熊井 信弘

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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.