7.1　The Aim, Background and Methodology of the Study

7.1TheAim,BackgroundandMethodologyoftheStudy

ThecurrentstudyaimedtoinvestigatethedifferentialeffectsoffourlisteningconditionsonChineseuniversityEFLlearners'listeningcomprehensionandtheirincidentalvocabularyacquisitionfromlistening.ItalsoaimedtoexaminetherelationshipsbetweenChineseuniversityEFLlearners'metacognitivelisteningawareness,listeningcomprehension,andincidentalvocabularyacquisition.

Theparticipantsofthestudywere172first-yearChineseuniversitystudents,andthefourdifferentlisteningconditionswere:(a)listeningtextspresentedonlyonetime;(b)listeningtextspresentedthreetimes;(c)five-minuteschema-raisingtrainingbeforelisteningthreetimes,and(d)five-minuteinferencingtrainingbeforelisteningthreetimes.

Fourlisteningtextsalongwithfourtasksweredesignedtochecktheparticipants'comprehension.Eachtextcontainedfivetargetwordsinordertoinvestigateincidentalvocabularyacquisition.Tochecktheparticipants'incidentalacquisitionofthetargetwords,immediateanddelayedvocabularyposttestswereadministeredtotheparticipantsintheorderofproduction,form,andreception.Theparticipants'metacognitivelisteningawarenesswasmeasuredbymeansofVandergriftetal.'s(2006)MetacognitiveAwarenessListeningQuestionnaire(MALQ),whichmeasuressuchfiveaspectsofmetacognitivelisteningawarenessasplanning-evaluation,directedattention,personknowledge,mentaltranslationandproblemsolving.ANOVAswereemployedtoexaminetheeffectsofthedifferentlisteningconditionsontheparticipants'listeningcomprehensionandincidentalvocabularyacquisition,andPearsonCorrelationswereusedtoinvestigatetherelationshipsbetweentheparticipants'metacognitivelisteningawareness,listeningcomprehension,andincidentalvocabularyacquisition.