The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of certain interruptions upon fourth-grade pupils' comprehension when listening to the teacher's oral reading of stories. The interruptions made were (1) music being played over the address system (2) announcements being made over the public address system, and (3) pupils entering and leaving the rooms.

In second language (L2) listening assessment, various factors have the potential to impact the validity of listening test items (Brindley & Slatyer, 2002; Buck & Tatsuoka, 1998; Freedle & Kostin, 1999; Nissan, DeVincenzi, & Tang, 1996; Read, 2002; Shohamy & Inbar, 1991). One relatively unexplored area to date is who controls the aural input. In traditional standardized listening tests, an administrator controlled recording is played once or twice. In real world or classroom listening, however, listeners can sometimes request repetition or clarification. Allowing listeners to control the aural input thus has the potential to add test authenticity but requires careful design of the input and expected response as well as an appropriate computer interface. However, if candidates feel less anxious, allowing control of listening input may enhance examinees' experience and still reflect their listening proficiency. Comparing traditional and self paced (i.e., examinees having the opportunity to start, stop, and move the audio position) delivery of multiple choice comprehension items, my research inquiry is whether self paced listening can be a sufficiently reliable and valid measure of examinees' listening ability. Data were gathered from 100 prospective and current university ESL students. They were administered computer based multiple choice listening tests: 10 identical once played items, followed by 33 items in three different conditions: 1) administrator paced input with no audio player visible, 2) self paced with a short time limit, and 3) self paced with a longer time limit. Many facet Rasch (1960/1980) modeling was used to compare the difficulty and discrimination of the items across conditions. Results indicated items on average were similar difficulty overall but discriminated best in self paced conditions. Furthermore, the vast majority of examinees reported they preferred self paced listening. The quantitative results were complemented by follow up stimulated recall interviews with eight participants who took 22 additional test items using screen capture software to explore whether and when they paused and/or repeated the input. Frequency of and reasons for self pacing did not follow any particular pattern by proficiency level. Examinees tended to play more than once but not two full times through, even without limited time. Implications for listening instruction and classroom assessment, as well as standardized testing, are discussed.

The present thesis is concerned with the current trends in teaching listening as they have been presented through a number of articles in various journals and mainly in the book by John Field: Listening in the Language Classroom who urges for a process approach, and ascertaining if these new methodological recommendations are finding their way into the classroom practice nowadays through an analysis of a number of frequently used language textbooks. The approach to teaching listening has been developing as a part of many methods used for teaching foreign languages over the years and it has gone from a completely omitted skill through a position of a rather neglected one up to its today status of causing major problems to students who complain that the speakers on the recordings speak too fast or that they cannot understand every single word. It is often the case that students manage to master listening in the confines of the language classroom, learn to cope with typical textbook listening exercises and understand their teachers and classmates, but when confronted with real-life listening outside the classroom, they frequently run into a kind of glasswall and are simply not able to deal with it. The analytical part is based on the analysis of the listening exercises in the very first and newest...

by Suen Lai Kuen, Denise. / Publication date from spine. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 103-114). / Abstract --- p.i / Chapter Chapter 1 --- The issue and its background --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Languages in Hong Kong society --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination --- p.2 / Chapter 1.3 --- The validation of the HKCE Eng. (B) Examination Paper III --- p.3 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Review of relevant literature / Chapter 2.1 --- Reliability and validity --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Reliability --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Validity --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1.2.1 --- Test validation --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1.2.2 --- Construct validity --- p.10 / Chapter 2.1.2.3 --- Content validity . --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1.2.3.1 --- Qualitative and quantitative approaches to content validation --- p.12 / Chapter 2.1.2.3.2 --- Item difficulty and item discriminability --- p.13 / Chapter 2.1.2.3 --- Criterion-related validity --- p.14 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Validity and reliability --- p.16 / Chapter 2.1.4 --- Summary --- p.16 / Chapter 2.2 --- Communicative paradigm and the study of language --- p.18 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Communicative competence --- p.20 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Framework of communicative competence --- p.21 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Problems in communicative language testing --- p.23 / Chapter 2.2.4 --- Characteristics of communicative language tests --- p.24 / Chapter 2.2.5 --- HKCE Eng. (B) Examination Paper III in the communicative paradigm --- p.25 / Chapter 2.2.6 --- Features of spoken language --- p.26 / Chapter 2.2.6.1 --- Speaking against time --- p.26 / Chapter 2.2.6.2 --- Spoken against written language --- p.27 / Chapter 2.2.6.3 --- Variety of vocabulary --- p.28 / Chapter 2.2.6.4 --- Level of vocabulary --- p.29 / Chapter 2.2.6.5 --- Intonation unit --- p.30 / Chapter 2.2.6.6 --- Clausal construction --- p.32 / Chapter 2.2.6.7 --- Sentence construction --- p.33 / Chapter 2.2.6.8 --- "Involvement with audience, with self, and with concrete reality" --- p.33 / Chapter 2.2.6.9 --- Features of conversations and lectures --- p.34 / Chapter 2.2.7 --- Summary --- p.35 / Chapter 2.3 --- Second language listening comprehension --- p.37 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Factors in L2 listening comprehension --- p.37 / Chapter 2.3.1.1 --- Speech rate and syntactic structure --- p.37 / Chapter 2.3.1.2 --- Sandhi and proficiency level --- p.38 / Chapter 2.3.1.3 --- "Syntactic simplication, repetition, and proficiency level" --- p.39 / Chapter 2.3.1.4 --- Discourse markers and proficiency level --- p.40 / Chapter 2.3.1.5 --- Background knowledge --- p.41 / Chapter 2.3.1.6 --- Text type and question type --- p.42 / Chapter 2.3.1.7 --- "Note taking, memory, and proficiency level" --- p.43 / Chapter 2.3.1.8 --- Syntactic simplicity and redundancy --- p.44 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Different types of listening skills --- p.46 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Summary --- p.49 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Content validation of the HKCE Eng. (B) Examination Paper III / Chapter 3 1 --- Test objectives and test specifications --- p.51 / Chapter 3.2 --- Question types in the HKCE Eng. (B) Examination Paper III --- p.53 / Chapter 3.3 --- Validity of test specifications --- p.58 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Domains of use --- p.58 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Listening comprehension component skills as test specifcations --- p.59 / Chapter 3.4 --- Validity of test content --- p.61 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Domains of use in test content --- p.62 / Chapter 3.4.1.1 --- Domains of use in section A items --- p.62 / Chapter 3.4.1.2 --- Domains of use in section B items --- p.66 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Content validity in terms of skills --- p.66 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- Content validity in terms of text authenticity --- p.68 / Chapter 3.5 --- Quantitative approach to content validation --- p.71 / Chapter 3.6 --- Summary --- p.77 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Criterion-related (concurrent) validation of the HKCE Eng. (B) Examination Paper III / Chapter 4.1 --- The choice of the criterion --- p.78 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- Test of English as a Foreign Language --- p.78 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Section 1 (Listening comprehension) of the TOEFL --- p.79 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- The TOEFL program under the policy council --- p.80 / Chapter 4 1.4 --- Development of TOEFL questions --- p.80 / Chapter 4.1.5 --- Reliability and validity of the TOEFL --- p.81 / Chapter 4.1.6 --- TOEFL as the criterion --- p.86 / Chapter 4.2 --- The subjects and the procedure --- p.89 / Chapter 4.3 --- Basic assumptions of correlation analysis --- p.90 / Chapter 4.4 --- Statistical procedure and findings --- p.94 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Discussion and conclusion / Chapter 5.1 --- Content validity of the HKCE Eng. (B) Examination Paper III --- p.98 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Validity of test objectives and test specificiations --- p.99 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Validity of test content in terms of testing specifications --- p.99 / Chapter 5.1.3 --- Content validity in terms of skills --- p.99 / Chapter 5.1.4 --- Content validity in terms of text authenticity --- p.100 / Chapter 5.1.5 --- Content validity based on internal analysis --- p.100 / Chapter 5.2 --- Criterion-related validity of the HKCE Eng. (B) Examination Paper III --- p.102 / Chapter 5.3 --- Further research as corroboration --- p.103 / Bibliography --- p.103 / Appendix Materials of the 1991 (session 2) HKCE Eng. (B) Examination Paper III --- p.115 / Appendix 2 Teacher A's evaluation form --- p.136 / Appendix 3 Teacher B's evaluation form --- p.142 / Appendix 4 Materials of the TOEFL Secion 1 (Listening Comprehension) used as the criterion --- p.147 / Appendix 5 HKCE scores and TOEFL scores in the criterion-related validation study --- p.158

Darbe aptariamas muzikos klausymosi veiklos teorinis aspektas, kritinio mąstymo samprata, muzikos klausymosi veiklos tobulinimo, skatinant kritinio mąstymo ugdymą, galimybės. Bakalauro darbo tikslas – ištirti muzikos klausymosi veiklos gerinimo galimybes, skatinant kritinį mąstymą. Darbo tikslui pasiekti išketi šie uždaviniai: išsiaiškinti muzikos klausymosi veiklos proceso esmę, išsiaiškinti muzikos suvokimo ir muzikinio mąstymo svarbą muzikiniame ugdyme, apžvelgti paauglystės laikotarpio psichologinius ir fiziologinius ypatumus, jų poveikį muzikos klausymuisi, išsiaiškinti kritinio mąstymo sampratą, išsiaiškinti muzikos klausymosi veiklos tobulinimo, skatinant kritinio mąstymo ugdymą, galimybes, ištirti kritinio mąstymo ugdymo apraiškas 7–8 klasių mokinių požiūrio į muzikos klausymosi veiklą tyrimo kontekste. Tyrimo objektas yra muzikos klausymosi veikla kritinio mąstymo ugdymo aspektu. Tyrimas atliktas Šiaulių progimnazijoje. Anketinės apklausos metodu siekta išsiaiškinti kritinio mąstymo ugdymo apraiškas 7–8 klasių mokinių požiūrio į muzikos klausymosi veiklą tyrimo kontekste. / This paper analyses with theoretical aspect of music listening activities, the concept of critical thinking, as well as the possibilities to improve music listening activities in order to develop critical thinking. The objective of this Bachelor thesis is to explore the possibilities of music listening activities in order to develop critical thinking. Aims, set to achieve this objective, are: to identify the essence of music listening process; to explore the importance of musical perception and cogitation in musical education, their influence on listening activities; to identify the concept of critical thinking; to identify the possibilities to improve music listening activities in order to develop critical thinking; to examine the manifestation of critical thinking development in the context of the research dealing with the attitude of 7-8-formers towards the music listening activities. The object of this research is musical listening activities in the aspect of the development of critical thinking. The research was conducted in Šiauliai progymnasium. A questionnaire was used to explore the manifestation of critical thinking development in the context of the research dealing with attitude of 7-8-formers towards the music listening activities.

This thesis presents data which support cochlear involvement in attentional listening. It has been previously proposed that the descending auditory pathways, in particular the medial olivocochlear system, play a role in reducing the cochlea's response to noise in a process known as antimasking. This hypothesis was investigated in human subjects for its potential impact on the detection of signals in noise following auditory cues. Three experimental chapters (Chapters 3, 4 and 5) are described in this thesis. Experiments in the first chapter measured the effect of acoustic cues on the detection of subsequent tones of equal or different frequency. Results show that changes in the ability to detect signals following auditory cues are the result of both enhanced detection for tones at the cued frequency, and suppressed detection for tones at non-cue frequencies. Both effects were measured to be in the order of ~3 dB. This thesis has argued that the enhancement of a cued tone is the implicit result of an auditory cue, while suppression of a probe tone results from the expectation of a specific frequency based on accumulated experience of a listening task. The properties of enhancement support the antimasking hypothesis, however, the physiological mechanism for suppression is uncertain. In the second experimental chapter, auditory cues were replaced with visual cues (representing musical notes) whose pitch corresponded to the target frequency, and were presented to musician subjects who possessed absolute or relative pitch. Results from these experiments showed that a visual cue produces the same magnitude of enhancement as that produced by an acoustic cue. This finding demonstrates a cognitive influence on the detection of tones in noise, and implicates the role of higher centres such as those involved in template-matching or top-down control of the efferent pathways. The final experimental chapter repeated several of the experiments from the first chapter on subjects with various forms of hearing loss. The results indicate that subjects with an outer hair cell deficit (concomitant with a sensorineural hearing loss) do not exhibit an enhancement of cued frequencies or a suppression of unexpected frequencies to the same extent as the normal-hearing subjects. In addition, one subject with a long-standing conductive hearing loss (with normal cochlear function) produced an enhancement equivalent to that of the normalhearing subjects. These findings also support the role of the medial olivocochlear system and the outer hair cells in antimasking. It is the conclusion of this thesis that enhancement most likely results from a combination of changes in receptive field characteristics, at various levels of the auditory system. The medial olivocochlear system is likely to be involved in unmasking a portion of the signal at the cochlear level, which may be influenced by both acoustic reflex pathways or higher centres of the brain.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Sound field distribution is becoming increasingly known as a method to overcome problems associated with noise, distance, and reverberation in classrooms. No robust research on this intervention has been conducted in the New Zealand context. Changing pedagogies in the education of New Zealand children and young people have been observed particularly since the 1970’s, resulting in noisier classrooms (Wilson, 2000). Acoustic standards for New Zealand classrooms that were adopted in 2003 apply only to new or renovated classrooms, and not to the majority of existing classrooms (Ministry of Education, 2003a). This study investigated: (a) the efficacy of sound field distribution in 30 New Zealand classrooms from five schools and compared outcome measures with a representative control group; (b) the variations of benefit for groups from specific populations, in particular children from five different socio-economic backgrounds and those with histories of middle ear dysfunction; and (c) the effects on teachers who use this equipment. Data were collected from standardized objective measurement tools and from the teachers and students who were participating in the study. Results revealed that sound field distribution, with the equipment configuration of boom microphones and four speakers, can enhance the listening and learning environment resulting in significant positive benefits in raising the achievement levels of children and young people. These results were observed in listening comprehension, which has a flow-on effect on the overall scholastic achievement of all students. Evidence of improved outcomes in areas with a strong link to mastery of literacy were significant, in particular in the areas of phonologic skills, reading comprehension, and reading vocabulary. Results of the study strongly support the use of sound field distribution in all mainstream school settings irrespective of whether the children and young people belong to a particular ethnic group, have had a history of middle ear dysfunction, or attend schools of a particular socio-economic status. Classroom sound field distribution seemingly benefits all children and young people. As a result of the positive results of this study and given the stated goals for education by the New Zealand Ministry of Education (Ministry of Education, 2003b), sound field distribution needs to be considered at a policy level as an intervention to assist in reducing disparity and to improve learning outcomes for all young New Zealanders in mainstream school settings.

Listening is the most common skill we use in communication with others, even though it might be the most difficult skill to learn. Recent research shows that pupils receive most information in school by listening, and other research shows that it is relatively common that pupils, instead of using strategies while listening, just listen for specific words. This essay aims to examine pupils´ listening-strategies in English as a second language. By interviews with both pupils and teachers in two different schools, and observations I have investigated listening-strategies. The results of this study show that children at the age of eleven and twelve do apply listening strategies. Some pupils are aware of their comprehension skills in listening, while others do not exactly know what they are doing, but they actually have a strategy for listening. Even though there is little research about this topic, there is developmental work in Sweden which we need to be aware of. Teachers play a role in teaching and developing listening strategies, and this study investigates particularly the importance of metacognitive strategies. In a future perspective listening strategies are very important for language learners.

This study focused on the evaluative listening practices of four teachers who participated in an algebra professional development involving lesson study. This instrumental case study operationalizes the enactment of teacher listening followed by teacher questions and responses to define listening-to-question. Also, questioning-to-listen is operationalized as the enactment of purposefully posing questions to posture oneself to listen to students' mathematical thinking. Because of the tacit aspect of teacher listening and the visibility of teacher questioning, interrelating listening and questioning affords teachers an accessible point of entry into developing listening practices. In response to participants wondering as to when evaluative listening is appropriate in the mathematics classroom, this study discusses six instances of teaching excerpts along a continuum of listening orientations from directive to observational to responsive. The results indicate positive aspects of evaluative listening towards an observational and responsive listening stance. Results of the study also confirm a reliance on low-order gathering information questions as the predominant type of teacher question posed in mathematics teaching. This study reveals the necessity of contextualizing teacher questions to inform appropriate uses of evaluative listening. Future professional development should consider emphasizing positive aspects of evaluative listening in mathematics teaching.

For this dissertation, I had the opportunity to investigate a well-established university-based intensive English program in the northeastern United States as it transitioned from an integrated-skills to a paired-skills approach. My goal as a researcher was to investigate in what ways listening, the second language (L2) skill researchers view as the least understood and the least practiced (Field, 2019; Graham, 2017; Graham, Santos, & Francis-Brophy, 2013; Siegel, 2018; Vandergrift & Goh, 2012), was receiving attention, programmatically as well as pedagogically, in the new paired-skills approach, and how that attention manifested in the classroom. Toward this goal, through interviews with program leaders and experienced instructors, I explored what they considered as key pedagogical challenges and opportunities in L2 listening in the earlier integrated skills program and in the new paired skills program. Through classroom observation, I documented how instructors approached L2 listening pedagogy in the new paired-skills program.  Analysis of instructor interviews showed that instructors described using a wide variety of content-based approaches when teaching L2 listening in the integrated skills approach.  In the new paired-skills approach, they described encountering many challenges with L2 listening pedagogy they had yet to resolve. Analysis of classroom observations in the paired skills program revealed that instructors mostly structured lessons with before-listening activities, with a preference for activating background knowledge via vocabulary preview and discussion based on textbook themes. A synthesis of case study findings across program leaders and instructors revealed that teachers structured different kinds of listening experiences for students but did not engage in explicit instruction in L2 listening focused on specific features of bi- and multi-directional spoken language nor did they offer much during listening instruction. Overall, the findings suggest the need to develop more curricular and professional development materials to assist instructors in further developing L2 listening pedagogy, curriculum and assessment in their classroom instruction.