The Difficulties Encountered by Undergraduate EFL Students with Their Listening Comprehension Skills in PAAET, Kuwait (Published)
The study identifies the difficulties encountered by EFL students with their listening comprehension skills in the English department at the College of Basic Education, Public Authority of Applied Education and Training (PAAET). The study was conducted using the descriptive approach which contained a sample of 357 EFL students. The results found that students encountered moderate difficulties during the three stages of listening: perception, parsing, and utilization. The strongest difficulty was during the first stage, perception, followed by parsing and utilization. These findings can shape classroom policies by constructing an EFL curriculum that emphasizes the role of listening comprehension and integrates listening skills in classroom activities.
Keywords: Listening Comprehension, Perception, Processing, Utilization
Dictogloss-Based Activities for Developing EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension (Published)
Listening is of vital importance in a foreign language learning, while it is difficult and needs training and concentration strategies. Following the scheme of dictogloss, the researcher accomplished the present study for developing EFL learners’ listening comprehension. Control/experimental research design was followed along with a sample of sixty EFL students studying at King Marriott Higher Institute of Tourism, Alexandria, Egypt. Tackling results with one-way ANOVA and paired-samples t-test, dictogloss treatment proved to be effective in developing listening comprehension among EFL learners.
Keywords: : dictogloss, Listening Comprehension, Listening Skills, listening strategies
Effect of Explicit Teaching of Prosodic Features on the Development of Listening Comprehension by Farsi-English Interpreter Trainees: An Experimental Study (Published)
This study investigates the effect of explicit teaching of prosodic features on developing listening comprehension by interpreter trainees. Two groups of student interpreters were formed. All were native speakers of Farsi who studied English translation and interpreting at the BA level at the State University of Arak, Iran. Participants were assigned to groups at random, but with equal division between genders (9 female and 9 male students in each group). No significant differences in English language skills (TOEFL scores) could be established between the groups. Participants took a standard pretest of listening comprehension before starting the program. The control group had exercises in listening comprehension, while the experimental group spent part of the time on theoretical explanation of, and practical exercises with, prosodic features of English. The total instruction time was the same for both groups, i.e. 8 hours. Students then took a standard listening comprehension test. The results show that the prosodic feature awareness training significantly improved the students’ listening comprehension skills. The results have pedagogical implications for curriculum designers, interpreting programs for training future interpreters, material producers and all who are involved in language study and pedagogy.
Keywords: Curriculum Designers, Interpreting Studies, Listening Comprehension, Prosody