aim of study reveals what greek learners find confusing or difficult in listening task performance...
TRANSCRIPT
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki20th International Symposium on Theoretical & Applied Linguistics
1-3 April 2011
Listening Comprehension Difficulty: The Learner Perspective
Elizabeth Apostolou PhD CandidateResearch AssistantResearch Centre for English Language Teaching, Testing & AssessmentUniversity of Athens
Context of study
Part of PhD thesis aiming at:The investigation of listening comprehension difficulty from the perspective of the test task and the oral text. Sources of data:Phase Ianalysis of KPG B2 level candidates’ listening task performance (item analysis)
Phase II examination of L2 learners’ perceptions of listening task & text difficulty (interviews & open questionnaires)
Aim of study
reveals what Greek learners find confusing or difficult in listening task performance in English
to give an insight into Greek learners’ perceived task difficulties in a listening comprehension test
Design of the studyHow?
semi-structured, focused interviews carried out with undergraduate students of the Faculty of English Studies, University of Athens
Design of the studyWho?
Research subjects:
7 undergraduate students participated in a workshop on
Teaching and Assessing listeningcontribute to the continuation of the study with a different group of subjects (actual B2 level learners)
Design of the studyWhat?
Before the interviews:a listening comprehension test involving test items derived from the KPG B2 level listening comprehension past papers.
Test items:a) Multiple-choice (M/C) b) True/False/Not Stated (T/F/NS)c) Completion items
Design of the study:What?
While taking the test: note down their difficulties next to test items notes used as stimuli on the day of the
interviews After the end of the test: fill in a feedback questionnaire (of a closed type):
a.rate test items and oral texts in terms of difficulty
b.evaluate the effect of specific text and task variables on their performance
responses used to form the questions of each interview
Interviews
Interviews carried out: on a different day from the test separately with each individual in Greek
Each interview: lasted 30-45 minutes was recorded
Interviewing
Test item difficulties explain difficulty with reference to specific
test item types
Text-related difficulties elaborate on factors of text difficulty
(i.e., rate of speech, accent, text density, etc.)
Their reasoning & thought processes in responding
Interview Data Analysis
transcribed
translated into English
analyzed using N-Vivo 7, a software for qualitative analysis
FindingsM/C test items(1)
Item-related difficulties Distractors vs. item difficultyQ1: ... I thought I heard all three options. They seemed so familiar to me after listening to the text (Interviewee 2)
Q2: …all three distractors could be potential responses. In other words, I could have opted for a, b, or c without hesitation – I mean all three could be correct (Interviewee 6).
olexical overlap
Q3: …also, many words contained in the answer options were heard during the recording (Interviewee 4).
osimilar meaning
Q4: …there isn’t any obvious difference, in other words A (South Africans living in great poverty) and C (severe poverty in the 3rd world) are pretty much the same, so the one seems to be paraphrase of the other (Interviewee 3).
o lexical difficulty
Q5: hmm, in the first example (item), the vocabulary is quite demanding (Interviewee 7).
FindingsM/C test items (2)
Comprehension Processes affecting item difficulty
oFocused listening for specific information
Q6: …I don’t know, they (the items) seemed difficult to me, very difficult, because I had to be very careful […] in particular, I had to pay attention to specific information (Interviewee 3).
o Inference making
Q7: …in terms of some items, the correct response was not clearly conveyed by the speaker, but we had to understand it – something like an inference. (Interviewee 4).
Q8: …in the case of an inference item, response cannot be automatic. On the contrary, you have to think of the information you just heard and this takes time(…)As a result, you may miss part of the necessary information for the next response.
FindingsM/C test items(3)
Comprehension Processes affecting item difficulty
o text density & processing load
Q9: …yes, (the speaker) mentioned a lot – much new information – and for a while (for a few seconds only) […] and I did not have time to process all that information. (Interviewee 4)
oitem length + processing & memory load
Q10: …some (items) were too long and contained much information […], so you didn’t know what you had to remember. (Interviewee 3)
FindingsT/F/NS (1)
Item-related difficulties
oFalse vs. Not Stated
Q11: …because the speaker does not mention it in the way presented in the item, I thought I had to choose that it was not stated. And I got confused, I mean, I don’t know what to choose, that the information is false or not stated (Interviewee 2).
oNot stated option
Q12: …in general, I have difficulty when there is a third option (Not Stated) in the item […] because usually my mind can only retain the information it listens to. So, when something is not mentioned, I start doubting whether I’ve listened to it or not…(Interviewee 5)
Q13: …it (Not Stated option) confuses you, and you start wondering: “Did the speaker refer to it? What if he did and I didn’t hear it, what if he did but in another way, which makes the item wrong?” (Interviewee 1).
FindingsT/F/NS (2)
Comprehension Processes affecting item difficulty
o Focused listening &Processing load
Q14: …yes, in this case you have to think not just listen […], you also have to be aware of what is not heard [..]. So, you have to be very focused on the listening text to understand all information, in order to be able to say that something is not stated (Interviewee 7).
Q15: …you had to be very focused to process everything mentioned in a rather fast rate… (Interviewee 1).
Findings Completion items
Comprehension Processes affecting item difficulty
InferenceCome up with a word that best corresponds to the meaning of the relevant oral text
Q16: …the fact that I did not listen to the verb, to a specific verb; even though I understood the general meaning of the text I failed to convey it with the right verb, but I understood it was about people expecting you to pick them up from the airport… (Interviewee 2)
ParaphraseCome up with a grammatically & syntactically appropriate word that fits the given gaps
Q17: I: In 19 the phrase you used is syntactically inappropriate.
S: E, yes, I guess that’s what I heard in the textI: You heard this phrase? (…)S: Yes. E, the syntax is different here (in the task), but I heard ‘his mother is sick’I: Did you read the sentence in the task, to see that a change in syntax is needed?S: No, I just wrote down what I heard… (Interviewee 6).
What causes difficulty to L2 learners?
Item-related factors In MC itemso Semantically relevant distractorso Lexical overlapo Lexical difficultyo Item Length In T/F/NS itemso False vs. Not stated In Completion itemsadditional difficulties at the level of
production
What causes difficulty to L2 learners?
Required Comprehension processes
In MC itemso Focused listening for specific informationo Inference makingo Processing load (text density & item length)In T/F/NS itemso Focused listeningo Processing loadIn Completion itemso Inference makingo Paraphrasing
Conclusions
Listening is a multi-dimensional procedure and performance on listening test tasks requires a complex combination of knowledge & processing skills (Buck, 2001).
Listening comprehension in L2 is difficult irrespectively of language proficiency level.
Next phase…
1) examine actual B2 level learners’ perceptions of listening task and text difficulty (open questionnaires)
2) combine learners’ perceptions with item difficulty results derived from item analysis (Phase 1)
Implications
For testing & assessment: shed light into the aspects of test
design influencing candidate performance
contribute to the design of more valid tests of listening comprehension
For pedagogy: help teachers enhance their students’
listening skills
