Open AccessThe effect of Bilingualism on EFL elementary learners’ listening comprehension: The case of Azeri- Turkish vs. Persian students
Author(s) -
Ali Arabmofrad,
Mohammadreza Saeidi,
Mohammad Motamedi
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of multiculturalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2708-3136
pISSN - 2707-2975
DOI - 10.30546/2708-3136.2020.1.2.44
Subject(s) - turkish , neuroscience of multilingualism , persian , psychology , active listening , listening comprehension , mathematics education , test (biology) , comprehension , linguistics , communication , paleontology , philosophy , neuroscience , biology
Since the phenomenon of bilingualism is gradually increasing in the world, thetheory-driven and practically oriented investigation on bilingualism have increasedrecently. However, a few studies have been conducted on the effect of bilingualismon language learning in the multilingual and multicultural context of Iran. Therefore,the main aim of the present study is to examine the effect of bilingualism on IranianEFL learners' listening comprehension in the case of Azeri-Turkish vs. Persianstudents. The study employed a quasi-experimental design over 8 weeks with 44female students assigned to one of the two experimental groups. To select bilingualand monolingual groups, a biographical questionnaire was used. Then, Nelsonelementary proficiency test was administered to ensure the homogeneity of thestudents. To fulfill the purpose of the study, 15 bilingual (Azeri-Persian) elementarystudents in Fazilat high school in Ramian and 29 monolingual (Persian) elementarystudents in Sama high school in Azadshahr were selected to participate in thepresent study. Each group received 16 sessions of treatment in listening skill. Then,the two groups' performance was compared on pretest and posttest consisting of amultiple-choice and matching listening comprehension test. The results indicatedthat there was no significant difference between the bilingual and monolingualgroups regarding their performance on listening comprehension, that is,bilingualism did not affect listening comprehension.