合作學習教學模式下探討聽力焦慮降低及聽力能力提升 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士在職專班碩士論文. 指導教授：余明忠博士 Advisor: Dr. Ming-chung Yu. 立. 政治大. 合作學習教學模式下探討聽力焦慮降低及聽力能力提升. ‧ 國. 學. Exploring the Reduction of Listening Anxiety and Promotion of Listening. ‧. Comprehension Ability under the Teaching Mode of Cooperative. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Learning. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 研究生：陳俊呂撰 Name: Chun-lu Chen 中華民國一百零四年十二月 December, 2014.

(2) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(3) Exploring the Reduction of Listening Anxiety and Promotion of Listening Comprehension Ability under the Teaching Mode of Cooperative Learning. 立. 治Thesis A Master 政大. Presented to Department of English,. ‧ 國. 學 National Chengchi University. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. by Chun-lu Chen December, 2014.

(4) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(5) Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to express my appreciation to my thesis advisor, Prof. Ming-chung Yu who has supported me throughout different courses from EFL Research Methods, Research Paper Writing, to the writing of this thesis. Prof. Yu has imparted his critical thinking and organizational logic as well as demonstrated his. 治政 kindness and devotion to me, I would not be able to大 complete this thesis. 立. overwhelming concern and patience to my research study. Hence, without his. ‧ 國. 學. Besides Prof. Yu, Prof. Chieh-yue Yeh is another professor I owe a lot. I was inspired to incorporate the concept of cooperative learning into the research of. ‧. listening by her courses from Studies on English Teaching Methods & Material. sit. y. Nat. Evaluation to Special Topics on Listening and Teaching. I might still get lost in. io. al. n. courses.. er. finding my research directions were it not for her invaluable instructions on these. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Furthermore, many thanks are for Prof. Yow-yu Lin who promised me to be one of the committee members and gave me advice for the statistics. One year ago, Prof. Lin introduced Prof. Yuh-show Cheng to me as the counselor for the research of language anxiety. Prof. Cheng indeed shed light on how to select a better instrument to measure listening anxiety. Once I did not meet Prof. Lin before, I might get confused about the choice of the instrument for listening anxiety. Next, I would like to thank my colleague, Ching-chung Liu. I am truly indebted to all he has done for me. Since his major in college is Statistics, he plays i.

(6) an important role as my counselor to help rationalize my concepts and overhaul my statistic design. Furthermore, he has urged me to follow my schedule so that I could complete my thesis on time. Without his enthusiasm and guidance, this thesis might have only been finished half way. Last but not least, I would like to acknowledge Li-hung Hsu, a good provider for all the obtainable listening materials used in this study. Mr. Hsu is a cordial. 政治大. salesperson of Nan I Book Enterprise. For this research, he consistently. 立. communicate with the author of the listening textbook and the editors of the. ‧ 國. 學. listening comprehension test in order to assure that the two instruments are apt for this study. But for his effort for this study, I am still struggling in selecting. ‧. io. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. instruments now.. Ch. engchi. ii. i n U. v.

(7) Table of Contents. Acknowledgements………………………………………………………….………iii Chinese Abstract………………………………………………...…….…….……... xi English Abstract……………………………………………………….………...…xiii Chapter One: Introduction……………………………………………...…....……1 Background and Motivation……………………………………….…..………..1. 政治大 Purpose of This Study…………………………………………….....…......…...3 立. ‧ 國. 學. Importance of This Study…………………………………………...…………..3. ‧. Organization of This Study…………………………………………….…..…...4. sit. y. Nat. Chapter Two: Literature Review………………………………………..….……...7. n. al. er. io. The Importance of Listening……………………………….……….…………..7. i n U. v. Studies on Anxiety about Language Learning…………….……………………8. Ch. engchi. Anxiety Will Ensue from Listening……………………….……..……………..9 The Concepts of Cooperative Learning………………….…………….………13 The Application of Cooperative Learning in Teaching….……………....…….15 Cooperative. Learning. May. Impede. Anxiety. and. Improve. Listening. Comprehension Ability…...……………………………………….…...………18 The Stages of Teaching Listening by Cooperative Learning………..…………21 iii.

(8) Chapter Three: Methodology……………...………………………..……….……25 Participants………………………………………………………………..……25 Instruments……………………………………………………………..………27 General English Proficiency Test (GEPT), Elementary Level……….…...27 Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale……………………...………..28. 政治大 The Listening Textbook for Listening Tasks………………………..…….30 立. ‧ 國. 學. The Lesson Plan Incorporated with Cooperative Learning………….…....31. ‧. The Listening Comprehension Test.………………….……….…….…….35. sit. y. Nat. The Questionnaire………….………………………...……….…………...36. n. al. er. io. The Classroom Observation………………………………………………36. i n U. v. Procedure………………………………………………………….……....…...37. Ch. engchi. Comparison between the Two Groups in the Listening Comprehension Test of GEPT………………………………………………………….……….………43 Comparison between the Two Groups in the Pre-test of FLLAS........….….….43 Teaching Process……………………………………………………….....……44 Data Analysis…………………………………………………….…………….44 Chapter Four: Results…………….……………...……………….………………47 iv.

(9) The Post-test of Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale (FLLAS)……....47 The Listening Comprehension Test………….…………………………….…..55 The Qualitative Data Collection from the Questionnaire……….……....……..55 Chapter Five: Discussion……………………..…...……………......……….…….59 The Effects of Decrease in Listening Anxiety under the Mode of Cooperative. 治政 Learning…………………..……………………………..…..….……….……..59 大立 ‧ 國. 學. The Inadequacy of Promotion in Listening Comprehension Ability under the Mode of Cooperative Learning…………………...……….……..….…………63. ‧. Barrier 1: Students Are Possibly Threatened by the New Approach for. Nat. io. sit. y. Learning…..……………………………………………..……….………..64. er. Barrier 2: Students Can be Hostile to Cooperative Learning Modes..…..66. al. n. v i n Barrier 3: StudentsC Lack Skills to Survive the Stress in Small-group h eSocial ngchi U Learning……..……………………………………………..…………...…67 The First Effect: The Free Rider Effect…………………………..……….71 The Second Effect: The Sucker Effect………………………….…………72 The Third Effect: The Status Differential Effects…….……….…………..72 The Fourth Effect: The Ganging up on the Task…………….…...……….73 The Fifth Effect: The Other Effects…………………………….…....……74 v.

(10) Chapter Six: Conclusion……………….…….…..…….……………….………....81 Summary of Findings…………………………..…………………..……...…...81 Pedagogical Implications………………………..……………..….....……...…82 Limitations of this Study……………………………………….….……...……84 Suggestions for Future Research…………………………….………….......…87. 政治大 References…………………………………………………………..……………....89 立. ‧ 國. 學. Appendix A: General English Proficiency Test, Elementary Level……………….103. ‧. Appendix B: Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale (English Version)……..107. sit. y. Nat. Appendix C: Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale (Chinese Version)…..…111. n. al. er. io. Appendix D: The Format of the Listening Textbook (Lesson One)………..…..…113. i n U. v. Appendix E: The Listening Comprehension Test………….....…………..….....…117. Ch. engchi. Appendix F: The Questionnaire (Chinese Version)……….……..……………......119. vi.

(11) List of Tables. Table 2.1 Seven Obstructions of Efficient Listening Comprehension………….......12 Table 2.2 Modern Modes of Cooperative Learning…………………...…..………..14 Table 2.3 Socio-affective Strategies: Cooperation and Lowering Anxiety from Vandergrift’s Taxonomy……………....................………………………20 Table 2.4 Steps of Numbered Heads Together By Kagan……………………..……22. 治政 Table 3.1 Constitution of Participants in the Experimental 大 and the Control 立 Groups.......................................................................................................26 ‧ 國. 學. Table 3.2 The Grouping of Cooperative Learning with the Normal S-style. ‧. Distribution (After the First Monthly Exam)………………………....…40. Nat. sit. y. Table 3.3Statistic Comparison of the Listening Comprehension Test of. n. al. er. io. GEPT…………………………………………………………….………43. Ch. i n U. v. Table 3.4Statistic Comparison of the Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale as. engchi. Pre-test…………………………………………………………………..43 Table 4.1 Comparison of the Post-test of FLLAS between the Two Groups…..…...48 Table 4.2 Comparison of All the Items of FLLAS in the Post-test between the Control Group and the Experimental Group..……………...…….…..….49 Table 4.3Comparison of the Listening Comprehension Test…………….….…..…55 Table5.1 The Summary of Herreid’s Three Barriers to CL………………….…….70. vii.

(12) Table 5.2 The Summary of the Researcher’s Perspectives in Response to Herreid’s Three Barriers to CL….…………………..……………………….……..70 Table 5.3 The Summary of the Five Debilitating Effects………………....…...…...76 Table 5.4 The Summary of the Researcher’s Perspectives in Response to the Five Debilitating Effects to CL…………………………….…………………77. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. viii. i n U. v.

(13) List of Figures. Figure 2.1 Central Elements of Cooperative Learning……………………….…….17 Figure 3.1 Procedure of This Study………………………………….……………..42. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. ix. i n U. v.

(14) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. x. i n U. v.

(15) 國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士在職專班碩士論文提要論文名稱：合作學習教學模式下探討聽力焦慮降低及聽力能力提升指導教授：余明忠博士研究生：陳俊呂. 立. 論文提要內容：. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. 本研究的目的在於探究合作學習的教學模式對於國民中學的學生在降低英語聽力焦慮和提升聽力能力雙方面上是否有效。本研究的研究對象是 54 位來. ‧. 自台灣北部地區的一所國民中學的學生，學生來自於經 S 型分班後同質性的 2. Nat. sit. y. 個普通班，2 個班分別設定為對照組和實驗組，兩組在數量、性別、背景、聽. n. al. er. io. 力焦慮及聽力能力起始程度上皆相似。對照組施以傳統英語聽力教學模式：學. i n U. v. 生聽寫，教師給答案並講解的方式施教；實驗組則施以合作學習英語聽力教學. Ch. engchi. 模式：同學聽完練習後，交互討論練習答案的方式來學習。師生利用每週四堂英語課的前 15 分鐘來進行英語聽力合作學習，經過了約 12 週的教學後，兩組皆接受聽力焦慮量表的後測，及南一書局出版的聽力測驗。量表及測驗皆以獨立樣本 t 檢定來進行統計分析，研究結果顯示：實驗組和對照組相較之下，聽力焦慮降低的程度達到顯著差異；而聽力能力的部分，雖然實驗組比對照組在測驗分數上有進步，但進步幅度有限，未能達到顯著差異。除此之外，訪談問卷中的質性資料亦支持了量化結果。本研究冀希成為對於有意利用合作學習教學模式來教聽力的老師，在降低聽力焦慮和提升聽力能力上，一個教學上的參 xi.

(16) 考。最後，研究者根據實驗的過程及結果，對未來合作學習或是聽力教學的研究，提出需要避免的情形及一些可進行的研究方向。關鍵字：合作學習、聽力焦慮、聽力能力。. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. xii. i n U. v.

(17) Abstract This study is mainly to explore if the mode of cooperative learning can reduce junior high school students’ listening anxiety and promote their listening comprehension ability. The participants in this study were junior high school students from northern Taiwan. They were chosen from two homogeneous classes. 治政 group and the experimental group, were the same大 in number, gender, background, 立 formulated by the normal s-style distribution. Two classes, decided as the control. listening anxiety as well as the listening comprehension ability. The control group. ‧ 國. 學. was treated with the traditional mode of teaching listening: Students listened and. ‧. wrote down their answers; the teacher gave answers and explanations. The. sit. y. Nat. experimental group was treated with the mode of cooperative learning: After. io. er. students finished their listening practices, they exchanged notes and discussed answers by themselves. The initial fifteen minutes in every English class were. al. n. v i n employed to process the learning C h of cooperativeUlearning four times a week. After engchi. twelve weeks, students in the two groups took the post-test of Foreign Language. Listening Anxiety Scale and the listening comprehension test issued by Nan I Book Enterprise. Both instruments were measured by an independent-samples t-test. The result showed that the significant differences were attained in the listening anxiety. Nevertheless, the significant differences were not attained in the listening comprehension ability though the average score of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group. Besides, the qualitative data from the questionnaire also sustain the quantitative results. Hopefully, this study can serve xiii.

(18) as a reference for those teachers who would like to teach English listening comprehension by the mode of cooperative learning. Eventually, the researcher provided some directions to follow and some awkward situations to avoid for future studies based on the experimental process and results in this study. Key words: cooperative learning, listening anxiety, listening comprehension ability. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. xiv. i n U. v.

(19) CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Background & Motivation Listening plays a principal role in all kinds of learning. In fact, Devine (1982) indicated that listening is the fundamental channel that promotes the intake of new. 政治大 other language skills (Scarcella & Oxford, 1992). According to the research of 立 concepts and information. Furthermore, listening is applied more frequently than the. Burley-Allen (1995), the average time for listening in everyday communication takes. ‧ 國. 學. 40 percent. Listening has occupied the largest proportion of language use compared. ‧. with reading, writing, or speaking.. sit. y. Nat. In classroom setting, listening is still prior to the other language uses. Wolvin. io. er. & Coakley (1988) concluded that listening occupies more time of everyday communication than the other language skills both inside and outside the classroom.. al. n. v i n Both teachers and students C have recognized the incremental importance of listening hengchi U comprehension (Ferris & Tagg, 1996).. An English listening comprehension test has been incorporated into monthly exams at junior high schools in Taiwan. In 2014, the next-generation entrance exam of senior high schools includes a new section of the English listening comprehension test. This section is scheduled to be one of the criteria to enter senior high schools in Taiwan (http://www.cap.ntnu.edu.tw/test_2.html). The score of the listening comprehension test was regarded only as a reference to confirm students’ listening ability in 2014. However, from 2015, the score will be adopted as one of the standards. 1.

(20) for the entrance of senior high schools. That is one of the reasons why the importance of listening keeps rising recently in the domain of the English education in Taiwan. Anxiety occurs when someone’s sense of threats seems to be out of control or out of avoidance (Ohman, 2000). According to Ogundokun (2011), anxiety is an uneasy, apprehensive, or nervous feeling especially germinated by students who have an intuitive fear of failure. Since the 1980s, anxiety has been emphasized as one of the most influential affective variables on the foreign language learning. Many studies suggested that. 政治大 1986; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1989). Moreover, more studies indicated that the 立. anxiety is potentially the most prevalent barrier in language learning (Horwitz, et al,. listening anxiety of second language (L2) should be considered one of the vital. ‧ 國. 學. variables that control success or failure in the language learning. L2 listening may be. ‧. threatening to students from different levels (Kim, 2000; Vogely, 1998). Lack of. sit. y. Nat. listening competence to take in necessary information and to have a complete. io. er. comprehension will result in helpless and restless emotion. This adverse emotion is called listening anxiety (Cheng, 2009).. al. n. v i n Cooperative learning (CL) C is defined as a clusterUof instructional procedures hengchi. for students with the encouragement or requirement teachers gave. The approach of CL can be developed simply as students sit in a group to discuss class issues or to. complete class assignments. However, it can be rather complicated when CL is involved with personal feelings or group morale. Particularly, CL is characterized by peer tutoring that means students manage the assigned tasks or discussion by interacting with one another (Slavin, 1987). CL has been recognized as a possible way to lower anxiety in classrooms (Johnson, & Johnson 1990; Oxford, 1997). This approach has been widely applied to math study (Esmonde, 2009; Leikin & Zaslavsky, 1997; Nattiv, 1994; Tarim, 2009), 2.

(21) and to reading and writing (Stevens & Slavin, 1995), etc. Studies on CL for language learning have been done about reading and writing. Nevertheless, little research on CL about listening has been conducted, let alone listening anxiety. In Young’s interview with Krashen (1992), Krashen concentrated on the concept that incomprehensible input of listening may trigger anxiety for foreign language learners. But listening breakdown by individuals may be remedied with the cooperation of members within the same group. High-achievers usually impart answers to low-achievers who cannot give out any answers immediately (Kagan, 1989). In order. 政治大 low-achievers are not pressured to answer all the listening questions, using the notion 立. to create such a favorable situation where the high-achievers, mid-achievers, and the. Purpose of This Study. 學. ‧ 國. of CL to address listening anxiety is worth a try.. ‧. The purpose of this study is to investigate if CL can reduce listening anxiety. sit. y. Nat. and promote listening comprehension ability. With the instruction of CL, students. io. might be improved.. er. might be relieved from listening anxiety and their listening comprehension ability. al. n. v i n C hcould offer guidelines Hopefully, this research for teachers who would like to engchi U. break through the listening anxiety and to improve students’ listening ability while. teaching listening skills. Particularly, this research is focused on the application of CL. Furthermore, with the potential pressure from the next-generation entrance exam of senior high schools, this research could be helpful to those students who feel apprehensive about the listening section in the entrance exam and would like to promote their own listening comprehension ability. Importance of This Study With the trend of the global village, there is a promise of having rich interactions between folks at home and abroad. Hence, the importance of listening 3.

(22) ability cannot be emphasized enough. How to improve listening ability, which is considered to be the most difficult part of the four language skills, draws many teachers’ attention. The listening comprehension in the next-generation entrance exam expedites the expectation to improve listening skills. It is a must for teachers to find out an effective way to better students’ listening ability as soon as possible. This study explores whether CL can decrease listening anxiety and improve listening comprehension ability for junior high school students. The findings may inspire teachers with an alternative way to cut down students’ anxiety, fear, or. 政治大 about CL have been done as well. In addition, listening comprehension ability is 立 apprehension of listening. Recently, CL becomes more popular, and more studies. likely to promote in the ideal cooperative situation where high-achievers give more. ‧ 國. 學. instructions to the mid-achievers or low-achievers. This study may provide necessary. ‧. assistance to teachers who are confronted with the challenge of teaching listening. sit. y. Nat. comprehension to junior high school students. Especially, the test score of the. io. er. listening comprehension will be valid in the total score of the next-generation entrance exam in 2015. Finally, this study could demonstrate the benefits of using CL. n. al. in teaching language.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Organization of This Study This study is composed of six chapters. The first chapter declares the background and motivation, purpose, importance, and organization of this study. The second chapter presents previous relative studies about the importance of listening, the anxiety about language learning, the anxiety from listening to English, the concept of CL, the application of CL, the change of listening anxiety as well as listening comprehension ability, and the three stages of teaching listening by CL. The third chapter introduces the participants, the instruments, the experimental procedure, and the way of data analysis. The fourth chapter uncovers the results and findings of this 4.

(23) study. They are further discussed in the fifth chapter. The last chapter demonstrates some pedagogical implications from this study for English teachers, some limitations for other researchers to take into consideration, and suggestions for the future study about listening anxiety and listening comprehension ability.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 5. i n U. v.

(24) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 6. i n U. v.

(25) CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW The Importance of Listening Language learning is appraised to be a quite complex process in which learners can foster linguistic knowledge and skills. Oxford (1993) believed that. 政治大 as a crucial medium to nurture skills and competence. Listening is the main media for 立. listening is absolutely one of the foremost language skills. Listening can be thought of. language learners to absorb upcoming ideas and information (Devine, 1982).. ‧ 國. 學. Moreover, listening comprehension ability plays an indispensable part in language. ‧. learning through the aspect of second language acquisition (Feyten, 1991; Krashen &. sit. y. Nat. Terrell, 1983). In other words, listening comprehension ability is a necessary element. io. er. to construct foreign languages.. Besides the research of Burley-Allen (1995) about the proportion of four. al. n. v i n C h(1926/1952) also U Rankin calculated engchi. aspects of language,. the frequency of using. language in adults’ daily lives. He discovered that adults have 42.1 percent of their communication by listening but they just spend 31.9, 15, and 11 percent on speaking, reading, and writing. The findings of Nichols & Stevens (1957) also echoed with that of Burley-Allen: While communicating, most people devoted themselves to listening by 45%, speaking by 30%, reading by 16% and writing by 9%. Gilbert (1988) further proposed that students are exposed to listening by 65 to 90 percent in their studying time from kindergarten to high school. All the data above can be concluded that listening takes more communication time than other aspects of language both inside and outside of the classroom, (Wolvin & Coakley 1988). Other studies showed that 7.

(26) listening skills matter more than reading skills because listening is a facilitator to academic success (Brown, 1987; Coakley & Wolvin, 1997; Truesdale, 1990). Listening used to be viewed as a passive or receptive skill compared with speaking or writing. But now using the term “passive” to pinpoint listening may not be accurate (Elkhafaifi, 2005). Lots of researchers consented that listeners actively participate in all types of communication. No wonder listening comprehension is the foundation of the language acquisition (Feyten, 1991; Field, 2000). In view of the importance of listening, the next-generation entrance exam of. 政治大 School Students, is incorporated with a listening comprehension test. A listening 立 senior high schools, named as Comprehension Assessment Program for Junior High. comprehension test was never held in any other entrance exams in the past. The score. ‧ 國. 學. of the listening comprehension test just worked as a reference of students’ listening. ‧. ability in 2014. However, the score from 2015 will be counted as a formal score in the. sit. y. Nat. next-generation entrance exam (http://cap.ntnu.edu.tw/background.html). As a result,. io. er. listening ability draws more attention from teachers and students than before. This educational policy re-shapes the fixed style of language teaching mode that puts more. al. n. v i n emphasis on reading ability than C listening ability. Although h e n g c h i U it has surely incurred. some criticisms and complaints from teachers and students, it initiates a teaching reformation which enhances the cultivation of listening ability. The importance of teaching listening skills, neglected before, cannot be underestimated now. Consequently, most language teachers eagerly expect to incorporate listening skills into their existing curriculum. Studies on Anxiety about Language Learning Anxiety is a psychological condition of cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral elements. (Seligman, Walker & Rosenhan, 2001). Apart from anxiety, fear is another possible component to bring about an unpleasant sense that hinders normal 8.

(27) performance. Anxiety is not always synonymous with fear. Fear can be associated with specific reactions of escape and avoidance, while anxiety is the outcome of threats that are thought to be uncontrollable or unavoidable. However, anxiety may result from fear. Both make people reluctant to give something a try (Ohman, 2000). In the early 1970s, a rise of research began to investigate learners’ anxiety. Anxiety is the high possible factor that affects the second language (L2) besides other learners’ factors which may influence learning success of language (Dörnyei, 2005; Horwitz, 1990). Numerous studies relating to anxiety have been done for many years.. 政治大 2001; MacIntyre, 1999; Young, 1991). Several researchers assured the theoretical 立. In fact, mensuration of L2-related anxiety has appeared since the mid-1980s (Horwitz,. 學. ‧ 國. basis that anxiety can be linked to foreign language learning (Horwitz, & Cope, 1986; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1989; 1991; 1994).. ‧. Anxiety Will Ensue from Listening. sit. y. Nat. Since 1980s, anxiety has been defined as one of the most important affective. io. er. variables that leave a crucial impact on foreign language learning (Zou, 2010). MacIntyre (1995) also argued that language learning is a cognitive activity that. al. n. v i n C hand retrieval processes. depends on encoding, storage, Nevertheless, anxiety may engchi U. interrupt all the learning steps. According to Wang (2010), inadequate listening ability. stems from several factors, such as negligence on listening from the whole social points of view, undeveloped teaching methodologies, clumsy listening strategies, and a lack of vocabulary. Wang also further indicated that though these factors do play some roles in inadequate listening ability, the increasingly critical one is anxiety. Anxiety greatly impacts listening comprehension. Listening comprehension may be enormously anxiety-provoking when the discourse is not understandable (Young, 1992). Anxiety has been a focal research of listening comprehension even more now.. 9.

(28) Listening anxiety is a prominent variable that must be valued in teaching and be explicated in research as well (Young, 1999). L2 learners often regard listening skills as the most challenging language ability to acquire (Graham, 2003; Hasan, 2000). One of the reasons is that learners have no opportunity to know how to learn listening skills effectively (Vandergrift, 2007). Giving correct answers to listening comprehension questions does not exactly help learners get a good command of the listening process. In reality, when readers face obscurity in reading or fail to recollect what was read, they can refer back to the. 政治大 listeners cannot retrieve any parts of the speech to refresh their memory (Kurita, 立. written text to regain understanding. On the other hand, once words are spoken,. 2012). Listening skills involve sorting out clusters of words, phrases, and sentences so. ‧ 國. 學. that the spoken information can be understood. Furthermore, spoken language is not. ‧. necessary expressed in a grammatical manner. Lexical units in listening need not. sit. y. Nat. maintain orderly or grammatically as in written text. That also explains why L2. io. er. listeners find it extremely tough to listen to spoken language (Stæhr, 2009). As a result, listening practice could end up a catalyst of anxiety for L2 learners (Elkhafaifi, 2005).. al. n. v i n C h to listeningUproficiency, which can be negatively correlative engchi. Listening anxiety is. explained as listening anxiety negatively affects the learning of a foreign language (Kim, 2000).. Underwood & Kenworthy (1989) discovered that there are seven possible obstructions that deter listening comprehension. These obstructions may trigger students’ listening anxiety when students encounter them. The following briefly describes these obstructions: Firstly, many language learners believe that the greatest difficulty in listening comprehension is that the listeners cannot control how quickly the speakers deliver their speech. Listeners’ academic background varies from one to another. Some of the 10.

(29) listeners have lived in the countries where English is the mother tongue. Some of them are well-trained for their listening ability though they seldom or never go abroad. And yet, the others just listen to English at school without any extra exposure to the language. Therefore, the listening ability differs from each listener due to their past experience with English. When they listen, they only can try their best to adapt themselves to all paces that might not comprehensible to some of the listeners. Secondly, unlike reading that can be traced back if the readers’ memory fails, listening is strictly an aural activity. The ability to make mental notes contributes to. 政治大 the heard information in their minds. Once the listeners cannot keep their memory 立. the success of listening. However, not all of the listeners have strong retention to keep. longer, their comprehension from the previous listening may all be lost in the end.. ‧ 國. 學. Listening again may be the best way to mend the missing gaps in listening, but not all. ‧. the listening processes could be regained in listening tests or on listening occasions.. sit. y. Nat. Thirdly, the lack of vocabulary interrupts fluent listening. Listeners stop to. io. er. think about the meanings of unknown words and then they will miss the next part of the speech. Listening ends up an incoherent mess when the flow of information is. al. n. v i n C h acquired before U disrupted. Bountiful vocabulary can ensure that the whole listening engchi activity will not be disrupted.. Fourthly, the listeners are unable to recognize the signals from one listening session to another. They cannot discern discourse markers such as secondly or then. In some conversations, signals are as obscure as pauses, increased loudness, a clear change of pitch, or different intonation patterns. Students might not sense these deliberately-designed signals and find them unnecessary and disturbing. Fifthly, even though listeners can grasp the surface meaning of the text, they may suffer from setbacks in comprehending the complete meaning of the message. For instance, the sentence “You can say that again.” implies sheer approval of what is 11.

(30) being said. But one might misunderstand it as someone is pleading for the repeat of the sentence. Sixthly, students think listening quite strenuous since it takes a considerable effort to get a complete comprehension. On the one hand, if the listeners find the topic interesting, they might be willing to listen incessantly. On the other hand, if the topic is dry and boring, they might lose interests soon. Therefore, no full comprehension is achieved. Listeners cannot choose the topics they prefer to, so the listening task itself is a challenge to the listeners.. 政治大 particular words or phrases. They will give up the whole listening process because 立. Lastly, listeners become frustrated when they get stuck in understanding. they suppose that they should not miss any words in listening. Some students still. ‧ 國. 學. believe that the most accurate listening is to grab the meaning of every word, not the. ‧. chunk of the main ideas. In order to remedy this situation, students need to tolerate. sit. y. Nat. vagueness and incompleteness in listening and try their best to process the understood. io. er. information. Table 2.1 summarizes these obstructions.. Table 2.1 Seven Obstructions of Efficient Listening Comprehension. n. al. Ch. engchi. Listening Obstructions. i n U. v. 1. Listeners cannot control the pace of verbal delivery. 2. Listeners cannot review the repeated words all the time. 3. Listeners have a little scope of vocabulary. 4. Listeners may not detect the signals that the speaker is moving from one point to another. 5. Listeners may lack contextual knowledge. 6. It can be tough for listeners to concentrate on a foreign language. 7. Students may insist to understand every word while listening. 12.

(31) The Concepts of Cooperative Learning Cooperative learning (CL) is considered one of the most outstanding and productive domains of theory, research, as well as practice in education. It is also one of the most frequently employed modes of active and vigorous learning. CL can be defined as the time when students strive together to achieve common goals of learning (Johnson & Johnson, 1989). Another definition of CL is that students congregate in small groups to assist each other to learn academic content (Slavin, 1996). Basically, CL relies on the concept that students start learning under social contexts (Adams and. 政治大 benefits both students and teachers in the process of learning activities (Shimazoe and 立. Hamm, 1994); they tend to interact with each other in such setting. Furthermore, CL. Aldrich, 2010).. ‧ 國. 學. CL can be categorized into central elements such as positive interdependence,. ‧. individual accountability, face-to-face promotive interaction, appropriate use of. sit. y. Nat. collaborative skills (social skills), and group processing (Johnson & Johnson, 1990).. io. er. The category is shown in Figure 2.1. Previous findings on CL displayed positive relationship with students’ achievement (Johnson & Johnson, 1989; Slavin, 1989).. al. n. v i n C hsocial and intellectual The use of CL may facilitate development and help students engchi U cultivate interpersonal skills (Cohen, 1984).. The success of CL lies in effective learning that happens through individuals’ interaction with their environment and companions. Through the interaction, students understand what they are learning, and what are expected from their peers (Adams & Hamm, 1994). Webb (1985) discovered that students demonstrate signs of higher understanding when they share their ideas with their classmates and vice versa. Interaction with peers provides students an opportunity to learn from each other’s knowledge, skills, and experience. Additionally, group discussions encourage students to handle counter-arguments, stimulate them to think beyond their limitation, and help 13.

(32) students develop respect for diversity in their groups (Cooper, Robinson, & McKinney, 1993). CL is not a new idea; it has undergone a considerable revival in educational research and practice (Slavin, 1980). CL is widely used as a form of active teaching mode from 1980’s, and continues to be an important approach for academic learning nowadays (Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 2007). Table 2.2 depicts the modes of CL employed by some scholars from 1960 to 1980. The teaching mode of CL in this research is referred to Numbered Heads Together by Kagan whose mode was. 政治大 Table 2.2 Modern Modes of Cooperative Learning (Johnson, Johnson & Stanne, 立 prevalent in the middle 1980s.. Early 1970s. Teams-Games-Tournaments (TGT). al. sit. io. v i n C Constructive Controversy Mid 1970s h e ngchi U n. Sharan & Sharan. y. Learning Together & Alone. er. DeVries & Edwards. Method. Mid 1960s. Nat. Johnson & Johnson. Date. ‧. Developer. 學. Researcher-. ‧ 國. 2000: 3-4). Mid 1970s. Group Investigation. Aronson & Associates. Late 1970s. Jigsaw Procedure. Slavin & Associates. Late 1970s. Student Teams Achievement Divisions. Johnson & Johnson. (STAD) Cohen. Early 1980s. Complex Instruction. Slavin & Associates. Early 1980s. Team Accelerated Instruction (TAI). Kagan. Mid 1980s. Cooperative Learning Structures. Stevens, Slavin, &. Late 1980s. Cooperative Integrated Reading &. Associates. Composition (CIRC) 14.

(33) The effect of CL in higher education has been recorded in much research for decades. Johnson & Johnson (1986) discovered that cooperative teams foster greater levels of thoughts. Teammates can keep information in mind longer than the other students that only work alone. This kind of active learning offers students an opportunity not only to get involved in discussion, but also to become critical thinkers. Subsequently, students are more motivated to take responsibility to seek out answers on their own, and participate dynamically in class discussions (Totten et al., 1991). The Application of Cooperative Learning in Teaching. 政治大 research domains, and for a diverse range 立. Meta-analyses suggest that the merits of CL are available for students at all age, for all. of tasks inclusive of. Johnson & Maruyama, 1983； Johnson et al., 1981).. 學. ‧ 國. rote-decoding, retention, memory skills, and problem-solving ability (Johnson,. ‧. CL has been widely utilized in teaching subjects at school. There are several. sit. y. Nat. existing studies done on the promotion of math achievement (Nattiv, 1994),. io. er. mathematic problem-solving ability (Tarim, 2009), and interaction in learning math (Leikin & Zaslavsky, 1997). The study of CL was also done on the school subject of. al. n. v i n C h2010). The result U chemistry (Oludipe & Awokoy, showed that the anxiety level of the engchi. students in CL group plunged. However, the anxiety level of the students in conventionally-lectured group soared after the treatment (post-test level). Lord (2001) offered another evident benefit of using CL in teaching. He made a list of the 101 reasons for using CL in biology teaching. Among these reasons, the Reason 33 clearly pronounced that CL reduces anxiety in the science class (Kessler, Price & Wortman, 1985); the Reason 45 showed that CL significantly reduces science test anxiety (Neer, 1987). Moreover, CL has similar impact on special education and remedial students. In the teachers’ belief, CL equips struggling students with a more secure, less stressful learning environment (Jenkins et al, 2003). Furthermore, Bossert 15.

(34) (1988) concluded that CL could embrace math, science education, computer training, language skill comprehension, mainstream of handicapped children, multiethnic education, and drug abuse prevention, etc. About the four skills of language, reading and writing had been discussed in some research of CL (Stevens & Slavin, 1995). Nowadays, few directions for the listening activities of CL have been mentioned, let alone listening anxiety. With the upcoming demand of having better listening ability to meet the next-generation entrance exam of senior high schools, the harsh affective barrier, anxiety, ought to be. 政治大. resolved. That is the main purpose of this research.. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 16. i n U. v.

(35) Figure 2.1 Central Elements of Cooperative Learning (Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1991). Group processing. Positive interdependence “We need contributions from each. “Our team has to reflect on its. of my team members if we’re. performance and think together. doing to succeed to succeed."”. about how we might improve.”. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Cooperative learning. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Promotive,. Ch. e nIndividual gchi. i n U. v. Social skills. face-to-face. accountability. interaction. “Although my team. effectively together. “How I think, I talk,. members can help. as a team means that. and act toward my. with the assigned. I need to improve my. team members will. task, my individual. interpersonal skills.”. influence how well. contribution will. we perform.”. shape my grade.”. 17. “Working.

(36) Cooperative Learning May Impede Anxiety and Improve Listening Comprehension Ability In Duxbury’s research (2006), there was no significant correlation between foreign language anxiety and the practice of CL. This result was opposite to earlier findings. CL was thought to be a useful mode to reduce anxiety (Brown & Palincsar, 1989; Johnson & Johnson, 2009; O'Donnell et al., 1987). After Duxbury finished his research for four years, he worked with a Taiwanese researcher Tsai (2010) and conducted another research between foreign language anxiety and the practice of CL. 政治大 States of America, but also from three universities in southern Taiwan. No significant 立. in Taiwan. The participants were not only students from one university in the United. positive correlation was shown from the university in the USA. However, one of three. ‧ 國. 學. universities in southern Taiwan evidenced a significant positive correlation.. ‧. Interestingly, the English teacher at that university happened to be a Taiwanese. Other. y. sit. io. er. USA.. Nat. two teachers at the other universities in southern Taiwan are native speakers from the. Teachers in USA usually incorporate CL into the norm as part of their teaching. al. n. v i n Cnot modes. But teachers in Taiwan are to it (Duxbury & Tsai, 2010). When h eused ngchi U Taiwanese teachers put the mode of CL into their curricular design, students seem to. be emancipated from the past rigid and dull one-way communication from teacher to student and feel much stress-free. This finding motivates the researcher, as a Taiwanese teacher, to carry out the teaching mode of CL in class to see if students’ listening anxiety can be reduced. Moreover, the research focus has been switched from general language anxiety to specific listening anxiety in this study. It has been observed that students who are taught cooperatively are likely to present higher academic achievement, greater persistence, better advanced reasoning and critical thinking, deeper comprehension of materials that have been learned, more 18.

(37) time on work and less misbehaviors in class, more intensive self-esteem, stronger intrinsic motivation, broader sympathy with others’ points of view, more beneficial and supportive relationships with peers, more right attitudes, and especially lower levels of anxiety and pressure (Felder & Brent, 1994: 6). Gokhale (1995) also checked the effect of team-based learning on test achievement of college students, and the result showed that students who are engaged to cooperative studies score better on tests. They get higher score on tests via critical thinking, compared with students who study individually.. 政治大 strategies. According to Vandergrift’s taxonomy (1997), strategies can be classified 立. Students are aware of the importance of how to foster better listening. into three main parts: Metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies, and. ‧ 國. 學. socio-affective strategies. In particular, two out of five socio-affective strategies are. ‧. cooperation and lowering anxiety. By means of socio-affective strategies, learning. sit. y. Nat. begins to develop when learners cooperate with classmates. Furthermore, they can. io. er. make good use of each other’s knowledge and experience to lower their anxiety level (Vandergrift, 1999). Vandergrift’s findings strongly suggested that the researcher. al. n. v i n C hto minimize listening incorporate these two factors anxiety and maximize listening engchi U comprehension ability. In addition, Vandergrift has two foci on the learner and the teacher respectively for cooperation and lowering anxiety. First, in the strategy of cooperation, students brainstorm together to share what are on their minds. Later, they do the listening tasks in the form of practices or questions. The teacher divides students into different groups and facilitates the in-group discussion for students to finish their listening tasks. Second, in the strategy of lowering anxiety, students are. given an enjoyable, cozy and comfortable environment to do their listening tasks. In order to have such setting, perhaps teachers should have some relaxing activities to lower students’ anxiety before listening tasks are done. Table 2.3 is a quotation of the 19.

(38) learners’ and teachers’ foci for cooperation and lowering anxiety from Vandergrift’s taxonomy: Table 2.3 Socio-affective Strategies: Cooperation and Lowering Anxiety from Vandergrift’s Taxonomy (1997: 387-409) Strategy. Focus on the Learner. Focus on the Teacher. Cooperation. Learners work together to pool The teacher asks learners to work their comprehension.. in pairs or groups to discuss what they heard and find out from each. 立. what they understand 政治other about 大 about the text.. Learners try to relax before The teacher has the learners close. Anxiety. listening to the message.. ‧ 國. 學. Lowering. their eyes for one minute before. ‧. the listening task and asks them. them feel happy.. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. to think of something that makes. i n U. v. Vandergrift (2003) defined socio-affective strategies as the techniques that. Ch. engchi. listeners use to cooperate with others in order to verify understanding or to lower anxiety. Hence, the idea of integrating cooperative labors to reduce anxiety is not a new one. Vandergrift also commented that it is critical for listeners to fully control the anxiety, feel confident, sustain personal motivation, and increase listening competency in doing listening tasks. Vandergrift’s socio-affective strategies gave the directions to this research to both lower listening anxiety and improve listening comprehension ability. O’malley and Chamot (1990) once taught ESL learners who had been exposed to metacognitive, cognitive, and socio-affective strategies for academic listening at an 20.

(39) intermediate-level high school. Academic performance on the post-listening test was compared between two groups: The first group took instruction of metacognitive, cognitive, and particularly socio-affective strategies; the second group was set as the control group without any strategies. Results manifested that the treatment group excelled the control group in the post-listening test. CL was one of the socio-affective strategies, and CL was adopted as the main teaching direction in this study. With the result that academic performance was promoted by socio-affective settings in O’malley and Chamot’s research, the listening. 政治大 The Stages of Teaching Listening by Cooperative Learning 立. comprehension ability in this research was expected to promote as well.. Both Underwood (1989) and Richards (2005) argued that a typical lesson. ‧ 國. 學. sequence of listening has three stages: pre-listening, while-listening, and. ‧. post-listening. The pre-listening stage prepares students for the practices of listening. sit. y. Nat. comprehension through activities to recall former knowledge, make predictions, and. io. er. review key words. The while-listening stage concentrates on the comprehension through exercise that urges students to employ strategies such as selective listening,. al. n. v i n C hthe like. The post-listening gist listening, sequencing, and stage particularly requires engchi U the students to give a response to what has been heard by stating their opinions.. Brown (2006) further indicated that pre-listening stage is supposed to contain two parts. The first part is that students should be given a chance to learn new vocabulary or sentence structures in listening. The second part is that students should be given an opportunity to trigger their prior knowledge. That is, listening comprehension should begin with what students have already known so that they can use their existing knowledge and skills to achieve the listening tasks. During the while-listening stage, students will have a chance to verify and gauge their predictions. While-listening activities can be designed as guided 21.

(40) note-taking, completion of a picture, table, or schematic diagram, and composing questions – any concrete activities that learners can do in listening so as to demonstrate ongoing monitoring of meaning (Rost, 2002). The post-listening stage happens immediately after the while-listening stage (Rost, 2002). This stage may be the most vital part of the whole listening instruction. Well-devised post-listening activities enable students to connect what they have heard to their former knowledge and experiences; to initiate critical listening as well as reflective thinking. Rost (2002) commented that post-listening activities can be. 政治大 partners, and formulating responses or questions about what students have heard. 立. incorporated into interactions such as comparing notes, making a summary with. These ideas are in agreement with CL. Therefore, it is reasonable to merge CL into. ‧ 國. 學. the post-listening stage.. ‧. Table 2.2 shows several different modes of CL that could be adopted as the. sit. y. Nat. framework of the post-listening stage. In terms of the practicability in this study,. io. er. Numbered Heads Together, a procedure of CL contrived by Kagan (1989) was chosen to apply to the post-listening stage.. al. n. v i n C Together The steps of Numbered Heads in Table 2.4. h e n garecshown hi U. Table 2.4 Steps of Numbered Heads Together By Kagan (1989: 13) 1.. The teacher has students number off within groups, so that each student has a number: 1, 2, 3, or 4 appointed by the teacher.. 2.. The teacher asks a question.. 3.. The teacher tells the students to “put their heads together” to make sure that everyone on the team knows the answer.. 4.. The teacher calls a number (1, 2, 3, or 4), and students with that number can raise their hands to respond. 22.

(41) According to the literature mentioned above, this research was set to explore whether cooperative learning (CL) could decrease listening anxiety and improve listening comprehension ability. Two questions are expected to be answered by this study: 1. Does the teaching mode of CL reduce students’ listening anxiety? 2. Does the teaching mode of CL improve students’ listening comprehension ability?. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 23. i n U. v.

(42) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 24. i n U. v.

(43) CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY This chapter consists of six sections which elaborate upon the research design. To begin with, the logic of selecting participants is presented with reasons. Then, introduced are the instruments of this study and the teaching materials. Next, the. 政治大 experimental and control groups in the proficiency test and the pre-test of Foreign 立 procedure of this study is detailed. The fourth part is the comparison between the. Language Listening Anxiety Scale. Moreover, qualitative data collected from the. ‧ 國. 學. questionnaire are offered to fortify the quantitative results. Teaching process is placed. sit. y. Nat. Participants. ‧. in the fifth section. Finally, this chapter ends with data analysis.. io. er. All of the classes at the researcher’s school were kept homogeneous. However, students in every class were heterogeneous. By means of the rationale of the normal. n. al. Ch. s-style distribution based on an IQ test,. engchi. v i n high-achievers, U. mid-achievers, and. low-achievers could be evenly located in every class. On the whole, every class had no or few differences with other classes by the normal s-style distribution. As a result, every homogeneous class was possibly suitable for this study. Seventh-graders at a junior high school in northern Taiwan were selected for this study. They had taken English courses for four years at primary schools. The researcher especially requested the dean of the department of academic affairs at school to assign classes of grade 7th for the researcher to be the English teacher. Compared with the eighth-graders and ninth-graders, the seventh-graders who were unfamiliar with junior high school studies might suffer from the anxiety of academic learning most because they were 25.

(44) just newcomers at the junior high school. That explained why the researcher chose the seventh-graders as the participants in this study. The researcher focused on these students for the study of listening anxiety and listening comprehension ability. Then, the researcher would designate two classes to be the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group and the control group were determined with two instruments: A listening proficiency test of General English Proficiency Test (GEPT) by The Language Training & Testing Center (LTTC), elementary level; the Foreign. 政治大 and the scale were done, the experimental group and the control group could be 立. Language Listening Anxiety Scale (FLLAS) developed by Kim (2000). After the test. determined for this study. The two groups would have the same student count and. ‧ 國. 學. gender proportion; they would also have similar starting levels of English proficiency. ‧. and listening anxiety. Table 3.1 shows the constitution of the two groups.. y. sit. io. n. al. Experimental Group (N = 27) Control Group (N = 27). Male. er. Groups. Nat. Table 3.1 Constitution of Participants in the Experimental and the Control. Female. C h 12 e n g c h i 15U 12. 15. v ni. Total 27 27. The reasons to choose students are summarized in the following: First, according to the normal s-style distribution, students can be averagely divided into high-level, mid-level, and low-level groups in every class. Every class with three levels of students corresponds to the principle of CL. Theoretically, high-level students are supposed to assist mid-level and low-level members by the rationale of CL (Johnson & Johnson, 1990). Second, seventh-graders just enter junior high schools as newcomers who are most unfamiliar with courses at school. At primary 26.

(45) schools, students’ English learning basically focuses on the practice of easy speaking and listening. Listening comprehension is not a compulsory part of English tests. The researcher once asked all his students if they took listening comprehension tests at primary schools. Their answers were all negative. They were not accustomed to listening comprehension tests. Accordingly, they might suffer from listening anxiety to a very high degree. Eighth-graders and ninth-graders are excluded in this study since they have been at school for two or three years. They have known that they will take a listening comprehension test in the entrance exam of senior high schools.. 政治大 one-fourth of the monthly English exam score at the researcher’s school. They have 立. Furthermore, the listening comprehension test has been regulated to occupy. been used to the habitual listening comprehension tests more than the seventh-graders. ‧ 國. 學. at school. Teachers are responsible for the drills to train students’ listening ability in. ‧. class, or students might train themselves to address the challenge of listening tests.. io. er. seventh-graders who have not been trained at school yet.. sit. y. Nat. Hence, eighth-graders and ninth-graders may experience less stress than the. In addition, newcomers are likely to have a similar level of listening. n. al. comprehension ability.. v i n C hof them just tookUeasy courses Most engchi. which encouraged. students to speak and love English at primary schools. Generally speaking, their proficiency level might make no differences with each other. However, the proficiency level of the eighth-graders and ninth-graders is harder to control due to their progress made in one or two years at school. Instruments General English Proficiency Test (GEPT), Elementary Level The GEPT (see Appendix A), downloaded from the official website of the Language Training & Testing Center (LTTC), was utilized to measure English listening proficiency between the experimental group and the control group. This test 27.

(46) is basically designed for the ninth-graders that have completed the junior high education successfully in junior high schools, so the students who have full proficiency of junior high school English can do the test of the elementary level well. The elementary level is not confined to a limited range of vocabulary, grammar, and listening materials. Thus, students who want to get high score in this test need to prepare more and do extra practice besides the assignments teachers give at school. Questions in the test have been examined for the relevance with the level of the testees many times by LTTC (https://www.gept.org.tw/Exam_Intro/download.asp).. 政治大. This test that works as a proficiency test can ensure that both groups start with a close initial level.. 立. The listening comprehension part of GEPT was given to the researcher’s. ‧ 國. 學. students without any notification. Students did not know that they would take the. ‧. GEPT. The unexpected test could prevent students from preparation in advance.. sit. y. Nat. Participants were told that the test would not be a part of their school grade but only. io. er. be a reference for teachers to have a better understanding of all students’ listening ability. They were also told not to worry but to try their best. The experiment of this. al. n. v i n C h that the average study could unfold under the circumstance scores of the two groups engchi U. were similar. This result of GEPT could serve as evidence that the two groups had a similar starting proficiency. Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale One of the main goals of this study is to probe into student’s change of listening anxiety after the instruction based on CL. A well-invented tool is necessary to prove that listening anxiety has reduced in this study. The Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale (FLLAS), developed by Kim (2000), is a recommendable means to appraise the degree of listening anxiety. There are thirty-three questions on a 5-point scale by Likert-type items, ranging from 28.

(47) “strongly disagree” (1 point) to “strongly agree” (5 points). Kim attributed two dominant factors to the factor analysis of FLLAS. They are tension and worry over English listening as well as lack of confidence in English listening. Kimura (2008) also studied listening anxiety in Japan and re-identified three aspects of FLLAS as emotionality, worry, and anticipatory fear. All of the identified factors or aspects that both Kim and Kimura argued are the possible causes which would impact all sorts of students in learning a foreign language. Besides the Japanese scholar Kimura that employed intact FLLAS in her study, Kilic & Uckun (2012) as well as Capan &. 政治大 all adopted unaltered FLLAS to measure listening anxiety. FLLAS have been used in 立 Karaca (2013) from Turkey and Golchi (2012) as well as Movahed (2014) from Iran. different Asian countries such as Korea, Japan, Turkey, Iran, and China (Cheng, 2009).. ‧ 國. 學. It is not surprising because the items on FLLAS represent perspectives from Asian. ‧. language learners who may suffer from listening anxiety. All the thirty-three items on. sit. y. Nat. the scale reflect the general listening difficulties, setbacks, and problems with which. io. er. listeners are potentially faced in Taiwan, so these thirty-three items are not strange to students in Taiwan. Therefore, the researcher decided to utilize the original FLLAS in. n. al. this study.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. FLLAS was originally composed in Korean. The items were translated into English by the researcher, Kim (see Appendix B), and revised by one of her colleagues for readability and clarification (Kim, 2000). Kimura (2008) translated the English version of FLLAS into the Japanese version and back-translated it into English to compare the differences. The modification of the Japanese version was done by one of Kimura’s colleagues. Similarly, the Chinese version of FLLAS (see Appendix C) was done by the researcher. Then, the translated version was back-translated into English by the researcher. The problematic translation could be examined and modified by doing so. Moreover, the researcher also asked three of the 29.

(48) experienced English teachers at his school to check every Chinese and English item in order to avoid any mistranslation and maintain the content validity. The description of every item on the scale was made short and simple on purpose, for the participants were just first-year students at junior high school. Not all the seventh-graders could comprehend long or complex sentences immediately. Comprehension breakdown might mislead students to incorrect response or make them impatient to answer all the items. In order to meet all students’ different Chinese proficiency, the researcher resorted to his colleagues who were able to give better suggestions for the verbal. 政治大 Moreover, Kim (2000) reported that the internal consistency was .90 and 立. expression of the Chinese version.. test-retest reliability was .84 in FLLAS. FLLAS is equipped with high reliability. In. ‧ 國. 學. addition, Kim (2005) further explained that FLLAS could cover construct validity in. sit. y. Nat. The Listening Textbook for Listening Tasks. ‧. her later research.. io. er. The main textbook adopted by the school where the researcher served was issued by Nan I Book Enterprise (南一書局). Though there were listening tasks in the. al. n. v i n main textbook and the workbook,C the actual practice time h e n g c h i U was not enough. Some. students might rely on more practices through cram schools or self-study. Hence, the researcher utilized the supplementary listening textbook The King of English Listening (英語聽力王) as the listening textbook in this research. Every unit had two levels from the basic to the advanced. The listening tasks could be fulfilled by students through circling, matching, selecting, filling in a blank, and multiple-choice. The listening tasks in the listening textbook were in accordance with the content in the main textbook. In other words, the practices in the listening textbook were familiar to students who had been taught with the main textbook. Not only did students acquire knowledge by means of the teacher’s in-class instruction, but they could do self-study 30.

(49) through preview and review of the units in the main textbook after school. Those students who paid full attention to the teaching in class should have enough proficiency to do the practices. Since there were not too difficult questions in the listening textbook, the listening textbook did not present itself as a great challenge to students. This listening textbook was an appropriate material for this research. Obviously, students could do more listening practices aside from their main textbook and workbook. Students who had done a number of practices possibly had a good chance to get better listening ability. The format of Unit 1 which is similar to the ones. 政治大 The Lesson Plan Incorporated with Cooperative Learning 立. of the other units in the listening textbook is presented in Appendix D.. Besides Underwood (1989) and Richards (2005) stated that a typical lesson. ‧ 國. 學. sequence of listening has three stages: pre-listening, while-listening, and. ‧. post-listening, Gilakjani & Ahmadi (2011) hypothesized a maxim to choose. sit. y. Nat. appropriate listening textbooks: All the activities in the listening textbooks should be. io. er. integration-based with the three stages: pre-listening, while-listening, and post-listening. Subsequently, the lesson plan in this study follows the process from. n. al. Ch. pre-listening to post-listening.. engchi. i n U. v. Listening comprehension should begin with what students have already known from the pre-listening stage. The listening textbook, The King of English Listening, is an appropriate tool for the teacher to make good use of. The units in the listening textbook conform to the content in the main textbook. Both textbooks have nine units with the same learning goals and objectives. Students may spontaneously recollect the vocabulary, phrases, and sentences the teacher has taught from the main textbook when they do the tasks in the listening textbook. That is to say, the knowledge of vocabulary, phrases, and sentence structures learned in the main textbook becomes the schemata for students to do the exercise in the listening textbook. 31.

(50) Vandergrift (1999) and Rost (2002) outlined that successful L2 listeners exercise five essential strategies while encountering listening uncertainty. They are predicting, guessing, selecting, clarifying, and responding. Among the five strategies, predicting is a workable strategy in the while-listening stage. Students can be inspired to predict by browsing the items of answers in advance and they may make a right decision after the CD is played. In addition, while-listening activities can be designed as guided note-taking, completion of a picture, table, or schematic diagram, and composing questions (Rost, 2002). Guided note-taking can be applied to the practices. 政治大 the listening textbook are fixed 立. in listening. The other activities seem unfeasible in this study because the types of listening practices in. (circling, matching,. multiple-choice…). Thus, the teacher can ask students to jot down key words to keep. ‧ 國. 學. record of the main ideas of the listening text. Then students listen to the text, and. ‧. apply heard information to complete the listening tasks. Moreover, doing activities. io. er. thinking and use of language (Gilakjani and Ahmadi, 2011).. sit. y. Nat. also stimulates students’ critical response and personal feedbacks to the speaker‘s. Rost (2002) commented that post-listening activities can be incorporated into. n. al. Ch. interactions such as comparing notes and making. engchi. v i n a summary U. with partners.. Additionally, tasks in the listening textbook can be designated for students to discuss after listening. Students can put what they hear together and arrive at a final consensus through discussion in their group (Gilakjani and Ahmadi, 2011). These ideas accord with the notion of merging CL into the post-listening stage. The researcher is inspired by these ideas and composes a specific lesson plan in which the post-listening stage is dominated by the spirit of CL. The control group and the experimental group in this research basically have different lesson plans. However, the pre-listening and while-listening activities in the lesson plans of both groups make no differences. Only do the post-listening activities 32.