EFL TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS AND REPORTED TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING LISTENING INFERENCING SKILLS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46827/ejel.v8i1.4681Keywords:
listening inferencing skills, listening strategies, teachers’ perceptions, pedagogical techniquesAbstract
This research aims were to examine teachers’ perceptions of listening inferencing skills (LIS) and their significance for listening comprehension. In addition, the pedagogical techniques that teachers report to have employed in teaching LIS were also investigated. In order to achieve these goals, a questionnaire consisting of 48 five-point Likert scale items and one open-ended question was utilized as the research instrument. Seventy-two EFL teachers working at different universities, colleges and private language centres in a province in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam gave their responses to the questionnaires. The results revealed that a significant number of teachers appeared to hold a limited understanding of what LIS actually refer to. However, when they were introduced to what LIS involve, they noticeably reached the agreement that these skills are beneficial for listening comprehension in particular and language learning in general. Besides, a large number of the participants also reported that they applied LIS in their own English language learning and teaching. In terms of pedagogical techniques used to teach LIS, the teachers mainly concentrated on pre-listening tactics with the hope of equipping their students well for the listening process regarding linguistic and background knowledge while techniques for the while-, post- and extension stages in listening instruction seemed to be overlooked.
Article visualizations:
References
Ahmed, Y., Francis, D. J., York, M., Fletcher, J. M., Barnes, M., & Kulesz, P. (2016). Validation of the direct and inferential mediation (DIME) model of reading comprehension in grades 7 through 12. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 44, 68-82.
Bahri, T., & Al Hussain, A. A. (1997). Question type and order of inference in inferential processes during reading comprehension. Perceptual and motor skills, 85(2), 655-664.
Brown A. L. (1977). Knowing When, Where, and How to Remember: A Problem of Metacognition. Arlington, TX: Eric Reports.
Cain, K., & Oakhill, J. V. (1999). Inference-making ability and its relation to comprehension failure in young children. Reading and writing, 11(5), 489-503.
Cain K., Oakhill J. V., Barnes M. A., et al. (2001). Comprehension skill, inference-making
ability, and their relation to knowledge. Memory & Cognition 29(6): 850–859.
Chamot, A. U. (1998). Teaching Learning Strategies to Language Students.
Craik, F. I., & Lockhart, R. S. (1972). Levels of processing: A framework for memory research. Journal of verbal learning and verbal behavior, 11(6), 671-684.
Cross, J. (2009). Effects of listening strategy instruction on news videotext comprehension. Language Teaching Research, 13(2), 151-176.
Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K., & Hacker, D. (2002). Metacomprehension of science text:
Investigating the levels-of-disruption hypothesis. In J. Otero & A. Graesser (Eds.), The psychology of science text comprehension. Hillsdale, NJ: LEA.
Elbro C. and Buch-Iversen I. (2013). Activation of background knowledge for inference making: Effects on reading comprehension. Scientific Studies of Reading 17(6): 435–452.
Field, J. (2008). Revising segmentation hypotheses in first and second-language listening. System, 36(1), 35-51.
Field, J. (2008). Listening in the language classroom. New York, NY: Cambridge University Express.
Florit, E., Roch, M., & Levorato, M. C. (2011). Listening text comprehension of explicit and implicit information in preschoolers: The role of verbal and inferential skills. Discourse Processes, 48(2), 119-138.
Freed, J., & Cain, K. (2017). Assessing school‐aged children's inference‐making: the effect of story test format in listening comprehension. International journal of language & communication disorders, 52(1), 95-105.
Gilakjani, A. P., & Ahmadi, M. R. (2011). A study of factors affecting EFL learners' English listening comprehension and the strategies for improvement.
Graesser, A. C., Singer, M., & Trabasso, T. (1994). Constructing inferences during narrative text comprehension. Psychological review, 101(3), 371.
Graham, S., & Macaro, E. (2008). Strategy instruction in listening for lower‐intermediate learners of French. Language learning, 58(4), 747-783.
Johnson, H., & Smith, L. B. (1981). Children's inferential abilities in the context of reading to understand. Child Development, 1216-1223.
Kendeou P (2015). A general inference skill. In: O’Brien EJ, Cook AE and Lorch RF (eds)Inferences during Reading. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, pp. 160–181.
Kendeou P., Bohn-Gettler C., White M. J., et al. (2008). Children’s inference generation across different media. Journal of Research in Reading 31(3): 259–272.
Kendeou P., McMaster K. L. and Christ T. J. (2016). Reading comprehension: Core components and processes. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3(1): 62–69.
Kim, Y. S. G. (2016). Direct and mediated effects of language and cognitive skills on comprehension of oral narrative texts (listening comprehension) for children. Journal of experimental child psychology, 141, 101-120.
Kintsch, W., & Kintsch, E. (2005). Comprehension. In S. G. Paris & S. A. Stahl (Eds.), Children’s reading comprehension and assessment (pp. 71–92). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Lepola, J., Lynch, J., Laakkonen, E., Silvén, M., & Niemi, P. (2012). The role of inference making and other language skills in the development of narrative listening comprehension in 4- to 6-year-old children. Reading Research Quarterly, 47, 259–282.
McKoon G. and Ratcliff R (1992). Inference during reading. Psychological Review 99(3):
–466.
Newton, J., Ferris, D., Goh, C., Grabe, W., Stoller, F., & Vandergrift, L. (2018). Teaching English to second language learners in academic contexts. New York: Routledge.
Oakhill, J. (1982). Constructive processes in skilled and less skilled comprehenders' memory for sentences. British Journal of Psychology, 73(1), 13-20.
Oakhill, J. (1984). Inferential and memory skills in children's comprehension of stories. British journal of educational psychology, 54(1), 31-39.
Oakhill J. V. and Cain K. (2007). Issues of causality in children’s reading comprehension.
In: McNamara D (ed.) Reading Comprehension Strategies: Theories, Interventions and Technologies. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, pp. 47–71.
O'Faolain, S., "The Short Story", New York: Devin Adair, 1964, pp. 150-51.
Olson, G., & Duffy, S. M. (1985). RL (1985). Question asking as a component of text comprehension.
O'Malley, J., & Chamot, A. (1990). Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition (Cambridge Applied Linguistics). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139524490
Pressley, M. (2000). What should comprehension instruction be the instruction of? In M.L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 3, pp. 545-561). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Rost, M., & Wilson, J. J. (2013). Active listening. Harlow, UK: Pearson Education.
Schmidt, C. R., & Paris, S. G. (1983). Children's use of successive clues to generate and monitor inferences. Child development, 742-759.
Schmidt, C. R., Schmidt, S. R., & Tomalis, S. M. (1984). Children's constructive processing and monitoring of stories containing anomalous information. Child Development, 2056-2071.
Seifert, C. M. Robertson, I. S., & Black J. B. (1985). Types of inferences generated during reading. Journal of Memory and Language, 24, 405-422.
Seifert, C. M., Robertson, P. S., & Black, J. B. (1985). Types of inferences generated during reading. Journal of memory and language, 24, 405-422.
Shepard-Carey, L. (2021). The inference-making of elementary emergent multilinguals: Access and opportunities for learning. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 21(4), 499-537.
Siegel, J. (2018). Listening for Gist. The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching, 1-7.
Sternberg, R. J., Powell, J. S., & Kaye, D. B. (1982). The nature of verbal comprehension. Poetics, 11(2), 155-187.
Uhl Chamot, A., & El‐Dinary, P. B. (1999). Children's learning strategies in language immersion classrooms. The Modern Language Journal, 83(3), 319-338.
Underwood, M. (1989). Teaching listening. Addison-Wesley Longman Limited.
Ur, P. (1984). Teaching listening comprehension. Cambridge University Press.
Vandergrift, L. & God, C. (2012). Teaching and learning second language listening: Metacognition in action. New York, NY: Routledge.
Wagner, M., & Rohwer, W. D. (1981). Age differences in the elaboration of inferences from text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 73(5), 728.
Weinstein, C. and Mayer, R. (1986) The Teaching of Learning Strategies. In: Wittrock, M., Ed., Handbook of Research on Teaching, Macmillan, New York, 315-327.
Yuill N and Oakhill J (1991) Children’s Problems in Text Comprehension: An Experimental Investigation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zeng, Y., & Goh, C. (2018). A self-regulated learning approach to extensive listening and its impact on listening achievement and metacognitive awareness. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 8(2), 193-218.
Zhang, Y. (2012). The Impact of Listening Strategy on Listening Comprehension. Theory & Practice in Language Studies.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).


