie with Latinized Persian Subtitles

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Yamchi, Roghayeh; Kumar, Vishal

2016-01-01

The main concern of the present study was to compare Iranian monolingual and bilingual EFL students' listening comprehension in terms of Latinized Persian subtitling of English movie to see whether there was a significant difference between monolinguals and bilinguals on immediate linguistic comprehension of the movie. Latinized Persian subtitling…

Assessing reading comprehension with narrative and expository texts: Dimensionality and relationship with fluency, vocabulary and memory.

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Santos, Sandra; Cadime, Irene; Viana, Fernanda L; Chaves-Sousa, Séli; Gayo, Elena; Maia, José; Ribeiro, Iolanda

2017-02-01

Reading comprehension assessment should rely on valid instruments that enable adequate conclusions to be taken regarding students' reading comprehension performance. In this article, two studies were conducted to collect validity evidence for the vertically scaled forms of two Tests of Reading Comprehension for Portuguese elementary school students in the second to fourth grades, one with narrative texts (TRC-n) and another with expository ones (TRC-e). Two samples of 950 and 990 students participated in Study 1, the study of the dimensionality of the TRC-n and TRC-e forms, respectively. Confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence of an acceptable fit for the one-factor solution for all test forms. Study 2 included 218 students to collect criterion-related validity. The scores obtained in each of the test forms were significantly correlated with the ones obtained in other reading comprehension measures and with the results obtained in oral reading fluency, vocabulary and working memory tests. Evidence suggests that the test forms are valid measures of reading comprehension. © 2016 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Student’s Second-Language Grade May Depend on Classroom Listening Position

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Sörqvist, Patrik; Ljung, Robert; Hygge, Staffan; Rönnberg, Jerker

2016-01-01

The purpose of this experiment was to explore whether listening positions (close or distant location from the sound source) in the classroom, and classroom reverberation, influence students’ score on a test for second-language (L2) listening comprehension (i.e., comprehension of English in Swedish speaking participants). The listening comprehension test administered was part of a standardized national test of English used in the Swedish school system. A total of 125 high school pupils, 15 years old, participated. Listening position was manipulated within subjects, classroom reverberation between subjects. The results showed that L2 listening comprehension decreased as distance from the sound source increased. The effect of reverberation was qualified by the participants’ baseline L2 proficiency. A shorter reverberation was beneficial to participants with high L2 proficiency, while the opposite pattern was found among the participants with low L2 proficiency. The results indicate that listening comprehension scores—and hence students’ grade in English—may depend on students’ classroom listening position. PMID:27304980

The Effects of Vocabulary Knowledge and Dictionary Use on EFL Reading Performance

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Shen, Zhifa

2013-01-01

The present study mainly investigated the effects of vocabulary knowledge and dictionary use on EFL reading performance. The results show that scores on vocabulary size, specific vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension are highly and positively correlated. Scores on specific vocabulary knowledge are more closely correlated with reading…

The Power of the Listening Ear

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Campbell, Robyn

2011-01-01

Communicating effectively is a skill that must be taught and practiced--and the act of listening is a large part of this skill. According to the "International Journal of Listening," listening skills are imperative to reading comprehension and are valuable enough for "38 out of the 51 government entities to include listening skills as part of…

Fast self paced listening times in syntactic comprehension is aphasia -- implications for deficits

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Jennifer Michaud

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Sixty one people with aphasia (pwa and forty one matched controls were tested for the ability to understand sentences that required the ability to assign particular syntactic structures. Participants paced themselves word-by-word through twenty examples of eleven spoken sentence types and indicated which of two pictures corresponded to the meaning of each sentence. Sentences were developed in pairs such that comprehension of the experimental version of a pair required an aspect of syntactic processing not required in the corresponding baseline sentence. The need for the syntactic operations required only in the experimental version was triggered at a “critical word” in the experimental sentence. Listening times for critical words in experimental sentences were compared to those for corresponding words in the corresponding baseline sentences. We adjusted self paced listening times for word duration by subtracting word durations from tag-to-tag self paced listening times to correct for word duration, yielding what we have previously called “corrected listening times.” Corrected listening times above ceiling (10,000 msec for sentence-final words and 5,000 msec for all other words were discarded. For controls, this led to 0.2% of data being discarded and for PWAs 2.2% were discarded. Corrected listening times that were more than 3 standard deviations above or below the mean for that sentence type for each subject were adjusted either down to the upper limit or up to the lower limit of the 3SD range (not discarded. For accurate sentences, 1.7% of the control data were adjusted and 1.8% of the aphasic data were adjusted. For inaccurate sentences, 10% of the corrected listening times were adjusted for controls and 3.3% for aphasics. Our interest is in incremental parsing and interpretation. The measure we used of this process was the residual of a regression of corrected self paced listening times for critical words in experimental sentences

Using Video in Web-Based Listening Tests

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Cristina Pardo-Ballester

2016-07-01

Full Text Available With sophisticated multimedia technology, there is a renewed interest in the relationship between visual and auditory channels in assessing listening comprehension (LC. Research on the use of visuals in assessing listening has emerged with inconclusive results. Some learners perform better on tests which include visual input (Wagner, 2007 while others have found no difference in the performance of participants on the two test formats (Batty, 2015. These mixed results make it necessary to examine the role of using audio and video in LC as measured by L2 listening tests. The current study examined the effects of two different types of listening support on L2 learners’ comprehension: (a visual aid in a video with input modified with redundancy and (b no visuals (audio-only input with input modified with redundancy. The participants of this study included 246 Spanish students enrolled in two different intermediate Spanish courses at a large Midwestern university who participated in four listening tasks either with video or with audio. Findings of whether the video serves as a listening support device and whether the course formats differ on intermediate-level Spanish learners’ comprehension will be shared as well as participants’ preferences with respect to listening support.

The Effect of Cultural Integration on the Development of Listening Comprehension among Iranian Upper-Intermediate EFL Learners

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Fatemi, Mohammad Ali; Montazerinia, Fatemeh; Shirazian, Sharifeh; Atarodi, Maliheh

2014-01-01

Cultural integration can be used as an effective learning practice in contexts of English as Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. The present study aimed at investigating the effect of cultural integration on the development of Iranian EFL upper-intermediate learners' listening comprehension. To this end, fifty-two upper-intermediate EFL learners…

Effect of Power Point Enhanced Teaching (Visual Input) on Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension Ability

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Sehati, Samira; Khodabandehlou, Morteza

2017-01-01

The present investigation was an attempt to study on the effect of power point enhanced teaching (visual input) on Iranian Intermediate EFL learners' listening comprehension ability. To that end, a null hypothesis was formulated as power point enhanced teaching (visual input) has no effect on Iranian Intermediate EFL learners' listening…

Replication Research in L2 Listening Comprehension: A Conceptual Replication of Graham & Macaro (2008) and an Approximate Replication of Vandergrift & Tafaghodtari (2010) and Brett (1997)

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Vandergrift, Larry; Cross, Jeremy

2017-01-01

Most recent publications related to listening comprehension research deal with listening strategy instruction, metacognitive instruction or multimedia applications. This paper discusses one study from each of these three domains--Graham & Macaro (2008), Vandergrift & Tafaghodtari (2010) and Brett (1997)--and presents the need and…

The Effects of 'Face' on Listening Comprehension: Evidence from Advanced Jordanian Speakers of English.

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Hamdan, Jihad M; Al-Hawamdeh, Rose Fowler

2018-04-10

This empirical study examines the extent to which 'face', i.e. (audio visual dialogues), affects the listening comprehension of advanced Jordanian EFL learners in a TOFEL-like test, as opposed to its absence (i.e. a purely audio test) which is the current norm in many English language proficiency tests, including but not limited to TOFEL iBT, TOEIC and academic IELTS. Through an online experiment, 60 Jordanian postgraduate linguistics and English literature students (advanced EFL learners) at the University of Jordan sit for two listening tests (simulating English proficiency tests); namely, one which is purely audio [i.e. without any face (including any visuals such as motion, as well as still pictures)], and one which is audiovisual/video. The results clearly show that the inclusion of visuals enhances subjects' performance in listening tests. It is concluded that since the aim of English proficiency tests such as TOEFL iBT is to qualify or disqualify subjects to work and study in western English-speaking countries, the exclusion of visuals is unfounded. In actuality, most natural interaction includes visibility of the interlocutors involved, and hence test takers who sit purely audio proficiency tests in English or any other language are placed at a disadvantage.

EXTENSIVE LISTENING: LET STUDENTS EXPERIENCE LEARNING BY OPTIMIZING THE USE OF AUTHENTIC MATERIALS

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Yulia Hapsari

2014-10-01

Full Text Available In a country like Indonesia, one of challenges in learning English as a foreign language is a lack of exposure of English in its authentic sense. The use of authentic materials seems to be an option to cope with this situation. One of the ways to optimize the use of the authentic materials to trigger students to experience learning and to enhance their active involvement in the learning process is by using it in extensive listening activities. Through extensive listening by using authentic materials, students are exposed to real native speech in meaningful language use. As the result, difficulties in listening gradually disappear.  In order to put the idea into practice, the first thing to do is to set objectives of each meeting based on core vocabulary and grammar that are suitable for the learners using comprehensible input principle as the basic consideration. Second, selecting authentic materials that suit the objectives and that give exposure to formulaic language and meaningful language use. Then, preparing activities in which the instruction is reasonable and lead to sufficient practice to develop fluency. Finally, synchronize teaching activities to increase students’ motivation to learn. As a follow up activities, students are informed and eventually involved in the whole process. Thus, students experience learning and actively involved in their learning process.

Investigating the Role of Pop Songs on Vocabulary Recall, Attitude and Retention of Iranian EFL Learners: The Case of Gender

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Shakerian, Pouya; Rezaei, Omid; Murnani, Zeinab Toghyani; Moeinmanesh, Hamid

2016-01-01

Pop songs are, in fact, an ideal source for incidental vocabulary learning because teenagers often spend large amounts of their free time listening to music and in particular to pop songs. Employing an experimental approach, this study attempted to investigate the role of pop songs on vocabulary recall, attitude and retention of Iranian advanced…

Vocabulary by Gamification

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Kingsley, Tara L.; Grabner-Hagen, Melissa M.

2018-01-01

Gamification uses game elements such as quests, challenges, levels, and rewards to motivate and engage students in the classroom. Given the engagement that students feel during gameplay, it is sensible to include elements of game design to motivate students and create a space for comprehensive vocabulary instruction. Designing a gamified…

Online Independent Vocabulary Learning Experience of Hong Kong University Students

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Eunice Tang

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In response to the limited vocabulary size of its undergraduates, an independent vocabulary learning platform, VLearn was designed and launched in a university in Hong Kong. As an elearning environment that supports self-directed vocabulary learning of Chinese learners, the primary aim of VLearn is to equip users with appropriate knowledge and skills for vocabulary expansion. This paper introduces the contents of VLearn, and the theoretical underpinnings of its design. It also reports on the vocabulary learning experience of its users during an eight week evaluation study. Suggestions are made on how independent vocabulary building at higher education, as well as comprehensive vocabulary instruction at early years could be supported by means of technology.

The Effect of Transcribing on Elementary Iranian EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension

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Afsharrad, Mohammad; Nafchi, Asghar Moulavi

2015-01-01

This study is motivated by the gap existing between theory and practice in teaching listening. Most of the techniques used to teach listening put more emphasis on top-down processing while listeners' problems are more of perceptive ones (bottom-up). In order to address the pervasive decoding problem in listening, this study suggests using…

Evaluation of Listening Skill of ELT Textbook at Secondary School Level

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Mumtaz Ahmed

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Textbook evaluation means development of textbook that is based on rigorous research. In Pakistan text books are designed on communicative language teaching which focuses on communication. Morley (1991 has asserted that listening has a critical role in communication and in language acquisition because the better the students understand, the better they will be able to speak. In our text books, listening practices (text and activities are missing, and listening plays a secondary role as compared to speaking, as it is part of oral work that are dialogues and role play, neglecting that during conversation in English our students face hurdles in quick thinking and accurate predicting because of ignoring listening skill which help in learning sound, rhythm, intonation, pronunciation, vocabulary and grammatical details. The researchers’ intention here is to put different views on importance of listening skill and to evaluate English Text Books prescribed in Punjab government school whether they contain listening material, corresponding activities and related audio video material in text books. Keywords: Evaluation, listening skill, ELT, textbook, Punjab Textbook Board (PTB

Comparing dictionary-induced vocabulary learning and inferencing ...

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This research examines dictionary-induced vocabulary learning and inferencing in the context of reading. One hundred and four intermediate English learners completed one of two word-focused tasks: reading comprehension and dictionary consultation, and reading comprehen-sion and inferencing. In addition to ...

Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition from Stories: Second and Fourth Graders Learn More from Listening than Reading

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Suggate, Sebastian P.; Lenhard, Wolfgang; Neudecker, Elisabeth; Schneider, Wolfgang

2013-01-01

Both reading and language experiences contribute to vocabulary development, but questions remain as to what effect each has and when. This article investigates the effects that reading, telling and sharing a story have on vocabulary acquisition. Children (N = 37) were told nine stories in a randomized, single-blind and counterbalanced 2 × 3 mixed…

A Schematic Approach To Teaching Listening Comprehension 76

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Bilokcuoğlu, Hasan

2014-01-01

With recent developments in and studies of language teaching, the listening skill – once believed to be a passive skill - is today discovered to be an ‘interactive’ process in which the concept of background knowledge plays a very significant role. This background knowledge known as ‘schematic knowledge’ is today broadly acknowledged in second or foreign language teaching and a number of studies have been conducted to reveal the importance of schemata in both reading and listening comprehensi...

Difficulties that Students who Learn Turkish as a Foreign Language Encounter During Listening Skills

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Abdullah KALDIRIM

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Listening skills play an important role in an individual’s communication with others and in their understanding of the environment. Since it provides a basis for the acquisition of language skills it is one of the most important learning tools, and because it is frequently used in everyday life and in the learning process, listening skill is the foreground of foreign language teaching. It is important for students to understand what they listen to in order that they do not encounter any difficulties in the language learning process. To ensure success in the environments where the Turkish language is taught as a foreign language, it is necessary to follow the listening processes of the students attentively and to identify the problems they face during this process. This study aims to identify the listening barriers encountered by university students learning Turkish as a foreign language at level B2, and was designed based on a qualitative research approach and a phenomenological design. Within the scope of the study, eight students studying at Dumlupınar University’s TÖMER (Turkish & Foreign Languages Research and Application Center were identified as participants. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with students included in the sample, and descriptive analysis technique was applied in the analysis of the research data. Participants expressed views that they often encountered problems such as accented speech, frequent use of idioms and proverbs during listening, lack of vocabulary development, and lack of emphasis and voice intonation during speech. Also, factors that make listening easy to understand are identified as the other languages they speak, good vocabulary knowledge, interesting topics, listening to audiovisual elements, and the speaker’s use of gestures and mimics.

Auditory Perception, Suprasegmental Speech Processing, and Vocabulary Development in Chinese Preschoolers.

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Wang, Hsiao-Lan S; Chen, I-Chen; Chiang, Chun-Han; Lai, Ying-Hui; Tsao, Yu

2016-10-01

The current study examined the associations between basic auditory perception, speech prosodic processing, and vocabulary development in Chinese kindergartners, specifically, whether early basic auditory perception may be related to linguistic prosodic processing in Chinese Mandarin vocabulary acquisition. A series of language, auditory, and linguistic prosodic tests were given to 100 preschool children who had not yet learned how to read Chinese characters. The results suggested that lexical tone sensitivity and intonation production were significantly correlated with children's general vocabulary abilities. In particular, tone awareness was associated with comprehensive language development, whereas intonation production was associated with both comprehensive and expressive language development. Regression analyses revealed that tone sensitivity accounted for 36% of the unique variance in vocabulary development, whereas intonation production accounted for 6% of the variance in vocabulary development. Moreover, auditory frequency discrimination was significantly correlated with lexical tone sensitivity, syllable duration discrimination, and intonation production in Mandarin Chinese. Also it provided significant contributions to tone sensitivity and intonation production. Auditory frequency discrimination may indirectly affect early vocabulary development through Chinese speech prosody. © The Author(s) 2016.

Using Songs To Support Vocabulary Learning For Grade Four Pupils

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Rashid Al-Azri

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Over the recent years the teaching of foreign language vocabulary has been the subject of much discussion and arguments and a number of research and methodology books on such topic have emerged as it is the case for example with Nation 2001 and Schmitt 2000. For a long time grammar seemed to have attracted more attention but this renewed interest in vocabulary reflects the belief that it is becoming a major component in knowing a language and as some recent scholars would admit even more important than grammar already. In addition to the various strategies used to promote vocabulary learning in the classroom environment songs are widely being used nowadays as a powerful tool in teaching new vocabulary to early grades pupils. Throughout our teaching of young learners we have noticed that they are amazingly captured by songs and they always enjoy listening to them. This might be one of the main reasons why songs have now become one of the cornerstones in the demanding and challenging process of teaching children. The purpose of this research paper is to find out as to what extent and how the use of songs may support new vocabulary learning for grade four pupils in Oman and how much it actually helps these young learners in developing their vocabulary learning habits.

What Is the Influence of Morphological Knowledge in the Early Stages of Reading Acquisition Among Low SES Children? A Graphical Modeling Approach

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Pascale Colé

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Children from low-SES families are known to show delays in aspects of language development which underpin reading acquisition such as vocabulary and listening comprehension. Research on the development of morphological skills in this group is scarce, and no studies exist in French. The present study investigated the involvement of morphological knowledge in the very early stages of reading acquisition (decoding, before reading comprehension can be reliably assessed. We assessed listening comprehension, receptive vocabulary, phoneme awareness, morphological awareness as well as decoding, word reading and non-verbal IQ in 703 French first-graders from low-SES families after 3 months of formal schooling (November. Awareness of derivational morphology was assessed using three oral tasks: Relationship Judgment (e.g., do these words belong to the same family or not? heat-heater … ham-hammer; Lexical Sentence Completion [e.g., Someone who runs is a …? (runner]; and Non-lexical Sentence Completion [e.g., Someone who lums is a…? (lummer]. The tasks differ on implicit/explicit demands and also tap different kinds of morphological knowledge. The Judgement task measures the phonological and semantic properties of the morphological relationship and the Sentence Completion tasks measure knowledge of morphological production rules. Data were processed using a graphical modeling approach which offers key information about how skills known to be involved in learning to read are organized in memory. This modeling approach was therefore useful in revealing a potential network which expresses the conditional dependence structure between skills, after which recursive structural equation modeling was applied to test specific hypotheses. Six main conclusions can be drawn from these analyses about low SES reading acquisition: (1 listening comprehension is at the heart of the reading acquisition process; (2 word reading depends directly on phonemic awareness and

Early language processing efficiency predicts later receptive vocabulary outcomes in children born preterm.

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Marchman, Virginia A; Adams, Katherine A; Loi, Elizabeth C; Fernald, Anne; Feldman, Heidi M

2016-01-01

As rates of prematurity continue to rise, identifying which preterm children are at increased risk for learning disabilities is a public health imperative. Identifying continuities between early and later skills in this vulnerable population can also illuminate fundamental neuropsychological processes that support learning in all children. At 18 months adjusted age, we used socioeconomic status (SES), medical variables, parent-reported vocabulary, scores on the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (third edition) language composite, and children's lexical processing speed in the looking-while-listening (LWL) task as predictor variables in a sample of 30 preterm children. Receptive vocabulary as measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (fourth edition) at 36 months was the outcome. Receptive vocabulary was correlated with SES, but uncorrelated with degree of prematurity or a composite of medical risk. Importantly, lexical processing speed was the strongest predictor of receptive vocabulary (r = -.81), accounting for 30% unique variance. Individual differences in lexical processing efficiency may be able to serve as a marker for information processing skills that are critical for language learning.

The Advantage of Reading over Listening Text Comprehension in Down Syndrome: What Is the Role of Verbal Memory?

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Roch, Maja; Florit, Elena; Levorato, M. Chiara

2012-01-01

The current study was designed to investigate the role played by verbal memory in the advantage shown by individuals with Down syndrome in reading over listening text comprehension (Roch & Levorato, 2009). Two different aspects of verbal memory were analyzed: processing load and coding modality. Participants were 20 individuals with Down syndrome,…

Do infant vocabulary skills predict school-age language and literacy outcomes?

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Duff, Fiona J; Reen, Gurpreet; Plunkett, Kim; Nation, Kate

2015-01-01

Background Strong associations between infant vocabulary and school-age language and literacy skills would have important practical and theoretical implications: Preschool assessment of vocabulary skills could be used to identify children at risk of reading and language difficulties, and vocabulary could be viewed as a cognitive foundation for reading. However, evidence to date suggests predictive ability from infant vocabulary to later language and literacy is low. This study provides an investigation into, and interpretation of, the magnitude of such infant to school-age relationships. Methods Three hundred British infants whose vocabularies were assessed by parent report in the 2nd year of life (between 16 and 24 months) were followed up on average 5 years later (ages ranged from 4 to 9 years), when their vocabulary, phonological and reading skills were measured. Results Structural equation modelling of age-regressed scores was used to assess the strength of longitudinal relationships. Infant vocabulary (a latent factor of receptive and expressive vocabulary) was a statistically significant predictor of later vocabulary, phonological awareness, reading accuracy and reading comprehension (accounting for between 4% and 18% of variance). Family risk for language or literacy difficulties explained additional variance in reading (approximately 10%) but not language outcomes. Conclusions Significant longitudinal relationships between preliteracy vocabulary knowledge and subsequent reading support the theory that vocabulary is a cognitive foundation of both reading accuracy and reading comprehension. Importantly however, the stability of vocabulary skills from infancy to later childhood is too low to be sufficiently predictive of language outcomes at an individual level – a finding that fits well with the observation that the majority of ‘late talkers’ resolve their early language difficulties. For reading outcomes, prediction of future difficulties is likely to

Examining Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition by Person-and Item-Level Factors in Secondary Students

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Cooper, Jennifer LeeAnn

2016-01-01

Vocabulary knowledge is central to the process of reading comprehension (Cromely & Azevedo, 2007; Stahl & Nagy, 2005; Stanovich, 1986). The majority of our vocabulary knowledge is postulated to come from the process of incidental vocabulary acquisition (IVA) while reading (Nagy & Anderson, 1984). Prior studies have estimated an average…

Relationship among Iranian EFL Students' Foreign Language Anxiety, Foreign Language Listening Anxiety and Their Listening Comprehension

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Serraj, Samaneh; Noordin, Noreen Bt.

2013-01-01

Anxiety is an influential factor in a foreign language learning domain and plays a crucial role in language learners' performance. The following study was conducted to explore the possible impact of Foreign Language Anxiety and Foreign Language Listening Anxiety on language learners' listening skill. The researcher was interested to know the…

Pre-Learning Low-Frequency Vocabulary in Second Language Television Programmes

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Webb, Stuart

2010-01-01

This study investigated the potential of pre-learning frequently occurring low-frequency vocabulary as a means to increase comprehension of television and incidental vocabulary learning through watching television. Eight television programmes, each representing different television genres, were analysed using the RANGE program to determine the 10…

The Comparative Effects of Comprehensible Input, Output and Corrective Feedback on the Receptive Acquisition of L2 Vocabulary Items

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Mohammad Nowbakht

2015-08-01

Full Text Available In the present study, the comparative effects of comprehensible input, output and corrective feedback on the receptive acquisition of L2 vocabulary items were investigated. Two groups of beginning EFL learners participated in the study. The control group received comprehensible input only, while the experimental group received input and was required to produce written output. They also received corrective feedback on their lexical errors if any. This could result in the production of modified output. The results of the study indicated that (a the group which produced output and received feedback (if necessary outperformed the group which only received input in the post-test, (b within the experimental group, feedback played a greater role in learners’ better performance than output, (c also a positive correlation between the amount of feedback an individual learner received, and his overall performance in the post-test; and also between the amount of feedback given for a specific word and the correct responses given to its related item in the post-test was found.  The findings of this study provide evidence for the role of output production along with receiving corrective feedback in enhancing L2 processing by drawing further L2 learners’ attention to their output which in turn may result in improving their receptive acquisition of L2 words. Furthermore, as the results suggested, feedback made a more contribution to L2 development than output. Keywords: comprehensible input, output, interaction, corrective feedback, modified output, receptive vocabulary acquisition

The Predictor Factor of Reading Comprehension Performance in English as a Foreign Language: Breadth or Depth

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Shima Kameli

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The present study explored the association among vocabulary breadth/size, depth/quality of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension in English as a foreign language. The main intention of this research was to  explore the association of vocabulary knowledge depth/quality and reading comprehension performance. This study was also intended to find out which aspects of vocabulary knowledge, breadth/size or depth/quality, has more significant association with determining EFL learners’ reading comprehension performance. The Vocabulary Level Test (VLT, Word Associates Test (WAT, and Reading Comprehension test (IELTS have been administered among all the respondents. The participants were 220 adult male and female EFL learners who were learning English in advanced level in BAHAR institute, Shiraz, Iran. The findings revealed that 1 test  scores on vocabulary size/ breadth, depth/ quality of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension were  positively correlated, 2 vocabulary size/ breadth was a stronger predictor of reading comprehension than depth/ Quality of vocabulary knowledge.

Is Less More? Effectiveness and Perceived Usefulness of Keyword and Full Captioned Video for L2 Listening Comprehension

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Montero Perez, Maribel; Peters, Elke; Desmet, Piet

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was twofold: we investigated (a) the effect of two types of captioned video (i.e., on-screen text in the same language as the video) on listening comprehension; (b) L2 learners' perception of the usefulness of captions while watching L2 video. The participants, 226 university-level students from a Flemish university, watched…

DEVELOPING LISTENING SKILLS FOR IMPROVING FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

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Iryna Lobachova

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the problem of developing listening skills for improving foreign language communicative competence. The practical value of using an authentic foreign language text at a foreign language lesson is determined. The ways of the use of the English language recordings in the educational process of students are outlined. It is found out that tracks with foreign information should be used only in the certain methodical situations. Multimedia helps effectively a teacher to achieve outlined objectives of improving foreign language communicative competence for multiple repetition of a speech model for making permanent listening item of language units. The basic stages of work with foreign language recordings are determined: teaching a foreign language listening (teaching to listen and understand the foreign language track means to overcome the methodological difficulties that require a certain amount of time and special training. This is explained by the fact that there are lots of difficulties on the way of understanding a foreign language: an unusual speed of speech, presence of unknown vocabulary, specific rhythms and melody; teaching a foreign language speech with the special models pronounced by foreign speakers (teaching students to practical mastery of a foreign language is intrinsically linked with involvement into the educational process of original English tracks, those are made by highly skilled experts (foreign speakers; learning a new vocabulary due to a dialogue, an extract of a play or a conversation, songs, prose and poetry (it is noted that the students’ interest of learning foreign language songs and poems is extremely high, and it primarily promotes strong learning; analysing the recorded students’ speech (fixing student’s speech and analysing their mistakes is very important at any stage of learning a foreign language for self-control and self-correction.

Motivate Students to Engage in Word Study Using Vocabulary Games

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Wells, Jenny C.; Narkon, Drue E.

2011-01-01

Vocabulary instruction across the content areas aids reading comprehension, making it time well spent in the classroom. Although students with learning disabilities (LD) need many practice opportunities to learn new words, engaging them in vocabulary instruction may prove challenging. Due to their past difficulties in acquiring reading skills,…

Predicting Expressive Vocabulary Acquisition in Children with Intellectual Disabilities: A 2-Year Longitudinal Study

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Vandereet, Joke; Maes, Bea; Lembrechts, Dirk; Zink, Inge

2010-01-01

Purpose: This study's objectives were to describe expressive vocabulary acquisition in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) and to examine specific pre- and early linguistic behaviors used to request and comment, chronological age, cognitive skills, and vocabulary comprehension as predictors of expressive vocabulary. Method: This study…

Vocabulary Acquisition in L2: Does CALL Really Help?

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Averianova, Irina

2015-01-01

Language competence in various communicative activities in L2 largely depends on the learners' size of vocabulary. The target vocabulary of adult L2 learners should be between 2,000 high frequency words (a critical threshold) and 10,000 word families (for comprehension of university texts). For a TOEIC test, the threshold is estimated to be…

The Effect of Different Modes of English Captioning on EFL Learners' General Listening Comprehension: Full Text vs. Keyword Captions

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Behroozizad, Sorayya; Majidi, Sudabeh

2015-01-01

This study investigated the effect of different modes of English captioning on EFL learners' general listening comprehension. To this end, forty-five intermediate-level learners were selected based on their scores on a standardized English proficiency test (PET) to carry out the study. Then, the selected participants were randomly assigned into…

ASSESSING LISTENING IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

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Kristanti Ayuanita

2013-05-01

Full Text Available The importance of listening in language learning can hardly be overestimated. In classrooms, students always do more listening than speaking. Listening competence is universally “larger” than other competence. Listening is not a oneway street. It is not merely the process of a unidirectional receiving of audible symbols one facet – the first step – 0f listening comprehension is the psychomotor process of receiving sound waves through the ear and transmitting nerve impulses to the brain. Every classroom lesson involves some form of assessment, whether it is in the form of informal, unplanned, and intuitive teacher processing and feedback, or in formal, prepared, scored tests.

The Impact of Authentic Listening Materials on Elementary EFL Learners’ Listening Skills

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Masoud Khalili Sabet

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Listening is one of the most pivotal skills, though; it is unjustly neglected throughout the literature. It was previously considered as passive skill but now those myths have been demystified. Therefore seeking the innovative trends for teaching and developing listening for EFL students are taken for granted. Lack of adequate exposure to listening and dearth of attention with regard to these issues sets the ground for authentic listening materials to fill the cited gaps in Iranian context. There have been controversial ideas based on studies in dealing with authentic listening materials. Their results ranged from totally abstinence to completely utilizing. This study intends to investigate the impact of authentic listening materials on listening skills of Elementary students at university level. To this aim, sixty students of university were randomly assigned to two groups. One group   was exposed to and received authentic listening materials (experimental group and the other groups received simplified listening materials (control group. A proficiency test (consisted of two sub-tests; listening comprehension and listening perception was used as a pretest to measure the students’ potential differences at outset of study. After the instruction sessions the same proficiency test was administered for both groups. Besides students feedback survey was given to experimental group to evaluate their attitudes and opinions regarding the materials. Analysis of quantitative study and comparing the mean scores of two groups via t-test showed that students who were exposed to authentic materials performed better in posttest. The analysis of feedback survey also denoted their satisfaction and positive attitudes to authentic listening materials.

Analyse Factorielle d'une Batterie de Tests de Comprehension Orale et Ecrite (Factor Analysis of a Battery of Tests of Listening and Reading Comprehension). Melanges Pedagogiques, 1971.

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Lonchamp, F.

This is a presentation of the results of a factor analysis of a battery of tests intended to measure listening and reading comprehension in English as a second language. The analysis sought to answer the following questions: (1) whether the factor analysis method yields results when applied to tests which are not specifically designed for this…

Psychometric Evaluation and Discussions of English Language Learners' Listening Comprehension

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Seo, Daeryong; Taherbhai, Husein; Frantz, Roger

2016-01-01

The importance of listening in the context of English language acquisition is gaining acceptance, but its unique attributes in language performance, while substantively and qualitatively justifiable, are generally not psychometrically defined. This article psychometrically supports listening as a distinct domain among the three other domains of…

Holiday or vacation? The processing of variation in vocabulary across dialects

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Martin, Clara D.; Garcia, Xabier; Potter, Douglas; Melinger, Alissa; Costa, ALbert

2016-01-01

Published online: 20 Oct 2015 Native speakers with different linguistic backgrounds differ in their usage of language, and particularly in their vocabulary. For instance, British natives would use the word "holiday" when American natives would prefer the word "vacation". This study investigates how cross-dialectal lexical variation impacts lexical processing. Electrophysiological responses were recorded, while British natives listened to British or American speech in which lexi...

Effect of education on listening comprehension of sentences on healthy elderly: analysis of number of correct responses and task execution time.

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Silagi, Marcela Lima; Rabelo, Camila Maia; Schochat, Eliane; Mansur, Letícia Lessa

2017-11-13

To analyze the effect of education on sentence listening comprehension on cognitively healthy elderly. A total of 111 healthy elderly, aged 60-80 years of both genders were divided into two groups according to educational level: low education (0-8 years of formal education) and high education (≥9 years of formal education). The participants were assessed using the Revised Token Test, an instrument that supports the evaluation of auditory comprehension of orders with different working memory and syntactic complexity demands. The indicators used for performance analysis were the number of correct responses (accuracy analysis) and task execution time (temporal analysis) in the different blocks. The low educated group had a lower number of correct responses than the high educated group on all blocks of the test. In the temporal analysis, participants with low education had longer execution time for commands on the first four blocks related to working memory. However, the two groups had similar execution time for blocks more related to syntactic comprehension. Education influenced sentence listening comprehension on elderly. Temporal analysis allowed to infer over the relationship between comprehension and other cognitive abilities, and to observe that the low educated elderly did not use effective compensation strategies to improve their performances on the task. Therefore, low educational level, associated with aging, may potentialize the risks for language decline.

Dynamic Assessment or Schema Theory: The Case of Listening Comprehension

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Farangi, Mohamad Reza; Kheradmand Saadi, Zahra

2017-01-01

Not only is listening considered as an active skill nowadays, but also different approaches are suggested to incorporate it effectively into language classrooms. Our purpose, here, is to compare two approaches claiming to be effective in enhancing EFL learners' listening capabilities including schema theory and dynamic assessment. Through a…

Do infant vocabulary skills predict school-age language and literacy outcomes?

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Duff, Fiona J; Reen, Gurpreet; Plunkett, Kim; Nation, Kate

2015-08-01

Strong associations between infant vocabulary and school-age language and literacy skills would have important practical and theoretical implications: Preschool assessment of vocabulary skills could be used to identify children at risk of reading and language difficulties, and vocabulary could be viewed as a cognitive foundation for reading. However, evidence to date suggests predictive ability from infant vocabulary to later language and literacy is low. This study provides an investigation into, and interpretation of, the magnitude of such infant to school-age relationships. Three hundred British infants whose vocabularies were assessed by parent report in the 2nd year of life (between 16 and 24 months) were followed up on average 5 years later (ages ranged from 4 to 9 years), when their vocabulary, phonological and reading skills were measured. Structural equation modelling of age-regressed scores was used to assess the strength of longitudinal relationships. Infant vocabulary (a latent factor of receptive and expressive vocabulary) was a statistically significant predictor of later vocabulary, phonological awareness, reading accuracy and reading comprehension (accounting for between 4% and 18% of variance). Family risk for language or literacy difficulties explained additional variance in reading (approximately 10%) but not language outcomes. Significant longitudinal relationships between preliteracy vocabulary knowledge and subsequent reading support the theory that vocabulary is a cognitive foundation of both reading accuracy and reading comprehension. Importantly however, the stability of vocabulary skills from infancy to later childhood is too low to be sufficiently predictive of language outcomes at an individual level - a finding that fits well with the observation that the majority of 'late talkers' resolve their early language difficulties. For reading outcomes, prediction of future difficulties is likely to be improved when considering family

Cognitive Load and Listening Effort: Concepts and Age-Related Considerations.

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Lemke, Ulrike; Besser, Jana

2016-01-01

Listening effort has been recognized as an important dimension of everyday listening, especially with regard to the comprehension of spoken language. At constant levels of comprehension performance, the level of effort exerted and perceived during listening can differ considerably across listeners and situations. In this article, listening effort is used as an umbrella term for two different types of effort that can arise during listening. One of these types is processing effort, which is used to denote the utilization of "extra" mental processing resources in listening conditions that are adverse for an individual. A conceptual description is introduced how processing effort could be defined in terms of situational influences, the listener's auditory and cognitive resources, and the listener's personal state. Also, the proposed relationship between processing effort and subjectively perceived listening effort is discussed. Notably, previous research has shown that the availability of mental resources, as well as the ability to use them efficiently, changes over the course of adult aging. These common age-related changes in cognitive abilities and their neurocognitive organization are discussed in the context of the presented concept, especially regarding situations in which listening effort may be increased for older people.

Could a multimodal dictionary serve as a learning tool? An examination of the impact of technologically enhanced visual glosses on L2 text comprehension

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Takeshi Sato

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This study examines the efficacy of a multimodal online bilingual dictionary based on cognitive linguistics in order to explore the advantages and limitations of explicit multimodal L2 vocabulary learning. Previous studies have examined the efficacy of the verbal and visual representation of words while reading L2 texts, concluding that it facilitates incidental word retention. This study explores other potentials of multimodal L2 vocabulary learning: explicit learning with a multimodal dictionary could enhance not only word retention, but also text comprehension; the dictionary could serve not only as a reference tool, but also as a learning tool; and technology-enhanced visual glosses could facilitate deeper text comprehension. To verify these claims, this study investigates the multimodal representations’ effects on Japanese students learning L2 locative prepositions by developing two online dictionaries, one with static pictures and one with animations. The findings show the advantage of such dictionaries in explicit learning; however, no significant differences are found between the two types of visual glosses, either in the vocabulary or in the listening tests. This study confirms the effectiveness of multimodal L2 materials, but also emphasizes the need for further research into making the technologically enhanced materials more effective.

The Role of Word Recognition, Oral Reading Fluency and Listening Comprehension in the Simple View of Reading: A Study in an Intermediate Depth Orthography

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Cadime, Irene; Rodrigues, Bruna; Santos, Sandra; Viana, Fernanda Leopoldina; Chaves-Sousa, Séli; do Céu Cosme, Maria; Ribeiro, Iolanda

2017-01-01

Empirical research has provided evidence for the simple view of reading across a variety of orthographies, but the role of oral reading fluency in the model is unclear. Moreover, the relative weight of listening comprehension, oral reading fluency and word recognition in reading comprehension seems to vary across orthographies and schooling years.…

Effect of explicit teaching of prosodic features on the development of listening comprehension by Farsi-English interpreter trainees : An experimental study

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Yenkimaleki, M.; Vincent, van Heuven J.

2016-01-01

This study investigates the effect of explicit teaching of prosodic features on developing listening comprehension by interpreter trainees. Two groups of student interpreters were formed. All were native speakers of Farsi who studied English translation and interpreting at the BA level at the State

THE VOCABULARY TEACHING AND VOCABULARY LEARNING: PERCEPTION, STRATEGIES, AND INFLUENCES ON STUDENTS' VOCABULARY MASTERY

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Dewi Nur Asyiah

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Vocabulary plays pivotal role in foreign language learning. However, vocabulary teaching and vocabulary learning in TEFL seems to be neglected. The study was aimed to investigate how vocabulary teaching and learning are perceived by teacher and students, strategies to teach and learn the vocabulary, and also influences of students’ vocabulary learning strategy on their vocabulary mastery. Accordingly, a mix method design was employed to one English teacher and 30 junior high school students to reveal the issues being investigated. The findings showed that both teacher and students have positive response on vocabulary teaching and learning. Concerning strategies, it was found that teacher mostly employed Fully-contextual strategy, meanwhile Determination and Metacognitive strategy were found as the most favored VLS chosen by students. The study also confirmed that there is a significant relationship between students’ vocabulary learning strategy and their vocabulary mastery (r-value Discovery = .023 and r-value Consolidating = .000, p<.05. It is recommended for EFL teachers to give a bigger portion to vocabulary in the EFL teaching and to teach vocabulary using the combination of fully-contextual and de-contextual strategy. It is also suggested to introduce students to various kinds of vocabulary learning strategies.  

The Effect of Mnemonic and Mapping Techniques on L2 Vocabulary Learning

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Abbas Ali Zarei

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The present study investigated the effects of selected presentation techniques including the keyword method, the peg word method, the loci method, argument mapping, concept mapping and mind mapping on L2 vocabulary comprehension and production. To this end, a sample of 151 Iranian female students from a public pre-university school in Islam Shahr was selected. They were assigned to six groups. Each group was randomly assigned to one of the afore-mentioned treatment conditions. After the experimental period, two post-tests in multiple choice and fill-in-the-blanks formats were administered to assess the participants’ vocabulary comprehension and production. Two independent One-Way ANOVA procedures were used to analyze the obtained data. The results showed that the differences among the effects of the above-mentioned techniques were statistically significant in both vocabulary comprehension and production. These findings can have implications for learners, teachers, and materials’ developers.

THE COMPARISON OF USING SNAKE LADDERS AND SCRABBLE MEDIA TOWARDS VOCABULARY MASTERY OF STUDENTS

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Eka Pra Setiawati

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Vocabulary is an essential component in learning English. It influences four English skills; they are listening, speaking, reading, and writing, for getting a good result in English. In teaching learning process, the teacher often implements the less interesting method, technique, or even media of vocabulary mastery in teaching and learning process which make the students to be bored, inactive, an uniterested in memorizing English vocabulary. Some media can be interested as the solutions in vocabulary mastery, they are Snake Ladders media and Scrabble media. The investigation was undergone by quantitative research. The researcher applied experimental research. This research underwent pre-test post-test control group design. To analyze data, t-test formula is used to measure the result of collected data. From the t-test measurement, it showed that t-test is 3.15 and t-table is 2.66. It means that t-hit > t-table. Based on the collected data, there is different result of using Snake Ladders from Scrabble media toward students’ vocabulary mastery. It was found that the students who are taught by using Snake Ladders resulted significant outcome than those are instructed by Scrabble media. It means that Snake Ladders is effective to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery.

Incorporating Vocabulary Instruction in Individual Reading Fluency Interventions with English Language Learners

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Johnston, Lauren E.; Mercer, Sterett H.; Geres-Smith, Rhonda

2018-01-01

The purpose of this preliminary study was to determine whether incorporating vocabulary instruction in individual reading fluency interventions for English Language Learners (ELLs) would improve reading comprehension. Two vocabulary instructional procedures were contrasted with a fluency-building only condition in an alternating-treatments design…

Validation of an Academic Listening Test: Effects of "Breakdown" Tests and Test Takers' Cognitive Awareness of Listening Processes

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Chi, Youngshin

2011-01-01

This study investigated the breakdown effect of a listening comprehension test, whether test takers are affected in comprehending lectures by impediments, and collected test takers' cognitive awareness on test tasks which contain listening breakdown factors how they perceived these impediments. In this context of the study, a "Breakdown" is a test…

[Japanese learners' processing time for reading English relative clauses analyzed in relation to their English listening proficiency].

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Oyama, Yoshinori

2011-06-01

The present study examined Japanese university students' processing time for English subject and object relative clauses in relation to their English listening proficiency. In Analysis 1, the relation between English listening proficiency and reading span test scores was analyzed. The results showed that the high and low listening comprehension groups' reading span test scores do not differ. Analysis 2 investigated English listening proficiency and processing time for sentences with subject and object relative clauses. The results showed that reading the relative clause ending and the main verb section of a sentence with an object relative clause (such as "attacked" and "admitted" in the sentence "The reporter that the senator attacked admitted the error") takes less time for learners with high English listening scores than for learners with low English listening scores. In Analysis 3, English listening proficiency and comprehension accuracy for sentences with subject and object relative clauses were examined. The results showed no significant difference in comprehension accuracy between the high and low listening-comprehension groups. These results indicate that processing time for English relative clauses is related to the cognitive processes involved in listening comprehension, which requires immediate processing of syntactically complex audio information.

The Language of Mathematics: The Importance of Teaching and Learning Mathematical Vocabulary

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Riccomini, Paul J.; Smith, Gregory W.; Hughes, Elizabeth M.; Fries, Karen M.

2015-01-01

Vocabulary understanding is a major contributor to overall comprehension in many content areas, including mathematics. Effective methods for teaching vocabulary in all content areas are diverse and long standing. Teaching and learning the language of mathematics is vital for the development of mathematical proficiency. Students' mathematical…

How Does the Keyword Method Affect Vocabulary Comprehension and Usage? Report from the project on Studies in Language: Reading and Communication. Working Paper No. 278.

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Pressley, Michael; And Others

Four experiments were conducted to determine how the keyword method of vocabulary instruction affects both subjects' comprehension of words encountered in sentences (experiments 1 and 2), and their ability to use words in appropriate sentences (experiments 3 and 4). In the first two experiments, college students were presented sentences containing…

The Effect of Implementing the Experiential Learning Model in Listening Comprehension for the Eleventh Graders at SMAN 1 Telaga Biru

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Tahir, Ismail

2017-01-01

This study is aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the experiential learning in listening comprehension with the focus on the implementation of the class story using language experience at SMAN 1 Telaga Biru. As the pre-experimental research, this study involved one class consisted of 27 students in the eleventh graders. However, most of the…

Syntactic and Lexical Complexity of B2 Listening Comprehension Subtests in English: A Comparative Study

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Ilc Gašper

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Adopting Weir’s (2005 socio-cognitive validation framework, the present paper focuses on the syntactic and lexical complexity of listening comprehension subtests in three B2-level examinations: The City Guilds international examination in English, The First Certificate in English, and the General Matura in English. By analysing and interpreting the results obtained from different automated tools, the research aims to determine to what extent the three subtests are comparable. The results of the study suggest the unreliability of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR as a sole mechanism for test comparisons.

Working memory predicts semantic comprehension in dichotic listening in older adults.

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James, Philip J; Krishnan, Saloni; Aydelott, Jennifer

2014-10-01

Older adults have difficulty understanding spoken language in the presence of competing voices. Everyday social situations involving multiple simultaneous talkers may become increasingly challenging in later life due to changes in the ability to focus attention. This study examined whether individual differences in cognitive function predict older adults' ability to access sentence-level meanings in competing speech using a dichotic priming paradigm. Older listeners showed faster responses to words that matched the meaning of spoken sentences presented to the left or right ear, relative to a neutral baseline. However, older adults were more vulnerable than younger adults to interference from competing speech when the competing signal was presented to the right ear. This pattern of performance was strongly correlated with a non-auditory working memory measure, suggesting that cognitive factors play a key role in semantic comprehension in competing speech in healthy aging. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Second and foreign language listening: unraveling the construct.

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Tafaghodtari, Marzieh H; Vandergrift, Larry

2008-08-01

Identifying the variables which contribute to second and foreign language (L2) listening ability can provide a better understanding of the listening construct. This study explored the degree to which first language (L1) listening ability, L2 proficiency, motivation and metacognition contribute to L2 listening comprehension. 115 Persian-speaking English as a Foreign Language (EFL) university students completed a motivation questionnaire, the Language Learning Motivation Orientation Scale, a listening questionnaire, the Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire, and an English-language proficiency measure, as well as listening tests in English and Persian. Scores from all measures were subjected to descriptive, inferential, and correlational analyses. The results support the hypothesis that variability in L2 listening cannot be explained by either L2 proficiency or L1 listening ability; rather, a cluster of variables including L2 proficiency, L1 listening ability, metacognitive knowledge and motivation orientations can better explain variability in L2 listening ability.

The Effects of Cultural Familiarity and Question Preview Type on the Listening Comprehension of L2 Learners at the Secondary Level

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Li, Chen-Hong; Chen, Cai-Jun; Wu, Meng-Jie; Kuo, Ya-Chu; Tseng, Yun-Ting; Tsai, Shi-Yi; Shih, Hung-Chun

2017-01-01

We examined the effect of cultural familiarity and question-preview types on the listening comprehension of L2 learners. The results showed that the participants who received the full question-preview format scored higher than those receiving either the answer-option preview or question-stem preview, despite a statistically nonsignificant…

Strengthening Academic Vocabulary with Word Generation® Helps Sixth-Grade Students Improve Reading Comprehension

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Mokhtari, Kouider; Velten, Justin

2015-01-01

In this quasi-experimental study, we assessed the promise of Word Generation, a research-based academic vocabulary program, on improving the reading achievement outcomes of struggling sixth-grade readers in an after-school small group instructional setting. After 34 hours of academic vocabulary instruction, we compared the performance of a…

Modulation of cortical activity during comprehension of familiar and unfamiliar text topics in speed reading and speed listening.

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Buchweitz, Augusto; Mason, Robert A; Meschyan, Gayane; Keller, Timothy A; Just, Marcel Adam

2014-12-01

Brain activation associated with normal and speeded comprehension of expository texts on familiar and unfamiliar topics was investigated in reading and listening. The goal was to determine how brain activation and the comprehension processes it reflects are modulated by comprehension speed and topic familiarity. Passages on more familiar topics differentially activated a set of areas in the anterior temporal lobe and medial frontal gyrus, areas often associated with text-level integration processes, which we interpret to reflect integration of previous knowledge with the passage content. Passages presented at the faster presentation resulted in more activation of a network of frontal areas associated with strategic and working-memory processes (as well as visual or auditory sensory-related regions), which we interpret to reflect maintenance of local coherence among briefly available passage segments. The implications of this research is that the brain system for text comprehension adapts to varying perceptual and knowledge conditions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Vocabulary Growth and Reading Development across the Elementary School Years [Introduction to Special Issue

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Verhoeven, L.T.W.; Leeuwe, J.F.J. van; Vermeer, A.R.

2011-01-01

The associations between vocabulary growth and reading development were examined longitudinally for a representative sample of Dutch children throughout the elementary school period. Data on basic and advanced vocabulary, word decoding, and reading comprehension were collected across the different

Mechanisms underlying syntactic comprehension deficits in vascular aphasia: new evidence from self-paced listening.

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Caplan, David; Michaud, Jennifer; Hufford, Rebecca

2015-01-01

Sixty-one people with aphasia (pwa) and 41 matched controls were tested for the ability to understand sentences that required the ability to process particular syntactic elements and assign particular syntactic structures. Participants paced themselves word-by-word through 20 examples of 11 spoken sentence types and indicated which of two pictures corresponded to the meaning of each sentence. Sentences were developed in pairs such that comprehension of the experimental version of a pair required an aspect of syntactic processing not required in the corresponding baseline sentence. The need for the syntactic operations required only in the experimental version was triggered at a "critical word" in the experimental sentence. Listening times for critical words in experimental sentences were compared to those for corresponding words in the corresponding baseline sentences. The results were consistent with several models of syntactic comprehension deficits in pwa: resource reduction, slowed lexical and/or syntactic processing, abnormal susceptibility to interference from thematic roles generated non-syntactically. They suggest that a previously unidentified disturbance limiting the duration of parsing and interpretation may lead to these deficits, and that this mechanism may lead to structure-specific deficits in pwa. The results thus point to more than one mechanism underlying syntactic comprehension disorders both across and within pwa.

Kelime Hazinesinin Zihinsel Boyutu

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Mehmet Kurudayıoğlu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Bir kişinin, topluluğun ya da bütün bir dilin sahip olduğu söz ya da kelimeler bütünü olarak tanımlanan kelime hazinesine söz varlığı da denilmektedir. İnsanların Vocabulary, which is defined as the entire collection of words a person, a community, or a language has, is also referred to as lexicon. When vocabulary that individuals possess is discussed, the personal dictionaries they have in their minds are referred to. Briefly stated, the term vocabulary is the mental dictionary of the human brain. Mind, which is the mechanism that is responsible for human behavior, enables the complex processes at work in our brain for the language skills of reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills to function in a harmonious manner. Vocabulary is classified into two groups in terms of language skills related to comprehension and production as receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary. Receptive vocabulary refers to the part of the lexicon used by individuals in the comprehension process as they are engaged in reading and listening while productive vocabulary refers to the part individuals make use of in the production process in speaking and writing activities. This qualitative study which is based on document analysis aims to dwell on the mental dimension of vocabulary and to describe the relationship of the vocabulary to memory within that context.

Examining continuity of early expressive vocabulary development: the generation R study.

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Henrichs, Jens; Rescorla, Leslie; Schenk, Jacqueline J; Schmidt, Henk G; Jaddoe, Vincent W V; Hofman, Albert; Raat, Hein; Verhulst, Frank C; Tiemeier, Henning

2011-06-01

The authors investigated continuity and discontinuity of vocabulary skills in a population-based cohort in the Netherlands. Mothers of 3,759 children completed the Dutch version of the MacArthur Short Form Vocabulary Checklist (Zink & Lejaegere, 2003) at 18 months and a Dutch translation of the Language Development Survey (Rescorla, 1989) at 30 months. At both ages, expressive vocabulary delay was defined as vocabulary scores vocabulary development at both ages, 6.2% were "late bloomers," 6.0% had late onset expressive vocabulary delay, and 2.6% had persistent expressive vocabulary delay. Word production and comprehension at 18 months explained 11.5% of the variance in 30-month vocabulary scores, with low birth weight, child age, gender and ethnicity, maternal age and education, and parenting stress explaining an additional 6.2%. Multinomial logistic regression was used to identify biological, demographic, and psychological factors associated with each of the vocabulary delay outcome groups relative to the typically developing group. Although multiple perinatal, demographic, and maternal psychosocial factors significantly predicted vocabulary skills at 30 months, positive predictive value and sensitivity were low. Future studies should address to what extent additional factors, such as brain maturation and genetic influences, can improve the prediction and understanding of continuity and discontinuity of language delay.

Cross-Language Associations in the Development of Preschoolers' Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary.

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Maier, Michelle F; Bohlmann, Natalie L; Palacios, Natalia A

The increasing population of dual language learners (DLLs) entering preschool classrooms highlights a continued need for research on the development of dual language acquisition, and specifically vocabulary skills, in this age group. This study describes young DLL children's ( N = 177) vocabulary development in both English and Spanish simultaneously, and how vocabulary skills in each language relate to one another, during a contextual shift that places greater emphasis on the acquisition of academic English language skills. Findings demonstrated that DLL preschoolers made gains in vocabulary in both languages with more change evidenced in receptive, in comparison to expressive, vocabulary as well as in English in comparison to Spanish. When examining whether children's vocabulary scores in one language at the beginning of preschool interact with their vocabulary scores in the other language to predict vocabulary growth, no significant associations were found for receptive vocabulary. In contrast, the interaction between initial English and Spanish expressive vocabulary scores was negatively related to growth in English expressive vocabulary. This cross-language association suggests that children who have low expressive vocabulary skills in both languages tend to grow faster in their English expressive vocabulary. The study extends previous work on dual language development by examining growth in expressive and receptive vocabulary in both English and Spanish. It also provides suggestions for future work to inform a more comprehensive understanding of DLL children's development in both languages.

Facilitating Second Language Learners' Listening Comprehension with Second Life and Skype

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Levak, Natasha; Son, Jeong-Bae

2017-01-01

Learning how to comprehend while listening to a second language is often considered by learners to be a difficult process that can lead to anxiety when trying to communicate (Graham, 2006; Graham & Macaro, 2008). Computer-mediated communication (CMC) can be used to assist in increasing access to native speakers and opportunities to listen.…

Teacher’s Voice on Metacognitive Strategy Based Instruction Using Audio Visual Aids for Listening

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Salasiah Salasiah

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The paper primarily stresses on exploring the teacher’s voice toward the application of metacognitive strategy with audio-visual aid in improving listening comprehension. The metacognitive strategy model applied in the study was inspired from Vandergrift and Tafaghodtari (2010 instructional model. Thus it is modified in the procedure and applied with audio-visual aids for improving listening comprehension. The study’s setting was at SMA Negeri 2 Parepare, South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. The population of the research was the teacher of English at tenth grade at SMAN 2. The sample was taken by using random sampling technique. The data was collected by using in depth interview during the research, recorded, and analyzed using qualitative analysis. This study explored the teacher’s response toward the modified model of metacognitive strategy with audio visual aids in class of listening which covers positive and negative response toward the strategy applied during the teaching of listening. The result of data showed that this strategy helped the teacher a lot in teaching listening comprehension as the procedure has systematic steps toward students’ listening comprehension. Also, it eases the teacher to teach listening by empowering audio visual aids such as video taken from youtube.

What does the CBM-maze test measure?

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Muijselaar, M.M.L.; Kendeou, P.; de Jong, P.F.; van den Broek, P.W.

2017-01-01

In this study, we identified the code-related (decoding, fluency) and language comprehension (vocabulary, listening comprehension) demands of the CBM-Maze test, a formative assessment, and compared them to those of the Gates–MacGinitie test, a standardized summative assessment. The demands of these

The Effects of Genre-based Instruction on Iranian EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension

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Hossein ali Manzouri

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This study aims at uncovering the effect(s of genre-based instruction (GBI on listening proficiency among Iranian EFL learners. Moreover, it seeks to explore the relationship between effectiveness of GBI and listening proficiency. For this purpose, 68 EFL learners in two different groups at Zabol University were selected. Group A included 30 participants (12 males and 18 females, and Group B consisted of 36 participants (16 males, and 22 females. Group A was divided into treatment and control groups and underwent two listening proficiency tests for pre and posttest. Results of independent t-test indicated that treatment group outperformed the control group as the result of GBI (Sig =.001, t=3.740. Based on the proficiency test, Group B was also divided into proficient and less-proficient groups each one underwent two listening tests for pre and posttest. Results of independent t-test and paired t-test revealed both groups differed significantly as the result of GBI (Sig.= .00, correlation= .949, and .945 for proficient and less-proficient groups respectively indicating that listening proficiency is not a significant factor in effectiveness of GBI.

Cross-Language Associations in the Development of Preschoolers’ Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary

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Maier, Michelle F.; Bohlmann, Natalie L.; Palacios, Natalia A.

2016-01-01

The increasing population of dual language learners (DLLs) entering preschool classrooms highlights a continued need for research on the development of dual language acquisition, and specifically vocabulary skills, in this age group. This study describes young DLL children's (N = 177) vocabulary development in both English and Spanish simultaneously, and how vocabulary skills in each language relate to one another, during a contextual shift that places greater emphasis on the acquisition of academic English language skills. Findings demonstrated that DLL preschoolers made gains in vocabulary in both languages with more change evidenced in receptive, in comparison to expressive, vocabulary as well as in English in comparison to Spanish. When examining whether children's vocabulary scores in one language at the beginning of preschool interact with their vocabulary scores in the other language to predict vocabulary growth, no significant associations were found for receptive vocabulary. In contrast, the interaction between initial English and Spanish expressive vocabulary scores was negatively related to growth in English expressive vocabulary. This cross-language association suggests that children who have low expressive vocabulary skills in both languages tend to grow faster in their English expressive vocabulary. The study extends previous work on dual language development by examining growth in expressive and receptive vocabulary in both English and Spanish. It also provides suggestions for future work to inform a more comprehensive understanding of DLL children's development in both languages. PMID:26807002

Reading comprehension difficulties in children with rolandic epilepsy.

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Currie, Nicola K; Lew, Adina R; Palmer, Tom M; Basu, Helen; De Goede, Christian; Iyer, Anand; Cain, Kate

2018-03-01

Difficulties in reading comprehension can arise from either word reading or listening comprehension difficulties, or a combination of the two. We sought to determine whether children with rolandic epilepsy had poor reading comprehension relative to typically developing comparison children, and whether such difficulties were associated with word reading and/or general language comprehension difficulties. In this cross-sectional study, children with rolandic epilepsy (n=25; 16 males, 9 females; mean age 9y 1mo, SD 1y 7mo) and a comparison group (n=39; 25 males, 14 females; mean age 9y 1mo, SD 1y 3mo) completed assessments of reading comprehension, listening comprehension, word/non-word reading, speech articulation, and Non-verbal IQ. Reading comprehension and word reading were worse in children with rolandic epilepsy (F 1,61 =6.89, p=0.011, ηp2=0.10 and F 1,61 =6.84, p=0.011, ηp2=0.10 respectively), with listening comprehension being marginal (F 1,61 =3.81, p=0.055, ηp2=0.06). Word reading and listening comprehension made large and independent contributions to reading comprehension, explaining 70% of the variance. Children with rolandic epilepsy may be at risk of reading comprehension difficulties. Thorough assessment of individual children is required to ascertain whether the difficulties lie with decoding text, or with general comprehension skills, or both. Children with rolandic epilepsy may be at risk of poor reading comprehension. This was related to poor word reading, poor listening comprehension, or both. Reading comprehension interventions should be tailored to the profile of difficulties. © 2017 Mac Keith Press.

KEEFEKTIFAN METODE SCHOOLYARD INQUIRY TERHADAP PENINGKATAN PEMAHAMAN SCIENCE VOCABULARY

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S.D. Pamelasari

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Tantangan yang harus dihadapi dalam mengajar Bahasa Inggris di pada mahasiswa selain jurusan Bahasa Inggris adalah tingkat pemahaman kosakata yang rendah. Hal tersebut berpengaruh pada pemahaman materi mereka, berdasarkan permasalahan tersebut metode schoolyard inquiry digagas untuk membantu meningkatkan pemahaman mereka dalam memahami science vocabulary sebagai metode alternative untuk membantu mereka belajar. Schoolyard inquiry adalah metode belajar kosakata secara mandiri di luar kelas. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa pemahaman science vocabulary mahasiswa Pendidikan IPA FMIPA Unnes mengingkat secara signifikan dan mencapai tingkat tinggi pada level pemahamannya. Melalui metode ini mahasiswa juga dapat mengintegrasikan pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris dengan metode saintifik. Mahasiswa juga memberikan respon positif terhadap metode schoolyard inquiry  ini. The challenge that should be faced of teaching English for non English department students is the low level of students’ vocabulary mastery. It affects their comprehension of material, therefore to help students to master the science vocabulary schoolyard inquiry method was proposed to be used as alternative method to improve students’ vocabulary mastery. Schoolyard inquiry is a method of independent learning that is conducted outside the class. The result showed that the students’ science vocabulary mastery improved significantly most of students reached high level of science vocabulary mastery. Through Schoolyard Inquiry method Students were be able to learn English by applying the scientific skill. The students also gave positive responses of learning vocabulary by using alternatif method of schoolyard inquiry.

USING DIGITAL STORIES TO IMPROVE LISTENING COMPREHENSION WITH SPANISH YOUNG LEARNERS OF ENGLISH

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Dolores Ramírez Verdugo

2007-02-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the effects that digital stories may have on the understanding of spoken English by a group of 6-year-old Spanish learners. To accomplish this aim, a quasi-experimental research study was launched in six state schools in Madrid. A pre-post test design was used to investigate whether internet-based technology could improve listening comprehension in English as a Foreign Language (henceforth, EFL. Findings indicate that the experimental group outperformed the control group in the final test administered. These results raise interesting issues related to the use of technology in the context of foreign language learning. Future research which includes other age groups and digital materials and which explores other linguistic areas could further substantiate the link between Information and Communication Technology (ICT rich environment and improved language learning.

A Corpus of Writing, Pronunciation, Reading, and Listening by Learners of English as a Foreign Language

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Kotani, Katsunori; Yoshimi, Takehiko; Nanjo, Hiroaki; Isahara, Hitoshi

2016-01-01

In order to develop effective teaching methods and computer-assisted language teaching systems for learners of English as a foreign language who need to study the basic linguistic competences for writing, pronunciation, reading, and listening, it is necessary to first investigate which vocabulary and grammar they have or have not yet learned.…

The Impact of Silent and Freeze-Frame Viewing Techniques of Video Materials on the Intermediate EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension

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Sara Shahani

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The use of modern technologies has been widely prevalent among language learners, and video, in particular, as a valuable learning tool provides learners with comprehensible input. The present study investigated the effect of silent and freeze-frame viewing techniques of video materials on the intermediate English as a foreign language (EFL learners’ listening comprehension. To this end, 45 intermediate EFL learners participated in this quasi-experimental study. The results of one-way ANOVA revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between the experimental groups (using two types of viewing techniques and the control group. While the difference between the two experimental groups was not statistically significant, the experimental groups outperformed the control group significantly.

Are Listening Skills Best Enhanced through the Use of Multimedia Technology

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Sejdiu, Sejdi

2017-01-01

Listening comprehension is essential to L2 learning. Pupils who are able to demonstrate L2 listening skills are able to demonstrate proficiency in other language skills. Due to the relatively unappreciated role of listening in language development, educators and language experts have been actively promoting the equal or emphasized enhancement of…

Production Practice During Language Learning Improves Comprehension.

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Hopman, Elise W M; MacDonald, Maryellen C

2018-04-01

Language learners often spend more time comprehending than producing a new language. However, memory research suggests reasons to suspect that production practice might provide a stronger learning experience than comprehension practice. We tested the benefits of production during language learning and the degree to which this learning transfers to comprehension skill. We taught participants an artificial language containing multiple linguistic dependencies. Participants were randomly assigned to either a production- or a comprehension-learning condition, with conditions designed to balance attention demands and other known production-comprehension differences. After training, production-learning participants outperformed comprehension-learning participants on vocabulary comprehension and on comprehension tests of grammatical dependencies, even when we controlled for individual differences in vocabulary learning. This result shows that producing a language during learning can improve subsequent comprehension, which has implications for theories of memory and learning, language representations, and educational practices.

Individual Differences in Lexical Processing at 18 Months Predict Vocabulary Growth in Typically Developing and Late-Talking Toddlers

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Fernald, Anne; Marchman, Virginia A.

2012-01-01

Using online measures of familiar word recognition in the looking-while-listening procedure, this prospective longitudinal study revealed robust links between processing efficiency and vocabulary growth from 18 to 30 months in children classified as typically developing (n = 46) and as "late talkers" (n = 36) at 18 months. Those late talkers who…

CALL--Enhanced L2 Listening Skills--Aiming for Automatization in a Multimedia Environment

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Mayor, Maria Jesus Blasco

2009-01-01

Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and L2 listening comprehension skill training are bound together for good. A neglected macroskill for decades, developing listening comprehension skill is now considered crucial for L2 acquisition. Thus this paper makes an attempt to offer latest information on processing theories and L2 listening…

Lexical quality and executive control predict children's first and second language reading comprehension.

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Raudszus, Henriette; Segers, Eliane; Verhoeven, Ludo

2018-01-01

This study compared how lexical quality (vocabulary and decoding) and executive control (working memory and inhibition) predict reading comprehension directly as well as indirectly, via syntactic integration, in monolingual and bilingual fourth grade children. The participants were 76 monolingual and 102 bilingual children (mean age 10 years, SD  = 5 months) learning to read Dutch in the Netherlands. Bilingual children showed lower Dutch vocabulary, syntactic integration and reading comprehension skills, but better decoding skills than their monolingual peers. There were no differences in working memory or inhibition. Multigroup path analysis showed relatively invariant connections between predictors and reading comprehension for monolingual and bilingual readers. For both groups, there was a direct effect of lexical quality on reading comprehension. In addition, lexical quality and executive control indirectly influenced reading comprehension via syntactic integration. The groups differed in that inhibition more strongly predicted syntactic integration for bilingual than for monolingual children. For a subgroup of bilingual children, for whom home language vocabulary data were available ( n  = 56), there was an additional positive effect of home language vocabulary on second language reading comprehension. Together, the results suggest that similar processes underlie reading comprehension in first and second language readers, but that syntactic integration requires more executive control in second language reading. Moreover, bilingual readers additionally benefit from first language vocabulary to arrive at second language reading comprehension.

The Effects of YouTube Listening/Viewing Activities on Taiwanese EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension

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Kuo, Li-Li

2009-01-01

Declared the year of YouTube, 2007 was hailed as bringing a technological revolution in relation to pedagogy, one that may provide more convenient access to materials for language input, such as auditory, visual, and other types of authentic resources in order to promote advancement in all four language learning skills--listening, speaking,…

The Role of Oral Language Skills in Reading and Listening Comprehension of Text: A Comparison of Monolingual (L1) and Bilingual (L2) Speakers of English Language

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Babayigit, Selma

2014-01-01

The study examined the role of oral language skills in reading comprehension and listening comprehension levels of 125 monolingual (L1) and bilingual (L2) English-speaking learners (M = 121.5 months, SD = 4.65) in England. All testing was conducted in English. The L1 learners outperformed their L2 peers on the measures of oral language and text…

Facilitation of listening comprehension by visual information under noisy listening condition

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Kashimada, Chiho; Ito, Takumi; Ogita, Kazuki; Hasegawa, Hiroshi; Kamata, Kazuo; Ayama, Miyoshi

2009-02-01

Comprehension of a sentence under a wide range of delay conditions between auditory and visual stimuli was measured in the environment with low auditory clarity of the level of -10dB and -15dB pink noise. Results showed that the image was helpful for comprehension of the noise-obscured voice stimulus when the delay between the auditory and visual stimuli was 4 frames (=132msec) or less, the image was not helpful for comprehension when the delay between the auditory and visual stimulus was 8 frames (=264msec) or more, and in some cases of the largest delay (32 frames), the video image interfered with comprehension.

Are Listening Skills Best Enhanced Through the Use of Multimedia Technology

OpenAIRE

Sejdiu, Sejdi

2017-01-01

Listening comprehension is essential to L2 learning. Pupils who are able to demonstrate L2 listening skills are able to demonstrate proficiency in other language skills. Due to the relatively unappreciated role of listening in language development, educators and language experts have been actively promoting the equal or emphasized enhancement of listening skills among students. Through multimedia, L2 speakers are provided access to several visual and aural L2 texts via audio, video, th...

Decreasing scoring errors on Wechsler Scale Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Similarities subtests: a preliminary study.

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Linger, Michele L; Ray, Glen E; Zachar, Peter; Underhill, Andrea T; LoBello, Steven G

2007-10-01

Studies of graduate students learning to administer the Wechsler scales have generally shown that training is not associated with the development of scoring proficiency. Many studies report on the reduction of aggregated administration and scoring errors, a strategy that does not highlight the reduction of errors on subtests identified as most prone to error. This study evaluated the development of scoring proficiency specifically on the Wechsler (WISC-IV and WAIS-III) Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Similarities subtests during training by comparing a set of 'early test administrations' to 'later test administrations.' Twelve graduate students enrolled in an intelligence-testing course participated in the study. Scoring errors (e.g., incorrect point assignment) were evaluated on the students' actual practice administration test protocols. Errors on all three subtests declined significantly when scoring errors on 'early' sets of Wechsler scales were compared to those made on 'later' sets. However, correcting these subtest scoring errors did not cause significant changes in subtest scaled scores. Implications for clinical instruction and future research are discussed.

Enhancing Foreign Language Learning through Listening Strategies Delivered in L1: An Experimental Study

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Bozorgian, Hossein; Pillay, Hitendra

2013-01-01

Listening used in language teaching refers to a complex process that allows us to understand spoken language. The current study, conducted in Iran with an experimental design, investigated the effectiveness of teaching listening strategies delivered in L1 (Persian) and its effect on listening comprehension in L2. Five listening strategies:…

Using an Online Vocabulary Memorization Tool versus Traditional Vocabulary Exercises

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Arif Bakla

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This study was conducted to reveal what Memrise, an online vocabulary study tool, can offer to upper-intermediate EFL learners compared to traditional vocabulary exercises in L2 vocabulary learning. Two groups of upper-intermediate learners (N=80 were randomly assigned to the experimental group and the control group and were given the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale, VKS for short, as the pre-test and post-test. The participants in both groups were exposed to the target vocabulary items in the same reading text. While those in the experimental group created list of target vocabulary items collaboratively in Memrise and then studied the sets individually, the learners in the control group did traditional vocabulary exercises. The results of the post-tests indicated that there was a significant difference between the control group and the experimental group in favor of the experimental group. The researchers discuss possible pedagogical implications of this significant finding for EFL vocabulary instruction.

Validation of a simple response-time measure of listening effort

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pals, Carina; Sarampalis, Anastasios; van Rijn, Hedderik; Başkent, Deniz

This study compares two response-time measures of listening effort that can be combined with a clinical speech test for a more comprehensive evaluation of total listening experience; verbal response times to auditory stimuli (RTaud) and response times to a visual task (RTsvis) in a dual- task

PROFILING THE VOCABULARY OF NEWS TEXTS AS CAPACITY BUILDING FOR LANGUAGE TEACHERS

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Gusti Astika

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract: The importance of vocabulary in reading has been discussed extensively in the literature. Researchers claim that vocabulary is essential and has a central role in comprehension.   Development in ICT and easy access to information from the internet necessitate language teachers to have relevant knowledge and skills to utilize pedagogical tools to use authentic online materials for learning purposes.  One of such a tool is the Vocabulary Profiler that can be used to categorize lexical words in a text into different frequency levels: high, low, and academic word list. This paper discusses how to use the Vocabulary Profiler to classify words in a text into the different categories.  The utilization of this tool can significantly alleviate the workload of teachers in selecting vocabulary in  reading text which is conventionally based on teachers’ intuition and perception. The sample text in this paper was selected from VOA website which may not be found in the textbooks currently used at schools. The paper ends with some implication for teaching about vocabulary selection.

Developing a Specialized Vocabulary Word List in a Composition Culinary Course through Lecture Notes

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M.Nordin N. R.

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Learning to write in a composition culinary course is very challenging for L2 learners. The main barrier in writing proficiency within this discipline is the lack of vocabulary, specifically the lack of exposure towards specialized vocabulary. This study aims to provide a corpus of specialized vocabulary within a food writing course. By providing students with a word list of specialized vocabulary in the course, students may benefit by familiarizing with the language discourse which will aid in better comprehension of the course, and subsequently facilitate in their writing development. A compilation of all PowerPoint slides from one writing course was assembled and analyzed using the range and frequency program to identify the specialized vocabularies in a food writing course. The corpus was categorized using a four step rating scale, which identified 113 specialized vocabularies in food writing. The learning of specialized vocabulary specialized vocabulary is an important issue at the tertiary level in Malaysia, with educators’ realization of the importance of discourse proficiency in ESP programs, thus many more research is yielded on the many new issues on the teaching and learning of specialized vocabulary particularly within the academic and professional context.

The effect of written text on comprehension of spoken English as a foreign language.

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Diao, Yali; Chandler, Paul; Sweller, John

2007-01-01

Based on cognitive load theory, this study investigated the effect of simultaneous written presentations on comprehension of spoken English as a foreign language. Learners' language comprehension was compared while they used 3 instructional formats: listening with auditory materials only, listening with a full, written script, and listening with simultaneous subtitled text. Listening with the presence of a script and subtitles led to better understanding of the scripted and subtitled passage but poorer performance on a subsequent auditory passage than listening with the auditory materials only. These findings indicated that where the intention was learning to listen, the use of a full script or subtitles had detrimental effects on the construction and automation of listening comprehension schemas.

The effect of vocabulary notebooks on vocabulary acquisition

OpenAIRE

Bozkurt, Neval

2007-01-01

Ankara : The Department of Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Bilkent University, 2007. Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2007. Includes bibliographical references leaves 82-87 This study investigated the effectiveness of vocabulary notebooks on vocabulary acquisition, and the attitudes of teachers and learners towards keeping vocabulary notebooks. The study was conducted with the participation of 60 pre-intermediate level students, divided into one treatment ...

The pace of vocabulary growth helps predict later vocabulary skill

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Rowe, Meredith L.; Raudenbush, Stephen W.; Goldin-Meadow, Susan

2011-01-01

Children vary widely in the rate at which they acquire words—some start slow and speed up, others start fast and continue at a steady pace. Do early developmental variations of this sort help predict vocabulary skill just prior to kindergarten entry? This longitudinal study starts by examining important predictors (SES, parent input, child gesture) of vocabulary growth between 14 and 46 months (n=62), and then uses growth estimates to predict children's vocabulary at 54 months. Velocity and acceleration in vocabulary development at 30 months predicted later vocabulary, particularly for children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Understanding the pace of early vocabulary growth thus improves our ability to predict school readiness, and may help identify children at risk for starting behind. PMID:22235920

Gradient phonological inconsistency affects vocabulary learning.

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Muench, Kristin L; Creel, Sarah C

2013-09-01

Learners frequently experience phonologically inconsistent input, such as exposure to multiple accents. Yet, little is known about the consequences of phonological inconsistency for language learning. The current study examines vocabulary acquisition with different degrees of phonological inconsistency, ranging from no inconsistency (e.g., both talkers call a picture /vig/) to mild but detectable inconsistency (e.g., one talker calls a picture a /vig/, and the other calls it a /vIg/), up to extreme inconsistency (e.g., the same picture is both a /vig/ and a /dIdʒ/). Previous studies suggest that learners readily extract consistent phonological patterns, given variable input. However, in Experiment 1, adults acquired phonologically inconsistent vocabularies more slowly than phonologically consistent ones. Experiment 2 examined whether word-form inconsistency alone, without phonological competition, was a source of learning difficulty. Even without phonological competition, listeners learned faster in 1 accent than in 2 accents, but they also learned faster in 2 accents (/vig/ = /vIg/) than with completely different labels (/vig/ = /dIdʒ/). Overall, results suggest that learners exposed to multiple accents may experience difficulty learning when 2 forms mismatch by more than 1 phonological feature, plus increased phonological competition due to a greater number of word forms. Implications for learning from variable input are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Effects of Listening Strategy Instruction on News Videotext Comprehension

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Cross, Jeremy

2009-01-01

Developments in broadcast and multimedia technology have generated a readily available and vast supply of videotexts for use in second and foreign language learning contexts. However, without pedagogical direction learners are unlikely to be able to deal with the complexities of this authentic listening resource, and strategy instruction may be…

Vocabulary Teaching in Foreign Language via Audiovisual Method Technique of Listening and Following Writing Scripts

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Bozavli, Ebubekir

2017-01-01

The objective is hereby study is to compare the effects of conventional and audiovisual methods on learning efficiency and success of retention with regard to vocabulary teaching in foreign language. Research sample consists of 21 undergraduate and 7 graduate students studying at Department of French Language Teaching, Kazim Karabekir Faculty of…

Effective Strategies for Turning Receptive Vocabulary into Productive Vocabulary in EFL Context

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Faraj, Avan Kamal Aziz

2015-01-01

Vocabulary acquisition has been a main concern of EFL English teachers and learners. There have been tons of research to examine the student's level of receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary, but no research has conducted on how turning receptive vocabulary into productive vocabulary. This study has reported the impact of the teaching…

From One to Multiple Accents on a Test of L2 Listening Comprehension

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Ockey, Gary J.; French, Robert

2016-01-01

Concerns about the need for assessing multidialectal listening skills for global contexts are becoming increasingly prevalent. However, the inclusion of multiple accents on listening assessments may threaten test fairness because it is not practical to include every accent that may be encountered in the language use domain on these tests. Given…

Differential lexical predictors of reading comprehension in fourth graders

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Swart, N.M.; Muijselaar, M.M.L.; Steenbeek-Planting, E.G.; Droop, M.; de Jong, P.F.; Verhoeven, L.

The mental lexicon plays a central role in reading comprehension (Perfetti & Stafura, 2014). It encompasses the number of lexical entries in spoken and written language (vocabulary breadth), the semantic quality of these entries (vocabulary depth), and the connection strength between lexical

Modeling the Nature of Grammar and Vocabulary Trajectories From Prekindergarten to Third Grade.

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Jiang, Hui; Logan, Jessica A; Jia, Rongfang

2018-04-17

This study investigated the longitudinal development of 2 important contributors to reading comprehension, grammar, and vocabulary skills. The primary interest was to examine the trajectories of the 2 skill areas from preschool to 3rd grade. The study involved a longitudinal sample of 420 children from 4 sites. Language skills, including grammar and vocabulary, were assessed annually with multiple measures. Multivariate latent growth curve modeling was used to examine the developmental trajectories of grammar and vocabulary, to test the correlation between the 2 domains, and to investigate the effects of demographic predictors on language growth. Results showed that both grammar and vocabulary exhibited decelerating growth from preschool to Grade 2. In Grade 3, grammar growth further flattened, whereas vocabulary continued to grow stably. Growth of vocabulary and grammar were positively correlated. Demographic characteristics, such as child gender and family socioeconomic status, were found to predict the intercept but not the slope of the growth trajectories. Children's growth in grammar skills is differentiated in a number of important ways from their growth in vocabulary skills. Results of this study suggest the need to differentiate these dimensions of language when seeking to closely examine growth from preschool to primary grades.

Teaching and Learning Second Language Listening: Metacognition in Action. ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series

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Vandergrift, Larry; Goh, Christine C. M.

2011-01-01

This reader-friendly text, firmly grounded in listening theories and supported by recent research findings, offers a comprehensive treatment of concepts and knowledge related to teaching second language (L2) listening, with a particular emphasis on metacognition. The metacognitive approach, aimed at developing learner listening in a holistic…

Training teachers for English Medium Instruction: lessons from research on second language listening comprehension

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María Ángeles Martín del Pozo

2017-07-01

Full Text Available CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning and EMI (English Medium Instruction practices have outpaced theory and teacher training. There is a need to provide answers to some of the key issues such as the language requirements. This paper aims to show that knowledge from English for Specific Purposes and English for Academic Purposes, fields which have provided effective teaching practices and materials, could now be used in CLIL/EMI. The paper focuses on two of these. First, the issues related to second language academic listening comprehension and, secondly, the findings from research on it and their implications for student / lecturer training and materials design. These implications and suggestions are summarized. The paper concludes providing some language learning resources originally targeted to students but which could become tools for (self training of those teachers who need to update their language skills for CLIL.

Analysis of EFL Students' Ability in Reading Vocabulary of Synonyms and Antonyms

OpenAIRE

Vina Fathira

2017-01-01

Reading is an important thing for academic level. Every student must have many vocabularies to encourage her/his reading skill. The aim of this research is to analyze the students' understanding of reading vocabularies of synonyms and antonyms in the higher education level. Synonyms and antonyms are two important things should be mastered to get better reading comprehension. The method used in this research was quantitative with survey design. The population same as the sample of this researc...

Reading Vocabulary in Children with and without Hearing Loss: The Roles of Task and Word Type

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Coppens, Karien M.; Tellings, Agnes; Verhoeven, Ludo; Schreuder, Robert

2013-01-01

Purpose: To address the problem of low reading comprehension scores among children with hearing impairment, it is necessary to have a better understanding of their reading vocabulary. In this study, the authors investigated whether task and word type differentiate the reading vocabulary knowledge of children with and without severe hearing loss.…

Investigating the Role of Pop Songs on Vocabulary Recall, Attitude and Retention of Iranian EFL Learners: The Case of Gender

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Pouya Shakerian

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Pop songs are, in fact, an ideal source for incidental vocabulary learning because teenagers often spend large amounts of their free time listening to music and in particular to pop songs. Employing an experimental approach, this study attempted to investigate the role of pop songs on vocabulary recall, attitude and retention of Iranian advanced adult EFL learners based on their gender. In so doing a language placement test (Quick Oxford Placement Test was administered to 100 male and female language learners studying English at different language institutes in Esfahan, Iran. Ultimately, 60 advanced learners (30 males - 30 females were selected by leaving out the students of other levels of proficiency and randomly divided into two relatively homogenous groups as musical and non-musical groups. While the students of musical group (=30 were taught the new vocabulary in the syllabus through 60 different pop songs chosen by themselves through a questionnaire, the students of the non-musical group (n=30 were taught new vocabulary without using the songs. The participants were examined based on an English vocabulary test developed by the researchers, which probed into the learners’ vocabulary recall. A questionnaire was also used to investigate the attitude of the learners towards the instruction. A month later the vocabulary test was re-administered as a delayed retention test and obtained data were statistically analyzed. The results of t-tests demonstrated that the musical group outscored the non-musical group on vocabulary recall and retention. The results also showed the male learners perform better than the females. Keywords: incidental vocabulary, pop songs, vocabulary recall, attitude, retention

Do English Listening Outcome and Cognitive Load Change for Different Media Delivery Modes in U-Learning?

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Chang, Chi-Cheng; Lei, Hao; Tseng, Ju-Shih

2014-01-01

Although ubiquitous learning enhances students' access to learning materials, it is crucial to find out which media delivery modes produce the best results for English listening comprehension. The present study examined the effect of media delivery mode (sound and text vs. sound) on English listening comprehension and cognitive load. Participants…

Processing changes when listening to foreign-accented speech

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Carlos eRomero-Rivas

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the mechanisms responsible for fast changes in processing foreign-accented speech. Event Related brain Potentials (ERPs were obtained while native speakers of Spanish listened to native and foreign-accented speakers of Spanish. We observed a less positive P200 component for foreign-accented speech relative to native speech comprehension. This suggests that the extraction of spectral information and other important acoustic features was hampered during foreign-accented speech comprehension. However, the amplitude of the N400 component for foreign-accented speech comprehension decreased across the experiment, suggesting the use of a higher level, lexical mechanism. Furthermore, during native speech comprehension, semantic violations in the critical words elicited an N400 effect followed by a late positivity. During foreign-accented speech comprehension, semantic violations only elicited an N400 effect. Overall, our results suggest that, despite a lack of improvement in phonetic discrimination, native listeners experience changes at lexical-semantic levels of processing after brief exposure to foreign-accented speech. Moreover, these results suggest that lexical access, semantic integration and linguistic re-analysis processes are permeable to external factors, such as the accent of the speaker.

DDR-Landeskundliches im Deutschunterricht (East German Culture in the German Lesson).

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Wazel, Gerhard

1988-01-01

Demonstrates with concrete examples from the texts of a German class for advanced learners how aspects of East German culture can be realized in vocabulary, in lectures, and in the development of listening comprehension and speaking skills. Texts are appended. (DJD)

Effects of Captions and Subtitles on the Listening Process: Insights from EFL Learners' Listening Strategies

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Hosogoshi, Kyoko

2016-01-01

Captions and subtitles as a form of scaffolding for audiovisual materials has gained much attention in second or foreign language (L2) learning in recent years and various studies report their positive effects on learners' listening comprehension. However, few attempts have been made to investigate how textual information specifically affects the…

Use of Digital Stories to Develop Listening Comprehension Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Cigerci, Fatih Mehmet; Gultekin, Mehmet

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of digital stories on the Turkish (mother language) listening skills of fourth grade students. The study used a mixed methods and was conducted in two fourth grade classrooms (ages 9-10 years) in a primary school in Eskisehir city, Turkey, during the 2014-2015 spring semester. During the 8-week…

The signal and comprehension approach: decoding and meaning building

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rajaa Aquil

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses Egyptian colloquial Arabic connected speech as a listening problem. The paper proposes a modified approach for teaching listening: The Signal and Comprehension Approach. It is an approach that enhances listening as a skill to attain comprehension in any listening task. The approach focuses on signals laden with linguistic phonological changes that make deciphering connected speech very difficult. By adopting the proposed approach, learners can develop not only their listening skills but also their listening strategies and meaning building. It trains the language learner to crack the code in order to construct meaning. The approach includes pedagogical listening tasks that are based on topdown or world knowledge as well as bottom-up or data driven processes. The discussed tasks use songs as a venue of connected speech. These tasks come from an online course offered through the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech that uses songs to teach Arabic language, culture and history.

Early productive vocabulary predicts academic achievement 10 years later

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bleses, Dorthe; Makransky, Guido; Dale, Philip

2016-01-01

comprehension, can be predicted from an early vocabulary measure as early as 16 months with effect sizes (in proportion of variance accounted for) comparable to one year’s mean growth in reading scores. The findings confirm in a relatively large population based study that late talkers are at risk for later...