Partial and synchronized captioning: A new tool to assist learners in developing second language listening skill

ReCALL ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Sadat Mirzaei ◽  
Kourosh Meshgi ◽  
Yuya Akita ◽  
Tatsuya Kawahara
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Listening Skill ◽  
Second Language Listening ◽  
L2 Listening ◽  
Word Selection

AbstractThis paper introduces a novel captioning method, partial and synchronized captioning (PSC), as a tool for developing second language (L2) listening skills. Unlike conventional full captioning, which provides the full text and allows comprehension of the material merely by reading, PSC promotes listening to the speech by presenting a selected subset of words, where each word is synched to its corresponding speech signal. In this method, word-level synchronization is realized by an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system, dedicated to the desired corpora. This feature allows the learners to become familiar with the correspondences between words and their utterances. Partialization is done by automatically selecting words or phrases likely to hinder listening comprehension. In this work we presume that the incidence of infrequent or specific words and fast delivery of speech are major barriers to listening comprehension. The word selection criteria are thus based on three factors: speech rate, word frequency and specificity. The thresholds for these features are adjusted to the proficiency level of the learners. The selected words are presented to aid listening comprehension while the remaining words are masked in order to keep learners listening to the audio. PSC was evaluated against no-captioning and full-captioning conditions using TED videos. The results indicate that PSC leads to the same level of comprehension as the full-captioning method while presenting less than 30% of the transcript. Furthermore, compared with the other methods, PSC can serve as an effective medium for decreasing dependence on captions and preparing learners to listen without any assistance.

scholarly journals Learner-adaptive partial and synchronized captions for L2 listening skill development

2019 ◽  
pp. 291-296
Author(s):  
Maryam Sadat Mirzaei ◽  
Kourosh Meshgi
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Skill Development ◽  
Learner Satisfaction ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Authentic Materials ◽  
Individual Learner ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Listening Skill ◽  
L2 Listening ◽  
Word Selection

Many language learners have difficulty practicing listening skills using authentic materials, and thus use captions to map text with speech, and they benefit from reading along while listening to comprehend content. However, many learners over-rely on reading the text and many have difficulty in dividing their attention to the multimodal input. We have proposed a captioning tool, Partial and Synchronized Captions (PSC), which detects the useful words to be shown in the caption for addressing learners’ listening difficulties. To handle individual learner demands, PSC should adapt its word selection criteria. This study proposes an Adaptive PSC (APSC), which improves its word selection and retrains itself on-the-fly by applying learner feedback on the generated caption to provide individualized and effective assistance that satisfies the learners’ requirements. Preliminary results revealed that the system was relatively successful to adapt itself to the demand of the L2 learner, which raised learner satisfaction on the resultant captions.

scholarly journals Vocabulary and listening in English among L1-Spanish learners: a longitudinal study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Martin Aioz Pinillos
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Second Language Listening ◽  
Listening Ability ◽  
L2 Listening

Second language listening causes situations of stress and negative perceptions among learners and teachers. Research has suggested that L2 listening and vocabulary knowledge are related. However, this relationship has been barely explored, and in most cases with inadequate instruments. This thesis is an attempt to bridge those gaps by examining the contribution of the language learners’ vocabulary size to their listening ability. A bilingual multiple-choice vocabulary test, based on the official vocabulary list in a standardized language exam, was created to assess the vocabulary size of L2-English learners. Its 81 items were delivered first orally, and then in writing. The ability to comprehend aural texts was assessed through the listening paper in the same standardized examination. 284 language learners took the vocabulary and listening tests. After an observation period of 35 weeks, the study participants were given the same tests. Both datasets were analyzed with the Rasch model to determine the participants’ abilities and the item difficulties. Evidence from data analyses supported the following findings: 1) A strong and positive relationship exists between L2 vocabulary knowledge and listening comprehension. 2) Aural and written vocabulary knowledge are two dimensions that should be assessed and investigated separately, particularly in relation to listening comprehension. 3) Aural vocabulary knowledge is a better predictor of listening comprehension than written vocabulary knowledge, especially among language learners with comparatively weaker listening skills. 4) Knowing 71.71% of the words featured in a listening comprehension test is sufficient to answer 72% of its questions correctly. 5) Language learners increase their aural and written vocabulary size, and improve their listening ability after attending classes for about 35 weeks. This improvement is particularly acute among lower-level learners. Based on these results, L2 learners, teachers and researchers should focus more on the aural form of words to improve listening comprehension.

scholarly journals Teaching ESL Listening Skills in Ghanaian Senior High Schools: A Study of Agona West Municipality

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-102
Author(s):  
Kojo Fenyi ◽  
Ivy Jones-Mensah ◽  
Michael Owusu Tabiri ◽  
Emmanuel Owusu
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
High Schools ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Curriculum Planning ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
English As Second Language ◽  
Listening Skill ◽  
Pedagogy And Curriculum ◽  
Language Competencies

Listening skill is one of the four important language competencies. However, it has not received the needed scholarly attention, not only in classroom pedagogy and curriculum planning but also in studies and researches in Applied Linguistics and Teaching English as Second Language. This study therefore attempts an investigation into the teaching and learning of listening skills in the language classroom in Ghana. It focuses on three issues in English as Second Language (ESL) listening comprehension; i) the strategies/methods for teaching listening skills, ii) the challenges for learning listening skills and iii) the ways to overcome the challenges. This descriptive qualitative study, having used two major instruments for data collection; observation and open-ended questionnaire, engaged 200 students and 7 teachers as the sample from selected Senior High Schools in the Agona West Municipality. The analysis of data revealed that indeed clarity of speaker, speed of delivery, learning environments, etc posed challenges to the teaching and learning of listening skills. It was also revealed that combining listening with other skills, predictive and summative strategies were the strategies teachers employed in teaching listening. Then, finally, the solutions to listening comprehension challenges, as revealed in the data, were indicated as including planning, overt student participation, clarity of speaker, assessment strategies, etc.

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 Second language listening comprehension: The role of anxiety and enjoyment in listening metacognitive awareness

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-515
Author(s):  
Lanxi Wang ◽  
Peter MacIntyre
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Metacognitive Awareness ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Listening Anxiety ◽  
Second Language Listening ◽  
L2 Listening

Emotion in second language acquisition (SLA) has recently received greater attention because it is largely implicated in daily conversations, which may affect second or foreign language (L2) use including listening comprehension. Most research into emotion and L2 listening comprehension is focused exclusively on anxiety, with an attempt to reduce its negative effects on individuals’ listening performance. With the arrival of positive psychology in SLA, researchers began to take a holistic view of a wider range of emotions including enjoyment that language learners experience during their L2 communication. The current study explored the relationships among listening anxiety, enjoyment, listening comprehension performance, and listening metacognitive awareness among a group of 410 international students in a Canadian university. Correlational analyses showed that listening anxiety was negatively correlated with enjoyment. However, these two variables shared only 18% of their variance, indicating that listening anxiety and enjoyment are related but independent emotions. This study suggests that anxiety and enjoyment in L2 listening are not the opposite ends of the same emotional continuum, but each serves a different purpose. L2 learners should work to find intriguing and enjoyable experiences in language learning, rather than focusing merely on reducing anxiety.

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.

Does the presence of formulaic language help or hinder second language listeners’ lower-level processing?

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 338-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Yeldham
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Difficulty Level ◽  
Formulaic Language ◽  
Text Difficulty ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
L2 Listening ◽  
The One

This study examined the influence of formulaic language on second language (L2) listeners’ lower-level processing, in terms of their ability to accurately identify the words in texts. On the one hand, there were reasons for expecting the presence of the formulas to advantage the learners, because the learners would process these formulaic words more holistically than the surrounding non-formulaic words. On the other hand, though, because formulas are commonly uttered in more reduced fashion than their surrounding non-formulaic words – and L2 learners commonly face challenges understanding reduced speech – it was possible that the formulas would negatively impact the learners’ processing. The participants listened to four texts, which were paused intermittently for them to transcribe the final stretch of words they had heard prior to each pause. The researcher had previously categorized these words as being part of formulas or non-formulas through corpus analysis. By comparing the listeners’ identification of the formulaic and the non-formulaic language, the study found that formulaic language facilitated their lower-level listening. This degree of advantage, however, varied across text difficulty level and listener proficiency level. Based on the findings, implications for L2 listening instruction are discussed.

The Effectiveness of Multiple Media Tools in L2 Listening

2019 ◽  
pp. 585-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tingting Kang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
First Language ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Moderator Analysis ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Multiple Media ◽  
L2 Listening

Due to the nature of listening, multiple media tools (e.g., audiocassette players, radio, video, multimedia, and language laboratory) have been utilized in second language (L2) listening instruction for a long time. This chapter recruited the most recently published empirical studies and meta-analyzed available evidence on the effects of different multiple media tools on L2 listening comprehension. The results revealed a medium-to-large effect of multiple media tools on listening comprehension in between-group designs (Cohen's d = .69). The effects of individual multiple media tools have also been statistically synthesized. Further, moderator analysis could help L2 educators and test developers make decisions on applying different multiple media tools in the fields of L2 instruction and assessment. Specifically, subtitles (in the first language/L1) /captions (in the source language/L2), as well as self-regulated listening and slow speed, are recommended to teachers and test developers as a means to improve learners' listening comprehension. In the end, this chapter concludes by identifying potential areas for future research.

Boosting L2 Listening Comprehension Through Web-Based Listening Activities on Reduced Forms

2021 ◽  
pp. 105-123
Author(s):  
Kaine Gulozer
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Web Based ◽  
L2 Listening ◽  
L2 Perception ◽  
Reduced Forms

In the field of second language (L2) perception, there is a common adherence to quantitative methods to examine reduced forms (RFs). This chapter extends the field by reporting on an investigation that analyzed L2 listeners' perceptions of RFs in English from a qualitative perspective. RFs instruction through web-based activities was delivered to a total of 80 learners of English of varying proficiency for five weeks. Twenty participants reflected on their performance on RFs listening tasks and provided justifications for their perceptions of the target RFs. Qualitative analysis revealed that the RFs that influenced L2 learners' perceptions of RFs were linking, pause phenomena, and assimilation. The results of using such qualitative methodology highlights the important role that RFs plays in perception judgements in syllable-timed languages such as Turkish, a factor which has not always been given much prominence in previous L2 fluency quantitative research.

Practitioners respond to Suzanne Graham's ‘Research into practice: Listening strategies in an instructed classroom setting’

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 152-155
Author(s):  
Kedi Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Listening Comprehension ◽  
Classroom Setting ◽  
L2 Listening ◽  
Listening Task ◽  
Teaching Of Listening ◽  
Listening Strategies

In her article, Graham (2017) concludes ‘that very little of the research regarding the teaching of listening has made it into the classroom in England, not least in a positive way’ (p. 117). She suggests that teachers rarely delve into the process of second language (L2) listening in class; instead, listening comprehension is treated more as a test than a task. She continues that there is an over-application of the widely shared findings that pre-listening tasks aid listening comprehension – particularly tasks which involve predicting the vocabulary which will be heard during the listening task. Given the suggestion that learners find listening tasks difficult has been addressed within schools simply by making such tasks easier, Graham feels a more pedagogically apt approach might be to examine more closely what has made the task difficult and to modify teaching to address this.

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