The effects of knowing basic English phonological phenomena on EFL learners' listening comprehension proficiency

Kim, Dong Kyoo

Article

Journal of English Teaching through Movies and Media 2007;8(2):1-19.
Published online December 30, 2007.

The effects of knowing basic English phonological phenomena on EFL learners' listening comprehension proficiency

Dong Kyoo Kim

기본적인 영어 음운현상 숙지가 EFL 학습자들의 영어듣기 능력에 미치는 영향

김동규

Abstract

The purposes of this study are to examine EFL college students' affective attitudes toward listening comprehension and to explore the effects of knowing basic English phonological phenomena on listening comprehension. A total of 70 EFL college students were divided into two groups, an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group received instruction in which traditional English lessons were replaced by English lessons that involved explaining basic English phonological phenomena during some portions of the instruction. The results of the study showed that the students' level of interest toward English listening comprehension was the highest among four affective domains whereas the students' level of confidence was found to be the lowest out of the four domains. Results also revealed that the students from the experimental group showed better performance on the listening test than the students from the control group over the thirteen-week period of the treatment. These results suggest a need for explaining basic English phonological phenomena in classrooms to help EFL learners to enhance their listening comprehension proficiency. Several applications are discussed based on the findings of this study.

Key Words: pronunciation;phonological phenomenon;listening comprehension