THE LEARNER DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL
学習者ディベロップメント研究部会誌
ISSN: 2433-5401
https://ldjournal.ld-sig.org

The Learner Development Journal Issue 6:
Learner Development Beyond The Classroom
Author: Gretchen Clark
Title: Extensive Listening in the Time of COVID-19: Supporting Students so They Can Become
Self-Reflective, Independent Learners
Date of publication online: 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37546/JALTSIG.LDJ6-3
Author contact: <gretchen3clark(at)gmail(dot)com>
Published by the Japan Association for Language Teaching
Learner Development Special Interest Group, Tokyo
https://ld-sig.org/
Copyright 2022 each respective author
This article can be cited as:
Clark, G. (2022). Extensive listening in the time of COVID-19: Supporting students so they
can become self-reflective, independent learners. The Learner Development Journal, 6,33–50. https://doi.org/10.37546/JALTSIG.LDJ6-3

This article is part of a collection of practitioner research on the theme of “Learner
Development Beyond the Classroom” for Issue 6 of the Learner Development Journal (LDJ6),
edited by Isra Wongsarnpigoon, Dominique Vola Ambinintsoa, Phillip A. Bennett, and André
Parsons. Published once a year, each issue of the Learner Development Journal follows a
Community of ractices approach over a period of approximately 18 months in which
contributors work together, under the guidance of the editors, to share, respond to, anddevelop their research and writing.
Articles are published in the Learner Development Journal under a Creative Commons Attribution
License (CC BY), of which CC BY 4.0 is the most recent version. Under this agreement, authors
grant users the right to unrestricted dissemination and re-use of the work. They ask only thatproper attribution is given to the work.

PAPER
Extensive Listening in the Time of COVID-19:
Supporting Students so They Can Become SelfReflective, Independent Learners
Gretchen Clark, Ritsumeikan University, Japan<gretchen3clark(at)gmail(dot)com>
Due to the spread of COVID-19, universities around the world began making use of online tools such aslearning management systems (LMS) and Zoom. For language teachers, teaching skills such as listening
and speaking proved to be a challenge. This paper describes how an extensive listening (EL) program wasorganized asynchronously for a class of 21 students studying English at a private women’s university incentral Japan. Students were asked to choose at least one audio or video resource from a list provided
by the author and complete a digital listening journal for 21 weeks. In the journal students were required
to document the resource title, website information, a summary, listening problems, and goals for future
journal entries. On the LMS, the author provided feedback to help students navigate listening problems
and choose resources that fit their needs. This paper reports on the experiences of three students
who completed the task regularly. An analysis of their journals and submission practices was used in
combination with semi-structured interviews to understand their listening processes. The students’ stories
provide insight into how the skill of listening is practiced and may be of interest to educators who wish to
introduce EL in their own contexts as an out-of-class activity�
COVID-19の蔓延に，世界中の大学がLMS（Learning Management System）やZoomなどのオンラインツールを活用すうになった。
しかし、語学教師にとって、リスニングやスピーキングといったスキルの指導は難しい。
この論文では、中部地方の私立女子大学で英語を学ぶ21人の学生を対象に、非同期で行わ た多聴（EL）
プログラムについて説明す 。学生は、筆者が提供したリストか
少なくとも1つのオーディオまたはビデオリソースを選択し、21週間にわた デジタルリスニングジャーナルを完成させ
う課題を
行った。
ジャーナルには、教材のタイトル、
ウェブサイト情報、要約、
リスニングの問題点、今後の目標などを記録す
う求めた。
LMS上
では、著者がフィードバックを提供す ことで、学生がリスニングの問題を解決し、自分のニーズに合ったリソースを選択できうにした。
この論文では、定期的にタスクをこなした3人の学生の経験を検証す 。
彼女たちのリスニングプロセスを理解す ために、半構造化インタビューとジャーナル、提出物を組み合わせて分析に使用した。
彼女 の体験談は、
リスニングのスキルがどの うに練習さ
てい かについての洞察をもた し、授業外の活動としてELをそ ぞ の文脈で導入したいと考え 教育者にとって関心の高いもの
であ う。

Keywords
extensive listening, teacher feedback, metacognition, journal, LMS
多聴、教師か のフィードバック、
メタ認知, ジャーナル、LMS

Due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing governmental mandates to
conduct class online, the traditional method of language instruction using textbooks, CDs,or handouts became almost impossible. In Japanese universities, online learning meant
fully asynchronous efforts conducted using learning management systems (LMS), suchas manaba (https://manaba.jp) or Moodle (https://moodle�org), or some kind of hybrid
course in which webtools such as Microsoft Teams or the video conferencing software
Zoom were also used. Not only were teachers and students separated physically, but thedigital divide meant all of us had to get used to paperless, digital ways of learning thatwere unfamiliar, slow, and excruciatingly frustrating at times. The pandemic years were
not easy for anyone; however, this period offered an opportunity for both teachers andstudents to try new ways of learning�
Faced with this situation, my department at a Japanese university struggled with how toorganize a listening class that would circumvent technical issues yet also be rewarding for
Learner Development Journal • Issue 6 • December 2022

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Extensive Listening in the Time of COVID-19

the student and easily managed by the teacher. Initially, we decided to have the students
watch and summarize a TED video (https://www�ted�com) weekly under the assumptionthat we would be back in the classroom soon and face-to-face classes would resume
as usual. But as we found, COVID cases rose, and in the end, classes remained online. I
felt we needed to devise better ways to cope with learning online. Our students seemed
to struggle with TED videos, and in many cases the task did not seem to be within theirgrasp. For example, some students submitted “summaries” that consisted of passages
taken verbatim from the transcripts. Any input I gave about writing summaries did notseem to help. At this point, I decided to revamp the assignment, so I looked into extensive
listening (EL) as a possible solution.

The Case for Extensive Listening

Extensive listening can be likened to extensive reading (ER; Waring, 2008). In both
pursuits, learners are exposed regularly to a large volume of language. Also, learners areencouraged to choose texts that are interesting to them. ER and EL differ in importantways, however. First, while it is recommended that the level of text be equal to or slightly
above comprehensibility for ER, due to the ephemeral nature of the act of listening,
researchers have found that aural texts that are equal to or below a learner’s listening
ability contribute more to learning (Waring, 2008). In addition, when practicing EL, the useof multimodal scaffolds, in which learners use transcripts while listening, is recommended(Ivone & Renandya, 2019). Another option is to have learners practice “extensive viewing”
and make use of video resources as well (Renandya & Jacobs, 2016). When viewing,
learners can utilize subtitles and captions to improve comprehension (Ivone & Renandya,2019). These multimodal scaffolds are not generally used with pure ER because the written
text is readily available for the learner to refer to as they read.
Like ER, extensive listening provides many learning opportunities for students. First,
regular extensive listening practice promotes the development of listening fluency(Chang, 2018). Also, listening to samples from different speakers of English helps increase
familiarity and comprehension of a variety of accents (Ivone & Renandya, 2019). In
addition, choosing texts that are similar in topic will increase the number of meetings
with new or unfamiliar vocabulary within a content area (Ivone & Renandya, 2019). Finally,using the myriad of options available online instead of sample audio tracks included witha textbook can have positive effects on learners’ motivation for developing their language
proficiency (Honarzad & Ressaei, 2019). EL is a flexible learning activity as it can be usedin or outside the classroom and in combination with aids such as subtitles or transcripts,
speed controls, or games and quizzes created by website developers.
EL offered the flexibility I felt was necessary for both the students and me. As a newteacher in my department without any first-hand knowledge of the students and theirabilities, I believed that EL would allow each individual student to work at their own paceand level. Additionally, if the students used a journal to document their progress andany problems, I could offer feedback tailored to their needs on the LMS. Through thisindividualized and supportive process, I thought I would be able to teach the students
how to listen and encourage them to think about what they were doing and why, thereby
helping them develop a metacognitive stance to their learning based on their individuallevels�
When researching the role of metacognition in learning, I found that it is considered
to be a driver of successful learning (e.g., Anderson, 2008; Chamot, 2008; Griffiths,
34

Learner Development Journal • Issue 6 • December 2022

Gretchen Clark

2008; Oxford, 2011). In fact, Chamot (2005) suggested the effective language learneris a “mentally active learner” and one who aggressively approaches study throughmetacognition (p. 115). For example, successful learners plan for study and allot time
for it (e.g., Anderson, 2008; Wong & Nunan, 2011). Successful learners are also aware ofdifferent strategies (Chamot, 2008) and select those that are appropriate for a given task(Anderson, 2008; Ehrman et al., 2003). They tend to notice any problems that occur during
a learning episode, such as a gap in knowledge or a mismatch of strategy in relation toa task, and address them effectively (Anderson, 2008; Chamot, 2008; Wong & Nunan,
2011). In the field of listening, Goh and Vandergrift (2022) emphasized metacognition as
the driving force for any learner with a desire to improve. Thinking about these different
perspectives, it seemed to me that if I had my learners practice EL with a journal and if
I were to work closely alongside them by offering specific feedback on their progress to
aid in their self-reflection process, I might be able to help them choose suitable listening
resources themselves and give them tools to navigate other out-of-class listening
experiences. In the end, EL with a focus on metacognitive awareness seemed to be asuitable task for learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this paper, I describe the process I used to introduce EL and highlight the storiesof three prolific listeners who seemed to enjoy the task, made a habit of listening, andachieved some level of success that was meaningful for them. The purpose of this project
was to explore how the learners approached the task and to see if the weekly journaling,combined with my feedback, contributed to a sense of autonomy for each learner.

Participants

The students who were chosen for this research project belonged to the Department ofEnglish Language and Literature at a small private women’s university in central Japan�All three spoke Japanese as their first language and were members of my second-year
Advanced Listening course, which met once weekly for 90 minutes during the 2021–22
academic year. They were 19-20 years old. I used the Oxford English Listening Level
Test (https://www�oxfordonlineenglish�com/english-level-test/listening) to measure thestudents’ listening levels during the first class. All three students began the project inApril at a listening skill of CEFR level A2, pre-intermediate. For the posttest in December,they scored a higher level at B1, intermediate level. As far as their exposure to English
outside of this project is concerned, the students were exposed to teacher-talk in English
in other classes, in addition to mine. Two of the three participants, Hina (pseudonym)
and Yue (pseudonym), listened to English frequently outside of their university classes.
Hina regularly watched movies and TV shows in English a few times a month. She also
used a mobile application called NativeCamp (https://nativecamp.co.jp/en/) weekly topractice speaking with an English-speaking teacher in real time. Yue frequently listened
to TED talks and textbook tracks to practice pronunciation and intonation outside ofclass obligations. The third participant, Maki (pseudonym), confessed that her only
focused listening practice occurred during my class� These three students were selected
for this study because their scores on the tests improved; they demonstrated a steadyconsistency of journal entry completion; and they also submitted well above the minimum
number of entries, thereby making them prime candidates for exploring the developmentof their listening skills and practices.

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Extensive Listening in the Time of COVID-19

Procedure

Because this project occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it was unclear how
the virus would affect the learning environment, I paid special attention to devising
simple, easy-to-do tasks for students who may or may not have had much experience withcomputers and using English-language websites. The procedure for the listening journal
task is explained in this section.

Listening Level Pretest and Posttest

In order to gauge the three students’ levels of listening skill at the beginning of thecourse in April 2021, I used Oxford’s online Listening Test. The students took the test asecond time at the conclusion of the project in December 2021. Instructions were given in
Japanese, and the students took the test individually, using their earphones and mobile
phones during the class period. The 24-item test consists of six short listening passages,
each followed by four multiple-choice comprehension questions.

The Listening Journal

After the initial listening test, I introduced the Listening Journal (LJ) assignment. I explained
the process verbally during the course period and posted the details of the assignmenton the school LMS. It is worth noting that after this initial in-person meeting in April,
COVID forced classes to move online until mid-October, when classes shifted back into theclassroom. For simplicity, I kept the entire LJ project on the LMS. In principle, the students
were to do at least one LJ assignment a week, using a website I recommended, such asNews in Levels (https://www�newsinlevels�com) or TED-Ed (https://ed�ted�com)� The full list
is included in Appendix A� I made a screencast to explain how to navigate each site andposted the videos on YouTube so the students could view them before completing theassignment. After watching an online video or, alternatively, listening to an online audio
track, the students completed a one-page journal entry in English using a Word document
template (see the model entry in Appendix B). The students submitted their weekly
journal entries on the LMS for the entire LJ project. I asked the students to complete atleast one journal entry a week for 12 weeks in the spring semester and 9 weeks in the fallsemester to get credit for this portion of the course. However, I also encouraged them tocomplete as many LJ entries as possible in order to maximize their exposure to English. In
addition, to ensure student engagement and accessibility, for the majority of the project,in 17 out of the 21 weeks, I introduced a new website with an accompanying screencast
about how to use it. Students were free to choose videos from the new website that week,
any previously recommended websites, or use another website of their choice. In Week
18 of the project, students were also given an opportunity to share other websites I did
not introduce as an assignment on the LMS message board. Appendix A outlines the listof websites used for this project and other pertinent information, such as the format ofresources (audio or video), any available means of support (e.g., subtitles, speed controls),
and/or supplementary activities (e.g., comprehension tests or games).

Teacher Feedback

For the duration of the project, I acknowledged journal submissions on the university
LMS every week by commenting in English in the ways described in Table 1. I gave
individualized written feedback to each student every week for the two data collection
periods. Nearing the end of the fall semester, based on their comments and performance
36

Learner Development Journal • Issue 6 • December 2022

Gretchen Clarkin the journals, I had a sense that the students now had a grasp of how to navigate thetask, so I devised a document with a flowchart of my advice and ceased providing theindividual feedback. I invited the students to use this document for the final 3 weeksof the project (see the “Problem-Solution” document in Appendix C). The purpose ofthis stage of the project was to encourage independence and provide students with anopportunity to use the implicit knowledge they had gained with my support to tackle any
problems they encountered on their own. They could also use the document if necessary
to decide what action to take.
Table 1. Teacher Feedback
SemesterSpring(April–July)

Fall(September–
December)

Week

Teacher Feedback

1–4

Further instruction was given about how to use the journal if it
seemed a student misunderstood what to do. Brief comments were
given about the chosen video to create a friendly student-teacher
relationship.

5–11

Based on the problems reported in the log, specific advice wasgiven. The number of completed journals was noted.

12

The number of completed journal entries was noted.

13–17

Based on the problems reported in the log, specific advice wasgiven. The number of completed journals was noted.

18

Students recommended resources in the LMS message board.

19–21

The number of completed journal entries was noted. Students
independently used the “Problem-Solution” document to understandlistening weaknesses and make informed, self-reflective choices
about which videos to use in the future.

Data Collection Instruments and Analysis
Organization of the Listening Journal

To understand the learners’ experiences of EL, I asked students to complete a listening
journal (LJ) using Word, and submit their entries on the LMS. The LJ had two components.
First, similar to the journals devised by Bibby (2020) and Gönülal (2020), I asked thestudents to document practical aspects such as the date of completion, which website
was used, the video title and level, a short summary, and to note any new vocabulary theyencountered. In addition, like Schmidt (2016) and Chen (2016), I also wanted to encourage
the students to think about their listening study metacognitively, so I included a sectionin which they indicated any listening obstacles by choosing the corresponding issue froma selection of options listed in Table 2. The learners could also indicate they experienced
no trouble (option 1) and provide another listening difficulty if the designated items didn’t
fit their experience (option 7). The learners also responded to an open-ended item asking
them to surmise their goals for the following week. A copy of a model LJ entry is includedin Appendix B�

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Extensive Listening in the Time of COVID-19

Table 2. Possible Listening Problems
Options
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Description
I had no problems understanding the video.
I didn’t know a lot of the vocabulary.
I couldn’t understand the speaker’s accent.
I could understand the words but not the full meaning of the content.
The speed was too fast.
I was not familiar with the topic at all.
Other (Please explain.)

During the data analysis phase, I used several methods to understand the learners’
listening patterns. First, I used the submission data on the LMS to understand how
frequently the students practiced EL. Second, using the journals themselves, I was able
to compile frequency totals for the websites used and the type of problem that was
encountered. Finally, for the open-ended item in which I asked the students to set goals
for the following week’s journal assignment, I reviewed the students’ textual responses,
identified 21 themes, and coded them accordingly. Table 3 lists the 21 goals identified by
the three students�
Table 3. Goals Identified Over the 21-Week Period
Goal
1. accent2� change level
3. change website
4. comprehension goal5� concentration
6� content focus
7� do my best8� make no changes to process
9. increase time on task
10. increase variety
11. longer tracks
12. mid-task change
13. understand in one take
14. pass test quiz
15. repeat task
16. speed goal
17. change strategy
18. study grammar
19. transfer to other skill
20. understand without support
21. vocabulary
38

Hina
1
18
1
2
0
4
1
16
28
1
1
0
5
4
0
2
2
2
1
5
13

Maki
2
25
2
1
1
8
0
12
23
1
3
2
7
0
1
2
3
2
3
3
11

Learner Development Journal • Issue 6 • December 2022

Yue
1
5
0
1
0
3
0
11
21
1
0
0
4
0
0
1
0
2
1
0
11

Gretchen Clark

My Feedback

Following each submission period, I scanned the journals and noted any problems andgoals, crafted individualized feedback for each student, and compiled my comments in
an Excel file to upload into the school LMS. Each comment was in English and between
1–3 sentences long. I uploaded the majority of the feedback before the following week’s
submission due date to help students choose future resources. At the end of the project,
I then downloaded all the comments from the LMS and affixed them to a printed versionof each student’s journal for analysis. During this stage, I was looking for evidence
the students were reading and utilizing my advice to make changes to their listening
strategies, and if so, how.

Interviews

At the end of the project, I invited the three target students to speak with me about
their experiences. Two interviews were conducted on Zoom (Yue and Maki) and one wasconducted in person on campus (Hina). The interviews were recorded and lasted about
30 minutes. The main language in each case was Japanese. The interview followed asemi-structured format to allow for some flexibility to discuss related ideas more deeply(Mackey & Gass, 2016). The core interview questions are listed in Appendix D. All three
students were compensated for their time with a small gift. To analyze this portionof the data, after the interviews had been conducted, I reviewed the conversations,
noted important points that illuminated the students’ experiences with the journal, andtranslated their responses into English myself. An L1 Japanese speaker confirmed theaccuracy of my translations. For this data collection method and all previously mentioned,
I obtained the students’ permission to use the data for research purposes.

Results and Discussion

In this section, I will narrate the results from the interviews I conducted with the threetarget students chosen for this research project.

Interview Participant 1: Hina

Of the 17 resources I recommended, Hina used 12 but favored Listen a Minute (22 entries)
and Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab (15 entries). She wrote a total of 53 entries over theacademic year, submitting a minimum of one entry a week but sometimes as many asseven. As far as how Hina coped with her chosen resources, it seems she encounteredminimal difficulties with comprehension and reported I had no trouble understanding thevideo 39 times. She documented 11 problems in total throughout the period, with I didn’t
understand the full meaning of the audio (6 instances), I didn’t know a lot of vocabulary (3instances) and The speed was too fast (2 instances). As for goals, she reported 107 goals in
total, spanning 18 kinds, with the following four being the most salient: She indicated adesire to increase her time on task 28 times, she decided to change the level of the video 18
times and continue her current strategy 16 times, and finally, she reported a desire to study
vocabulary 13 times.
When cross-checking my written feedback with Hina’s performance, and goal-setting
practices, there was evidence that she seemed to be reading my comments and reflecting
on her approach. For example, in response to her Week 4 entry, in which she recorded
no problems with a Level 4 Breaking News English track, I replied, “If you thought Level 4
was too easy, please listen to a more difficult video.” The following week, she listened to
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Extensive Listening in the Time of COVID-19

both Level 5 and Level 6 videos and noted that the number of unfamiliar vocabulary items
increased with the Level 6 video�
Another pivotal moment occurred in Week 8. She started using Listen a Minute (LAM)
and recording her comprehension quiz score in the goal portion of the journal, often
remarking that she hoped to improve her score the following week. In the interview, when
I asked about her general goal throughout the LJ project, she mentioned that she wanted
to speak English and improve her TOEIC score in order to get a job in the airline industry.
So, it is understandable that scoring high on the LAM comprehension quizzes would be
motivating for her to listen more and more, which she demonstrated by using the quizzes
17 times over the following 4 weeks.
In Week 11, I suggested to Hina that LAM might be too easy for her, as she had indicatedtime and time again that she had no trouble with the content. I encouraged her to try
a different website to challenge herself. In the final week of the spring term (Week 12),Hina tried out two different websites, Storyline Online and Talk English. Her comment
about Talk English showed strong metacognition about her listening process. She wrote,“This video is too short for me, so I try to watch longer videos. However, first time is with
subtitles while second time is without subtitles. These are my favorite point” (Week 12
entry). At this point in the project, she could communicate her desire to increase time ontask and also detail specific aspects of her approach to listening, both of which indicatedshe was aware of her needs and understood what tools she could use and how theysuited her�Upon returning to classes in the fall, Hina had another pivotal moment. During Week
13, she used LAM again but also commented in the journal, “I choose the more difficult
website for improving my English skills” (Week 13 entry), demonstrating self-awarenessthat the LAM videos are not challenging. I corroborated this feeling and told her directly,“Perhaps Listen a Minute is too easy for you? You had no trouble with it three times . . . .
Choose a more difficult website please.” The following week, she started using Randall’s
ESL Cyber Listening Lab, tried three different levels, and reflected on her ability tocomprehend all three in the “goals” section of the journal. Hina then settled on theadvanced level by saying she thought it “suits [her]” and would use it the following week
(Week 14 entry). In the interview, she explained a bit more about this process: “If I chosea difficult one [and decided] it was impossible, I lowered the level and continued. WhenI get used to it, there is nothing to listen to, so I reverted back to the higher level.” When
Hina stated that there was nothing to listen to, this possibly indicates that she had
acquired the language; the fact that she then chose to increase the difficulty shows sheunderstood that listening to tracks that are at or below her level would not help her withnew acquisition. Finally, when asked if she had any advice for other students practicing EL
with a journal, she said, “Try different websites, [and] find one that suits you. Continue to
use that website and increase your level. If you use many websites, you will get confused
so you should concentrate on one�”Interview Participant 2: Yue

The second student, Yue, wrote 62 entries in total and, like Hina, tended to submit one
a week with occasional spurts of increased productivity. In the first week of the project,for example, she submitted 11 entries. She did not use a variety of sites and committed toonly five of the 17 I recommended. She seemed to enjoy News in Levels the most, using

40

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Gretchen Clark

it two-thirds of the time (42 entries). She sporadically used Breaking News English (11entries) and TEDed (seven entries)�
As far as her experience with the aural texts, Yue reported I had no trouble
understanding the video (47 times) most often. She mentioned having trouble withvocabulary (13 times), and then problems understanding the full meaning (2 times). She
indicated nine kinds of goals, with 62 reported in total. Increase time on task was reported
the most frequently (21 times), then continue with my current strategy and study vocabulary(both reported 11 times).
An examination of Yue’s performance and goals compared with my comments revealed
a few points of interest. First, I noted that she wrote she wanted to learn more words but
never translated the words into Japanese in the journal or indicated in the goals section of
the journal when or how she would tackle this task. In the interview, I asked her about her
vocabulary study. Yue admitted she never studied the vocabulary directly. She simply said
that “if they were words I might use in my daily life I decided to remember them.” Whenpressed on this point, she could not explain any further.
I also noted that she tended to use News in Levels heavily and encouraged her to try
out other sites. Her website choice for the following week was usually the same. For
the most part, I felt my feedback was ignored except in one instance: I had noticed thatshe seemed to have copied a summary verbatim from the script on the website andtold her so. In the interview, when I asked if she thought my advice was helpful, she
enthusiastically agreed and mentioned this incident, saying she had made an effort towrite the summary in her own words the following weeks. However, in the interview,
when asked directly if she had used my feedback, of the three participants, she said that
she reviewed my advice the most frequently. This was slightly surprising, since I had notseen any indication that she was reading or reacting to my written feedback in any way as
I mentioned previously� The other two students admitted they read it immediately after it
was posted on the LMS; however, Yue said she read the previous week’s advice a second
time before beginning the following week’s assignment. She also said the “ProblemSolution” document I provided was helpful both for the journal assignment and otherlistening she did on her own. The fact that she did not seem to change her habits or write
a specific goal to address a problem is a bit mysterious but perhaps indicates that she had
a command of her listening practice that was internalized or unconscious.
Furthermore, during the interview, Yue was able to explain her listening process indetail. First, she listened to the track and then practiced saying the phrases. Her goal wasto improve her speaking ability and become trilingual. (Her first languages are Japaneseand Korean, and she wanted to add a third by joining the English department.) Yue statedthat that goal was not necessarily related to any kind of career goal but instead, “If I canspeak well it’ll be a strength, and I’m in the English department so it’s a good chance to
speak properly, so that’s why I am studying.”
Finally, when asked what she would advise future students to do to succeed with thistask, she said, “Don’t do it once a week. If you do it more than once a week it affects yourTOEIC score. My TOEIC improved. If you not only do the assignment but also make a daily
habit of listening to English, you will improve.” Yue’s advice seemed to have paid off, as
she announced her TOEIC score had improved by 200 points over the course of the year.

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Extensive Listening in the Time of COVID-19

Interview Participant 3: Maki

The third participant, Maki, wrote 45 journal entries over the 21 weeks of the project,
maintaining a consistent submission rate of twice weekly. When asked about thispattern during the interview, Maki said that she had made a commitment to this rate ofsubmission. She also had a defined schedule for doing the task. She did one entry during
the actual class time and then another at another time. Unlike Hina and Yue, Maki wasvery good about setting a time to commit to the task regularly. At the beginning of the
project, she tried out in succession the websites I recommended, but in the end, used nineresources in total, favoring News in Levels (21 entries). She used English Listening Lesson
Library Online (ELLLO) seven times and Breaking News English four times. Maki reported
43 difficulties when listening, with I had trouble understanding the full meaning of the audio(21 times), I had trouble understanding vocabulary (13 times) and The speed was too fast (twotimes) as the top three. She indicated I had no trouble understanding the video 69 times.
She reported 112 goals (19 discrete kinds) in total. The most reported goal was to change
level (25 times), then increase time on task (23 times), followed by continue with her current
strategy (12 times), and finally, she felt she should study vocabulary (11 times).
Examining her LJ comments and my feedback, one unique point about Maki was that
her level of listening comprehension seemed to fall between two different levels. For
the first 10 weeks of the project, I responded to this issue by encouraging her to move
up or down a level initially, but eventually suggested she mix the two by saying, “That’s
great that you noticed that the lower-intermediate video was too easy for you and so
you tried a more difficult video. It seems you had trouble with the intermediate one,so perhaps continue listening to the lower-intermediate ones for a while and add in a
few intermediate ones that you are interested in.” In the fall, weeks later, she seemed
to understand this advice and responded that she would “lower the level and graduallychallenge difficult levels” (Week 14 entry). Exchanges of this nature continued for theremaining weeks of the project. During the interview, we spoke about my feedback and its
usefulness. Like Yue, Maki seemed to have internalized the advice I wrote and the advice
on the “Problem-Solution” document (Appendix C) and by the end of the project did notneed to refer to the document to proceed with her listening practice�
Finally, in the same way as Hina and Yue, Maki also improved her score on the Oxford
Online Listening Test from CEFR A2 to B1. However, when asked about any improvements
in her TOEIC score, Maki said there was not a vast difference, but that it was graduallyrising. When asked if this was due to the LJ assignment, she said that she listened toEnglish more because of the assignment, so it was helpful. When asked about her
listening process, she was able to explain her strategy immediately. She said she listened
and took notes once, read the transcript to confirm its meaning, and then listened again,
sometimes as many as five times. As far as advice for future students is concerned, Makisaid, “If you only listen once, you won’t understand a lot of the tracks, so you should
listen to many repeatedly. If you only do the journal once a week you won’t improve. Do
it two to three times a week.” Maki thus seemed to credit her success to this systematic
approach�Discussion

The main takeaway from examining the extensive listening practices of these three
students is that learning to listen is not a universal process but rather a deeply personal
one. Working alongside the teacher and building their metacognitive awareness, all three42

Learner Development Journal • Issue 6 • December 2022

Gretchen Clark

students were able to shape their approaches and succeed in several ways, including but
not limited to an improved TOEIC score. All three, aided by the LJ task, created a listening
habit and seemed to understand how to manipulate the tools offered on the website
to help themselves� All three could identify and explain their approach to choosing andutilizing videos and audio files. Each student used the resources in different ways thatwere unique to them. As demonstrated in their journal entries, my weekly feedback
seemed to be helpful; however, I think that perhaps my advice confirmed their previous
knowledge of strategies for choosing videos, or perhaps over time, the advice wasinternalized and eventually woven into their implicit knowledge. In any event, the Listening
Journal project seems to have served its purpose and provided a reason for students topractice the skill of listening outside of the classroom, for the most part without teacher
input, and to learn how to navigate choosing online resources in a purposeful way.

Future Considerations

While these three students seem to have each had a successful experience with EL using
a digital journal, there are some issues to consider for future classes. First, using the
LMS, manaba, to collect journal entries was effective because the LMS organized thejournal submissions by each individual student and then kept them in the Cloud (i.e.,saved online). The students and I could all access the journals easily and did not have toworry about keeping track of a paper journal, which we might have used in pre-COVID
times. Also, feedback could be given quickly and easily by entering comments on an
Excel spreadsheet and uploading it into the LMS system. Unfortunately, however, theExcel spreadsheet allowed for only one comment per student, so this meant there
was one space to comment about the journal assignment regardless of whether the
student had submitted one or seven entries. In this case, the feedback may have been
entirely misconstrued by the student, as it was impossible to understand to which entry
it referred. Finally, concerning the practice of giving feedback itself, regardless of themode of execution, I found it difficult to keep up with the amount of feedback required
per student per week. For this project, I had a total of 21 students, so providing weekly
feedback for all of them was quite time intensive. In this case, it might be prudent tointroduce a “peer” element to the project as suggested by several researchers, including
Chen (2016) and Renandya and Jacobs (2016). Allowing students to support each otherin their EL journeys via Zoom video conferencing might have provided more or different
kinds of support that I, as their teacher, simply could not give due to time constraints.
Looking back at the students’ experience with EL and Listening Journals, I feel that each
student had ample opportunity to explore the vast range of online resources available on
the internet and make good use of the time we spent learning during the unprecedented
circumstances caused by COVID-19 pandemic. The three students I spoke with for thispaper reported that doing extensive listening and using listening journals had been alargely positive experience, which was a satisfying outcome for me as their teacher.

Author Bio

Gretchen Clark is an assistant professor of English in the Department of Business
Administration at Ritsumeikan University, Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan. Her current researchinterests include the role of teacher feedback in language learning, interactional
competence, and accessibility and ELT.

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Extensive Listening in the Time of COVID-19

Review ProcessThis paper was open-reviewed by Jo Mynard and Ted O’Neill of the Learner Development
Journal Review Network and by the Journal Steering Group. (Contributors have the option ofopen or blind review.)

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Lessons from good language learners (pp. 99–109). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511497667.010
Bibby, S. (2020). Listening in the language classroom: The case for extensive
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Chamot, A. U. (2005). Language learning strategy instruction: Current issues andresearch� Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 25, 112–130. https://doi.org/10.1017/
cbo9780511497667.024
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Lessons from good language learners (pp. 266–281). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511497667.024
Chang, A. C.-S. (2018). Extensive listening. In J. Liontas (Ed.), The TESOL
encyclopedia of English language teaching (pp. 1–6). Wiley and Sons. https://doi�
org/10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0564
Chen, C. W. (2016). Listening diary in the digital age: Students’ material selection, listening
problems, and perceived usefulness. JALT CALL Journal, 12(2), 83–101. https://doi�
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Ehrman, M. E., Leaver, B. L., & Oxford, R. L. (2003). A brief overview of individual
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Goh, C. C. M., & Vandergrift, L. (2022) Teaching and learning second language listening:
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Mackey, A., & Gass, S. M. (2016). Second language research: Methodology and design.
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Renandya, W. A., & Jacobs, G. M. (2016). Extensive reading and listening in the L2classroom. In W. A. Renandya & H. P. Widoyo (Eds.), English language teaching today (pp�
97–110). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-38834-2_8
Schmidt, A. (2016). Listening journals for extensive and intensive listening practice. English
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etf_54_2_pg02-11.pdf
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Extensive Listening in the Time of COVID-19

Appendix A
Week
1

List of Websites Recommended Each Week to Students

Resource
News in Levels
https://www.newsinlevels.
com
English Central
https://www.englishcentral.
com/browse/videos

FormatAudio

Level
Levels 1-3

Video

Beginner A1 (level1 & 2), intermediate
A2/B1 (level 3 & 4),
advanced B2-C2(levels 5-7)

3

TED-Edhttps://ed.ted.com

Video

Advanced

4

English Listening Lesson
Library Online (ELLLO)
https://www.elllo.org

5

Breaking News English
https://
breakingnewsenglish.com

Audio/Video 6 levels: low
beginner (CEFR A1),
mid-beginner (A1),high beginner (A2),
low-intermediate(B1), midintermediate (B2),high- intermediate(C1), advanced (C2)Audio
6 levels, 1-6

6

Learn English with TV Series Video
YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/
channel/UCKgpamMlm872z
kGDcBJHYDg

7

The Fable Cottage
https://www.
thefablecottage.com

2

46

Advanced

Audio/Video Advanced

Learner Development Journal • Issue 6 • December 2022

Features
Transcript, difficult
vocabulary definedin English
Personalized
dictation exercises
and vocabulary
study, ability topause after eachline, speaking
practice activities,
speed controls,
rewind/FF
English CC, otherlanguage subtitles,
speed controls,
rewind/FF
Transcript, grammar
explanation,
keywords withEnglish definitionand pronunciation,
comprehension
quiz; English CC,
speed controls
6 speeds; online
activities (e.g.,
dictation)

Free PDF lesson
with a transcript,
vocabularydefinitions, grammar
explanation, cultural
notes
English subtitles,
speed controls

Gretchen Clark

8

Listen a Minutehttps://listenaminute.com/
index.html
Voice of America
https://learningenglish.
voanews.com
BBC English https://www.
bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/
english/

Audio

Easy

Audio/
Video

Advanced

Video

11

Talk English https://www.
talkenglish.com

Audio

12

Storyline Online https://storylineonline.net

Video

4 levels: lowintermediate,intermediate,
upper-intermediate,
advanced
3 levels: basic,
intermediate,
advanced
Advanced

13

Audio

Advanced

Audio

Easy, intermediate,
difficult

Audio

Advanced

Transcript, listening
comprehension
questions
Speed controls

Audio

Advanced

Speed controls

Audio

Advanced

Transcript

18

British Council Learn
English Podcasts https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.
org/general-english/audioseries/podcasts
Randall’s ESL Cyber
Listening Lab www.esl-lab.
com
BBC Learning English
Drama https://www.
bbc.co.uk/programmes/
p02pc9s1
BBC Radio 6-minute English
https://www.bbc.co.uk/
programmes/p02pc9tn
BBC Radio The English
We Speak https://www.
bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/
english/features/theenglish-we-speak_2022
Student recommendations

19-21

None

9
10

14
15

16
17

Transcript, games:
dictation, word
jumbles etc.
None
Transcript, listening
comprehension
questions,vocabulary andgrammar lessons
Transcript, listening
comprehension quiz
English subtitles,
Japanese subtitles,
speed controls
Transcript, listening
comprehension
exercises

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Extensive Listening in the Time of COVID-19

Appendix B

Model Listening JournalVideo title
Coronavirus in Royal Family
Video source / level
News in Levels, level 1
Video summary (1-3 sentences)
This video is about Prince Charles and his family. The prince had coronavirus and was inquarantine in Scotland. His mother, the queen, stays at Windsor Castle to stay healthy.
Did you learn any new vocabulary?
Eldest: 一番上
illness: 病気

quarantine: 検疫

Why did you choose this video?
I’m interested in news about the British royal family but also I’m worried about Coronavirus
so I watch news about it every day.
Did you have trouble understanding the video? Why? Write the number(s).
1) I had no problems understanding the video.
2) I didn’t know a lot of the vocabulary.
3) I couldn’t understand speaker’s accent.
4) I could understand the words but not the full meaning of the content.
5) The speed was too fast�6) I was not familiar with the topic at all�7) Other (Please explain).

4, 5What is your goal for next week?
I want to listen to at least one video every day. Also, I think I’ll try an elllo.org video next
week.

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Gretchen Clark

Appendix C
Number Problem

Problem-Solution Document
Gretchen’s advice for next time1

I had no problems Choose a more difficult video.
understanding
the video�

2

I didn’t know a lotof the vocabulary.

3

I couldn’t
understandspeaker’s accent.

4

I could
understand theRead andwords but not thelisten atfull meaning of
the samethe content�
time
The speed was
too fast�
Listenwithout
subtitles�
I was not familiar
with the topic at
all�

5

6

Take a memo about new
vocabulary, use a dictionary
to look them up, and try tofind another video about thesame topic�
Turn onthe closed
captions/
Englishsubtitlesand � � �

Listen to another video by aspeaker with the same type ofaccent (Possibly the speakeris the same nationality but
not necessarily � � �)
If you answered
Take a memo about difficult
many options
phrases and look them up
2~6, choose an
in a dictionary. Try to findeasier (lower
similar example phrases�level) video nexttime�Use the settings to slow down
the tempo or use an app suchas https://audiotrimmer�com/
audio-speed-changer/�
Take a memo about content
keywords/phrases, look themup using a dictionary and try tofind another video on the same
topic to listen to next time�

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Extensive Listening in the Time of COVID-19

Appendix DInterview questions

1. Did you practice listening in other classes? Which ones? How do you do it?
2� What is your favorite way to practice listening to English outside of class?
3. How did you choose a listening resource?
a� Did you use only one listening format (video/audio)? Why?
b. What was challenging about choosing the resource?
c� Did you ever start a video and then stop and choose another? Why?
4. How did you use the video features or support features (example: subtitles etc)?
a� Did you use the English subtitles?
b. Did you use the Japanese subtitles?
c� Did you adjust the speed?
5� Did you listen to the track more than once?
6� Did you do any of the games and quizzes included on the websites?
7� Did you ever talk about the journal with classmates? Why/Why not?
8� Did you read my advice? Why or why not?
a� When did you read it? (as soon as I posted it/ before doing the next journal. . .)b. Did you refer to the advice I gave you in the past at all?
c� Do you think my advice was helpful? How? Why/why not?
d� How can it be improved?
e� Did you refer to the “Problem-Solution” document in the final weeks of the
project?
9. What was challenging about this assignment?
10. What advice do you have for future students who do the journal?

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