The purpose of the study was: (a) to test whether adding thevisual element would help the English comprehension process and (b)to gain insight into student perception of the videotape activities. The hypothesis was that the experimental group (video-tape group)who saw and heard dialogues between native speakers would scoresignificantly higher than the control group (audiotape group) who onlylistened to the audio portion of the same conversation. The subjects were seventy-two sophomore English majors atNational Kaohsiung Normal University, who were randomly assignedinto two groups, thirty-six in the experimental group and thirty-six inthe control group. The instrumentation included: (a) Six Unit Tests on Listening Compehension of InstructionalMaterials. The t-test was used to determine whether there weresignificant differences in the mean scores between the experimentalgroup and the control group. The .05 level of confidence was used asthe criterion level to determine a significant difference. (b) Questionnaire on Reflections on Videotape Activities.Frequency and percentage rates were used to analyze the results fordescriptive purposes. The results supported the hypothesis. The visual element did helpstudents better comprehend the content of the materials presented. That is, the experimental group, which saw and heard the dialoguesbetween the native speakers, scored significantly higher than thecontrol group, which only listened to the audio portion of the sameconversation. Other important findings included: (a) Videotape activities helped the subjects improve their listeningcomprehension, better understand the situation and language presentedand learn how people in the English-language culture lived. (b) The duration of the subjects' ability to concentrate on thevideotapes varied considerably. Some could concentrate on the video foronly five minutes, but some, for as long as sixteen minutes. (c) Regarding video-viewing, whether for this study or on one'sown, among the three ways to present video materials (audio andvisual together; audio off, visual on; and audio on, visual off), thesubiects most preferred "audio and visual together." (d) Regarding video-viewing, whether for this study or on one'sown, more students relied on their English ability to understand thecontents; yet some, on the visual element of the videotapes. (e) Most students stated that the visual element added to theircomprehension. (f) No matter whether they videotape-tested or audiotape-tested,they preferred reading the test items first. Based on the findings, it is theorized that the visual element ofvideotapes has a markedly positive effect on student comprehensionbecause it provides visual information for students to betterunderstand the siuation and language presented, thus body language,dress and gestures, as well as background music all become cues forimparting information. It is suggested that no matter whether we are teaching or testingstudent listening comprehension, both audiotape-testing andvideotape-testing be used. Especially worthy of note, since a student'ssense of success or achievement is a step to greater learning, thenvideotape-testing is a way to more highly motivate students intoputting greater effort into understanding the aural stimuli of a foreignlanguage.