مقاله آموزش زبان(استفاده از مواد آموزشی،کلاسهای انگلیسی)در 165 صفحه ورد قابل ویرایش

Table of Contents



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 development.

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




CHAPTER 1



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).



.3 Listening as an Active Process





In the past, listening comprehension was usually characterized as a passive activity (Bacon, 1989; Joiner, 1991; Morley, 1990; Murphy, 1991). However, many theorists realized that listening is not a passive but an active process of constructing meaning from a stream of sounds (Berne, 1998; Joiner, 1991, Mc Donough, 1999; Murphy, 1991; O’Malley et al., 1989; Purdy, 1997; Rivers & Temperly, 1978; Thompson & Rubin, 1996; Vandergrift, 1998; Weissenvieder, 1987; Wing, 1986). Some scholars further proposed that listening comprehension is a complex, problem-solving skill (Byrnes, 1984; Meyer, 1984; Richards, 1983; Wipf, 1984; Wolvin & Coakley, 1979). According to Purdy (1997), listeners do not passively absorb the words, but actively attempt to grasp the facts and feelings in what they hear by attending to what the speaker says, to how the speaker says it, and to the context in which the message is delivered.





2.2.3.1 Knowledge Required for Listening Process

Vandergrift (2004) noted that given the critical role of listening in language learning, students need to “learn to listen” so that they can better “listen to learn.” Byrnes (1984) indicated that listening requires “an interplay between all types of knowledge” (p.322). A listener needs to have some command over major components of the language; these components are phonology, lexicon, syntax, semantics, and text structure (Bacon, 1989; Byrnes, 1984; Dunkel, 1986; Lundsteen, 1979; Paulston & Bruder, 1976; Pearson & Fielding, Weissenrieder, 1987).

Teng (2004) reported that the most important listening needs for listening to English lectures are the “ability to follow different modes of lecturing (spoken, audio, audio-visual)” and the “ability to recognize instructional/learner tasks”. Both abilities are related to listeners’ background knowledge. Listeners should increase their world knowledge in order to follow different modes of lecturing.

In summary, listening is an active process of attaching meaning to the speech sounds. As a listener performs a variety of tasks in a comprehension process, he or she has to rely upon various types of knowledge such as grammatical knowledge and sociocultural knowledge.





2.2.4 Listening Comprehension versus Reading Comprehension





The traditional models of comprehension supposes that there is an idea in a speaker’s head; he or she encodes this in to words; the listener hears the speaker’s words; he or she “understands” them, which means that the listener now has the idea with the speaker originally had. Omaggio Hadley (1993) compared listening and reading comprehension; she then indicated that these two skills could be characterized as problem-solving activities which involved the formation of hypotheses, the drawing of inferences, and the resolution of ambiguities and uncertainties in the input in order to assign meaning. Omaggio Hadley further stated that both listening and reading comprehension are highly complex processes that draw on linguistic knowledge and contextual cues. Shrum and Glisan (1999) denoted that both listening and reading are cognitive processes in which listeners and readers draw upon four types of competencies as they attempt to comprehend a message: grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence. Although listening and reading comprehension are similar in their goals and processes, they are different in the native discourse: the spoken language versus the written language.

Researchers have outlined the differences between the spoken language and the written language. These following differences also offer insights in to the nature of listening and reading tasks.

1. Written language usually appears in a sentence while spoken discourse is generally delivered as a clause at a time (Richards, 1983).

2. Written language tends to be planned and organized while spoken discourse is generally not planned and well-organized (Richards, 1983).

3. Sentences in written discourse flow in logical sequence whereas spoken discourse contains ungrammatical, incomplete forms. Ordinary speech also has false starts, pauses, hesitations, repetitions, and self-corrections making up between 30 to 50 percent of what are said (Omaggio Hadley, 1993; Richards, 1983; Scarcella & Oxford, 1992; Ur, 1984).

4. Written material can be reread if not understood immediately; readers can even check the meaning of a word in a dictionary. On the other hand, spoken language must be comprehensible instantly, especially when the message can not be repeated; listeners do not have time to consult a dictionary or review the previous message (Bacon, 1989; Edwards & Mc Donald, 1993; Wipf, 1984).

This section has centered on the characteristics of listening and reading comprehension. Despite the similarities between some aspects of listening comprehension and reading comprehension, the nature of discourse is different since one is the spoken language and the other is the written language.





2.2.5 Listening Comprehension





2.2.5.1 Attention and Listening Comprehension

Clearly the general purpose of listening is to comprehend a message (Chastain, 1979; Lund, 1990). Garcia (2001) suggested that knowing the time required by learners to successfully achieve effective comprehension can potentially have important implications for language teaching/ learning processes. Listening then involves giving conscious attention to the sounds for the purpose of gaining meaning. The message must be given adequate attention, or concentration, so that it can supersede all other competing sounds and be comprehended (Barker, 1971; Cayer et al., 1971; Cohen, 1990; Lundsteen, 1979; Samuels, 1984; Wing, 1986). As Gass (1990) pointed out, “nothing in the target language is available for intake in to a language learner’s existing system unless it is consciously noticed” (p.136). Several studies have suggested that noticing explicit signals of text structure such as introduction, background information, definition, lists, examples, emphasis, clarification/explanation, change of direction, further information, constructing information, classification, reference to visuals and conclusion are important in listening comprehension (Beauquis, 2005).







2.2.5.2 Different Kinds of Comprehension

Discrimination, perception, and retention make comprehension possible but do not guarantee that understanding will occur. Lund (1990) categorized comprehension in to main-idea comprehension, detail comprehension, and full comprehension. Main-idea comprehension involves actual comprehension of the message and depends primarily on recognition of vocabulary. Detail comprehension involves getting specific information; it may be performed independently of main-idea comprehension when listeners know in advance what information they are listening for. Full comprehension, which is the goal of listening instruction, involves understanding the whole message--the main ideas and the details.

Comprehension does not always require understanding every word or structure (Ciccone, 1995). However, language learners usually assume that successful comprehension only occurs with total comprehension (Faerch & Kasper, 1986; Ur, 1984). This belief causes some language learners to become frightened when they fail to understand every single word they hear. According to Scarcella and Oxford (1992), students’ anxiety about not understanding everything can lead them to “discouragement, fatigue, and a general sense of failure” (p.149). Indeed, teachers should help their students understand that it is not necessary to recognize and understand every word in order to function well in listening comprehension.













Interviews with Students



3.7.1.1 First Interview

The first interview was conducted to obtain information about the students’ educational background in the English language, their English-language listening experiences, their attitudes toward the language, and their demographic background (see appendix I). The questions were piloted for clarity and modified according to feedback from respondents. In order to collect in depth information on variables such as students’ English-language listening experiences, the first interview was conducted. In preparing 11 interview questions, care was taken to ensure that the questions were comparable to the questionnaire items. The questions were phrased in such a way that students could give clear answers. They were also encouraged to give detailed comments. The interviews were tape-recorded with students’ permission and the results supported the questionnaire findings.

Furthermore, each student was given a background questionnaire to confirm demographic data such as name, age and motives for learning the English language. The students were also asked to respond to a self-evaluation questionnaire regarding their foreign-language listening ability.





3.7.1.2 Second Interview

The second interview with students was conducted during the last week of the language program. The purpose of this interview was to elicit more information about the students’ views on the implementation of authentic materials in listening-comprehension class, the learning strategies they used in the classroom, as well as their attitudes towards learning the language.(see appendix J). The questions were piloted for clarity and modified according to feedback from respondents. In order to collect information on variables such as students’ comfort level in understanding English, the second interview was conducted. The students’ responses to the 6 questions were tape-recorded with students’ permission.

After that the students were requested to answer the questionnaire regarding their listening comprehension in the English language.





3.8 Self-Evaluation Questionnaire





The self-evaluation questionnaire contained questions with reference to the students’ ability in listening comprehension. The purpose of the questionnaire was to obtain the students’ viewpoint about their competence in foreign-language listening comprehension before and after the course. In order to determine the changes in students’ listening ability, each student was requested to respond to the self-evaluation questionnaire at both the beginning and the end of the language program (see appendix G). The questions were piloted for clarity and modified according to feedback from respondents. It included 3 items about the students’ understanding of a typical English conversation outside and inside the classroom and their ability to guess the meanings of what they heard in English.







3.9 Language Learning Strategy Questionnaire





In addition to the fundamental research question regarding the influences of aural authentic materials on EFL students’ listening comprehension, the following research question involving the learning strategy use was also addressed.

What kinds of learning strategies are most frequently used

by EFL students listening to aural authentic materials in the

Classroom?

Although the listening material was a significant variable affecting the students’ comprehension, the role played by the learners themselves was also an important factor influencing the learning process and language performance. The research questions, therefore, were to focus on how the students learned. Since language learners employed a variety of learning strategies as they sought to understand and remember the target language, it was a further interest of this study to examine the learning strategies that these students used when they were exposed to authentic listening texts.

In addition to the self-evaluation questionnaire, the students were asked to respond to a language learning strategy questionnaire during the second interview. The learning strategy questionnaire was distributed to identify the behaviors employed by the students when they listened to the target language. The language learning strategy questionnaire was derived from the Strategy Inventory of Language Learning (SILL) developed by Oxford (1990). This 10-item self-report instrument used a five-point Likert scale, ranging from very rarely true to almost always true, to assess the frequency the students used different techniques for English-language listening (see appendix H).





3.10 Data Collection





Interviews, questionnaires, and classroom observations were the means for collecting data for the current study. First interviews with students were planned to be carried out during the first week of the data collection schedules. However, the interviews had to be postponed for another week because some students were not available during the first week. The purpose of the first interview session was for the researcher to establish rapport with students and to gather background information about the students, such as their former English-language learning experiences and their preceding practice in English-language listening.

Second interviews with students were conducted to obtain the students’ perceptions and reflections on the use of aural authentic materials in an EFL classroom. During this session, the teacher-researcher also asked the students to complete two questionnaires, one on the language learning strategy and the other on self-evaluation.

The purpose of videotaping the classroom was for the teacher-researcher to observe the whole class without missing activities that were going on in any part of the classroom.





3.11 Analysis of Data





The teacher-researcher noted the activities that were going on at each minute interval of one hour videotape of classroom instruction. All the transcribed manuscripts were coded, using codes and categories as presented in Appendix B, and examined according to the proposed fundamental research question:

What are the influences of aural authentic materials on the listening

comprehension in students of English as a foreign language?

And the secondary research questions:





What kinds of learning strategies are most frequently used by EFL students listening to aural authentic materials in the classroom?
What are the influences of listening to aural authentic materials on EFL students’ attitudes towards learning English?

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