The Effects of CALL and Listening Strategies on Listening Comprehension among EFL Learners

• Main Authors: Hui-Wen Chiu, 邱惠雯
• Other Authors: Syou-Rung Tsau
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/41157721661680314347

碩士 === 大葉大學 === 應用外語研究所 === 95 === The main purpose of the present study is to investigate the effects of CALL and listening strategies on junior high school students’ listening comprehension in Taiwan. The participants sampled for this study were 48 students of a junior high school in central Taiwan. Participants were assigned to one control group and two experimental groups, with 16 students in each group. Before the experiment, a pretest was conducted. Then the control group received the listening training in the classroom, the traditional setting. One of the experimental groups received the listening training in the CALL setting and the other group received the listening training and was meanwhile taught listening strategies in the CALL setting. The listening training lasted for two months, 2 hours in each week. After the two-month experiment, participants did the listening comprehension posttest. Only the experimental group who received the listening strategies filled out a questionnaire. To answer the research questions, two-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and Chi-square (X 2) test were conducted. The results of data analysis are summarized as follows: (1) Significant difference is found between groups, resulted from listening strategy instruction. (2) Listening practice in the CALL setting is found to be more effective than in the traditional setting. (3) The effects of listening strategy instruction and CALL are more significant for English high-proficient participants than low-proficient participants. (4) Students are in favor of certain listening strategies. However no significant difference is found between students of high and low English proficiency in the use of listening strategies. (5) Participants hold positive attitudes toward CALL in enhancing their listening abilities. Based on these major findings, some pedagogical implications are provided: (1) language teachers should instruct students listening strategies to enhance their listening comprehension, (2) language teachers encourage low-proficient students to actively employ listening strategies, and (3) language teachers integrate CALL in the English curriculum to enhance students’ listening strategy use and listening comprehension.