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Support for Foreign Language Listeners

Its Effectiveness and Limitations

Hsing-Wu College, Taipei, Taiwan, annaccc50{at}hotmail.com

John Read

University of Auckland, New Zealand, ja.read{at}auckland.ac.nz

The assessment of listening comprehension in a second language has received relatively little attention until recently. This study investigated the effectiveness of providing different types of listening support for learners in a foreign language environment with a low level of English proficiency. The research was conducted with 140 students taking an English listening course at a college in Taiwan. The participants took sections of a listening test under four different conditions. Two of the conditions provided support in the form of either a set of pictures or a written background text. The third condition was a repetition of the test input, whereas the fourth one was simply no type of support. After the test, the participants completed a short questionnaire and some of them were also interviewed. According to the results, repeating the input was the most effective treatment, followed by having visual and textual support. However, the limits of the learners' English competence meant that all of the types of support could improve their comprehension only to a certain degree. Nevertheless, the provision of appropriate support may motivate foreign language learners to improve their listening proficiency by making adequate comprehension more attainable for them.

Key Words: listening comprehension • listening support • textual support • visual support.

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RELC Journal, Vol. 38, No. 3, 375-394 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0033688207085853


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Chang, A. C.-S. Articles by Read, J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?