Diary Probe 2: What did you do to check your

two groups; one is replies associated with elements of deliberate practice, while the other relates to replies reflecting some use of strategies to verify comprehension. The former includes the following categories: concentration, teacher, task, and repetitions. The latter, on the other hand, includes categories such as: note-taking, use of background knowledge, comparing and connecting information, recalling, logic and evaluation, and finally visualization. There are obviously some overlaps between the two groups. Therefore, I will present the results according to frequency of occurrence regardless of group, starting with the category that had the highest

number of instances across the six deliberate practice sessions, regardless of whether it was an instance of DP element or listening strategy.

The total number of responses to this diary probe across the six DP sessions is 259. Idea units entered for analysis made up 77.2% of the responses, while irrelevant responses that had to be excluded from analysis were 22.7%. Appendix N presents a summary of all the categories that emerged from the participants‟ responses to diary probe 2, the total number of occurrences for each category and the sessions they occurred in.

a. Theme 1: Role of Teacher

The role the teacher played was a major theme that occurred in the participants‟ diary responses in regards to what they did to check their listening comprehension. This occurred in 20% of responses to this diary probe. According to the participants‟ responses, the role the teacher played can be seen in a number of ways:

 Teacher as source of feedback & evaluation

Many responses indicated that the participants relied on revising their answers to the listening tasks with the teacher as a way of verifying their listening comprehension. This class of responses is an indication of two elements of deliberate practice: the presence of a tutor and receiving feedback. Examples included:

Revise my notes with my teacher Check them with teacher

By checking my answers with my lecturer I check my answers with teacher

Check the answers with the teacher after i strive to choose the best and the correct answer

When the teacher correct my outline My teacher will correct our summaries

 The teacher as source of guidance

There were instances when participants referred to the teacher as a source of guidance, such as:

I will ask my teacher I did what my teacher said

 Giving a score: implicit reference to teacher

Sometimes participants referred to giving themselves a score as their way of checking listening comprehension. Since this was done along with the teacher as a group, I considered it as an implicit reference to the role of the teacher. Examples include:

Evaluate the answer out of 10

Just count my marks to see my mark and see if it’s good or not after I listen

b. Theme 2: Comprehension Monitoring (Comparing & Connecting)

Compare and connect were also words that have occurred frequently in the diaries. Also, the participants frequently evaluated their responses to the listening tasks and checked whether their answers made sense or not, which was another recurrent theme in the diaries linked to comparing and connecting ideas. This theme occurred in 18% of the responses to diary probe 2. Examples included:

Concentrating very well in the second time and compare the answers to see if they make sense

Read all the answers after choosing an answer to check if I chose the right one

Listen to the lecture again and compare the first notes with second time hearing

Compare the information and think logically

I asked myself questions to logically find connection between the several ideas

Compare the answers to my comprehension

c. Theme 3: Note-taking

The third theme occurring here was the use of notes to verify listening comprehension. This theme emerged from 17% of the students‟ responses to diary probe 2. The use of notes appeared in a number of ways; one was through re-reading the notes:

I re-read my notes Going back to my note

Check the outline or the notes Check my note after second listening

Another instance was revising what they wrote:

By revising all the thing that I wrote

Or writing everything:

Write everything

d. Theme 4: Directed Attention (Concentration)

There were many instances in which participants said that they depended on concentrating more to check their comprehension, especially when given a chance to listen again. This appeared in 10% of the responses to diary probe 2. Examples included:

Focusing harder on what the speaker said By focusing and concentrating more

[نيه ٌىاه لك ًف زٍكرخلا]Focusing on everything that is important *

Listening carefully to the conversation

I just listen and focus on what I am listening to Listening carefully is all I can do

e. Theme 5: Selective Attention

Deciding to attend to specific parts of the listening input was one of the ways the participants verified their comprehension. This occurred in 10% of the responses to diary probe 2. Examples included:

I focused on the conclusion Focusing on the questions first concentrating on the main ideas

f. Theme 6: Background Knowledge

Some students relied on background knowledge to verify their understanding. This accounted for 9% of the responses. Examples included:

I used my background information about this field

[تصاخلا ًحاهٌلعه ىلع ًئزجلا داوخعلاا]Depending partially on my own

information*

Recalling background information

[تقباسلا ثاهٌلعولا ضعب عاجرخسا تلًاحه]Trying to recall some previous

information*

If I’m not sure from the answer, I use my own information to answer

Remembering some conversation about the same topic

g. Theme 7: Repetitions

Some other responses entailed that verifying comprehension was done through repetitions facilitated through the teacher when the listening text was played for a second time. This occurred in 8% of the responses. Examples included:

Correct my mistakes from listening to the lecture for the second time

Go over what I’ve written in the second time we hear the CD and fill what I’ve missed

Filling the blanks from the second time listening To hear it twice and check my answer

h. Theme 8: Task

Some participants, 6% of responses, indicated that performing the tasks was their way of checking their understanding:

Answering the Q

Write the summary by order Read the questions again

Responses indicating a strategy used before listening had to be disregarded since they do not represent a proper answer to this probe, which aimed at eliciting what

participants had done to check their listening comprehension after engaging in the listening act, for example:

I read the questions

Read the passage before started