Effects of expanded vocabulary support on L2 listening comprehension

Abstract

Various forms of pre-listening support, such as the provision of vocabulary and topic information, have been used to help second language (L2) learners better understand what they listen to. Results of studies on the effects of vocabulary support have been mixed. Furthermore, there has been little research on the effects of different quantities of vocabulary items and types of word information provided on the listening performance of L2 students of different proficiency levels. Therefore, this study investigated the effectiveness of two different levels of 18-week vocabulary support (an expanded vocabulary-instruction support that targeted both a greater quantity of lexical items and a focus on multiword units vs. an unexpanded vocabulary-instruction support with a focus on single words only) for enhancing listening ability of students of English as a foreign language (EFL) defined as their performance on the listening test of the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC). The results indicate that the group that received the expanded vocabulary support attained a significant gain and performed significantly better on the posttest than the group that received the unexpanded vocabulary support. The results also reveal that the expanded vocabulary support was particularly helpful for lower proficiency level students. Pedagogical and research implications are also discussed.

Exploring the relationship between linguistic knowledge and strategy use in listening comprehension

“…First, in addition to vocabulary instruction (e.g. Pan et al, 2018), teachers can encourage students to use a broader range of listening strategies (and OSBs), both generally and, as in our case, when listening to their teacher. Raising learners' awareness of and competence in using listening strategies can potentially enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning, as shown by previous research on the effectiveness of listening strategy instruction.…”

Vocabulary and listening in English among L1-Spanish learners: a longitudinal study

“…Among the language issues to focus on, Richards (2008a) recommended helping those students develop their L2 vocabulary and listening proficiency. A similar call for enhancing our students' vocabulary learning can be found in other studies (Fung & Macaro, 2019;Pan et al, 2018).…”

“…Both the negative effects on listening when learners have inadequate lexical levels, and the beneficial influence of a sufficient vocabulary size have been addressed. Interestingly, research has claimed that the impact of lexical knowledge is particularly relevant among those learners with a lower level of proficiency (Pan et al, 2018). The section has finished by referring to the particular relevance of investigating the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and listening performance among L1-Spanish learners of English as a foreign language, the target population in the present research study.…”

“…Moreover, this positive influence of vocabulary on listening comprehension seems to be particularly relevant among students with lower proficiency in the target language (Pan et al, 2018), and might explain a large percentage of the variation in their ability to infer the meaning of unknown vocabulary in a text (van Zeeland, 2014b). These high figures might have led other researchers to consider language learners' vocabulary size a good indicator of their listening success (Cheng & Matthews, 2018;van Zeeland, 2018).…”

“…Among the possible factors that might help our L2 students while listening in another language, the vocabulary knowledge of the target language has shown to be clearly beneficial (Fung & Macaro, 2019;Matthews, 2018;Wang & Treffers-Daller, 2017). Furthermore, this positive impact is particularly heightened among less proficient users (Pan, Tsai, Huang & Liu, 2018).…”