The Effect of Recognition and Comprehension Test-types on Listening Comprehension at Junior High School

This present study investigated the effectiveness of two specific test-types of recognition and comprehension of EFL learners at junior high school. The method of the study was quasi-experimental with pre and post-test. 90 female students were selected at the National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) Junior High- School in Ahvaz participated in this study. They were randomly divided into three equal groups. After conducting a pre-test of listening, the first experimental group received listening tasks of recognition exercises and the second experimental group received listening comprehension exercises in the treatment period. The control group worked on the regular exercises of the listening textbook. Results showed that there was a significant difference between pretest and posttest in the recognition test-type group. However, results revealed no significant difference between the comprehension test-type group and the control group. Recognition test-type enhances the listening comprehension skill of learners and maybe a suitable alternative for traditional methods of teaching listening comprehension. Implications of the study suggest that recognition test-types an exercise may boost learners' recall of listening cues. The novelty of this study might be the use of the backwash effect (Weir, 2005) of testing on teaching listening comprehension among EFL Iranian learners at junior high school.

Keywords:

recognition test-type , comprehension test-type , listening comprehension