Using Video in Web-Based Listening Tests

With sophisticated multimedia technology, there is a renewed interest in the relationship between visual and auditory channels in assessing listening comprehension (LC). Research on the use of visuals in assessing listening has emerged with inconclusive results. Some learners perform better on tests which include visual input (Wagner, 2007) while others have found no difference in the performance of participants on the two test formats (Batty, 2015). These mixed results make it necessary to examine the role of using audio and video in LC as measured by L2 listening tests. The current study examined the effects of two different types of listening support on L2 learners' comprehension: (a) visual aid in a video with input modified with redundancy and (b) no visuals (audio-only input) with input modified with redundancy. The participants of this study included 246 Spanish students enrolled in two different intermediate Spanish courses at a large Midwestern university who participated in four listening tasks either with video or with audio. Findings of whether the video serves as a listening support device and whether the course formats differ on intermediate-level Spanish learners' comprehension will be shared as well as participants' preferences with respect to listening support.