The Effect of Prelistening Activities on Listening Comprehension in Arabic Learners

Abstract: This study evaluated the effect of prelistening activities and repeated listening exposure on listening comprehension scores of Arabic students. Participants completed a prelistening activity (vocabulary preview or question preview) or a distracter activity (Arabic verb conjugation), listened to an Arabic listening passage, and took a listening comprehension test. Participants listened to the passage again and repeated the test. Students who completed either prelistening activity scored higher than those who completed the distracter activity; participants who received the question preview did better than those who received the vocabulary preview. All participants' scores improved after the second exposure to the listening passage. These findings suggest that while certain prelistening activities have a positive impact on student scores on tests of listening comprehension, repeated exposure to the passage is a better predictor of improved performance.