Innovation in Language Learning

Communication is a part of the language learning process. Yet listening assignments in language learning methods and tests are very uncommunicative. There is only input, no output and no possibility to steer input. The individualised use of ICT can give the language learner this possibility. We assume the results of listening tests amongst students would improve when we add: (1) the possibility to see the speaker, (2) the possibility to review, and (3) allowing students to control the video themselves. We expected to see improvemens for each step. We tested groups of students, who did listening assignments in four different ways: 1. Listening once without video with the teacher controlling the sound device. 2. Listening once with video video with the teacher controlling the video device. 3. Listening twice with video with the teacher controlling the video device. 4. Listening and watching a video on the computer that is controlled by the students himself, so he can pause, rewind, fast forward the video. The students did these listening assignments not necessarily in the above-mentioned order. All tests consisted of five multiple choice questions with four choices. In addition, we gave the students short surveys each time, to fill out immediately after the test. The survey consisted of five statements with answers ranging from fully agree to fully disagree. These five statements measured on the one hand the motivation for listening to a speaker in a foreign language and the fear that students might have in not understanding the speaker. We compared the test results of the four different testing methods and the outcomes of the four surveys to answer our question whether students would perform better for each step in the direction of more communicativeness in listening assignments. It turned out that this was not entirely the case. The test results were significantly better after adding repetition of the video and they became even better than that after giving students the possibility to control the video. However there was no significant difference between the results with audio only and with video. Contrary to our expectation adding video doesn’t lead to better understanding of the language used in the listening assignment. Adding video, however, did lead to an increase in the motivation of the students.  We saw no significant difference between step 2 and 3. Adding repetition improves the understanding of the language, but does not enhance the motivation for the assignment. Full control over the video for the student did not only lead to the best result, but was also most motivating for our students.