Next to reading, writing and speaking, listening comprehension lies at the heart of language learning. However, it has also proved to be difficult for the language learner to acquire and for language teachers to teach and to assess. Teachers do not only need a rich understanding of the listening process but also strategies that enable them to teach listening effectively and to assess it in a rational way.
The procedure of testing can be divided up into two theoretical fields. First, the large field of teaching listening comprehension and second the field of actually testing it.
Both fields need to be carried out thoughtfully in order to achieve success in the whole process. Despite or maybe even due to the difficulty that lies in listening comprehension itself and in teaching it, “L2 listening remains the last researched of all four language skills.
However, in recent years there has been an increased focus on L2 listening ability since its importance in language acquisition has finally been acknowledged and is now regarded as as a skill that requires more classroom attention. In particular the field of teaching listening with the help of technology has been investigated since the revolution in multimedia has made available a large variety of aural and visual text in foreign languages.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The theoretical background of listening comprehension
2.1 Mental processes
2.2 Components of listening comprehension
2.3 Parameters of spoken texts and requirements for decoding
2.4 Determination of text difficulty
2.5 Designing listening comprehension tests: problems and task variety
2.5.1 General problems of assessing listening comprehension
2.5.1.1 Preparations: finding a suitable text and equipment issues
2.5.1.2 Language proficiency as a combination of different abilities
2.5.1.3 The inevitability of testing remembrance capacity
2.5.1.4 The difficulty of determining correct answers
2.5.1.5 Strategies for fair assessment
2.5.2 Test types for listening comprehension
2.5.2.1 Global vs. detail questions
2.5.2.2 Formats suitable for low-proficient learners
2.5.2.3 Formats suitable for high-proficient learners
3. Putting listening comprehension into practice
3.1 The role of non-verbal signals
3.2 Lesson Plan
3.3 Description of the experiment
3.4 Adaption
3.5 Thesis
3.6 The assessment sheet as basis for evaluation
3.7 Evaluation and interpretation of the results
4. Conclusion
Research Objectives and Core Topics
This paper examines the impact of visual components on the teaching and assessment of L2 listening comprehension, specifically investigating whether visual support enhances or hinders the comprehension process depending on text type and learner proficiency.
- The theoretical foundations of listening comprehension and mental processing.
- Key challenges in designing and administering listening comprehension tests.
- Comparative analysis of different visual content types (newscast vs. movie drama).
- Evaluation of learner performance metrics with and without visual support.
- Practical pedagogical recommendations for incorporating visual aids in classroom settings.
Excerpt from the Book
3.1 The role of non-verbal signals
As many previous studies (Kellermann 1990, Wagner 2007, Feak and Salehzadeh 2001) have proved, visual support has significant positive influence on the listening process. Pictures increase motivation and attention levels. Furthermore, the screen provides a focus for watching which can result in increased concentration levels and can prevent from looking around in the class room. After all, in almost every natural situation of target-language use, spoken language is accompanied by visual information. Thus, it would be rather unnatural to make visual information not available in a test situation and would stress the artificiality of it.
However, some disadvantages and undesirable effects of providing visual support contradict this positive view: Some researchers came up with results that could act as a basis for a negative evaluation of providing visual support in a test situation (Coniam 2001, Ginther 2002). Negative influences could reach from a distracting nature of visuals to a misinterpretation of visual information due to different pre-knowledge to a decrease of concentration levels on the linguistic input because of the processing of visual information. Although more research is conducted about the correlation of the visual and the aural channel, using video material in language testing remains largely unexplored. Taking into account the different views on visual support, it can be said for sure that visual components influence the listening process definitely in some way but it is still open to doubt whether the effects on comprehension are exclusively positive.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Introduces the significance of listening comprehension in language learning and outlines the central research question regarding the role of visual components.
2. The theoretical background of listening comprehension: Details the cognitive processes involved in listening and discusses various criteria and challenges for designing assessment tools.
3. Putting listening comprehension into practice: Describes the practical experiment conducted with two different visual sources (newscast vs. film) and interprets the observed effects on student performance.
4. Conclusion: Summarizes the findings, emphasizing that the efficacy of visual support is contingent upon the text type and the specific educational goals of the lesson.
Keywords
Listening comprehension, Visual components, L2 learning, Language testing, Mental processes, Audio-visual input, Educational technology, Pedagogy, Comprehension assessment, Information density, Non-verbal signals, Language proficiency, Multimodal learning, Test design, Cognitive load
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research paper?
The paper explores the role of visual components, such as body language and imagery, in the teaching and assessment of L2 listening comprehension, specifically analyzing whether these aids enhance or distract the learner.
What are the primary themes discussed in the work?
The main themes include psycholinguistic mental processes, the difficulty of designing valid listening tests, the impact of non-verbal signals, and the comparative effects of video types on comprehension.
What is the central research question?
The research investigates how the inclusion of visual components affects learner performance across different types of video content and what challenges arise for teachers when designing these assessments.
Which scientific methods are applied in this paper?
The paper combines a theoretical literature review on listening comprehension with an experimental case study comparing student performance on audio-only versus audio-visual versions of specific media texts.
What topics are covered in the main body of the work?
The main body covers the cognitive aspects of speech processing, practical strategies for choosing and testing listening texts, the design of the experimental lesson plan, and a detailed evaluation of test results.
Which keywords best describe this study?
Key terms include Listening comprehension, Visual components, L2 learning, Language testing, and Multimodal learning.
How does the type of video influence the result?
The study finds that for emotionally charged content, such as a movie drama, visuals can aid comprehension, whereas in high-information-density content like news, visuals may prove distracting to the listener.
What conclusion does the author reach regarding the use of visuals in tests?
The author concludes that visual support should not be generalized as always positive; it depends heavily on the text type and the properties of the media, suggesting that teachers should carefully balance the pros and cons based on the lesson's goal.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Anonym (Autor:in), 2011, The Role of Visual Components in Teaching and Assessing Listening Comprehension, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/299974
