A listening program for primary and elementary grades

Bergey, Leslie L. (1978) A listening program for primary and elementary grades. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The purpose of the internship was to design, implement, and evaluate an effective listening program for the primary and lower elementary grades. Such a program would not only make use of the young child’s innate need to listen, but it could become an integral part of the total school curriculum. -- A review of the literature indicated that a direct and positive relationship was found between listening and reading comprehension. Leading researchers and educators recommended that teachers of young children become aware of recent findings in the area of listening research. -- The internship was carried out in a grade three and four classroom from January to March, 1978. The subjects were 18 grade three and 12 grade four students, making a total of 30. Their respective Verbal I.Q. scores ranged from 62 to 141. -- The program emphasized flexibility of approach and a variety of techniques. Listening instruction was approached from several different angles. Among these were listening while reading, listening for a purpose, directed listening, and recreational listening. Among the comprehension skills that the program was intended to strengthen were the recall of facts, drawing conclusions, detecting sequence, and following directions. --The effectiveness of the program and the extent to which its purposes were achieved were reflected in the formative evaluation that took place during the program, and the summative evaluation that took place at the end of ten weeks. The program was assessed on the basis of: 1) the attitudes and responses of the participating students; and 2) relationship to the total school program. -- The formative evaluation revealed that the3 program was related to the total school program in a positive way, and that the overall and daily response of the students was consistently favorable. It was positively related to the total school program in that it was based upon some of the skills that young children are weakest in - following directions, detecting sequence and drawing conclusions. Favorable student response to the program was revealed by the high daily scores on the behavioural objectives being measured, and by the almost unanimous request to have another project this year. -- The summative evaluation revealed that reading and listening scores were, with the exception of Grade three listening, more than could reasonably be expected for the period of time that the program was in session. In all other areas of comprehension there was a significant difference between what was expected and what was attained. -- Students of low IW such as those in the special education class seemed to benefit more from the program than the gifted. There was no evidence of any marked preference for the commercially prepared listening devices, nor was there any evidence that students were better able to achieve results after using these same instructional materials. At the end of the project, a majority indicated that they learned more from some of the teacher-adapted material. -- It was recommended that teachers investigate the feasibility of preparing their own listening instruction program where necessary, and that listening instruction be made an integral part of the curriculum whenever possible.

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