1.3.4　Relationships among the Three Constructs

1.3.4RelationshipsamongtheThreeConstructs

Learnerswithhighlisteningproficiencyarelikelytomakeextensiveuseofcontextandemploytop-downprocessinginlistening.Proficientlistenerskeepmonitoringtheirlisteningprocess.Whenmeetinganunknownwordwhilelistening,theygenerallyemployinferencingandareflexibleinthecombinationoftop-downandbottom-upprocessing,whichisareflectionofhighermetacognitiveawarenessandbettermetacognitivestrategycontrolanduse.Onthecontrary,listenerswithlowproficiencytendtomakeuseofmorebottom-upprocessinginlisteningandthusattendprimarilytothesounds,syllablesandwordstobuildupinformationfromtheinput.Inotherwords,lessproficientlearnersarelikelytoemploy,especiallywhenencounteringlisteningdifficulty,superficialandineffectivestrategiessuchastranslation.Research(e.g.,Goh,2002b;Smidt&Hegelheimer,2004;Vandergrift,1997b&2003a)investigatingtherelationshipbetweenlisteningcomprehensionandmetacognitivelisteningawarenesshasshownsomepositiveresultsreportingacloseandpositiverelationshipbetweenthetwoconstructs.

Incidentalvocabularyacquisitionoccursthroughlisteningaswellasthroughreading.ManyL2learners,likefirstlanguage(L1)learners,relyonauralinputastheprimarysourceofinformationaboutthetargetlanguage.Throughlisteningtheylearntoidentifytheformsandsometimesmeaningsofnewlexicalitems,whichtheythenrememberandinduecoursecometousethemselves.Listeningplaysanimportantroleinthelanguagelearningprocessasitprovideslearnerswithinputwhichtheycanusetoacquirenewlanguageandalsoconsolidatethepartiallyacquiredknowledge.Inreturn,withincreasedlexicalknowledgeobtainedfromlisteningtexts,learners'listeningcomprehensionwillbefacilitated,thoughtheeffectmaynotbeinstant.Therefore,listeningcomprehensionandincidentalvocabularyacquisitioncanmutuallyfacilitateeachother.

Whenproficientlearnersmeetwithanunknownwordinlistening,theywillneedtoemployinferencingstrategiestoguessthemeaningofthewordbyusingsuchcluessuchascognatewordsandcontextualclues.Theythenlearntoidentifytheformsofwordsthroughbuildingauditoryimages.Inaddition,theymaybeabletoidentifythemeaningofanewlexicalitemthroughinferencing.Theselearnersmaythenrememberthenewword,andinduecourse,cometouseit.Therefore,metacognitivelisteningawarenesspotentiallycanfacilitateincidentalvocabularyacquisitionfromlistening.This,however,ismorelikelytooccuriflearnerspossessthenecessaryproficiencytoengageeffectivelyinbottom-upprocessing.

Thoughtherelationshipsamongthethreeconstructsaretheoreticallygrounded,theyneedfurtherinvestigationtoprovideproof.Tothebestoftheauthor'sknowledge,nopreviousstudyhasinvestigatedtheinterrelationshipsamongthethreeconstructs.