A Comparative Study Of The Effects Of Audio And Video On Listening Comprehension

A traditional listening test is to assess the ability to decode verbal information. However, with the rapid advancement of technology, audio-visual information has widely been used in listening. The addition of visual information makes a listening activity a process of decoding not only verbal exchanges, but visual ones. The effect of visual information on listening comprehension has always been the focus since ever. Many researchers have made a conclusion from their studies that audio-visual information has a positive impact on listening comprehension. But there are many problems in these studies, among which some researches do not have any theoretical foundations, or make any clear distinction between the types of video, or make any classification among the subjects. This paper, based on the dual-coding theory and cognitive load theory, bears the purpose of finding out the effects of the audio-visual information on listening comprehension, and hence focuses on the following two matters:(1) the effects of both audio and audio-visual information on listening comprehension;(2) the effect of audio-visual information on listening comprehension among different levels of test-takers.There are 86 non-English majors who have participated in the present experiment. The experiment includes two parts, namely a listening comprehension test and a questionnaire. There are 20 multiple choices, 3 audio materials and 3 video materials in the listening test. The questionnaire, consisted of 10 statements, has been conducted to investigate the attitudes of test-takers towards video. The duration of this experiment lasts 30 minutes.The results show that:(1) content video can aid listening comprehension, and significant difference is found in the comparison with audio;(2) there is no significant difference in the effects of content video on different proficiency students.It is also discovered from the questionnaire that most students are holding a favorable attitude towards video. The reasons are concluded as follows: video may help students get more information by filling in the missed information from pictures or visuals; video may help students make guesses of unfamiliar words or even answers by providing speakers’ facial expressions, gestures and event context; the combination of both visual and verbal information may help students remember and recall more information. In addition, based on dual coding theory and cognitive load theory, students may process and integrate input information through dual paths and under reasonable cognitive load, and the dual path information becomes complementary to each other, so understanding has been improved. These findings might have a positive implication in the design of listening teaching plan and listening test.