The effectiveness of video-watching on listening comprehension: A study of students’ perceptions and their listening comprehension

• Main Authors: Liu-Ming Chen, 陳律明
• Other Authors: Yueh-Kuey Huang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/s695ej

碩士 === 淡江大學 === 英文學系碩士班 === 104 === Listening comprehension has long been marginalized in Taiwanese English education (Chen & Tsai, 2012; Chou, 2013, 2015). Such learning environment is undergoing a change due to the inclusion of Test of English Listening Comprehension (TELC) for college admission (Chou, 2015; Liao & Yeldham, 2015). In addition to the transformation, technical advances also bring vitality into methods of teaching listening, which is evidenced by the frequent use of videos through online resources. However, some pedagogical concerns occur: how to maintain students’ interest during watching, how to select a proper video and present it with instructional activities and how to ascertain effects of video-watching on listening comprehension. With respect to the concerns, the present study attempts to investigate the effects of video-watching on listening comprehension and students’ perceptions. Participants from two classes of English Drills (N = 127), conducted by the researcher, were randomly arranged as an experimental group receiving video-watching instruction (VWI) and a control group receiving video-watching only. The experiment was implemented by the use of the American sitcom, Friends, followed by GEPT mock listening tests (pre- and post-tests), video-watching tasks, pre- and post-Listening Perception Questionnaire (LPQ) and interviews. The quantitative results showed that VWI assists the participants in improving listening comprehension and helps foster the cognitive development of listening learning, but not the linguistic and affective development. There was a consistency of research findings between the results of the quantitative and qualitative methods used in this study, and the interviewees also provided complementary insight into VWI. First, students need supplementary listening materials to practice test-preparation skills. Second, students’ general English learning experience determines whether they are willing to invest efforts in learning English listening. Third, although videos are theoretically beneficial for reducing listening anxiety, there are still other factors (i.e. attention spans and captions) that might affect the interviewees’ anxiety. These findings suggest VWI is a viable listening method and students’ perceptions should be considered appropriately.