آموزش زبان(استفاده از مواد آموزشی-کلاسهای انگلیسی)
Acknowledgement X
Abstract XI
List of Tables XII
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
1.1 Overview 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem and Purpose of the Study 5
1.3 Significance and Justification of the Study 6
1.4 Research Questions 7
1.5 Research Hypotheses 8
1.6 What Is Known About Listening 8
1.7 What Is Known About Authentic Materials 10
1.8 Definition of Important Terms 12
1.9 Delimitations 13
1.10 Limitations 14
1.11 Organization of the Master Thesis 14
Chapter 2: Review of Literature 15
2.1 Introduction 15
2.2 Listening Comprehension 15
2.2.1 Definition of Listening 15
2.2.2 Importance of Listening 17
2.2.2.1 Listening and Academic Success 18
2.2.2.2 Discovery Listening 18
2.2.3 Listening as an Academic Process 20
2.2.3.1 Knowledge Required for Listening 20
Process
2.2.4 Listening Comprehension versus Reading 21
Comprehension
2.2.5 Listening Comprehension 23
2.2.5.1 Authentic and Listening 23
Comprehension
2.2.5.2 Different Kinds of Comprehension 24
2.2.5.3 Comprehension Preceding Production 25
2.2.6 Tasks for Listening Comprehension 25
2.2.6.1 Performing to Indicate Understanding 27
2.2.6.2 Teaching rather than Testing 28
2.2.7 Inner Speech and Language Learning 29
2.2.7.1 Listening and Speaking 29
2.2.8 Maturation and Language Learning 30
2.2.8.1 Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal 31
Development
2.2.9 The Role of Background Knowledge in 32
Learning Language
2.2.9.1 Schema Theory 32
2.2.9.2 Background Knowledge/Prior 33
Knowledge
2.2.10 Cultural Background 35
2.3 Listening and English-as-a-Foreign-Language Learning 36
2.3.1 The Emergency of Communicative Language 36
Teaching
2.3.2 Communicative Approach: Some Principles 38
and Features
2.4 The Use of Aural Authentic Materials 40
2.4.1 Definitions of Authentic Materials 40
2.4.2 Authentic Materials and Language Performance 41
2.4.3 Nature of Authentic Texts 43
2.4.3.1 Characteristics of Authentic Speech 43
2.4.3.2 Authentic Speech and Cultural Aspect 44
Chapter 3: Methodology 46
3.1 Introduction 46
3.2 Summary of the Study 46
3.2.1 Participants 48
3.2.2 Classroom Observation 49
3.3 Demographic Data of the Students 50
3.4 Classroom Environment 52
3.4.1 Setting 52
3.5 Classroom Practices 52
3.5.1 Listening Materials Implemented in Class 52
3.5.2 Class Procedure 53
3.6 Teacher’s Pedagogy 54
3.7 Interviews 55
3.7.1 Interviews with Students 56
3.7.1.1 First Interview 56
3.7.1.2 Second Interview 56
3.8 Self-Evaluation Questionnaire 57
3.9 Language Learning Strategy Questionnaire 58
3.10 Data Collection 59
3.11 Analysis of Data 60
3.12 Validity and Reliability 63
Chapter 4: Results 64
4.1 Introduction 64
4.2 Summary of the Study 64
4.3 Results of the Study 65
4.3.1 Results for Fundamental Research Question: 66
Influences of Aural Authentic Materials
4.3.1.1 Results from the Interviews with Students 67
4.3.1.2 Results from the Class Observation 69
4.3.1.3 Results from the Self-Evaluation 71
Questionnaire
4.3.2 Summary of Findings Related to the Influences 72
of Aural Authentic Materials
4.3.3 Results for Secondary Research Question#1: 73
Learning Strategy Use
4.3.3.1 Results from the Interview with 73
students
4.3.3.2 Results from the Class Observation 75
4.3.3.3 Results from the Learning Strategy 76
Questionnaire
4.3.4 Summary of Findings Related to the Learning 77
Strategy Use
4.3.5 Results for Secondary Research Question#2: 79
Attitudes towards Language Learning
4.3.5.1 Results from the Interviews with 79
Students
4.3.6 Summary of Findings Related to the Students’ 80
Attitudes towards Language Learning
4.4 Overall Findings of the Study 80
4.4.1 Students with no Progress in Listening Ability 81
4.4.2 Students with Progress in Listening Ability 82
Chapter 5: Conclusion 84
5.1 Introduction 84
5.2 Summary of the study 84
5.3 Discussion of Results 86
5.3.1 Authenticity of the Listening Materials 86
5.3.2 Influences of Aural Authentic Materials on 89
Listening Comprehension
5.3.3 Use of Learning Strategies 92
5.3.4 Attitudes towards Language Learning 94
5.4 Conclusions 96
5.5 Recommendations 102
5.5.1 Recommendations for Further Research 102
5.5.2 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
Acknowledgements
It is the highest time I seized the opportunity to offer my most genuine and profound words of gratitude to many people to whom I owe the accomplishment of this research. Among many people who have bestowed, most kindly, their invaluable help upon me I should specifically thank my honorable thesis advisor, Dr.Karkia, who patiently went through every line of this thesis and provided me with many insightful comments and invaluable suggestions. I would also like to extend my sincere appreciation and gratitude to Dr. Ghahremani Ghajar, my thesis reader, for her most professional guidelines, meticulous reading of this manuscript, making insightful suggestions and corrections; for her expertise and time. I am also very much grateful to Dr. Rahimi for her critical evaluation, and judgment of this thesis.
Also my thanks and best wishes go to all students who participated in the present study, without whose cooperation this research would not have been conducted.
Last, by no means least, a truly cordial sense of thankfulness to my parents General Ali Ghaderpanahi and Firooze Nobariyan for their support and everlasting encouragement throughout my educational years.
ABSTRACT
The fundamental purpose of this study was to examine the influences of aural authentic materials on listening ability of thirty female undergraduate psychology majors studying English as a foreign language. The secondary purposes of the study were to identify the learning strategies used by EFL students experiencing authentic listening texts and to determine the influences of authentic materials on EFL students’ attitudes towards learning English.
A quantitative and qualitative analysis was offered in this study. It basically focused on using authentic materials and real-life situations as part of the communicative approach. Sources for designing and implementing effective listening strategy instruction and the transcript of one-hour videotaped session were recorded and analyzed. The results of the listening comprehension posttest were compared to that of the pretest using a 2-tailed t-test (p < .05).="" a="" one-way="" anova="" on="" the="" mean="" strategy="" use="" was="" applied="" (p="">< .05).the="" results="" of="" the="" qualitative="" data="" analysis="" were="" in="" line="" with="" and="" confirmed="" that="" of="" quantitative.="" analysis="" of="" the="" interviews="" and="" the="" questionnaires="" revealed="" that="" the="" use="" of="" authentic="" materials="" in="" the="" efl="" classroom="" helped="" increase="" students’="" comfort="" level="" and="" their="" self-confidence="" to="" listen="" to="" the="" foreign="" language.="" results="" showed="" a="" statistically="" significant="" improvement="" in="" listening="" ability,="" as="" well="" as="" the="" positive="" effect="" on="" efl="" students’="" motivation="" to="" learn="" the="" language.="" recommendations="" were="" offered="" to="" ease="" students’="" frustration="" that="" resulted="" from="" the="" speed="" of="" authentic="" speech.="" pedagogical="" implications="" of="" the="" results="" were="" discussed="" along="" with="" the="" impact="" on="" efl="" students’="" listening="" comprehension="">
List of Tables
Table 1: Source of Data 48
Table 2: Demographic data of Strategy 51
Table 3: Analysis of Data 62
Table 4: Interview Results 68
Table 5: Results from Class Observation 70
Table 6: Students’ Responses on Self-Evaluation Questionnaire 71
Table 7: Interviews with Students on Learning Strategy Use 74
Table 18: Class Observation on Learning Strategy Use 75
Table 9: Responses to Questionnaire on Learning Strategy Use 78
INTRODUCTION
1.1 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.
1.2 Statement of the Problem and Purpose of the Study:
Listening plays a significant role in the lives of people. Listening refers to a process in which a listener perceives aural stimuli and attempts to interpret the message of a speaker or oral text. Of the four major areas of communication skills and language development- listening, speaking, reading, and writing- the one that is the most basic is listening. 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.
As the focus in foreign language instruction moves toward the individual as the central element in the process of foreign language learning, the importance of listening comprehension has come to the forefront of foreign language development as a topic of study in both theory and pedagogy. Though primarily ignored until recently, listening comprehension plays a major role in the paradigm shift in language learning and language teaching towards attention to language function and communication. Listening comprehension is increasingly considered a skill in and of itself as well as the foundation for speaking (Sharpe, 2005).
In language classroom, listening ability plays a significant role in the development of other language art skills. When students first learn a language, they generally have to listen to the words several times before they are able to recognize and pronounce those words. Listening skills are as important as speaking skills, face-to-face communication is not possible unless the two types of skills are developed together (Mitsuhashi, 2005).
1.3 Significance and Justification of the Study
Professionals, teachers, and all those who are concerned about teaching practices and learning in EFL situations have continually attempted to explore new ways in order to make beneficial improvements in the field of teaching and learning.
The significance of this study lies in exploring the ways using strategies and aural authentic materials in EFL classes influence learners’ listening ability, their attitudes and awareness of their own experiences. Thus, a semester long micro ethnography, an intensive study of small groups through the use of observation was conducted in order to generate a description and interpretation of the teaching environment, and the teaching methodology was applied in one EFL class. The actions and views of the participants towards “listening” were also taken in to consideration.
The method of ethnography involved: in-depth observation of classroom practices over time; interviews with students; and updating the research methodology through a study of recent research.
This study underlies the importance of positive attitudes and the use of aural authentic materials for successful listening comprehension. Learning a language is learning how to communicate as a member of a particular cultural group. The students’ attitudes were best developed through listening to aural authentic materials. An examination of this process from the perspective of participants using qualitative and quantitative methods uncovered the elements participants considered essential for successful conversation.
2.4.1 Definitions of Authentic Materials
A further area for micro-listening practice is suggested by the greatly increased use of authentic materials. The most common definition is unaltered texts that are generated by native speakers and for native speakers (Bacon, 1992; Joiner, 1991; Joiner et al., 1989; Rings, 1986; Rogers & Medley, 1988; Scarcella & Oxford, 1992).
An advantage usually cited for authentic materials is that they afford examples of the hesitations, false starts, filled and empty pauses, etc., which characterize natural speech.
Widdowson (1979) argues that authenticity is not a quality of text at all; he believes that authenticity is achieved “when the reader realizes the intentions of the writer.”
This section has presented some definitions of the term “authentic materials”. Generally, authentic language is that which is used by native speakers communicating orally or in writing.
2.4.2 Authentic Materials and Language Performance
It is common practice to introduce pieces of authentic listening at an early stage of learning, alongside scripted texts, to help learners to become familiar with the real cadences of the target language. Empirical studies have confirmed positive results obtained by listeners who are given opportunities to interact with authentic oral texts (Porter & Roberts, 1981; Shrum & Glisan, 1999).
Learners need practice in the real-life task of extracting meaning from utterances where much of the language is beyond their current state of knowledge. The teacher must bring massive amounts of authentic materials in to the classroom and make them consistently accessible to the students (Grittner, 1980; Lund, 1990; Meyer, 1984; Rogers & Medley, 1988; Schmidt-Rinehart, 1994).
Mitsuhashi (2004) noted that authenticity should be evident both in language and in task. Joiner, Adkins, and Eykyn (1989) assert that it is not necessary for students to listen to authentic materials everyday. Furthermore, Omaggio Hadley (1993) claims that finding authentic discourse for listening comprehension is much more difficult than obtaining and selecting authentic texts for reading. She further says that unmodified authentic discourse often presents a random assortment of vocabulary, structures, functions, content, situation, and lengths.
Listening materials should be given the attention they deserve because the kind of material to which a listener is exposed has its own effect to facilitate or complicate comprehension. An increasing number of linguistics and language educators emphasize the importance of authentic oral texts very early in the language experience (Bacon & Finnemann, 1990; Wing, 1986). Authentic materials can even be used from the fist week of the first semester; however, the materials must relate to learners’ life experiences and contain appropriate features that enhance comprehension at this level (Rings, 1986; Vandergrift, 1997). Feyten (1991) asserts that learners can handle authentic, unedited discourse although their success in comprehending may range from very little to considerable. Meyer (1984) and Richards (1983) suggest providing students with essential background knowledge and simple tasks to perform while listening.
Hansen and Jensen (1994) contend that students from all proficiency levels should be exposed to natural speech as a regular part of their listening practice. According to Bacon (1989), less-proficient students can understand and benefit from authentic texts. Further she posits that an early exposure to such texts will help these students develop useful listening strategies for more complex tasks later on. However, the texts should be culturally relevant to the experience of the students.
It can be concluded, from this section, that there is an increasing interest in implementing authentic materials in a language classroom so that the students have opportunities to hear and practice using the language they will encounter outside the classroom. Also, several research studies have shown students’ improvement in language performance as a result of exposure to authentic language in the classroom.
2.4.3 Nature of Authentic Texts
2.4.3.1 Characteristics of Authentic Speech
Traditional views emphasize severe grading of teaching materials so that these materials fit the learner’s linguistic knowledge. The problem with authentic texts is that they have long been perceived as being too difficult for students to understand (Ciccone, 1995; Lund, 1990; Rogers & Medley, 1988; Ur, 1984). Beginning language learners may experience extreme frustration when confronted by an authentic text. However, Cook (1996) asserts that difficulty depends upon the task that is used with the material. Comprehension of authentic material is facilitated by some characteristics of the spoken language such as pausing, repeating, rephrasing, and the use of clauses rather than sentences (Schmidt-Rinehart, 1994; Wing, 1986). Authentic texts are more redundant than most texts prepared for language learners; the redundancy of these texts gives the students more clues to comprehension (Bacon, 1989; Gilman & Moody, 1984; Meyer, 1984, Schmidt-Rinehart, 1994). Nevertheless, other characteristics of the spoken language such as reduced and ungrammatical forms would, on the other hand, be expected to hinder understanding (Wing, 1986). In addition, the fact that authentic texts are often delivered at rapid speech can be intimidating to some students (Joiner et al., 1989). Jacobson (2003) believes print materials should be used in ways that they would be used in the lives of learners anywhere outside of their