Eye-tracking Study: Investigating underlying constructs of the listening-to-summarize English tasks

2021 Fiscal Year Research-status Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K00733
• Research Institution: Nagasaki University
• Principal Investigator: 西川 美香子 長崎大学, 多文化社会学部, 准教授 (60448016)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 堀口 由貴男 関西大学, 総合情報学部, 教授 (50362455)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: Eye-tracking / Cognitive process / Listen-to-summaraize / Note-taking strategies

Outline of Annual Research Achievements

Success in higher education, regardless of language, requires the ability to incorporate ideas from independent sources. Recently, there is a growing trend towards assessing the English abilities of learners of English as a second language (L2) to summarize different sources (e.g., texts, graphs, images, and lectures). Past studies have also shown that the academic success of L2 learners depended on listening skills during class hours (Coakley & Wolvin, 1997; Ferris, 1998; Volgely, 1998). Listen-to-summarize tasks are more complex than listening alone because it requires a combination of skills such as speaking or writing. To date, there are few empirical studies related to listen-to-summarize tasks in L2 contexts (Wang & Yu, 2018; Rukthong & Brunfat, 2020). We have been exploring the role of notetaking strategies during the listen-to-summarize tasks by comparing participants’ processes of notetaking for both written and spoken summaries following similar test format as the Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic). In a sequential explanatory design, we have already collected behavioral data from university students (n=10) in Phase I as a pilot study, had been analyzing their notetaking strategy with questionnaires, and stimulated-recall interviews after reviewing their eye-tracking recordings. We analyzed these data based on the higher and lower-order cognitive processing of the participants (Rukhong & Brunfat, 2020). Our initial findings suggest that some gaze patterns during listening can be associated with their English proficiency abilities.

Current Status of Research Progress

2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.

Reason

Due to the COVID quasi-state of emergency measures, we struggled to recruit the participants. However, we had just enough participants for the pilot study (n=10) and analyzed 7 of them for the initial analysis.

In 2022, we wish to collect more data, but we think it is necessary to adjust the designs. For example, we need to use audio scripts suitable for the participants' level of proficiency. In addition, we have to be careful about the precisions of Tobii Eye-glasses for recording eye movement during the listening tasks.

Strategy for Future Research Activity

Based on the preliminary findings, we plan to re-design the test and collect data for further analysis in Phase II. We want to investigate distinctive traits for successful and unsuccessful listening strategies while listening to summarize. We might need some more samples of successful participants and compare them at this time to make it more distinctive between novice and advanced listeners.

Causes of Carryover

We planned to recruit more participants in Phase I, pilot data collection. Due to the COVID Quasi-State of Emergency in our prefecture, it was impossible to recruit as many participants as initially hoped.

In 2022, we plan to recruit more participants to make up for the last year and pay an honorarium for the participants and RAs who will help us with data cleaning. Also, we will renew the software license for analysis. Furthermore, we plan to spend some money presenting some of the primary findings at conferences.