Based on the assumption that good decoding skills constitute a bootstrapping mechanism for reading comprehension, the present study investigated the relative contribution of the former skill to the latter compared to that of three other predictors of reading comprehension (listening comprehension, vocabulary and phonemic awareness) in 392 French-speaking first graders from low SES families. Thi...

Listening comprehension is at the heart of language learning (Kurita, 2012). It is an importantlanguage skill to develop in terms of second language acquisition (SLA) (Dunkel, 1991; Rost,2001; Vandergrift, 2007).In spite of its importance, L2 learners often regard listening as themost difficult language skill to learn. In this study, shadowing as an act or task in listening, inwhich the learner...

The present study investigated the extent to which accent sensitivity provides the foundation for lexical knowledge and listening comprehension for Japanese university students learning English as a foreign language (EFL). On an English accent correctness (i.e., YES/NO response) decision task, 63 participants showed considerably high accuracy and speed in identifying correctly-accented nouns (8...

BACKGROUND The literature suggests that a complex relationship exists between the three main skills involved in reading comprehension (decoding, listening comprehension and vocabulary) and that this relationship depends on at least three other factors orthographic transparency, children's grade level and socioeconomic status (SES). This study investigated the relative contribution of the predic...

this article reports on the findings of a study that investigated the impact of manipulating task performance conditions on listening task performance by learners of english as a foreign language (efl). the study was designed to explore the effects of changing complexity dimensions on listening task performance and to achieve two aims: to see how listening comprehension task performance was aff...

PURPOSE To investigate parameters related to fluency, reading comprehension and phonological processing (operational and short-term memory) and identify potential correlation between the variables in Dyslexia and in the absence of reading difficulties. METHOD One hundred and fifteen students from the third to eighth grade of elementary school were grouped into a Control Group (CG) and Group w...

The current study was designed to investigate the role played by verbal memory in the advantage shown by individuals with Down syndrome in reading over listening text comprehension (Roch & Levorato, 2009). Two different aspects of verbal memory were analyzed: processing load and coding modality. Participants were 20 individuals with Down syndrome, aged between 11 and 26 years who were matched f...

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of applying task-based activities on students’ listening comprehension improvement. It also aimed at providing evidence to show how shifting from a traditional language teaching approach into the TBLT approach can positively affect the process of learning listening skill. To do this, 80 participants were selected from three English language in...