This study examined L2 listening as a skill and as a component of multiple literacies in an English Intensive Program (EIP) in a Canadian university, With the goal of establishing criteria for evaluating listening policy and practice guidelines based on Cadiero-Kaplan's (2004) Language Policy and Programming Conceptual Framework.
The integrated mixed methods design consisted of two phases. Participants in the first phase included 96 international adult students from six EIP classes: intermediate (n=29), high intermediate (n=35), and advanced (n=32). Participants completed an L2 listening test, a metacognition and a motivation questionnaire. Results were juxtaposed with the listening policy and practice guidelines as stated in the EIP program documents. Participants in the second phase included the program leaders (n = 4; the coordinator and three teachers) and program participants (n=8). Program leaders were interviewed concerning their perceptions of literacy and its relation to the teaching of L2 listening. Program participants were observed and interviewed regarding the sense-making processes experienced in listening/literacy activities. Findings were, once again, juxtaposed with the listening policy and practice guidelines found in the program documents.
Data collected during the first phase were used to generate a multi-dimensional model demonstrating that L2 listening performance was the effect of the interaction between linguistic, cognitive (L2 listening metacognitive strategies) and affective factors (learner motivation orientation). When juxtaposed with the program policy and practice guidelines for listening, this model suggests that listening performance expectations should be revised to simultaneously take account of learning strategies and learner motivation, in addition to the linguistic factors already present in the guidelines.
In the second phase, the listening policies were again examined, this time in light of Masny's Multiple Literacies Theory (2005/06; 2009) in order to understand the policy maker's assumptions regarding L2 listening and literacy development. The findings from the program major stakeholders (i.e., leaders and program participants) provided criteria for judging the potentials and limitations of the program policy and practice guidelines in the area of L2 listening in capturing learners' sense-making processes. The results suggested that the skills-oriented conception of literacy underlying the current program policies risks focusing on the product of listening at the expense of the critical sense-making processes involved in L2 listening events.
Overall, this study provides an in-depth and contextualized understanding of L2 listening both as a skill and as a component of multiple literacies, and underscores the relevance of stakeholder input for improving policy, curriculum and practice.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/29893 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Hassantafaghodtari, Marzieh |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 341 p. |
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