Abstract:

The present research reports the findings of three experiments which explore how subtitles and advance organizers affect EFL learners' listening comprehension of authentic videos. EFL learners are randomly assigned to one of two groups. The control group receives no treatment and the experimental group receives the experimental conditions of one type of scaffolds—subtitles, unaided advance organizers and teacher-guided advance organizers. Results show that the presence of subtitles and advance organizers help EFL learners' listening comprehension of CNN news. However, there is no relationship between English proficiency and the experimental conditions. All students benefit from the scaffolding regardless of proficiency levels. Students' attitude towards certain type of scaffold is also probed and the reason why Taiwan's EFL learners prefer certain type of scaffold is also explained.

Author: Hui-Yu Yang