The Effect of Visual and Textual Accompaniments to Verbal Stimuli on the Listening Comprehension Test Performance of Iranian High and Low Proficient EFL Learners

The present study aimed at comparing the effect of a series of static images with that of condensed paraphrased scripts accompanying verbal stimuli in listening comprehension tests supplemented with visual or textual input. It utilized three batteries of IELTS listening tests: one sampling 58 participants to carry out the study with, another with supplemented visual or textual aids, and the other without such aids. The participants were then divided into higher proficient listeners group (HPL) and the lower proficient listeners group (LPL) on the basis of their performance on a general listening module of the IELTS examination. The HPL was subsequently divided into two groups: one receiving static images with verbal stimuli, another receiving script presentations with the same verbal stimuli. The LPL was also divided into two groups with the same procedure. The analysis of results showed that listening tests with static images yielded better performance than script presentations, visual aids were more advantageous to lower proficient listeners while textual aids were more advantageous to higher proficient listeners, and tests with more static images yielded much better performance than those with fewer static images.

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The process of reading and comprehending in one's native language (L1) is very complex, due to the myriad of factors that interact with each other in a non-linear and non-sequential manner. The issues and their accompanying complexity are further compounded when describing and understanding reading comprehension in a second or foreign language (L2). In facilitating L2 reading comprehension, the use of sound, pictures, and animated pictures or video in addition to text have played an important role in vocabulary acquisition and in overall text comprehension, and are unquestioned components of instructional materials for language learning (Chun & Plass, 1996a, 1996b; Cohen, 1987; Hanley, Herron, & Cole, 1995; Leow, 1995; Oller, 1996; Omaggio, 1979; Secules, Herron, & Tomasello, 1992). The possibility of an instructional use for these different modes of information on a computer raises questions concerning learning from media (Clark, 1994; Clark & Salomon, 1986; Kozma, 1991; Ross, 1994), and concerning the specifics of language learning with multimedia. Of special interest are questions regarding the difference in cognitive processes in learning from different sources, and regarding the effect of individual learner differences on learning from media. How does the process of comprehension of text differ from comprehension of pictures, and how does the combination of pictures and text affect comprehension? What effect do students' learning preferences, abilities, and cognitive styles have on the answers to these questions? This paper is concerned with the research regarding text comprehension in multimedia environments. We first summarize research results in L2 reading comprehension and text comprehension with multimedia, and synthesize these findings into a model of L2 reading comprehension with multimedia. We then review the research questions currently asked by scholars working in the field and, based on the model proposed, derive new and more specific research questions. Volker Hegelheimer & Carol Chapelle Methodological Issues in Research on Learner Computer ... Language Learning & Technology 56 L2 READING COMPREHENSION Historical Perspective From a historical perspective, our understanding of reading in a second or foreign language (L2) has changed considerably in the last several decades. In the midto late 1960s, reading was considered a skill for learners to acquire, mainly to reinforce the grammar and vocabulary being taught orally (e.g., under audiolingualism). In the 1970s researchers argued that greater importance should be placed on reading and advocated a psycholinguistic model or theory of reading (Goodman, 1967; Smith, 1971, 1979). During the 1980s the perspectives of Goodman and Smith were extended, and L2 researchers began to examine L1 reading research more closely (e.g., Bernhardt, 1991; Goodman, 1985; Smith, 1982). Currently, there are two overlapping approaches to viewing and describing reading that reflect, in part, the development of reading research. The first might be termed a "reading components" perspective in that reading is subdivided into skills and knowledge areas. This approach goes well beyond viewing reading as a simple collection of skills or knowledge in that it also focuses on the cognitive processes involved in reading in general. The second approach to describing reading is in terms of metaphors: The most prevalent metaphors in the literature are the bottom-up approaches, the top-down approaches, and the interactive approaches. Due to the fact that many of the current views of L2 reading have been shaped by research on L1 readers, this section first summarizes the main characterizations of L1 reading comprehension. The additional factors that come into play when dealing with L2 reading comprehension will be discussed next. Finally, a comparison of L1 and L2 readers in terms of cognitive comprehension processes will lead into the following section on text comprehension with multimedia. Reading Components Approach Briefly, the view of reading from a so-called "reading components" perspective proposes to subdivide reading into six general component skills and knowledge areas (as summarized by Grabe, 1991): (a) automatic recognition skills; (b) vocabulary and structural knowledge; (c) formal discourse structure knowledge; (d) content/world background knowledge; (e) synthesis and evaluation skills/strategies; and (f) metacognitive knowledge and skills monitoring. Some researchers rank these factors in terms of importance for the comprehension process. For example, Laufer & Sim (1985) posit the following factors in order of decreasing importance: knowledge of vocabulary, subject matter, discourse markers, syntactic structure. In essence, they find that vocabulary is most important, syntax least important. It is important to note that the above-mentioned skills are increasingly being described by cognitive and educational psychologists in terms of the processes that learners go through in developing such skills or knowledge. For example, the so-called "automatic recognition skills" that typically involve recognizing letters, characters, and words have recently begun to be recognized as important in L2 reading. Automatic lexical access involves lower-level processing and, in a fluent reader, requires little processing capacity (cf. Koda, 1992). With the shift in emphasis from a pure skills approach to a process approach, researchers turned to the comprehension research that formed a major domain of the field of cognitive psychology. Thus, most of the current views of L2 reading have been shaped by the solid and extensive body of research by cognitive psychologists on L1 reading comprehension (Grabe, 1991). There are a number of excellent reviews of the literature on L1 reading comprehension (e.g., Bernhardt, 1991; Grabe, 1991; Horiba, 1996; Swaffar, Arens, & Byrnes, 1991). As an overall description of the process of reading comprehension, Swaffar et al. state that "fluent readers synthesize textual subsystems (e.g., content, context, intent, language) into a larger metasystem of meaning" (p. 21) and that "in short, readers comprehend a text Volker Hegelheimer & Carol Chapelle Methodological Issues in Research on Learner Computer ... Language Learning & Technology 57 when they construct a mental representation for incoming pieces of verbal information" (p. 22), see section "Text Comprehension with Multimedia." De Beaugrande (1982), among others, concludes that "what is in fact comprehended is not sentences, but conceptual content" (p. 180). One cognitive view of reading suggests that it is a process or set of ordered stages, consisting of a beginning state, an end state, and intervening transformations (e.g., Just & Carpenter, 1987). Some researchers believe that reading comprehension involves multiple cognitive processes that are hierarchically related to one another (e.g., Horiba, 1996). These processes (from recognizing letters, characters, and words, to analyzing the syntactic and semantic structure of clauses and sentences, to generating inferences) must take place in an orchestrated manner (Rayner & Pollatsek, 1989). However, neither the "hierarchy of processes" view nor the proposition that they take place in an "orchestrated manner" insists that the process be linear. Just and Carpenter (1980) define the process as a clearly nonlinear one. Readers are active in the selection of portions of the text for processing, and former portions of the text may inform latter ones, just as latter portions of the text may inform former ones through feedback. Similarly, other researchers believe that reading comprehension results from interactive variables that operate simultaneously rather than sequentially (Samuels & Kamil, 1984; Swaffar et al., 1991). A second major approach to understanding the reading process is to describe it using metaphors. The three most common metaphors for describing the reading process are bottom-up processing, top-down processing, and interactive processing (cf. Samuels and Kamil, 1984; Silberstein, 1987; Swaffar et al., 1991). These terms and metaphors are described below. Metaphoric Approaches Bottom-up processing models place primary emphasis on textual decoding. They can be seen as datadriven and emphasize the priority of the text as input and, hence, lower-level processes such as letter and word recognition. In contrast, top-down models place primary emphasis on reader interpretation and prior knowledge. They are seen as concept-driven, in the sense that the text is "sampled" and predictions are made on the basis of the reader's prior syntactic and semantic knowledge (Goodman, 1967). Other models are more balanced in suggesting that linguistic knowledge from several sources (orthographic, lexical, syntactic and semantic) interacts in the L1 reading process (Rumelhart, 1977). Readers may also try to compensate for deficiencies at one level (e.g., word recognition) by relying more on a source at a lower or higher level (e.g., contextual knowledge) (Stanovich, 1980).

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abstract: As multimedia language learning materials become prevalent in foreign and second language classrooms, their design is an important avenue of research in ComputerAssisted Language Learning (CALL). Some argue that the design of the pedagogical materials should be informed by theory such as the interactionist SLA theory, which suggests that input modification can help comprehension, but does not provide specific guidance regarding choices designers should make when they attempt to implement theory-based features like modified input. This empirical study was designed to provide evidence about one such issue: whether subtitles or transcripts are more effective in providing modified input to learners. A multimedia listening activity containing a video of an academic lecture was designed to offer help in the form of target language subtitles (captions) and lecture transcripts in cases of comprehension breakdowns. Eighteen intermediate ESL students enrolled in an academic listening class at a research university participated in the study. Two tests and questionnaires in addition to screen recordings were used to analyze students' performance on the activity and their use of help. The results indicate that participants interacted with the subtitles more frequently and for longer periods of time than with the transcript. Also, the study identified four patterns of learner interaction with the help options. Since, overall, the participants interacted with help less than half of the time they opened help pages, an important challenge in investigating help options lies in finding ways to promote the use of help.