3.6 Schedule and Procedures of the Study
3.6 schedule and procedures of the study
the pilot study took three weeks, and the schedule is shown in table 9 below.
table 9 schedule of the pilot study
the procedures for each listening week (week 2 and week 3) were:
step 1: the teacher gave out an information transfer task sheet and asked the participants to enter their names (2 minutes) ;
step 2: the participants listened to a text with the following varied procedures for different groups:
the participants in group a listened to the text just once at a moderate speed and accomplished the task sheet while listening (4 minutes) ;
the participants in group b listened to the text three times at different speeds and accomplished the task sheet while listening. the first time listening was at a slow speed; the second time at a moderate speed; and the third time at a fast speed. according to griffiths (cited from ellis, 1994, p.274), a slow speech rate is 94-107 words per minute (wpm) or about 180 syllables per minute (spm) ; a moderate speech rate is 143-164 wpm or 270 spm; and a fast speech rate is 191-206 wpm or 360 spm. (11 minutes in total) ;
the participants in group c listened to the text three times and accomplished the task sheet while listening, just as group b did. besides, before the listening, according to the clues from the information transfer task sheet and the topic of the upcoming listening task announced by the teacher, the participants spent 5 minutes working in pairs on a topic-familiarization activity, which included brainstorming, guessing, and discussion on the listening topic to produce a schema about the topic (16 minutes in total). it should be noted that in the topic-familiarization activity, the teacher did not expose the participants to any of the target words but only the topic of the listening text.
step 3: the teacher collected the information transfer task sheet from the participants (2 minutes) ;
step 4: the teacher gave out the form test sheets. the participants wrote their names and finished the test. the teacher collected the test sheets (5 minutes) ;
step 5: the teacher gave out the reception test sheets. the participants wrote their names and finished the test. the teacher collected the test sheets (5 minutes) ;
step 6: the teacher gave out the production test sheets. the participants wrote their names and finished the test. the teacher collected the test sheets (5 minutes).
the pilot study took three weeks, and the schedule is shown in table 9 below.
table 9 schedule of the pilot study
the procedures for each listening week (week 2 and week 3) were:
step 1: the teacher gave out an information transfer task sheet and asked the participants to enter their names (2 minutes) ;
step 2: the participants listened to a text with the following varied procedures for different groups:
the participants in group a listened to the text just once at a moderate speed and accomplished the task sheet while listening (4 minutes) ;
the participants in group b listened to the text three times at different speeds and accomplished the task sheet while listening. the first time listening was at a slow speed; the second time at a moderate speed; and the third time at a fast speed. according to griffiths (cited from ellis, 1994, p.274), a slow speech rate is 94-107 words per minute (wpm) or about 180 syllables per minute (spm) ; a moderate speech rate is 143-164 wpm or 270 spm; and a fast speech rate is 191-206 wpm or 360 spm. (11 minutes in total) ;
the participants in group c listened to the text three times and accomplished the task sheet while listening, just as group b did. besides, before the listening, according to the clues from the information transfer task sheet and the topic of the upcoming listening task announced by the teacher, the participants spent 5 minutes working in pairs on a topic-familiarization activity, which included brainstorming, guessing, and discussion on the listening topic to produce a schema about the topic (16 minutes in total). it should be noted that in the topic-familiarization activity, the teacher did not expose the participants to any of the target words but only the topic of the listening text.
step 3: the teacher collected the information transfer task sheet from the participants (2 minutes) ;
step 4: the teacher gave out the form test sheets. the participants wrote their names and finished the test. the teacher collected the test sheets (5 minutes) ;
step 5: the teacher gave out the reception test sheets. the participants wrote their names and finished the test. the teacher collected the test sheets (5 minutes) ;
step 6: the teacher gave out the production test sheets. the participants wrote their names and finished the test. the teacher collected the test sheets (5 minutes).