Listening Comprehension as a Complex Skill and the Sub-Skills Involved in the Process of Speech Perception

The skill of listening comprehension (LC) has been studied and discussed by many scholars, who have made it quite clear that it is one of the most influential and important skills that we depend on in learning and communication. However, many language teachers and course designers belittle it as a passive skill among the other three universally understood skills; and if any concentration is given to it, it is far from being sufficient for real improvement. Teachers rarely depend on any objective observation of what the process of speech perception really involves. Not only this. but what is mentioned in most of the discussions related to this issue underestimates the importance of the skills (or sub-skills) involved in LC (i.e. what the listener is expected to do as he listens). This paper is intended to draw attention to the various skills (or sub-skills) of LC. They are those decisions made at the higher levels of LC, they relate to the listeneris ability to make certain judgments about the whole input or to reply to it. The following taxonomy is based on a survey made of the LC sub-skills in the literature

Note taking in English lectures: A study of Omani EFL university students

Note Taking (NT), also Note-Taking or Note-Making, while listening (or from lectures) is one of the most widespread and frequent activities among students at universities and colleges in any field of study. In EFL classes, in spite of the common use of NT from lectures, this skill is sometimes regarded as passive and secondary to learning. This study is an investigation of some aspects related to the way Omani EFL university students at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) take notes during lectures delivered in English as well as the effectiveness of these notes, i.e. the usefulness of these notes in capturing the important information in lectures. Training in NT is also addressed in this study. Two groups of students were involved in this study: an experimental and a control group. The former group was involved in an intensive two-hour NT workshop after which their notes of a lecture were compared with previous notes taken before the workshop to study the changes in the NT strategies used. In contrast, the control group did not participate in the NT training; their notes were merely compared with those of the experimental group to study the NT strategies used by the two groups. This investigation involves the study of both qualitative and quantitative data taken from the students' lecture notes. In addition to studying the sample's notes, interviews and questionnaires were used to learn about the students' experience in NI and their opinions and attitudes regarding their NI skills by questioning their purpose of NI, the methods they use to take notes, and the factors they believe affect NT. Results indicate that the sample's lecture notes are effective reproductions of the important information in the lectures they attended, for a good number of students were able to record more than 'one-third' of the important information units in the lectures which is what Hartley and Cameron (1967), among others, consider a 'reasonable' and 'generous' amount to expect to find in lecture notes. Also, simple training in NT was found to help students improve their NT strategies and habits

Note takingg in English lectures: A study of Omani EFL university students

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Note taking in English lectures: A study of Omani EFL university students

Note Taking (NT), also Note-Taking or Note-Making, while listening (or from lectures) is one of the most widespread and frequent activities among students at universities and colleges in any field of study. In EFL classes, in spite of the common use of NT from lectures, this skill is sometimes regarded as passive and secondary to learning. This study is an investigation of some aspects related to the way Omani EFL university students at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) take notes during lectures delivered in English as well as the effectiveness of these notes, i.e. the usefulness of these notes in capturing the important information in lectures. Training in NT is also addressed in this study. Two groups of students were involved in this study: an experimental and a control group. The former group was involved in an intensive two-hour NT workshop after which their notes of a lecture were compared with previous notes taken before the workshop to study the changes in the NT strategies used. In contrast, the control group did not participate in the NT training; their notes were merely compared with those of the experimental group to study the NT strategies used by the two groups. This investigation involves the study of both qualitative and quantitative data taken from the students' lecture notes. In addition to studying the sample's notes, interviews and questionnaires were used to learn about the students' experience in NI and their opinions and attitudes regarding their NI skills by questioning their purpose of NI, the methods they use to take notes, and the factors they believe affect NT. Results indicate that the sample's lecture notes are effective reproductions of the important information in the lectures they attended, for a good number of students were able to record more than 'one-third' of the important information units in the lectures which is what Hartley and Cameron (1967), among others, consider a 'reasonable' and 'generous' amount to expect to find in lecture notes. Also, simple training in NT was found to help students improve their NT strategies and habits

News Values on Instagram: A Comparative Study of International News

This study employs the news values theory and method in the examination of a large dataset of international news retrieved from Instagram. News values theory itself is subjected to critical examination, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses. Using a mixed method that includes content analysis and topic modeling, the study investigates the major news topics most ‘liked’ by Instagram audiences and compares them with the topics most reported on by news organizations. The findings suggest that Instagram audiences prefer to consume general news, human-interest stories and other stories that are mainly positive in nature, unlike news on politics and other topics on which traditional news organizations tend to focus. Finally, the paper addresses the implications of the above findings