How Much Videos Win Over Audios in Listening Instruction for EFL Learners

ABSTRACT

This study aims at comparing the benefits of using videos instead of audios for improving students’ listening skills. This experimental study used a pre-test and post-test control group design. The sample, selected by cluster random sampling resulted in the selection of 32 second year high school students for each group. The instruments used were listening tests and observation sheets. The test results were analyzed by applying paired-samples t-test, while the items in the observation sheets were analyzed by calculating their means. The results of the t-tests (sig. 2-tailed) were 0.000 for both the video and the audio groups, showing that the scores obtained by students in both groups improved significantly. However, the video group improvement was over 2.5 times higher than the improvement in scores of their audio counterparts. In terms of the instructional processes, the mean scores obtained by the video group were significantly higher than those from the audio group for all observed aspects, i.e. motivation, responses, teamwork and participation. Based on these results, it can be concluded that using video materials is more effective in terms of both the output and the process. Therefore, teachers are recommended to use video materials instead of their audio counterparts for teaching listening skills.