Abstract-English as a Foreign Language (EFL) listening skill is considered a problematic skill particularly in a foreign language context where practice opportunities are limited. This study aimed to explore the listening comprehension problems of a group of EFL learners. Survey method was followed to collect data from a group of Iranian tertiary level EFL learners (n = 100) using the Listening Comprehension Processing Problems Questionnaire. The results indicated that the learners experienced moderate to high levels of difficulty in all three categories of listening comprehension problems, namely perception, parsing, and utilization. The findings are expected to have useful implications for syllabus designers and teachers who intend to address the listening comprehension problems of EFL learners.

Technology has dominated the world by extensive improvements in audio/visual mass media such as TV and radio. TV and radio are not just entertainment tools anymore, but can be used as pedagogically valuable technology that can provide authentic language input for language learning. This study examines the effect of exposure to TV and radio news on improving EFL learners' speaking proficiency. To achieve this purpose, a speaking proficiency test is administered to 200 language learners, with 60 intermediate language learners selected and randomly divided into Groups 1 and 2. During the experiment, Group 1 participants are exposed to TV and radio news inside and outside the classroom, while Group 2 participants are only exposed to selected utterances extracted from different kinds of TV and radio programs other than news. At the end of the experiment, both groups take another sample speaking proficiency test to determine any significant improvement in their speaking proficiency. The results of the post-test indicate that Group 1 participants performed better than Group 2 participants, proving that exposure to TV and radio news promotes EFL learners' speaking proficiency.

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ABSTRAK Kebanyakan kajian yang bersandarkan konsep Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky, 1978) memberi fokus kepada kolaborasi bersama pakar. Reka bentuk kajian kebanyakannya menggunakan penyelidikan ujian pra dan pos. Malah, hasil kajian juga hanya menjelaskan peningkatan potensi pelajar melalui keberkesanan interaksi dan kolaborasi yang dilalui pelajar sepanjang melaksanakan tugasan yang diberi. Manakala proses mental iaitu proses pengantaraan dan aktiviti pengaturan yang berlaku semasa pelajar berinteraksi dan berkolaborasi dengan pakar tidak dipaparkan. Malah dalam senario di mana pelajar yang mempelajari bahasa asing di Malaysia (khususnya bahasa Sepanyol), kebanyakan masa mereka melaksanakan tugasan bertulis mengikut kesesuaian sendiri dan tanpa bantuan pakar atau guru. Bagaimana pelajar sebegini menyelesaikan masalah semasa menstruktur ayat bahasa Sepanyol tanpa kehadiran pakar dan apakah aktiviti pengaturan yang berlaku semasa proses menstruktur dijalankan adalah perkara yang belum dikaji? Menggunakan kaedah Think Aloud Protocol (TAP) ke atas 72 pelajar bahasa Sepanyol tahap asas (novis), bukan sahaja berupaya memaparkan bentuk penggunaan pengantaraan, malah dapat menunjukkan representasi proses mental aktiviti memperoleh leksikal dan sintaksis serta aktiviti pengaturan semasa pelajar menstruktur ayat. Kajian ini berupaya menunjukkan bentuk aktiviti pengaturan daripada bantuan Google Translate, rakan dan buku semasa pelajar menstruktur ayat. Kajian juga memaparkan, tanpa kehadiran pakar atau guru, pelajar masih berupaya mencapai tahap pengaturan kendiri / self-regulation melalui bantuan yang diperoleh daripada Google Translate, rakan dan buku walaupun pengetahuan bahasa Sepanyol mereka di tahap novis.Kata kunci: teori sosio-budaya (SCT); zone of proximal development (ZPD); pengantaraan; pengaturan; proses menstruktur ayat Regulation Activity in Zone of Proximal Development during Spanish Sentence Structuring ABSTRACTMost studies which explored the concept of Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky, 1978) focus on the collaboration with experts. These studies are often designed and measured by pre and post test designs. In fact, these studies revealed the linguistic improvements of learners by comparing the global scores of the pre and post results. On the other hand, the mental process on how mediation occurs and what is the nature of the regulation activities

This article examines prosody in interaction in