چکیده:
The pivotal role of listening comprehension in second/foreign language learning requires that researchers conduct studies which investigate factors that affect test takers’ performances. The present study was set out to examine whether item modality (i.e., written vs. oral items) affects listening comprehension test performance. In addition, it investigated whether allowing test takers to take notes while listening would also affect their performances. To this end, two different tests, each containing 20 multiple choice items, were administered to 66 (35 female and 31 male) upper-intermediate EFL learners. The first test was administered to look into the role of item modality, and the second test was employed to investigate the effect of note-taking. The application of independent samples t-tests to analyze the data revealed that that test takers performed better when the items were provided in written rather than oral form, and that test takers’ performances did not differ significantly when they were allowed to take notes. More detailed findings and implications are discussed in the paper.
خلاصه ماشینی:
"The Effect of Item Modality and Note-taking on EFL Learners’ Performance on a Listening Test Karim Sadeghi* Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, Urmia University, Iran Maryam Zeinali* M.
A. in TEFL, Urmia University, Iran Received: December 8, 2014; Accepted: October 26, 2015 Abstract The pivotal role of listening comprehension in second/foreign language learning requires that researchers conduct studies which investigate factors that affect test takers‟ performances.
In his study with 257 participants who took English as a second language placement exam, Song (2011) found that those with higher levels of proficiency benefited more from notetaking compared to listeners with lower proficiency level, while some other studies have failed to find an effect (Carter & Van Matre, 1975; Dunkel, 1986); and still other researchers like Aiken, Thomas, and Shennum (as cited in Song, 2011) have observed an interfering effect.
Therefore, in designing such tests, besides the needs of the candidates, testdependent factors including item modality and allowing testtakers the opportunity to take notes are areas which require further research attention with the aim to provide listeners the chance to reveal their true listening competence and guard them against memory problems, which can be doubled in exam setting.
In other words, the study sought to find the effects of the modality of multiple choice items (oral versus written modality) and notetaking (whether it is allowed or not) on the performance of upper intermediate EFL learners in taking listening tests.
DISCUSSION This study set out with the aim of assessing the effect of written versus oral item modality, and notetaking on listening performance under test taking conditions."