استفاده از موّاد آموزشی اصیل برای پیشرفت درک مطلب شنیداری در کلاس های انگلیسی به عنوان زبان خارجی
Overview
Listening is probably the least explicit of the four language skills, making it the most difficult skill to learn. It is evident that children listen and respond to language before they learn to talk. When it is time for children to learn to read, they still have to listen so that they gain knowledge and information to follow directions. In the classroom, students have to listen carefully and attentively to lectures and class discussions in order to understand and to retain the information for later recall.
The assessment of listening comprehension for academic purposes is an area which has not received much attention from researchers (Read, 2005). Rankin (1926/1952) suggests that adults spend more than 40 percent of their communication time listening, in contrast with 31.9 percent speaking, 15 percent reading, and 11 percent writing. Clearly, much of the educational process is based on skills in listening. Students have to spend most of the time listening to what the teacher says, for instance, giving lectures or asking questions. According to Wolvin and Coakley (1979), the amount of time that students are expected to listen in the classroom ranges from 42 to 57.5 percent of their communication time. Taylor (1964), on the other hand, estimates that nearly 90 percent of the class time in high school and university is spent in listening to discussion and lectures. Since listening occupies such a large percentage of the communication time of most people, it is therefore advantageous to possess effective listening skills in order to meet listening demands that occur daily.
Listening is an important skill for learners of English in an academic study context, since so much of what they need to understand and learn is communicated through the oral medium (Read, 2005). Listening can also help students build vocabulary, develop language proficiency, and improve language usage (Barker, 1971). Cayer, Green, and Baker (1971) found that students’ ability to comprehend written material through reading as well as to express themselves through spoken and written communication are directly related to students’ maturity in the listening phase of language development. Dunkel (1986) also asserts that developing proficiency in listening comprehension is the key to achieving proficiency in speaking. Not only are listening skills the basis for the development of all other skills, they are also the main channel through which students make initial contact with the target language and its culture (Curtain & Pesola,1988).
Investigating the EFL listening needs of college students is ignored in Iran. Probing in to the conversational and academic listening abilities required by EFL college students should be very well considered. Iranian EFL students are studying English in their home country where English is not the dominant native language. Students who are from environments where English is not the language of the country have very few opportunities to hear the real language; these students therefore are not accustomed to hearing the language as it is produced by native speakers for native speakers. Consequently, students from the countries in which English is taught as a foreign language frequently have great difficulty understanding English spoken to them when they come in to contact with native speakers of the language.
Selecting appropriate materials and activities for language classroom requires much attention. Materials include text books, video and audio tapes, computer software, and visual aids. They influence the content and the procedures of learning. The choice of deductive versus inductive learning, the role of memorization, the use of creativity and problem solving, production versus reception, and the order in which materials are presented are all influenced by the materials (Kitao, 2005). Authentic materials refer to oral and written language materials used in daily situations by native speakers of the language (Rogers& Medley, 1988).Some examples of authentic materials are newspapers, magazines, and television programs. It is necessary for students who are going to study in an English-speaking environment in future to learn how to listen to lectures and take notes, to comprehend native speakers in various kinds of speech situations, as well as to understand radio and television broadcasts. (Paulston & Bruder, 1976).This is also true for students who pass English courses in universities.
Videotapes and audiotapes, television, and interactive computer software are becoming increasingly common methods of delivering academic content in the university classroom. One way to prepare EFL students for encounters with real language is to apply real language or authentic speech in the EFL classroom (Bacon, 1989; Rivers, 1980; Rogers & Medley, 1988; Secules, Herron, &Tomasello, 1992). The breath, the timbre, the speed and the intonation of each authentic voice influence the content and meaning of the spoken word (Selfe, 2005). An advantage of introducing authentic materials at an early stage of language learning is to help students become familiar with the target language (Field, 1998). The use of authentic materials in EFL teaching and learning appears to be worthwhile (Porter & Roberts, 1981; Rings, 1986; Rivers, 1987). Teachers should employ authentic listening materials at all levels in instruction whenever possible (Chung, 2005). Implementing authentic speech in classroom listening allows students to have “immediate and direct contact with input data which reflect genuine communication in the target language” (Breen, 1985, p.63). Conversely, however, the use of teacher talk and/or foreigner talk with EFL students can impede students’ ability in listening comprehension because of the unusual rate of speech (Robinett, 1978; Snow & Perkins, 1979).
This exploratory study sought to examine the influences of the use of aural authentic materials on listening ability in students of English as a foreign language. This descriptive study examined how the use of authentic input in an EFL classroom eased and/or impeded students’ learning in English-language listening. In conjunction with the primary objective, the study also identified the learning strategies EFL students used when they experienced authentic listening materials. Finally, the study determined the influences of using authentic materials on EFL students’ attitudes towards learning English
Table of Contents
Acknowledgement X
Abstract XI
List of Tables XII
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
Overview 1
Statement of the Problem and Purpose of the Study 5
Significance and Justification of the Study 6
Research Questions 7
Research Hypotheses 8
What Is Known About Listening 8
What Is Known About Authentic Materials 10
Definition of Important Terms 12
Delimitations 13
Limitations 14
Organization of the Master Thesis 14
Chapter 2: Review of Literature 15
Introduction 15
Listening Comprehension 15
- 2.1 Definition of Listening 15
- 2.2 Importance of Listening 17
- 2.2.1 Listening and Academic Success 18
- 2.2.2 Discovery Listening 18
- 2.3 Listening as an Academic Process 20
- 2.3.1 Knowledge Required for Listening 20
Process
Listening Comprehension versus Reading 21
Comprehension
Listening Comprehension 23
- 2.5.1 Authentic and Listening 23
Comprehension
Different Kinds of Comprehension 24
Comprehension Preceding Production 25
- 2.6 Tasks for Listening Comprehension 25
- 2.6.1 Performing to Indicate Understanding 27
- 2.6.2 Teaching rather than Testing 28
- 2.7 Inner Speech and Language Learning 29
- 2.7.1 Listening and Speaking 29
- 2.8 Maturation and Language Learning 30
- 2.8.1 Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal 31
Development
The Role of Background Knowledge in 32
Learning Language
- 2.9.1 Schema Theory 32
- 2.9.2 Background Knowledge/Prior 33
Knowledge
- 2.10 Cultural Background 35
- 3 Listening and English-as-a-Foreign-Language Learning 36
- 3.1 The Emergency of Communicative Language 36
Teaching
Communicative Approach: Some Principles 38
and Features
- 4 The Use of Aural Authentic Materials 40
- 4.1 Definitions of Authentic Materials 40
- 4.2 Authentic Materials and Language Performance 41
- 4.3 Nature of Authentic Texts 43
- 4.3.1 Characteristics of Authentic Speech 43
- 4.3.2 Authentic Speech and Cultural Aspect 44
Chapter 3: Methodology 46
Introduction 46
Summary of the Study 46
- 2.1 Participants 48
- 2.2 Classroom Observation 49
- 3 Demographic Data of the Students 50
- 4 Classroom Environment 52
- 4.1 Setting 52
- 5 Classroom Practices 52
- 5.1 Listening Materials Implemented in Class 52
- 5.2 Class Procedure 53
- 6 Teacher’s Pedagogy 54
- 7 Interviews 55
- 7.1 Interviews with Students 56
- 7.1.1 First Interview 56
- 7.1.2 Second Interview 56
- 8 Self-Evaluation Questionnaire 57
- 9 Language Learning Strategy Questionnaire 58
- 10 Data Collection 59
- 11 Analysis of Data 60
- 12 Validity and Reliability 63
Chapter 4: Results 64
Introduction 64
Summary of the Study 64
Results of the Study 65
- 3.1 Results for Fundamental Research Question: 66
Influences of Aural Authentic Materials
- 3.1.1 Results from the Interviews with Students 67
- 3.1.2 Results from the Class Observation 69
- 3.1.3 Results from the Self-Evaluation 71
Questionnaire
- 3.2 Summary of Findings Related to the Influences 72
of Aural Authentic Materials
- 3.3 Results for Secondary Research Question#1: 73
Learning Strategy Use
- 3.3.1 Results from the Interview with 73
students
Results from the Class Observation 75
Results from the Learning Strategy 76
Questionnaire
- 3.4 Summary of Findings Related to the Learning 77
Strategy Use
- 3.5 Results for Secondary Research Question#2: 79
Attitudes towards Language Learning
- 3.5.1 Results from the Interviews with 79
Students
Summary of Findings Related to the Students’ 80
Attitudes towards Language Learning
- 4 Overall Findings of the Study 80
- 4.1 Students with no Progress in Listening Ability 81
- 4.2 Students with Progress in Listening Ability 82
Chapter 5: Conclusion 84
Introduction 84
Summary of the study 84
Discussion of Results 86
- 3.1 Authenticity of the Listening Materials 86
- 3.2 Influences of Aural Authentic Materials on 89
Listening Comprehension
Use of Learning Strategies 92
Attitudes towards Language Learning 94
- 4 Conclusions 96
- 5 Recommendations 102
- 5.1 Recommendations for Further Research 102
- 5.2 Implications for Teaching 103
Bibliography 105
Appendices 123
Appendix A 124
Appendix B 125
Appendix C 129
Appendix D 131
Appendix E 137
Appendix F 145
Appendix G 147
Appendix H 148
Appendix I 149
Appendix J 150
Appendix K 151
Appendix L 157
پایان نامه ارشد آموزش زبان انگلیسی - استفاده از موّاد آموزشی اصیل برای پیشرفت درک مطلب شنیداری در کلاس های انگلیسی
