Pre-listening Activities Research Articles

The Impact of Virtual Reality Assisted Listening Instruction on English as a Foreign Language Learners’ Comprehension and Perceptions

Virtual Reality (VR) as an interactive, illustrative, and immersive learning environment has ample opportunities for the development of language skills. Despite a growing literature on VR-assisted language learning, the benefit of VR for L2 listening is in need of further investigation. To fill this lacuna, the current study surveyed the impact of using 360° monoscopic VR videos as pre-listening tasks on language learners’ development of listening comprehension. Sixty English as a foreign language (EFL) learners participated in the study as the control and the experimental groups. Their entry level of listening comprehension was evaluated by the B1 Preliminary listening paper before the study. Listening was taught to both groups by the comprehension-based model consisting of a pre-during-post listening cycle. The pre-listening activities of the experimental group included watching and working on 360° VR videos related to the topics of the listening parts of the textbook. The pre-listening phase of the control group included the warmup activities of the textbook. Both groups’ listening comprehension was evaluated again at the end of the study. The quantitative data analysis revealed a significant difference between the participants’ listening comprehension in favor of those who had worked with VR video as pre-listening tasks. Also, larger effect sizes for Parts 3 and 4 of the test that focused on understanding monologues were evident. The experimental group members were asked to express their perceptions of the experience of working with 360° VR videos in listening instruction by taking part in a structured interview. The results showed that almost all participants found the activities to be inspiring and pedagogically valuable.

ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF AUDIO-VISUAL SCRIPT EXPOSURE IN LISTENING COMPREHENSION LESSONS

Pre-listening activities have been proven to be efficient for enhancing learners' English listening abilities. Nevertheless, there has been insufficient attention given to the impact of showing students audio scripts during while-listening stage on their performance and attitudes. To be specific, that students can see audio scripts is regarded as a highly effective instructional tool for enhancing their English listening comprehension skills because it allows them to clearly perceive and comprehend the listening content, as well as boosts their eagerness to acquire English language skills. The objectives of this study are first to gain some insight into the difficulties faced by 80 English-majored students at Dong Nai Technology University when it comes to listening comprehension. Accordingly, it examines their perspectives on the exposure of audio scripts at the stage of while listening. Questionnaires and interviews were employed as tools for gathering essential data. According to the questionnaires, students had significant listening challenges throughout stages of a lesson including lack of vocabulary, pronunciation skills, background knowledge, memorization, concentration, ability to process the information in a short time. Furthermore, the interviews revealed that the display of audio scripts not only improves but also motivates students in their learning journey. In short, the students found the application of audiovisual scripts as a facilitator in an English listening comprehension lesson.

Effectiveness of Schema-based English Listening Teaching Mode in Secondary Vocational Schools

The paper discusses how a schema-based English listening teaching paradigm can help Secondary Vocational Schools (SVSs). SVS English instruction has prioritized grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension over hearing. A lack of teacher preparation and large classes with diverse English proficiency has hampered students' English listening experience. To support integrated language learning curricular revisions, the paper emphasizes listening skills for efficient communication. A thorough literature review covers schema theory, schema classification, and listening comprehension. The schema-based teaching model applies pre-, while-, and post-listening stages based on schema theory and Underwood's "three stages" hypothesis. Students' involvement, comprehension, and participation enhance with this technique. Student involvement and comprehension improve with schema-based instruction in an SVS. The study offers pre-listening activities to activate schemas and develop new ones, while-listening tactics to scaffold comprehension, and post-listening activities to solidify learning. Phonetic awareness, prior knowledge, and listening skills remain issues for students. Continuous theoretical knowledge enrichment and new teaching practices are needed to improve students' listening comprehension and language ability.

The Impact of Vocabulary Preteaching and Content Previewing on the Listening Comprehension of Arabic-Speaking EFL Learners

Aim/Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of pre-listening activities on Arabic-speaking EFL learners’ comprehension of spoken texts. Background: This study aims to contribute to the current research and to increase our understanding about the effectiveness of pre-listening activities. Specifically, this study seeks to clarify some of the research in this area that seems to be incongruent. Methodology: The study investigates two widely implemented activities in second language (L2) classrooms: vocabulary preteaching and content previewing. Ninety-three native-Arabic speaking EFL learners, whose proficiently levels were beginner, intermediate, or advanced, were randomly assigned to a control group or one of three experimental groups: the vocabulary-only (VO) group, content-only (CO) group, or vocabulary + content (VC) group. Each of the experimental groups received one of the treatments to determine which pre-listening activity was more effective and whether additional pre-listening activities yield additional comprehension. Listening comprehension of the aural text was measured by a test comprising 13 multiple-choice and true-false questions. Contribution: The present study provided additional explanations regarding the long-standing contradicting results about vocabulary preteaching and content previewing. Findings: The results showed that pre-listening activities had a positive impact on Arabic-speaking EFL learners’ listening comprehension, with the VO group significantly increasing their scores on the posttest compared to those of the control or other groups. Vocabulary preteaching was particularly beneficial for more advanced learners. With regard to which pre-listening activity contributed the most to better listening comprehension, vocabulary preteaching was the most effective. Content previewing did not increase comprehension for the CO group and had no additional benefit for the VC group. Recommendation for Researchers: This paper recommends that researchers explore new pre-listening activities that have never studied. Future research should be extended to include other nations and contextual situations to extend our knowledge about the effect of pre-listening activities. As far as listening comprehension can only be achieved when listeners are attentive and engaged, the listening text should be interesting and the lexical coverage of the listening text should be appropriate for all participants. Future Research: The results are to be interpreted carefully because they are limited by the students’ L2 proficiency, demographic, and cultural backgrounds (i.e., first language (L1) proficiency, age, gender, Middle Eastern culture). Results might be quite different if the study was conducted with different populations who have different life and language learning experiences (Vandergrift & Baker, 2015). Therefore, the results of this study indicate there is much room for improvement and a need for further research.

L2 listening: An intervention study of instructional approaches

AbstractThis intervention study was conducted to assess the effects of three instructional approaches to L2 listening. That is, a metacognitive pedagogical cycle, an awareness‐raising approach which combined reflections and short discussions of factors associated with successful L2 listening, and an approach that incorporated vocabulary as a prelistening activity and guiding questions during the listening session. This study embraces the need for intervention studies that identify what works best. It addresses methodological flaws in previous studies and concerns associated with long‐term effects. L2 listening was measured before and after the intervention at pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest. The overarching research question was concerned with whether or not there are significant differences in L2 listening between and within the groups. The results indicate that guiding learners through a process that develops metacognitive knowledge and regulatory skills is an effective way of teaching listening. The results also offer preliminary evidence of long‐term effects.

New Istanbul B1 Level Turkish Course Book for International Students in Terms of Listening Strategies

Language has been a means of agreement since the first humanity existed. With the diversity of languages spoken around the world, the need for societies to learn a foreign language other than their mother tongue is also increasing on a global scale. Speaking of Turkish in wide geographies and the number of immigrants coming to our country make it necessary to teach Turkish as a foreign language more systematically. In this respect, course books are one of the most used tools for language learning. In the course books that include four basic language skills, listening skill is seen as a neglected skill both in the mother tongue and in learning a foreign language, so it has been examined in different course books in various studies. In the course books, listening skills are included as before, during and after listening. In this study, New Istanbul Turkish B1 level course book listening activities were examined in terms of the distribution of listening activities before, during and after listening in accordance with the determined classification. Document analysis method, one of the qualitative research models, was used in the study. In the light of all findings, it was concluded that the distribution of pre-listening activities to unit themes was not balanced, the strategies used were repeated, certain strategies were constantly included in the while-listening activities, and post-listening activities and strategies were not included. According to the results, it was suggested to distribute listening activities to all units in a balanced way, to provide enrichment by using different strategies and to include post-listening activities in terms of the integrity of learning.

Effects of Activating Background Knowledge in Listening Skill and How to Improve IELTS Listening

Among the well-known international English tests, IELTS has been seen as one of the most well-trusted and popular to EFL learners throughout the world. In Vietnam, most of the universities require their EFL students to have an IELTS score of 6.5 or 7.0 to fulfil their bachelor degree program, which is not quite an easy job. The paper emphasizes the role of background knowledge in improving IELTS Listening scores for EFL students at Saigon University. The research was done by observing two groups of students learning Listening Module 3 at the institution. They were required to do the same test; however, while a group was constructed with pre-listening activities, the other simply listened and completed the task without preparation. The result showed little difference between the two groups in terms of efficiency, but most of the students in the first group were able to complete their test in the first time listening while some members of the latter group needed a second time. They were then required to complete a survey, including learning styles and attitudes. The results also tell us that EFL students pay much attention to pre-listening activities, and they believe such tasks can help them do their listening test better.

Examination of Gazi University B1 level textbook listening department in teaching Turkish as a foreign language

Günümüzde Türkçenin yabancı dil olarak öğretimi önem kazanan bir alandır. Türkçenin yabancı dil olarak öğretiminde dört temel dil becerisi vardır. Dinleme diğer becerilere göre ayrı bir önem arz etmektedir. Çünkü dinleme, anne karnında işitilen seslerin anlam kazanmasıyla başlayan ilk dil becerisidir. Dinleme, doğal olarak gelişir ve diğer becerilerinin gelişmesinde önemli rol oynar. Dinleme becerisi düşünme becerisini destekleyen, bir süreç sonunda kendini geliştirebilen bir beceri alanı olarak kabul edilmelidir. Bu çalışmanın temel amacı yabancılara Türkçe öğretiminde kullanılan Gazi Üniversitesi B1 seviyesi ders kitabındaki dinleme metinlerinin öğrenci seviyesine uygunluğunun incelenmesidir. Çalışmada doküman incelemesi yöntemine başvurulmuştur. Bu bağlamda Gazi Üniversitesi B1 seviyesi ders kitabındaki dinleme metinleri Diller İçin Avrupa Ortak Başvuru Metninde yer alan kriterlere göre incelenmiştir. İncelenen noktalar şunlardır; içerik, soru tipi, dil bilgisi, kelimelerin seviyeye uygunluğu, hız ve anlaşılırlık, görsel kullanımı, dinlemenin varsa kültür aktarım boyutu. Araştırma sonucunda, dinleme ses kayıtlarının Gazi Üniversitesi Yabancılara Türkçe Öğretimi B1 Seviyesi Ders Kitabındaki dinleme etkinliklerinde dinleme öncesi ve dinleme sonrası etkinliklere yer verilmemiştir. Dinleme öncesi etkinliklere yer verilmesinin öğrencide farklı dinleme özelliklerinin gelişmesine katkı sağlayacağı düşünülmektedir. Gazi Üniversitesi ders kitabındaki okuma metinleri ve dinleme metinleri arasında içerik bağlamında bir ilişki yoktur. Bu durumun dinleme becerisinde anlama ve anlamlandırmayı desteklemediği düşünülmektedir. Dil becerileri birbirinden farklıdır. Ancak birbirini destekler. Dil öğretimi kitaplarında da birbirini destekler etkinliklere yer verilmesi önerilmektedir.

Travailler l'oral avec la radio par Delphine Barreau, Marine Bechtel et Déborah Gros

Reviewed by: Travailler l'oral avec la radio par Delphine Barreau, Marine Bechtel et Déborah Gros Jessica L. Sturm and Michael Foster Barreau, Delphine, Marine Bechtel, et Déborah Gros. Travailler l'oral avec la radio. PU de Grenoble, 2019. ISBN 978-2-7061-4258-1. Pp. 173. These 19 different lessons centered around authentic RFI radio broadcasts recorded in 2018 are meant to help learners of French practice and develop their oral expression skills. The broadcasts are included on an accompanying audio CD and are appropriate for the intermediate level (i.e., level B1 on the CEFR scale) learner who is looking for examples of naturalistic spoken French. The lessons focus on a variety of contemporary topics such as education, sports, science, art, and the environment. Each lesson, divided into five main parts, is appropriately sequenced from pre-listening activities up through activities encouraging personalized language production at the end. The pre-listening section helps students recall what they already know about the topic before listening to the broadcast. The listening section focuses on two different aspects: a more generalized understanding with the first listen, and then a second, more focused listen for a deeper understanding. Each lesson has a variety of comprehension activities like "true and false" or selecting the word one hears after the first listen and fill in the blank or short answer following the second listen. The section focusing on relevant linguistic structures in the broadcast helps learners understand what is being communicated, such as how the imperfect tense is used to describe the past, in the broadcast focusing on childhood memories. In the final section, learners are encouraged to use the language in a personalized way, such as formulating their opinion of a dish they tried, in the lesson on gastronomy. Additionally, the lessons are sprinkled with helpful resources for cultural explanations specifics on the radio broadcast's structure, and extension questions to help encourage further thinking on the lesson's topic. For instructors who are looking to integrate this book into their existing course curriculum as an additional resource, the table of contents at the end provides quick references to each lesson's content, the linguistic structures covered in each lesson, the type of personalized output that learners will produce in each lesson, and the broadcast date of each radio broadcast. The book also contains an answer key for all activities so that learners can check their work at the end of each lesson. The audio CD has all tracks as sequential listening activities that correspond to track numbers listed throughout each lesson in the book making it easier for learners to follow along. Transcripts of all radio broadcasts are also included so that learners can follow along while listening and then clearly see the relevant linguistic structures presented in a contextualized manner as they focus on language use. Furthermore, a companion website provides supplementary pedagogical resources for teachers to help them adapt the lessons to their specific needs. [End Page 287] Michael Foster Eastern Michigan University Copyright © 2020 American Association of Teachers of French

Kesulitan Menyimak dan Strategi Mahasiswa dalam Memahami Bagian Listening Comprehension pada Tes TOEIC

This study is aimed to identify the difficulties to comprehend listening activities experienced by students and their strategies in understanding Listening Comprehension section of TOEIC test. Descriptive qualitative method was employed to find out and analyze the difficulties and strategies the students implemented. The research was carried out at English Department of Politeknik Negeri Bandung with the population of the third semester students in Academic Year 2017/2018. There were 22 students as the subject in this study. Data were collected by questionnaires and interview to confirm students’ answers. The results showed that the major problems encountered by students were unfamiliar vocabulary, accents of the speaker, speed of speech, lack of concentration, and quality of recorded materials. Listening strategies implemented by students were mostly metacognitive strategy since in this strategy they obtain the awareness of the materials they are listening to in a more cautious way. This method is about the ways of planning, monitoring and assessing the collected information from the listening section the same as pre listening activities. Students applying metacognitive strategies have the benefits such as they can use appropriate learning strategy to master learning materials; they comprehend learning materials more quickly and integrate the knowledge seriously; they put themselves to be loyal receivers and can be properly adaptable to all conditions; they have high confidences in themselves to get help when needed from their peers, teachers, or family; they pay attention to the materials and assess themselves as to how to be successful learners; and they properly deal with the problems in doing their task. Keywords: Students’ Difficulties, Listening Comprehension, Listening Strategies

Pedagogical Utility of Pre-Listening Activities for Improving Iranian Elementary EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension

Pedagogical Utility of Pre-Listening Activities for Improving Iranian Elementary EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension

THE IMPACT OF PRE-LISTENING ACTIVITIES ON EFL LEARNERS’ LISTENING COMPREHENSION

The present study investigated the extent to which four pre-listening activities, “pre-teaching vocabulary”, “content discussion”, “pre-reading questions” and “topic discussion,” assisted EFL learners with their performance on listening comprehension tests across two different proficiency groups (elementary and advanced). Both proficiency groups were divided into four experimental groups, and each was assigned one of the pre-listening activities. The findings revealed that in elementary level, vocabulary preparation and pre-reading questions groups respectively outperformed the two other groups, while in advanced level, vocabulary preparation and content discussion groups respectively outperformed the two other groups. Therefore, vocabulary knowledge should be emphasized more strongly in pre-listening activities.

The use of pre-listening activities in teaching listening skill to English-majored students at Van Hien University

In teaching listening, it is widely known that a good pattern for listening session should include three stages: pre-listening, while-listening, and post-listening. The aim of this paper is to investigate the employment of pre-listening activities to help improve English-majored students’ listening compre- hension at Van Hien University. The paper first defines the listening process and then reviews various pre-listening activities that are used in teaching and learning listening skill. In order to illustrate the importance of the use of pre-listening activities, the experiment was employed with the participation of two separate groups: one experimental group and one control group. Pre- and post-tests were used to explore students’ performance before and after the use of pre-listening activities in teaching listening lessons. The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups after the experiment. This difference was in favor of the group experiencing pre-listening activities. Finally, from the research findings, recommendations were made in the hope of improving listening practice and teaching.

The Use of a “Think-Pair-Share” Brainstorming Advance Organizer to Prepare Learners to Listen in the L2 Classroom

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of prelistening activities, particularly interactive brainstorming advance organizers that used a “Think-Pair-Share” structure, on the listening comprehension performance of L2 junior high school students. The term advance organizer is defined as a teaching activity that helps build or activate L2 learners’ prior knowledge for a listening task, or as the provision of support to promote learning. The results show that the participants who had the advance organizer of picture brainstorming scored substantially higher than those in the vocabulary brainstorming group or the control group. The differences between the vocabulary brainstorming group and the control group, however, failed to reach a significant level. The findings suggest that the use of certain advance-organizer activity in the prelistening stage helps L2 learners comprehend a text better, and that L2 learners agree with the effectiveness associated with the use of brainstorming advance organizers as an instructional strategy in helping them activate their prior knowledge, boost their confidence for the test, reduce their performance anxiety, make connections with their own life experiences, and inspire new thoughts.

Perceptions of L1 Use as a Pre-listening Activity Relative to L2 Proficiency

The purpose of this study is to examine students’ perceptions of L1 translations when learning L2 vocabulary as a pre-listening activity and to investigate their listening comprehension test performance. Higher and lower level Japanese university students were required to learn vocabulary as a pre-listening activity. Both levels were divided into two groups. One group was asked to learn vocabulary items using L1 translations, whereas the other used L2 definitions. Previous research has suggested that using L1 translations is preferable for lower level students. However, the results of the present study contradict the findings of previous studies. The present study shows that both higher and lower level students tended to prefer L2 definitions when learning L2 vocabulary, and that this tendency was stronger among lower level students. Moreover, regarding listening comprehension test performance, the results show that higher level students who used L1 translations consistently outperformed those who used L2 definitions, although lower level students did not show such consistency.

A Study of Using Pre-Listening Activities With Multimedia Modes for EFL Students’ Listening Comprehension

This study aims to examine the effects of four modes of pre-listening activities (text, image, audiovisuals, and the combination of three modes) on...

Activating Students' Background Knowledge and Achievement in EFL Listening Comprehension

This study aims at investigating the effect of activating students' background knowledge on EFL listening comprehension. To do this, forty foundation year engineering students were assigned to two twenty-student groups: The students in the control group listened to five listening texts then answered listening comprehension questions about these texts; whereas the students in the experimental group were given pre-listening activities including pre-questions, picture discussion and pre-teaching of difficult words then listened to the same texts and answered the comprehension questions. A focus group of fifteen students from both groups were asked about their attitudes toward English listening comprehension. The “t” test analysis of the mean scores on the listening comprehension test showed statistically significant differences in favor of the experimental group. The students in the focus group showed mixed attitudes mainly negative toward listening comprehension. The research concludes with recommendations about the importance of using pre-listening activities and changing the students’ attitudes toward English language in general and listening in particular.

The Effect of Summarization as a Pre-Listening Technique at University Preparatory Classes

Listening forms a considerable role whilst communication. As for foreign language learning, listening is of major significance since it produces language input. For students, listening comprehension is one of the most challenging courses. For second language instructors, fostering the students’ listening comprehension skills and preparing them as active listeners is a big challenge. In this manner, this paper presents findings from an action research study exploring the impact of summarization technique as a pre-listening activity on EFL learners’ performance in giving correct immediate written response to listening comprehension questions. Data were elicited from 15 elementary level university prep class students at a state university in Turkey. A comparison between the pre-test and post-test scores demonstrated that the learners achieved significantly higher marks after the treatment classes. The findings suggest that summarization of listening passages is a useful predictor of improved performance.

Developing listening comprehension skills of beginner level EFL studensts: An action research with 7th grade Turkish students

In foreign language teaching, there are a lot of components that need to be handled. According to the objectives of the curriculum or the need of the learners, the priorities are determined. In the beginning stages of learning a foreign language, speaking is generally regarded as a skill which many learners have difficulty from the outset. On the other hand, listening to an English-speaking person and understanding is a more crucial skill that needs to be developed since the problems in that area will hinder the learning process. In this action research, the problem of seventh grade Turkish EFL students in listening to each other during play-acting is handled by adding a pre-listening activity before act-outs. The effect of this treatment is tested by comparing the scores from the act-outs with pre-listening stage and without pre-listening stage. The findings show that the students’ listening comprehension is positively affected from the treatment.

Analysis of the Design of Grade 9 Listening Lessons in the Student’s Book and Teacher's Guide of English for Ethiopia

The study was conducted to examine the design of the listening lessons in the Grade 9 English for Ethiopia. The objective of the study was to see how the listening lessons were presented to identify if there were problems related to the design. The study employed a descriptive research design using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. It used content analysis as data gathering tool, where both the Student Textbook and the Teacher's Guide were analyzed based on the checklist adapted from NCLRC (2004) and Lingzhu (2008). The findings of the study have shown that the three stages of listening were not properly addressed in the materials evaluated, with the exclusion of the pre-listening activities in the majority of the listening lessons and the post-listening stage was missing in the majority of cases. The finding also showed that the input sources and the text types were not proportionally treated in the Textbook evaluated and the activities are comprehension exercises dominated, giving little attention to the other listening sub- skills. Hence, the study recommended that if the listening skill has to be taught effectively and the listening proficiency has to be properly addressed, the design of the listening lessons have to be reconsidered.