Suzanne Graham

Exploring the relationship between listening development and strategy use

This article reports on an investigation into the development of the listening proficiency and strategic behaviour of 15 lower-intermediate learners of French in England. We consider whether listeners remain in the same listening proficiency group after six months, and whether changes in strategy use are related to movement or non-movement between listening proficiency groups. We also examine whether learners’ strategic behaviour reflects their teachers’ approaches to listening. Data were gathered at two time points from a recall protocol which learners completed after listening to short passages and from verbal reports made by learners while they completed a multiple choice listening task. Teacher interviews provided information on how listening had been presented in learners’ classrooms. We detected little movement by students across the listening proficiency groups between the two time points. In spite of some changes in frequency of strategy use, we also observed stability in manner of use by some learners. Differences in strategy use were more evident between groups (non-movers, improvers and decliners) than between uses from Time 1 to Time 2. We conclude by discussing the pedagogical implications of these findings.

Strategy clusters and sources of knowledge in French L2 listening comprehension

Abstract This article reports on an exploratory investigation into the listening strategies of lower-intermediate learners of French as an L2, including the sources of knowledge they employed in order to comprehend spoken French. Data from 14 learners were analysed to investigate whether employment of strategies in general and sources of knowledge in particular varied according to the underlying linguistic knowledge of the student. While low linguistic knowledge learners were less likely to deploy effectively certain strategies or strategy clusters, high linguistic knowledge levels were not always associated with effective strategy use. Similarly, while there was an association between linguistic knowledge and learners’ ability to draw on more than one source of knowledge in a facilitative manner, there was also evidence that learners tended to over-rely on linguistic knowledge where other sources, such as world knowledge, would have proved facilitative. We conclude by arguing for a fresh approach to listening pedagogy and research, including strategy instruction, bottom-up skill development and a consideration of the role of linguistic knowledge in strategy use.

Learner strategies and advanced level listening comprehension

This paper takes as its starting point the contention that listening in a foreign language is a complex but under-researched skill that poses particular problems for students post-GCSE. It goes on to outline what is known about how effective and less effective listeners differ in their approach to comprehending spoken language, providing a review of studies into the listening strategies used by these two types of learner. This review highlights the growing realisation among researchers of the importance of metacognitive strategies and the need to investigate not only which strategies learners use but also how they employ them. It then considers the extent to which it is possible to make good listening strategies accessible to all advanced level learners, beginning with a review of studies that have investigated this question, with mixed results. A model for strategy training is discussed, in which, it is argued, maximum emphasis needs to be placed on encouraging students to evaluate the success or otherwise of the strategies they employ. The value of such an approach in improving the listening skills and motivation of advanced language learners is highlighted.

Second Language Listening Strategy Research: Methodological Challenges and Perspectives

Abstract This paper explores methodological issues related to research into second language listening strategies. We argue that a number of central questions regarding research methodology in this line of enquiry are underexamined, and we engage in the discussion of three key methodological questions: (1) To what extent is a verbal report a valid and reliable way of eliciting information about strategies? (2) Should we control for learners’ level of linguistic knowledge when examining their listening strategy use? and (3) What are the problems surrounding the analysis of data gained through verbal reports? We discuss each of these three methodological issues within the framework of a research project investigating listening strategies deployed by learners of French in secondary schools in England. Implications from these findings for future research are discussed.

Language learning in the public eye: an analysis of newspapers and official documents in England

This article considers the issue of low levels of motivation for foreign language learning in England by exploring how language learning is conceptualised by different key voices in that country through the examination of written data: policy documents and reports on the UKs language needs, curriculum documents and press articles. The extent to which this conceptualisation has changed over time is explored, through the consideration of documents from two time points, before and after a change in government in the UK. The study uses corpus analysis methods in this exploration. The picture that emerges is a complex one regarding how the ‘problems’ and ‘solutions’ surrounding language learning in that context are presented in public discourse. This, we conclude, has implications for the likely success of measures adopted to increase language learning uptake in that context.

Learners’ perceptions of being identified as very able: Insights from Modern Foreign Languages and Physical Education

While learners’ attitudes to Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) and to Physical Education (PE) in the UK have been widely investigated in previous research, an under-explored area is learners’ feelings about being highly able in these subjects. The present study explored this issue, among 78 learners (aged 12–13) from two schools in England, a Specialist Language College, and a Specialist Sports College. Learners completed a questionnaire exploring their feelings about the prospect of being identified as gifted/talented in these subjects, and their perceptions of the characteristics of highly able learners in MFL and PE. Questionnaires were chosen as the data collection method to encourage more open responses from these young learners than might have been elicited in an interview. While learners were enthusiastic about the idea of being highly able in both subjects, this enthusiasm was more muted for MFL. School specialism was related to learners’ enthusiasm only in the Sports College. Learners expressed fairly stereotypical views of the characteristics of the highly able in MFL and PE. The relevance of these findings for motivation and curriculum design within both subjects is discussed.

The development of the passé composé in lower-intermediate learners of French as a second language

In this study we tracked the development of the passé composé in second-language learners of French whose first language is English. Although the passé composé is a highly used tense among native speakers of French and it appears to present particular difficulty for first-language English speakers, its second-language development has been surprisingly under-researched. In order to trace developmental patterns of the passé composé we obtained a corpus of obligatory context use of this tense by 30 Year-12 (lower-intermediate) students at two time points six months apart and analysed the data both quantitatively and qualitatively. Our findings suggest that these students used remarkably few memorized formulas, that they passed through five distinct stages in their acquisition of the passé composé, that those early stages were characterized by transfer errors, and that the presence of the auxiliary, whether correct or incorrect, formed a crucial stage in the development of the tense. Theoretical explanations for the findings are presented together with some tentative pedagogical implications.

Research into practice: Listening strategies in an instructed classroom setting

This paper considers research and practice relating to listening in instructed classroom settings, limiting itself to what might be called unidirectional listening (Macaro, Graham & Vanderplank 2007 ) – in other words, where learners listen to a recording, a TV or radio clip or lecture, but where there is no communication back to the speaker(s). A review of the literature relating to such listening reveals a tendency for papers to highlight two features in their introductory lines: first, the acknowledged importance of listening as a skill underpinning second language (L2) acquisition more broadly, and second, the relative paucity of research into listening compared with the skills of speaking, reading or writing. In the last ten years or so, however, there has been a growth in the number of studies conducted in the field, as evidenced in Vandergrifts review in 2007 and Vanderplanks more recent overview ( 2013 ). Consequently, my view is that it is possible to identify from that research certain key principles in relation to listening within instructed settings, particularly regarding listening strategies.

Selective listening in L2 learners of French

This paper considers the issue raised in 2008 by Gillian Brown in her article ‘Selective listening’ regarding whether nouns are ‘privileged’ in memory over verbs during listening tasks, and whether attention to nouns, at least in the early stages of L2 learning, is a desirable strategy to be taught to learners, as Brown suggests it might be. The question of verb/noun recognition was explored in the present study using data from 30 lower-intermediate learners of French in England. Learners completed a listening task on two occasions, six months apart, producing recall protocols for short oral passages in French. We also explored learners’ attentional strategy use by asking them to report on this in writing immediately after the recall task. An analysis of verbs and nouns recognised indicated that verb recognition was lower than that of nouns, and that progress in verb recognition over six months was negligible. A qualitative analysis of learners’ strategy use indicated that learners with a more balanced verb/noun recognition profile took a broader focus, tending to focus their attention consciously at phrase/sentence level rather than at word level. These findings are discussed in terms of the development of listening skills over time, and the implications of this for L2 listening pedagogy.

What Teachers Say About Listening and Its Pedagogy: A Comparison Between Two Countries

In this chapter, the authors compare teaching practices between teachers in Brazil and England by exploring their beliefs about and justifications for using certain listening activities in the classroom. Findings are discussed in relation to strategy development and the role of metacognition. The authors also address the issue of teaching and learning how to listen in contrast to teaching and learning listening task management.