This study aimed to investigate the test-taking strategies needed for successful completion of a lecture-based listening test by employing self-reported test-taking strategy use, actual strategy use measured via eye-tracking, and test scores. In this study, participants' gaze behavior (measured by fixation and visit duration and frequency) were…

While many tools exist to assess student content knowledge, there are few that assess whether students display the critical listening skills necessary to interpret the quality of a speaker's message at the college level. The following research provides preliminary evidence for the internal consistency and factor structure of a tool, the…

This study sought to examine the effects of pre-listening tasks in promoting the listening comprehension ability of Iranian English foreign language (EFL) learners. To undertake the study, Sixty-three female EFL university students were chosen to engage three task-based activities namely, podcast, video and topic preparation tasks. They were first…

It is vital to understand the listening problems students face in a foreign language (FL) classroom. In the current study, students were provided with options to identify these problems. Twenty-eight A1 level Turkish secondary school students worked in pairs and had autonomy to control the audio while listening. While dialogic exchanges…

With the advent of new technologies, assessment research has adopted technology-based methods to investigate test validity. This study investigated the neurocognitive processes involved in an academic listening comprehension test, using a biometric technique called functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Sixteen right-handed university…

This study investigated U.S. undergraduates' perceptions of non-native speakers' (NNS) speech which had received 100% proficiency scores on the TOEFL iBT test. Fifty-five U.S. undergraduates rated 20 speech samples for comprehensibility, accentedness, and acceptability. The speech samples were also analyzed for acoustic fluency. Descriptively,…

Despite the pervasive nature of podcasts, little research has examined college student's affinity for and motivations to listen to podcasts. This study investigated college students' motivations, attitudes and behaviors in association with podcasts utilizing the appreciative listening framework in conjunction with uses and gratification theory.…

The term culturally cognizant listening is introduced as nonjudgmental, active listening style taught with self-reflection and perspective-taking behaviors using a service-learning pedagogy. Given the climate of societal discord on topics of diversity, there is an increased need to enhance listening skills. The purposes of this thematic analysis…

This exploratory study quantitatively assesses the behavioral components of listening as enacted through silence and grounds that analysis in the framework of culture as shared listening cognitive constructs. We analyzed the listening practices in video-recorded focus group interactions to determine whether quantifiable listening behaviors…

The present study investigated the extent to which four pre-listening activities, "pre-teaching vocabulary", "content discussion", "pre-reading questions" and "topic discussion," assisted EFL learners with their performance on listening comprehension tests across two different proficiency groups (elementary…

Humanistic psychology is grounded in dialogic communication and existentialist phenomenology, involving a relational philosophy and experientialist methodology. Its relative neglect within listening research is canvased before exploring the praxis of Gestalt therapy -- a humanistic psychotherapy -- which models integration of philosophy, theory,…

There is a growing consensus that the ability to understand and process visual information should be part of the second language (L2) listening construct; however, the findings of studies exploring the use of visuals in L2 listening assessment contexts remain inconclusive. To better understand the underlying reasons for these inconclusive results,…

In this study, we used the Rasch measurement to investigate the fairness of the listening section of a national computerized high-stakes English test for differential item functioning (DIF) across gender subgroups. The computerized test format inspired us to investigate whether the items measure listening comprehension differently for females and…

The influence of individual difference variables on second language (L2) listening comprehension has been an area of research that has been gaining renewed attention in recent years. The current study investigated the effects of two cognitive variables, aptitude and metacognitive awareness, on 107 native-Korean, English as a foreign language…

This study aims to investigate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' use of context information under various noise conditions. The participants were seven Japanese undergraduate students. A noise test adopted from the Speech-Perception-in-Noise (SPIN) test (Kalikow et al., 1977) was used. Four signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions (SNR =…