The Effectiveness of Listening Support on L2 Learners' Listening Comprehension Ability: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

This article reports on a meta-analysis of studies that investigated the effectiveness of listening support on L2 listening comprehension ability. Altogether 18 studies were retrieved and coded for effect sizes from pre-to-post change. We first analyzed the effects of listening support by comparing listening practice with support to listening practice without support (i.e., listening exposure only). We then compared the effects of two main types of listening support: linguistic support (e.g., vocabulary teaching) and contextual support (e.g., pictorial information). The subsequent moderator analysis tested the impact of three mediator variables: the timing of listening support, the length of instruction, and the agent of input control (either teacher or students). The results showed that (1) listening support increased the effectiveness of listening practice; and (2) linguistic support showed a larger effect size than contextual support. The moderator analysis showed that there were no significant group differences in the timing of listening support or the length of listening practice. However, listening practice where students controlled the listening materials had a significantly larger effect size than teacher-controlled input practice. We discuss the theoretical and pedagogical significance of these findings and the role of small-scale meta-analyses.