Seventeenth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge, and Society

Abstract

Input enhancement is commonly used to signal methods that an instructor uses to make selected features of a second language more salient for learners in such a way as to facilitate acquisition (Sharwood Smith 1991, 1993). The present study investigated the effects of two kinds of input enhancement, namely input enhancement plus interaction (IEI) of references and input enhancement without interaction (IE) of references, on EFL learners’ listening comprehension. To this end, forty-five intermediate EFL learners were randomly divided into three groups, two of which received different versions of the treatment and the other group received commonly run listening instruction. In IEI group, the audio dialogues were transcribed, different kinds of reference relations were typographically highlighted and the learners were encouraged to negotiate and sort out any ambiguities regarding locating anaphoric relations within listening comprehension tasks. The reference relations were presented using meta-talk approach. The IE group did the same except that no interaction was allowed. The control group followed their regular listening classes. All three groups received pre- and post-listening comprehension tests which were similar in format, content, length, and difficulty level. Through independent t-tests and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), it was found that the IEI group outperformed the other two groups. Moreover, the IE group did better than the control group. Finally, this paper discusses how material writers and EFL teachers can integrate interactive input enhancement of anaphora to facilitate EFL learners’ listening comprehension.