Nobuhiro Kumai

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第2言語習得において、これまでのところリスニング能力を高めるための様々な方法が開発され試行されてきているが、近年の研究によれば、特に英語のリスニングによる理解の際には、短縮や脱落、連結、同化、弱化といった英語特有の音声変化に関する知識の習得が、音声の知覚や意味理解を促進する上で大きな役割を果たしていると考えられている（Brown & Hilferty, 2006）。本実践研究ではその音声変化現象に注目し、リスニング時における音声知覚と意味理解を高めるための方法について、授業内で実際に行った指導について詳述する。具体的には英語のリスニング能力を高めるため、一定期間英語学習者に対して英語の音声変化に重点を置いたリスニングの訓練を行ったが、本稿ではそのリスニング指導の効果を測定するため、事前および事後テストを行い、リスニング能力の伸長度を比較することによって、この実践の有効性について述べる。ただし、実際の授業参加者が少なく（n=12）、統計的な分析をするためのデータが十分ではないことから、ここでは音声変化の習得を促進するために授業で行った実践と、簡易的に得られたリスニングの伸張度についてのデータ、および、その分析について論ずることとする。それに加えて、一連の授業の最後に学習者に対してこの指導法に関するアンケート調査を行い、当該の英語学習者のリスニング能力にどのような変化が生じたかや、こうした学習方法がどのように捉えられたかについてデータを収集し分析を行った。

English Central is an online English language learning program, which provides learners with a website featuring a variety of short authentic video footage designed to improve listening, speaking, pronunciation, and vocabulary. Students used this program in and out of the classroom for a year with the aim of improving their listening ability. The current paper aims to investigate how much the online learning activities this program offers improved the learners' listening ability and affected their perceptions about listening. Five students participated in this study. Their listening ability was measured in pre- and post-tests to identify improvements resulting from the intervention. It was found that the overall listening comprehension score improved in the post-test. A descriptive analysis was also conducted in this study through observation and an online survey. The results show that the students liked the online learning program and they wanted to continue studying with this technologically enhanced learning tool, as it gave them meaningful and enjoyable learning experiences.

This article deals with updates on VoiceShadow, a Moodle plug-in designed to enable students to easily record audio while "shadowing," where they can listen to a model audio and simultaneously record their own speech without reading the text. It allows self-, peer-, and teacher- evaluations, and supports the recording of multiple audio files and user commenting. Since recordings are sorted by student names, it enables teacher and students to easily follow a series of speaking assignments, encouraging interaction. With the latest version of the VoiceShadow plug-in, students can conduct shadowing practice not only on computers, but also on mobile devices. It also has a built-in feature that transcribes speech by utilizing Google Speech API. Many English learners are not always confident about whether they can make themselves understood by native English speakers. One way to help determine how well their speech might be understood is to use a speech recognition engine of this sort. It is hoped that this latest plug-in will be helpful to those who want to improve their listening and speaking ability by performing shadowing practice in foreign language courses.

This paper reports on the development of a new Moodle module called "MediaBoard," which is designed to upload and share graphic content online with ther classroom participants. A series of graphic postings with voices recorded either on a mobile device, such as an iPad and Android tablet, or on PCs, can be shared and evaluated within a Moodle course, encouraging interactions among students and instructors in the target language. This version of MediaBoard includes functions such as making and sharing questions about posted content, and feedback in the form of comments and rubrics. However, it was found that there are still compatibility issues with some mobile devices. It is hoped that this module can help students express their own ideas, reflect on their output skills, and develop them further in foreign language courses.

This paper reports on the latest development of a Moodle module called "VideoBoard," which is designed to upload and share video content. Video postings recorded either on a mobile device, such as an iPad or Android tablet, can be shared and evaluated within a Moodle course, encouraging interaction among students and instructors. This latest version of VideoBoard includes functions such as feedback in the form of rubrics and better compatibility with mobile devices. It is hoped that this module can help students reflect on their output skills and develop them further in speaking and presentation-based courses.

application/pdf 研究報告

In order to enable leaners to practice shadowing online with Moodle, a module called VoiceShadow was developed by the authors in 2010. In shadowing practice, learners listen to sample speech in the target language and then repeat or shadow the spoken language. In this module, learners can record their own shadowing voices online and compare the model sounds with their own on a computer. This module also allows them to compare their recordings with those of other participants. In this way, they are able to perform self-monitoring, and evaluate each other in Moodle environment.\ However, this module can only be used on computers, not on mobile devices such as iPhones and iPads, which are getting immensely popular especially among college students. Therefore, in this present project, a new Moodle module and a mobile app were developed for use on both PCs and mobile devices. Learners are now able to practice shadowing online at their conviniense. It is hoped that they will be able to enhance their listening and speaking abilities by usuing the new software.

Since several studies reported the effectiveness of shadowing training, shadowing has been put to use at every level of English classrooms in Japan in recent years to improve listening comprehension skills. However, methods for improving learners' listening skills have not been fully examined. In order to explore a more effective way for teaching listening through shadowing, this study utilizes an online shadowing module (Wimba VoiceBoard) with which participants can record their own shadowing voices and compare the model sounds with their own in order to make sure that shadowing practice is conducted in an appropriate way. This online module also allowed them to compare their own recordings with those of other participants. In this way, they were able to perform self-monitoring, and evaluate each other in their learning community. This shadowing-oriented class was conducted for ten months. CASEC tests were administered to the participants before and after implementation of the listening program in order to ascertain whether the participants might have benefited from the shadowing activities. The test scores show that there was a significant difference between the pre- and posttests. The results suggest that students will enhance their overall English ability as well as their listening ability by way of online shadowing practice. A questionnaire was given to participants to determine their attitudes toward the class activities and the program's effectiveness. Finally, some suggestions are made for future improvement of the shadowing program.

To improve listening comprehension skills in English, it goes without saying that the learner needs to be exposed to as much spoken English as possible. However, at university level the time available for listening is often limited because of the large number of classes students need to take. In this study, to maximize the time for listening to English on the part of the students, and to encourage them to find time outside of their busy schedules to continue listening to English, mp3audio players were allotted to each class participant for a course lasting 10 months. During the course, the students practiced listening and shadowing in the Moodle environment. Each participant's listening time was submitted to the Learning Management System and could be tracked as necessary by the teacher. CASEC tests were administered before and after implementation of the listening program in order to ascertain what benefits might have occurred from the frequent use of portable audio players in and out of class. The test results show that there was a significant difference between the pre- and post-test scores. It can be argued that listening ability will improve when maximizing time for listening practice by way of frequent use of audio players is put into practice. Additionally, a survey was administered to the participants to determine their attitudes toward using portable audio players for this project, and their personal self-evaluations of the program's effectiveness. It was found that the participants enjoyed using audio players and kept listening to English as much as they could. They also reported that they seem to be able to understand better and feel more confident than before when they listen to English. Finally, suggestions were made for improvement of the project in the future.

One of our greatest challenges as English teachers is how to facilitate the development of learners'comprehension skills， especially listening in English for effective communication． This can be accomplished by designing interactive multimedia self－study materials and putting them on the Net． This paper describes how multimedia web materials have been put to use in enabling students to review their English lessons as well as reinforce their comprehension skills any time， anywhere as long as they are connected to the Internet． A number of self－study lessons have been developed using authoring programs such as StreamAuthor and Hot Potatoes． In these materials， students watch streaming videos synchronized with explanations about the English lessons， and then work on the exercises provided for self assessment． It is hoped that students will benefit from this self－1earning environment to reinforce their knowledge as well as enhance their comprehension skills through these online materials．