The Effect of Shadowing with Two Different Difficulties of Texts on Listening Comprehension and Metacognitive Strategies

Abstract

Despite extensive studies on the four skills, listening has been the least researched. Studies suggest a positive relationship between shadowing and improvement in listening skills and have identified useful metacognitive strategies, frequently used in listening. Shadowing is believed to affect a strategic aspect of listening. In what way shadowing influences strategies though has not been investigated yet. The aim of this study was to investigate whether text difficulty influences student progress in shadowing and how shadowing training affects learners' use of metacognitive strategies in listening. Twenty-six authentic passages of two different levels and a 15-item questionnaire were used. After teaching 13 lessons, data suggested improvements in listening proficiency with statistically significant differences in one group with less difficult texts. Some changes for the use of listening strategies have been identified.