| Current System of Listening Comprehension | | | | For a Tuesday / Thursday class a portion of |
| Laboratory Attendance | | | | Thursday's class would be held in the listening |
| In the current IDI, or Institute of Languages of | | | | laboratoryo Allow for listening comprehension |
| the Santiago de Cali University system | | | | practice sessions using lab materials in class by |
| "independent" EFL students, that is those learners | | | | special arrangement thus aiding in lowering of the |
| who are not registered in a university career | | | | students' Affective Filter (Krashen and Terrell, |
| program, are "exempted" from listening laboratory | | | | 1993) |
| attendance. In my opinion, this is a serious error | | | | Listening Comprehension Study Results |
| that negatively impacts on the English language | | | | Studies conducted over a period of five |
| skills of registered university students and | | | | semesters, two and a half years, from the three |
| independent English as a Foreign Language | | | | partial exams given during each semester clearly |
| students alike. Listening comprehension is a | | | | demonstrate that students who regularly attend |
| language skill which cannot be explicitly taught as | | | | the minimum required number of listening |
| elaborated on in "What Makes Listening Difficult?". | | | | laboratory hours (four per partial exam period and |
| (Lynch, 2005) This also ultimately results in several | | | | a total of 10 for the semester) achieve |
| ongoing problems.o Students are given the | | | | consistently higher listening comprehension scores |
| message that laboratory attendance is | | | | than students with little or no listening laboratory |
| unimportanto Students do not actively pursue any | | | | attendance. |
| form of development of their listening | | | | Those students who attend a disproportionately |
| comprehension skillso Students undergo increasing | | | | higher number of listening laboratory sessions |
| difficulty with listening comprehension in class, on | | | | consistently have the highest scores on the |
| quizzes and examso Student do not feel a need | | | | listening comprehension portion of the partial |
| to practice listening skills using the cassettes or | | | | exams. During the last, and previous semesters, |
| CDs when outside the class environmento | | | | students have attended as many as 35 listening |
| Students often arrive at intermediate and upper | | | | laboratory sessions on their own time during the |
| levels with woefully inadequate listening | | | | course of the semester. Independently conducted |
| comprehension skillso The quality of English | | | | studies during the 2003B, 2004A, 2004B, 2005A |
| language learning is moderately to severely | | | | and 2005B semesters have unequivocally borne |
| impacted by students' decided lack of listening | | | | out these results. (Lynch, 2004) |
| comprehension skillso Since speaking skills and | | | | The graphed results of mean and mode listening |
| listening comprehension skills are inter-related, | | | | comprehension exam section results clearly |
| albeit disproportionately, speaking skills | | | | indicate three distinctive trends:o Series 1 Blue - |
| development can likewise be negatively impacted, | | | | higher general scores for students with higher |
| under-developed or otherwise diminished in | | | | than average listening comprehension laboratory |
| capacity | | | | attendanceo Series 2 Purple - a broader range of |
| Due to these aspects, among others, I disagree | | | | exam scores than the blue series but with few |
| with the policy of automatically "exempting" | | | | failing students and no students with excessively |
| independent IDI students from listening laboratory | | | | low scoreso Series 3 Orange - a full range of |
| attendance. It may be better perhaps to | | | | listening comprehension exam section scores with |
| implement the following strategies into current IDI | | | | scores from all correct down to zero, or none |
| policy. | | | | correct. In addition, about half of the students |
| Possible Solutions for Independent Students | | | | have failing scores. |
| In consideration of the fact that often | | | | This being the case, it appears to be obvious that |
| independent students may be time-pressured due | | | | mandating listening laboratory attendance across |
| to employment, family responsibilities, health and | | | | the full spectrum of IDI students would result in |
| other commitments solutions could be to:o | | | | benefits for both the quality of learning and the |
| Encourage listening laboratory attendance upon | | | | English language skills of the students. Especially in |
| early arrival , or if possible, on another dayo | | | | the listening comprehension skills of a large |
| Schedule special listening comprehension practice | | | | percentage of LEP, or Limited English Proficiency, |
| sessions in the laboratory or library at the request | | | | students who are now enrolled in English classes. |
| of the studentso Allow listening laboratory | | | | By effectively addressing the listening |
| attendance sessions to be conducted during class | | | | comprehension skills of EFL students, any |
| hours - i.e., for a Monday, Wednesday, Friday | | | | language institute can inherently improve the basic |
| class a portion of Friday's class could be held in | | | | English language skills of its students. |
| the listening laboratory | | | | |