本研究旨在探討圖像輔助呈現時機對台灣國中生聽力的影響，而圖像輔助呈現時機則分為在聽力活動前與在聽力活動進行中。同時為了深入探究其效益，本研究更著重於其對高、中、低三個不同能力組別學生的影響。除此之外，並對於二份學生問卷的回答加以探討： （1）問卷一有關學生們先前學習英語的背景資料。 （2）問卷一有關學生們在聽力過程中主要遭遇的問題，涵蓋聽力內容、聽者本身與外在因素等。 （3）問卷二有關學生們對圖像式聽力測驗的反應與他們對實施聽力測驗時，圖片展示時間的看法。 本研究以台中縣光正國中一個國三班級42位同學為對象，經過英語聽力能力測驗後，他們被分為高中低三組。實驗前，學生們先填寫第一份問卷。隨後，三組學生一起接受兩種實驗: (1)邊聽邊看圖片; (2)先展示圖片再聽。在完成所有實驗後，隨即填寫第二份問卷。本研究主要結果如下： （1）大多數的受試者已學習英語3年以上，卻對自己的聽力缺乏信心。此現象乃肇因於學生們有限的練習時間。也因此，他們大多不贊成將來升高中大考有聽力測驗的項目。另外，眾多的學生表達了希望獲得老師在聽力方面指導的強烈需求。 （2）聽力能力愈差的學生，遇到更多的聽力問題，尤其在聽力內容與聽者本身方面問題為最。 （3）以整體學生的聽力表現而言，聽前呈現圖片對學生的幫助比邊聽邊呈現圖片的效果來的顯著。 （4）以各個組別學生的聽力表現而言，聽前呈現圖片最能彌補中低程度學生聽力的不足。 （5）超過半數以上的學生表達較喜愛圖像式的英語聽力測驗，尤其是圖像呈現在正式的聽力活動之前為最。 根據研究的結果，聽前呈現圖像輔助對不同程度的學生均有助益，尤其對中低程度者聽力理解的幫助更為顯著。因此，本論文呼籲，國中英語老師可在實施英語聽力測驗時，多善用圖像輔助以引發學生的學習動機並藉由聽前呈現圖片技巧來提昇學生們的英語聽力理解。 / The purpose of the present study is to explore the effects of pictures as cues supplied at different time periods, the picture before listening comprehension test (BLCT) and during listening comprehension test (DLCT). More specific, it is focused on the comparisons of the effects of BLCT and DLCT on the high, middle and low proficiency groups. Also probed are students’responses to two questionnaires on the following issues. (1) The subjects’ previous English learning background as shown in Questionnaire One; (2) The main listening problems the subjects encounter in the process of listening, including the oral text, the listener and external aspects; (3) The subjects reactions to the listening comprehension with the picture format and their preference for the timing of picture-giving. The subjects of this study are 42 students of nine-grade junior high school students in Kuang-cheng Junior High School in Taichung County. They are divided into three proficiency groups—the high proficiency group (HPG), the intermediate proficiency group (MPG) and the low proficiency group (LPG) according to the scores of the listening comprehension test in the subjects’ second mid-term examination. At the beginning of the overall experiment, they are demanded to finish Questionnaire One. After that, they are assigned to take two listening comprehension tests: a listening comprehension test with a picture before listening and during listening. After receiving the two treatments, the subjects are asked to complete Questionnaire Two to reveal their attitudes toward the listening comprehension tests with visual cues. The major findings of the present study are summarized as follows: (1) Although most of the subjects have learned English for more than three years, they do not establish much confidence in their own listening ability due to the limited time of practice in listening. Many of them do not support the idea of incorporating the listening comprehension test into the future high school entrance exam. However, they express their eagerness for obtaining the teacher’s guidance in listening. (2) The worse the listeners achieve, the more listening difficulties they would come across, especially in the oral text and the listener himself/herself. (3) BLCT is more effective than DLCT. This can be proved by the mean scores and standard deviation of BLCT and DLCT respectively. (4) As the three different proficiency groups are taken into consideration, BLCT lends itself to the low proficiency groups (LPG) and the intermediate proficiency groups (MPG). (5) Most of the subjects prefer the listening comprehension test with the picture format, particularly the visual cue before the listening activity. Based on the results of the study, the picture before listening benefits all of the three proficiency groups, especially the lower achievers. The researcher suggests that English teachers in junior high school try to make good use of visual cues in constructing listening comprehension tests to arouse students’ motivation and thus improve students’ listening comprehension.

O presente estudo teve como objetivo principal aplicar a canção em sala de aula, para medir o seu grau de influência na aprendizagem do aluno no contexto de LE, particularmente da língua alemã. Com base no levantamento bibliográfico, foi constatado que a canção é uma ferramenta importante no ensino-aprendizagem de LE. Porém, sentiu-se falta da descrição dos resultados a partir da sua aplicação em sala de aula. Nos livros didáticos e em sala de aula, há, geralmente, canções elaboradas. No entanto, para despertar a motivação dos alunos da faixa etária de 13-14 anos das 8as séries de uma escola particular de São Paulo, houve a preocupação em selecionar uma canção autêntica que correspondesse ao universo de interesses dos jovens. Antes da escolha da canção houve a preocupação em definir a canção autêntica, segundo Parnitzke (1997). Dentre as canções autênticas, foi adotada a canção popular, que vai ao encontro dos interesses dos jovens. Dessa forma compreende-se por canção popular uma melodia cantada, com uma estrutura conjugada de língua e música, que compõem uma unidade. As suas partes melódicas são fáceis de cantar e de memorizar, as entoações e o ritmo orientam-se pelo texto. Engloba os gêneros musicais cantados, que são produzidos e divulgados em massa. A escolha da canção popular iniciou com um questionário respondido por jovens alemães da mesma faixa etária do público-alvo, passando pela definição do objetivo de aprendizagem para a sua aplicação e pela consideração dos critérios de escolha de canções estabelecidos por Setzer (2003), entre outros autores. O objetivo de aprendizagem com a canção concentrou-se na identificação de fonemas vocálicos característicos da língua alemã, ausentes no português do Brasil, visando uma melhor compreensão na comunicação oral. Para medir o grau de aprendizagem dos fonemas vocálicos, optou-se pela aplicação de um ditado antes e após o uso da canção em quatro grupos, dos quais um representou o grupo-controle, ou seja, não realizou a atividade com a canção. Após a aplicação da canção e a realização do segundo ditado verificou-se que, embora ainda ocorressem diversos erros ortográficos, houve uma melhora na compreensão auditiva refletida na representação de grafia dos fonemas específicos da língua alemã pelos alunos. Ao mesmo tempo, verificou-se que no grupocontrole essa melhora não ocorreu. Diante disso, conclui-se que a canção é um instrumento importante para a aprendizagem da LE. / The application of songs as class room activity, aiming at the measurement of their influence, presumed positive, on the pupils learning process of foreign languages, is the main goal of this study. From the literature review one concludes that songs are considered useful foreign language teaching tools. Nevertheless, there is a lack of measurements showing how effectively music influences the learning process. Text books usually present songs which are deliberately composed for teaching purposes. Considering 13-14 year old students, an authentic song, and thus motivating since it brings up young peoples concerns, was selected. Prior to the choice, Parnitzkes (1997) definition of authentic song was presented and discussed. Among the universe of authentic songs, the so called pop music was chosen, as it meets young peoples expectations. Pop song is understood as a sung tune with an integrated structure of music and language which composes a unity. Its melody is easily sung and memorized, its intonation and rhythm are guided by the lyrics. It comprises songs that are mass orientated and broadcast. The song selection process began with a questionnaire completed by young German students aged like the ones considered in this research, followed by the definition of the learning goal and of the choice criteria proposed by Setzer (2003), among others. The learning goal was focused on the identification of German language characteristic vocal phonemes which are absent in the Portuguese language spoken in Brasil, aiming at the improvement of listening comprehension skills. Four groups of students were considered, one of which was the control group that did not have contact with the song, and in order to measure the learning progress on the phonemes, the students did one dictation prior to and after the song activity. An analysis of the errors made by the students on both dictations showed that, excepting the students of the control group, there was an improvement in their listening comprehension skills, measured by the reduction of spelling mistakes. According to this, one confirms that the song is an important foreign language learning tool

近年來全球華語熱的現象促使許多海外大專院校與產業界紛紛投入華語文數位學習的建設。在科技發達與網路功能不斷地提升，以及網路華語文教材和語文學習網站之發展的趨勢下，本行動研究試著以科技融入華語文教學出發，透過網路進行一對一遠距華語文聽力理解教學，首要探討在一對一聽力學習遠距環境中，三位國別與文化背景不同的華語文學習者的聽力理解學習過程與轉變歷程；其次是要了解教師在網路遠距教學上對這三位學習者的教學轉變歷程；最後是以三位學習者的網路學習經驗與教師的教學歷程，透過網路進行華語文一對一遠距教學，了解遠距華語文教學之設計與教材之選取方面須重視的事項。 本研究主要研究對象為三位身在不同國家，華語為第二語言學習的初級學習者，並採用網路免費華語文教材「一千字說華語」和線上免費平台進行遠距一對一教學。研究方法先以發展聽 力理解教學：研究對象接受二十週的聽力理解課，每次一小時，共計二十堂課。接著透過行動研究法，應用訪談與問卷蒐集三位個案學習者的經驗與感受，佐以教師的教學省思，以深入了解此教學行動。所有聽力理解教學包括問卷調查、學習者回饋、教學省思、訪談資料等紀錄都用來分析本研究教學的實施情況，同時也參考學習者每堂課的前、後測成績做進一步的探究與結論依據。 研究結果顯示，透過一對一遠距教學情境與網路科技資源應用在華語文聽力理解教學中，遠距學習者對網路學習環境、一對一遠距教師之教學、以及網路華語文教材等方面，皆持正面看法與回饋。問卷及訪談結果顯示三位學習者都同意網路一對一教學可以彌補學習者週遭學習環境之不足與困難，同時可以提升學習者華語文學習能力的自信心，進而培養其日後華語文持久的學習動機。本研究能協助網路對外華語文教師了解藉由網路遠距第二語言初級學習者的需要，並提供教學設計參考，作為其開課前的準備，與提升其教學品質與成效。研究成果亦提供對外華語文數位學習教材編寫與製作之回饋與建議。 / In recent years, the phenomenon of the Chinese language learning has driven many overseas tertiary institutions and industries to invest in the construction of digital learning technologies. The trend of technological advancement and network functioning continues to improve as well as online Chinese language resources and language learning websites. This action research attempts to integrate technology into one-on-one tutoring sessions for Chinese listening comprehension through the internet. The first objective of this research is to explore the process of learning and the challenges and experiences the students face via online one-on-one distance learning. Secondly, it is to understand the process and the changes of teaching style toward the students via the internet. Lastly, it is to understand the important aspects of design and selection of Chinese teaching materials through the students' learning experience and the teachers' teaching process. This study focuses on three beginning Chinese learners from different countries and cultural backgrounds and making use of free online teaching materials provided by "Speak Mandarin in One Thousand Words" via a free online platform for distant tutoring sessions. The methodology to develop listening comprehension is that all the students will have a total of twenty classes, with each class lasting for an hour. The research section is based on interviews and questionnaires observing the students' experiences and feelings combined with the teacher's reflections and to gain insight on the teaching actions. The students’ pre-test and post-test score in each class are referred in order to further explore the basis and conclusion. The interviews and records are used to analyze the implementation of the research through teaching. The results of the study show positive opinions and feedback regarding one-on-one distance learning and the teaching methodology with the online Chinese language materials. The questionnaire and interview results show that the students agreed that one-on-one online teaching can compensate the shortcomings of students in a traditional learning environment. This study therefore concludes non-traditional methods of teaching can enhance the confidence in the learner with their ability. Even without a Chinese physical environment, distance teaching can still motivate students to learn Chinese. This research can help teachers to understand student needs via online one-on-one and it could help provide teachers designing the most effective ways of teaching. The research results also provide feedback and suggestions on the preparation and production of Chinese teaching materials.

<p></p><p>This paper focuses on listening materials used in English language teaching in Sweden, especially in respect to the concept of global English. Global English could briefly be described as the linguistic, cultural, politic, and economic influence of English in the world. This influence concerns two aspects of English, namely the usage of English as a lingua franca in international communications, as well as the great range of English varieties that are used today. The purpose of this research is to study how varied listening materials are and how, when and why they are used in the classrooms. I conducted a two-part investigation to study these matters. The first part of the investigation focuses on teachers’ usage of listening materials and is based on a questionnaire handed out to five teachers. I found that the teachers varied much in their usage of listening materials. In the second part of the investigation I compare the listening materials provided by two Swedish textbooks on English, one from 1994 and one from 2003. Here I focus on the speakers’ varieties, rate of delivery, and instructions given for listening exercises. I found that both books featured a majority of speakers from the British Isles and America, and very few non-native speakers. The more recent book featured a larger degree of varieties outside the areas of Britain and the USA, as well as a larger degree of American English when dividing the varieties by the time these were spoken. RP (Received Pronunciation) and GA (General American) were also less dominating in the textbook from 2003. The rate of delivery was generally slower in the older textbook. The results from this investigation suggest that some changes seem to have occurred between the publishing of the two books. However, a focus on English as a lingua franca, where the aim is proficiency in efficient cross cultural communication rather than in the English spoken by native speakers,  does not seem to have influenced the textbooks studied here. It is difficult to appreciate whether or not changes like these have taken hold in Swedish classrooms, as teachers use many different listening materials and in many different ways.</p><p> </p>

This thesis presents an investigation into the effect of Liberated Learning Technology (LLP) on academic listening comprehension, notetaking and listening strategies in an English as a foreign language context (L2). Two studies are reported: an exploratory study and subsequent main study. The exploratory study was undertaken to determine L2 and native speaker (L1) students' perceptions on the effectiveness of the technology on academic listening and notetaking. The main study took a more focused approach and as a result, extended the exploratory study that was done in an authentic lecture context in order to gather data to measure listening comprehension and notetaking quality. The participants in the main study comprised six L2 students: five of whom intended to go to university. The methodology was a multimethod one: data was gathered from notetaking samples, protocol analysis, email responses and a questionnaire. Results indicated that continuous speech recognition (CSR) has the potential to support the listening comprehension and notetaking abilities of L2 students as well as facilitate metacognitive listening strategy use and enhance affective factors in academic listening. However, it is important to note that as CSR is an innovative technology, it first needs to meet a number of challenges before its full potential can be realized. Consequently, recommendations for future research and potential innovative uses for the technology are discussed. This thesis contributes to L2 academic listening and notetaking measurement in two areas: 1. the measurement of LLP-supported notetaking; and, 2. the measurement of LLP-supported academic listening comprehension.

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Agradecemos a compreensão. on 2018-06-06T18:07:35Z (GMT) / Submitted by Luciano Franco Da Silva (luciano.francco@gmail.com) on 2018-06-06T18:36:13Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Luciano_Franco_da_Silva_dissertação_mestrado_Final.pdf: 8281188 bytes, checksum: b2be72181e4280a2fb7e9d1b012f2215 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Elza Mitiko Sato null (elzasato@ibilce.unesp.br) on 2018-06-06T19:04:51Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_lf_me_sjrp.pdf: 8281188 bytes, checksum: b2be72181e4280a2fb7e9d1b012f2215 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-06T19:04:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_lf_me_sjrp.pdf: 8281188 bytes, checksum: b2be72181e4280a2fb7e9d1b012f2215 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-10 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A presente pesquisa de mestrado teve por objetivo o desenvolvimento de atividades didáticas em língua inglesa com base em corpora com o foco no desenvolvimento da compreensão oral para alunos em nível A2 e B1. Para tanto, a Linguística de Corpus serviu com aparato teórico-metodológico, e as atividades preparadas foram aplicadas em um minicurso de 12 horas ministrado em uma instituição de ensino superior tecnológico, no noroeste do estado de São Paulo. Os alunos participantes estavam no último ano de suas graduações e ao terminarem o curso eles têm a oportunidade de se submeterem a aplicação do exame de proficiência internacional TOEFL. A necessidade desta pesquisa se deu após o resultado do mapeamento de proficiência em língua inglesa dos alunos brasileiros revelarem um nível insuficiente para o acompanhamento das atividades acadêmicas em universidades do exterior (ABREU LIMA, MORAES FILHO, 2016). Como metodologia de pesquisa, utilizamos o programa AntConc® como ferramenta para a realização das análises e descrições lexicais do corpus de estudo para a pesquisa, que foi compilado a partir das transcrições de 71 palestras retiradas do site TED (www.ted.com) e de 56 transcrições das animações do site TED-ED (https://ed.ted.com/). A partir dos dados obtidos por meio das análises do corpus de estudo, foram propostas, e posteriormente aplicadas, atividades com o foco na compreensão oral em língua inglesa. Como fundamentação teórica, tomamos como base os conceitos de Inglês para Fins Acadêmicos (FLOWERDEW, 2001; CHARLES, 2013; HYLAND, 2006), Linguística de Corpus (CHARLES, 2012; MCENERY, XIAO, 2011; BERBER SARDINHA, 2010; 2004), e as concepções sobre a Compreensão Oral (ROST, 2011; FLOWERDEW, MILLER, 2005; GOH 2003, 2012; MCCARTHY, 1998). Os resultados obtidos nesta pesquisa contribuem para o aprimoramento da compreensão oral dos alunos sobre a língua inglesa. Esperamos ainda que este estudo ressalte a importância da Linguística de Corpus para o ensino e aprendizagem de línguas, assim como a relevância da elaboração de materiais didáticos baseados em corpus. / This master's research aimed at the designing of corpus-based activities in English, focusing on the development of the oral comprehension for students at levels A2 and B1. To that end, Corpus linguistics was used as a theoretical-methodological apparatus, and the activities were applied in a mini-course of 12 hours taught at a higher education institution in the northwest of the state of São Paulo. The participating students were in the last year of their undergraduate studies and upon finishing the course they have the opportunity to apply for the international proficiency exam TOEFL. The need for this research came after the mapping of Brazilian students’ level of English revealed an insufficient proficiency to follow academic activities in universities abroad (ABREU LIMA, MORAES FILHO, 2016). As a research methodology, we used the Antconc® program as a tool to perform lexical analyzes and descriptions. The corpus of study for this research was compiled from the transcripts of 71 lectures taken from the TED website (www.ted.com) and 56 transcripts of the TED-ED website animations (https://ed.ted.com/). From the data obtained through the analysis of the corpus of study, activities focused on listening comprehension in English were proposed and then applied to students. As a theoretical basis, we followed the concepts of English for Academic Purposes (FLOWERDEW, 2001, CHARLES, 2013, HYLAND, 2006), Corpus Linguistics (CHARLES, 2012, MCENERY, XIAO, 2011, BERBER SARDINHA, 2010); and conceptions about Oral Comprehension (ROST, 2011; FLOWERDEW, MILLER, 2005; GOH 2003, 2012; MCCARTHY, 1998). The results obtained in this research are intended to improve the lexical knowledge of the students in English. We also hope that this study may highlight the importance of Corpus Linguistics for language teaching and learning, as well as the relevance of corpus-based materials.

Increasing involvement with students at the University of Namibia has indicated their overall difficulty with comprehending and recalling information from oral content lectures. It has also been observed that in general very little attention is given to the development of listening skills in L2 ESP and EAP courses. For this study, I conducted a quasi-experiment to determine whether the recognition and interpretation of discourse markers will enhance students' listening comprehension in academic lectures. Students were tested to determine their comprehension of content information in a video-taped lecture. Qualitative data were collected by means of a questionnaire. After an intervention period of eight weeks, where the experimental group received strategy training in the recognition and interpretation of discourse markers in spoken texts, both groups were again tested. Their results were statistically compared. I also looked at related findings of other researchers. Finally, aspects for possible future research will also be considered. / English Studies / MA - (Specialisation in TESOL)

O presente estudo teve como objetivo principal aplicar a canção em sala de aula, para medir o seu grau de influência na aprendizagem do aluno no contexto de LE, particularmente da língua alemã. Com base no levantamento bibliográfico, foi constatado que a canção é uma ferramenta importante no ensino-aprendizagem de LE. Porém, sentiu-se falta da descrição dos resultados a partir da sua aplicação em sala de aula. Nos livros didáticos e em sala de aula, há, geralmente, canções elaboradas. No entanto, para despertar a motivação dos alunos da faixa etária de 13-14 anos das 8as séries de uma escola particular de São Paulo, houve a preocupação em selecionar uma canção autêntica que correspondesse ao universo de interesses dos jovens. Antes da escolha da canção houve a preocupação em definir a canção autêntica, segundo Parnitzke (1997). Dentre as canções autênticas, foi adotada a canção popular, que vai ao encontro dos interesses dos jovens. Dessa forma compreende-se por canção popular uma melodia cantada, com uma estrutura conjugada de língua e música, que compõem uma unidade. As suas partes melódicas são fáceis de cantar e de memorizar, as entoações e o ritmo orientam-se pelo texto. Engloba os gêneros musicais cantados, que são produzidos e divulgados em massa. A escolha da canção popular iniciou com um questionário respondido por jovens alemães da mesma faixa etária do público-alvo, passando pela definição do objetivo de aprendizagem para a sua aplicação e pela consideração dos critérios de escolha de canções estabelecidos por Setzer (2003), entre outros autores. O objetivo de aprendizagem com a canção concentrou-se na identificação de fonemas vocálicos característicos da língua alemã, ausentes no português do Brasil, visando uma melhor compreensão na comunicação oral. Para medir o grau de aprendizagem dos fonemas vocálicos, optou-se pela aplicação de um ditado antes e após o uso da canção em quatro grupos, dos quais um representou o grupo-controle, ou seja, não realizou a atividade com a canção. Após a aplicação da canção e a realização do segundo ditado verificou-se que, embora ainda ocorressem diversos erros ortográficos, houve uma melhora na compreensão auditiva refletida na representação de grafia dos fonemas específicos da língua alemã pelos alunos. Ao mesmo tempo, verificou-se que no grupocontrole essa melhora não ocorreu. Diante disso, conclui-se que a canção é um instrumento importante para a aprendizagem da LE. / The application of songs as class room activity, aiming at the measurement of their influence, presumed positive, on the pupils learning process of foreign languages, is the main goal of this study. From the literature review one concludes that songs are considered useful foreign language teaching tools. Nevertheless, there is a lack of measurements showing how effectively music influences the learning process. Text books usually present songs which are deliberately composed for teaching purposes. Considering 13-14 year old students, an authentic song, and thus motivating since it brings up young peoples concerns, was selected. Prior to the choice, Parnitzkes (1997) definition of authentic song was presented and discussed. Among the universe of authentic songs, the so called pop music was chosen, as it meets young peoples expectations. Pop song is understood as a sung tune with an integrated structure of music and language which composes a unity. Its melody is easily sung and memorized, its intonation and rhythm are guided by the lyrics. It comprises songs that are mass orientated and broadcast. The song selection process began with a questionnaire completed by young German students aged like the ones considered in this research, followed by the definition of the learning goal and of the choice criteria proposed by Setzer (2003), among others. The learning goal was focused on the identification of German language characteristic vocal phonemes which are absent in the Portuguese language spoken in Brasil, aiming at the improvement of listening comprehension skills. Four groups of students were considered, one of which was the control group that did not have contact with the song, and in order to measure the learning progress on the phonemes, the students did one dictation prior to and after the song activity. An analysis of the errors made by the students on both dictations showed that, excepting the students of the control group, there was an improvement in their listening comprehension skills, measured by the reduction of spelling mistakes. According to this, one confirms that the song is an important foreign language learning tool

This paper focuses on listening materials used in English language teaching in Sweden, especially in respect to the concept of global English. Global English could briefly be described as the linguistic, cultural, politic, and economic influence of English in the world. This influence concerns two aspects of English, namely the usage of English as a lingua franca in international communications, as well as the great range of English varieties that are used today. The purpose of this research is to study how varied listening materials are and how, when and why they are used in the classrooms. I conducted a two-part investigation to study these matters. The first part of the investigation focuses on teachers’ usage of listening materials and is based on a questionnaire handed out to five teachers. I found that the teachers varied much in their usage of listening materials. In the second part of the investigation I compare the listening materials provided by two Swedish textbooks on English, one from 1994 and one from 2003. Here I focus on the speakers’ varieties, rate of delivery, and instructions given for listening exercises. I found that both books featured a majority of speakers from the British Isles and America, and very few non-native speakers. The more recent book featured a larger degree of varieties outside the areas of Britain and the USA, as well as a larger degree of American English when dividing the varieties by the time these were spoken. RP (Received Pronunciation) and GA (General American) were also less dominating in the textbook from 2003. The rate of delivery was generally slower in the older textbook. The results from this investigation suggest that some changes seem to have occurred between the publishing of the two books. However, a focus on English as a lingua franca, where the aim is proficiency in efficient cross cultural communication rather than in the English spoken by native speakers,  does not seem to have influenced the textbooks studied here. It is difficult to appreciate whether or not changes like these have taken hold in Swedish classrooms, as teachers use many different listening materials and in many different ways.

The dissertation thesis deals with the skill of listening comprehension and using multimedia for its support in the French language teaching process. The issue is studied within the context of Czech curricular documents. It classifies language skills from the point of view of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The process of listening comprehension is described in linguo-didactics from the historical point of view and as a process of language communication. Attention is paid especially to listening comprehension in foreign language teaching. The thesis focuses also on methodical procedures when developing and reinforcing this language skill. Integration of multimedia with respect to varied learning styles and strategies is described. Styles according to the perception preferences and listening learning strategies are focused on. The aim of the thesis is to find out what is the position of the listening comprehension skill in the French language teaching process at upper-secondary schools, what is the success rate of the students in the process of comprehension of the spoken language, whether multimedia can contribute to successful comprehension of the spoken language in a foreign language. The issue is viewed from the perspective of the students as well as the teachers....