The Relationship between Listening and Reading Rates of Japanese EFL Learners

Abstract

It has been claimed that the first language (L1) optimal listening rate (LR) is comparable to the reading rate (RR) of college students if the material is relatively easy (e.g., Hausfeld, 1981). However, it is questionable whether these two rates are comparable for second language (L2) learners who have not had the same amount of exposure to spoken English as L1 learners. This study seeks to find the answers to this question by establishing and examining the relationship between the LR and RR of 56 Japanese college students of English at different proficiency levels. Experimental results showed that optimal LRs and RRs are also similar among English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. However, a majority of the less proficient learners in the study encountered considerable difficulty in listening comprehension. Consequently, it was difficult to estimate their optimal LRs. Important pedagogical implications for English teaching and learning are discussed.IN RECENT YEARS, THE ROLE OF TEMPORAL variables in facilitating listening comprehension has been discussed by many researchers in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). One of the important temporal variables that affects comprehension is listening rate (or speech rate; see Griffiths, 1991). Anderson-Hsieh and Koehler (1989) claimed that even for native speakers of English, the rate of speech is a critical factor, especially for the comprehension of heavily accented English speech. Schmidt-Rinehart (1994) reported that 40% of the university students studying Spanish in her study felt that the most difficult part of listening to academic lectures was the "linking" concept in pronunciation, and 14% of them felt that the rate of speech had the greatest effect on comprehensibility. A survey conducted by Powers (1985) also revealed that among various specific listening activities, teachers perceived nonnative speakers as having greater difficulty in following lectures at faster rates. As a result of the apparent sensitivity of nonnative speakers to speech rate, Griffiths (1991) stressed that rate variation can be incorporated into listening comprehension teaching methodology through the use of speech compression and expansion.Also, the cognitive processes involved in listening and reading comprehension seem to be quite similar. For example, O' Malley and Chamot (1990) claimed that both listening and reading comprehension are viewed theoretically as active processes in which individuals focus on selected aspects of either aural or visual input, construct meaning from passages, and relate what they hear or read to existing knowledge. These similarities imply that there may well be a strong relationship between the LRs and RRs of EFL learners.In this respect, research on EFL learners' LRs (or speech rates) should not always be treated separately from RRs. Whereas little is as yet known about the direct relationship between the LRs and RRs of EFL learners, this study aims to investigate the relationship between EFL learn-

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