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Title
Simplifying the text or simplifying the task: how to improve listening comprehension?
Presenter
Mehdi Latifi
Iran
The present study was an attempt to capture the difference between using authentic and instructive materials in order to improve listening comprehension. As Filed has proposed ‘‘instead of simplifying the language of the text, simplify the task that is demanded of the students’’ (Richards J.C & Renandya W.A, 2002). Two groups, one authentic and one instructive were arranged. All learners were recruited from among those, registering for summer English classes. Using Oxford Placement Test, 40 intermediate learners were chosen and were pretested on their listening comprehension. They were divided into four classes. Two authentic movie groups (AMG) and two instructive movie groups (IMG). All learners attended 22 consecutive sessions which lasted 6 weeks and 4 sessions per week. AMG groups were required to transcribe every single word of the instructive movie, while AMG were told to transcribe as far as they can understand in order to decrease the demand of the task.
For each session learners were required to work on one minute of the movie and the next session teacher would work on that part to clarify learners’ (possible) miscomprehension. Performance on a listening task at the end of the course showed significant differences between two groups and significant achievements compared to their performance before the course started for the AMG. The results supported the use of authentic material provided, reducing task demand, appropriate for each level. Also addressing their attitude by a semi-structured interview, AMG group learners showed greater self confidence dealing with real life situation tasks.
Key words:- task, movie script, authenticity, instructive, semi-structured.
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