Investigating the efficiency of listening skills tasks in NorthStar second edition vis a vis new headway

No Thumbnail Available
Date
2016
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
university of Oum El Bouaghi
Abstract
Research in the field of teaching listening skills brought multiple tools and materials that aim at improving the process of listening in particular, and language learning in general. One of the most beneficial and innovative materials used in teaching the listening skill is known as "north star second edition Textbook". Therefore, the present study is an attempt to test the efficiency of NorthStar manual in enhancing the listening capacities of foreign language learners. In addition, it tried to compare this american audio program with another british program used at Mila center university known as "New Headway". On these bases, it is hypothesized that the listening episodes of north star audio program would improve learners' speech decoding skills. Furthermore, the study rests on the assumption that north star is richer and more diverse than the New Headway in terms of developing the listening and speech decoding skills. In order to fulfill the aim of the study and check the validity of the hypotheses, a quasi experimental design was used. The participants assigned to the quasi experiment are forty students from the english department at Mila Center University, representing the experimental and control group. The former received the listening episodes of the north star textbook along with different types of listening comprehension activities. However, the control group participants were exposed to the "New Headway" student's book. The descriptive and inferential analyses of the results reveal a statistically significant improvement in the experimental group results. In other words, the findings of the study show that the use ofNorthStar manual ibrought about positive outcomes in terms of learners' listening skills. As a result, foreign language teachers, in particular Mila university teachers, can make use of this textbook in oral expression classes at first year university level.
Description
Keywords
Teaching : listening : NorthStar manual
Citation