خلاصة:
This study aims to apply active learning in a foreign language context to improve L2 learners’ listening comprehension. Participants in this attempt were 56 EFL learners between 13 and 15 years old. To amass the required data, learners went through a ten-week treatment, in which participants in the experimental group received computer-mediated active learning intervention and those in the control group had computer-mediated listening activities in traditional lecture-based format. Since the focus of this study is on listening comprehension, tasks were designed in such a way so as to teach the basic tenets of listening including: a) reflective listening to comprehend meaning and content, b) reflective listening to clarify feelings, and c) listening to nonverbal cues. The aim was to find the possible effects of such intervention on learners’ listening comprehension. Scores on final exams and an attitude interview were compared between the two groups. Results of independent samples t-tests revealed that, as opposed to students in the control group, students in the experimental group performed significantly better and had much more positive attitudes toward the course. It was found that the proposed intervention is beneficial for English-language learners by reducing their anxiety in listening tasks and enhancing their motivation to take part in classroom activities and to do independent test tasks as their homework.
ملخص الجهاز:
g. Bachman & Bachman, 2011) and pointed to the positive learning outcomes of applying this intervention (Henderson, Dancy, & Niewiadomska-Bugaj, 2012; Prince, 2004) and the positive attitudes of learners (Daouk, Bahous, & Bacha, 2016; Killian & Bastas, 2015; Wood, 2009; Walker & Whiteside, 2009; Smith & Cardaciotto, 2011).
Given the learners’ reliance on technology and their high consumption of it outside the instructional setting (Mutekwe, 2015; Chapelle & Voss, 2016) and considering the higher motivation level obtained by learners and their favorable attitude and positive view of learning in computer-mediated active learning class environments (Dixon & Hondo, 2014; Park & Choi, 2014), this study aims to apply computer-mediated listening comprehension exercises to improve learners’ listening comprehension level.
Previous studies on CALL pointed to its efficiency in learning and teaching of oral skills (Abdolrezapour, 2017; Sun, 2009; Winke, Gass, & Sydorenko, 2010) and have addressed such issues as distance learning (Qian & McCormic, 2014), collaborative learning and social context provided (Cuesta Medina & Alvarez, 2014), students or instructors’ attitudes (Wiebe & Kabata, 2010), strategy use (Smidt & Hegelheimer, 2004), oral feedback (Xu & Peg, 2017), providing help options (Mohsen, 2016), captioning and subtitling (Danan, 2004, Winke, et al.
Instructors mainly use CALL for providing learners with authentic situations in which they can develop and express their views and establish cooperatively meaningful communication (Chapelle & Voss, 2016; Mueller-Hartmann, 2000); it is also suggested that embedding multimedia in the second language context would lead to higher levels of motivation and learning gains (Dixon & Hondo, 2014; Roman-Odio & Hartlaub, 2003).