INTERACTING WITH VISUALS INL2 LISTENING TESTS:AN EYE-TRACKING STUDYAR-A/2015/1Ruslan Suvorov, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

Ruslan Suvorov. Visual information plays an important role in second language (L2) listening comprehension (Field 2008; Rost 2011), yet visuals have seen limited use in L2 listening assessment. The limited use of visuals in listening tests can be attributed to the lack of solid empirical evidence about how visuals are viewed during such tests and what impact they have on test performance. To address this gap, this study employed eye-tracking technology to investigate the extent to which L2 learners view two types of visuals—context and content videos—during a Video-based L2 Academic Listening Test (VALT), how the learners perceive and use the two video types, and what effect these visuals have on their test performance.