Effects of audio-visuals in improving the listening skill in French : improving grade 8 students’ listening skill in French as a Foreign Language through the use of audio/visual materials

In the era of the 4th Industrial revolution and with globalization rapidly burgeoning, transforming the world and minimizing land and language borders, the propensity of individuals is to become fluent in some foreign language, one of which is French. To acquire this fluency, one must be able to effectively participate in listening, one of the primary skills needed to acquire a language: which is generally noted as being a difficult skill to master. This research is to ascertain how effective the use of audio-visuals is in the augmenting of the listening skill. This research, was done at a prominent High School in corporate area Jamaica using a sample group of 10 from a grade eight, French foreign language class. The findings showed that the students in the sample (and the class on a whole) got significantly higher average scores for
listening comprehension, (when listening activities include visual aids) leading to the conclusion that listening done with audio-visual materials are effective in improving listen skills of learners of French as a foreign language.