Learners' perceptions of listening comprehension problems and language

Hasan, A. S. (2000). Learners' perceptions of listening comprehension problems. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 13(2), 137-153. doi: 10.1080/07908310008666595

Background

The author highlighted that there was insufficient knowledge about listening problems encountered in the (English as a Foreign Language) EFL classroom from the learners’ perspectives. The study derives its importance from the context of the way EFL learners at Damascus University viewed listening comprehension and related strategies and problems.

Aims

The study investigated language learners’ perceptions and beliefs about their listening problems. It also sought to identify the strategies used by this particular group of learners and the challenges they encountered when listening to a spoken text.

Sample

The participants included 88 native speakers of Arabic learning EFL for academic purposes at Damascus University, Syria.

Method

Data included a questionnaire that comprised 34 questions, administered to a sample of 88 learners taking EFL. The participants were asked to identify their listening problems by responding to statements arranged according to a 5-point scale, and by providing open-ended responses at the end of the questionnaire to point out the factors which helped and hindered their listening comprehension.

Findings

The findings indicated that the effective strategies that the EFL learners used in listening tasks included the use of pre-listening information and background knowledge to understand the text. Effective listeners focused on the relevant details of the spoken text while ineffective listeners focussed on every detail. This undermined the ability of the latter to monitor and process the information. The structure of the text, unfamiliar words, difficult grammatical structures, and length of the spoken text might present students with listening challenges. The ineffective listeners also showed a lack of contextual knowledge and vocabulary. This hindered prediction and comprehension. They also experienced difficulty understanding spontaneous speech when it was full of hesitations and pauses, or when speakers spoke too fast or with varied accents. They reported that written support like interesting topics provided before listening exercises helped them understand the text. The listeners’ attitudes also played a critical part.

Implications

The listening challenges related to tasks, the message, the speaker and the listener suggested that these problems could be alleviated with focused remediation. Classroom activities could be designed in three stages: pre-listening, listening in progress, and post-listening. The author postulated that these class activities would enhance learners’ understanding of the spoken text. He also recommended future research on different types of listening activities and the impact of listening on the development of other skills such as speaking, reading, and writing.

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