Hsin-Cheng Wang
Cheng-hua Hsiao
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the effects of advance organizers on Taiwanese middle school students’ English listening comprehension after they watched videos. The participants were 82 eighth-graders in Taiwan, and they were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a control and two experimental groups. Two language proficiency levels- low-to-medium and high- were created. One advance organizer, comprising text aids, was used in experimental group 1, whereas two advance organizers, comprising text aids and visual aids in experimental group 2 were used. The results revealed a significant difference between the three groups among participants with high English proficiency. A difference approaching significance also existed between high-proficiency participants in terms of percentage accuracy in two types of comprehension tests, one comprising general questions and the other comprising specific/inferential questions. Participants’ attitudes and perceptions toward video watching and advance organizers were highly favorable. The participants in the two experimental groups experienced a lower cognitive load than did those in the control group. The findings imply that advance organizers serve as effective scaffolding, especially for middle school students who are highly proficient in listening comprehension. However, participants with low-to-medium proficiency may be initially unreceptive to the advance organizers used because they may impose an excessive cognitive load.
Key Word: advance organizers, listening comprehension, cognitive load
