This two-part study employed an experimental design and interviews to examine
the effects of videos on adult English as a Second Language (ESL) student listening
comprehension. The purpose of the first part of the study was to compare the effects of
video in two pre-listening activity conditions on beginner and upper-beginner adult ESL
listening comprehension. The participants were 49 Language Instruction for Newcomers
to Canada (LINC) students enrolled in two beginner and two upper-beginner ESL classes
The beginner classes were randomly assigned either to the audio only (AO) condition or
the audio with written script (AW) condition. The upper-beginner classes were similarly
assigned to the two conditions, the AO condition or the AW condition. In the AO
condition, the students listened to a tape recording of four pre-listening questions prior to
viewing the video. In the AW condition, the students listened to the same tape recording
and, in addition, were shown the same questions that were printed on large sheets of
paper and held up at the front of the class by the teacher. The same pre-test was
administered to all four classes. Twelve exercises including pre-listening questions,
videos, and comprehension questions were completed. The beginner classes viewed
videos from Learning English in the Community LINC 2 (Cameron et al., 1995), and the
upper-beginner classes viewed videos from Learning English in the Community LINC 3
(Cameron et al., 1995). The same post-test was administered to all four classes. Results
indicated that the written script in the AW condition significantly improved the listening
comprehension ability of beginner and upper-beginner adult ESL students.
The second part of the study was aimed at gaining insights into the pre-listening
questions, the videos, and their value on teaching listening comprehension. All of the
students were individually interviewed. Overall the students were positive about the
showing of videos as aids for enhancing listening comprehension, the content of the
videos, as well as the questions. Some of the students, however, found some of the
instruments difficult to understand. They found that the vocabulary was unfamiliar or the
speed of delivery was too fast. This lack of comprehension may have affected the results
of Part One of the study. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/10227 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Ewasiw, Joan F.A. |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 3919912 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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