Supporting lower-level processes in EFL listening: the effect on learners’ listening proficiency of a dictation program supported by a mobile instant messaging app

Abstract

Lower-level processes have long been overlooked in EFL listening pedagogy. To address this pervasive problem, in this study, a program was designed that integrated WeChat, the most popular mobile instant messaging app in China, into dictation practice. Students in two classes studying a compulsory university EFL course were selected as participants, with one class as the experimental group (EG, n = 37) and the other as the control group (CG, n = 33). Both groups attended the same weekly in-class listening course taught by the same instructor, in which traditional listening exercises were combined with explicit decoding instructions. Members of the EG were asked to participate in a WeChat group of 8–10 students to complete daily dictation, while the CG did the practice individually. A listening test served as pre- and post-test, and an open-question survey was used to collect the EG’s perceptions of the WeChat dictation program. The results show that the EG’s improvement in listening was significantly greater than that of the CG. There were no differences in improvement in participants’ listening comprehension between males and female, whereas listening gains differed significantly between the EG and the CG when participants were at different initial listening levels. The students’ perceptions of the benefits and drawbacks of the program are discussed.