Phonological Transcribing of English Utterances in Teaching Listening Comprehension for Korean Students

The purpose of this paper was to discuss the importance of listening and to examine whether or not transcribing utterances in English using the Korean alphabet improved the accuracy in English sentences produced by a group of Korean college students. A total population of 120 students was divided into two groups, control and experiment. The experiment group transcribed the English utterances on a practice TOEIC tape into phonological writing in Korean and then later transposed the Korean writing into English words. The control group transcribed the English sounds only in English without using the Korean alphabet. Statistically significant differences were noted in the accuracy of dictation when the students used the Korean alphabet, especially for the beginning and intermediate students. Statistically significant results were not produced for the advanced students. The findings of the study supported the view of many researchers and methodologists that listening comprehension is important to the acquisition of language skills, and second language instruction should continue to emphasize the importance of listening. (Contains 2 figures and 4 tables.)