USING ‘LISTENING’ AS A PRE-READING ACTIVITY IN THE READING CLASSES

1. USING ‘LISTENING’ AS A PRE-READING ACTIVITY IN THE READING CLASSES Hülya IPEK Anadolu University

2. INTRODUCTION • “Providing information about the content of a reading selection before students read provides them with opportunities to gain new knowledge, as well as recall already existing knowledge, which they can take with them into their reading experience, and this knowledge facilitates successful comprehension (Gebhard, 1987)”.

3. Readers with high prior knowledge: have well-developed schemata, or knowledge structures (Voss, Vesonder, and Spilich, 1980) interpret information from the text more quickly comprehend and recall a text better (Kiefer, Post, Greene, and Voss, 1988; cited in Afflerbach, 1990) are better in identifying and stating the main idea of a text when the main idea is implicit (Afflerbach, 1990)

4. previews pretests short class discussions eliciting introduction and discussion of vocabulary pictures, graphs, and other illustrations predictions about the text based on the text title or illustrations Pre-reading stage (Gebhard, 1987; Gower and Walters,1983; Jecksembieyva, 1993)

5. listening task based on phonological code recognition (Chela-Flores; 1993) aim → have students recognize the phonological code of the English language argument → once students recognize the phonological code of the English language their comprehension of the reading text increases listening tasks based on the content of the script and the immediate needs of vocabulary and pronunciation listening to a story (McCarthy; 1995) aim → have students listen to a story they were later going to read argument: → reduce anxiety about the reading process → promote the development of learning strategies that can be applied to reading material, →create positive reading experiences → enjoyable break from the intensive academic listening activities Using listening in the pre-reading stage:

6. PROBLEM • oral class discussions with the aim to build background knowledge were favored • listening rarely was used as a means to building background information • listening in the pre-reading stage was used but not to buildbackground knowledge • few studies focusing on the use of listening in the pre-reading stage to build background knowledge • worthwhile to study the effects of listening as a pre-reading activity on reading comprehension

7. Listening tasks (Harmer, 1991): • Listening to confirm expectations • Listening to extract specific information • Listening for communicative tasks • Listening for general understanding • Listening for details

8. RESEARCH QUESTION Between Group Differences 1. Is there a difference between the total scores of subjects when listening is used as a pre-reading activity or when a class discussion is used as a pre-reading activity? Within Group Differences 1. Is there a significant difference in the total scores of Group A in Texts 1,3,5 (preceded by a listening extract) and Texts 2,4,6 (preceeded by a short class discussion)? 2. Is there a significant difference in the total scores of Group B in Texts 1,3,5 (preceded by a short class discussion) and Texts 2,4,6 (preceded by a listening extract)?

9. METHODOLOGY Subjects • 30 students • upper-intermediate level of language proficiency (Michigan Placement Test – 61-75pts.) • enrolled in the English Preparatory Program • Between the ages of 17-20

10. Material The reading and listening material used in thisstudy were: • selected from course books especially designed for students at the upper-intermediate level • on similar topics • lenght of reading texts was 350 to 450 words • listening extracts were between 2 to 3 minutes. • no interest survey was given to the students • topics were: crime - burglary, natural disasters, health, food, pain killers, sex discrimination

11. Procedures6 reading texts were usedaccompanying pre-reading activities: a short class discussion or listening for specific information • cross experimental design

12. In the group where a listening activity was used; students were asked to listen to an extract relevant to the topic to be read while listening, students answered questions on the listening extracts (written form) students listened to the extract three times activity lasted for 10 minutes answers to the questions were collected by the teacher and were not discussed in class In the group where a short class discussion was used students were asked some guiding questions to express their thoughts and ideas on the topic guiding questions required information similar to the information provided in the listening extracts question and answer procedure was carried out for 10 minutes whole activity was carried out orally pre-reading stage

13. during-reading stage • reading text was handed out • students were given 10 minutes to read the text • students were given 20 minutes to answer the comprehension questions • question sheets together with the answers were collected by the teacher after-reading stage • answers to each question were discussed as a class

14. Data Analysis • each 6 text was followed by 15 questions • number of questions answered correctly were determined • difference between the scores of the groups in comprehending each reading text  t-test for independent samples. • difference between the scores within the groups  t-test for correlated samples.

15. RESULTS • Between Group Comparison of Test Results0.05 taken as basis • Within Group Comparison of Test Results 0.05 taken as basis

17. Within Group Comparison Of Test Results

18. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS Between group results • no difference in comprehension of a reading text when either listening for specific information or a short class discussion is used as a pre-reading activity between groups •  the use of listening, in this case listening for specific information, as a pre-reading activity can be suggested •  using listening in the pre-reading stage is as effective as using speaking / a short class discussion, in the pre-reading stage

19. Within group results • both groups scored higher in the tests designed for texts where listening for specific information was used as a pre-reading activity than in tests designed for texts where a short class discussion was used •  the interest factor might have played a role in comprehension •  subjects might have had some already existing background knowledge on these topics •  using listening (listening for specific information) in the pre-reading stage might increase comprehension

20.  for variety use listening in the pre-reading stage •  might support the improvement of students listening skills

21. THANK YOU! hipek@anadolu.edu.tr