| Abstract [eng] |
The final master's thesis analyzes the process of performing English listening tasks of elementary school students. For a long time, listening was not considered a separate, independent language skill. However, due to the focus of the learning process in schools on the practical learning of a foreign language, the problem of listening increasingly attracts the attention of teachers and scientific researchers. In addition, a new branch of science – neuroscience - has provided evidence that listening is an active process that involves intense mental and neurological processes. Effective training of the listening skill is impossible without evaluating and training the components of the listening process - the ability to receive information, memorize it, understand it and correctly interpret it. According to the insights of neuroscientists (Madua, 2022, Gow 2020), it is asserted that the teaching process must conform to the rhythm of the brain activity of a person of the appropriate age, and by knowing important facts about the functioning of the brain, it is possible to create appropriate tools and methods that help to achieve better learning results. Researches performed by neuroscientists can also greatly assist teachers in considering aspects of instruction that facilitate the learning process. Findings from research in the field of neuroscience (Madua, 2022, Li et al, 2020) provide insights into good practice, what and how can be changed in the educational process by creating more effective teaching strategies and methodologies. The formation of a new pedagogical practice based on the knowledge of neuroscience - neurodidactics - encourages the creation of new learning methodologies based on the peculiarities of brain activity. Both native and foreign languages are learned by listening to the speech, so listening comprehension difficulties constitute a major barrier in the process of successful language learning (Li, et al., 2020). Since the age of a child from 8 to 10 years is exceptional in terms of physiological development - during this period, significant changes in the development of attention proceed, all attention-gathering qualities develop intensively, concentration of attention increases very quickly, its stability, the skills of multitasking develop, the child's memory changes significantly – this period is the most suitable for starting to learn a language. The initial stage of learning a foreign language is the most important, since it is at the early stage of learning that students should develop basic listening skills, which should be developed throughout the entire period of listening acquisition in order to learn the language successfully (Jyoti, 2020). Many studies have been conducted in the field of listening difficulties and their overcoming with adult students, but the listening comprehension difficulties of elementary school students living in Lithuania have not been studied yet. The following questions have been stated in a study: what difficulties do elementary school students face while performing listening tasks and what early English language teaching/learning strategies can help elementary school students to overcome listening difficulties, what model of strategies can help elementary school students to overcome educational listening difficulties, and what is the effect of the developed during the study contextual model of coping with listening difficulties on the results of elementary school students' listening tasks. The object of the study presented in the paper is the difficulties and strategies of listening in English for elementary school students. The purpose of the study is to determine the strategies for overcoming the difficulties of educational listening in English language for elementary school students and their effectiveness. Study objectives are the following: 1) to review the difficulties of educational listening in English for elementary school students and their overcoming strategies; 2) to justify the study methodology of contextual educational listening in English language for elementary school students; 3) to empirically justify the contextual model of overcoming the difficulties of educational listening in English language for elementary school students. A quasi-experimental design was chosen for the qualitative empirical study. Data for the study were collected during the observation of pedagogical activities and by interviewing students in a semi-structured interview. The study data was analyzed by using the qualitative content analysis method. The study sample is a target criterion, twelve primary school students. The study sample was drawn using a non-probability method. The study instruments were a questionnaire and a researcher's diary. The first part of the master's thesis reviews a scientific study in the field of educational listening difficulties and strategies for overcoming them, identified listening comprehension difficulties in teaching while performing educational listening tasks in English language. The second part of the paper justifies the study methodology, methods of data collection and analysis, characteristics of the research sample, instruments and environment, and discusses the principles of study ethics. In the third part of the paper, a contextual model of overcoming difficulties in the English language for elementary school students based on the principles of neurodidactics is constructed, study results and a discussion of research results, conclusions and recommendations for teachers and researchers are presented. In the course of the study, linguistic difficulties experienced due to the phonological differences between Lithuanian and English languages were determined as well as cognitive - probabilistic prediction, memorization of the heard text, attention control and emotional resilience were determined, and an empirically based model of the application of strategies for overcoming the difficulties of educational listening in English language for elementary school students was created. The conducted qualitative study revealed the advantages of the contextual model of overcoming difficulties in the educational listening in English language for elementary school students. The results of the study showed the effectiveness of tasks for overcoming language difficulties and activities based on the principles of neurodidactics; on their basis, recommendations were prepared for teachers regarding the development of the skill of educational listening in English language and the application of strategies to overcome listening difficulties for elementary school students. |
