Effects of Listening Strategy Instruction on News Videotext Comprehension by Cross J - Article Example

Critical Appraisal of a Research Paper Name Institution Critical appraisal of a research paper: Cross, J. (2009). Effects of listening strategy instruction on news videotext comprehension. Language Teaching Research, 13(2), 151-176. Background to the Research The Research Question The researchers observed that despite the availability and supply of videotexts for use in second and foreign language learning, learners are unable to deal with the complexities of videotexts as a learning resource without pedagogical guidance. The research question was: Does listening strategy instruction improve the ability of learners to comprehend news videotexts? The Research Paradigm According to August Comte, a French philosopher, the best means of understanding human behavior is through observation and reason. Human behavior, therefore, can best be understood through observation and experiment (Thomas 2010, 394). This philosophical point of view is the foundation of the positivist paradigm. Although the research paradigm for the research by Cross is not mentioned, the lack of a hypothesis and the leaning towards an experimental method of uncovering truth suggests that the author took the positivist approach (Dammak 2015, 2)). The research was conducted as a classroom based study to allow observation and experiment where two different groups of participants were involved. This shows the use of the positivist approach. The research employs the use of the quantitative research method for data collection and analysis. This method has become common in applied linguistics and has been used to conduct research in the area of language learning. The quantitative method of research allows the researcher to conduct an inquiry into a social problem based on a theory to test the truth of the theory. The method is objective and has less individual variations as compared to the qualitative research method (Sham 2011, 12). The Research Hypothesis Although the author has not expressly stated the research hypothesis, the wording of the introductory part of the research suggests that the researcher was expecting that the use of listening strategy instruction would improve the learner’s comprehension of videotexts (Cross 2009, 151). Further, the researcher also draws evidence from past research which indicates that a positive relationship exists between strategy use and second language proficiency. The author notes that many practitioners are more interested in designing and implementing instructional programs that promote the use of strategies in second language learning (Cross 2009, 154). Methodology The Research Subjects The research subjects were 15 Japanese advanced-level adult EFL learners. The participants were 3 males and 12 females who were between the ages of 26 and 45. All the participants were attending classes at an institution located in central Japan. There were two classes namely the experimental class and the comparison class. Since the participants were paying customers of the institution, they were not randomly assigned to a class but rather were allowed to select either of the two classes. There were seven participants in the experimental group (2 males and 5 females) and eight participants (1 male and 7 females) in the comparison class. According to Mackey and Gass (2005, 312), there are important elements regarding the participants in a research that should be provided. This information relates to the biographical details of the participants, information on the selection or assignment of the participants to specific groups and whether confidentiality issues were taken into account. The research does not indicate the measures taken to address issues of confidentiality of the participants. This is important because it addresses the ethical concerns of the research. Regarding the selection or assignment of the participants, there is no mention of how the self-selection of participants helped the research. There is also no justification of the imbalance between the male and female participants and whether such imbalance has any negative effects on the results of the study. Ethical Considerations Informed consent and the respect for anonymity and confidentiality are some of the important ethical considerations that every researcher must make when conducting research (Koulouriotis 2011, 10). The author has indicated that the participants of the study were adults which means that they have the capacity to give consent to participating in the research. Further, there are indications that they were well informed as to the nature of the research and everything it entails. This can be seen in the fact that they actually self-assigned themselves to the two groups used for the study. However, the author does not ensure confidentiality when it comes to the participants. Koulouriotis (2011, 10) argues that confidentiality relates to the protection of the identities of the participants. In this research, the author has used the names of the participants which breaches the ethical responsibilities of the researcher. Data Collection All the participants attended one 10-week current affair course for 3 hours every week where the materials were drawn from the BBC’s internet news website plus a 2-3 minutes news videotext. There were pre-test and post-tests conducted for both groups to measure listening comprehension after a news videotext listening task. The pre-test and post-tests are consistent with many other second language studies to promote comparability of the participant groups before and after their treatment (Mackey and Gass 2005, 148). The experimental class or group received strategy instructions before the listening tasks. The participants completed a questionnaire that was meant to provide background information on the news watching habits of the participants and any perceived comprehension concerns. In addition, each of the participants was also interviewed separately after the first week’s pre-test to assess how they understood the news videotext (Cross 2009, 160). The responses of the learners were then recorded and categorized as either reflecting a preference for using bottom-up or top-down processes. The data collected from the interview and the questionnaire was used to guide the strategy instruction and to give reasons for success or failure in the pre-test and post-test scores. There are no questions attached to the research on the questions used in the questionnaire and the interview. This is probably because the main data was collected from the pre-tests and post-tests. However, the failure to disclose more about the questionnaire and interview raises questions regarding the data obtained and the process of analysis. There is the possibility that data obtained from questionnaires may be inaccurate because of the difficulty in addressing the learner attitudes when filling the questionnaire (Mackey and Gass 2005, 96). The fact that there are two groups where one is the experimental group and the other the control group shows the use of the control group design. Mackey and Gass (2005, 148) state that one of the challenges facing researchers when using the control group design is to control the participants for outside exposure of the language being studied. One of the ways of ensuring that there is no exposure in a foreign language class is ensuring that the focus area for the experiment is not covered during the time of the research. Another way to prevent external input is by avoiding long periods of time between testing sessions (Griffee 2012, 32). In the current study, the participants were involved in a 10 week course where they were tested weekly. The author has not mentioned the measures used to prevent external influence which could affect the results of the research. Data Analysis The data collected from the tests from both the experimental and control groups was analyzed by finding the mean and SD results where the pre-test maximum possible score was 32 and the maximum possible score for the post-test was 45. The results for the pre-tests and post-tests for both groups were presented as percentages and compared. The results indicated the names, age, gender and the percentages of the performance of each of the participant (Cross 2009, 161). Measures of central tendency are frequently used to conduct advanced measures based on group behavior such as the use of mean or average. This information may then be presented in graphs or tables for further measurements or preparation of further reports (Mackey and Gass 2005, 256). Conclusions of the Research The research sought to provide insights into how to help second language learners overcome the difficulties they experience in comprehending videotexts through implementing a listening strategy instruction model. The results of the study revealed a significant improvement in the performance of the experimental group after receiving 12 hours of listening strategy instructions (Cross 2009, 166). The research did not, however, show better performance in favor of the experimental group when compared with the control group. This is because of the fact that even the control group also experienced significant gains. The failure to achieve comprehensive results from the research led the author to share recommendations to guide future research on the topic. The author recommends that the pedagogical cycle utilized in the research should be used with learners of different ages, nationalities and proficiency groups. The use of peer learning among the learners during the research also means that the pedagogical cycle should have a stage where the learners can exchange their experiences on how they understood the videotexts (Cross 2009, 167). The author identifies that there are learners who are not aware of the strategies they can apply to better their comprehension of the videotexts and hence having sessions where the learners exchange their approaches can be a perfect way of learning from their peers. A closer observation by the teachers during this stage can also help identify the areas that require intervention to assist the students. The author also recommends that there is need for further investigations to identify ways to determine the appropriate videotexts for use in second language classrooms. Further investigations are also needed into how visual cues affect the learners’ comprehension of videotexts (Cross 2009, 168). Evaluation of the Research Paper One of the problems with this research paper is the small number of participants involved in the research. The use of quantitative approach in research enables the researcher to include many participants to make the results more accurate and relevant. The small number of the participants of the study means that the results may not be comprehensive. The results also may not be an actual representation of the effects of the listening strategy instruction model on the learners represented by the participants. The time taken for the strategy instruction in the course of the research was inadequate to enable the experimental group learners to understand and effectively implement the strategies presented to them. There were too many strategies to be shared with the learners and the time was not enough. This means that without a good understanding of the strategies the learners in the experimental group could not improve their comprehension of the videotexts as required hence affecting the results of the study. There are also flaws in the selection of the participants and the assignment to the groups. To have better results, it is advisable to have a good representation of all groups that may be affected or influenced by the results of the study. The current research has a total of 15 participants with only three male participants. The author does not provide any justification for the use of such a small number of male participants and this affects the results of the study. This is because there may be variations in the results based on the gender of the participants. Without a good representation of both genders, it may be difficult to identify the differences. This is further worsened by the lack of equal representation of both genders in the experimental group and the controlled group. The fact that the author has included the participants’ names in the research is a breach of the ethical responsibilities of the researcher. A researcher ought to protect the identity of the participants. The researcher has, however, made an effort to ensure that no private information other than a single name relating to the participants is exposed in the research. The author also notes that despite the strategy instruction, the learners still performed poorly in the results which signified poor linguistic abilities in the students (Cross 2009, 166). It is, therefore, important for researchers to ensure that the participants of such a study have a certain level of linguistic ability to better the results of the study. The failure to check on the linguistic abilities of the students may have affected the results of the study. References Cross, J. (2009). Effects of listening strategy instruction on news videotext comprehension. Language Teaching Research, 13(2), 151-176. Thomas, P. (2010). Research methodology and design. University of South Africa Institutional Repository. Dammak, A. (2015). Research paradigms: Methodologies and compatible methods. St. Clements University. Koulouriotis, J. (2011). Ethical considerations in conducting research with non-native speakers of English. The Canada Journal, 5, 1-15. Sham, D. (2011). Research methods in applied linguistics: Encouraging students to become researchers. International Conference on Doing Research in Applied Linguistics. Mackey, A. & Gass, S. (2005). Second language research: Methodology and design. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, London. Griffe, D. (2012). An introduction to second language research methods: Design and data. TESL-EJ Publications. Read More