Adopting CALL to Improve Listening Comprehension of Iranian Junior High School Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference between two modes of teaching listening comprehension, computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and traditional mode, to Iranian junior high school students. It also aimed to investigate the role of teacher in CALL class. The study was an empirical one, which employed quantitative research methods. The data were collected from two classes including 60 female students studying in grade 8 in junior high schools in Dezful. These two classes were assigned as CALL group (30 students) and traditional group (30 students). The class of CALL was held at the computer site in Maktab Zeinab junior high school and the traditional group received instruction in a conventional way in Bideli junior high school. Two classes were taught by the same teacher and covered the same materials in their weekly four-hour listening lesson over two months. The data came from listening test, pre- test, post-test and observation. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and T-test (paired sample t-test and independent sample t-test) was run. The results indicated a significant difference between the traditional and CALL modes. Therefore, it seems that the CALL mode is more efficient than the traditional in the improvement of students’ listening comprehension skill. Based on the observation, the researchers concluded that the nature of the EFL teacher’s role changed in CALL class when compared with the traditional class.