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The shape of a word: single word characteristics’ effect on novice L2 listening comprehension

  • Allie Patterson ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 30. Juni 2022
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Applied Linguistics Review
Aus der Zeitschrift Applied Linguistics Review Band 15 Heft 2

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to expand upon available research which quantifies the relationship between single word characteristics and L2 listening comprehension. The effect of single word characteristics on L2 listening have been mostly studied in isolation in past research. Furthermore, little research exists on listening comprehension during the first years of L2 acquisition. To begin filling this gap, 172 English L2 novice participants were administered an isolated phrase transcription test in which participants must quickly attempt to transcribe phrases of four to five words they hear only one time. The independent variable word characteristics in this study were part of speech, phrasal position, word length, frequency, and Minkowski3 sensorimotor norms, an embodiment semantic variable. Word transcription probability (i.e., whether a word was transcribed or not) was analyzed using Rasch analysis and hierarchical linear mixed effects regression. Part of speech and phrasal position did not significantly predict word transcription probability. Word length, frequency, and Minkowski3 sensorimotor norms significantly predicted transcription probability. The findings of this study have implications for the creation of listening texts and theoretical models of L2 listening comprehension.

Keywords: embodiment; frequency; L2; listening; word length
Corresponding author: Allie Patterson, Musashi University, 1-26-1 Toyotamakami, Nerima-ku, 176-8534, Japan, E-mail:
Appendix

Test form

これから、14 個の英文を聞いてもらいます。それぞれの英文は一回ずつしか聞くことができません。それぞれの文には、4∼5 個の単語が含まれます。テスト用紙に、聞き取った英文を書き込んでください。スペルがわからない場合も、聞こえた英語の音に近いものを書いてください。記入する時間は、それぞれ 20 秒ずつあります。20 秒が終了すると、ブザー音が聞こえます。

You are now going to listen to 14 English phrases. You will hear each phrase only 1 time. Each phrase contains four or five words. Write down the English words you hear on this test form. If you do not know the spelling of a word, write down the closest equivalent to the sound you heard. You will have 20 s to write each phrase. You will hear a buzzer sound at the end of the 20 s.

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Received: 2021-09-26
Accepted: 2022-06-17
Published Online: 2022-06-30
Published in Print: 2024-03-25

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2021-0157
Schlagwörter für diesen Artikel
embodiment; frequency; L2; listening; word length

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Research Articles
  3. ELF- or NES-oriented pedagogy: enhancing learners’ intercultural communicative competence using a dual teaching model
  4. “You can’t start a fire without a spark”. Enjoyment, anxiety, and the emergence of flow in foreign language classrooms
  5. “You have to repeat Chinese to mother!”: multilingual identity, emotions, and family language policy in transnational multilingual families
  6. On the influence of the first language on orthographic competences in German as a second language: a comparative analysis
  7. Validating the conceptual domains of elementary school teachers’ knowledge and needs vis-à-vis the CLIL approach in Chinese-speaking contexts
  8. Agentive engagement in intercultural communication by L2 English-speaking international faculty and their L2 English-speaking host colleagues
  9. Review Article
  10. Illuminating insights into subjectivity: Q as a methodology in applied linguistics research
  11. Research Articles
  12. Making sense of trans-translating in blogger subtitling: a netnographic approach to translanguaging on a Chinese microblogging site
  13. The shape of a word: single word characteristics’ effect on novice L2 listening comprehension
  14. Success factors for English as a second language university students’ attainment in academic English language proficiency: exploring the roles of secondary school medium-of-instruction, motivation and language learning strategies
  15. LexCH: a quick and reliable receptive vocabulary size test for Chinese Learners
  16. Examining the role of writing proficiency in students’ feedback literacy development
  17. Confucius Institute and Confucius Classroom closures: trends, explanations and future directions
  18. Translanguaging as decoloniality-informed knowledge co-construction: a nexus analysis of an English-Medium-Instruction program in China
  19. The effects of task complexity on L2 English rapport-building language use and its relationship with paired speaking test task performance
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