Is less more? Effectiveness and perceived usefulness of keyword and full captioned video for L2 listening comprehension

ReCALL ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maribel Montero Perez ◽  
Elke Peters ◽  
Piet Desmet
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Perceived Usefulness ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Perceived Need ◽  
The Third ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
University Level ◽  
L2 Listening

AbstractThe 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 three short French clips in one of three conditions: the control group watched the clips without captions (N = 70), the second group had fully captioned clips (N = 81), the third group had keyword captioned clips (N = 75). After each clip, all participants took a listening comprehension test, which consisted of global and detailed questions. To answer the detailed questions, participants had access to an audio passage of the corresponding clip. At the end of the experiment, participants completed a questionnaire and open-ended survey questions about their perception of captions. Our findings revealed that the full captioning group outperformed both the no captioning and the keyword captioning group on the global comprehension questions. However, no difference was found between the keyword captioning and the no captioning group. Results of the detailed comprehension questions (with audio) revealed no differences between the three conditions. A content-analysis approach to the questionnaire indicated that learners’ perceived need for full captions is strong. Participants consider captions useful for speech decoding and meaning-making processes. Surprisingly, keyword captions were considered highly distracting. These findings suggest that full rather than keyword captioning should be considered when proposing video-based listening comprehension activities to L2 learners.

scholarly journals L2 Listening Comprehension: Is it a Language Problem or Listening Problem?

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mostafa El-dali
Keyword(s):  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Major Question ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Language Problem ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Comprehension Process ◽  
Faculty Of Education ◽  
L2 Listening ◽  
Language Environment

In a foreign language environment, students typically have limited exposure to the language outside formal classrooms. Therefore, their ability to comprehend spoken English may be limited. To add to this problem, L2 learners often regard listening as the most difficult language skill to learn. On the other hand, it is noticeable that L2 listening remains the least researched of all four language skills. Accordingly, the present study is based on the commonly believed premises that (1) investigating the listening comprehension process can provide useful insights into teaching listening and (2) learners who learn to control their listening process can enhance their comprehension, and their overall proficiency may be highly developed.The present study reports on the results of an empirical study on forty-six L2 learners of English. The subjects were equally divided into two groups. The first group (N=23) represents first year students (Beginners) in the Department of English at the Faculty of Education, Menufia University, Egypt. The second group (N=23) represents fourth year students (Advanced) in the same department. The major question that this study attempts to answer is “whether listening comprehension a language problem or listening problem?” The instruments of this study consist of five tasks: pre-test, questionnaire, classroom instruction sessions, post-test, and interviews. The data analysis had a quantitative and a qualitative part. Results were obtained and conclusions were made.

The Effect of Audio and Video Modality on Perception of Reduced Forms

2021 ◽  
pp. 76-104
Author(s):  
Kaine Gulozer ◽  
Zeynep Kocoglu
Keyword(s):  
Test Performance ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Control Group ◽  
School Students ◽  
Control Group Design ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Post Test ◽  
L2 Listening ◽  
Reduced Forms

Reduced forms (RFs) spoken by native English speakers have been challenging on the part of the second language (L2) learners. This chapter aims to address suprasegmental features to Turkish preparatory language school students in relation to L2 listening comprehension. Considering the limited research on RFs in learning English as a L2 context, this pre-test post-test control group design study aimed to explore whether the instruction of five RFs in sentential level results in any difference in listening comprehension test performance. The five forms entail contraction, assimilation, flap, elision, and linking. A total of 343 were recruited, and RFs instruction was delivered through the web page designated for the study for five weeks, and the performance of the eight groups was measured twice throughout the study. The findings indicated that sentence level of RFs instruction through web-based learning facilitates the listening comprehension of RFs.

scholarly journals Instructors’ Perceptions of English for Academic Purposes Textbooks at University Level

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 153
Author(s):  
Thaer Issa Tawalbeh
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Positive Attitude ◽  
English Language ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
The Third ◽  
University Level ◽  
Academic Year

The present paper aims to investigate EFL instructors’ perceptions of Cambridge English Unlimited (CEU) textbooks taught at Taif University English Language Center (TUELC) in the Academic year 2017-2018. To achieve this purpose, the researcher attempted to answer three questions. The first investigates instructors’ perceptions of the textbooks. The second question aims to find out the features that add to the strengths of the textbooks. The third question is an attempt to reveal the shortcomings of the textbooks from the instructors' perspectives and their suggestions to overcome these drawbacks. A questionnaire of 4- Likert scale was used to gather data from ninety two instructors to answer the first two questions, and content analysis was used to answer the third question. The collected data were analyzed in the form of descriptive statistics, using means, standard deviation and percentages. The results showed that instructors have a very positive attitude towards the textbooks in terms of the criteria and features investigated in the first two sections of the study tool. These answer the first two questions. However, they had certain concerns and suggestions in aspects other than those included in the study tool. These have been summarized according to their frequency of occurrence in the instructors' responses. Based on the results, the researcher drew a number of conclusions and recommendations.

The impact of keyword and full video captioning on listening comprehension

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 112-120
Author(s):  
Elias Adam Bensalem
Keyword(s):  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Video Captioning ◽  
Video Clips ◽  
Comprehension Test ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
University Level ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Comprehension Tests

This study investigates the effect of two types of captioning (full and keyword captioning) on listening comprehension.  Thirty-six university-level EFL students participated in the study. They were randomly assigned to watch three video clips under three conditions.  The first group watched the video clips with full captions.  The second group watched the same video clips with keyword captions. The control group watched the video clips without captions. After watching each clip, participants took a listening comprehension test. At the end of the experiment, participants completed a questionnaire to measure their perceptions about the use of captions and the video clips they watched. Results indicated that the full captioning group significantly outperformed both the keyword captioning and the no captioning group on the listening comprehension tests.  However, this study did not find any significant difference between the keyword captioning group and the no captioning group. Results of the survey suggest that keyword captioning were a source of distraction for participants.Keywords: captions, video, listening comprehension, ESL.  

scholarly journals Effects of web-based metacognitive listening on Chinese university EFL learners' listening comprehension and metacognitive awareness

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Pei ◽  
Jitpanat Suwanthep
Keyword(s):  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Metacognitive Awareness ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Metacognitive Development ◽  
Chinese University ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Experimental Group ◽  
The Web

The present study examined the effects of web-based metacognitive listening practice on L2 learners’ listening comprehension over 14 weeks. Participants (N  = 67) came from two intact classes of intermediate EFL university learners in China. The experimental group was involved in the web-based metacognitive listening practice built on the metacognitive listening principles. The control group undertook a traditional web-based listening practice with the same listening materials texts, yet without training on their metacognitive awareness. TOEFL tests and MALQ were used to track the development of listening achievements and metacognitive awareness. ANCOVA was employed to detect the differences between the two groups regarding listening achievements and metacognitive development. The results show that the experimental group made significantly greater gains than the control group in listening achievements. However, the development of metacognition remained inconclusive. The study concludes that metacognitive listening practice under web-based environment could outperform the traditional web-based listening practice in improving listening achievements among Chinese intermediate EFL learners. Besides, some recommendations for further study are discussed.

scholarly journals Second Language Listening Comprehension Gain From Aural vs. Audio-Visual Inputs: The Case of EFL Arab Learners

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 911-921
Author(s):  
Anwar A. H. Al-Athwary ◽  
Nada M. Lasloum
Keyword(s):  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Visual Medium ◽  
Second Language Listening ◽  
Post Test ◽  
L2 Listening ◽  
Visual Materials ◽  
L2 Vocabulary ◽  
Experimental Group

This study aims at finding out which medium is best for the acquisition of L2 listening skills, aural or audio-visual listening comprehension. Sixty EFL Arab learners were asked to sit for pre- and post-tests. The post-test proved a significant improvement in the performance of the students of the experimental group who were exposed to audio-visual medium. This outperformance of the experimental group appeared in their ability to distinguish the meanings of several words in the pre- and post-tests. They were able to identify most of the L2 vocabulary, grammar and syntax because of using the audio-visual materials. The experimental group managed to understand the linguistic information and they were also able to answer the questions in both given tests correctly. On the contrary, the performance of the control group was clearly poor in terms of the L2 vocabulary, grammar and syntax and the reason is referring to the use of the traditional material which is the aural one. The subjects of the experimental group were interested in learning listening by using audio-visual materials because it helps them to develop the listening skills faster, unlike the subjects of the control group. Therefore, the results show that multimedia is effective in enhancing the skills of listening comprehension of female Saudi EFL learners.

scholarly journals Effect of pronunciation instruction on L2 learners’ listening comprehension

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phung Dao ◽  
Mai Xuan Nhat Chi Nguyen ◽  
Ngoc Bao Chau Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Pronunciation Instruction ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Report Data ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Self Report Data ◽  
L2 Listening ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This study explored the potential impact of pronunciation instruction on L2 listening comprehension. Seventy-two intermediate Vietnamese EFL university learners formed two groups. The pronunciation group (n = 35) received seven weekly 45-minute pronunciation instruction sessions targeting segmental and suprasegmental features of English. The control group (n = 37) did not receive any pronunciation instruction. Weekly reflections, an exit questionnaire and focus group interviews were used to investigate learners’ perceptions of the impact of the pronunciation instruction. Results showed that the two groups’ immediate listening post-test scores did not differ significantly after the first two sessions on syllables and consonants/vowels. However, the pronunciation group outperformed the control group after three further pronunciation sessions on word stress, thought groups and sentence focus, but these differences disappeared on subsequent immediate and delayed post-tests. Self-report data indicated learners’ positive perceptions of the helpfulness of the pronunciation instruction and how the gained pronunciation knowledge helped improve their listening comprehension.

Working Memory and Language Aptitude in Relation to Listening Strategy Instruction in an Instructed SLA Context

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Saime Kara Duman ◽  
Şebnem Yalçın ◽  
Gülcan Erçetin
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Strategy Instruction ◽  
Span Task ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Language Aptitude ◽  
Listening Instruction ◽  
Learner Differences ◽  
L2 Listening

Abstract The present small-scale study explores whether working memory (WM) and language aptitude (LA) explain any variance in L2 listening comprehension beyond baseline listening ability and explicit strategy-based listening instruction in an instructed EFL setting at the tertiary level. In a pretest/posttest non-randomized group design, the experimental group (N = 19) received explicit strategy-based listening instruction for 12 hours while the control group (N = 17) followed their regular L2 listening course syllabus. L2 listening comprehension was measured with an L2 academic listening comprehension test. WM measures (Foster et al., 2015) included an operation span task (OST), a symmetry span task (SST), and a rotation span task (RST). LA was assessed with LLAMA (Meara, 2005). The findings revealed the effectiveness of strategy-based intervention for L2 listening comprehension. A hierarchical regression analysis indicated that baseline listening scores explained about 52% of the variance in the post-listening scores, while listening strategy instruction explained an additional 16% of the variance. On the other hand, WM and LA did not explain any variance in listening comprehension scores, suggesting that the two individual learner differences in the present study are not significant predictors of L2 listening comprehension.

scholarly journals The Effect of Listening Strategy Instruction on Second Language Listening Anxiety and Self-Efficacy of Iranian EFL Learners

SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402093387
Author(s):  
Jalil Fathi ◽  
Ali Derakhshan ◽  
Saeede Torabi
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Strategy Instruction ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Listening Anxiety ◽  
Comprehension Ability ◽  
Second Language Listening ◽  
L2 Listening ◽  
Experimental Group

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of listening strategy instruction on second language (L2) listening comprehension ability, listening anxiety, and listening self-efficacy of Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. To this end, a sample of 52 English major learners of two intact classes from a university in Iran was employed as the participants of the study. The intact groups were randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group ( N = 27) received the listening strategy instruction based on the framework proposed by Yeldham and Gruba, whereas the participants in the control group ( N = 25) were instructed traditionally without receiving any strategy instruction. To collect the required data, the listening section of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale (FLLAS), and Second Language Listening Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (SLLSQ) were administered to assess the listening comprehension, listening anxiety, and listening self-efficacy of the learners before and after the intervention. The findings of the study indicated that listening strategy instruction significantly improved learners’ listening comprehension ability and reduced learners’ L2 listening anxiety. However, it was revealed that listening strategy intervention failed to significantly improve L2 listening self-efficacy of the learners. In light of the gained results, the implications of this study are discussed with respect to L2 teachers, learners, and curriculum developers.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document