Extensive Listening Research Articles

Enhancing language proficiency through mobile extensive listening and podcasting: A multifaceted approach to metacognition and critical thinking

Mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) has gained considerable attention in foreign and second-language education. As part of a two-year project, this study employed a mixed-methods research design with 60 B2-level learners of English as a foreign language. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of repetitive listening and listening duration on participants' listening comprehension, speaking, critical thinking, listening strategies, and self-regulated learning strategies. The participants were divided into two groups, with the experimental group (n = 30) participating in the innovative Mobile Extensive Listening and Podcasting (MELAP) intervention. MELAP is a novel approach within the MALL framework that involves extensive listening to podcasts in the target language, content creation, and podcasting. The ten-week treatment revealed that unlike in previous studies, our experimental group improved not only in listening comprehension but also demonstrated significant gains in speaking skills and critical thinking. Notably, enhanced critical thinking skills were observed, correlated with an increased total listening duration and repeated extensive listening. Qualitative data analysis sheds light on how participants viewed the MELAP intervention, revealing what motivated them, what distractions they faced, and their opinions on developing and sharing podcasts. These findings emphasize the potential of the MELAP to enhance language skills and foster critical thinking in language learners, contributing to the ongoing discourse on the effectiveness of MALL.

Decoding the dancing of the tongue: A model-based learning approach to phonetic targets in coarticulationa).

A model synthesizing average frequency components from select sentences in an electromagnetic articulography database has been crafted. This revealed the dual roles of the tongue: its dorsum acts like a carrier wave, and the tip acts as a modulation signal within the articulatory realm. This model illuminates anticipatory coarticulation's subtleties during speech planning. It undergoes rigorous, two-stage optimization: statistical estimation and refinement to depict carryover and anticipation. The model's base, rooted in physiological insights, deciphers carryover targets while its upper layer captures anticipation. Optimization has pinpointed unique phonetic targets for each phoneme, providing deep insights into virtual target formation during speech planning. These simulations, aligning closely with empirical data and marked by a mere 0.18 cm average error, along with extensive listening tests attest to the model's accuracy and enhanced speech synthesis quality.

The Impact of Extensive Listening on Listening Anxiety, Listening Skills and Attitude towards English Courses

This study aimed to explore the effects of extensive listening (EL) to podcasts on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ listening anxiety, listening proficiency and attitudes towards English school lessons. Two intact classes with a total of 45 female tenth graders were assigned as the experimental and control groups of the study. At the outset of the study, the participants’ level of listening competence was measured through the Key English Test (KET) developed by Cambridge University. The “Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale” (FLLAS) and the “Scale of Attitudes towards English Courses” (SATEC) were administered subsequently to both groups. The experimental group received the treatment including 15 podcasts for EL practice. All the quantitative measurements were repeated after the treatment. Quantitative data was triangulated through semi-structured interviews with a sub-sample of 10 students. The results demonstrated that the students in the experimental group significantly improved their listening comprehension skills. The treatment reduced students’ listening anxiety while the reverse was true for the students in the control group receiving traditional second/foreign language (L2) instruction only. The findings of the study encourage L2 teachers to consider authentic input, namely podcasts, as a source of reducing students’ listening anxiety and improving listening proficiency. The fact that students’ attitudes remained stable in both groups provides guidance for future research.

STUDENTS PREFERENCE ON MULTIMEDIA MATERIALS FOR EXTENSIVE LISTENING ACTIVITY

One of English language skills that widely use multimedia as a teaching medium is listening skills. This is because the most prominent teaching media for this skill is audio media. Meanwhile, audio media can be easily obtained in types of multimedia that have audio and visual elements such as videos, films, songs, games, etc. Apart from these two elements, other elements such as text and images are often found also in multimedia used in teaching listening skills. Teaching extensive listening skills in particular makes extensive use of multimedia in the teaching process. The aim of this research is to determine the type of multimedia chosen by students in extensive listening practice, and explain their reasons for choosing certain type of multimedia. This research use literature review design using content analysis to analyze data from the references. There are three steps applied in the content analysis process, namely data reduction, data display, and verification. Among the five multimedia listening materials used, film clips and documentaries are the materials that are always chosen, while songs are the materials that are least often chosen for extensive listening activities.

Non-majored English Students’ Learning Autonomy through Extensive Listening at a Public University

Enhancing English language proficiency, especially in listening skills, is crucial for students completing General English Courses at universities in Vietnam these days. Unfortunately, non-majored English students are often overlooked in assessments of this vital skill in their final exams, resulting in a lack of autonomy in their language learning, particularly in listening. This research explored students' perspectives on fostering autonomy through extensive listening activities, conducting a qualitative case study with 10 non-majored English students. Interviews revealed that extensive listening motivated students’ learning and improved their listening skills. However, despite these benefits, the findings highlighted a need for educators to play a more active role in designing and delivering comprehensive guidance in extensive listening strategies. This study contributed valuable insights to the ongoing discourse on optimizing learning autonomy in English language education.

The multidimensional effects of extensive listening on EFL learners

This study investigated the multidimensional effects of extensive listening (EL) on learners’ actual language gains, selection of study materials, and practice styles. Language gains were measured through a pre- and a post-test on students’ aural vocabulary test (Listening Vocabulary Levels Test, LVLT) and general listening comprehension (TOEIC), administered before and after the intervention. Fifty-five university student participants took part in the four-month experiment; they were entirely free to select their favorite study materials online or off-line. The results showed that each student spent an average of 1,387 minutes (approximately 87 minutes per week) doing EL practice. The three most popular study materials were the following: Songs (63.64%), movies (49.09%), and talks (43.46%); materials were mainly from YouTube (74.55%), Netflix (49.09%), and other miscellaneous sources (43.63%). Their practice style was unanimously a combination of viewing and listening. From the pre-tests to the post-tests, students made significant gains in both LVLT and TOEIC, but the effect sizes were small. Some suggestions are made for implementing EL.

Using Online Media for Extensive Listening Practices: Students’ Self-Reflections from the Extensive Listening Logbook

Despite the fact that technology and online media’s great contributions on extensive listening practices, students who are unaccustomed to such activities would find the practice challenging. The current study investigated 20 first-semester university students undertaking extensive listening practices which were recorded into logbooks. The researchers aimed to map out students’ reflections on challenges and satisfaction towards the media and listening practices under a descriptive qualitative research, utilizing document analysis. Results of data analysis shows that the freedom of choice given to students while undertaking extensive listening activities through online media brought positive responses on the overall students’ satisfaction on the listening practice. Nevertheless, the unsorted levels of difficulty, unfamiliar words, foreign accents, and speed of speech from the media became the barriers mostly encountered in understanding the language contents. Furthermore, unsatisfactory listening experiences were also reported by a few students. Thus, it is advisable that teachers who implement extensive listening practices to offer help for learners to be more aware of their current and future potential to make sure learning more efficiently. It is highly expected that through frequent interactions with the listening inputs from various sources, students would enhance their metacognitive strategies to have better control of their learning.

Extensive Listening: Indonesian Teacher Educators’ and Student Teachers’ Perspectives and Experiences in Initial Teacher Education Context

This case study examines teacher educators and student teachers’ experiences and perspectives in East Java, Indonesia, with the aim of investigating Extensive Listening (EL) integration to the Initial Teacher Education (ITE) as a prescribed language curriculum program. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with the three teacher educators and six student teachers. The results revealed variations in how EL programs are practiced among various institutions, underscoring the necessity for a standardized curriculum to incorporate EL into language teaching programs. Teacher educators performed resourcefulness by creatively using online resources to compensate for the absence of formal EL training. The independent listening practices of student teachers emphasizing the importance of authentic materials that align with their personal interests, using technology to promote self-directed learning. This research serves as an initial exploration of the potential of EL in the ITE context in Indonesia. Both teacher educators and student teachers hold crucial roles in driving curriculum innovation by advocating for the acknowledgment and inclusion of EL within the language curriculum.

Integrating Environmental Issues in Extensive Listening: Perceptions of EFL Learners

Listening is an essential aspect of our daily lives, but remains one of the most challenging language skills to master. This study explores the use of metacognitive listening journals with environmental themes in a class teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). The research assesses the effectiveness of listening journals, their incorporation of environmental subjects, and their suitability for educational purposes. The study used quantitative and qualitative approaches, including questionnaires and group interviews. The data analysis involved the utilisation of Likert scale and thematic analysis techniques. While previous research has underscored the importance of extensive listening, there has been limited exploration of the integration of environmental issues in EFL classrooms. Our study addresses this gap by focusing on learners’ perceptions of the efficacy of listening journals and the impact of environmental topics on their environmental awareness. The result revealed that most students have a positive perception of the use of listening journals in extensive listening that integrates environmental issues. Moreover, a significant proportion of students demonstrate a desire to engage in proactive measures aimed at safeguarding the environment

Does the Use of Web-Based Extensive Listening Activities Affect Foreign Language Listening Anxiety and Foreign Language Anxiety?

Building on previous research revealing that extensive reading is as effective and efficient as formal instruction in acquiring English as a foreign language and with longer treatment duration, this study examined the effect of using two types of extensive listening activities, teacher-directed group (TD) and self-directed group (SD) on anxiety levels of EFL learners concerning gender to improve listening comprehension of EFL learners over a one year study program (2 semesters). Data were collected using a foreign language listening anxiety (FLLA) questionnaire, a foreign language classroom anxiety (FLA) questionnaire, and an English listening test. The results showed a statistically significant positive relation between FLA and FLLA while there was a statistically significant high negative relation between the test results in and both FLA and FLLA in all semesters. The results of the questionnaires showed that both anxiety levels were high in the first semester and then reduced significantly in the second semester with significant increase in the listening posttest scores. As for gender differences, results showed no statistically significant differences between gender in the TD group, but it was found that female were more anxious in both types in the SD group while male in the SD group attained higher scores in both tests. This showed that using extensive listening successfully reduced both FLA and FLLA for EFL learners. In the end, some pedagogical implications and recommendations were offered.

Amplifying Proficiency: Unearthing the Impact of Extensive Listening on Student Listening Skills

In conventional language education, listening often receives less attention compared to the teaching of grammar and other language skills. Nevertheless, it is crucial to acknowledge that knowledge acquisition and assimilation primarily occur through listening. This study explores the enhancement of students' listening competency through extensive listening practices, utilizing the participatory action research method, specifically the Collaborative Classroom Action Research approach. The research was conducted at Junior High School in Medan, Indonesia and involved 31 Grade VIII students. The study incorporated pre-test and post-test listening assessments, and observation across three cycles: pre-cycle, cycle I, and cycle II. The results clearly demonstrate the positive impact of extensive listening on students' listening skills. Overall, there was a substantial improvement, with scores increasing from 49.35% in the pre-test to an impressive 85.16% in cycle II. Notably, individual progress also showed substantial growth, rising from 6.45% in the pre-test to a remarkable 77.4% in cycle II. These findings underscore the undeniable effectiveness of extensive listening in language education. They offer valuable insights for English teachers and provide robust support for the adoption of extensive listening as a potent means to nurture and elevate students' listening skills, which are a fundamental aspect of language acquisition.

THE SPEECH RATE AND VOCABULARY PROFILE OF TED-ED VIDEOS AS EXTENSIVE LISTENING MATERIALS FOR EFL LEARNERS

Listening proficiency is essential in language acquisition, yet both its classroom time and research are overshadowed by other skills, such as speaking and reading. To tackle the issue of limited classroom time, extensive listening is one of the most convenient and effective solutions. Selecting the materials, however, needs an equally extensive effort; especially for the authentic ones. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the speech rate and vocabulary level of TED-Ed videos as one of the sources of authentic material for extensive listening to determine their suitability for EFL learners. The research used a quantitative descriptive design with purposive sampling. The data collection of Speech Rate is conducted by transcribing the sample videos and dividing the number of words by the length of the video, and the result is measured in terms of WPM (Word Per Minute). To get the vocabulary level, the video transcripts are put into the Vocabkitchen website to analyze the vocabulary CEFR level for each word. From the analysis, the average speech rate of TED-Ed videos is 147.4 WPM and it is suitable for all levels of EFL learners, including beginner level. Meanwhile, the CEFR level of the vocabulary is more suitable for intermediate EFL learners and beyond.

The Use of Mindful Experiental Learning to Improve Students’ Listening Skilll

Listening is a complex and active mental process that involves perception, attention, cognition, and memory.The objective of this research are to find out whether the implementation of mindful experiential learning to improves the student’s listening comprehension and to find out the student’s experience toward the implementation of mindful experiential learning in teaching intensive listening. This research was quantitative research namely experimental design, through quasi-experimental. The researchers used worksheet and interview to collect data. The data obtained from the students' worksheets were analyzed to measure the students' listening comprehension level; the researchers used Google Form to carry out interviews. The data showed that the students' listening effectiveness before and after the treatment is significantly different. It was found in post-test students was higher than the pre-test, it proved that the use of Mindful Experiential Learning in teaching extensive listening can improve the students’ listening comprehension. While the results of the test shown that the significance is 0.096 this value is higher than the level of significance for one tailed-test (0.048). The significance of Using Mindful Experiential Learning for the teacher will apply it as an alternative method especially in teaching English and for the students can be more motivated to practice listening or their motivational function to improve their listening comprehension

ENHANCING STUDENTS' LISTENING SKILL: LEVERAGING EXTENSIVE LISTENING ACTIVITY IN AN EFL CLASSROOM

This research aims to explore the best implementation of Extensive Listening in improving students' listening skill at grade eleven of SMK PGRI 3 Badung. The subject of this research is XI MM 2 class that consisted of 31 students. This Classroom Action Research (CAR) cyclic procedure consist of four stages, namely: planning, action, observation, and reflection. Observation and interview was done focusing on how the students respond to the implementation of the extensive listening method, while the test was administered in the end of class to check whether the applied method is effective. The result showed that the best implementation of Extensive Listening was found in the second cycle where drilling vocabulary was applied during pre-listening, practice and adaptation of speech rate were applied in whilst-listening, and exercises were emphasized in post-listening. This syntax was proven to successfully help the students to achieve the learning goal where 96,77% passed the minimum mastery criteria or KKM (75) with the class mean score of 89,67. Besides, students stated that they liked the teaching method and were more motivated in learning listening. Students confirmed that vocabulary and pronunciation drilling was considered effective and influential for their ability in doing the listening test. So, It could be concluded that: 1. drilling vocabulary should be implemented prior to the Extensive Listening main activities to ensure that the students have sufficient vocabulary, 2. teacher should justify the speech rate of the listening material during the Extensive Listening main activities to suit the students' ability.

Arabic Extensive Listening and its Language Learning Benefits

Foreign Language learning is a complex process that requires considerable effort from both teachers and learners, particularly in developing effective listening skills in foreign language classrooms. Among the various approaches, Extensive Listening (EL) has emerged as a promising pedagogical method for enhancing language acquisition. This research investigates the utilization of Extensive Listening (EL) as a pedagogical approach for teaching Arabic listening skills, focusing on its efficacy in facilitating vocabulary and grammar acquisition, as well as exploring students' perceptions regarding the benefits of language learning through EL. Language teachers often face challenges in cultivating listening skills among foreign language learners due to its inherent difficulty. The study employed observation, documentation, and focus group discussions as data collection methods, while data analysis involved several stages: data description, data reduction, and drawing conclusions. The findings reveal that EL was effectively integrated into the Arabic listening course, aligning with the course objectives and learning materials. Students actively engaged in grammar analysis through audiobooks and demonstrated a positive attitude towards EL, acknowledging its role in enhancing their vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar knowledge.

A Research on the Causes and Strategies of College English Listening Difficulties

With the increasing of China's international influence, China's comprehensive discourse power in the world has been strengthened. In the past, people's understanding of learning English mainly focus on the exam, and exam pays more attention to doing exercises, leading to a certain extent ignore the training of listening skills, which results in most students who go to college learning "dumb English". In order to explore the causes of students' listening difficulties, this paper intends to use the questionnaire for research. Through the research, it is not difficult to find that most students can hardly improve their listening comprehension due to the lack of vocabulary accumulation, the lack of basic knowledge of grammar and syntax, the interference of psychological pressure, and emotional factors. In view of the above problems, the author comes up with the following solutions through research, including guiding students to combine extensive listening and intensive listening to expand their vocabulary, integrating the basic knowledge of grammar and syntax. It is expected to promote the improvement of listening skills of college students and the continued development of Chinese English education.

THE USE OF GOOGLE SITES IN EXTENSIVE LISTENING CLASSROOM: STUDENTS’ VOICES

Extensive Listening (EL) is a recent study whose development is sparked by Extensive Reading (ER). However, not many studies have been conducted on the implementation of Extensive Listening in the classroom using digital tools provided on the internet such as Google Sites. This study aims to examine students’ perceptions of the use of Google Sites in extensive listening classes. It was conducted using a qualitative design by involving 18 second-year students at a higher education level. The students’ classroom reflections and the semi-structured style of the interview were included as the research instruments. The results showed that most of the students believed that Google Sites is useful to enhance their creativity and motivate them to be actively involved in extensive listening activities.

Students’ Challenges and Strategies in Extensive Listening Class

This study aims to analyze the students’ challenges in Extensive Listening class and find the strategies that students used to overcome those challenges. The researchers conducted this study to answer the questions of: What are the students’ challenges in Extensive Listening class? And What are the strategies for students to overcome those challenges in Extensive Listening class? This study used qualitative research. The participants of this study were ten students from 2019 and 2020 class year who had taken an Extensive Listening class majoring in English Language Education Program, Faculty of Language and Arts at Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana. In collecting the data, the researchers used online interviews through Zoom Meeting. The results of this study showed the students’ challenges in Extensive Listening class and strategies used to overcome the challenges in Extensive Listening class. The challenges faced by students in the Extensive Listening class were divided into internal and external factors. In the internal factors consisted of only one participant. Meanwhile, external factors consisted of six participants. Besides the challenges, this study also showed the strategies used by students to overcome the challenges and improve their listening skills, and it consisted of 10 strategies.

Vocational School Students’ Perceptions of Learning Extensive Listening through YouTube Videos

This study aims to examine and describe vocational school students' perceptions of learning extensive listening through YouTube videos. The researcher used a mixed methods design to test students' perceptions of learning extensive listening through YouTube videos. Data were analysed quantitatively obtained from questionnaires and qualitatively obtained from the interview method. This study collected data from 36 students from SMKN 12 Malang. The results of the current study indicate students show positive perceptions of learning extensive listening through YouTube videos. A large number of students revealed that YouTube videos can enhance and motivate them to learn to listen extensively. The conclusions of the interviews were strengthened by the results, which that revealed students agreed among the application of YouTube videos for teaching extensive listening. In addition, students believe that YouTube videos are more useful when learning English, especially in teaching extensive listening.

TED LECTURES FOR ESP: BEST PRACTICES META-ANALYSIS

The study aims at investigating incorporation of TED talks (TTs) in ESP classes with a specific focus on abundant opportunities TTs provide for teaching intensive and extensive listening. Although the importance of listening comprehension is widely admitted, a few scholars still claim that it remains the most neglected micro-skill of all, a “Cinderella of communication strategies”. This misbalance can be partly put down to lack of graded listening materials of appealing content for lower proficiency students and TTs might serve as a potential remedy for ESP learners. The nature of TTs (with TED standing for Technology, Entertainment and Design) is of great interest for learners due to engaging topics, motivating speakers, easy access and overall user friendliness. Therefore a few SLA instructors have been attempting to utilize TTs in various ways, which include, but are not limited to vocabulary development and retention, listening comprehension, translation skills, speaking assignments varying from guided discussions to oral presentations, reading comprehension skills, writing and summation, EAP, etc. A few integration models have been suggested and evaluated in past literature. The author attempts to draw on those and suggest a detailed account of advances that refer to teaching extensive and intensive listening comprehension.