Presented By Reima Al-Jarf

Session Details

Two groups of EFL freshman students participated in the study. Pre-test scores showed no significant differences in oral English proficiency level. Then, both groups were exposed to the same in-class instruction that depended on the textbook. They covered the same lessons, skills, exercises and tests. Since freshman students have no opportunities to listen to native speakers and no opportunity to practice English out of class, and they have problems in listening comprehension, in producing phonemes, consonant clusters, word stress and lack oral fluency, every week the experimental group downloaded spoken English lessons in MP3 format to their BlackBerry, cell phone or MP3 players in addition to the lesson scripts. The lessons were graded in difficulty level and length. The students could listen to each lesson, repeat and even read the script as many times as they needed on their own. They could study/review their lessons in the car, on the bus, and/or on the plane. The students were tested every four weeks and at the end of the semester, they were post-tested. Results showed significant differences between both groups as a result of using the MP3 audio lessons. Improvement was noted in listening comprehension ability, oral fluency, pronunciation correctness and vocabulary knowledge.  Improvement was slow but gradual.  Significant improvement was noted after eight and twelve weeks.  Sample MP3 lessons and websites and recommendations for improving students' spoken English will be given.

About Reima Al-Jarf

Reima Al-Jarf is professor of foreign language education at the College of Languages and Translation, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Her areas of interests are:  Technology integration in language teaching, error analysis and reading in L1 and L2.  She has 6 books and about 100 articles published in refereed international and national journals. She has given 155 presentations and conducted 28 workshops in 39 countries (USA, UK, France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Italy, Greece, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, North Cyprus, Turkey, Iran, China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Bahrain, Oman, UAE & Saudi Arabia).  She is an international journal editor and reviewer of translated books, grant and conference proposals, journal articles and faculty promotion research.  In 2008, she won the Excellence in Teaching Award at the university, college, and department levels.  For more information, please visit:  http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf/default.aspx

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