• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.177-197
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• 2009

This study investigated the effects of dictation practice, in terms of listening proficiency and the use of listening strategy. The research was implemented for 15 weeks with 89 freshmen and sophomores at a Korean university. The subjects were divided into an experimental group and a control group. All conditions were the same in both groups, except that the experimental group had dictation practice on a regular basis in their listening classes through one semester. For the purpose of the study, two research questions were set; 1) Does dictation practice improve listening proficiency? 2) What are the differences in the use of listening strategies between the two groups? Does dictation practice make the participants use different listening strategies? A sample TOEIC listening test was conducted as a pre-test and post-test. A questionnaire was used to find out the differences in the use of listening strategies between the two groups. The results of this study reveal that there was no statistically difference in improvement between the two groups; however, the experimental group scored much higher on the post-test than the pre-test compared with the control group. In regard to listening strategies, among 6 listening strategies, the use of metacognitive listening strategies had a significant difference between the two groups. On the basis of the results, the study suggested some guidelines for dictation practice in EFL listening classes and called for more studies on its effects.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.35-50
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• 2005

Thirty six EFL freshman students at the College of Languages and Translation, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia were given a dictation, a listening comprehension test and a decoding test. The purpose of the study was to find out whether EFL freshmen students' spelling ability correlates with their listening comprehension and decoding skills. Data analysis showed that the typical EFL freshman student misspelled 41.5% of the words on the dictation, gave 49.5% correct responses on the listening comprehension test, and 52% correct responses on the decoding test. The median and mean scores showed that the subjects' spelling, listening and decoding achievement is low, which implied that the subjects were having spelling, listening comprehension and decoding difficulties. The students' spelling errors and correct listening comprehension and decoding responses revealed strong correlations between spelling ability, listening comprehension and decoding skills. This means that good spelling ability in EFL is related to good listening comprehension and good decoding skills. The better the listening comprehension and decoding abilities, the fewer the spelling errors. When listening comprehension and decoding skills are poor, spelling ability is also poor. Recommendations for spelling, listening and decoding instruction are given.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2012

This study explores the effects of phonological awareness instruction with phonetics on listening comprehension and speaking. For the test of measuring the improvement of listening comprehension, two nationwide listening comprehension tests were used for pre-test and post-test. To find out the improvement of speaking ability, students were required to take the Level-3 NEAT speaking tests. There was a notable correlation between phonological awareness instruction with phonetics and listening ability. Also a significant correlation between phonological awareness instruction with phonetics and speaking ability was found. The group with phonological awareness class with phonetics received higher scores in listening and speaking test than the group without phonological awareness class with phonetics in the post-test. This study implies that phonological awareness class with phonetics is helpful for the improvement of listening and speaking ability. With this research, we can also say that students' communicative competence increased.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.121-132
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• 2006

The purpose of this research was to investigate dichotic listening, that is, whether the left and right ears have different functionalities in actual listening. Unlike previous studies, which used short words or a list of two or three numbers, these researchers investigated more comprehensive listening ability using the Toeic listening test. Sixty-three university students participated in this study. The subjects took three tests in total: one using only the right ear, another using the left ear, and the third using both. T-analysis of SPSS on the data revealed that there is a significant difference between the test results with only the right or left ear and the ones with both ears. So we cannot find right-ear priority in this study. We can see that in comprehensive listening, right hemisphere plays an important role as well as left hemisphere. When grouped according to language ability, test result of low group is the same as the total test result. However, in high group there is no significant difference between the test results with left ear and the results with both ears in high group. In mid group there is no significant difference between the test results with right ear and the results with both ears. The different functionalities of left and right ears and suggestions for future research are presented.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.153-169
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• 2012

This study reviews an English enhancement course implemented for medical and nursing college students of 2011 to improve their standardized English test scores. A total of 117 first-year students underwent the pre-test and the post-TOEIC in November 2011. After the pre-test, lectures on listening enhancement strategies and problem solving tactics on reading comprehension were supplemented with 4 times of enhancement-tests. Their pre- and post-TOEIC results were compared to see if such enhancement strategies were effective to improve their TOEIC scores. It was further to investigate, through survey questionnaires, how the subjects felt about a number of pre-test-type TOEIC exercise with what-to-listen and how-to-infer listening strategies and pattern-drill practices for reading comprehension. It was found that the scores of listening comprehension improved significantly for both major students whereas reading scores showed slight decrease among nursing majors. It is concluded that administering numerous pre-test-type-TOEIC exercise is effective for students to improve their listening scores supplemented with listening strategies Also, students' response showed positive toward the enhancement course.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.257-286
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• 2006

This paper investigates the effects of small group collaborative transcription activities on the improvement of university students' English listening ability. Based on the results of pre-tests, a class of 42 students was subdivided into 11 small homogeneous groups of three to four students. Each group was provided with 7 different news items to be transcribed. Means were compared between pre-test and post-test scores, followed by comparison of transcription errors in content and function words. Finally, students' perception and attitudes about the use of small group transcription for improving listening skills were qualitatively analysed and compared with pre- and post test results. It was found that post test scores highly correlated with improvement of listening ability. It was also found that groups of high degree of collaboration showed improvement in listening ability while lack of collaboration contributed to loss of interests in listening. Students who see process more important were found to make more contribution to the group success than those who place more emphasis on the results.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.23
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• pp.351-382
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• 2011

This paper aims to compare systems and questions between Chinese I in the Korea National Scholastic Aptitude Test(abbreviated by KNSAT) and Chinese with Listening in the SAT. In the beginning, we compared KNSAT and SAT, and then focused our attention on Chinese I in KNSAT and Chinese with Listening in SAT in terms of assessment purposes, sections, ranges, questions. Through the research, the following results were obtained: Firstly, compared KNSAT with SAT, it is found that Chinese I is less important in KNSAT than Chinese with Listening in SAT. Chinese I belongs to one of the second foreign languages section, and it is placed under common rule of its section. However, Chinese with Listening is similar to Chinese I in that it also belongs to one of the languages section, but it keeps under its control, so it has its own system e.g. purpose, range etc.. Next, compared Chinese I with Chinese with Listening, in the matter of purposes of them, Chinese I is less explicit and less concrete to explain it than Chinese with Listening, and in respect of sections of them, the sections of Chinese I are leaning more toward language materials contrary to Chinese with Listening leaning more toward language functions. And in terms of ranges of them, Chinese I is limited to Basic vocabulary and Examples of communicative function in curriculum of Chinese I, but Chinese with Listening has not any limit on the ranges of questions. Lastly, with regard to questions of them, Chinese I has more tendency toward assessing knowledge of Chinese, on the contrary, Chinese with Listening has more tendency toward assessing performance of it.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• no.3
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• pp.43-54
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• 1997

According to Asher(1972) listening skill must be taught before any other skills. Despite such an importance of listening skill, listening tests taken at the secondary schools depend on simple multiple choice method. So more various method such as Task-Based Listening Test need suggesting. This study aims at (1) three step listening material development (2) and advancement of listening ability through the materials.

• Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.187-209
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• 2001

This study attempts to supplement what is known about the influence of prior knowledge on second language listening comprehension. To do so, the study examines the effect of prior knowledge and language proficiency on the ability of L2 listeners to understand texts. The purpose of an experiment was to determine the effect of topic familiarity on the L2 listening comprehension ability of subjects who varied in L2 listening proficiency level. The subjects (N=117) were selected from a population of college students enrolled in the Departments of English and Business in Korea. English listening proficiency levels were designated on the basis of TOEFL listening scores. Subjects listened twice each to texts (more familiar and less familiar). After listening to each text, a ten-item objective test was administered to test the subjects' comprehension of the information presented in the text. Objective tests were analyzed. using repeated measures analysis. A post hoc test was conducted to identify the means that were significantly different. This study yielded the following results: (1) subjects with high prior knowledge comprehended texts significantly better than did subjects with low prior knowledge; (2) the level of L2 listening proficiency had a significant effect on the L2 listening comprehension of texts, but there was no interaction between prior knowledge and the level of L2 listening proficiency.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.101-124
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• 2011

This paper investigated the relationships among Korean EFL learners' listening anxiety, listening strategy use, and listening proficiency. One hundred and forty four Korean college students who were enrolled in the required practical English classes participated in this study. Questionnaires related to students' listening strategy use and listening anxiety were administered and a TOEIC listening comprehension test was given to measure the students' listening proficiency. The one-way ANOVA was used to analyze the data. The findings of this study are that the students' listening performance is positively correlated with their strategy use and negatively correlated with their anxiety level, and their strategy use is negatively correlated with their anxiety level. The results suggest that successful learning will occur when anxiety is reduced and when the use of strategies is encouraged more often. The pedagogical implications for EFL educators and teachers are described.