Adding%20Web-based%20Listening%20Practice%20to%20a%20Listening%20Comprehension%20Course:%20Cultivating%20Autonomous%20Learning%20[50%20slides]%20%20Melvin%20R.%20Andrade,%20Ed.D.%20Sophia%20Junior%20College%20and%20Aoyama%20Gakuin%20University,%20Japan%20The%204th%20Asia%20TEFL%20International%20Conference,%20Aug.

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Adding Web-based Listening Practice to a
Listening Comprehension Course Cultivating
Autonomous Learning 50 slides Melvin R.
Andrade, Ed.D.Sophia Junior College and Aoyama
Gakuin University, JapanThe 4th Asia TEFL
International Conference, Aug. 18-20, 2006,
Fukuoka, Japan
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Outline

• Introduction
• Aims of the study
• Students courses
• Building the Web site
• Creating the online survey
• Data analysis
• Observations, findings conclusions

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Introduction

• Through the Internet, learners of English as a
  foreign language have access to a large and
  growing body of listening material.
• Some of this material is intended for learners of
  English while other material assumes a native or
  near-native competency.

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For general audience
For EFL settings
Audio video materials on the Web
For native
For non-native
For children youth
For ESL settings
Fig. 1 Intended audiences
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Examples (External links. Click Back to return)

• Non-native (EFL/ESL)
• BBC Learning English
• CBS/Literacyworks
• English Language Listening Lab Online
• ELLLO (HB) "Australia"
• 5-Minute English

• Native
• Academy of Achievement
• American Rhetoric Movie Speeches
• CNN for Students
• Lives That Make a Difference
• Nobel Prize Speeches

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More examples

• Non-native (EFL/ESL)
• Living English (Australia)
• News Stories (CDLP)
• NHK TV Daily News
• Randalls ESL Lab
• Student Times (Japan)
• Voice of America (VOA)

• Native
• Stone SoupTM
• Story Corps (National Public Radio)
• This I Believe (National Public Radio)
• Video Nation (UK)

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The Present Study (ongoing)

• The present study describes three courses in EFL
  listening comprehension for Japanese college
  students in which guided and free listening using
  Web resources played an important role.
• In particular, it presents and analyzes the
  results of weekly questionnaires and homework
  assignments through which the students
  summarized, gave their opinion of and evaluated
  the sites.

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Aims of the Study

• To develop guidelines to help teachers who wish
  to add a Web-based listening component to their
  courses
• To identify sites of particular usefulness for
  students who wish to continue improving their
  listening comprehension on their own after
  completion of the course

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Students

• College and university students enrolled in
  English-as-a-foreign language courses in Japan in
  which training in listening comprehension was a
  main component of the courses
• All students had studied English previously at
  the secondary level
• N 126

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Courses

• English Comprehension 1 (Group A)
• Academic Listening (Group B)
• Oral English 2 (Group C)
• 
  Details ?

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Group A English Comprehension

• Aim To improve reading and listening
  comprehension
• Students Junior college, 1st year, English
  majors, TOEIC range 375-470 (Listening Section
  185-315)
• Format Two 90-minute classes per week,13 weeks
• Enrollment Two groups of 23 students each (n
  46), required course
• ? Syllabus pdf

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Group B Academic Listening

• Aim To develop note-taking skills and the
  ability to understand intermediate-level
  university lectures
• Students Junior college, 1st and 2nd years,
  English majors, estimated TOEIC range 300 500
• Format Two 90-minute classes per week,13 weeks
• Enrollment 54 students, elective course
• ? Syllabus html ? Portfolio pdf

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Group C Oral English 2

• Aims To improve conversational listening and
  speaking sills. To develop the ability to give
  short, informal presentations and discuss current
  events.
• Students University, 2nd year, education and
  psychology majors,TOEIC scores not available
• Format One 90-minute class per week,13 weeks
• Enrollment 26 students, elective course
• ? Syllabus pdf

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Finding Listening Material

• Google search using listening combined with
  terms such as EFL, ESL, TEFL, TESOL
• Journal articles, both online and hard copy,
  provide additional sources
• Links and Resources sections on the Web sites
  textbook publishers, academic organizations,
  universities, English centers, etc.
• Personal home pages of English teachers

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Criteria for Selecting Web Sites (1)

• Be free of charge (sites offering a few sample
  lessons for free and then requiring payment to
  continue were not included)
• Have no advertising or a minimum of advertising
• Have no pop-up ads and special effects (flashing
  words, animation) that aim to attract paying
  customers

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Criteria for Selecting Web Sites (2)

• Include topics of interest and value to the
  students in the target courses
• Have exercises, quizzes, and transcripts
• Have a user-friendly interface that allows for
  easy self-study by EFL users
• Have a balance of materials at various levels of
  difficulty, elementary through advanced

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Criteria for Selecting Web Sites (3)

• Limitations
• It is not easy to find sites that meet all these
  criteria.
• Some of the best content-rich sites have poor
  layouts or annoying advertising.
• The teacher must decide how much weight to put
  on each criterion.

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Adding Links to the Teachers Home Page

• Links are added to the teachers home page and
  the course syllabus
• For convenience, many of the links can be
  accessed from the top page
• To attract attention, links are accompanied by
  clipart, photographs, or brief descriptions
• Layout aims to encourage learners to try many
  different types of sites
• ? Home page (current) ? More listening
  practice

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Collecting Data on Student Participation

• Students did free-choice listening for homework
  or as part of the in-class activities
• The minimum number of listening assignments
  required depended on the course (English
  Comprehension 9 times, Academic Listening 10 5
  times, Oral English 7 times)
• Students completed an online questionnaire
  (survey) for each listening assignment

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Creating the Survey

• Used the free version of online software
  available from ltwww.surveymonkey.com/gt
• Software allowed up to 10 questions and accepted
  up to 100 responses per survey
• Results of multiple-choice questions were
  analyzed automatically (frequencies, percentages)
  
• Results were displayed graphically or in tables
  (screen shot examples)

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Contents of the Survey (1)

• Introduction This survey is for students
  enrolled in my English Comprehension classes.
  The purpose is to find out what they think of the
  online listening and reading lessons as well as
  to monitor their listening progress.
• Click "Next" to get started. If you'd like to
  leave the survey at any time, just click "Exit
  this survey." Your answers will be saved and kept
  private.
• As a guest, you do not need to answer any of
  the questions to proceed through the survey.
• There are 9 questions

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Contents of the Survey (2)

• 1. Write your student ID number and your full
  name (family name first). Example 00-000 Tanaka,
  Hanako
• 2. Please type in (1) The name of the site (for
  example, "ELLLO," "Student Times"). (2) The level
  (beginner, low intermediate, etc.) of the
  passage. (If you don't know the level, write
  "don't know.") (3) The title of the passage (for
  example, "Sisters," "Episode 1").

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Contents of the Survey (3)

• 3. Please give your opinion of the following by
  marking Strongly agree, Agree, Disagree, or
  Strongly disagree
• This lesson was interesting.
• I understood the contents of the lesson.
• The speaker was easy to understand.
• I learned new words from this lesson.
• This lesson fit my ability level.
• I want to listen to or read more lessons like
  this one.

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Contents of the Survey (4)

• 4. How many times did you listen to the audio or
  watch the video? (If no audio or video, skip
  this question.) ? One time ? Two
  times ? Three times ? More than three times
•  
• 5. In total, about how many minutes did you
  spend on this lesson (listening, reading,
  doing exercises, checking the dictionary,
  etc.)? Choose the closest number Up to 10, 20,
  30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, More
  than 120

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Contents of the Survey (5)

• 6. Write a summary or description of the
  listening passage.
• For a summary, use this format
  
• "This passage was about ( ). There are (three)
  main ideas. First, ( ). Second, ( ). Third, (
  ). The conclusion is ( ). "
• For a description, answer the following (1)
  Who are the main people in the story? (2) When
  did it happen? (3) Where did it happen or what
  place is it concerned with? (4) What is the story
  about? (5) Why did it happen? (6) How did it
  happen? How much? How long? How far?

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Contents of the Survey (6a)

• 7. Write your opinion, reaction, or impression.
  Consider the following questions
• (1) What is interesting about this passage?  
• (2) What is something new that you learned?
• (3) How does it affect or compare to your
  life? 
• (4) Do you agree or disagree? 
• (5) What is good or bad about it? . . .

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Contents of the Survey (6b)

• (6) What is an advantage or disadvantage?  
• (7) What is it similar to or different from?  
• (8) What do you predict will happen? 
• (9) How do you feel about it (happy, sad,
  shocked, etc.)?
• (10) What more would you like to know about
  this topic? . . .

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Contents of the Survey (6c)

• You do not need to answer all these questions.
  
• You can add your own ideas, too! Write at
  least 50 words.
• Try to give details, reasons, and examples.
  Use signal words such as these however, in
  contrast, on the contrary, on the other hand,
  moreover, furthermore, in addition, for example,
  in general, specifically, similarly, therefore,
  in conclusion.

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Contents of the Survey (7)

• 8. Do you have any other comments or questions?
• 9. Optional The teacher may want to contact you
  about your answers. What is your e-mail address?
  . . .

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Contents of the Survey (8)

• Thank you! I appreciate your feedback. It is
  your active participation and diligent study that
  make this class a success!
• Please click "Done" (below) to save your
  answers. After that, you will be taken to the Web
  site "SurveyMonkey," which is the company that
  provides this software. After that, if you want
  to return to my home page, go to this address
  http//www.ne.jp/asahi/m/and/

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Survey Screen Shots (Click titles to view. Click
Back to return to this page. The links on the
screen shots are not active.)

• Introduction
• Student ID page
• Web site ID page
• Site evaluation
• Study time
• Summary or description

• Opinion
• Comment
• Submission

Students! What did you think of the listening passages? Click to take a SURVEY.
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Examples of Collected Data(Click titles to view
screen shots. The links on the screen shots are
not active. Click Back to return to this page.)

• Screen Shots
• Main display
• Topics
• Summaries
• Opinions

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List of TablesSurvey Results (1)

• Table 1 How many passages did you listen to?
  Click here for table.
• Table 2 How many times did you listen to each
  passage?
• Table 3 How much time did you spend doing each
  assignment?
• Table 4-1 Was this lesson interesting?
  

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List of TablesSurvey Results (2)

• Table 4-2. Did you understand the contents?
• Table 4-3. Was the speaker easy to understand?
• Table 4-4. Did you learn new words from this
  lesson?
• Table 4-5. Did the lesson fit your ability level?
• Table 4-6. Do you want to listen to more lessons
  like this one?

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Table 2a. How many times did students listen to
each audio segment? (repeated listening) (N
126) (All groups)
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Table 2b. How many times did students listen to
each audio segment? (repeated listening) (N
126) (Displayed by groups)
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Table 3. How much time did the students spend
doing free-choice listening? (N 126)
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Table 4-1.This lesson was interesting (N 126)
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Table 4-2. I understood the contents of the
lesson (N 126)
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Table 4-3. The speaker was easy to understand (N
126)
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Table 4-4. I learned new words from this lesson
(N 126)
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Table 4-5.This lesson fit my ability level (N
126)
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Table 4-6I want to listen to more lessons like
this one (N 126)
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Other Activities

• In addition to completing the online survey,
  students kept a personal record (hard copy) of
  the sites they visited including date, site,
  topic, and study time.
• Students also discussed their free-choice
  listening experiences in class in small groups or
  with the teacher.

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Observations, Findings, and Conclusions (1/4)

• It is possible to assemble a selection of free
  Web sites for listening comprehension practice at
  different levels of ability covering a wide range
  of topics.
• These sites can be used for both extensive and
  intensive listening practice.
• These sites can be used to supplement and perhaps
  replace textbook lessons or for self-access,
  autonomous learning.

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. . . Conclusions (2/4)

• With some teacher guidance students can
  successfully select materials that they find
  interesting and that fit their ability level.
• Many students in this study preferred to stay
  with easier materials rather than to challenge
  themselves.
• When students in this study found a site they
  liked, they stuck with it.
• It may be beneficial to encourage students to try
  a variety of sites.

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. . . Conclusions (3/4)

• Positive experiences with interesting sites have
  motivated some students to pursue extensive
  on-their-own practice.
• To engage the students in serious listening, it
  is helpful to have feedback activities such as
  brief oral reports, a listening journal,
  completion of a questionnaire, and the writing of
  summaries, descriptions, and opinions.
• Social interaction such as discussion with a
  partner or in small groups is also motivating.

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. . . Conclusions (4/4)

• Many students do not scroll down the page and
  miss important features of the sites such as
  transcripts and quizzes.
• Many content-rich sites have confusing interfaces
  (or too many advertisements). Students get lost.
  They dont know where to click or how to proceed.
• Some students do not do well filling in the
  online questionnaire because of poor typing
  skills.

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Selected Reference

• The following article has over 1,000 references
  related to autonomous learning
• Benson, Phil. (2003, August). What is
  Autonomy? In Autonomy in Language Learning.
  English Centre, University of Hong Kong.
  Retrieved on August 10, 2006 from
  lthttp//ec.hku.hk/autonomy/kgt.
• (Archive PDF version here)

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For more information(Prof.) Melvin R. Andrade

• Home page http//www.ne.jp/asahi/m/and/
• E-mail m-andrad_at_jrc.sophia.ac.jp