Effects of Two Advance Organizers on

Listening Comprehension

in Video Viewing—

Pictorial Contextual Cues

versus

Verbal Contextual Keys

Spooky Chang

July 5, 2013

Outline of the Presentation

Introduction Literature Review Methodology Results Discussion and Conclusion

Introduction

IntroductionBackground and Motivation

The Increasing Importance of Listening in English Teaching

﹡the only foreign language listed as a required course

﹡the considerable number of cram schools and

extracurricular learning materials

﹡set as a formal part of college and senior high school

entrance examinations

Attitude Change ﹡passive→ active

Better Teaching/Learning Environment

IntroductionBackground and Motivation

DVD players, projectors, projection screens and speakers

movies, TV series (authentic/instructive video materials)

advance organizers

to improve English listening comprehension

Literature Review

Process of Listening Comprehension

﹡Bottom-up Processing View

﹡Top-down Interpretation View

﹡Schema Theory

Using Authentic/Instructional Video Materials

Advance Organizer (AO)

Literature Review

Which advance organizer should I use?

aural + pictorial

content + pictorialpictorial

content

verbalverbal + pictorial

aural + verbal

verbal + content

Brain-storming

pictorial vs. verbal

Literature Review

to probe the influences of two advance organizers– pictorial contextual cues and verbal contextual keys– on English listening

Literature ReviewFormation of the Present Study

Research Questions:

1. Do students who received the two advance organizers— pictorial contextual cues and verbal contextual keys

comprehend better than those who received none?

2. Is any of the treatments superior to the other?

3. What are the students’ attitudes towards the two types

of advance organizers?

Methodology

MethodologyParticipants

three 9th-grade classes in a national high school in northern Taiwan

87 students → 39 females and 48 males

Group Number of Members

Pictorial Contextual Cues 26

Verbal Contextual Keys 29

Control Group 32

The Listening Comprehension Pretest— GEPT— intermediate listening comprehension section

Listening Comprehension of the Video -- Multiple-choice tests

Attitude Questionnaire

MethodologyInstruments

Pictorial Contextual Cues

﹡20 pictures + 20 descriptive sentences

Verbal Contextual Keys

﹡10 key lines + key words

Control Group– no treatment

Family Album U.S.A.

three video segments in one episode

MethodologyTreatments & Materials

MethodologyProcedures

Introduction of the experiment

Pretest—GEPT listening comprehension test

treatments in 3 classes + multiple-choice test

treatments in 3 classes + multiple-choice test

treatments in 3 classes + multiple-choice test

Attitude questionnaire

Data analysis

MethodologyProcedures

Class A Class B

Questionnaire Questionnaire

V1+T-pic

V2+T-pic

V3+T-verbal

V2+T-verbal

V3+T-pic

V1+T-verbal

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Pretest-GEPT Pretest-GEPT

Week 4

Week 4

Class C

Pretest-GEPT

V1+T-no

V2+T-no

V3+T-no

Questionnaire

＋

Results

Both the two advance organizers-- pictorial contextual cues and verbal contextual keys were effective in facilitating listening comprehension of video viewing without captions.

There was no significant difference between the two treatments-- pictorial contextual cues and verbal contextual keys. Neither of them outdid the other.

ResultsSummary of results

More than half the students held positive attitude towards receiving advance organizers as aids for video watching, and considered them helpful.

More students in Verbal Contextual Keys group than in Pictorial Contextual Cues group agreed on the effectiveness on improving listening comprehension.

Less students in Verbal Contextual Keys group were willing to receive the advance organizer again.

ResultsSummary of results

Discussion and Conclusion

Discussion and ConclusionAnswers to Research Questions

Did students who received the two advance organizers— pictorial contextual cues and verbal contextual keys comprehend better than those who received none?

Students in both the experimental groups showed significantly better performance on comprehending the video clips.

Discussion and ConclusionAnswers to Research Questions

Was any of the treatments superior to the other?

Verbal contextual keys and pictorial contextual cues were both effective in facilitating students’ listening comprehension. However, there was no significant difference between the two advance organizers themselves.

Discussion and ConclusionAnswers to Research Questions

What were the students’ attitudes towards the two types of advance organizers?

They welcomed the way of watching

English-speaking video clips without captions. They thought positively of the utility of advance

organizers, especially students receiving verbal

contextual keys.

Discussion and ConclusionDiscussions of the Result

have an overview of the video content

Two advance organizers

less time and energy on the process of predicting the story

focus more on the meaning of the dialogue

better listening comprehension

Discussion and ConclusionDiscussions of the Result

Verbal contextual keys

need some time to digest

pressure

little or none benefit for low

proficiency participants

gain lexical supplement

better listening comprehension

not willing to receive it again being positive of its effectiveness

Generalizing from the previous studies which have been researched and the present study, advance organizers, both pictorial and verbal, could facilitate learners’ understanding, retention, or learning of new information.

Discussion and ConclusionComparison between the present and previous studies

plan an advance organizer before introducing the main teaching material

verbal contextual keys and pictorial contextual cues were both workable advance organizers for video viewing

more “real” English ﹡speed up a little when speaking English in class

﹡use more authentic/instructional videos in class

teach some listening strategies

Discussion and ConclusionPedagogical Implications of the Study

can not be generalized to students of other

ages or to other contexts

limited time

small sample size

Discussion and ConclusionLimitations of the Study

a long-term experiment (a few months or even a semester)

a bigger sample size

choose more up-to-date and trendy video materials

Discussion and ConclusionSuggestions for Further Research

Both verbal contextual keys and pictorial

contextual cues enhanced learners’ listening

comprehension.

Advance organizers can be served as a

beneficial pedagogical tool.

Discussion and ConclusionConclusion

Appendix JKey Lines for Video 1

1. I'm exhausted. My new exercise class is so hard. 2. In the beginner's class, they give you a chance to rest between exercises. 3. Doing aerobics for an hour is a lot different than lifting weights. 4. Oh, without a doubt. 5. It's a snap. 6. You are not going to be able to move after this and the aerobics class. 7. It's going to be a piece of cake. 8. What's the bet? 9. I'm on my way over. 10. Don't you forget.