This study seeks to answer the age old question of what kind of input is best for ESL learners, but it approaches the question with a new perspective. There are many options when it comes to a choice of curriculum, both in terms of the method that is used and the materials that are available. Feature film is one important resource that has received increased attention in recent years. Curriculum specialists and teachers are incorporating various film clips into instruction to enhance a grammar point, to teach culture, or as a way to motivate learners. Yet adequate research does not yet exist that demonstrates how film can be used effectively. One possible solution to this problem that was explored in this study was the use of feature films in a self-study environment. Can using annotations of feature films, in this case definitions and pictures, improve a student's listening comprehension when students interact with them independent of a teacher? So few studies look at how annotations are used in this way. Overall, this study found that intermediate English for second language learners participating in this study did show significant gains in their test scores as compared with the control group, which did not view the film. In the present study, however, in comparing the three groups, the scores for students using annotations and not using annotations were not significantly different, perhaps the result of a small sample size. Nevertheless, this study does provide many insights into the current research and can provide important guidance for future research in this area of interest. Listening comprehension is a vital subject for research, and film is an excellent tool to enhance that research.

With the increasing prevalence of voice-production technology across societies, clear comprehension while listening to synthetic speech is an obvious goal. Common human factors influences include the listener‟s language familiarity and age. Production factors include the speaking rate and clarity. This study investigated the speaking comprehension performance of younger and older adults who learned English as their first or second language. Presentations varied by the rate of delivery in words per minute (wpm) and in two forms, synthetic or natural speech. The results showed that younger adults had significantly higher comprehension performance than older adults. English as First Language (EFL) participants performed better than English as Second Language (ESL) participants for both younger and older adults, although the performance gap for the older adults was significantly larger than for younger adults. Younger adults performed significantly better than older adults at the slow speech rate (127 wpm), but surprisingly at the medium speech rate (188 wpm), both age groups performed similarly. Both young and older participants had better comprehension when listening to synthetic speech than natural speech. Both theoretical and design implications are provided from these findings. A cognitive diagnostic tool is proposed as a recommendation for future research.

This study explored the effects of lecture speech rate and duration on L1 Chinese listeners' listening comprehension of online L2 English lectures on free-recall and cued-recall questions. There are many factors that may affect a Chinese listener's listening comprehension of online English lectures. The current study focused specifically on the effects of speech rate and duration, and explored the possibility of identifying tools that listeners might use to control these factors during online lectures in order to achieve better learning experiences. Using an exploratory quasi-experimental approach, this study explored the research questions in three phases: 1) An initial quasi-experiment was conducted via Qualtrics and applied as a pilot study; 2) The quasi-experiment was revised, with a new link sent out to potential participants from both the United States and China; and 3) Quasi-experiment responses were collected and analyzed. Based on 28 participant responses, the findings from the current study suggest that the interaction between speech rate and duration impacted L1 Chinese listener's comprehension of online L2 English lectures. The findings also suggest that study participants' responses on various types of questions were affected differently by the speech rate and duration of the lectures. / Doctor of Philosophy / It is assumed that the slower and the shorter the listening material is, the better the foreign language learner's listening comprehension will be. Is this true? This study explored how a lecture's speech rate and duration may affect L1 Chinese listeners' listening comprehension of online L2 English lectures on free-recall and cued-recall questions. It discusses the possibility of identifying tools for listeners to control the speech rate and duration of online lectures in order to help listeners achieve better learning experiences. Using an exploratory quasi-experimental approach, this study explored the research questions in three phases: 1) An initial quasi-experiment was conducted via Qualtrics and applied as a pilot study; 2) The quasi-experiment was revised, with a new link sent out to potential participants from both the United States and China; and 3) Quasi-experiment responses were collected and analyzed. Based on 28 participant responses, the findings from the current study suggest that speech rate and duration worked together to impact L1 Chinese listeners' comprehension of online L2 English lectures. The findings also suggest that study participants' responses on various types of questions were affected differently by the speech rate and duration of the lectures.

Master of Science / Department of Psychology / Richard J. Harris / The increasing number of non-native English-speaking instructors in American universities constitutes an issue of controversial debate, concerning the interaction of native English- speaking students and non-native English speaking instructors. This study investigated the effects of native or non-native speakers and audiovisual or audio-only lecture mode on English native speakers’ comprehension and memory for information from a classroom lecture, measuring both factual memory and strength of pragmatic inferences drawn from the text. College students (N = 130) were tested on their comprehension of information derived from basic entomology lectures given by both an English native speaker and an English non-native speaker GTA. Participants also evaluated both lecturers in terms of communication skills. Results indicated that participants evaluated the native speaker as having better communication skills, which is in accordance with previous studies suggesting that both the difficulty of understanding non-native-accented speech (Reddington, 2008) and the possibility of prejudice triggered when listeners hear a non-native accent (Bresnahan et al., 2002) influence listeners’ evaluations of English non-native speaker instructors. Results revealed that familiarity with the topic also played an important role in listening comprehension, especially for lectures given by the non-native speaker. Likewise, the access to visual cues (gestures and facial expressions) enhanced understanding, but it was not a pre-requisite for adequate comprehension when the topic of the lectures did not require visual information. These findings were consistent with the polystemic speech perception approach (Hawkins, 2003), in that it is not essential to recognize all words in text in order to make connections with previous knowledge and construct meaning. Furthermore, overall participants took longer to answer questions from lectures given by the non-native speaker than by the native speaker. This suggests that non-native-accented speech may require more time to answer questions related to that speech, although listeners can adapt to it quickly (Derwing, 1995). Findings from this study are important in suggesting tools for thinking about how different aspects of a lecture can contribute to the learning process. Implications for further research are addressed.

Music is a form of language and uses tones and rhythm as its media of universal language. Language development and music development have many similarities. Both are communicative modes, aurally and orally transmitted, containing phonetic, syntactic, and semantic components, develop early in life and are socially interactive media. The researcher has noted the important role that music plays in the teaching of English as a second language. To be able to learn, understand and experience music and language, the learner should have well-developed listening skills. The aim of this research is to investigate the use of music and movement to develop the listening skills of the ESL learner. To provide activities to develop listening and concentration through music and movement, the researcher aims to prove that music and movement should be used to develop ESL learners' language. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

本研究主要探討四方面。第一、探討試題預覽是否有助於聽力成績表現。第二、進一步探究試題預覽的效益是否因聽力程度不同而有所差異。第三、了解學生以試題預覽方式參加聽力測驗的實際經驗與看法。第四、研究試題預覽是否是一個可行的評量聽力的測驗方式。 參加本實驗的受試者為來自竹山國中120位三年級的學生。首先，他們被分為能力相當的兩組，每一組再被細分為高、中、低三個能力組別，接著研究者分別對兩組受試者施以聽力測驗，不同之處在於實驗組提供試題預覽。最後，實驗組的受試者須填寫一份關於他們對此測驗方式 (試題預覽方式) 的經驗及觀感。 本研究之主要發現如下: 1. 受試者在聽力測驗中顯著受益於試題預覽。 2. 高、中程度的受試者比低程度的受試者從試題預覽中獲得較多的助益。 3. 由問卷統計結果得知大部分受試者對於試題預覽表達正面的態度。 4. 試題預覽促進聽者預測聽力內容及使用由上而下的聽力理解方式是一個可行的評量聽力的測驗方式。 最後, 本研究建議老師們在實施聽力測驗時應以試題預覽的方式進行。再者, 老師們可以以試題預覽做為訓練聽力時的教學活動。另外, 老師們必須考慮學生聽力程度的不同並為低程度者設計額外的聽力訓練活動以便提升其聽力理解能力。 / The present study chiefly focuses on four issues. The first issue concerns whether test question preview method can make test takers get better scores on listening comprehension tests or not. The second issue examines whether the effectiveness of test question preview varies with the students’ proficiency levels or not. The third issue aims to probe test takers’ practical experience of taking the listening comprehension test with question preview test method. The fourth issue explores if question preview method is practical in measuring the students’ listening comprehension. The participants of this study were 120 third-year students at Chu-shan Junior High School. Firstly, they were divided into two homogeneous groups, each group were further subdivided into three subgroups- high, medium and low proficiency. Then the researcher administered the experimental test to both the experimental group and the control group; the only difference in the treatment was that question preview was used to the experimental group. At last, the experimental group was asked to fill in a questionnaire designed to investigate the experience of taking the listening test with test question preview method. The major findings of the study are as follows: (1)The junior high EFL students benefited significantly from the test question preview. (2)Listeners of high and medium proficiency level gained much assistance from the question preview than those of low proficiency level. (3)Questionnaire responses confirmed the positive effects of the test question preview. (4)The test question preview promoted information prediction and top-down information processing of test takers; therefore, it is a practical method for assessing learners’ listening comprehension. Therefore, it is suggested that teachers incorporate question preview method in the tests of listening comprehension. In addition, it is necessary for teachers to use question previewing as a teaching activity when training students’ listening skills. Finally, teachers should pay more attention to the differences in students’ listening ability and design some other additional activities for low proficiency listeners to promote their ability of understanding the previewed questions and improve efficiency of listening.

La compréhension orale est une activité langagière complexe, redoutée par les élèves francophones, qui obtiennent de faibles résultats. Face à ces difficultés, les autorités éducatives encouragent les professeurs à utiliser les TICE (Technologies de l'Information et la Communication pour l'Enseignement), dont ils ne perçoivent pas toujours les plus-values. Partant de l'hypothèse que pour améliorer les compétences des élèves il faudrait entraîner ceux-ci en développant des stratégies d'apprentissage, en particulier métacognitives, cette étude a cherché comment intégrer le baladeur vidéo numérique pour entraîner à la compréhension orale. Elle fait état d'une expérimentation menée pendant quatre mois dans quatre classes de première en lycée général, chaque groupe travaillant selon un protocole différent, visant à tester l'effet de l'usage de baladeurs vidéo numériques et du développement explicite de stratégies de compréhension orale. On a cherché dans quelle mesure l'usage de l'outil numérique utilisé pouvait être porteur de motivation et constaté qu'il permettait aux élèves de s'investir davantage dans l'activité, mais sans que ceci améliore nécessairement l'apprentissage. Au travers des parcours créés sur les baladeurs, on a cherché à développer des stratégies cognitives et métacognitives, et observé que l'usage des élèves ne suivait pas toujours les usages prescrits, ainsi que des changements dans la classe en termes d'interactions. L'usage du baladeur et des stratégies développées a eu un impact sur les performances des élèves en termes de métacognition et perception, mais pas en termes de niveau de compréhension. Ces résultats amènent à s'interroger sur les manières de soutenir et entraîner les apprenants à la compréhension orale en anglais, et à aborder plus généralement la problématique des aides dans l'apprentissage des langues médiatisé par les technologies. / Listening is a complex language competence, dreadful to French students, whose results are low. In reaction to those difficulties, educational authorities encourage teachers to use digital tools whose advantages are not always clear for teachers. Assuming that students should be trained with learning strategies, particularly metacognitive strategies, this study tried to assess how digital video players could develop listening skills. It relates an experiment which took place in a French high school during a four-month period, with four groups working differently, in order to test the use of digital video players and of explicit listening strategies. The use of digital video players played a role in the motivation of students as it enabled them to be engaged in the activity, which did not necessarily mean they were learning more. Guided work on the video players aimed at developing cognitive and metacognitive strategies, and we observed the way students complied with the guidelines they had been given, as well as the changes introduced in the classroom in terms of interactions. The use of digital video players and strategies had an impact on the students' skills in terms of metacognition and perception, but not on the students' listening performance. Those results question the way listeners should be helped and trained when listening to English texts, and more broadly how to deal with the issue of technology-mediated language learning.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether pupils ' understanding of spoken factual texts is different if you teach using digital tools compared to analogue teaching material. The background to the survey is that Digitalisation has gained an increasingly large place in the Swedish school after changes in the curriculum. The survey's collected material has been received after a survey where 48 students in Grade 1 have been asked to answer questions for two spoken texts, one with digital tools and one using analog teaching material. The answers have since been compiled and analysed from a socio perspective with Vygotskijs thoughts as a basis. The results of my study show that students ' listening comprehension of spoken factual texts is proving to be a little better when teaching is done using digital tools. The reasons for this result I discuss from the idea that digital tools in themselves are not the reason in itself but are an aid and need to interact with several other components to achieve positive results. / Syftet med denna undersökning är att undersöka om elevers förståelse av upplästa faktatexter skiljer sig åt om man undervisar med hjälp av digitala verktyg jämfört med analogt undervisningsmaterial. Bakgrunden till undersökningen är att digitaliseringen har fått en allt större plats i den svenska skolan efter förändringar i läroplanen. Undersökningens insamlade material har inkommit efter en enkätstudie där 48 elever i årskurs 1 har fått svara på frågor till två upplästa texter, en med digitala verktyg och en med hjälp av analogt undervisningsmaterial. Svaren har sedan sammanställts och analyserats utifrån ett sociokulturellt perspektiv med Vygotskijs tankar som grund. Resultatet i min undersökning visar att elevernas hörförståelse för upplästa faktatexter visar sig vara aningen bättre när undervisningen sker med hjälp av digitala verktyg. Orsakerna till detta resultat diskuterar jag utifrån tanken att digitala verktyg i sig inte är anledningen i sig utan är ett hjälpmedel och behöver samverka med flera andra komponenter för att uppnå positiva resultat.

Este trabalho pretende contribuir para o estudo da compreensão auditiva (CA) da língua espanhola por aprendizes brasileiros em processos de ensino/aprendizagem que definimos como fazendo parte das condições de produção de um processo de inscrição por parte de um sujeito na ordem da língua outra (SERRRANI-INFANTE, 1997b;1998b). Partimos da hipótese de que essa dimensão tem sido pouco explorada em suas especificidades e, menos ainda, em sua relação com a série de singularidades que caracterizam o aprendiz brasileiro. Para tanto, iniciamos nosso percurso investigando o lugar dado a ela nos métodos e abordagens de ensino de línguas, desde práticas utilizadas no século XVII até os dias atuais, o que nos leva inclusive a abordar o Quadro Europeu Comum de Referência para as Línguas (2001) e os efeitos de sentido que ele tem produzido no espaço de enunciação (GUIMARÃES, 2002) brasileiro. Em seguida passamos, por um lado, a observar como foram retomados os sentidos instaurados pelos já referidos métodos e abordagens, ao colocá-los em relação, fundamentalmente, com alguns dos documentos oficiais que regem o ensino nesse país; e, por outro, ao entrar em contato com os estudos desenvolvidos no campo da linguagem no Brasil em torno de aspectos relacionados a nosso objeto com o intuito de avançar na compreensão de sua complexidade. Posteriormente, passamos a analisar o funcionamento do trabalho com a CA em dois livros didáticos entendidos estes como instrumentos linguísticos (AUROUX, 1992) e, por último, em duas atividades e/ou experiências efetivamente realizadas em sala de aula, que designaremos cenas e que se caracterizam por não estarem mediadas diretamente por um livro didático. Esse estudo, que realizamos a partir, fundamentalmente, do dispositivo teórico da Análise do Discurso de linha materialista, nos permite observar que tanto nos métodos e abordagens como nos livros didáticos bem como no terreno real das práticas de ensino/aprendizagem predomina um trabalho espontâneo com a CA, uma diluição dela em outras habilidades ou competências e, por vezes, uma forte subordinação à compreensão leitora. Nesse sentido, nosso investimento vai na direção de pensar essa designação como insuficiente e de responder à necessidade de vinculá-la à dimensão da oralidade, como trabalho de interpretação da materialidade do oral o que implica considerar aspectos discursivos / The purpose of this masters degree study is to contribute to the study of listening comprehension (LC) of the Spanish language by Brazilian learners in the teaching-learning processes which we define as being part of the production conditions of a process of inscription by a subject in the other language (SERRRANI-INFANTE, 1997b, 1998b). The study starts from the hypothesis that this dimension has been little exploited in its specificities and even less in its relationship with the series of singularities that characterizes Brazilian learner. For this purpose of this study, we began our journey by investigating how this dimension has been placed as far as methods and approaches of language teaching are concerned, from practices used in the seventeenth century to the present day, which leads us even to approach the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2001) as well as the effects of meaning that it has being producing in the Brazilian space of enunciation (GUIMARÃES, 2002). Then, we continue our study, on the one hand, by observing how the senses brought by such methods and approaches were taken up, to put them, fundamentally, in relation to some of the official documents governing the education in this country; and, on the other hand, by contacting the language-related studies developed in Brazil around aspects related to our object in order to advance the understanding of its complexity. Afterwards, we began to examine the functioning of the work with the LC in two textbooks - which are both understood as linguistic instruments (AUROUX, 1992) - and, finally, in two activities and / or experiences performed effectively in the classroom, hereinafter referred to as \"scenes\" that are characterized by being not mediated directly by a textbook. This study, supported primarily from theoretical and methodological Discourse Analysis from a materialistic perspective, allows us to observe that both methods and approaches in textbooks as well as in real teaching-learning practice where a spontaneous approach with the LC is likely to predominate, by diluting such LC in other \"skills\" or \"competences\" and sometimes a strong subordination to reading comprehension. In that sense, our investment goes toward thinking that designation as insufficient and to respond to the need to link it to the orality dimension as a work of interpretation of the so-called oral materiality\" - which implies considering discursive aspects

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T18:22:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Leila Maria Gumushian Felipini.pdf: 1467053 bytes, checksum: c8e412396717d1834e9efdcf015fcd9e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-04-13 / This study aims at investigating my practice as a teacher during listening comprehension activities. To be more specific, the purpose is to investigate how the teacher researcher actions contribute to the comprehension of oral texts in a teaching perspective based on the genre approach. Two questions lead this investigation: Which are the teacher researcher didactic actions during the listening comprehension activity? Which strategies were mobilized to carry out the listening comprehension activities proposed in class? The research is carried out at the Instituto Philadelphia de Idiomas, one branch of a language school franchising chain located in Bauru city, São Paulo state, being myself the focal participant and the students action partners. Action research is the methodological procedure adopted by this research since it has involved the active participation of the students and the teacher preserving the natural classroom context. This investigation is supported by two theoretical axes. The first is composed by foreign language teaching- learning concepts according to Vygotsky (2001) Social-Historical-Cultural Theory, by the language concept found in Bakhtin (1997) and by Schneuwly e Dolz (2010) discursive genre perspective. The second is composed by an official document Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais: Língua Estrangeira (Brasil, 1998), by the interactive model of text comprehension found in Rost (2002) and by eight dimensions added by Flowerdew e Miller: individualized, cross-cultural, intertextual, contextualized, social, affective, strategic and critical (2005). The data analyzed are two classes and two reflexive conversations. The classes analysis focused lexical items present in the teacher researcher talk during her interaction with the students. Such analysis was carried out according to the theory of the Conversation Analysis of Kerbrat-Orecchioni (2006). The reflexive conversations analysis was also carried out through the lexical items which concretized the interaction. The results showed that the teacher researcher actions collaborated to the development of the students listening comprehension skill / O objetivo desta dissertação é investigar a minha prática como professora durante a atividade de compreensão oral. Mais especificamente, é investigar como as ações da professora pesquisadora contribuem para a compreensão de textos orais numa perspectiva de ensino baseada na abordagem de gênero. As perguntas que direcionam esta dissertação são duas: Quais são as ações didáticas da professora-pesquisadora durante a atividade de compreensão oral? Quais estratégias foram mobilizadas para a realização das atividades de compreensão oral propostas em sala? A pesquisa é realizada no Instituto Philadelphia de idiomas, uma unidade pertencente a uma rede de franquias de Idiomas localizada em Bauru, cidade do interior do Estado de São Paulo, tendo como participante focal a professora pesquisadora e como parceiros de ação os alunos. O procedimento metodológico adotado é a pesquisa-ação por ter envolvido a participação ativa dos alunos e da professora pesquisadora, preservando o contexto normal da sala de aula. A pesquisa se apoia em dois eixos teóricos, sendo o primeiro, composto pelos conceitos de ensino-aprendizagem de língua estrangeira na perspectiva da Teoria Sócio-Histórico-Cultural de Vygotsky (2001), pela concepção de linguagem de Bakhtin (1997) e sob a perspectiva do gênero discursivo de Schneuwly e Dolz (2010) e, o segundo, composto pelos conhecimentos utilizados na construção do significado em interações com textos de acordo com as orientações presentes no PCN - LE (Brasil, 1998), pelo modelo de processamento oral interativo de Rost (2002) e pelas oito dimensões de Flowerdew e Miller (2005) que o complementam: individual, intercultural, social, contextualizada, afetiva, intertextual, estratégica e crítica. Os dados investigados são duas aulas e duas conversas reflexivas. A análise das aulas teve como foco os itens lexicais que constituíram a fala da professora-pesquisadora no decorrer de sua interação com os alunos, tendo como referencial teórico a Análise da Conversação, conforme Kerbrat-Orecchioni (2006). A análise das conversas reflexivas também foi realizada a partir dos itens lexicais que concretizaram a interação. Os resultados demonstram que as ações da professora pesquisadora colaboram para o desenvolvimento da habilidade de compreensão oral dos alunos