In 2012, the College Entrance Examination Center (CEEC) in Taiwan officially implemented the Test of English Listening Comprehension (TELC). It surely raises the awareness of English listening teaching among most senior high school English teachers in Taiwan. The researcher of the present study also considers listening to be the most basic language learning skill because it occurs prior to other three skills in acquiring any target languages. Sevik (2012) asserts that the development of listening skill is in the initial stage in the context of language acquisition and foreign language learning. The author further suggested that it be a priority to teach pupils to listen effectively and critically (Sevik, 2012). Therefore, it seems necessary for the researcher to take immediate action to improve her students’ listening comprehension ability.
About two years ago, the researcher began teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) at Shan-Hua Senior High School in southern Taiwan. Most students were from rural areas without much socio-economic support. Soon, she found that most students had difficulty repeating after her, not to mention reading out loud the textbook fluently and correctly. In other words, the students had trouble identifying the sound of English words, even though those words were read or played slowly. Such inability greatly hampered their listening comprehension ability. In her school, there is a required course called English Listening Comprehension taught in the first year, which is tested together with other subjects in both mid-term and final exams. The exam scores of her students proved their failure in English listening comprehension. With the total score of 100, nearly half of the students couldn’t reach the bottom mark, which is 40. That is to say, they should retake the subject, not even having a chance to take a make-up exam. Barely one sixth of the students were relatively high-achievers, capable of getting higher than
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the passing grade, which is 60, without the necessity of taking a make-up exam. The average exam score of all her students fell near the bottom mark.
With the above-mentioned listening test scores, the researcher had a concrete idea about her students’ current English listening level. Thus, it was crucial to find an appropriate method not only catering for her students but also beneficial to their listening ability. After relevant information and related studies had been searched, it was recommended that “one cannot improve one’s listening skills by only listening to English” (Suzuki, 2007, p.113). Namely, it made little difference if the researcher simply let her students listen to a great number of listening materials. Soon, a technique called shadowing grabbed her attention. Though such technique was originally part of the training method employed with novice interpreters (Lambert, 1992), she was inspired by Hamada (2009, 2011, 2012, 2015), Sumarsih (2017) and Taki & Esmaeili (2017), who all concluded that shadowing technique is effective for improving learners’
listening ability. In Taiwan, Lin (2009) also proved the effectiveness of shadowing on both listening and speaking in junior high school EFL students. In addition, shadowing was verified to be strongly related to listening because the shadowers tracked the speech they had heard and vocalized it as clearly as they can, while attentively listening to the incoming voice (Tamai, 1997).
There is no denying that various past studies have already investigated and concluded that shadowing yields positive effects on learners’ listening proficiency (Lambert, 1992; Tamai, 1997; Murphey, 2001; Suzuki, 2007; Hamada, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015; Lin, 2009; Sumarsih, 2017; Taki & Esmaeili, 2017). However, few have been conducted in the context of EFL classroom in Taiwan. Only one of them, Lin (2009), has probed the application of shadowing in EFL program in Taiwan and confirms its effectiveness on both listening and speaking. Yet, it only focuses on the beginners of junior high school students, aged 13-15, as its targeted participants. Thus,
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the present study strives to bridge the gap and discover the impact of shadowing on EFL senior high school students in Taiwan.
Nowadays, thanks to the advance of technology, shadowing practice can be conducted both in and out of the classroom with the help of mobile devices. According to Kukulska-Hulme, Evans, & Traxler (2005), the features of mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) are its spontaneity, portability and ubiquity; thus, MALL is capable of integrating with our daily lives. Prensky (2005a) also asserts that mobile phone is the most prevailing one among various types of mobile devices, because it is just like a pocket computer. Therefore, the audio recording feature of mobile phone is incorporated into the shadowing practice of this study as a media. By using mobile phone, the students are allowed to not only practice but also complete the shadowing assignments at anytime, anywhere (Geddes, 2004). As for handing their final audio products, moreover, it will be much easier for the students to simply upload their digital files onto the designated platform.
In light of the above-mentioned reasons, this research project is aimed at investigating whether Taiwanese EFL high school students’ listening comprehension can be improved through mobile-assisted shadowing practice. In addition, students’
perceptions of such practice will be probed.
Therefore, this project will be undertaken in an attempt to answer the following two questions:
1. Does mobile-assisted shadowing practice improve Taiwanese EFL high school students’ ability in English listening comprehension?
2. What are students’ perceptions of improving listening comprehension by using mobile-assisted shadowing practice?
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