Using TED Talks for extensive listening for third-year English major students at Bac Lieu University

Abstract

Extensive listening (EL) is a teaching approach that fosters students’ listening fluency in a more enjoyable way. Considering the potential advantages of extensive listening, it seems evident that the approach could be beneficial for the teaching of EFL. Given the popularity of TED Talks which are freely available online, the researcher was interested in exploring this online resource as a source of EL materials for her students at Bac Lieu University. Two questions guided our research: (1) What factors do third-year English major students at Bac Lieu University consider important when selecting TED Talk videos for their extensive listening? (2) Does listening to TED Talk videos help students to improve their English listening skills? Data for this study was collected from questionnaires administered to 23 third-year students at Bac Lieu University and two pre- and post- tests. The results indicate that several factors influenced the selection of TED videos. Speaker’s accent, topic, speed, and vocabulary complexity were the most frequently mentioned factors. The majority of students reported that TED videos could help them improve their vocabulary, develop listening comprehension, and enhance their motivation.