Computer-Assisted Language Learning for Improving Students’ Listening Skill

Abstract

Applying the appropriate teaching method plays an important role in the teaching/ learning process including teaching listening as a skill. The listening skill is one of the four most important and difficult skills to be taught in EFL. Students are facing a difficulty either in understanding native speakers or in producing native-like English (accent/pronunciation). They are also unprepared to function in the new world. And as a third point, in most classes students are unmotivated and act as passive listeners. This study aims to demonstrate that the use of CALL (Computer-Assisted Language Learning) is an effective method to enhance students’ motivation hence their performance in listening. A pre-test/post-test methodology design was used.Thirty students from first year level at Mohamed Kheider University were subjects of the experiment during a period of one semester. The experiment consisted of exposing two groups fifteen each, randomly sampled, to a set of activities but using different methods,one of them CALL. Results have been driven through statistical analysis. Using Statistica Softaware, the mean in performance was clearly different between the control group and the experimental one. The data gathered and analyzed have driven us to good scores reflecting active listeners (fully involved in the process) in motivated classes beacuse they were not just exposed to an aural environment but also a visual one. By the end, we can say that CALL is a motivating method and computers are worthwhile tools to be used in second/foreign language classes to develop students’ listening skill