The Effects of Topic Familiarity on Second Language Listening Comprehension

Schmidt-Rinehart, Barbara C.

doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.1994.tb02030.x

Cited by 110 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…In the treatment lessons, the participants had the opportunity to deal with key vocabulary items that were presented in the same context as they would hear in the text. This is consistent with previous studies (Caplan-Carbin, 1997;Ervin, 1992;Gatbonton & Segalowits, 1988;Sadighi & Zare 2002;Schmidt & Rinehart, 1994;William & Thomas, 1991).…”

Section: )supporting

confidence: 82%

“…That is, the results indicated that cultural familiarization of the text has a significant effect on listening comprehension. Listeners are expected to achieve the writer's intended meaning by combining existing information with what they listen (Bacon, 1992;Chastain, 1988;Chiang & Dunkel, 1992;Long, 1990;Markham & Latham, 1987;Mueller, 1980;Schmidt-Rinehart, 1994).…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Impact of Cultural Knowledge on Listening Comprehension of EFL Learners

Hayati¹

2009

ELT

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The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of cultural knowledge on improving Iranian EFL learners' listening comprehension. To achieve this purpose, out of three hundred participants, one hundred and twenty pre-intermediate language learners were selected based on their scores on a listening comprehension test and were randomly assigned to four groups. Each group was exposed to a certain condition as follows: TC (Target Culture), ITC (International Target Culture), SC (Source Culture), and CF (Culture Free). At the end of the experiment, to see whether or not any changes happened regarding their listening proficiency, a post-test was administered to the four groups. The results suggested that the participants performed differently on the post-test indicating that familiarity with culturally-oriented language material promotes the Iranian EFL learners' listening proficiency.

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Section: )supporting

confidence: 82%

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Cultural Knowledge on Listening Comprehension of EFL Learners

Hayati¹

2009

ELT

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“…Students' existing knowledge or background knowledge plays a significant role in their comprehension of the aural texts (Chiang & Dunkel, 1992;Platt & Brooks, 1994;Rubin, 1994;Schmidt-Rinehart, 1994). Listeners draw on their pre-existing knowledge to help them interpret the text and to create expectations of what they are about to hear (Bacon, 1992;Tsui & Fullilove, 1998).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Authentic Aural Materials to Develop Listening Comprehension in the EFL Classroom

Ghaderpanahi¹

2012

ELT

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The purpose of this study was to examine the influences of authentic aural materials on listening ability of thirty female undergraduate psychology majors studying English as a foreign language. It basically focused on using authentic materials and real-life situations as part of the communicative approach. The results of the listening comprehension post test were compared to that of the pretest using a 2-tailed t-test (P< .05). Analysis of the interviews and the questionnaire revealed that the use of authentic materials in the EFL classroom enhanced EFL students' listening comprehension ability. Results showed a statistically significant improvement in listening ability of the EFL students. Recommendations were offered to ease students' frustration that resulted from the speed of authentic speech. Pedagogical implications of the results were discussed along with the impact on EFL students' listening comprehension development.

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“…Most research concerned with the evaluation of second language (L2) comprehension has focused on reading rather than listening because the process of reading is more easily observed and manipulated (Osada, 2004). That said, research findings regarding reading comprehension often fail to map fully onto the processes involved in listening comprehension (Schmidt-Rinehart, 1994). For example, listeners have a worse memory for spoken information than readers do for written information, with proportionally more details recalled by readers and proportionally more main ideas by listeners (Lund, 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What makes listening difficult? Factors affecting second language listening comprehension

Bloomfield¹,

Wayland²,

Rhoades³

et al. 2010

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Factors affecting second language listening comprehension gies-that is, those who are aware of and use effective strategies, such as avoiding mental translation-demonstrate better L2 listening comprehension. 2 In addition to these general cognitive abilities, a number of factors pertaining to experience with the L2 influence listening skill. These factors include the amount of prior exposure to the language; familiarity with and an ability to understand the non-native language's phonology; vocabulary size; and background knowledge about the topic, text, structure, schema, and culture.Familiarity with the L2 changes the extent to which the L2 listener uses top-down or bottom-up strategies in listening. For example, expert listeners use both types of strategies: They are able to accurately make sense of the speech signal (bottom-up information) 3 and integrate this information with PurPose-To establish what is currently known about factors that affect foreign language listening comprehension, with a focus on characteristics of the listener, passage, and testing conditions.ConClusions-Research on second language (L2) listening comprehension strongly supports the importance of a number of factors, for example, a listener's working memory capacity and the number of ideas in a passage. Much of the research, however, reports weak or inconclusive results, leaving many factors and complex interactions among factors unresolved and in need of further investigation.relevanCe-Identifying the factors that affect L2 listening comprehension will help Defense Language Institute Proficiency Test (DLPT) designers anticipate how qualities of selected authentic materials will impact listening comprehension. Executive Summary PurPoseThe U.S. Government administers the Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT) to military linguists and other government personnel to assess their listening and reading comprehension in a number of foreign languages, including critical languages such as Mandarin, Modern Standard Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, and Persian Farsi. The DLPT is updated every 10 to 15 years, and the most recent transition-from DLPT IV to DLPT5-included a greater emphasis on testing listening comprehension with authentic materials. In turn, this has led to a growing interest in the factors that make second language (L2) listening difficult.To examine these factors, CASL reviewed the current scientific literature and summarized the characteristics of listeners, passages, and testing conditions. The review targeted features of particular interest to stakeholders at the Defense Language Institute (DLI). The long-term goal of the project is to support the selection of authentic listening materials that accurately reflect different proficiency levels. ConClusionsAlthough the available research on L2 listening comprehension is limited, CASL's literature review identified several factors that affect listening comprehension. These factors are summarized below and in Tables 1, 2, and 3. 1 Characteristics of the listenerUnderstanding a fo...

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The Effects of Topic Familiarity on Second Language Listening Comprehension

Cited by 110 publications

References 30 publications

The Impact of Cultural Knowledge on Listening Comprehension of EFL Learners

The Impact of Cultural Knowledge on Listening Comprehension of EFL Learners

Using Authentic Aural Materials to Develop Listening Comprehension in the EFL Classroom

What makes listening difficult? Factors affecting second language listening comprehension

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