Measuring gains and perceptions of aural and audiovisual listening inputs for Egyptian ESP students

Dr. Marghany Mahmoud Marghany
( ) Vol. 61 (Jun. 2016)
Occasional Papers
Measuring gains and perceptions of aural and audiovisual listening inputs for Egyptian ESP students
Dr. Marghany Mahmoud Marghany
Former Head
Department of Languages and Translation
Higher Institute for Specific Studies, Haram
Abstract
The study examines the performance of 60 Egyptian ESP students in listening comprehension based on two different types of listening materials, namely aural and audiovisual listening materials. It also discusses how Egyptian ESP students can vary in their perception of aural and audiovisual listening materials. Data were collected by using two sets of international listening tests as pre and post tests, namely Allan's Oxford (2004) placement test and Cambridge listening test (2015). Findings indicate a variance in the performance of participants who were taught listening by using audiovisual materials from those who were taught listening by only using aural materials. Participants were also found to vary in their perception of both types of listening materials. The study draws implications for the teaching of listening as well.
Keywords: Aural listening comprehension, audiovisual listening comprehension, Egyptian ESP students, perception.
Background of the study
Morley (2001), Rost (2001), Jones and Plass (2002) and Osada (2004) advocated the importance of listening in FL learning in spite of its description as a passive language skill. They pointed out that listening is the most used language skill in daily life communication; EFL learners can develop their listening skills faster than other language skills in an indication that listening can facilitate the acquiring, learning and development of other language skills. Gruba (2004) clarified that listening is a fundamental skill in the process of L2 learning and acquisition; the development of EFL learners' listening skills is necessary for the success of acquiring and learning a L2. Steinberg (2007) explained that EFL learners should be able to construct meaning out of the listening comprehension and comprehend the listening input. The success of EFL in constructing meaning from listening comprehension entails understanding of linguistic units such as phonemes, various meanings of words, different structures of FL grammar.
Listening comprehension plays an important role in the acquisition of an L2. It is indispensible for L2 learning and acquisition because of the importance of understanding the oral message and communicating with
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people. Listening is essential for successful interaction and communication in an L2. Taylor (2005) claimed that speaking cannot form communication without prior understanding of what is uttered earlier. In addition, Nunan (2001) explained that listening has a more complicated nature than speaking; it consists of various sub-categories. These sub-categories which rapidly occur include hearing, attending, understanding, remembering, evaluating and replying.
Listening also helps L2 learners improve their speaking skills, correcting their pronunciation and acquiring grammar rules. Through listening, L2 learners will acquire the exact sounds which form a particular word or how certain phonemes should be pronounced as in 'casual', 'fashion', 'Japan', etc. It also enhances the speaking ability of L2 learners like the acquisition of stress types (primary and secondary) and intonation patterns (falling and rising). Undoubtedly as Ellis, Basturkmen and Loewen (2001) pointed out, frequent practice of listening helps L2 learners attain the native-like fluency. It can also help L2 learners acquire various grammar rules. For instance, by acquiring the different ways of pronouncing certain words, L2 learners can determine their word classes. For examples, 'progress' as a noun and verb, 'appropriate' as an adjective and verb, etc. It was felt necessary, therefore, to measure the gains and perceptions of Egyptian ESP students of aural and audiovisual listening inputs.
Statement of the problem
This study examines the gains and perception of L2 listening skills among two groups of Egyptian ESP students who are enrolled at the Department of Tourism Guidance, Higher Institute for Specific Studies. This examination is based on the comparison between their performance in two aural and audiovisual listening tests. In addition, the study compares the perception of aural and audiovisual listening materials among participants. The study also discusses implications for teaching listening to ESP students. .
Aims
The aims of the current study are briefly of three folds. First, it compares the gains of using aural and audiovisual listening materials for the learning of listening comprehension. Second, it provides quantitative data on the participants' perception of these two different types of
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listening materials. Third, it discusses teaching implications for listening instructions at the Higher Institute of Specific Studies.
Questions
The study tries to answer the following question: "which medium is best for learning L2 listening skills, aural or audiovisual listening comprehension in the following 1) in listening performance, 2) in understanding the linguistic information included in the listening comprehension, 3) in applying different ways of words discrimination, and 4) in the perception of using aural and audiovisual materials in learning listening comprehension skills?"
Significance
The present study comes in line with the vision, objectives and mission of the Department of Languages and Translation which is assigned for the teaching of ESP courses at the Department of Tourism Guidance. The study may enrich the literature on Egyptian ESP students' language skills as it emphasizes the need to improve their English proficiency and pay further attention to listening comprehension as a medium of improving their FL learning. It also highlights the importance of listening skills in the process of FL learning against claims that they are passive receptive skills.
Limitations
The study is limited to 60 Egyptian ESP students at the Department of Tourism Guidance, Higher Institute for Specific Studies. In addition, it is restricted to the investigation of learning EFL listening skills through aural and audiovisual materials and the participants' perception of these two types of listening inputs. It was carried out in the 2015/2016 academic year.
Literature review
El-Koumy, an ELT pioneer in the Egyptian context, (1995, P 58) measured the listening comprehension of some Egyptian EFL preparatory-school students using two approaches, namely 'the mixing approach' and 'the separation approach'. The former is based on translating parts of the listening text, which was being read by the teacher, into Arabic. The latter is based on providing an explanation of
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the listening text in Arabic before reading it in English. Whichever the case maybe, both approaches relied on using the participants' mother tongue along with the target language in teaching FL listening. Although the results of the pre-test showed no statistical significance in the listening comprehension of the two groups of participants, those who were taught using the separation approach outperformed their counterparts that were taught using the mixing approach. The finding was significant at 0.05. El-Koumy concluded that the separated use (not the concurrent one) of the mother tongue along with the target language improved listening comprehension of Low-level Egyptian EFL learners. El-Koumy (2000, P 2) distinguished theoretically between 'the skills-based approach' and 'the whole language approach'. The former, because of its deeply related roots to 'structural linguistics' and 'behavioural psychology' claimed that listening should be divided into sub skills. These sub skills should be taught separately to EFL learners whose learning of each sub skill should be verified objectively as a pre-requisite for studying the other sub skills. This approach was criticized, among other reasons, for the little room it gives to EFL learners to practise the sub skills of listening. The latter, which is related to 'cognitive psychology' and 'sociolinguistics' emphasized the spontaneous interrelation among all listening sub skills which enables listeners to comprehend the listening text. It was mostly criticized, among other reasons, for not focusing on FL accuracy and the over estimation of EFL learners' direction of the learning process. In this regard, El-Koumy examined how these approaches affect the listening comprehension of high and low Egyptian EFL students at the university level. Data were collected through a listening placement test; a listening comprehension test and two observation instruments for the two approaches. The findings indicated that 'the whole language approach was statistically significant than 'the skills-based approach' in affecting the participants' listening comprehension ability. El-Koumy found that in spite of the listening training effectiveness, it did not ensure the realization of listening comprehension development. Therefore, El-Koumy concluded that the listening comprehension development could be realized through the integration of both approaches.
Lynch and Mendelsohn (2002), Bueno, Madrid and Mclaren (2006) explained that performance of L2 listening consists of two main processes: top-down listening process and bottom-up listening process.
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The first process entails having a general understanding of the main idea included in the listening comprehension without focusing on the meaning of particular words or certain structures. Meanwhile, the second process is linguistic in nature as it emphasizes the need for L2 learners to use their L2 linguistic knowledge. L2 linguistic knowledge in this process relates knowledge of L2 sounds to knowledge of words; for instance the ability to differentiate between minimal pairs and types of phrases; for instance knowledge of types of phrases like noun phrase, verb phrase and prepositional phrase; the ability to distinguish between utterances and to comprehend the full-text meaning. In accordance with these two main processes, EFL learners, according to Rost (2002) and Celce-Murcia (2001), go through other phases in order to understand the spoken text. EFL learners are expected to use their L2 knowledge in order to recognize L2 sound units, boundaries of syllables so that they can identify words. They are expected in the parsing phase, then, to deal with the retained words, phrases and sentences in their memory. At the next phase which is known as utilizing phase, EFL learners should restore to their long term memory in order to match the new information to the old one. When they manage to do so, comprehension of the new information takes place. Beginners or Low-level EFL learners always depend on adopting one process either top-down or bottom-up and fail to carry out the processes together.
Field (2002) clarified that aural listening comprehension provides EFL learners with opportunities to improve and develop their communicative competence along with their linguistic competence. Those types of aural listening comprehension provide EFL learners with recorded materials on different listening topics. Such topics are relevant to the need of EFL learners to construct relevant schemata. Chung (2002) and Umagan (2007) explained that in the literature of foreign language listening comprehension; aural listening comprehension is echoed to the term "authentic materials" which according to Hwang (2003) referred to the language which native speakers use to communicate orally. Gerjets and Kirschner (2009) and Shrum and Glisan (2000) showed that empirical listening studies have positive results when listeners used oral authentic texts. Grgurovic and Hegelheimer (2007) found that student who listened to radio tape materials were better in their performance in listening comprehension than those students whose listening instructions did not include radio tapes listening activities.
Buck (2001) explained that audiovisual listening materials are those in which learners can hear and see the speakers. They are useful to help low-level EFL learners and they can facilitate the comprehension of difficult listening texts. In this regard, Lever-Duffy (2003) showed that
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audiovisual materials have various privileges as the combination of the audio and visual elements stimulates the involvement of different senses of EFL learners and establishes varied cognitive contacts to the texts being seen and listened to. Such a combination of audio and images can facilitate learning as well because it meets different types of students' learning styles.
Vandergrift and Baker (2015) examined how L2 listening comprehension is affected by L2 learners' variables including vocabulary of both first and second languages; L1 listening comprehension; auditory discrimination; and capacity of working memory. It also investigated which learners' cognitive variables interact together in L2 listening comprehension. Data were collected through the following instruments. The French listening comprehension test and the English listening comprehension test were used to analyse L1 and L2 listening comprehension. Vandergrift and Baker used a self report known as MALQ comprising 21 items pertinent to the strategies and processes of L2 listening comprehension. These strategies and processes cover problem-solving, planning and evaluation, mental translation, person knowledge, along with directed attention. Vandergrift and Baker indicated that all predicted learners' variables were positive indicators of their L2 listening comprehension. Statistically significant correlation coefficients were found to affirm the positive relationships between learners' variables of L1 and L2 vocabulary, L1 listening comprehension, auditory discrimination and working memory on the one hand and their L2 listening comprehension skills on the other.
As to L2 vocabulary knowledge, Field (2003) clarified that EFL learners may not be able to identify L2 words because of the rapid speech. This failure on the part of L2 learners does not, however, underestimate the contribution of L2 vocabulary knowledge to the success of L2 listening process as Mecartty (2000) found that knowledge of L2 vocabulary, grammar and syntax contributes by 14% to enhance L2 learners' listening skills. Staehr (2009) indicated that the L2 listening test scores of Danish learners are correlated to their L2 vocabulary size and depth; L2 vocabulary knowledge accounts for 51% of the listening differences among Danish participants, where 49% explain L2 listening difference in terms of participants' vocabulary size while 2% of that difference is attributed to vocabulary depth. Bonk (2000) and Zeeland and Schmitt (2013) highlighted the considerable effect of L2 vocabulary knowledge on L2 listening variation because L2 learners vary in their management of the words which they know and those which they are not
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sure of their meanings while listening to an L2 listening task. This variation is mainly attributed to their different metacognitive abilities.
As to metacognition, Goh (2002), Vandergrift (2003), Vandergrift and Goh (2012) explained that metacognition reveals the cognitive strategies which L2 listeners use in order to comprehend the listening task; these strategies include controlling, regulating and directive the cognitive processes of comprehension. In this regard, Graham and Macaro (2008) attributed better performance in L2 listening to the cluster of L2 listeners' cognitive strategies.
As to working memory, Juffs and Harrington (2011) emphasized that L2 learners vary in their learning and use of an L2; their retention of L2 phonological information related to L2 sounds; their processing of visual and spatial information. Andringa, Olsthoorn, van Beuningen, Schoonen, and Hulstijn (2012) found statistically insignificant relationship between L2 listening ability of Dutch learners and their working memory.
As to auditory discrimination, just like the little evidence on the correlation between L2 listeners' working memory and their success in an L2 listening task, little is known about the relationship between L2 listeners' auditory discrimination and L2 listening success. In this concern, Wilson, Kaneko, Lyddon, Okamoto, and Ginsburg (2011) affirmed the statistically significant relationship between L2 listeners' ability of auditory discrimination and their success in L2 listening.
As to the cognitive theory of multimedia learning of Mayer (2001), its main components are: (1) visual and auditory structures, (2) little capacity of processing available in the memory, (3) sensory, working and long-term memory stores, (4) cognitive ability to select words and images, organize work and images, and integrate newly acquired knowledge with the stored knowledge. Participants' responses to the 14-item questionnaire are analyzed in terms of these components. Mayer (2009) asserted that the first, third and fourth components of the cognitive theory of Multimedia learning help realize meaningful learning.
Conceptual framework
The theoretical framework of this study is based on both learners' L2 variables devised by Vandergrift and Baker (2015) and Mayer's (2001) cognitive theory of multimedia learning. The current study is theoretically based on the variables of L2 learners, namely L2 vocabulary knowledge, metacognition, working memory, and auditory discrimination. Whereas L2 listening test is devised and analyzed in terms of Vandergrift and Baker's learners L2 variables, the participants'
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responses to the perception questionnaire are analyzed and interpreted in line with Mayer's cognitive theory of multimedia learning.
Methodology
Participants
Sixty third-year students who are enrolled at the tourism guidance Department were selected to participate in the present study using the cluster sampling procedure. In each academic year, they are required to study an ESP core course: English as the first specialized foreign language. The four-hour course is weekly divided into 2 theoretical hours and 2 practical hours. Participants were divided into two groups, namely experimental and control groups. They were pretested at the beginning of the first semester of the academic year 2015/2016. Each group comprised 30 participants. Both groups attained a 28-week listening programme where the experimental group was trained on listening through using audiovisual listening materials while the control group was trained on listening by using aural listening materials. Both groups were post tested at the end of the listening training programme. Both groups were taught by two experienced EFL instructors under the researcher' supervision. The teaching materials were selected from sources like ESL Lounge for listening and Follow Me (Appendix A). Participants were taught at the language laboratories which are well-equipped to facilitate the teaching of aural and audiovisual listening materials.
Data Collection Instruments
Listening Test
The current study adopts two listening tests, namely the listening test which is part of Allan's Oxford (2004) placement test and Cambridge listening test (2015). These two tests were chosen because of their reliability and validity. They are reliable as they have been intensively used to determine the proficiency levels of several L2 learners. They are valid as they manage to measure what they intend to measure. Allan's listening test was used as a pre-test whereas Cambridge listening test was administered as a post-test. Allan's listening test consists of 100 items where participants were asked to write the words they heard on the tape in the opposite column which bears serial numbers for all items. Before getting indulged in the test, participants were given five illustrative examples. Indeed tested words are minimal pairs (e.g. soup/soap,
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wine/vine, shirts/shorts, expendable/expandable, eight/late, pen/pan, race/rice, flight/fright, election/selection, chairman/German, joking/choking, prize/price, etc.) which play important role to determine L2 learners' listening and speaking abilities on the one hand and distinguish English native speakers from non-native speakers on the other. The tested words also measure the participants' awareness of the syllabic strategies mainly used by native speakers like the ability to differentiate between tested words in item no. 58, 85, 96 "back in/ backing", "an ice cold/ a nice cold", "catalan/ cattle and".
In addition, Cambridge listening test consists of four parts. Part 1 comprises seven questions. There are three pictures and a short recording for each question. Participants were asked to choose the correct picture and put a tick in the box below it. An example of these questions in Cambridge English Listening test (2015:2) is:
" Where did the man leave the camera?"
A B C
Part 2 contains 6 questions and participants were asked to put a tick in the correct box after hearing an interview with a writer called Peter Taylor. An example of these questions in Cambridge English Listening test (2015:6) is:
"In Peter's first book, the story takes place in
A
a country which he’s recently been to.
B
a country where he lived as a child.
C
the country where he was born."
Part 3 contains 6 questions in which participants were asked to fill the spaces with suitable information after hearing a radio announcement. An example of these questions in Cambridge English Listening test (2015:6) is: "Don’t forget to take your (14) .................... with you". In part 4, participants were asked to determine true and false sentences after hearing a conversation between a boy and a girl talking about cooking.
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An example of these questions in Cambridge English Listening test (2015:7) is:
"A
B
YES
NO
Sally knows that Ian is an excellent cook"
Questionnaire
A 14-item questionnaire is designed in order to get information about the participants' perception of audiovisual and aural listening comprehension tasks (Appendix B). It is based on five-Likert scale, namely Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree and Strongly Disagree. The fourteen items are adopted and adapted from various relevant studies, namely (Buck 2001, Chamot 2003, Lever-Duffy 2003, Richards 2008, Aldera 2015). Instead of letting participants fill in the spaces of the questionnaire by providing either audiovisual or aural listening materials, the researcher equally divided the fourteen items into seven items in favour of using the audiovisual listening materials (1, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11and 13) and seven items in favour of using aural listening materials (2, 3, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14). The questionnaire task was completed in a 30-minute session.
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Procedures
Both listening pre and post tests were not piloted as they are devised and administered at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Though the questionnaire was derived from different studies, it was piloted and administered to 20 ESP students. The questionnaire's piloting resulted in reducing its items into 14 instead of 18. The questionnaire was found to have high reliability as the Cronbach Alpha reliability ratio was 0.95. As some students asked about the meanings of certain items in the piloting of the questionnaire, the questionnaire was translated into Arabic before using it with the participants of the present study. In both pre and post listening tests, the experimental and control groups were concurrently examined at two different language laboratories. The experimental group participants were tested using audiovisual testing items, whereas the control group participants were tested using only aural listening items. Similarly, the questionnaire was concurrently administered to both groups in two different classes.
Data Analysis
Being a quantitative study, the results of the pre and post listening tests and the participants' responses to the questionnaire items were computed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Table 1 indicates that participants in the experimental group outperformed their control group counterparts in the pre and post listening tests. The finding asserts the privilege of using audiovisual test and materials over those aural materials and test in learning, teaching and testing listening skills. Indeed, the experimental group supremacy over the control group in the pre and post tests was attributed to the use of audiovisual materials that helped them answer the test questions because of images, intonation patters and gestures contained in the audiovisual items.
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Table 1: Mean scores and standard deviations of all participants in the pre and post tests
Participants
Pre-Test
M SD
Post-Test
M SD
Experimental Group
10.9
2.96
11.9
2.97
Control Group
7.8
2.74
9.8
2.71
The mean scores of the experimental group participants in the pre and post tests were respectively (10.9 and 11.9), whereas the mean scores of their control group counterparts were successively (7.8 and 9.8). Thus, the gain rates of the experimental group over the control group in the pre and post tests were 3.1 and 2.1 respectively.
In addition, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted between the participants' scores in both pre and post listening tests in order to verify that difference in their scores is statistically significant at the level of 0.5 (Table 2).
Table 2: ANOVA of score differences among participants in pre and post tests
Sum of squares
df
Mean of squares
F
Sig.
Within groups
233.862
2
116.931
43.503
.000
Between groups
29.567
11
2.688
Total
263.429
13
ANOVA indicated that the difference in the mean score between the experimental and control group was statistically significant at the level of 0.05.
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Table 3 introduces the frequencies and percentage of the experimental group's responses whereas Table 4 presents those of the control group's responses to the questionnaire items.
Table 3: Frequency and percentage of the experimental group participants' responses
Items
SA
F
%
A
F
%
N
F
%
SD
F
%
D
F
%
1
25
83.3
5
16.7
-
-
-
-
-
-
2
4
13.3
6
20
8
26.6
12
40
3
5
16.7
9
30
12
40
4
13.3
4
28
93.3
2
6.7
5
23
76.7
7
23.7
6
2
6.7
8
26.6
14
46.7
6
20
7
24
80
5
16.7
1
3.7
8
6
20
4
13.3
11
36.7
9
30
9
22
73.3
8
26.7
10
3
10
4
13.3
12
40
8
26.6
11
27
90
2
6.7
1
3.7
12
2
6.7
1
3.3
9
30
8
26.6
13
26
86.7
4
13.3
14
4
13.3
3
10
11
36.7
5
16.7
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Table 4: Frequency and percentage of the control group participants' responses
Items
SA
F
%
A
F
%
N
F
%
SD
F
%
D
F
%
1
4
13.3
5
16.7
10
33.3
9
30
2
26
86.7
4
13.3
3
24
80
6
20
4
5
16.7
5
16.7
12
40
8
26.6
5
3
10
7
23.3
4
13.3
7
23.3
9
30
6
18
60
12
40
7
2
6.7
2
6.7
12
40
14
46.7
8
25
83.3
5
16.7
9
6
20
8
26.6
9
30
7
23.3
10
26
86.7
4
13.3
11
8
26.6
12
40
9
30
1
3.7
12
22
73.3
8
26.7
13
7
23.3
11
36.7
3
10
9
30
14
20
66.7
10
33.3
As to the participants' responses to the questionnaire items, the experimental group participants have higher frequencies and percentages for items 1, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 (which are in favour of using audiovisual listening materials) than their control group counterparts. On the contrary and compared to the experimental group participants, the control group participants have higher frequencies and percentages for items (2,3,6,8,10,12,14) which are in favour of using aural listening materials.
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Discussion and interpretation of results
Based on the results of both pre and post listening tests, the present study concludes that audiovisual listening materials are more appropriate and useful to improving Egyptian ESP students' listening skills compared to the aural listening materials.
First: The listening performance of Egyptian ESP students varied according to the type of listening input.
It is evident that experimental group participants outperformed their control group counterparts in the pre and post listening tests. This supremacy appeared in their ability to distinguish the meanings of several words included in the two tests. They were able to identify most of the words which they heard such as 'bird island walk, guitar day, plaza cinema, cycle race, and green street theatre'. They also managed to identify the words which they were not sure of because of the help of visual listening materials such as 'my bus is taking ages to get here, the kitchen department, frying pans, sightseeing, and before someone came past and rescued me'. This finding highlighted the impact of participants' knowledge in L2 vocabulary, grammar and syntax on their performance in the two listening tests. This finding as well indicated a certain variation in metacognitive abilities between the participants in the two groups. This finding confirmed those results reported by Bonk (2000), Mecartty (2000), Field (2003), and Zeeland and Schmitt (2013).
Second: They differed in understanding the linguistic information included in the listening comprehension based on the type of listening input.
Participants in the experimental group on the contrary to those in the control group were also able to identify the true and false statements in a better way than their control group counterparts did. They managed to do so due to their ability of understanding the linguistic information included in the six statements in part four of the post-listening test. They were also able to correctly answer the six questions included in part two based on the interview which they heard. This finding indicated the ability of experimental group students to control and regulate the cognitive processes while listening to the interview. This finding was compatible with those reported by Goh (2002), Vandergrift (2003), and Juffs and Herrington (2011). However, it contradicted the results reported by Andringa, Olsthoorn, van Beuningen, Schoonen, and Hulstijn (2012).
Third: The type of listening input affected their ability of discriminating and guessing of unknown words.
Audiovisual listening materials helped participants in the experimental group to outperform their counterparts in the control group in discriminating words such as 'at least and at last, cup and cap, lapped
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and rapped, likes and lacks, to love and two love'. This finding conformed those reported by Goh (2002), Vandergrift (2003), and Wilson, Kaneko, Lyddon, Okamoto, and Ginsburg (2011).
Fourth: They differed in their perception of using aural and audiovisual materials in learning listening comprehension skills.
The current study indicated that participants in the experimental group were more interested in learning listening by using audiovisual materials on the contrary to their counterparts in the control group. The higher achievement of experimental group students suggested the appropriateness of using audiovisual materials for developing the ESP learners' listening skills. Therefore, it was recommended that the audiovisual materials and tests should be used in the listening classes as they enhanced ESP learners' ability to comprehend the listening task and test items.
Implications for teaching listening comprehension
Achievements of Egyptian ESP participants in the pre and post listening tests were mainly correlated to the use of audiovisual listening materials than being associated with aural listening materials. This was attributed to the fact that in aural listening comprehension, L2 learners were expected to process the speech without interruption whether they comprehended it or not. On the contrary, the audiovisual listening materials established an interpersonal exchange with the listeners so as they could better perceive the included information than in the case of aural listening materials.
There were common problems facing Egyptian ESP participants when using both aural and audiovisual listening materials. These problems were embodied in the full understanding and comprehension of the listened to text as students were expected to master all details included in the listening comprehension. The issue of understanding the listening comprehension details should be immediately met and solved by English language teachers. Instructors are advised to train their learners to listen intensively, selectively and extensively. Intensively, Egyptian ESP learners should be trained to focus on phonemes, words and discourse markers. Selectively, Egyptian ESP should be trained to concentrate on the important information included in the listening comprehension. Extensively, Egyptian ESP learners should learn how to develop a top-down comprehension of the speech which they hear. They should be also trained to match the information which they hear to their existent knowledge.
Therefore, the ESP instructors are advised to use video-based teaching materials to enhance their students understanding of the listening activities. In this regard, Buck (2001) asserts the benefit of using videos
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in teaching low-level students as the visual support can help ESP learners have better understanding of the listening comprehension. According to Lever-Duffy (2003) audiovisual materials help develop ESP learners' senses and make them more cognitively connected to the text which they hear. Furthermore, in audiovisual listening materials, ESP learners will focus more as they can see the speakers' gestures, actions and settings of the situation which are helping factors for ESP listeners to comprehend the text which they hear. As such the ESP instructors are required to understand the important role of listening in the process of foreign language learning. ESP instructors should be aware as well of the complex interactive nature of listening comprehension so that they can provide their learners with a variety of appropriate listening activities.
The above-mentioned explanation supports the finding of the current study that there is a significant difference in listening performance between ESP learners taught by using audiovisual materials and those who were only taught by using aural listening materials. In other words, teaching listening by using audiovisual materials is more effective than using aural materials only.
Suggestions for further research:
Below are some suggestions for further research:
1. The effect of using multimedia in teaching other language skills like reading comprehension and writing.
2. The effect of the mobile phone technology on teaching phonetics and enhancing ESP learners' ability to discriminate between different sounds.
3. The perception of ESP instructors in using multimedia in teaching foreign language skills.
4. The impact of multimedia in assessing ESP learners' awareness of morphological variability.
5. The development of EFL teacher preparation programmes to include multimedia as an aid for foreign language teaching.
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References
Allan, D. (2004). Oxford Placement Test 2: Listening Test. drive.google.com/file/d/0B_ojpI2vejnDMHpSLWJudVlQUlk/
Andringa, S., Olsthoorn, N., van Beuningen, C., Schoonen, R., and Hulstijn, J. (2012). Determinants of success in native and non-native listening comprehension: An individual differences approach. Language Learning, 62(S2), 49–78.
Bonk, W. (2000). Second language lexical knowledge and listening comprehension. International Journal of Listening, 14, 14–31.
Ellis, R., Basturkmen, H., & Loewen, S. (2001). Learner uptake in communicative ESL lessons. Language Learning, 51, 281-318.
Buck, G. (2001). Assessing Listening. UK: Cambridge University Press.
Bueno, A., Madrid, D. and Mclaren, N. (2006). TEFL in secondary education. Granada: Editorial Universidad de Granada.
Cambridge English Language Assessment, English Listening Test, Sample Test 6. http://www.englishaula.com/en/pet-exam-listening-cambridge-preliminary-english-test-video-lessons-practice-tests-exercises.php, Retrieved March 16, 2015.
Celce-Murcia, M. (2001). Teaching English as a second or foreign language. USA: Thomson Learning, Inc.
Chamot., D. J. (2003). The National Capital Language Resource Center NCLRC. Recuperado el 20 de july de 2010, de NCLRC: http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/listening/stratlisten.htm
Chung, J. (2002). The effects of using two advance organizers with video texts for the teaching of listening in English. Foreign Language Annals, 35(2), 231–241.
El-Koumy, A. S. (1995). Arabic and English in contact: Effect of mixing versus separation upon EFL listening comprehension. CDELT, Vol. 2, 53-71.
El-Koumy, A. S. (2000). Effects of skills-based versus whole language approach on the comprehension of EFL students with low and high listening ability levels. ERIC, 1-15.
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ESL Lounge-listening
http://www.esl-lounge.com/student/listening/2L2-dianas-new-job.php
Field, J. (2003). Promoting perception: Lexical segmentation in second language listening. ELT Journal, 57, 325–334.
Follow Me- Learning English Course http://www.englishcoursevideo.com/playvideo.php?link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fv%2FlQZAYev_YrM
http://www.englishcoursevideo.com/basic_english_grammar_lesson8.html
http://www.englishcoursevideo.com/english_pronunciation_lessons_lesson9.html
http://www.englishcoursevideo.com/english_vocabulary_lesson12.html
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRj96OKTtFQfDB1wZyIqt9Ro8sGRhPns0
Gerjets, P., and Kirschner, P. A. (2009). Learning from multimedia and hypermedia. In N. Balacheff, S. Ludvigsen, T. de Jong, A. Lazonder & S. Barnes (Eds.), Technology–enhanced learning: Principles and products (pp. 251–272) Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Grgurović, M., and Hegelheimer, V. (2007). Help options and multimedia listening: Students' use of subtitles and the transcript. Language Learning & Technology, 11(1), 45–66. Retrieved on May, 2015 from
http://llt.msu.edu/vol11num1/grgurovic/default.html.
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research to new directions in foreign language teaching. (pp. 99-126). San Marcos, TX: Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium.
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Staehr, L. S. (2009). Vocabulary knowledge and advanced listening comprehension in English as a foreign language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 31, 577–607.
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Steinberg, S. (2007). An Introduction to Communication Studies. Juta and Company Ltd.
Taylor, G. (2005). Perceived processing strategies of students watching captioned video. Foreign Language Annals, 38(3), 422-427.
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Vandergrift, L. (2003). Orchestrating strategy use: Toward a model of the skilled second language listener. Language Learning, 53, 463–496.
Vandergrift, L. and Baker, S. (2015). Learner variables in second language listening comprehension: An exploratory path analysis. Language learning, 65, 2, 390-416.
Vandergrift, L. and Goh, C. (2012). Teaching and learning second language listening: Metacognition in action. New York: Routledge.
Wilberschied, L., & Berman, P. (2004). Effect of using photos from authentic video as advance organizers on listening comprehension in an FLES Chinese class. Foreign Language Annals, 37(4), 534-543.
Wilson, I., Kaneko, E., Lyddon, P., Okamoto, K., & Ginsburg, J. (2011).
Nonsense-syllable sound discrimination ability correlates with second language (L2) proficiency. In W.-S. Lee & E. Zee (Eds.), Proceedings of the 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (pp. 2133–2136). Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong.
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Appendix A
Examples of aural and audiovisual listening activities
Sources:
http://www.esl-lounge.com/student/listening/2L2-dianas-new-job.php
http://www.englishcoursevideo.com/playvideo.php?link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fv%2FlQZAYev_YrM
http://www.englishcoursevideo.com/basic_english_grammar_lesson8.html
http://www.englishcoursevideo.com/english_pronunciation_lessons_lesson9.html
http://www.englishcoursevideo.com/english_vocabulary_lesson12.html
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRj96OKTtFQfDB1wZyIqt9Ro8sGRhPns0
1. Comprehension
Dian tells her friend about how her new job is going.
 Listen to the mp3 file and choose the best answer for each question. Then listen again to check (control group).
 Watch the You Tube video and choose the best answer for each question (experimental group).
For example:
1. How did Diana and the tourists travel to the canyon?
Car
Train
Bus
2. Spoken words
Vacation Stress
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Spoken postcard from Leroy, on vacation in Europe.
 Listen to the mp3 file and complete the spaces in this table.
Then listen again to check (control group).
 Watch the video and complete the spaces in this table
(experimental group).
Place?
Sat Next To?
Food?
Souvenir?
Monday
(1)
William
(2)
Photograph
Tuesday
Paris
(3)
Hot dog
(4)
Wednesday
Rome
(5)
Steak
Book
Thursday
(6)
Elisabeth
Asparagus
(7)
Friday
Helsinki
(8)
(9)
Computer
3. Vocabulary
* Listen to the mp3 file and choose the correct word for each sentence -
each is only used once (control group).
* Watch the video and choose the correct word for each sentence
(experimental group)
moreover
on the other hand
at least
however
besides
firstly
whereas
then
actually
though
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For example:
1. the film was a little boring, we still had a nice evening
out.
4. Pronunciation
Which Word Exercise
* Listen to the phonemes the mp3 file and decide which word is being
spelt out (control group).
 Watch the video of the phonemes and decide which word is being
spelt out (experimental group).
For example:
3.
bot
both
booth
boat
Dr. Marghany Mahmoud Marghany
( ) Vol. 61 (Jun. 2016)
Occasional Papers
Appendix B
Participants' perception of using audiovisual and aural listening comprehension materials
Personal Information
Name (optional): ……………...…………………………….
Email (optional):..…………………………………………...
Department:………….…….……………….. Year:………….…….…….………
Code Number:
Instructions:
Below is a questionnaire which consists of 14 items. These items indicate and describe your feeling, attitude and perception towards using audiovisual and aural listening comprehension materials. Please put a (✓) for the response that represents your opinion most.
(Note: All given information will be handled with high confidentiality)
Statement
العبارة
Strongly
Agree
موافق
بشدة
Agree
موافق
Neutral
محاید
Disagree
غیر
موافق
Strongly Disagree
غیر موافق
بشدة
1. It is easier to remember language used in audiovisual comprehension than aural comprehension.
من السهل أن أتذکر اللغة المستخدمة فى
القطع السمعیة البصریة أکثر من السمعیة
2. I think I will learn more English using audio cassettes or CDs than using audiovisual materials.
أعتقد أننى سأتعلم أکثر اللغة الإنجلیزیة
بإستخدام السدیهات و التسجیلات السمعیة
أکثر من إستخدام المواد السمعیة و
البصریة
3. Using audiovisual materials helps me understand the listening text.
إستخدام المواد السمعیة البصریة یساعدنى
على فهم نص الأستماع
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Statement
العبارة
Strongly
Agree
موافق
بشدة
Agree
موافق
Neutral
محاید
Disagree
غیر
موافق
Strongly Disagree
غیر موافق
بشدة
4. Aural listening materials help me learn the new vocabulary, well-formed patterns of sentences and language functions.
مواد السمعیة تساعدنى فى تعلم کلمات
جدیدة و النماذج جیدة الصیاغة للجملة و
الأستخدامات اللغویة
5. Seeing the setting and features of how language is used cannot be separated from the meaning of the listening text.
رؤیة مکان الحدث و سمات کیفیة إستخدام
اللغة لا یمکن فصلها عن معنى نص
الأستماع
6. Aural listening materials do not make it difficult for me to understand the listening text as compared to audiovisual listening materials.
مواد السمعیة لا تجعل من الصعب على أن
أفهم نص الأستماع و ذلک مقارنة بمواد
الأستماع السمعیة و البصریة
7. The development of my listening skills can be faster realized using audiovisual materials than aural listening materials.
تنمیة مهارت الاستماع عندى یمکن أن
یتتحقق بصورة أسرع بإستخدام المواد
السمعیة البصریة من إستخدام المواد
السمعیة
8. Using aural listening materials is the only way to overcome my weakness in listening.
إستخدام المواد السمعیة هى السبیل الوحید
للتغلب على ضعف مهاراة الأستماع عندى
9. Audiovisual listening
Dr. Marghany Mahmoud Marghany
( ) Vol. 61 (Jun. 2016)
Occasional Papers
Statement
العبارة
Strongly
Agree
موافق
بشدة
Agree
موافق
Neutral
محاید
Disagree
غیر
موافق
Strongly Disagree
غیر موافق
بشدة
materials present language in context in ways which aural listening materials cannot provide.
مواد الاستماع السمعیة و البصریة تقدم
اللغة فى السیاق من خلال أسالیب لا
تستطیع مواد السمعیة تقدیمها
10. Because of the challenge of using aural listening materials, I can develop my listening skills.
نظرا للتحدى الذى یمثله إستخدام المواد
السمعیة أستطیع تنمیة مهارات الأستماع
عندى
11. Audiovisual listening materials engage more senses of me and help build cognitive connections to the listening text.
مواد الأستماع السمعیة و البصریة تتطلب
إستخدام الکثیر من الحواس بما یساعد فى
بناء صلات إدراکیة تتعلق بنص الأستماع
12. I can only concentrate on recognizing sounds of words when using aural listening materials.
أستطیع فقط الترکیز على أصوات الکلمات
عند إستخدام المواد السمعیة
13. I prefer to study listening comprehension only through audiovisual materials
أفضل دراسة الأستماع فقط من خلال مواد
الأستماع السمعیة و البصریة
14. Aural listening materials are the only way to listen to and use authentic English.
المواد السمعیة هى السبیل الوحید فقط
للأستماع و أستخدام اللغة الأنجلیزیة
الأصلیة
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قیاس مکاسب و إدراکات مدخلات الأستماع السمعیة و السمعیة البصریة للطلاب المصریین
الدارسیین للغة الإنجلیزیة لأغراض محددة
د/ مرغنى محمود مرغنى
رئیس قسم اللغات و الترجمة السابق
المعهد العالى للدراسات النوعیة جیزة -
الملخص
تختبر الدراسة أداء 06 من الطلاب المصریین الدراسیین للغة الإنجلیزیة لأغراض محددة فى
فهم الأستماع إستنادا على نوعین مختلفین من مواد الأستماع، تحدیدا مواد الأستماع السمعیة و
مواد الأستماع السمعیة البصریة، کما تناقش الدراسة کیفیة إختلاف الطلاب المصریین الدارسیین
للغة الإنجلیزیة لأغراض محددة فى إدراکهم لمواد الأستماع السمعیة و السمعیة البصریة، و قد
تم تجمیع البیانات البحثیة بإستخدام أختباریین أستماع دولیین کأختبار قبلى و أختبار بعدى
للتدریس مواد الأستماع ، و هما تحدیدا أختبار آلان لتحدید المستوى فى جامعة أکسفورد
4662 ( و أختبار الأستماع لجامعة کمبردج ) 4602 ( ، و تشیر النتائج إلى تباین أداء (
المشارکین فى الدراسة حیث أختلف أداء المشارکین الذین تم تدریس مواد الأستماع السمعیة
البصریة فقط لهم عن أداء المشارکین الذین تم تدریس مواد الأستماع السمعیة فقط لهم، کما
وجدت الدراسة أن المشارکین یتباینون فى إدراکهم لکلا النوعین من مواد الأستماع، کما قدمت
الدراسة مضامین لتدریس مهارة الأستماع أیضا 6
A brief CV
Dr. Marghany is the former head of the Dept. of Languages and Translation, Higher Institute for Specific Studies, Giza. He is seconded to the Dept. of English, Faculty of Education, October 6 University. His areas of interest include L2 varieties of English (e.g. phonetic features of Egyptian English and grammatical competence of Malaysian tertiary students), L2 acquisition, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, teaching methodology, contrastive analysis, writing errors, L2 testing, learning styles (e.g. ambiguity tolerance and intolerance), interlanguage pragmatics, and translation. He has a number of published articles. He presented scientific papers at three international conferences held at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) (2000); Amsterdam University (2000) and the National University of Malaysia (UKM) (2001).
dr.marghanymahmoud@yahoo.com
dr.marghanymahmoud@hotmail.com
Mobile No: 01090547589, 01010274031
Dr. M.M. Marghany
Gains and perceptions of aural and audiovisual listening inputs