Role of Bottom-up and Top-down Pre-listening Activities on Iranian EFL Students’ Listening Comprehension

AbstractPre-listening activity has a considerable role in improving listening comprehension. This research examined the effects of bottom-up and top-down pre-listening activities on Iranian EFL students’ listening comprehension. It also investigated the potential interaction effects of language prof...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Fatemeh Karimi, Azizeh Chalak
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, 2021-12-01
Series:Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://jmrels.journals.ikiu.ac.ir/article_1992_30f29d78a42e5360cbb1cf33c6b3f773.pdf
_version_ 1797829644216434688
author Fatemeh Karimi
Azizeh Chalak
author_facet Fatemeh Karimi
Azizeh Chalak
author_sort Fatemeh Karimi
collection DOAJ
description AbstractPre-listening activity has a considerable role in improving listening comprehension. This research examined the effects of bottom-up and top-down pre-listening activities on Iranian EFL students’ listening comprehension. It also investigated the potential interaction effects of language proficiency and gender with the treatments. Using the TOEFL (PBT) test, 270 learners were selected and grouped into three proficiency levels of elementary, intermediate, and upper-intermediate. At each level, 90 subjects were randomly distributed to one control (CG) and two experimental groups (EGs), each consisting of 30 learners. After giving the pretest, vocabulary preparation as a bottom-up pre-listening activity and content-related support as a top-down pre-listening activity were given to the two EGs for the treatment, but the learners in the CGs were demanded to listen to the audio tracks and go straight into the listening tasks without any pre-listening activities. The research lasted for six weeks and 12 sessions. At the end of the experiment, the posttest was given to the subjects to measure the effects of the treatments. The results revealed significant differences between the learners’ pretest and posttest performance. The analyses of the data confirmed the positive impact of both types of pre-listening activities on the listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners based on their proficiency levels. Further analyses revealed the interaction effects between proficiency levels and treatments. However, there was no interaction effect between the learners’ gender and the treatments. The findings of the study could help practitioners in the field to assign more practical tasks to improve the listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners.
first_indexed 2024-04-09T13:23:36Z
format Article
id doaj.art-c197fe5d29b94ff6b8320ecbf47313d6
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2676-5357
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-09T13:23:36Z
publishDate 2021-12-01
publisher Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin,
record_format Article
series Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies
spelling doaj.art-c197fe5d29b94ff6b8320ecbf47313d62023-05-10T20:02:20ZengImam Khomeini International University, Qazvin,Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies2676-53572021-12-0191537210.30479/jmrels.2020.12364.15361992Role of Bottom-up and Top-down Pre-listening Activities on Iranian EFL Students’ Listening ComprehensionFatemeh Karimi0Azizeh Chalak1English Department, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, IranEnglish Department, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan BranchAbstractPre-listening activity has a considerable role in improving listening comprehension. This research examined the effects of bottom-up and top-down pre-listening activities on Iranian EFL students’ listening comprehension. It also investigated the potential interaction effects of language proficiency and gender with the treatments. Using the TOEFL (PBT) test, 270 learners were selected and grouped into three proficiency levels of elementary, intermediate, and upper-intermediate. At each level, 90 subjects were randomly distributed to one control (CG) and two experimental groups (EGs), each consisting of 30 learners. After giving the pretest, vocabulary preparation as a bottom-up pre-listening activity and content-related support as a top-down pre-listening activity were given to the two EGs for the treatment, but the learners in the CGs were demanded to listen to the audio tracks and go straight into the listening tasks without any pre-listening activities. The research lasted for six weeks and 12 sessions. At the end of the experiment, the posttest was given to the subjects to measure the effects of the treatments. The results revealed significant differences between the learners’ pretest and posttest performance. The analyses of the data confirmed the positive impact of both types of pre-listening activities on the listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners based on their proficiency levels. Further analyses revealed the interaction effects between proficiency levels and treatments. However, there was no interaction effect between the learners’ gender and the treatments. The findings of the study could help practitioners in the field to assign more practical tasks to improve the listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners.https://jmrels.journals.ikiu.ac.ir/article_1992_30f29d78a42e5360cbb1cf33c6b3f773.pdfbottom-up pre-listeningcontent-related supportiranian efl learnerstop-down pre-listeningvocabulary preparation
spellingShingle Fatemeh Karimi
Azizeh Chalak
Role of Bottom-up and Top-down Pre-listening Activities on Iranian EFL Students’ Listening Comprehension
Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies
bottom-up pre-listening
content-related support
iranian efl learners
top-down pre-listening
vocabulary preparation
title Role of Bottom-up and Top-down Pre-listening Activities on Iranian EFL Students’ Listening Comprehension
title_full Role of Bottom-up and Top-down Pre-listening Activities on Iranian EFL Students’ Listening Comprehension
title_fullStr Role of Bottom-up and Top-down Pre-listening Activities on Iranian EFL Students’ Listening Comprehension
title_full_unstemmed Role of Bottom-up and Top-down Pre-listening Activities on Iranian EFL Students’ Listening Comprehension
title_short Role of Bottom-up and Top-down Pre-listening Activities on Iranian EFL Students’ Listening Comprehension
title_sort role of bottom up and top down pre listening activities on iranian efl students listening comprehension
topic bottom-up pre-listening
content-related support
iranian efl learners
top-down pre-listening
vocabulary preparation
url https://jmrels.journals.ikiu.ac.ir/article_1992_30f29d78a42e5360cbb1cf33c6b3f773.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT fatemehkarimi roleofbottomupandtopdownprelisteningactivitiesoniranianeflstudentslisteningcomprehension
AT azizehchalak roleofbottomupandtopdownprelisteningactivitiesoniranianeflstudentslisteningcomprehension