Effectiveness and utilization of audiovisual aids in english listening classes in China

Tong Junlin

Graduate School University of Baguio

Abstract

Nowadays, there is an apparent trend that the importance of listening skills is growing. In English teaching classrooms, listening is an essential skill that the students should master, especially for students whose mother tongue is not English, such as in China. Audiovisual aids are more effective for listening than other types of teaching media. This study investigates the effectiveness and utilization of using audiovisual aids in enhancing students’ English listening skills in China. For this purpose, the Quantitative-Qualitative research method is selected. The findings show that the use of audiovisual aids is moderately effective in improving students’ listening skills. Movies are the most effective audiovisual aids in enhancing students’ listening skills. The emotionally appealing as one of the aspects of listening skills is rated moderately effective. The teachers rely heavily on some aids that can be easily used, such as PPT  and pictures, instead of applying more effective audiovisual aids like movies. Although it is widely accepted that audiovisual aids greatly benefit English listening classes, there  are still some challenges the teachers should overcome. Therefore, an English training program is designed to help teachers better utilize audiovisual aids in the teaching of listening and the students’ listening skills.

Keywords: Audiovisual aids, listening skills, effectiveness, utilization, English teaching