7.3.1　Theoretical Implications

7.3.1TheoreticalImplications

Allthree-timelearnerssignificantlyoutscoredtheirone-timepeersinlisteningcomprehensioninthestudy.Thisfindingimpliesthatlowproficiencylearnersneedtimetoprocessinputforlisteningcomprehension.Forlistenerswithhighproficiency,onetimeinputmaybesufficientifthelisteningtextiseasy,butforlow-proficiency-levellistenerstheirlisteningcomprehensionispoorevenafterseveralrepetitionsofthetexts,andthisisparticularlytruewhenthetextisdifficultorthelistenersareunfamiliarwiththecontent.Listenerswithlimitedlinguisticskillstendtomakeuseofbottom-upprocessingwhenlisteningandthusfocusmoreonthesounds,syllablesandwordstobuildupinformationfromtheinput.Toachievethis,timeisthecrucialfactor.Learnersofthekindinvestigatedinthisstudyclearlyneedadequatelisteningtimeandthiscanbeachievedbypresentingthemwithrepetitionsofthelisteningtexts.O'BryanandHegelheimer(2009)arguedthatrepeatedlisteningallowslearners“tobuilduptomorecomplexbottom-upprocessingstrategies,namelyusinglexicalandgrammaticalrelationshipstocomprehendtheinputandutilizetheinformationgainedfromthetexttomakemeaning...havingtheopportunitytorepeatthetextiswhatfacilitatedthecreationofaframeworkthatresultedinamorecoherentsummarythesecondtime”(p.26).Withmoreexposuretothelisteningtexts,learnersareabletocarryoutthebottom-upprocessingonwhichtheyrelyforcomprehension.

Schmitt(2008,p.339)arguedthatfrequencyofexposureandadequatetimetoprocesslexicalitemswillfacilitatevocabularylearning.Thefindinginthepresentstudythatthelearnerswholistenedthreetimesoutperformedtheone-timelistenersinvocabularyacquisitionsuggeststhattimeisalsoacrucialfactorforprocessinginputforincidentalvocabularyacquisition.Theavailabilityofprocessingtimeenableslearnerstoattendtothelinguisticaspectsoftheinput,whichisanecessaryconditionforlearningnewwords.Especiallywhenvocabularyisacquiredasaby-product,learnershavelimitedtimetoattendtolexicalitemsastheyareprimarilyconcernedwithmeaningratherthanform.Moreover,inanincidentallearningcontext,thenumberofexposurestothetargetwordsmaybeverylimited(withthemaximumbeingonlysixexposuresinthisstudy),makingitverydifficultforthelearnerstoestablishform—meaningmapping.AccordingtoBarcroft(2002),themindhasafiniteprocessingcapacity,andanyattentiongiventomeaningwilldiminishtheresourcesavailableforattentiontoform,andvice-versa.Webb's(2007)studyofincidentalacquisitionfromreadingshowedthat“iflearnersmeetunknownwordstentimesincontext,sizablelearninggainsmayoccur.However,todevelopfullknowledgeofawordmorethantenrepetitionsmaybeneeded”(p.64).Consideringthenatureanddifficultyoflistening,incidentalvocabularylearningfromlisteningtasksmayrequireevengreaterwordexposure.

Thefactthatnosignificantgroupdifferenceswereobservedamongthethree-timelisteninggroupsinthestudyindicatesthatthemetacognitiveawarenesstrainingwasnoteffective.Thoughlearnersmayfeeltheneedtousethestrategiesimmediatelyafterthetraining,ittakestimeforthemtobeabletoimplementthem.Infact,oneofthethreekeyprinciplesforsuccessfulmetacognitiveinstructionidentifiedbyVeenmanetal.(2006:9)was“prolongedtrainingtoguaranteethesmoothandguaranteedmaintenanceofmetacognitiveactivity”.Long-termtrainingallowslearnersopportunitiestoproceduralizethelearnedstrategies.Inordertoachieveautomaticstrategyuse,learnersneedtoregularlyapplythetaughtstrategies,outsidetheclassroomaswellasinside.