The effect of technology-based materials on vocational high school students’ listening skill

Abstract

There is an assumption that technology-based materials are acquisition-rich input, and listening plays a significant role in daily communication as well as the education process. This study aims to examine the effect of technology-based materials on the student’s listening ability in EFL classes and elicit students’ and teachers’ perceptions about the use of technology-based materials for the development of listening skills. In the current study, a mixed-methods research design was adopted. Quantitative data was gathered through pre and posttest results with the participation of 168 pre-advanced English students studying in a vocational high school in Turkey. Qualitative data were obtained from the semi-structured interviews conducted at the end of implementation to identify the teachers’ and students’ perceptions about the use of technology-based materials. The quantitative data were examined through statistical analyses via SPSS 25, and content analysis was employed to analyze the qualitative data. The results indicated that both technology-based materials and textbook-based materials helped listening skill development. Technology-based materials proved to be slightly more effective than textbook-based materials in quantitative results. Moreover, this study also shows that most of the respondents preferred technology-based materials over textbook-based materials and were motivated in the classroom when using them.