Exploring l2 learners' viewpoints towards youtube comments as a listening assistance tool

Abstract EN

This study was conducted to explore L2 learners' viewpoints towards YouTube comments as a lis tening assistance tool.

A group of 290 EFL learners participated in this study who reported their viewpoints in a questionnaire consisting of 20 Likert-scale items.

The questionnaire measured stu dents' viewpoints in terms of relevance, effectiveness, importance, and feasibility towards YouTube comments.

Also, ten students voluntarily participated in a focus group discussion who responded to open-ended questions regarding YouTube comments Analysis of the questionnaire demonstrates that participants have overall positive viewpoints regarding the effectiveness of YouTube comments on the comprehension of videos.

They believe that YouTube comments are often relevant and touch on key parts of videos and are often easy and interesting to read.

With regard to the importance of comments to the comprehension of videos, students; however, do not consider comments as important as the oth er listening tools such as captions or subtitles.

The study concludes by suggesting that when YouTube is used for teaching L2 listening, the selected videos should have received a number of rich, relevant, and meaningful comments.