The Effect of Item Modality and Note-taking on EFL Learners’ Performance on a Listening Test

The pivotal role of listening comprehension in second/foreign language learning requires that researchers conduct studies which investigate factors that affect test takers’ performances. The present study was set out toexamine whether item modality (i.e., written vs. oral items) affects listening comprehension test performance. In addition, it investigated whether allowing test takers to take notes while listening would also affect theirperformances. To this end, two different tests, each containing 20 multiple choice items, were administered to 66 (35 female and 31 male) upperintermediate EFL learners. The first test was administered to look into therole of item modality, and the second test was employed to investigate the effect of note-taking. The application of independent samples t-tests to analyze the data revealed that that test takers performed better when theitems were provided in written rather than oral form, and that test takers’ performances did not differ significantly when they were allowed to take notes. More detailed findings and implications are discussed in the paper. Keywor

Keywords:

Item modality , note-taking , listening test , EFL