This field study is aimed at exploring a suitable curriculum in listening comprehension, especially for training Chinese EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students. The paper is concerned with relating three themes: why the emphasis should be laid on listening practice, what strategies should be used to develop a feasible curriculum and what factors should be considered during the designing process. This study project is intended to be useful to both Chinese EFL teachers in search of a listening curriculum and the students who need ear training in EFL study. The basic aims, objectives and scope of the study are explained in the Introduction. The first chapter presents an overview of existing difficulties and problems in developing the aural abilities of the Chinese EFL students. In Chapter 2, the importance of establishing clear and definite teaching aims is discussed and two basic aims of teaching listening comprehension are suggested according to the students' needs in their communication with native speakers and in their further study of EFL. Chapters 3 and 4 are concerned with choosing and sequencing the course content. Criteria of selecting materials and of classifying unit aims and objectives are studied in an attempt to find a way of teaching listening skills in a systematic manner. Chapter 5 outlines the main teaching activities and strategies of achieving the established objectives. The final chapter is devoted to the discussion of establishing an evaluation procedure throughout the whole designing process, with stress put on testing students' progress and the results of their learning. The whole content of the study is summarized through a suggested curriculum model in the Conclusion. In the process of study, theoretical concepts and linguistic principles basic to understanding spoken English are discussed and used as a reasonable basis for the curriculum. It is intended that this field study will contribute in some way to curriculum design in Listening comprehension, a facet of TEFL which has seldom been systematically treated in China.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisor: Douglas A. Archbald, School of Education. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between cognitive tempo of learning disabled students and their listening comprehension ability as a function of rate of presentation, regardless of material content (i.e., taped narrative materials--leisure: high interest/low vocabulary; taped expository materials--factual/social studies and technical/science. These data were collected on 57 learning disabled students enrolled in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades in the Anderson Community Schools Special Education Co-op. Each student was tested with the Matching Familiar Figures Test (Kagan et al., 1964). Three groups of the four cognitive tempo quadrants were utilized in the experimental manipulation (i.e., listening comprehension as a function of rate of presentation, regardless of material content). Fifteen subjects were randomly assigned within each group using a drawing with replacement procedure.A 3 x 3 x 4 analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducive to the manipulation of three independent variables with repeated measures on the latter two of these variables (i.e., material content and rate of presentation). One between groups analysis (3x) and two within groups analysis (3 x 4) were involved. A R<.05 significance level and error analysis wereemployed to test three null hypotheses.FindingsResults indicated that no significant differences existed between the three groups of subjects (i.e., impulsive, reflective, fast/accurate). However, significant differences existed between content levels and between the four rates of presentation. A significant interaction between groups and rates of presentation was observed. An analysis of simple effects revealed that significant differences existed for reflectives with respect to content and rates of presentation. A significant difference between content levels was present for impulsives, while a significant difference between rates was present for fast/accurates. With the three content levels, no significant difference between groups was found. However, with all groups combined, a significant difference between rates occurred at each content level. A significant difference between groups and between content levels was determined at the 1.0 rate of presentation. At the 1.5 rate of presentation, a significant difference existed between content levels only.In addition to a significant difference between groups at the normal rate of presentation (i.e., 1.0), all groups performed best at this rate, although the impulsive group performed less well than the other two. The narrative content level elicited the best performance from all three groups, with the impulsives again demonstrating the poorest performance. Age ranges were also evaluated revealing that the oldest group (11.6 - 12.6 years) maintained the highest scores.ConclusionsIn general, the results of this study did not support the contention that increased rates of presentation would improve listening comprehension ability among learning disabled students. It was revealing to note the consistently poorer performance of the impulsive subjects on all tasks. This finding supported research which suggested that impulsive tempo is one factor contributing to poor school performance (Messer, 1976b). The study also provided evidence that the visual processing strategies underlying differences in conceptual tempo seem to generalize to the recall of auditory materials as posited by Zelniker and Jeffrey (1976). It was their suggestion that training in task-appropriate strategies may be more effective with learning disabled students than the modification of cognitive styles.

After the researcher listened to the voices of curriculum, texts and teachers, who found that language fields of mandarin in primary school was generally ignored the teaching of 'listen and speak'. And also, very few relevant researches can be found. Therefore, second grade pupils of primary school, taught by the researcher, were selected as the collective subjects of the study. Based on the example of ¡¥Talking Carnival¡¦ (the material complied by the researcher), to proceed with 21 sections of ¡¥Listen and Talking Courses¡¦. Furthermore, via the mode of action research, to probe into the following three directions and degree actively is the main purpose of this research: 1.To probe into the relevant and essential factors of ¡¥Listen and Talking Courses¡¦ teaching design. 2.To interpret the process of curriculum implementation and reflective revision of ¡¥Listen and Taking Courses¡¦. 3.To evaluate the study effect and restriction of ¡¥Listen to and Taking Courses¡¦ Relating to three study programs- ¡¥Knock the Door¡¦¡B¡¥Open the Door¡¦ and ¡¥Enter the Door¡¦, the researcher tracked and reflected on the teaching design¡Bcurriculum implementation and revision was all explained in the process of research. In addition, via all the qualitative data collection (observational records¡Breflective journals¡Bpupils¡¦ scrapbooks¡B pupils¡¦ mood-diary¡B parents/pupils investigated questionnaires and etc.) to interpret¡Banalyze¡Bconclude and summarize. And, the result of study is found as follows: A: The part of teaching design: 1.Curriculum design adopted the naturalistic process. (Glatthorn, 1987). According to build up high-quality experiences of talking, synchronously, to proceed the choices of goal¡Bactivity and material. 2.In accordance with the teaching of listen and talking, to carry out goal management and analysis in order to conform to the principles of curriculum¡¦s vertical organization. 3.In the initial stage, it could be started by imitation. It could be revised, gradually; it can be built up to personal style. 4.The curriculum of ¡¥Listen and Talking¡¦ for lower grade pupils can be designed as game activities, which can fit in with the pupils development of body and mind. B: The part of curriculum implementation: 1.Examine teachers¡¦ viewpoints: to establish a new relationship (as teacher and also as a friend). The efficiency of teaching at random is greater than the existing plan. Had students to try making mistakes, then, to propose the possible solution. Five kinds of teaching concepts, such as interactive question-and-answer drill¡Blittle stimulation¡Bgreat motivation and etc., was the way to promote the teaching efficiency of ¡¥Listen and Talking¡¦. 2.Convey pupils¡¦ viewpoints: the learning of initiative¡Bthe function of game-teaching, the promotion of cooperative learning¡Bthe production of scaffolding¡Bthe display of multiple intelligences are all additional learning of the curriculum of ¡¥Listen and Talking¡¦ C: The part of the efficiency and restriction: 1.Implementing innovative curriculum of ¡¥Talking Carnival¡¦, the ones that can really build and construct pupils¡¦ concentration¡Bmemory¡Bimitation¡Blasting¡Bsensitivity¡Bcomprehension. 2.Implementing innovative curriculum of ¡¥Talking Carnival¡¦ can really improve pupils¡¦ speak ability and promote fluent speaking and steady demeanor. 3.Because of the restriction of curriculum materials and activity design, there is limited space of the development in the area of ¡¥speaking response and the power of expression¡¦. Besides, the full text adopted the narration and based on 208 talking groups¡¦ establishment as a main body, to link from ¡¥initial¡¦¡B¡¥conversation¡¦¡B¡¥appearance¡¦¡B ¡¥performance¡¦ ¡B¡¥seminar¡¦ and ¡¥spread¡¦. Due to this innovative way of writing, with any luck, it can offer a new life for this study. Key Words: Speaking Teaching, Listening Teaching, Curriculum Implementation, Action Research.

Thesis (D. Phil. Communication Pathology)--Universiteit van Pretoria, 2002. / Summary in English and Afrikaans. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Marshall University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains 25 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 17-18).

Project Thesis (D. Min.)--Denver Seminary, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 180-188).

Aligned with socio-constructivist views of learning, small groups are being adopted as a viable and valid instructional technique with increasing enthusiasm. Previous research has shown that learning outcomes for students who have participated in small groups is inconsistent at best, and that small groups function differently even when working on identical tasks within the same classroom. Consequently, researchers continue to try and tease apart the ways in which effective small groups function and how small group participation influences individual learning. In this study, I explored the nature of listening within a small group learning context with the purposes of understanding how listening behaviors in the group were related to individual learning outcomes and gaining further insights into small group functions. This qualitative study was embedded within a college level history course for which the instructor had assigned students to permanent teams diverse in terms of gender, degree major, and class rank (i.e., freshman to senior status). Data collection and analysis focused on a subset of these teams and centered on group discussions that took place across two class days just past the semester’s midpoint. Data sources included: observational field notes, individual interviews, individually-written essays, synchronized audio/video recordings of team discussions, and team activity sheets. Data analysis was progressive, inductive, and micro-analytical in nature, using discourse analysis of the discussions and topic analysis of the essays to derive themes and code ideas. As indicated by individual interviews as well as an analysis of what individuals said and did during the small group discussion, listening indicators included verbal and nonverbal responses. A systematic analysis of the individually-written essays alongside a coded transcript of the team discussion revealed that topics included in the essay were ideas discussed by the group and were aligned with indicators of listening. Analyses of all data showed that listening contributes to the way the groups functioned, helping to explain the differences in team interactions. / text