Listening to audio-recorded speech in a foreign language : an investigation of playback behaviours as overt strategies

Abstract

Most studies of learner strategies rely on introspection as the principal method of data collection, particularly in the case of listening strategies, given the covert nature of listening processes. This study postulates that the operations performed by listeners on their machines while listening to recorded speech (stop, rewind, play) are overt behaviours that can be related to specific processes/strategies. Methods of investigation based on the notion of "playback listening" (PL) are proposed and evaluated through a set of three experiments. Subjects were undergraduate students registered on Spanish beginner courses in two British universities. Experiment 1 examined the strategies related to pausing in three conditions (no pauses, teacher-controlled, subject-controlled) using both observational and introspective data (N=39). Experiment 2 analysed the playback patterns and recall scores of 16 subjects in a listening test comprising two recordings and allowing free playback. Experiment 3 analysed the playback patterns and conversations between task partners while working in pairs (22 protocols) on different recordings using free playback. The methods described succeeded in establishing a number of specific relations between playback strategies and listening processes/strategies. Firstly, the pace of progression in a PL task indicates the quality and quantity of processing (controlled and/or automatic) that is taking place. Secondly, subjects had a tendency (which increased with input difficulty) to play the beginning of recordings more than the end. The most repeated segments were also the best recalled, and intensive repetition was shown to increase the frequency of bottom-up decoding. Thirdly, subjects typically approached tasks in a sequential manner, and the order of test questions partly affected playback strategy. Finally, a number of affective responses to input and task were found to occur before cognitive processing began in a PL task. Teaching recommendations are made on the basis of these findings.