College students' listening comprehension strategies in a lecture situation

The present study was designed to ascertain what strategies college students used during the process of comprehending a videotaped lecture. Additional aims were to determine what the students recalled, to explore the relationships between recall and the strategies employed while comprehending, and to examine in what context such factors as prior knowledge and text structure play specific roles. An underlying assumption was that comprehension is a process about which inferences can be made by analyzing students' responses to expository aural text. Protocol analysis was the methodology employed.;Participants were 10 students enrolled in a college communications course. The videotape was interrupted at predetermined points that corresponded to the information units in the text; and students verbalized their thoughts at each interruption point. Responses were taperecorded, as were students' free recalls. Students also completed a background questionnaire. Response protocols were transcribed and coded within the category system established. Recalls were transcribed and scored for the presence or absence of the information units.;Findings showed that students exhibited wide variation as to the frequency and type of strategy used. A qualitative analysis of their responses demonstrated evidence of prior knowledge use and metacognitive functioning. The content and overall organizational structure of the lecture, as well as the context and purpose for listening, affected strategy use during comprehension and subsequent recall. Some strategies showed a stronger relationship to recall than others. Furthermore, students recalled more high level (main) than low level (subordinate) ideas. Some students exhibited a passive listening style, which was ineffective for detailed recall, while others demonstrated more active processing and more detailed, comprehensive recall.;The study has implications for educators in that it showed that while students use their prior knowledge as they interact with text, for some students the prior knowledge they possess on the topic can cause boredom and impede comprehension. Moreover, since the study demonstrates that all listeners do not receive information in the same way, it implicitly questions the effectiveness of the lecture method. Other potential studies with different content, populations, educational levels, and listening situations should be developed.