Improving Listening Skills in English as a Foreign Language by Reading Rather than Listening: A Cognitive Load Perspective

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Applied Cognitive Psychology

Publication Date

5-1-2012

Abstract

This study investigated the consequences of simultaneously reading and listening to the same materials when learning English as a foreign language. During acquisition, native Arabic-speaking university students were asked to learn some English words and sentences either by reading them or by simultaneously reading and listening to the same spoken material. Following acquisition students were given reading, writing, and listening tests. The findings from the three experiments indicated that participants exposed to reading alone performed better on listening tests than participants exposed to a reading and listening condition. No differences were found on the reading and writing tests. The results, discussed within a cognitive load theory framework, suggest that at least some categories of learners will enhance their listening skills more by reading the materials only rather than simultaneously reading and listening. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

ISSN

0888-4080

Publisher

Wiley

Volume

26

Issue

3

First Page

391

Last Page

402

Disciplines

Education

Keywords

adult, Arab, article, cognition, English as a second language, female, hearing, human, human experiment, male, normal human, priority journal, reading, skill, theory, university student, writing

Scopus ID

84861224354

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

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