Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Idaho, April 2006. / Major professor: Jerry L. Tuchscherer. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124-132). Also available online in PDF format.

The main aim of this research was to explore lecturers’ and students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of teaching listening skills to English foreign language (EFL) students at three Ethiopian universities with the purpose of proposing guidelines and recommendations for effective teaching and learning of EFL listening skills. The research was prompted by a number of research projects which indicated that listening skills and the teaching of listening in the Ethiopian context were not effective resulting in students who are ill equipped for listening effectively. A mixed method approach was followed as a design for the empirical research study. A pragmatic research paradigm, using both quantitative and qualitative methods and then blending the two methods was employed. Quantitative data were collected from 72 lecturers and 158 students at three Ethiopian universities by means of close-ended questionnaires using a five-point Likert scale instrument. For the qualitative phase of the study data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews with lecturers and students. Observations of listening lessons presented in the classroom and in the language laboratory were done by means of completing an observation checklist and note-taking. These were used to triangulate data. The analysis of the data obtained by means of the questionnaires and the observation checklist were done using descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data obtained by means of unstructured interviews (which were transcribed verbatim) were coded and divided into themes. The research findings indicated that the lecturers’ perceptions of the activities used during the pre-, while- and post-listening phases and the use of listening material were more positive than those of students and that females perceived the effectiveness less positive than males. The data obtained by means of interview questions confirmed what was found in the quantitative part of the study. Observations carried out in the three universities showed that the teaching of listening skills was mostly poorly done and that the listening material used was not suitable and did not interest students. The use of bottom-up and top-down strategies were found to be used inadequately in the teaching of EFL listening skills. The teaching methods and strategies used, as well as activities provided during each listening phase were found to be generally poor. A model for teaching EFL listening in the classroom was proposed in this study. Lecturers and students expressed their challenges in teaching and learning EFL listening skills and also made recommendations for best practices on how to improve the teaching and learning of EFL listening. These challenges and recommendations for best practices mostly centred around lecturer-related, student-related and institutional-related factors. This study has suggested recommendations pertaining to the lecturers, students, institutions of higher education, the Ethiopian Ministry of Education and schools. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)

Submitted by FABÍOLA PRECINOTT null (fabiolaprecinott@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-09-09T21:15:34Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabíola _Precinott.pdf: 391099 bytes, checksum: d7504ff74095f4691cc6e1ef7c56d170 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Juliano Benedito Ferreira (julianoferreira@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-09-12T17:13:33Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 precinott_f_me_ia.pdf: 391099 bytes, checksum: d7504ff74095f4691cc6e1ef7c56d170 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-12T17:13:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 precinott_f_me_ia.pdf: 391099 bytes, checksum: d7504ff74095f4691cc6e1ef7c56d170 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-18 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Este trabalho apresenta uma reflexão sobre uma proposta que abarca exercícios voltados para educação sonora. O objetivo desse processo educacional foi motivar os alunos da Escola Estadual Dr. Felício Laurito, em Santo André, para refletirem sobre o ambiente sonoro escolar em que vivem e principalmente dentro da sala de aula, especialmente nas aulas de música. A experiência, que teve como referência a obra de Murray Schafer, apresentou resultados positivos, na medida em que os alunos revelaram compromisso crescente com os exercícios e seus objetivos. A proposta é problematizada no artigo que traz ainda algumas considerações sobre a vivência do mestrado profissional da autora. / This paper presents a reflection on a proposal that includes exercises aimed at sound education. The aim of this educational process was to motivate students of the State School Dr. Felicio Laurito, in Santo André, to reflect on the school sound living environment and especially in the classroom, especially in music lessons. The experiment, which had reference to the work of Murray Schafer, showed positive results, as students have shown growing commitment to the exercises and their goals. The proposal is problematized in the article also contains some thoughts on the experience of the professional master of the author.

abstract: ABSTRACT This document introduces singers and voice teachers to Dr. Alfred A. Tomatis's listening training method with a particular emphasis on its relevance to singers. After presenting an overview of Tomatis's work in the field of audio-psycho-phonology (circa 1947 through the 1990s) and specific ways that aspects of his theory are relevant to singers' performance skills, this project investigates the impact of listening training on singers by examining published research. The studies described in this document have investigated the impact of listening training on elements of the singer's skill set, including but not limited to measures of vocal quality such as intonation, vocal control, intensity, and sonority, as well as language pronunciation and general musicianship. Anecdotal evidence, presented by performers and their observers, is also considered. The evidence generated by research studies and anecdotal reports strongly favors Tomatis-based listening training as a valid way to improve singers' performance abilities. / Dissertation/Thesis / D.M.A. Music 2012

No description available.

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.

Networks are an integral part of everyday life. Today, public concern with the extent to which they influence people’s routines, and how much they affect cultures and societies, has grown substantially. People are thus now engaging in conversations and movements to evaluate and address the biases and discriminatory behaviours to which networks contribute. The media play an important part in this conversation, often directing the discourse towards fears of technology. Although such concerns are very real, the stories that media circulate typically rely on the “magical” nature of networks and therefore accentuate their figurative power. But, for people to participate meaningfully in the conversation, and for them to approach technologies responsibly, they need access to the complexities and technical intricacies of networks, not just their surfaces or metaphors. This dissertation argues that, by listening to networks, people can begin to apprehend, and even comprehend, the complex, ostensibly “magical” nature of their communications. One problem is that listening semantically to networks is incredibly difficult, if not impossible. Networks are very noisy, and they do not, for instance, use alphabetic language for internal or external communication. Yet there are other ways to hear and interpret them. I argue that Michel Chion’s techniques of reduced and causal listening are two such ways, and that they afford a “sensible” and timely method for approaching networks. Of course, network communications must first be rendered audible to hear them. For this purpose, I propose “tactical network sonification” (TNS) as a methodology for Science and Technology Studies (STS). As this dissertation’s primary contribution to the field of STS, TNS focuses on making the materiality of networks sensibly accessible to the general public, especially people who are not technology experts. In so doing, TNS builds on the scholarship of not only Chion but also Beth Coleman, Matthew Kirschenbaum, Henri Lefebvre, Shannon Mattern, Shintaro Miyazaki, Pauline Oliveros, Rita Raley, and Jonathan Sterne in particular. This project finds that TNS results in crowded sound clips that represent the complexity of network infrastructure, through the many overlapping rhythms and layers of sound that each clip contains. It explains that sonifications may assist in creating multimodal network stories, making networks sensible and apprehendable. Finally, this dissertation proposes that using TNS can help understand potential discriminatory distribution of network infrastructure across communities. / Graduate / 2021-12-18

abstract: Collaborative piano education tends to discuss techniques of collaboration as primarily a musical skill. However, common understanding within the field regarding a collaborative pianist’s ability to work with others offers another aspect to this assumption. It goes without saying that pianists’ interpersonal skills largely affect with whom they will work, and how efficaciously pianists and their partners will work together. Correspondingly, how pianists work with others can directly affect the success or failure of the musical collaboration. The first intention of this paper is to explain why interpersonal skills are integral to the creation of quality musical outcomes and so-called musical togetherness; it specifies interpersonal aspects innate and unique to a pianist’s experience. Next, this paper defines two crucial components of collaboration – empathy and active listening – and discusses how pianists can build these skills into their personal practice and rehearsal. It continues with an examination of the interpersonal implications of studio arrangement, body language, and verbal language from a pianist’s perspective. This paper concludes with ideas for how to test for these skills during the collaborative piano audition process, a class syllabus showing how these skills can be incorporated into the collaborative piano curriculum, and suggestions for further research about interpersonal aspects of collaboration. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2019

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of college speech classes upon developing improved listening skills. More specifically it sought to determine the extent to which the students who took Speech 100 or 111 have acquired listening skills. There has been considerable theorizing concerning listening and auding [sic] with only a scattering of experimentation. According to existing data, listening would appear to be a complex human behavior that is only partially understood. There are, however definite listener functions, listening conditions and variables that affect listening. Aspects of attention are also important when considering the occurrence on unoccurrence [sic] of listening. Initially, the Listening Attitude Test (LAT) was developed in order to measure conceptual changes in listening skills. The LAT was statistically analyzed to determine it validity. This test was then presented to three different student populations: 1) students who had just completed Speech 100 or 111; 2) students who were at least one academic year removed from Speech 100 or 111; and 3) students who never had Speech 100 or 111. All of the students from these three populations were selected from Speech 100, Speech 111 or English Composition classes at Portland State University. The performance of the three populations were statistically compared using the t test to determine the significance of differences between means. The following is a summary of the findings. The LAT was correlated with the Brown-Carlsen Listening Comprehension Test Parts A, E and A and E combined. The results indicated that the LAT was testing what it purported to test, i.e., listening attitude. The t test was applied to the data from three different student populations that took the LAT. The results indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between students who have not had Speech 100 or 111 and those who have just completed Speech 100 or 111. There was a significant difference between students who have just completed Speech 100 or 111 and those who have completed Speech 100 or 111 but are at least one academic year removed from it. In addition, a significant difference was revealed between students who have not had Speech 100 or 111 and those who completed Speech 100 or 111 but are at least one academic year removed from it. It is clear that the findings support those contending that exposure to speech improve listening skills. The claim made by Nichols and Lewis (1954) that instruction in listening skills would improve listening was not supported by the “just completed group” data and no single overriding hypothesis seems to account for this discrepancy. Nichols and Lewis (1954), however, were dealing with college speech courses which were heavily loaded with training techniques for improving listening ability, which was not the case in Speech 100 or 111 courses at Portland State University.

The present study implemented quantitative (Phase I) and qualitative (Phase II) analyses to investigate the relationships that the constructs of psychological flexibility (PF) and psychological inflexibility (PI) had with helping profession trainees’ experience of conflict in clinical supervision, conflict management styles, and ratings of the quality of the supervisoryrelationship. Phase-I results (n = 290) revealed no relationship between conflict prevalence, frequency, or distress with overall levels of PF and PI. However, secondary analyses suggested individual components of PF and PI as measured by the Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory (MPFI; Rolffs et al., 2016) may be related to these constructs, including Defusion, Self as Context, Values, Fusion, Lack of Contact with Values, and Inaction. Participants’ levels of PF and PI predicted most conflict management styles. PF was especially related to the Integrating style and PI was especially related to the Avoiding style. Participants’ levels of PF were also positively correlated with the quality of the supervisory relationship. Phase II results from semi-structured interviews interpreted via the Listening Guide method revealed relationships between four participants’ experiences of conflict in supervision and components of PF and PI. Three themes emerged across the interviews: negative affect, inexperience, and accepting responsibility. Qualitative findings were also related to various components of PF and PI, especially Self as Context, Experiential Avoidance, and Fusion.