The Effects Of Repeated Listening On English Majors’ Synopsis Writing Performance

Inspired by the Input Hypothesis and the Output Hypothesis, this study seeks to examine the frequency effect that the input of repeated listening may produce on English majors’synopsis writing, with a secondary focus on the possible differences between freshmen and juniors in their performances on synopsis writing prompted by repeated listening.To be specific, this study addresses two research questions:1) What are the major changes that the varying frequency of listening may bring about in the learners’ synopsis writing in terms of points of information and language use?2) What are the possible differences between the learners at different stages of learning in their synopsis writings in terms of points of information and language use?The subjects in the experiment were 69 English majors, of whom there were 38 freshmen and 31 juniors. Both freshmen and juniors were subdivided into three groups, who respectively received two, four and six times of listening and then were asked to write a synopsis based on what they had listened to. Their writings were assessed according to the degree to which the points of information in their synopses matched the original message in the listening material and to which the subjects’use of language improved in their writings.In terms of points of information, three indicators were used, namely, major points of synopsis (MPS) used to measure subjects’ability to catch the major points of information in the listening material, degree of citation (DOC) which serves as a supplementary tool to measure subjects’ability to notice minor points, and semantic errors (SE) designed to investigate the accuracy level of subjects’comprehension.In terms of use of language, two indicators were used, namely, T-unit complexity ratio (TCR) used to measure the subjects’linguistic complexity, and the number of errors per one hundred words (NEPOW) used to measure their linguistic accuracy in their writings.Data analysis yields the following findings:1) Along with the increased frequency of audio input, freshmen’s comprehension was on an obvious increase but went down on a slight decrease with a higher frequency. By contrast, juniors’comprehension generally increased along with the increased frequency of audio input, though they started with a temporary retrogression at the beginning.2) The increased frequency of audio input helped the freshmen to increase the structural complexity of their language use, but their accuracy presented a picture of somewhat irregularity: An obvious improvement first and then a significant decrease with more input. By contrast, the juniors’structural complexity was positively correlated to their comprehension level, as indicated in the different effects that the different frequency of audio input produced; the juniors who listened 6 times performed best on their structural complexity, followed by those who listened 2 and 4 times. However, the juniors’linguistic accuracy did not vary accordingly with the increased frequency:Those who listened 2 times performed best, followed by those that did 6 and 4 times.3) When it comes to the differences between freshmen and juniors in terms of points of information in their synopsis writings, the juniors had a better performance than the freshmen though not significantly in terms of represented major points of information of the listening material in their writings. As regards the minor points of information, no significant difference was found between freshmen and juniors. When it comes to language use, the freshmen generally had a significantly better performance in the structural complexity in their writings. No significant difference was found between freshmen and juniors in the linguistic accuracy, with the juniors, interestingly, making slightly more errors than freshmen, both lexically and grammatically.The findings generated in this study may have some pedagogical implications. From the teachers’ perspective, the notion of "listen-to-write" teaching model is helpful and meaningful only when the frequency of input is well manipulated. From the students’ perspective, "listen-to-write" is a better choice for the learners at their primary learning stage.