در دهة ۱۹۶۰ نئوكلاسيك هايي چون شولتز و بكر ايدة سرماية انساني را مطرح نمودند كه به واسطة آن اعضاي جامعه از طريق بهره گيري از آموزش به ويژه آموزش هاي فني و حرفه اي ميتوانند توانايي خود را تقويت كنند و موجب افزايش و تسهيل توليد شوند (پاكستون، ۹۲: ۱۹۹۲ ). از دهة ۱۹۸۰ به بعد مفهوم سرماية اجتماعي وارد ادبيات علوم اجتماعي به خصوص جامعه شناسي ميشود كه در شكل اوليه اش ابتدا توسط جاكوبز، بورديو، پاسرون و لوري مطرح مي شود. اما توسط كساني چونكلمن، بارت، پوتنام و پرتز بسط و گسترش داده می شود (وولکات ،۱۹۹۸:۱۵۹) . كلمن بر اهميت روابط اجتماعي و هنجارهاي مشترك در رفاه اجتماعي و كارآمدي اقتصادي تأكيد نموده اند. اقتصاددانان اغلب از چسبي كه جامعه را به هم همبسته نگه مي دارد با عنوان سرماية اجتماعي ياد مي كنند همچنین او سرمايه اجتماعي را به عنوان هـدف غـايي مطـرح و از آن بـه عنـوان ابـزاري بـراي حصول به سرمايه انساني ياد مي‌كند. از نگاه وي سـرمايه اجتمـاعي عبـارت اسـت از ارزش آن جنبه از ساختار اجتماعي كه به عنوان منابعي در اختيار اعضا قرار مي‌گيرد تا بتوانند به اهـداف و منافع خود دست يابند.

The idea of human capital was proposed by neoclassical scholars such as Schultz and Becker in the 1960s, through which members of the community could strengthen their ability to increase and facilitate production by the use of education, particularly technical and professional training (Pakstone, 1992:92). From the 1980s onwards, the concept of social capital has entered the social sciences literature, especially sociology, which in its original form was first raised by Jacobs, Bourdieu, Passron and Laurie. It was then expanded and extended by those of Chucklemon, Barth, Putnam, and Peretz (Woolkot, 1998:159). Coleman emphasizes the importance of social relationships and common norms in social welfare and economic efficiency. Economists often refer the glue keeping the society together to the social capital. He also mentions social capital as the ultimate goal serving as a tool for achieving human capital. From his perspective, social capital is defined as the value of the social structure’s aspect which serves as a reference available to members in order to achieve their goals and interests.

An Investigation into the Relationship between Iranian High school EFL Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence and their Self-efficacy

Hamid Reza Hashemi Moghadam

Ph.D Student of TEFL, Hakim Sabzevari University,Iran

Abstract

One of the immense contributions of the field of psychology to EFL pedagogy has been the introduction of the constructs of emotional intelligence and self –efficacy as two focal socio-cognitive aspects of human characteristics. Despite the significance of the possible linkage between these two constructs, very few studies have been implemented focusing on Iranian EFL teachers.  In this regard, the objective of the present study is to investigate the relationship between self-efficacy and emotional intelligence (EI) of Iranian EFL teachers in high school and to probe the influence of EFL teachers’ age and gender on their EI and self-efficacy. For this purpose, 100 male and female Iranian EFL teachers teaching English as a foreign language in Birjand, Iran were selected on the availability sampling procedure and were required to fill in two questionnaires pertaining to self-efficacy, and emotional intelligence. Running  SPSS programs as correlation and independent t-test, the study revealed that first; There was a strong positive correlation between the two  variables (self-efficacy and emotional intelligence) of Iranian EFL teachers. Second, strong positive relationships between the self-efficacy of language teachers and their age was observed and also between their emotional intelligence and age. Third, the study showed that the difference between the two groups of male and female teachers is significant in terms of their self-efficacy and the male Iranian EFL teachers had higher degree of self-efficacy in comparison to their female counterparts.

Key Words: Self-Efficacy; Emotional Intelligence; Iranian EFL Teachers; Correlation

1. Introduction

It is explicit and outspoken that emotions are inseparable constituents of human beings; nevertheless, they have been amply disregarded in academic disciplines until recently. During the last two decades, interest in emotions and emotional intelligence (EI) fostered by modern psychology were deployed to compensate for such negligence. A host of studies (for example, Fox & Spector, 2000; Ghanizadeh & Moafian, 2010, Hashemi & Ghanizadeh, 2011) have focused on EI and diverse aspects of different professions. Furthermore, since teachers and their emotions have rarely been investigated in terms of EI and its position in diverse aspects of teaching profession (Sarkhosh & Rezai, 2014; Rastegar& Memarpour, 2009; Siamakinia, Tabrizi, & Zoghi , 2013), a new trend of studies has concentrated on EI and its relationship with diverse dimensions of teaching profession. Previous research implied that emotional intelligence is associated with the sense of accomplishment in many aspects, including effective teaching (Ghanizadeh & Moafian, 2010), students’ optimal learning (Brackett & Mayer, 2003), and desirable academic performance (Gil-Olarte, Palomera, & Brackett, 2006).

EI is often delineated as “one’s tendency to distinguish, evaluate and handle emotional status of his own and others’ to attain certain objectives”. (Choudary, 2010, p. 3). Another definition of this important construct in human resource management, referred to EI, can be referred as the designated ability to make use of the emotional condition of an individual, group or own-self to attain a certain goal or a set of goals or objectives (Fox & Spector, 2000). This concept could be reflected upon as the ability to appreciate the emotions and categorize their possible outcomes and finally through this knowledge attain expected goals (Choudary, 2010).

Emotional intelligence is also a must for EFL teachers since they need to deal with students coming to class with negative feelings toward learning a foreign language. Teacher should be aware of emotional intelligence and strive to reduce the anxiety of students when they are supposed to learn a foreign or second language.

On the other hand, self-efficacy, as another variable of this study contributes significantly to achieve success and competency and is basically built upon the principals of positive psychology. Bandura(1997) withheld that  the main sources of accomplishment for learners is their conceptualizations from their potentials in doing a task, i.e., the sense of self-efficacy beliefs . To put it more simply, self efficacy refers to strength of one’s belief in one’s own ability to complete a task and achieve goals.  Choudary (2010), elaborate on self efficacy as one’s determination to encounter challenges and difficulties in life.  Gist and Mitcell (1992) conceptualized it as, one’s belief, to get the things right with respect to a particular job. This concept revolves around the highly diversified   factors, encompassing the qualification, competency, ability and experience of an individual under consideration. The significant aspect identified here is the self confidence of an individual to overcome a certain challenges or obstacles.

Nevertheless, the problem arises when some teachers cannot sort out the multiple and contradictory feelings of their students, they also have low self awareness and these lead to a disruptive condition for optimal learning. Without EI teachers are not able to perceive and manage the probable complexities in their career. Hence, they should draw on their emotions to eradicate ensuing hurdles and try to advance their career horizons, adjust their own moods, and not let the confusion weaken the power of thinking and empathy with students.

Founded on what was above-mentioned, the fundamental aim of the present study was to investigate the linkage between self-efficacy and EI of EFL teachers in high school and also to probe the influence of EFL teachers’ age and gender on their EI and self-efficacy. Accordingly, the current study aimed at finding answers to the following research questions:

1. Is there any relationship between EI of EFL high school teachers and their self-efficacy?
2. Is there any relationship between EI of EFL high school teachers, self-efficacy and age?
3. Is there any relationship between EI of EFL high school teachers, self-efficacy and gender?
4. Does gender has any significant effect on the participants’ self-efficacy or not?
5. Review of Related Literature

The brief history of EI emerged from the notorious concept of social intelligence with roots in behaviorist psychology.  Thorndike (1920) as one of the key figures in the respected field, speculated EI through the lens of social intelligence and maintained that those endowed with social intelligence have the potential capacity to gain self-awareness and empathize with others and act more efficiently in human relationships (cited in Goleman, 1998), However, these prolific views were not taken into account until years later. For decades, emotionally-based capacity of human thinking was adopted as an entity highly subordinated to the umbrella term of general intelligence. No serious effort was made in this regard until 1980’s, when Thorndike’s view burgeoned again in the inspiring works of Bar-on (Goleman, 1998). Bar-on (1998) put forward eight different types of intelligence, one of which, the personal intelligence, set the stage for the development of EI concept for the next generation of psychologists.

 Finally, Mayer and Salovey (1991) introduced their comprehensive model of EI and defined it with respect to Gardner multi-componential view of intelligence. Generally, there is a plethora of research available on emotional intelligence (Bar-On, 1997; Cooper and Swaf, 1997; Goleman, 1998), its linkage to leadership (Cooper and Sawaf, 1997; Goleman, 1998) and its utter impact on the organizational texture in corporations, however, limited number of research are conducted on emotional intelligence and its association with higher education leadership and organizational texture (Brackett, Mayer, & Warner, 2003).

The literature concerning emotional intelligence reveals that there exist multitude definitions for what constitutes emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is a dynamic and multifaceted construct influenced by diverse biological, psychological, and socio-cultural factors. EI has been extensively approved as the ability to sort out and adopt the knowledge generated from our emotions to aid effective functioning, reduce the impact of stress, and promote relationships. Salovey and Mayer (1990) made inspirational contribution to the EI literature by considering emotional intelligence as the “ability model” which included specifications such as perceiving emotions, using and understanding of emotions, and finally managing them to fulfill the intended functions.

 In the same line, Goleman (1998) withheld that emotional intelligence is a multi-componential construct that can be defined as the persons’ ability to identify, perceive and understand the innermost feelings of the self and others to enrich the process of thinking and emotional judgment. In order to evaluate emotional intelligence from this perspective, the multidimensional models have broadly made use of self-report measures by incorporating an array of perceived abilities and traits.

 Bar-on (2004) broadened the scope of the emotional intelligence by introducing the notions of interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence. He maintained that at the intrapersonal level, EI entails the ability to be aware of oneself and ones strengths and weaknesses and to express ones feeling while the interpersonal level refers to the ability to be aware of others emotions, feelings and needs and to establish and maintain cooperative, constructive and mutually satisfying relationships.

Evan (2007) in her landmark article probed the behaviors associated with emotional intelligence (EI) and determined if there were specific dimensions of a leader’s EI that would envisage the development of an employees’ trust in their leader and an employee’s willingness to perform organizational citizenship behavior (OCB).

It should be noted that  self-efficacy theory as Bandura (1977) implied is  one of  the fundamental  sub-components of the  socio-cognitive theory, which is  signified  by a straightforward relationship between self and society along with  internal  and personal factors (cognitive, affective and biological events), and the external environment as interactive factors. In other words as Bandura (1977) implies there is a “ reciprocal causal” relationship between these three factors. To put it more simply, self-efficacy underscores the role of human agency as the capacity for planning, leading and evaluating the emotions. In the educational context, teacher’s self-efficacy is characterized  with respect to the teacher’s attitudes toward their abilities to generate  optimal learning context  among students as well as enriching the agency of  under-achieving  and unmotivated students .(Salami, 2007) maintained that the level of self-efficacy is directly related to the positive behaviors of teachers and students. Consequently, he implies that teacher self-efficacy is an exceedingly important factor in expanding the field of teacher education.

Hashemi and Ghanizadeh (2011) study on 97 EFL university students indicated that there is a strong positive nexus between students’ emotional intelligence and their self-efficacy beliefs. Through regression analysis, their study revealed that the concepts of self -actualization and stress- tolerance are positive predictors of self efficacy.

In the same line, research conducted by Sarkhosh & Rezai (2014) on 105 EFL teachers showed strong positive relationship between their trait EI and self-efficacy beliefs.

Rastgar and Memarpour (2009) conducted their study on EFL high school teachers in order to assess the relationship between EI and self-efficacy. They came up with significant positive linkage between the aforementioned variables.

creducing the work related tension in teaching practices, because in this case the individual takes pride in his or her work and readily willing to manage, the physical and as well as mental pressures pertinent to the profession.

In a similar study, Syamakinia, Tabrizi & Zoghi (2013) corrolational research on the university instructors indicated that there is significant positive association between their emotional intelligence and self-efficacy.

It should be noted that teacher efficacy is defined as “the teacher’s belief in his or her capability to organize and execute courses of action required to successfully accomplishing a specific teaching task in a particular context” (Tschannen-Moran, & Hoy, 1998, p. 22).It has been found to be associated with the learners’ individual differences such as motivation, achievement, and efficacy (Tschannen-Moran et al., 1998).Gibson and Demo (1984), for instance, indicated a high correlation between teachers’ sense of efficacy and their persistence in the presentation of lessons, feedback presentation, and support scaffolding for weaker students. In a similar study, Pajares (2002) found a strong relationship between teachers’ educational beliefs and their planning, instructional decisions, classroom practices, and subsequent teaching behaviors.

Teaching-self efficacy is in conformity with the general formulation of this broad term in different contexts.  self-efficacy in educational settings  is virtually defined in various ways, such as the extent to which the teacher believes he or she has the needed capacity to influence students’ performance; teachers belief in their abilities to have a positive impression on students’ performance (Ashton, 1985); the extent to which teachers feel they can affect students’ learning process (Dembo & Gibson, 1985); teachers’ beliefs or convictions that they can influence how well students learn, even those that may be  unmotivated from different aspects ; and they deem that he or she can motivate  even the most difficult students and offer them  assistance in their learning. Resorting to these definitions, it is tangible that a teacher with a strong self-efficacy would not only have the potential to transfer knowledge effectively, he/she would also do so without confronting specific troubles. The resulted inference from the teaching behavior of such a teacher is that even his/her difficult students would be more motivated to learn.

A few studies have reported some links between emotional intelligence and teaching self-efficacy. Penrose, Perry and Ball (2007) probe the linkage between emotional intelligence and teacher efficacy beliefs. Their finding shows a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and teachers’ self-efficacy from different aspects. Based on these results, they recommend the direct teaching of the related concepts to emotional intelligence in order to facilitate teachers’ self-efficacy. Salami (2007) similarly investigates the relationships between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy to work attitudes among secondary school teachers in Southwestern Nigeria. In his finding, emotional intelligence and self-efficacy had significant relationships with teachers’ attitude toward working.

Ng and Hor (2005) investigate the relationship between teaching attitudes and emotional intelligence. Their finding shows that teachers’ attitude positively correlated with emotional intelligence.

3. Method

۳٫۱ Participants

In order to gather the required data, one hundred Iranian EFL teachers (50 male and 50 female) took part in the study. They were high school teachers in Birjand, Iran. They all had been teaching English for over 4 years. Besides, the selected teachers aged between 21 and 51 years old.  The final point with regard to the participants is that they were selected based on the availability sampling procedure.

۳٫۲ Instruments

Altogether, two instruments were adopted to collect the intended data from the participants: The Emotional Intelligence quotient inventory, and Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale. What follows is a detailed description of the two instruments.

The first instrument employed was the Emotional Intelligence quotient inventory designed by Bar-On in 1980. It is in a Likert-scale format containing 30 items ranging from completely disagrees to completely agree. (EQ-I), is a self-report measure of emotionally and socially intelligent behavior that is highly informative about the level of emotional-social intelligence (Bar-On, 1997). In order to assure about the reliability and validity of this instrument, it was piloted among 25 male and female teachers and the after calculating its reliability through Cronbach alpha formula it turned out to be approximately 0.73. Besides, the inventory’s content and face validity were investigated by some university professors. That is, it was examined by some veteran professors and they confirmed the point that it was pertinent to and consistent with the present study objectives.

The second instrument was the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) designed by Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2001). Like the first instrument, this instrument was also in the Likert format consisting of 24 items ranging from nothing to great deal and includes efficacy in student engagement, efficacy in instructional strategies, and efficacy in classroom management. The instrument was also pre-tested among 25 teachers and its reliability was calculated through Cronbach alpha and turned out to be 0.69. In addition, the face and content validity were investigated through the above-mentioned procedure.

۳٫۳٫ Data Collection and Analysis Procedures

In order to collect the desired data for the study, at first the two questionnaires were piloted by the researcher among 25 selected teachers. Having ensured about their reliability and validity, the researcher distributed them among the participants of the study. Before distributing them, the researcher explained briefly to them about the objectives of the research and also guaranteed that their responses would be kept confidential and are just for research purposes. For each of the instruments the participants were given 25 minutes to answer the items.

Eventually, SPSS statistical program in general and Pearson product moment correlation formula and t-test in particular were run to reveal that if first of all, there was any relationship between emotional intelligence and self efficacy of teachers or not.  Secondly, to see if gender had any significant effect on the intended variables of the study, independent t-test was run.

4. Results and Discussion

The Relationship between EI and Self-Efficacy

            The first research question of the study deals with the existence or lack of existence of any probable relationship between the EI and self-efficacy of Iranian EFL teachers. To address this question, the researcher of the study ran Pearson product correlation that led to Table 4.1 presented below.

                Table 4.1. Correlation between EI and Self-Efficacy  

 As the table reveals, firstly, there is a strong positive relationship between the two mentioned variables (r = .78). Secondly, a significant difference is observed between the participants’ self -Efficacy and their EI (p= .00 < .5). It indicates that language teachers with high self-efficacy enjoy high degree of EI, while the teachers with lower self-efficacy capabilities have low EI and vice versa. Reviewing the literature on the same issue reveals that this finding is in line with most of other previously carried out studies on the same issue. For example, Evans (2007) concluded in his study that individuals who rated with higher level of EI have more positive beliefs in their own capabilities that led them to academic and social success. Therefore, they have high achievement, social adjustment, and empowerment.

Penrose, Perry and Ball (2007) also examined the relationship between emotional intelligence and teacher efficacy beliefs. Their findings showed a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and teaching self-efficacy. They also suggested the use of emotional intelligence education to enhance teaching self-efficacy. Salami (2007) similarly examines the relationships between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy to work attitudes among secondary school teachers in Southwestern Nigeria. In his finding, emotional intelligence and self-efficacy were found to have significant relationships with teachers’ attitude to work. Ng and Hor (2005) also investigate the relationship between teaching attitudes and emotional intelligence. Their finding reveals that teachers’ attitude positively correlated with emotional intelligence. Chan (2004) further underscores the relationship between EI and self-efficacy by reporting that self-efficacy beliefs are significantly predicted by the components of emotional intelligence.

Another study by Evan (2007) indicated that students who lack empathy, dedication and other EI related skills are likely to be academically weak which leads to low degrees of self-efficacy. He pointed out that educators provided programs for the improvement of academic skills in students but these educators have neglected programs that they could gear towards students’ overall improvement.

In a study with university students, Schutte and Malouff (2002) provided beginning university students with information and skills training related to emotional intelligence as part of an introductory university class. The students who received emotional intelligence training scored significantly higher on trait or typical emotional intelligence at the end of the term and were more likely to complete their first year of university than control students with no intervention. The retention rate for the students in the emotional intelligence training group was 98%, while that of the students in the comparison group was 87%. Finally, Doaei, Alizadeh, & Tabrizi, (2010) implied that the emotional strength of a person plays an invincible role in gaining the authority on the basis of knowledge in an organization, because a person faces the challenge of, admitting a reasonable level of knowledge, so that it should not threaten the people who have the authority currently, another facet of emotional sensibility in leadership is, leaders’ ability to avoid negative thinking, biasness and they also give sacrifices and understanding others’ behavior to accomplish the goals of the team.

۴٫۳٫ The Relationship between EI, Self-Efficacy, and Age

            The second research question mentioned in this study was about the interrelationship among three variables of EI, Self-efficacy, and age of Iranian language teachers. In order to get the answer for this research question another multiple correlation was run that resulted to Table 4.2 shown below.

                Table 4.2. Correlation between EI, Self-Efficacy, and Age  

As it is conspicuous from this table, firstly, like the previous case, there is strong positive relationship between the self-efficacy and EI of Iranian EFL teachers; that is, the higher the level of teachers’ EI, the higher their self-efficacy (r = .78). And secondly, since the reported p value is less than .05 (p = .01), it can be inferred that the two variables differ significantly from each other. Thirdly, the correlation between EI and age is also a strong and positive one (r = .89). And finally, there is a strong, positive relationship between the self-efficacy of teachers and their age (r = .74). In line with this finding, Fahim and Pishghadam (2007) also pointed out a positive relationship between university students’ academic achievement and several components of emotional intelligence (intrapersonal, stress management, and general mood competencies).

As with teacher self-efficacy, Armor, (1976) demonstrated that teachers with a strong sense of self- efficacy exhibit greater levels of planning, organization and enthusiasm, spend more time teaching in areas where their sense of efficacy is higher, more receptive to new ideas, and more willing to experiment with the same ideas to meet the needs of their students and therefore they would enjoy higher degrees of achievement. In addition, studies show that they tend to be less critical of students who make errors and work longer with students who are struggling (Ashton &Webb, 1986; Gibbs, 2002).

The Effect of Gender on Self-Efficacy

            The third research question addresses the any probable effect of gender on the self-efficacy of the language teachers. To see if there is any significant difference between the male and female Iranian EFL teachers in terms of their self-efficacy, an independent t-test was run that its findings are brought in Table 4.3 and 4.4.

First of all, an independent t-test was run to see if the two groups (males and females) are significantly different on their self-efficacy or not. Table 4.3 displays the results obtained from this statistical analysis.

 Table 4.3. Independent T-Test of Gender and Self-Efficacy

The table shows that the difference between the two groups of male and female teachers are significant in terms of their self-efficacy (t= -15.43, p< 0.00). Now in order to understand which group has a higher degree for self-efficacy, Table 4.4 that presents the descriptive statistics is brought.

This table clearly indicates that the mean of male teachers (M=34.47) is remarkably higher than the mean of female teachers (M=27.21). It means that the male Iranian EFL teachers have higher degree of self-efficacy in comparison to their female counterparts.

The Effect of Gender on Emotional Intelligence

        Finally, the last research question asks about the impact of gender of the participants on their EI. Like the previous research question, another independent t-test was run which led to Tables 4.5 and 4.6 presented below respectively.

            First, to see does the male and female language teachers are significantly different in terms of their EI or not, Table 4.5 which includes the main findings of t-test is presented.

 Table 4.5. Independent T-Test of Gender and EI

The Table clearly shows that, like the previous case, the difference between the two groups of teachers in terms of their EI is significant (t= -14.44, p< 0.00). Therefore, it can be stated that gender has a significant and remarkable effect on EI degree of male and female teachers. Now in order to understand which group has a higher degree for EI, Table 4.6 that presents the descriptive statistics is brought.

           As it can be understood from this table, unlike the previous case, the female language teachers (M=27.13) enjoy higher degrees of EI than the male teachers (M=19.13). In other words, the female language teachers are more intelligent emotionally than their male counterparts.

Conclusion

The present study basically aimed to shed light on the point that if there is any interrelationship between the emotional intelligence, and self efficacy of Persian EFL teachers or not. Besides, the study also examined the role and better to say, the impact of gender of the teachers on the two under-studied variables (self-efficacy and EI). The chief conclusions of the study are as follow: First, there is a strong positive relationship between the EI and self-efficacy of Iranian EFL teachers. Besides, a significant difference was observed between their self -Efficacy and their EI. Second, there is a strong positive relationship between the EFL teachers’ EI and their age and also between the self-efficacy of teachers and their age (r = .74). Besides, gender has a significant impact on the EFL teachers’ self-efficacy. That is, male EFL teachers have higher degrees of self-efficacy in comparison to their female counterparts. And finally, gender also has a meaningful and significant influence on the EI degree of Iranian EFL teachers. In other words, female teachers enjoy higher degrees of EI compared with their male co-workers.

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Thorndike, E. L. (1920). Intelligence and its uses. Harper’s Magazine         ۱۴۰, ۲۲۷–۳۵٫

Tschannen-Moran, M., Wool folk Hoy, A., & Hoy, W. K. (1998).                 Teacher efficacy: Its meaning and measure. Review of                         Educational Research, 68. 202 – 248.

Enhancing Listening Fluency through Well-Beaten Path Approac

Saeed Ghaniabady, Assistant professor of Linguistics

Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran

saghaniabadi@yahoo.com

Hamid Reza Hashemi,Ph.D candidate of TEFL

Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran

H.hashemimoghadam@gmail.com

Abstract— It is axiomatic that listening skill is the primary channel to the process of language acquisition. To foster this skill, a wide array of approaches and methods has been offered, one of which is the often-neglected well-beaten approach. The current study is an attempt to provide glimpse into the possible effect of employing well-beaten path approach on developing learners’ listening fluency. To achieve such intent, 60 EFL learners were randomly selected and assigned to two groups. Before assigning them, they sat for a pre-test to ensure their homogeneity. For one group the well-beaten path approach was applied in that the same listening test was repeated three times and for the other group the test was run only once. The findings signified that using a well-beaten approach noticeably leads learners to outperform their listening fluency. The study results might significantly contribute to the more optimal teaching of listening skill.

Index Terms— Well-beaten path approach, Listening fluency, EFL learners

I.  Introduction

It goes without saying that listening skill is among the most fundamental skills in the process of language acquisition. It is not only a skill, like those of speaking, reading, and writing, which should be developed, but it might also be treated as a tool for developing other aspects of language (Rost, 1990; Zareian & Hashemi, 2015). Therefore, developing listening skill, as the backbone of language learning, is expected to receive decent attention especially by teachers and material developers. In recent years, however, there has been an increased focus on L2 listening ability because of its perceived importance in the process of language acquisition (Hayati, 2000). In a similar vein, enhancing the listening fluency of learners is also a focal point to be taken into account as well. By listening fluency, as Cheng and Millet (2013) define, it means individuals’ ability to automatically process audio input and reach an acceptable extent of comprehension of it. Accordingly, a set of approaches have been offered to help learners optimally improve their listening fluency. One of these orientations is the well-beaten approach in which repetition plays the core role. The approach is founded upon the premise that repeating the same listening input to learners might remarkably enrich their listening fluency. The present study makes attempt to put this premise into realistic practice.

II.  LITERATURE REVIEW

Mastering listening skill to an acceptable extent is a laborious task for both learners and teachers (Field, 2008; Buck, 2001). From another perspective, Sigel (2013) justifies this difficulty by maintaining that because we learn our first language listening skill almost unconsciously and effortlessly, learning a L2 listening skill as opposed to the way we acquired L1, appears burdensome, due to the distressingly complex underlying processing mechanisms. These mechanisms include listeners’ phonological, semantic, syntactic and pragmatic processing of the incoming information along with the use of conscious- based and generated inferences as well as the cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies.  Researchers also attribute some other reasons for this complexity. By way of example, they confirm the bitter fact that arguments directed at understanding the real nature of listening skill is far from being over  (Moore, 2011; Buck, 2001). Such complexities cause mainstream theorists as well as the material developers and teachers not to be able to design and develop apposite textbooks, approaches, and other instruments to help learners boost their listening fluency efficiently. Furthermore, as another probable reason, lack of enough familiarity with and background knowledge about the intended language may also make the story more complicated to learners, especially if their L1 shares minimum commonalities with the L2.  Learners may even feel frustrated that they cannot sort out even a single word of an audio input. Nemtechinaval (2013) likewise, contends that most of L2 learners encounter a shocking cognitive load developing their listening fluency.

Despite these obstacles, a set of approaches have been proposed by respective experts to facilitate learners’ mission of mastering L2 listening fluency. Bottom-up approach (Field, 2008), standard listening tests (Flowerdew & Miller, 2005), meta-cognitive listening cycle (Vandergiftand & Goh, 2012), and teacher modeling along with situational models (Goh, 2008) are among these approaches. One approach that has been paid indecent attention is the well-beaten path approach. The approach contends that in order to effectively motivate learners to broaden their listening fluency, repetition is a quintessential factor to be taken into account. Roughly speaking, the more the authors surfed through the web, the less they could find a well-documented literature on well-beaten path approach and its impact on listening skill. In essence, not adequate studies have ever been conducted as far as this approach is concerned (which in turn highlights the significance of the present study).

Nevertheless, with respect to the substantive factor of repetition, some details need to be taken into account. Moore (2011) maintains that repetition is a prominent factor in both development of linguistic competence and the transformation of language practices. It also fundamentally contributes to a more vivid understanding of communicative competence and also its development across contexts.  In a similar vein, Brown (2001) argues that repetition is a rudimentary prerequisite for learning, in the sense that it provides the possibility of bringing together related experience and committed memory. In listening fluency practice, in the light of well-beaten path approach, repletion helps learners gradually become more familiar with the highly diversified strands of audio input such as accent of speaker(s), context, topic, etc. Additionally, repetition also succors learners relieve their negative feelings like stress and anxiety in that they know that the audio is to be repeated more than once. Furthermore, given the highly-quoted saying “practice makes perfect”, constantly repeating audio input is also a sort of practice that might finally arouse better performance of individuals.

III.  STUDY DESIGN

The study, as it was already explicated, intends to shed light on this research question that whether making use of a well-beaten path approach, whose key concept is repetition, bears positive effective impact on learners’ listening fluency. To test this research question, 60 male and female lower-intermediate EFL learners were randomly selected and assigned into two groups. One group that functioned as the control group embodied 30 learners on which no well-beaten approach was applied. And for another group (30 learners) which was the experimental group the under-studied approach was run. They were all sat for a pre-test to make sure they were in almost the same level of proficiency as far as their foreign language is concerned.

The two groups received the same audio input and related questions. However the way the audio input was presented to them was different. Put it another way, for the control group the listening clip was played only once. But for the experimental group, the same listening clip was played three times. During these four times, they were given the questions so that they could simultaneously listen and take the items. The audio and listening items were related to the course book they were passing in their institutes (Top Notch series). The audio duration was about 28 minutes and the test consisted of 20 items from two formats of true-false and multiple-choice. The test was extracted from the test pamphlet designed by Saslow and Asher. Finally, to analyze the collected data, Statistical Passage for Social Sciences (SPSS) in general and descriptive statistics and independent t-tests in particular were run.

With regard to ethical issues, not only they were briefly explained about the objectives of the experiment (by briefly the author tried to prevent negative qualities such as Hawthorn effect), but from all them the author received passive consent to take part in the research.

III.  RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In order to begin the study and to make sure that the two groups were homogeneous enough in English language performance prior to the study; a pre-test was administered to both control and experimental groups. The descriptive statistics of this test appears in Table 1.  As the table reports, the mean of the experimental group (M=12.04) in the listening pre-test is a bit higher than the mean of the control group (M=11.71) but the difference is very trivial.

An independent t-test was then run to see if the two groups performed significantly different on the listening pre-test or not. Table 2 displaying the results obtained from this statistical analysis reveals that the two groups did not differ significantly in their performance. (t = -.59, p> 0.05).

Table 2. Independent Sample Test of the Pre-test

After running the core phase of the study, again, in order to see if the two groups performed statistically different on the two tests, the raw scores obtained from the administration of the listening post-test were subjected to an independent t-test. Table 3 below shows the descriptive statistics of it.  According to this table, the mean of the experimental group (M=26.13) is higher than that of the control group (M=13.17).

     In addition, Table 4 shows that the difference between the control and experimental group performance on the listening post-test is significant (t= -16.88, p< 0.01). Therefore, it can be stated that the under-studied listening approach in the class enhanced students’ listening performance.

Table 4. Independent Sample Test of the Post-test

The obtained results signified that utilizing a well-beaten path approach will meaningfully augment the students’ listening fluency. Therefore, it might be claimed that repeating an audio listening clip could help students becomes more fluent compared with when the same audio input is exposed only once. As it was already hypothesized in the beginning sections of the study, this improvement impact can be attributed to a set of reasons. For example, as far as affective factors are concerned, since students know that they will be exposed to the input several times, negative feelings including anxiety, stress, and panic drastically decrease in them which in turn could lead to outperformance on the test. Or as another justification, because as a result of repeating the same listening input for several times, the students are more likely to become familiar with the accent of speakers, the overall topic of the input, and other contextual factors which lead them to master the content. Moreover, this repetition provide learners with sufficient time that in case they are not able to make sense of the audio input refer to compensatory skills (Buck, 2001) such as their back ground knowledge, visual information, or even common sense.

       The study also stipulates that teachers should take into account this approach of listening fluency in their classrooms. It could be advantageous for both teachers and students to enhance their comprehension ability in their second language. In contrast, teachers should bear in their mind the often-said proverb of “A well-beaten path does not always make the correct way” meaning that although well-beaten approach is basically revolves upon the  repetition of the intended input, it does not signify that they should play the listening input as many times as they wish. To put other way, too much repeating of an input not only does not have any beneficial impact, but it might negatively affect students learning in that it can bore students and de-motivate them.  Due to lack of any specific study dealing with the nature, number, and sort of repetition in this approach, it seems that teachers should decide on this central  issue subjectively based on their local contextual factors especially the proficiency level of students. They might repeat the input more if their students are beginners and lower intermediate learners and less repetition for higher levels of proficiency learners.

          The last but not the least point is that this approach is not deprived of criticism. For instance, we know that at the heart of well-beaten approach lies the concept of repetition. But what does it exactly mean by repetition? Does it simply mean playing back an input several times or it should involve some kinds of modifications, explanations, or the like before repeating? Furthermore, how many times should the audio be repeated? Can we set a certain number of repetitions (two? Three? Four? ….) or it should be decided upon based on teachers’ intuitions? Moreover, does this approach work for all students from different language proficiencies? Is it logical, practical, and authentic to repeat the same listening input several times until it is understood? Does such a process happen in reality? These questions might in effect be treated as recommendations for further research in the same area so that more cogent findings could be obtained.

IV.  CONCLUSION

As it was maintained at the beginning section of the study, listening skill is one of the most paramount skills in any language. Its significance even doubles in foreign or second languages in that their process of acquisition is drastically different from that of first language. Consequently, implementing studies on this domain and shedding light on various approaches and strategies which might facilitate L2 listening fluency is necessary. The present study as one of the studies in achieving the same purpose investigated the effect of well-beaten approach on improving the listening fluency of students. The study revealed that this approach can meaningfully and significantly help students to enhance their ability of listening comprehension. The approach is also a great help for teachers to reduce the impact of negative feelings like stress and anxiety which consequently leads to the better acquisition of the skill.

REFERENCES

[۱]     Brown, P. (2001). Repetition. In A. Duranti (eds.), Key terms in language and culture. Oxford: Blackwell. 209-222.

[۲]      Buck, G. (2001). Assessing listening. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[۳]     Chang, A. C-S. & S. Millett. (2013). The effect of extensive listening on developing L2 listening fluency: Some hard Evidence. ELT Journal 68.1, 31–40.

[۴]      Field, J. (2008). Listening in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[۵]     Flowerdew, J. and Miller, L. (2005). Second language listening: Theory and practice. New York, NY: Cambridge University   Press.

[۶]      Goh, C. (2008). Metacognitive instruction for second language listening development. RELC Journal 39(2), 188–219.

[۷]      Hayati, M. ( 2009). The impact of cultural knowledge on listening comprehension of EFL learners. English Language Teaching. 2 (3), 144–152.

[۸]       Moore, L. (2011). Language Socialization and  repetition. In A. Duranti, E. Ochs, and B. B. Schieffelin. The handbook of  language socialization (pp. 209-226). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

[۹]       Nemtchinova, E. (2013). Teaching listening. Alexandria, VA: TESOL International Association.

[۱۰]     Siegel, J. (2013). Exploring L2 listening instruction: Examinations of practice. ELT Journal  ۶ (۸), ۲۲–۳۰٫

[۱۱]      Rost, M. (1990). Listening and language learning. London: Longman.

[۱۲]      Vandergrift, L. and Goh, v. (2012). Teaching and learning second language listening. New York, NY: Routledge.

 [۱۳] Zareian, G.R., & Hashemi, H. (2015). The tragedy of ignorance of multiple identities in Iranian EFL textbooks. Iranian EFL Journal, 11 (4), 37-57.

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Dr Saeed Ghaniabadi is an assistant professor of Linguistics in the department of foreign languages, Hakim Sabzevari University, Iran. He has been teaching graduate and post-graduate courses on discourse analysis, socio-linguistics, and general linguistics since 2000. He earned PhD in linguistics from Manitoba University, Canada, where he thought Semantics to the students of linguistics for two consecutive semesters. Dr Ghaniabadi has published articles and books in the field of discourse analysis, linguistics and has also acted as an international interpreter since 2000.

  Hamid Reza Hashemi, is a PhD candidate in TEFL at hakim Sabzevari University, Iran. He received BA from Tehran University and earned MA of TEFL from Kharazmi University, Iran. He has thus far published articles in diverse fields of identity, culture and psycholinguists in IC, and ISC-indexed journals. He is also the author of the book Basics of SPSS.  Hashemi has been teaching general and special English as a lecturer at Medical university of Birjand since 2008.

Literary translation is working with a text in its original language to prepare a version in a new language. This work promotes broader reading and distribution of the work. In some cases—for instance, Gilgamesh, a work composed in ancient languages of the Middle East—translation is the only way the text is made available to general readers.

All but two of the works in Invitation to World Literature are translated from a language other than English. The two works in English, The God of Small Things andThings Fall Apart, have themselves become world literature in part through the many translations that have been made into other world languages. Next:

Translation is a highly skilled, rewarding and satisfying job. But how do you become a good translator?

Experienced translator Lanna Castellano has described the translator’s career path as follows:

“Our profession is based on knowledge and experience. It has the longest apprenticeship of any profession. Not until thirty do you start to be useful as a translator, not until fifty do you start to be in your prime.

The first stage of the career pyramid – the apprenticeship stage – is the time we devote to investing in ourselves by acquiring knowledge and experience of life.

Let me propose a life path: grandparents of different nationalities, a good school education in which you learn to read, write, spell, construe and love your own language. Then roam the world, make friends, see life.

Go back to education, but to take a technical or commercial degree, not a language degree. Spend the rest of your twenties and your early thirties in the countries whose languages you speak, working in industry or commerce but not directly in languages.

Never marry into your own nationality. Have your children. Then back to a postgraduate translation course. A staff job as a translator, and then go freelance.

By which time you are forty and ready to begin”.
(Lanna Castellano, 1988)

That’s a hard path to follow. I’ve been trying for years to convince my grandparents to re-incarnate and give me an exotically foreign lineage – Russian-Portuguese on my mother’s side, perhaps, and French-Chinese on my father’s – but they remain stubbornly Irish-Scottish. And not even Gaelic-speaking!

Tips for translators

But you can be a good translator even if you don’t meet all of Lanna’s stringent criteria. Here are some tips that might help:

• Love language, especially your own. And keep studying it.
• Learn to write well.
• Learn about and study your passive language and the culture it comes from.
• Only translate into your own language.
• Select a specialist area of expertise, and study and be prepared to learn more about your specialist subject. Constantly.
• Read: books, newspapers, blogs, magazines, adverts, style guides, cereal packets…
• Listen: to TV, the radio, friends and family, strangers in the street, on the bus, in bars, in shops…
• Attend workshops, seminars and conferences in your subject area – listen to the experts, absorb their language. Even their jargon – but try not to use it.
• Keep up with current affairs.
• Keep your IT skills up-to-date.
• Practise and hone your skills – keep up with your training.
• Listen to the words that you write (some writers and translators read their texts out loud to themselves). Languages each have their own rhythm. If your writing doesn’t “sound” right, try changing the word order, not just the words.
• Use your spell-checker. Use it judiciously, but use it. Always.
• Print out your translated text and read it on paper before delivering it to your client. Always. Especially if you use computer-assisted translation (CAT) software. Print it out.
• Ask yourself if your translation makes sense. If it makes you stop, even for a second, and think “what does that really mean”?, then there’s something wrong.
• Write clearly and concisely, using the appropriate sentence- and paragraph-length for your target language. Use simple vocabulary. You can convey even complex ideas using clear, straightforward language.
• Inform your client of any mistakes, typos or ambiguous wording you find in the source text.
• Find ways to add value for your clients.
• Always keep your reader in mind.

As you’ve probably noticed, most of these tips also apply to writers, not just translators. After all, translation is a form of writing, and good translators should be good writers too. The important thing is to practise and hone your skills. And always use your brain. That’s what makes a good translator a reallygood translator.