A Comparison of Tests of Recall as Measures of Foreign Language Listening Comprehension

Date
1986
Authors
Pinsent, Philip John
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University of Hawaii at Manoa. Department of English as a Second Language.
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Abstract
A comparison of three conditions of partial dictation (PD) recall – immediate recall (C1), transclausal recall (C2) and post-lecture recall (C3) – administered, along with post-lecture quizzes, to fifty-three ESL students revealed no significant correlations with either the PAT or the TOEFL (LC), but C1 and C2 did correlate with post-lecture quizzes which were very low in reliability. Scores on these quizzes were affected by recall condition. Reliability for PD was high in all three conditions, C2 having the highest. Scores on the recall tasks differed by condition and by item position, significant effects being revealed for both, as well as for the interaction between them. C1 scores showed a recency effect, due perhaps to modality, but in the other two conditions item position scores were more even across all four positions with some primacy effect evident. Mean scores for C3 were very low, however. While the relationship between partial dictation and global listening comprehension remains problematic, the lack of a primacy/recency effect typical of serial recall indicates that complex processing of ongoing discourse is required for the PD recall tasks. As a research tool for investigating particular features of intake (as compared to input), the transclausal recall condition looks especially promising. A comparison of three conditions of partial dictation (PD) recall – immediate recall (C1), transclausal recall (C2) and post-lecture recall (C3) – administered, along with post-lecture quizzes, to fifty-three ESL students revealed no significant correlations with either the PAT or the TOEFL (LC), but C1 and C2 did correlate with post-lecture quizzes which were very low in reliability. Scores on these quizzes were affected by recall condition. Reliability for PD was high in all three conditions, C2 having the highest. Scores on the recall tasks differed by condition and by item position, significant effects being revealed for both, as well as for the interaction between them. C1 scores showed a recency effect, due perhaps to modality, but in the other two conditions item position scores were more even across all four positions with some primacy effect evident. Mean scores for C3 were very low, however. While the relationship between partial dictation and global listening comprehension remains problematic, the lack of a primacy/recency effect typical of serial recall indicates that complex processing of ongoing discourse is required for the PD recall tasks. As a research tool for investigating particular features of intake (as compared to input), the transclausal recall condition looks especially promising.
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dictation, recall, immediate recall, esl students, modality, listening comprehension
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99 pages
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