Research Hypotheses and Research Design

This chapter provides a blueprint of the experiments that were conducted in the reported research. The experiments jointly addressed the research questions which concerned investigating the expertise reversal effect in teaching foreign language listening skills in three instructional conditions. Experiment 1 studied the expertise reversal effect by teaching listening skills to higher and lower expertise learners of English as a foreign language in three teaching formats. Experiment 2 investigated the expertise reversal effect further by using materials of less element interactivity to teach listening skills to only lower expertise adult learners of English as a foreign language in three instructional conditions. In Experiment 3, lower expertise adolescent learners of English as a foreign language were taught listening skills in three instructional formats. The material used in Experiment 3 was low in element interactivity. Using lower expertise learners of French as a foreign language as research participants, Experiment 4 replicated the design of Experiment 3, aiming at investigating the expertise reversal effect in teaching foreign language skills to lower expertise foreign language learners.