The effects of using video texts supported with advance organizers and captions on Chinese college students' listening comprehension: An empirical study

Listening plays a significant role in the language acquisition process and in communication, and ifs development as a key second/foreign language skill has gradually become of chief concern to language teachers and scholars. Applying high technology to furthering language learning is becoming commonplace. Most language teachers acknowledge that videos expose students to authentic materials and aid the identification of words and the clarification of unfamiliar cultural concepts. This study compares listening comprehension rates for video texts using a variety of techniques: advance organizers; captions; a combination of both; and none of the foregoing. The subjects of the study were 170 students at Ming-Hsin Institute of Technology, Hsinchu, Taiwan. They viewed four different video segments each attended with one of the four above-listed treatments, and a Latin square design was used to collect data. After each viewing, a set of ten multiple-choice items was administered to examine comprehension rates. The results showed that more effective comprehension occurred when using the combination of techniques than when using any one singly. Furthermore, they revealed that captions on videos best helped bridge the competence gap between reading and listening and enhanced language learning. The implications of the results for the use of video for listening comprehension are discussed.