This study examined the idiosyncratic development of second language (L2) learners in a listening strategies course. The progress of four Taiwanese EFL learners was examined longitudinally through a variety of quantitative and qualitative techniques as the learners participated in a course combining direct instruction of strategies with their practice embedded in the class listening texts. The results showed how all learners developed a greater balance in their use of top-down and bottom-up strategies, chiefly by selectively integrating suitable strategies from the course into their listening repertoires. They also developed in a number of person-related and task-related areas, including their confidence, motivation and feeling of control over the listening process.

Despite the widespread use of digital video and, increasingly, multimedia in listening instruction throughout second language programs, little is known about how learners attend to dynamic visual elements in comprehension. A lack of research in how listeners engage with videotext retards the development of computer-based listening skills. This investigation seeks to describe what learners do when they attend to digital video media. In conjunction with Japanese language instructors, three authentic Japanese news broadcasts were recorded and digitized for computer display. Through a series of immediately retrospective verbal reports, 12 tertiary students of Japanese provided verbal reports as they attended to a front-to-back viewing of videotexts. Based on constructivist perspectives of comprehension, the study produced a seven-category framework regarding the comprehension of second language videotexts. The results of this investigation point out that visual elements work in a number of ways that go beyond merely 'supporting' verbal elements; they are better thought of as integral resources to comprehension whose influence shifts from primary to secondary importance as a listener develops a mature understanding of the videotext.

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This study details the development of six second language learners in an English listening course that focused on developing their bottom-up listening skills. The research employed longitudinal multi-case studies to chart the development of these lower proficiency-level Taiwanese university learners, and their progress in the course was analysed in light of the main theoretical claims of this instructional approach. The study found that many of the learners did not develop in the manner theorized, at least over the 22-hour period of the course, spread over a semester and a half. The study also found that there was no particular ‘type’ of learner, in terms of their predominant approach to listening (i.e. top-down or bottom-up), most likely to benefit from such a course. It was concluded that bottom-up skills ought to be taught in conjunction with more knowledge-based listening strategies to develop learners’ interactive listening abilities. The study also underscored how listeners need to develop an interaction between bottom-up and top-down processes in order to progress.

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