Adding Web-based Listening
Practice to a Listening
Comprehension Course: Cultivating
Autonomous Learning [50 slides]
Melvin R. Andrade, Ed.D.
Sophia Junior College and
Aoyama Gakuin University, Japan
The 4th Asia TEFL International Conference, Aug. 18-20, 2006, Fukuoka, Japan
Outline
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Introduction
Aims of the study
Students & courses
Building the Web site
Creating the online survey
Data analysis
Observations, findings & conclusions
Introduction
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Through the Internet, learners of English
as a foreign language have access to a
large and growing body of listening
material.
Some of this material is intended for
learners of English while other material
assumes a native or near-native
competency.
For EFL
settings
For
non-native
For general
audience
Audio &
video
materials
on the Web
For children
& youth
For ESL
settings
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For
native
Fig. 1 Intended audiences
Examples
(External links. Click “Back” to return)
Non-native (EFL/ESL)
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BBC Learning English
CBS/Literacyworks
English Language
Listening Lab Online
ELLLO (HB) "Australia"
5-Minute English
Native
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Academy of Achievement
American Rhetoric Movie
Speeches
CNN for Students
Lives That Make a
Difference
Nobel Prize Speeches
More examples
Non-native (EFL/ESL)
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Living English (Australia)
News Stories (CDLP)
NHK TV Daily News
Randall’s ESL Lab
Student Times (Japan)
Voice of America (VOA)
Native
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Stone SoupTM
Story Corps (National
Public Radio)
This I Believe (National
Public Radio)
Video Nation (UK)
The Present Study (ongoing)
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The present study describes three courses in
EFL listening comprehension for Japanese
college students in which guided and free
listening using Web resources played an
important role.
In particular, it presents and analyzes the results
of weekly questionnaires and homework
assignments through which the students
summarized, gave their opinion of and
evaluated the sites.
Aims of the Study
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To develop guidelines to help teachers
who wish to add a Web-based listening
component to their courses
To identify sites of particular usefulness for
students who wish to continue improving
their listening comprehension on their own
after completion of the course
Students
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College and university students enrolled in
English-as-a-foreign language courses in
Japan in which training in listening
comprehension was a main component of
the courses
All students had studied English
previously at the secondary level
N = 126
Courses
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English Comprehension 1 (“Group A”)
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Academic Listening (“Group B”)
Oral English 2 (“Group C”)
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Details 
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Group A: English Comprehension
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Aim: To improve reading and listening
comprehension
Students: Junior college, 1st year, English
majors, TOEIC range 375-470 (Listening
Section 185-315)
Format: Two 90-minute classes per
week,13 weeks
Enrollment: Two groups of 23 students
each (n = 46), required course
 Syllabus [pdf]
Group B: Academic Listening
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Aim: To develop note-taking skills and the
ability to understand intermediate-level
university lectures
Students: Junior college, 1st and 2nd years,
English majors, estimated TOEIC range
300 – 500
Format: Two 90-minute classes per
week,13 weeks
Enrollment: 54 students, elective course
 Syllabus [html]  Portfolio [pdf]
Group C: Oral English 2
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Aims: To improve conversational listening
and speaking sills. To develop the ability to
give short, informal presentations and
discuss current events.
Students: University, 2nd year, education
and psychology majors,TOEIC scores not
available
Format: One 90-minute class per week,13
weeks
Enrollment: 26 students, elective course
 Syllabus [pdf]
Finding Listening Material
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Google search using “listening” combined with
terms such as “EFL,” “ESL,” “TEFL,” “TESOL”
Journal articles, both online and hard copy,
provide additional sources
“Links” and “Resources” sections on the Web
sites textbook publishers, academic
organizations, universities, English centers, etc.
Personal home pages of English teachers
Criteria for Selecting Web Sites
(1)
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Be free of charge (sites offering a few
sample lessons for free and then requiring
payment to continue were not included)
Have no advertising or a minimum of
advertising
Have no pop-up ads and special effects
(flashing words, animation) that aim to
attract paying customers
Criteria for Selecting Web Sites
(2)
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Include topics of interest and value to the
students in the target courses
Have exercises, quizzes, and transcripts
Have a user-friendly interface that allows
for easy self-study by EFL users
Have a balance of materials at various
levels of difficulty, elementary through
advanced
Criteria for Selecting Web Sites (3)
Limitations:
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It is not easy to find sites that meet all
these criteria.
Some of the best content-rich sites have
poor layouts or annoying advertising.
The teacher must decide how much
weight to put on each criterion.
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Adding Links to the Teacher’s
Home Page
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Links are added to the teacher’s home page
and the course syllabus
For convenience, many of the links can be
accessed from the top page
To attract attention, links are accompanied by
clipart, photographs, or brief descriptions
Layout aims to encourage learners to try many
different types of sites
 Home page (current)
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 More listening practice
Collecting Data on Student
Participation
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Students did “free-choice listening” for
homework or as part of the in-class activities
The minimum number of listening assignments
required depended on the course (English
Comprehension 9 times, Academic Listening 10
[5] times, Oral English 7 times)
Students completed an online questionnaire
(“survey”) for each listening assignment
Creating the Survey
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Used the free version of online software available
from <www.surveymonkey.com/>
Software allowed up to 10 questions and accepted
up to 100 responses per survey
Results of multiple-choice questions were
analyzed automatically (frequencies, percentages)
Results were displayed graphically or in tables
(screen shot examples)
Contents of the Survey (1)
Introduction: This survey is for students enrolled in my
[English Comprehension] classes. The purpose is to find
out what they think of the online listening and reading
lessons as well as to monitor their listening progress.
Click "Next" to get started. If you'd like to leave the
survey at any time, just click "Exit this survey." Your
answers will be saved and kept private.
As a guest, you do not need to answer any of the
questions to proceed through the survey.
There are 9 questions:
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Contents of the Survey (2)
1. Write your student ID number and your full name (family
name first). Example: 00-000 Tanaka, Hanako
2. Please type in: (1) The name of the site (for example,
"ELLLO," "Student Times"). (2) The level (beginner, low
intermediate, etc.) of the passage. (If you don't know the
level, write "don't know.") (3) The title of the passage (for
example, "Sisters," "Episode 1").
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Contents of the Survey (3)
3. Please give your opinion of the following by marking
Strongly agree, Agree, Disagree, or Strongly disagree:
This lesson was interesting.
I understood the contents of the lesson.
The speaker was easy to understand.
I learned new words from this lesson.
This lesson fit my ability level.
I want to listen to or read more lessons like this one.
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Contents of the Survey (4)
4. How many times did you listen to the audio or watch the
video? (If no audio or video, skip this question.)
 One time  Two times  Three times  More than
three times
5. In total, about how many minutes did you spend on this
lesson (listening, reading, doing exercises, checking the
dictionary, etc.)? Choose the closest number: Up to 10, 20,
30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, More than 120
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Contents of the Survey (5)
6. Write a summary or description of the listening passage.
For a summary, use this format:
"This passage was about ( ). There are (three) main ideas.
First, ( ). Second, ( ). Third, ( ). The conclusion is ( ). "
For a description, answer the following: (1) Who are the
main people in the story? (2) When did it happen? (3)
Where did it happen or what place is it concerned with? (4)
What is the story about? (5) Why did it happen? (6) How
did it happen? How much? How long? How far?
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Contents of the Survey (6a)
7. Write your opinion, reaction, or impression.
Consider the following questions:
(1) What is interesting about this passage?
(2) What is something new that you learned?
(3) How does it affect or compare to your life?
(4) Do you agree or disagree?
(5) What is good or bad about it? . . .
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Contents of the Survey (6b)
(6) What is an advantage or disadvantage?
(7) What is it similar to or different from?
(8) What do you predict will happen?
(9) How do you feel about it (happy, sad,
shocked, etc.)?
(10) What more would you like to know about
this topic? . . .
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Contents of the Survey (6c)
You do not need to answer all these questions.
You can add your own ideas, too! Write at least
[50] words.
Try to give details, reasons, and examples. Use
signal words such as these: however, in contrast,
on the contrary, on the other hand, moreover,
furthermore, in addition, for example, in general,
specifically, similarly, therefore, in conclusion.
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Contents of the Survey (7)
8. Do you have any other comments or questions?
9. Optional: The teacher may want to contact you
about your answers. What is your e-mail
address? . . .
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Contents of the Survey (8)
Thank you! I appreciate your feedback. It is your
active participation and diligent study that make
this class a success!
Please click "Done" (below) to save your
answers. After that, you will be taken to the Web
site "SurveyMonkey," which is the company that
provides this software. After that, if you want to
return to my home page, go to this address:
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/m/and/
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Survey Screen Shots
(Click titles to view. Click “Back” to return to this page. The
links on the screen shots are not active.)
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Introduction
Student ID page
Web site ID page
Site evaluation
Study time
Summary or
description
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Opinion
Comment
Submission
Students! What did you
think of the listening
passages? Click to take a
SURVEY.
Examples of Collected Data
(Click titles to view screen shots. The links on the screen shots
are not active. Click “Back” to return to this page.)
Screen Shots
 Main display
 Topics
 Summaries
 Opinions
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List of Tables:
Survey Results (1)
Table 1: How many passages did you listen
to? [Click here for table.]
Table 2: How many times did you listen to
each passage?
Table 3: How much time did you spend
doing each assignment?
Table 4-1: Was this lesson interesting?
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List of Tables:
Survey Results (2)
Table 4-2. Did you understand the contents?
Table 4-3. Was the speaker easy to
understand?
Table 4-4. Did you learn new words from this
lesson?
Table 4-5. Did the lesson fit your ability
level?
Table 4-6. Do you want to listen to more
lessons like this one?
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Table 2a. How many times did students
listen to each audio segment? (repeated
listening) (N = 126) (All groups)
35
30
Percent
25
1 time
2 times
3 times
More than 3 times
20
15
10
5
0
Totals
(N=126)
Table 2b. How many times did students
listen to each audio segment? (repeated
listening) (N = 126) (Displayed by groups)
40
35
Percent
30
1 time
2 times
3 times
More than 3 times
25
20
15
10
5
0
Group A
(n=46)
Group B
(n=54)
Group C
(n=26)
Totals
(N=126)
Table 3. How much time did the students
spend doing free-choice listening? (N = 126)
Percentage of students
40
36.1
35
28.9
30
25
19.9
20
15
10
6
5
2.3
3.4
3.6
50
60
More
0
10
20
30
40
Minutes (average time per student, all groups)
Table 4-1.This lesson was
interesting (N = 126)
60
Percent
50
47
48.6
40
30
20
10
4.1
0
Strongly
agree
Agree
Disagree
0.3
Strongly
disagree
Table 4-2. I understood the contents
of the lesson (N = 126)
60
Percent
50
40
30
20
10
0
Strongly
agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly
disagree
Table 4-3. The speaker was easy
to understand (N = 126)
60
Percent
50
40
30
20
10
0
Strongly
agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly
disagree
Table 4-4. I learned new words
from this lesson (N = 126)
60
Percent
50
40
30
20
10
0
Strongly
agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly
disagree
Table 4-5.This lesson fit my ability
level (N = 126)
70
60
Percent
50
40
30
20
10
0
Strongly
agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly
disagree
Table 4-6
I want to listen to more lessons like
this one (N = 126)
60
Percent
50
40
30
20
10
0
Strongly
agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly
disagree
Other Activities
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In addition to completing the online survey,
students kept a personal record (hard
copy) of the sites they visited including
date, site, topic, and study time.
Students also discussed their free-choice
listening experiences in class in small
groups or with the teacher.
Observations, Findings, and
Conclusions (1/4)
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It is possible to assemble a selection of free
Web sites for listening comprehension practice
at different levels of ability covering a wide range
of topics.
These sites can be used for both extensive and
intensive listening practice.
These sites can be used to supplement and
perhaps replace textbook lessons or for selfaccess, autonomous learning.
. . . Conclusions (2/4)
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With some teacher guidance students can
successfully select materials that they find
interesting and that fit their ability level.
Many students in this study preferred to stay
with easier materials rather than to challenge
themselves.
When students in this study found a site they
liked, they stuck with it.
It may be beneficial to encourage students to try
a variety of sites.
. . . Conclusions (3/4)
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Positive experiences with interesting sites have
motivated some students to pursue extensive
on-their-own practice.
To engage the students in serious listening, it is
helpful to have feedback activities such as brief
oral reports, a listening journal, completion of a
questionnaire, and the writing of summaries,
descriptions, and opinions.
Social interaction such as discussion with a
partner or in small groups is also motivating.
. . . Conclusions (4/4)
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Many students do not scroll down the page and
miss important features of the sites such as
transcripts and quizzes.
Many content-rich sites have confusing
interfaces (or too many advertisements).
Students get lost. They don’t know where to
click or how to proceed.
Some students do not do well filling in the online
questionnaire because of poor typing skills.
Selected Reference
The following article has over 1,000 references related to
autonomous learning:
Benson, Phil. (2003, August). “What is
Autonomy?” In Autonomy in Language Learning.
English Centre, University of Hong Kong.
Retrieved on August 10, 2006 from
<http://ec.hku.hk/autonomy/#k>.
(Archive PDF version here)
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For more information:
(Prof.) Melvin R. Andrade
Home page: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/m/and/
E-mail: m-andrad@jrc.sophia.ac.jp