Studied aspects of listening comprehension skills in 107 second, fourth, and sixth graders in Finland using the Sentence Verification technique. Findings, comparable with previous research, show age-related improvement in listening comprehension for narrative, but not expository, passages. Cluster analysis produced four comprehension strategies.…

Reports an experiment contrasting word-onset gating with results when words were gated from their word endings. The study demonstrated a significant recognition advantage for words gated from their onsets. The overall results support the position that the perceptual advantage of word-initial information can be understood within a general…

A discussion of methods for exploiting oral recordings for classroom language instruction first presents general guidelines, then offers specific activities for using any oral document, and finally examines, in greater depth, the role of oral discourse in the development of foreign language communication skills. (MSE)

Tests the point of convergence of linguistic information from auditory and visual channels. Compares reaction times for auditory and visual stimuli consisting of sentences, syntactic nonsense strings, random words, and nonwords. Finds that listening and reading processing converge at the word level and that words processed aurally and visually…

Conducts a factor analysis to determine listening barriers perceived as most frequently affecting the listening effectiveness among business college students. Finds the presence of six listening barriers, with the barrier "listen primarily for details or facts" as the most frequently encountered barrier perceived by students. (MM)

Describes ELVES (Excite, Listen, Visualize, Extend, Savor), a read-aloud strategy designed to develop listening comprehension and maintain elementary school students' initial excitement about reading. (MM)

A study investigated the ability of second language learners of Spanish to simultaneously process form and meaning during input. The students' conscious attention to form competed with conscious attention to meaning, and it is suggested that learners could attend to form during the intake process only when input was easily understandable. (CB)

Describes the Listening Comprehension Exercise Network, a system that allows for the sharing of listening exercises in Russian via computer networks. The network, which could be emulated in other languages, alleviates the problem of time spent on developing essentially "throw-away" exercises. (21 references) (Author/CB)

Enormous potential exists for the transfer of listening comprehension theory to second language listening research. The need for such research is highlighted through an exploration of recurring themes in the literature on background knowledge and through application of these themes to second language listening comprehension. (CB)

Contrasts good and poor readers' text recall while listening and while reading aloud to determine if poor readers have a decoding problem, a comprehension problem, or both. Finds no significant difference in listening comprehension between good and poor readers for either easy or difficult texts. (MM)

Discusses the recent recognition of the importance of listening comprehension in Chinese language instruction, and how extensive listening comprehension exercises can drastically improve students' listening comprehension. Describes such learning strategies as tolerating the unknown, listening for specific information, listening for the main idea,…

Examines strategies that students use to signal comprehension problems in classrooms, specifically, requests for clarification. Finds strategies differ with regard to the type and amount of communicative effort required of participants. (MS)

Grosjean and Gee's prosodic structure theory is applied to second-language listening comprehension. It is argued that second-language students whose native language is syllable-timed do not have a mechanism to deal with unstressed syllables and must create one. The absences of this mechanism helps explain difficulties in listening comprehension.…

Uses hierarchical regression logic to isolate the relationship between wide reading and reading-related language development in 122 fourth graders. Finds that higher levels of wide reading were associated with stronger listening comprehension ability. Finds indirect evidence to suggest that wide readers may be increasing their listening…

This study examined the effect on comprehension of the number of propositions in a piece of spoken discourse, words per minute (WPM) rate, and presentation of pictures with the discourse. Results indicated better comprehension at lower WPM and when pictures were presented. No significant interactions were found. (14 references) (MES)