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A review of the validity of second language listening research
Author
Miao, Xuanye
Supervisor
Aryadoust, Vahid
Abstract
Second language (L2) listening comprehension assessments have been widely adopted in researching and teaching and the evaluation of L2 listening has received much attention. However, there have been limited retrospective reviews of the validity of the extant L2 listening comprehension research.
To have a comprehensive understanding of L2 listening assessment research, a total of 126 studies published from 1997 to 2021 were reviewed in the present study. I specifically focused on the characteristics of tests, the themes of L2 listening assessment research, and the validation of tests by using the argument-based validation framework (Kane, 2006, 2013). The papers were coded based on a coding scheme consisting of 27 variables classified into seven groups: administrative information, research purpose, test information, textual feature of test, participant information, inferences of validity, and results.
The results showed that standardized listening assessments were widely used by l2 listening researchers. The characteristics of tests were found to be heterogeneous in studies. Regarding the theme of L2 listening assessment research, five research themes were identified in this area, including individual features, features of the context and stimuli, mixed themes, instruction and environment, as well as validity and uses of tests or questionnaires. A disproportionate number of studies were found to provide evidence to support the validation inferences of tests. It is concluded that the L2 listening assessment research is an underresearched area and especially the effects of topical knowledge, affective characteristics and listening input type need more research. Implications for future research are discussed.
To have a comprehensive understanding of L2 listening assessment research, a total of 126 studies published from 1997 to 2021 were reviewed in the present study. I specifically focused on the characteristics of tests, the themes of L2 listening assessment research, and the validation of tests by using the argument-based validation framework (Kane, 2006, 2013). The papers were coded based on a coding scheme consisting of 27 variables classified into seven groups: administrative information, research purpose, test information, textual feature of test, participant information, inferences of validity, and results.
The results showed that standardized listening assessments were widely used by l2 listening researchers. The characteristics of tests were found to be heterogeneous in studies. Regarding the theme of L2 listening assessment research, five research themes were identified in this area, including individual features, features of the context and stimuli, mixed themes, instruction and environment, as well as validity and uses of tests or questionnaires. A disproportionate number of studies were found to provide evidence to support the validation inferences of tests. It is concluded that the L2 listening assessment research is an underresearched area and especially the effects of topical knowledge, affective characteristics and listening input type need more research. Implications for future research are discussed.
Date Issued
2021
Call Number
P95.46 Mia
Date Submitted
2021