運用行動輔助影子跟讀法練習增進台灣學生聽力之研究

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(1)國立臺灣師範大學英語學系碩士. 技. 術. 報. 告. Technical Report for the Degree of Master Department of English National Taiwan Normal University. 運用行動輔助影子跟讀法練習增進台灣學生聽力之研究 Improving Taiwanese EFL Students’ Listening Comprehension By Using Mobile-assisted Shadowing Practice. 指導教授：林至誠博士 Advisor: Dr. Chih-Cheng Lin 研究生：楊千慧 Graduate: Chien-hui Yang. 中華民國一百零八年二月 February, 2019.

(2) 摘要本研究旨在審視運用行動輔助影子跟讀法練習對台灣高中生聽力理解的影響及探討學生對此練習的觀感。受試者為善化高中由同一位英文老師授課的兩個班級，一班爲實驗組，需完成為期一個月的影子跟讀法練習。另一班則為對照組，接受和以往相同的聽力指導。本研究採用全民英檢初級聽力測驗作為前後測材料，來檢視學生聽力理解程度的變化。並針對實驗組，用問卷來探知學生們對於行動輔助影子跟讀法練習的觀點及感受。最後，透過實驗組的個別訪談，來輔助並交叉比對測驗及問卷的結果。分析結果發現實驗組的聽力理解程度，在實驗結束後並沒有顯著進步，然而，實驗組學生對於行動輔助影子跟讀法練習抱持正面觀感，且增強了他們學習英文的動機。此研究結論的含義，也提供給現職英文教師們在教學上做參考。. 關鍵字：行動輔助語言學習、影子跟讀法、英文為外語學習者、聽力理解. i.

(3) ABSTRACT The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of mobile-assisted shadowing practice on Taiwanese EFL high school students’ English listening comprehension and to explore the students’ perceptions of improving listening by using such practice. The participants included two intact classes taught by the same English teacher in Shan-Hua senior high school in southern Taiwan. One was served as the Experimental (Shadowing) Group required to complete the one-month shadowing practice, while the Control (Non-Shadowing) Group received instruction as usual. The listening test from GEPT elementary level serving as the pre-test and the post-test was given to both groups before and at the end of the treatment to assess listening comprehension. The Experimental Group’s perceptions of shadowing practice were collected in a post-study online questionnaire. Finally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants to gain more insights. It was found that the Experimental Group didn’t obtain statistically significant improvement in listening. However, the Experimental Group reacted favorably to shadowing practice and thier motivation in learning English was increased. The study also proposed a few pedagogical implications for on-the-spot language teachers.. Keywords: mobile-assisted language learning, shadowing, EFL learners, listening comprehension. ii.

(4) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My technical report would have been impossible without the assistance, support, and encouragement of many people. First and foremost, my deepest gratitude is expressed to my advisor, Dr. ChihCheng Lin. He has provided me with professional knowledge, inspiration, and constructive suggestions throughout the whole path of my research journey. Especially when I needed to decide on my theoretical framework, I might have headed in a totally wrong direction without his precise guidance. Besides, I am sincerely grateful to my committee members, Dr. Lu-Fang Lin and Dr. Jun-Jie Tseng, whose insightful and valuable feedback helped polish my technical report. My special thanks are extended to one of my classmates in NTNU, Sonny, who I always turned to when I got petty questions regarding the administrative procedures and the format of my technical report. I also want to express my gratitude to some of my colleagues who ever encouraged me to keep going and wished me good luck. I am also thankful to all of the lovely students who participated in my study. Last but by no means least, I am greatly indebted to my family members who had given me the full support and the endless love along the way when I was in pursuit of my academic accomplishment.. iii.

(5) TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW......................................................................... 4 2.1. Shadowing....................................................................................................... 4 2.1.1. Definition and Mechanism of Shadowing ........................................... 4 2.1.2. Types of Shadowing ............................................................................. 5 2.1.3. Shadowing Effects on Listening Comprehension ................................ 8 2.2. Mobile-assisted Language Learning (MALL) .............................................. 11 2.2.1. Definition of MALL .......................................................................... 11 2.2.2. Second/Foreign Language Pedagogical Implications ........................ 12 2.2.3. The Integration of Mobile Phones in EFL Classes ............................ 14 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................ 16 3.1. Context and Participants ............................................................................... 16 3.2. Data Collection Instruments ......................................................................... 16 3.2.1. Pre-test and Post-test .......................................................................... 17 3.2.2 Online Questionnaire .......................................................................... 17 3.2.3. Semi-structured Interviews ................................................................ 19 3.3. The Procedure ............................................................................................... 20 3.3.1. Shadowing Materials ......................................................................... 20 3.3.2. In-class Shadowing Practice .............................................................. 22 3.3.3. Out-of-class Shadowing Assignments ............................................... 23 3.3.4. The Control Group ............................................................................. 24 3.4. Data Analysis ................................................................................................ 24 CHAPTER 4 RESULTS .............................................................................................. 26 4.1. Results of the Pre- and Post-test ................................................................... 26 iv.

(6) 4.2. Results of the Questionnaire ......................................................................... 27 4.3. Results of the Qualitative Data ..................................................................... 29 4.3.1. Written Feedback of the Online Questionnaire .................................. 29 4.3.2. Results of the Semi-structured Interviews ......................................... 31 CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION.................................................... 34 5.1. Major Findings and Discussion .................................................................... 34 5.1.1. Effectiveness of Shadowing ............................................................... 34 5.1.2. Increased motivation in learning English .......................................... 35 5.2. Pedagogical Implications .............................................................................. 36 5.3. Limitations and Future Work ........................................................................ 37 5.4. Conclusion .................................................................................................... 38 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 39 Appendix A .................................................................................................................. 43 Appendix B .................................................................................................................. 47 Appendix C .................................................................................................................. 49. v.

(7) LIST OF TABLES. Table 1. The first section of the online questionnaire. ................................................. 18 Table 2. The second section of the online questionnaire. ............................................ 19 Table 3. Shadowing procedure used in the experiment. .............................................. 23 Table 4. Descriptive statistics of listening tests from both groups. ............................. 26 Table 5. ANOVA for listening achievement of both groups. ....................................... 27 Table 6. Results of the online questionnaire. ............................................................... 28 Table 7. Categories and frequencies of written feedback on the online questionnaire. .............................................................................................................................. 29 Table 8. Participants’ impression on shadowing practice. ........................................... 31 Table 9. Students’ comments on their achievement in listening post-test. .................. 32 Table 10. Participants’ willingness to use shadowing practice in the future. .............. 33. vi.

(8) CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION. 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 1.

(9) 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, 2.

(10) 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?. 3.

(11) CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW. In the first part of this chapter, a few definitions of shadowing are presented. Then, different variants of shadowing are explained. Moreover, studies relevant to the reason why shadowing practice is chosen to improve students listening ability are provided. In the second part, because mobile phone is the major tool applied in this study, mobile assisted language learning is defined first. Next, studies about the use of mobile devices in second/foreign language context and its pedagogical implications are proposed. Lastly, the use of mobile phone in EFL contexts is focused.. 2.1. Shadowing 2.1.1. Definition and Mechanism of Shadowing Technically speaking, there are different ways to define what shadowing is. Weber (1984) describes shadowing as the following expression: listeners are “asked to repeat what they hear—simultaneously and in the same language” (p.41). Acton (1984) states that shadowing is a tracking exercise where “learners attempt to repeat immediately after the speaker whatever the speaker says on a word-by-word basis” (p.77). Lambert (1992) further defines it as “a paced, auditory tracking task which involves the immediate vocalization of presented auditory stimuli: i.e., word-for-word repetition, in the same language, parrot-style, of a message presented through headphones” (p. 266). She mentions that shadowing was originally used for training novice interpreters who just started to learn how to listen and speak at the same time (Lambert, 1992). Recently, Hamada (2009) regards shadowing as “the act or task of listening in which learners track heard speech and vocalize it as clearly as possible, while listening attentively to the incoming information” (p. 1). 4.

(12) For the mechanism of shadowing in contributing to learners’ listening ability, it was actually traced back to the theory of what Baddeley (2003) proposed in the subsystems of working memory model, inclusive of the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, the central executive, and the episodic buffer. The phonological loop is comprised of a temporary storage and a subvocal rehearsal system. The former holds the memory of sound temporarily, while the later rehearses the vocal information actively (Baddeley, 2003). As Hamada (2015) asserted, during listening processes, the phonemes of the language information should be firstly recognized by the learners. Hamada (2015) also believed that EFL learners usually have difficulty distinguishing the voice of the foreign language they have heard owing to the immature phoneme perception. However, shadowing practice forced the act of subvocal rehearsal to be done in a visible way. Hence, it not only strengthened the phoneme perception of the shadowers but also allowed more information to be stored in their phonological loop (Hamada, 2015).. 2.1.2. Types of Shadowing A variety of different usages and variants of shadowing are elaborated as follows. Oral Reading was a technique which Ricard (1986) was first introduced in a French language course taught in France. Later, she made such technique a keystone in a pronunciation course of the Advanced Language Training Program (ALTP), meant to improve fossilized pronunciation in adult learners. There were three phases in her course: preparation, performance, and feedback phase. Firstly, after being provided a designated text and an outline of the procedure, students were required to listen to the recorded text on the tape several times while silently reading it. In this phase, students were encouraged to pay attention to different phonemes and understand the meaning of the text as well. In the performance phase, students started to imitate and shadow read 5.

(13) the text. As Ricard (1986) put, “shadow reading is the superimposition of voices during which the students read the text aloud, in a relatively soft voice, at exactly the same time as the voice on the tape” (p.247). After practicing shadow reading several times, students began to make a recording when they felt confident to make the best of their own. Then, students were required to compare their own recordings with the native speaker’s, trying to identify their drawbacks for later correction. Lastly, students would receive feedback from the teacher or the peer and see if it was necessary to make modifications. Ricard (1986) asserted that following by the steps mentioned above, students were able to gradually take control of their own learning, and thus developed self-directed learning through self-monitoring and self-correction. In addition, oral reading is also called text shadowing (Kuo & Chou, 2014). Kuo and Chou (2014) define text shadowing as “an easier variant of shadowing by providing written text for listeners or shadowers to repeat immediately and/or imitate simultaneously what they heard” (p.19). Schweda Nicholson (1990) proposes three types of shadowing: phonemic shadowing, adjusted lag shadowing and phrase shadowing. Phonemic shadowing requires shadowers to repeat the sound they have heard immediately in the same language without the completion of a meaningful chunk. Shadowers should try their best to stay close behind the speaker, aiming to improve their pronunciation, fluency, intonation, and stress. Adjusted lag shadowing requires shadowers to stay a certain number of words behind the speaker, aiming to increase capacity of short-term memory. The number of words is adjustable around five to ten. It is considered the most cognitive-demanding but effective method among the three. Phrase shadowing requires shadowers to wait longer after a phrase or a meaningful chunk is completely heard before repeating. Shadowers thus develop the ability to identify and digest meaningful ideas. It is worth noting that phonemic shadowing is comparatively easier for the 6.

(14) beginners or low-achievers to practice. Hence, the shadowing practice adopted in the present study will be closer to phonemic shadowing. Interestingly, a few shadowing techniques are way different from what has been mentioned above. Murphey (2001) defines conversational shadowing as “the repeating of a conversation partner’s words” (p.128). Three types of conversational shadowing are elaborated in Murphey’s (2001) study as well: complete, selective, and interactive. Complete shadowing means the listener try to repeat every word. Selective shadowing involves the listener only select certain content words to shadow. Interactive shadowing goes far from simply repeating. The listener not only select key words to shadow but also comment or question the speaker, which makes it more like a natural conversation. In his experiments, the recorded conversations between two Japanese EFL learners and two English native speakers are transcribed and analyzed. Murphey (2001) discovers that selective and interactive shadowing along with commenting and questioning have more positive impacts on oral performance, which may due to increase of auditory short-term memory. While shadowing requires immediate process to reproduce what the learners hear, oral reading has more to do with the repetition, imitation and performance (Shiki, Mori, Kadota, & Shinsuke, 2010). As Shiki et al. (2010) explain, “shadowing is an on-line type of processing while repeating is an approach defined as rather top-down and offline types of processing” (p.90). Compared with oral reading, it is worth noting that in the process of shadowing, there is little time for learners to store the voice input information before reproduction (Hamada, 2015). Hamada (2015) further elucidates that such active engagement not only facilitates learners’ phoneme perception but also strengthens the function of the learner’s phonological loop in working memory, which contributes to better listening ability. On account of Hamada’s (2015) explanation, students in the present study aren’t allowed to read text during shadowing, relying on 7.

(15) their auditory stimuli only.. 2.1.3. Shadowing Effects on Listening Comprehension Throughout the realm of second language acquisition, several studies in the past decade have conducted and shown the effectiveness of shadowing on listening comprehension. In Taiwan, an experimental study was conducted by Lin (2009) exploring twentyfive eighth graders. Students in her class received shadowing instruction and were asked to complete shadowing tasks lasting for five weeks, fifteen hours in total. Judging the results from the pre- and post-test as well as questionnaires, she reported that shadowing not only improved students’ listening and speaking skills, but also developed student’ interests and self-confidence in listening and speaking English. In her conclusion, there is little doubt shadowing is an effective learning technique. In Japan, a series of studies related to shadowing effect was performed by Hamada (2009, 2011, 2012, 2015). In 2009, he first investigated the effect of shadowing with different levels of passages on English listening proficiency. 45 Japanese EFL high school students (23 males and 22 females) participated and were divided into two groups. Group A consisted of 22 second-year students and used 13 less challenging passages. Group B were made up of 23 third-year students and used more challenging passages. The average English proficiency level of both groups was equal. There were 13 experimental lessons in total, each lasting 50 minutes with 20-25 minutes for shadowing training. The results showed a statistically significant improvement in the lower proficiency students of Group A. On the contrary, higher proficiency students of both groups and lower proficiency students in Group B showed indistinct difference. He concluded that shadowing training benefited more for less proficient learners and the texts used in training should be less challenging for learners. 8.

(16) Concerning the fact that easier texts exclude most authentic materials, Hamada (2011) further carried out two experiments to probe whether slightly challenging materials at i+1 level could be used effectively and in what way were they effective. According to Krashen (1985), i refers to “our current level of competence” and i+1 means “structures that are a bit beyond our current level of competence” (Krashen, 1985, p.2). 44 Japanese high school freshmen divided into two groups were investigated in the first experiment. Both groups with similar proficiency were given thirteen 50minute lessons. The same high school textbook was used and considered a bit challenging for both groups. The only difference was that Group B didn’t receive any shadowing training during the lessons. The pre- and post-test revealed that Group A showed statistically significant improvement on short passage listening skill. The second experiment tested whether challenging authentic materials were of similar benefit to 29 Japanese high school third-grade students. The participants appeared to have made progress on their short passage listening skill only. He then concluded that shadowing with slightly challenging materials is able to develop learners’ listening comprehension as well. In order to address the problem of individual differences, Hamada (2012) continued to explore the effect of using a combination of different levels of materials at the same time. The participants were 59 Japanese national university EFL freshmen divided into two groups with three levels (basic, intermediate, and advanced). The experimental group alternately used different levels of materials, while the control group only used materials of the same level. Although the mean scores of both groups increased in the post-test, the experimental group showed statistically significant improvement in the post-test. It was concluded that a combination of difficult and easy materials was recommended, improving learners’ listening comprehension skills more effectively. 9.

(17) Recently, although the effectiveness of shadowing on listening comprehension skills had been commonly accepted, Hamada (2015) pondered whether the improvement resulted from the enhancement of learners’ phoneme perception and whether it was effective for lower-proficiency learners only. He investigated 43 Japanese national university EFL freshmen divided into low-proficiency and intermediate group based on their pre-test listening results. In pre- and post-test, a dictation cloze test of function words was used for examining phoneme perception. For the improvement of listening comprehension skills, two levels (high school and university) of listening tests were selected. A total of nine lessons were conducted using EFL textbook, each lesson followed by 15-20 minutes of shadowing training. The results revealed that the shadowing training was effective for improving phoneme perception skills regardless of listening proficiency level. On the contrary, neither group showed improvement for advanced listening skills. For basic listening comprehension skills, however, it was only effective for low-proficiency learners.. Moreover, low-. proficiency learners were capable of reaching intermediate level within a short time with the help of shadowing training. Accordingly, shadowing is especially of benefit in terms of bottom-up processing in listening. It was also suggested that shadowing should be used particularly when the target language possesses different phonological rules from the mother tongue of the learners. Sumarsih (2017) conducted an experimental research to describe the impact of shadowing technique on learners’ listening skills. In total of 60 university students from English Department in Indonesia participated and were divided into control and experimental groups. Each group comprised 30 students. During the four-week experiment, the experimental group was taught to use shadowing technique both in and outside the class, while the control group had no such practice. The results showed the experimental group transcended the control group. Sumarsih (2017) drew the 10.

(18) conclusion that the systematic and contextual feature of shadowing was recommended for improving learners’ listening skills, especially to EFL learners from countries like Japan, China, and Indonesia, and etc. Taki and Esmaeili (2017) probed the shadowing effects on 38 Iranian EFL learners’ listening comprehension, listening self-efficacy, and the use of metacognitive listening strategies. All the participants, aged 16 averagely, were of intermediate level and randomly divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group had an exposure to shadowing practice in English listening classes while the control group had listening activities only. It was concluded by Taki and Esmaeili (2017) that shadowing is a suitable and effective teaching technique in EFL classrooms due to its significantly positive impact on both learners listening comprehension and the use of metacognitive listening strategies. Guided by recommendations from related studies mentioned above, the researcher of the present study holds a strong belief that shadowing practice has a good chance to improve her students’ listening comprehension ability.. 2.2. Mobile-assisted Language Learning (MALL) 2.2.1. Definition of MALL Mobile Learning is defined by Kukulska-Hulme & Shield (2008, p.3) as “formal or informal learning mediated via handheld devices and available anytime, anywhere.” Valarmathi (2011) further identifies MALL as “a subset of both Mobile Learning (mlearning) and Computer-assisted language learning (CALL)” (p.2) and confirms that MALL is a language learning approach with the assistance of palmtop mobile devices. Thus, such device includes MP3 or MP4 players, personal digital assistants (PDA), mobile phones, or tablets such as an iPad (Valarmathi, 2011). MALL mainly “differs from CALL in its use of personal, portable devices that enable new ways of learning, 11.

(19) emphasizing continuity or spontaneity of access and interaction across different contexts of use” (Kukulska & Shield, 2008, p.273). From this perspective, it supports a learner-led, out-of-class, or collaborative approach instead of a teacher-learner, textbased traditional approach. Kukulska and Shield (2008) further point out that the voice recording feature on mobile devices may serve as an ideal tool for both individual and collaborative learning.. 2.2.2. Second/Foreign Language Pedagogical Implications Throughout the past twenty years, a meta-analysis is presented by Burston (2015) focusing on MALL and learning outcomes. He distinctly elaborates that only nineteen studies are statistically reliable and selected as a basis among 291 studies being examined. The result shows that nearly 80 percent of learning outcomes are unequivocally positive in the MALL contexts. However, he suggests that more attention is needed on pedagogical potential in MALL rather than technology itself. Ultimately, he positively expects that language learning can be significantly enhanced by MALL due to the following factors: more time devoted to language learning out of class, the use of multimedia to accomplish task-based assignments, and more interaction in the target language through its communication affordances. In the same year, Bozdoğan (2015) provides an outline of research trends in MALL by examining 32 selected studies published from 2010 to 2015. The findings are in line with previously conducted meta-analyses literature on MALL and mobile learning (Baran, 2014; Burston, 2015; Duman, Orhon, & Gedik, 2015). The trends indicate that most of studies emphasize the effectiveness of MALL on certain language skills, vocabulary and listening in particular. In addition, perceptions of MALL are the second most studies investigated. Teachers are said to overcome hesitation toward technology use; yet the essential skills to incorporate mobile devices into their own teaching are 12.

(20) still needed. Moreover, mobile-based applications and social networking are two new dimensions found in Bozdoğan’s (2015) results. A large number of studies have proved that the majority of learners hold positive attitudes towards the integration of mobile devices into their second or foreign language learning (Lu, 2008; Hwang & Chang, 2011; Anastasia, 2013; Xu, Dang & Jiang, 2017). Specifically, Dashti & Aldashti (2015) probe 300 EFL college students’ attitudes towards MALL by distributing questionnaires. The results reveal that more than 80% of students not only prefer using mobile devices during teaching and learning but also consider it vital and beneficial. Most importantly, it is indicated that those students hope their teachers spend more time on mobile-integrated teaching. With the prevalence of mobile-integrated teaching, Hwang, Huang, Shadiev, Wu and Chen (2014) design six various mobile-assisted learning activities, aiming at facilitating EFL learners’ listening and speaking skills. Five out of six activities require students to record and share their own oral production among classmates during the process; thus, students are able to listen to their own and others’ recordings afterwards. The findings reveal that students feel more motivated to practice English with mobileassisted learning system. Although students favor practicing English speaking at their own pace, they treat such practice more seriously and devote more effort in it for knowing their production will be listened by others. Nowadays, thanks to the ever advancing technology, the capability of mobile devices has significantly upgraded. As Burston (2014) points out, the functionality of a mobile device has matched a desktop computer that it can support almost every pedagogical approach which only stationary computers are capable of decades ago. However, Burston (2014) appeals that adequate training for educators is needed not only in technical knowledge but also in pedagogical skills to realize and exploit the potential of mobile devices. 13.

(21) 2.2.3. The Integration of Mobile Phones in EFL Classes The popularity of mobile phones among teenagers is a universal phenomenon nowadays. Back in 2005, Prensky (2005b) has already estimated that all the students will have a cell phone in the near future due to its low cost and utility. In addition, unlike other mobile devices, Wagner (2005) points out that mobile phones have already been fully attached to students’ everyday life; hence, no training or support is required. Moreover, according to Soleimani, Ismail and Mustaffa (2014), students have a tendency to use mobile phones in comparison with other mobile devices such as PDA/ tablet PC. It is no exaggeration to say that the participants of the present study are a symbolic representation of such phenomenon. Without a doubt, most language teachers can’t wait to incorporate this prevailing and powerful gadget, mobile phone, into their own teaching. Soleimani et al. (2014) further suggest that teachers exploit the characteristics of mobile phones and implement more out-of-class activities which are independent and interactive. In addition, Zhang (2013) analyzes the modern methodology used in English language teaching and elaborates how mobile phones serve as an efficient and effective tool in the EFL classroom. The examples are as follows. First, the note-taking feature by using drawings, pictures or recordings allows students to learn continuously after class. Second, the camera and audio/video recording function enable students to collect database of the traget language and complete various tasks in English. Third, the text messaging function reinforces students’ English vocabulary retention and writing skills. Moreover, the tremendously popular social networking tools such as Line, Facebook, and Instagram not only diversify English assignments but also bolster English communication and interaction among students. Lastly, E-portfolio has been widely integrated by instructors to help students to document, schedule and reflect upon their 14.

(22) own learning process. The finding shows that incoporating the mobile phone in the EFL classroom is strongly recommended because of its convenient and motivating nature, huge potential for students’ interaction, and authentic communicative language functions. In light of the numerous advantages available with a mobile phone, it is undoubtedly the most appropriate and feasible tool to be incorporated into this research project.. 15.

(23) CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY. 3.1. Context and Participants The present study was conducted for one month in Shan-Hua Senior High School located in Tainan City, southern part of Taiwan. The participants were two classes of tenth graders assigned to the researcher. She at the same time served as the teacher researcher this school year. Both classes were taught by the same teacher with the same textbook and instruction. The homeroom class of the researcher was served as the Experimental (Shadowing) Group, while the other class as the Control (NonShadowing) Group. The Experimental Group consisted of 31 students (14 girls and 17 boys) and the Control Group consisted of 30 students (13 girls and 17 boys). Students’ English proficiency of both groups was mixed-leveled due to the normal class grouping policy. However, owing to the location of the school, most students were from rural areas. Thus, based on the participants’ English scores in the Comprehensive Assessment Program for Junior High School Students, their English proficiency on average is lower than other high school students in downtown. None of them had the experience of studying in an English-speaking country before. Regardless of students’ social-economic background, fortunately, all the participants were mobile phone users with confidence in operating its basic functions. Prior to implementing the project, the consent of all the participants was obtained.. 3.2. Data Collection Instruments Both quantitative and qualitative analysis were used to collect data in order to answer the two research questions of the present study. For the first research question, the scores of pre-test and post-test were adopted for justifying the impact of the mobile16.

(24) assisted shadowing practice on the students’ listening comprehension. On the other hand, an online questionnaire and interviews were conducted to understand the Experimental Group’s perceptions of shadowing practice.. 3.2.1. Pre-test and Post-test The pre- and post-test were administrated for both groups at the beginning and at the end of the treatment respectively. Regarding test materials, the listening comprehension tests were adopted from General English Proficiency Test (GEPT) Elementary level (see Appendix A), which is the easiest level in GEPT. The reasons were as follows. First, the GEPT test itself corresponds to Taiwan’s English education framework, which usually serves as a reference for evaluating the English proficiency level of Taiwanese students. Second, none of the participants had passed the GEPT Elementary level before. As a result, it was suitable for most of the participants’ current levels. In each listening comprehension test, there were three sections, including Picture Descriptions, Answering Questions, and Short Conversations. There were 10 questions for each section, 30 of them in total. The entire length of each test lasted for around 20 minutes. Because the interval between the two tests was only one month, the contents of the two tests were different yet with the same difficulty and the format. With the collected quantitative data, all the scores were compared and analyzed in the end of the treatment. The difference between the pre- and post-test of each student was compared. Meanwhile, both the difference from the pre-test of the two groups and that from the post-test were analyzed.. 3.2.2 Online Questionnaire To generate conclusion for the second research question, an online post-study 17.

(25) questionnaire self-designed by the researcher based on the related studies was created by using Google Forms interface. In the end of the treatment, the Experimental Group was asked to fill in the online questionnaire directly through the link provided by the researcher. All of them had experience of completing online questionnaires with Google Forms interface before; thus, there were no technical problems for them. The questionnaire comprised two sections. The first section was designed to understand students’ attitudes toward the use of the shadowing to improve their listening comprehension and perceptions toward their overall language improvement after practice. Fourteen questions were presented on a five-point Likert scale as follows: 1 Strongly Disagree, 2 Disagree, 3 Neutral, 4 Agree, 5 Strongly Agree.. Table 1. The first section of the online questionnaire. Question. 1. 1. I feel my listening ability has improved.. 2. I feel my overall English ability has improved.. 3. It was easy for me to do in-class shadowing practice.. 4. I benefited from the teacher’s instruction a lot.. 5. I benefited from the model video clips a lot.. 6. I benefited from my classmates’ help a lot.. 7. I benefited from my own practice a lot.. 8. After I did shadowing practice more than once, it was much better.. 9. I think mobile phone is a useful tool to improve my listening ability.. 10 I think the recording feature of the mobile phone is a 18. 2. 3. 4. 5.

(26) useful tool to do shadowing practice. 11 I enjoyed doing in-class shadowing practice a lot. 12 I like the pair work of shadowing activity a lot. 13 I like to learn English more. 14 I will use the same way to improve my listening in the future.. The second section inquired three open-ended questions. Students were invited to write down their perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of performing shadowing practice as well as suggestions for future implementation.. Table 2. The second section of the online questionnaire. Open-ended Question 1. What are the advantages of doing one-month shadowing practice?. 2. What are the disadvantages of doing one-month shadowing practice?. 3. What are the suggestions you’d like to give for further implementation.. 3.2.3. Semi-structured Interviews Semi-structured focus-group interviews were administrated to the Experimental Group in order to provide information and evidence for the results from pre- and posttest as well as the online questionnaire. In addition, students’ learning experiences with shadowing practice were further explored. The interview questions were developed by the researcher based on other collected data (see Appendix C). The interviewees were mainly asked to (1) express their opinions and feelings as well as degree of acceptance for shadowing practice; (2) provide possible reasons why they had made great 19.

(27) improvement or the other way around; (3) describe the difficulties they had encountered during shadowing practice; (4) share the parts of materials they found easy to grasp; (5) express their willingness to use shadowing practice for listening ability training in the future (see Appendix C). All the interviews were carried out in Chinese so that the interviewees were able to thoroughly understand the interview questions and express themselves accurately without pressure. The whole process was recorded by the researcher with the interviewees’ consent.. 3.3. The Procedure 3.3.1. Shadowing Materials Judging from the students’ current English level, the researcher gleaned suitable short video clips from two well-known English learning websites, Real English (www.real-english.com) and ABA English (www.abaenglish.com), preferably less than three minutes. Theme-based, naturally-produced, and face-to-face conversations in daily life situations were prior selection for the shadowing materials. Practicing with such type of materials, students were supposed to find listening questions in conversation type easier than before. Besides, it would provide students with a chance to be exposed to the real-life context where authentic English was spoken, and probably equip students with better English communication skills in the future. The following script, extracted from one of the video clips in Real English, is an example of the shadowing materials.. Eposode 1 Man: What nationality are you? Woman 1: Austrian. Man: And what’s your name? 20.

(28) Woman 1: Christine. Man: And what’s your name? Woman 2: Barbara. Man: Are you from Austrian, too? Woman 2: Yes. Man: Thank you very much.. Eposode 2 Man 1: This is Samir. Woman: Hi, Samir. What nationality are you, Samir? Man 2: I’m Indian.. Eposode 3 Woman 1: What nationality are you? Woman 2: German. Woman 1: Where are you from? Woman 2: Germany.. In case not to deviate from the current curriculum too much, the reading passages and the example sentences from the textbook (LungTeng Version Book II) were also be included. Students were required to do shadowing practice at home with the model recordings provided from the textbook publisher. Though the materials from the textbook seemed much longer and more difficult than the online materials, students were supposed to get familiar with the content and new words after the reading section of a lesson had been covered by the teacher. Moreover, the model recordings were available in both normal and slow version. Students were allowed to choose the speed 21.

(29) they were able to follow up. Therefore, doing shadowing with the textbook materials, especially the reading passages, was not too challenging for students, low-achievers in particular. In fact, those materials in different types, including sentence, conversation, and passage, corresponded to the styles of the three listening test sections in GEPT. Hence, using the above-mentioned materials would theoretically have a positive impact on Experimental Group’s listening comprehension shown in their post-test.. 3.3.2. In-class Shadowing Practice The whole experiment lasted for one month with both in-class shadowing practice and out-of-class shadowing assignments. After the pre-test had been administrated to both groups, the students in the Experimental Group were instructed how to do shadowing practice. The type of shadowing used in the present study was pretty much the same as phonemic shadowing, proposed by Schweda Nicholson (1990), which was easier for beginners to practice. The researcher not only demonstrated the shadowing techniques herself but also played the instruction videos from YouTube. Then, students were asked to practice right after the instruction in order to make sure their fully understanding of the shadowing practice procedures. The entire procedures are shown in Table 3. For the total times of shadowing with the same material, Shiki et al. (2010) indicated that continuing shadowing more than four or five times resulted in less effective reproduction rate. Thus, students were encouraged to do shadowing practice less than four times. However, owing to the mixed-level class, students were also told to flexibly adjust the times of practice based on their individual progress. The frequency of the in-class shadowing practice depended on the course schedule, two to three times per week, which didn’t affect the original curriculum too much. A total of eight recordings were supposed to be handed in. 22.

(30) Table 3. Shadowing procedure used in the experiment. Step. Description. 1. Students were introduced to the shadowing model video clip.. 2. The teacher explained the content of the clip.. 3. Students formed into pairs, written as Student A and B hereafter.. 4. Student A played the shadowing video using his or her own mobile phone.. 5. Student B started to listen and do shadowing practice for a few times.. 6. When satisfied, student B started to record his or her own voice with the other mobile phone.. 7. Student A and B exchanged the roles.. 8. Student A and B both uploaded their best recording files onto the designated Google Drive shared folder.. 9. The researcher collected the recorded data and checked whether all the students had successfully completed shadowing practice.. 10. Those who failed to finish the required recording in class were asked to do a make-up recording by themselves at home.. 3.3.3. Out-of-class Shadowing Assignments Apart from the in-class shadowing practice, the Experimental Group was also required to finish the shadowing assignments at home once every two weeks, two assignments in total. With mobile phone, students could simply upload their final products onto the designated Google Drive folder once they had completed the recorded shadowing assignments. Students were encouraged to not only listen to the model voice recordings as many times as they can but also do shadowing for two to three times before recording. Wang and Smith (2013) proposed that, in general, even though 23.

(31) mobile-assisted tasks were somewhat more enjoyable than traditional course assignments, students were still reluctant to complete those tasks. Wang and Smith (2013) further suggested that those tasks be either less challenging or compulsory, graded requirements. Hence, the model recordings covering the textbook reading section were selected and all the assignments were graded by the teacher researcher.. 3.3.4. The Control Group After the pre-test had been administrated, the Control Group received usual inclass listening training without doing shadowing practice. They simply needed to complete the listening exercise of each lesson from the textbook, which the Experimental Group was required to complete as well. One month later, they were asked to perform the post-test.. 3.4. Data Analysis The collected data were analyzed in the following ways. Firstly, to gauge students’ improvement on listening comprehension, all the statistical data were computed in Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). For the scores of the pre-test and the post-test from both groups, a two-way mixed-design repeated measures of analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to examine whether the listening performance of the two groups differed at a statistically significant level. The alpha level reliable for statistical significance was set at p<0.05. Secondly, for the first section of the questionnaire, because of the adoption of Likert-type items with 5-point scales, descriptive statistics such as mean scores, frequency counts and percentage were used to analyze those 14 questions. To know more details about what particular aspects the students from the Experimental Group were in favor of, all the questions were grouped into four themes, including 24.

(32) Metacognition, Assistance, Technology, and Affection. For the theme of Metacognition, the students used higher-order thinking skills to judge whether their English listening had improved or not after practice, whether their overall English ability had improved, and whether the materials were easy for them. For Assistance, questions items allowed the students to identify who had helped them or what they had benefited from during shadowing practice. Concerning Technology, the students marked down how much they were satisfied with the tools adopted in shadowing practice. With regard to Affection, question items related to the students’ feelings about shadowing practice were grouped together. The results were intended to reflect whether students’ perception of mobileassisted shadowing practice were positive or not. Thirdly, for the data from the second section of the questionnaire, they were first grouped into three main categories based on the three questions with several subcategories for each, and then presented with frequency counts and percentage. Lastly, with regard to the semi-structured interviews, the transcripts from all the interviewees were divided into improved and non-improved groups to compare the differences between the two groups. Afterwards, they were analyzed along with all the other data as well as notes taken by the researcher in order to draw a valid conclusion for this research project.. 25.

(33) CHAPTER 4 RESULTS. In this chapter, the results of the quantitative data examining the test scores and the Licker Scale of the questionnaire are presented first, followed by the qualitative data, involving the written feedback of the questionnaire and the answers from the semistructured interviews.. 4.1. Results of the Pre- and Post-test Before analyzing all the quantitative data, the pre-test scores of the Experimental Group and Control Group were compared. Four participants from the Experimental Group were discarded due to their incompletion of shadowing practice. Four participants were also discarded from the Control Group as they were absent on the day of either the pre-test or the post-test. Shapiro-Wilk’s statistics were performed as preliminary checks to ensure normality and homogeneity of the variables from both groups prior to the treatment. Since no statistically significant difference (p>.05) was found between the two groups, equal variances were assumed.. Table 4. Descriptive statistics of listening tests from both groups. Pre-test Post-test Group N M SD M. SD. Experimental. 27. 63.15. 17.03. 63.26. 16.93. Control. 26. 68.19. 15.79. 65.61. 19.05. Note. The maximum score is 100.. In order to measure the effectiveness of the shadowing practice, a two-way mixeddesign repeated measures of ANOVA was applied to verify the significant differences 26.

(34) between the pre- and post-test from both groups. Since Mauchly’s Test of Sphericity indicated that the assumption of sphericity had been violated (χ2(0) =.000, p = .000), a Greenhouse-Geisser correction was used.. As demonstrated in Table 5, the result of ANOVA didn’t reach a statistically significant level (F1,1 = 0.94, ns), indicating that there was no significant difference between the Experimental Group and the Control Group after shadowing practice.. Table 5. ANOVA for listening achievement of both groups. Source. Df. F. η2. p. (A) Group. 1. 0.94. .018. .34. (B) Test. 1. 0.78. .015. .38. B x A (Interaction). 1. 0.94. .018. .34. Error (within groups). 51. 4.2. Results of the Questionnaire The first part of the online questionnaire consisting of 14 Likert-type questions were presented in this section only, while the second part of the online questionnaire were shown in the following section. As summarized in Table 6, half of the students (14, 51.8%) agreed that their listening ability had improved, which was brought about by shadowing practice (12, 44.4%). Students’ assistance derived from the model video clips (19, 70.3%), classmates’ help (18, 66.7%), their own practice (17, 63%), and teacher’s guidance (14, 51.8%) during shadowing practice. In terms of the mobile devices, both mobile phone (21, 77.8%) and its recording feature (20, 75%) were regarded as useful tools for 27.

(35) shadowing practice. With regard to the affective aspect, students found shadowing practice enjoyable (20, 75%), collaborative (19, 70.3%), and motivating (15, 55.5%). Last but not least, half of the students (14, 51.8%) showed their willingness to use the same method for listening training in the future.. Table 6. Results of the online questionnaire. Strongly agree Question Items. Strongly Agree. Neutral. Disagree. disagree N. %. M. N. %. N. %. N. %. N. %. 3. 11.1. 11. 40.7. 12. 44.4. 1. 3.7. 0. 0. 3.59. 2. 7.4. 9. 33.3. 13. 48.1. 3. 11.1. 0. 0. 3.37. 3. Easy task. 7. 25.9. 11. 22.2. 6. 40.7. 3. 11.1. 0. 0. 2.81. 8. Improvement. 3. 11.1. 9. 33.3. 13. 48.1. 2. 7.4. 0. 0. 3.48. 4. Teacher. 4. 14.8. 10. 37.0. 9. 33.3. 4. 14.8. 0. 0. 3.52. 5. Model videos. 7. 25.9. 12. 44.4. 8. 29.6. 0. 0. 0. 0. 3.96. 6. Classmates. 3. 11.1. 15. 55.6. 7. 25.9. 1. 3.7. 1. 3.7. 3.67. 7. Myself. 3. 11.1. 14. 51.9. 8. 29.6. 2. 7.4. 0. 0. 3.67. 9. Mobile phone. 7. 25.9. 14. 51.9. 5. 18.5. 1. 3.7. 0. 0. 4.00. 10. Recording. 7. 25.9. 13. 48.1. 7. 25.9. Metacognition 1. Listening improved 2. Overall improved. with practice Assistance. Technology. Affection 28. 4.00.

(36) 11. Enjoyable. 12. 44.4. 8. 29.6. 6. 22.2. 1. 3.7. 4.15. 12. Collaborative. 11. 40.7. 8. 29.6. 8. 29.6. 13. Motivating. 4. 14.8. 11. 40.7. 8. 29.6. 6. 11.1. 1. 3.7 3.52. 14. Future use. 7. 25.9. 7. 25.9. 10. 37.0. 2. 7.4. 1. 3.7 3.63. 4.11. Note: N = 32.. 4.3. Results of the Qualitative Data 4.3.1. Written Feedback of the Online Questionnaire In agreement with the quantitative results of the online questionnaire, the Experimental Group specified the parts they found favorable or disapproving in their written feedback. As presented in Table 7, all the sensible answers were classified into three main categories, including advantages, disadvantages, and suggestions, with a few subcategories shown below.. Table 7. Categories and frequencies of written feedback on the online questionnaire. Category. N. Advantages. 29. 100. Greater Familiarity with English Sounds. 13. 44.8. Improvement in Listening. 8. 27.6. Affect. 4. 13.8. Improvement in Overall English. 2. 6.9. Improvement in Self-awareness. 2. 6.9. Disadvantages. 14. 100. Too Fast. 6. 43.0. Too Troublesome. 3. 21.4. Too Many Unknown Words. 2. 14.3. 29. %.

(37) Too Noisy. 1. 7.1. Too Little Time. 1. 7.1. Script Remembering. 1. 7.1. 16. 100. Difficulty Adjustment. 8. 50. More Attraction. 4. 25. Partners. 4. 25. Suggestions. Based on the positive feedback, students claimed shadowing practice is beneficial for being familiar with English sounds and thus improving listening ability. A few students had constructive comments like, “after doing shadowing practice, I could understand those sentences that were too fast for me in the beginning.” These comments were clear evidence that students made improvement in their listening ability after shadowing practice. On the contrary, the common difficulty students had faced was that those speakers spoke too fast to catch up with. Some of them complained that even they had practiced for many times, the speed and too many unknown words still resulted in their failure to do shadowing successfully. Also, such difficulty created stress and anxiety for those who constantly failed to do shadowing. A few of them stated that it was troublesome and tiring to do shadowing practice. Two execution problems of the in-class shadowing practice from the written feedback were documented below. (1) During the practice time, it was too noisy in the classroom to listen to the video clips clearly. (2) The practice time was barely enough. The followings were a few practical suggestions provided by students for future implementation: (1) Find easier materials with slower speed. (2) It will be less challenging to practice unknown words before shadowing. (3) It wasn’t appropriate to 30.

(38) use the same material for mixed-level students. (4) Those materials could have been more appealing. (5) My partner would constantly disturb me, so it will be better to practice by myself. (6) I thought I could have made more progress if my partner’s English proficiency had been similar to mine.. 4.3.2. Results of the Semi-structured Interviews On the other hand, the data gathered from the focus-group interviews (N = 6) were transcribed and presented in Tables 8, 9 and 10.. As shown in Table 8, all of the interviewees had favorable impression on shadowing practice. In general, they considered doing shadowing practice a novel and intriguing experience.. Table 8. Participants’ impression on shadowing practice. Student A1. Comments I was a bit reluctant to do shadowing practice in the beginning; yet, it became more and more intriguing, just like dubbing movies!. A2. It was much more interesting than simply reading the textbook out loud.. A3. As long as my listening ability can be improved, it is a good method.. B1. It was a lot of fun compared to the traditional class.. B2. It was an extraordinary experience.. B3. Very special. It was interesting sometimes.. Note. A1-3 (with improvement in post-test scores), and B1-3 (without improvement).. Table 9 pointed out three interviewees’ perceptive comments on their own listening achievement. A girl named Peggy (A1), who normally got lower than 40 in her listening 31.

(39) tests before, achieved the most progress among all the participants. She gleefully told the researcher that this was her first time to get a score higher than 60. She further described that the sound of English was just like an alien language in the past; however, she found she could actually comprehend some parts of the test recording this time. Another girl named Momo (A2), who had even lower English listening ability than Peggy, also expressed her excitement at the progress she had made. She indicated that though she still had difficulty understanding the second and the third sections of the post-test, she could understand a lot more of the Picture Description section. This statement was evidenced by her gained score of the first section, which was 16. Still another boy who failed to make improvement on his post-test (B3) reported a similar situation that he could understand more of the test questions from Picture Description section.. Table 9. Students’ comments on their achievement in listening post-test. Student A1. Comments I found I could really understand many of the test questions. Also, it was my first time getting over 60 for the listening test.. A2. I’m so glad to see my score. Though I still couldn’t understand the questions from Section 2 and 3, I understood a lot more for Section 1.. B3. My score really sucks. But actually, I could understand more of the questions from section 1.. As Table 10 presented, 5 out of 6 interviewees expressed their willingness to use shadowing practice in the future, particularly those who gained higher scores in their post-test. Interestingly, one student claimed that they had already gotten used to the practice, so whenever she listened to English, she couldn’t help doing shadowing. 32.

(40) Table 10. Participants’ willingness to use shadowing practice in the future. Student. Answer. Comments. A1. Yes. I will. Such practice is really interesting.. A2. Yes. I can’t help doing shadowing whenever I listen to English.. A3. Yes. My English listening can be improved. B1. Yes. As long as I have the chance such as watching English movies or listening to English radios, I will try to shadow.. B2. I’ll try.. I can kill time and improve my English at the same time.. B3. Unsure. It depends.. 33.

(41) CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION. In this chapter, the discussion of this study in accordance with the research questions proposed in chapter one is presented first. Thereafter, pedagogical implications inspired by the major findings are provided. Next, the limitations of the present study and suggestions for future work are included. The last part is devoted to a brief conclusion of the whole study.. 5.1. Major Findings and Discussion 5.1.1. Effectiveness of Shadowing The quantitative results revealed that the statistical differences between the Experimental and Control group turned out to be non-significant, which conflicted with previous research (Lambert, 1992; Tamai, 1997; Murphey, 2001; Suzuki, 2007; Hamada, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015; Lin, 2009; Sumarsih, 2017; Taki & Esmaeili, 2017). The reasons underlying the Experimental Group’s failure to obtain statistically significant improvement could be observed from the qualitative results. Firstly, the difficulty of the shadowing materials didn’t deal with the problem of individual differences. A majority of students found those shadowing materials too challenging and further suggested easier ones for shadowing practice (Table 6 and 7). In the first part of online questionnaire, Item 3 “It was easy for me to do in-class shadowing practice.” received the least favorable feedback (M = 2.81) among the 14 questions, indicating that those materials were not easy for the Experimental Group to grasp. Since all the video clips were authentic materials, some low-achievers even felt stressed and anxious when constantly failing to do shadowing successfully (Table 7). According to Hamada (2009), the texts used in shadowing practice should be within the 34.

(42) difficulty level where students were able to feasibly achieve. In other word, materials at i-1 level or below were more suitable for students (Hamada, 2009). Hamada (2012, p.8) further warned that “sticking to materials at a certain level can be too easy for one student but too difficult for another.” As Hamada (2012) further proposed in his subsequent research, such problem could be addressed by combining different difficulties of learning materials alternately. Secondly, the length of time for shadowing practice was not long enough. As discussed in Hamada (2011), shadowing practice had beneficial effect on enlarging learners’ capacity to store incoming voice; however, a longer span of practice was required for learners’ listening comprehension skills to be improved. Namely, even though students’ ability in identifying English sounds had improved, they still needed longer period of practice in order to connect the sounds to meanings. Thirdly, other skills required for the GEPT listening comprehension test didn’t correspond to those trained with shadowing practice. A few comments from students’ written feedback indicated that they could recognize more for the English sounds during the post-test (Table 7); yet, they still had difficulty understanding the test questions and choosing the correct answers, especially the second and the third section (Table 9). This implied that even though the learners became capable of identifying English sounds, it was far from enough to answer the questions correctly in the GEPT listening test. Therefore, though no statistically significant differences were verified in Experimental Group’s post-test, the results didn’t disapprove the effectiveness of shadowing.. 5.1.2. Increased motivation in learning English Based on the qualitative results, the in-class shadowing practice gained widespread acceptance among the Experimental Group. Those positive feedback mainly resulted from students’ language ability improvement, enjoyment in doing in35.

(43) class activity with peers, and the incorporation of mobile phone (Table 6 and 7). As discussed in Noels, Pelletier, Clement, and Vallerand (2000), the enjoyment and satisfactory for engaging an activity could enhance learners’ motivation. In line with Noels et al. (2000), shadowing practice surely increased students’ motivation and learning interests in English (Table 6, 7 and 8). In turn, it strengthened students’ willingness to use the same method in the future, particularly those who gained higher scores in their post-test (Table 10). The incorporation of mobile-assisted technology attributed to students’ increased motivation in learning English as well. According to the online questionnaire (Table 6), more than two-third of the students favored the use of mobile phone and its recording feature during shadowing practice. Such result was in agreement with the findings from Hwang et al (2014) that students were motivated to practice English skills more when using a mobile learning system. Moreover, it echoed the claim of Zhang (2013) that mobile phone possessed convenient and motivating nature.. 5.2. Pedagogical Implications The ultimate goal of the present study is to inspire those on-the-spot teachers who strive to improve students’ listening ability with various teaching methods. Hence, four pedagogical implications are elucidated as follows. First, the findings of this study indicated that adopting shadowing practice in a regular EFL classroom was suitable and feasible. Moreover, the present study demonstrated how shadowing practice could be practically implemented step by step, which certainly bridged the gap between theory and practice. Furthermore, several participants pointed out the disadvantages of the in-class mobile-assisted shadowing practice, including the difficulty of materials, too much noise, incompatible partners, and time constraint (Table 7). A number of valuable recommendations were provided 36.

(44) as well (Table 7). Thus, with the collected information, teachers could make adjustments and integrate more successful shadowing practice in their own classroom in the future. Second, with the introduction of the mobile-assisted activity into the classroom, students were allowed to actually use their mobile phone to learn effectively, not just for the purpose of entertainment. Besides, the use of the mobile phone maximized the chance for each student to practice and develop their language skills, especially listening. In addition, the features of mobile phone addressed the long-lasting problem that the in-class time for listening training was too limited. Third, the recordings of shadowing practice empowered students to not only take charge of their own learning but also keep track of their learning progress, which promoted self-learning and self-correction concurrently. Also, it provided teachers with available resources for further examination. Specifically, it would be easier for teachers to not only monitor and assess students’ achievement but also make adjustments in time. Finally, it was inevitable for students to relate shadowing with the oral training and thus put emphasis on their oral performance while practicing. Therefore, it would be crucial for teachers to inform students clearly of the function and benefits of shadowing in advance. When realizing the mechanism of shadowing, students would rely more on their listening ability instead of simply memorizing the lines they were going to shadow.. 5.3. Limitations and Future Work Two major limitations of the present study are expounded below. First, the sample size is small for both the Experimental Group (n=27) and the Control Group (n=26). A few participants from the Experimental Group were discarded due to their incompletion of shadowing practice. The researcher found that they only 37.

(45) completed and uploaded less than two recordings among a total of eight assignments. On the other hand, four participants were discarded from the Control Group as they were absent on the day of either the pre-test or the post-test. Hence, future studies should be done in a larger scale. Furthermore, it will be better to group participants under different English proficiency levels and do experiments separately. Second, the total length of the treatment was too short. The researcher intended to lengthen the whole experiment, preferably longer than six weeks; however, students still had to take the final exam and the content from the textbook still needed to be covered. It was impossible to continue the experiment right before the final exam. As a result, it only lasted for one month. Students’ improvement in English listening might have been more tangible if the treatment had been longer and a delayed post-test had been conducted.. 5.4. Conclusion The present study has shown that doing shadowing practice by using the recording feature of mobile phone is indeed a beneficial method for EFL classroom teaching. Particularly, this project is of value in offering practical steps and profound insights for those who intend to adopt shadowing practice to their own students. In addition, since both advantages and shortcomings are clarified in this research, educators have great flexibility to change such mobile-assisted shadowing practice into the most suitable version of their own. Ultimately, it is hoped that mobile-assisted shadowing practice can be more widely applicable in the EFL context; thus, more and more students will be allowed to reap the benefits of it.. 38.

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