Graphics and Listening Comprehension

Résumé

How effective are graphics as lecture comprehension supports for low-proficiency ESL listeners? In an experiment conducted with 103 college-level Asian students, a group that heard an audiotape while looking at a page with an organizational graphic performed better on a comprehension test than a control group (no words or graphics provided), whereas the participants in two vocabulary conditions (one with vocabulary from the lecture listed in alphabetical order and the other with vocabulary listed in the order in which the words occurred in the text of the mini-lectures) performed no better than the control group. The findings indicate that the graphics enhanced listening comprehension. Suggestions for using graphics to teach academic listening skills are provided.