Using Recorded Short Stories to Improve Listening for Details in Seventh

Graders

Yazmín Lisseth Pinto Sánchez2 Universidad Técnica de Machala Machala, Ecuador yazminps@hotmail.com

María Rossana Ramírez Ávila1 Universidad Casa Grande Guayaquil, Ecuador mramirez@casagrande.edu.ec

Tatiana Gabriela Pineda Guzmán3 Colegio de Bachillerato Machala Machala, Ecuador tatypineda85@hotmail.com

Lisseth Priscila Cabanilla García4 Escuela de Educación Básica “Combate de Pilo” Machala, Ecuador lcabanilla1990@hotmail.com

Abstract

This innovation was carried out in a public school in Ecuador. The main objective was to improve seventh graders’ ability to listen for details by using recorded short stories. Quantitative and qualitative methstudents participated in this project during their English classes. The pre and post-test results, the students’ answers to the focus group interview, and their responses in the survey answer the research questions. Pre-test data showed that students had many problems identifying spe- indicated a Cohen’s d revealed that the use of appropriate techniques and materials improved the listening for details. This research should be read by teachers who want to improve students’ communicative skills, especially listening for details.

Keywords middle school, techniques.

Introduction

Listening activities are challenging for English as a Foreign Lanno previous activities like activating prior knowledge, assisting students in identifying the purposes for listening, and using well-structured speaking comprehension because most of the learning programs only pay atten- most students do not understand the target language due to traditional practices, especially during listening activities, because of their inability to concentrate. ularly when students learn how to listen to English, have similar and ability, accompanied by gestures, facial expressions, or signs, helps the listener to recognize other speakers’ mood or position in the converaccording to the students’ level and the teachers’ techniques. Most EFL learners want to understand the target language and develop their productive skills. In order to achieve this, teachers need to try new methods and techniques to improve students’ language comprehension. Therefore, implementing recorded short stories during class can make their listening activities easier because students can retrieve them as many times as needed. scribe what students must know and be able to do as they move toward ring it. During listening, students should understand the main point of a listening strategies to help students solve their problems. Regarding

To carry out this standard, students need to acquire vocabulary during their learning process, which means that teachers need to change their teaching methods and techniques. Unfortunately, as Neuman and Wrightsible in the busy, multi-tasking environment of the classroom.

Claimed That The Communicative Approach Is The Method That Teachers

ers with solid bases. They established that English as a Foreign Language needs to be taught as a tool for communication, and listening has to be the nucleus of the teaching practice.

vanced listening teaching methods is a crucial factor. In current classes, students are accustomed to follow the teacher’s directions. Hence, it is important to involve students in the development of listening skills in class, asking for suggestions, and making students participate in class. ed out in his book, only a few teachers realized that the problem came from inadequate listening comprehension. That is why English instruction must address the relationship between pronunciation and listening comprehension. Listening skills give students more opportunities to practice the target language and their comprehension level. Voice recording is a helpful tool. It allows students to practice listening comprehension by listening to themselves or someone else, understanding the message, and then transferring the general idea of the message. There are many advantages of voice recording. One of them is that the audio can be played and repeated as many times as needed for the ers to have more processing time for comprehension and thus com- pressed that the exact repetition is considered as input enhancement, which may render the input salient, drawing L2 learners’ attention to nunciation, word stress, and accent when students are practicing their productive skills.

This action research was developed in a public school with EFL students from seventh grade in Pasaje, a city of El Oro province in Ec- about listening comprehension are reviewed. Therefore, innovation was applied to improve listening for details subskill and contribute to better communication.

Literature Review

Listening Skill

In the eyes of many researchers and learners of English, listening is a complex and active mental process that involves perception, at- the most neglected skills in second and foreign language classrooms, that listening is the receptive use of language, and since the goal is to make sense of the speech, the focus is on meaning rather than language. Thus, for students, listening means understanding what a teach- begins with listeners when they communicate with themselves while thinking, making decisions, or when they are engaged in any type of communicative activity. process of attending, perceiving, interpreting, remembering, and re- tening is used as a primary medium of communication and learning in language, one must be able to listen and comprehend. As listeners understand spoken language by listening, it is easier to improve their other cognitive development. This kind of recording promotes students being more expressive and develops language skills through vocabulary by using a fun environment.

Other kinds of recordings are fairy tales which are often used by consisting of text and pictures, in which the story depends on the interaction between written text and image and where both have been - dents than listening to their English teacher and to classmates telling a personal story and then answering with another story.