How to teach listening? The impact of rapid oral reading and repeating practices on TOEIC listening score
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Abstract
Given the recent the shifts in English education policy by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan (MEXT) to educate global citizens with high English competence and high TOEIC scores, identifying effective listening pedagogies seems an impending issue at the college level EFL classes in Japan. As Japanese students are struggling more in listening to English sentences than reading, this paper explores 1) how to teach listening skills in L2 among Japanese college students by exploring a theory regarding speech perception (Motor Theory of Speech Perception), and 2) if pedagogical practices that are in alignment with the theory (in-class rapid oral reading and repeating practices) lead to students’ significant TOEIC listening score differences or not. Research participants are college students taking English classes and they are asked to take TOEIC exam at the end of the semester. The paper compares, contrasts and analyzes the scores of students to explore if these pedagogical practices are effective in raising TOEIC listening scores or not. The research result indicates that engaging in in-class rapid oral reading and repeating practices results in higher TOEIC listening scores. Based on the research result and given the limitation of the research, the paper also identifies the area that requires further researches to make these pedagogical practices further effective at the college level EFL classes in Japan.