Phonetic transcription and audiobooks as tools to improve the listening comprehension skills in English

Abstract

Spanish and English phonological systems vary considerably regarding the number of vowel sounds (12 in English, but only 5 in Spanish). This makes that Spanish-speaking students present many difficulties when interacting orally in English. For this reason, a Teaching Innovation Project approved by the University of Valladolid was carried out on the Soria Campus with the aim of improving students’ listening comprehension skills by providing them with basic phonetic notions and training in transcription, as well as doing some pre-arranged self-study practice. The results obtained were slightly higher in the final test in most cases, suggesting the positive impact of the intervention.