Why English learners’ listening comprehension is poor and what to do about it

“Professor, I do not understand”.

“Huh?”, “What?”, “Can you repeat that, please?” “What did she say?”, “Teacher, we don’t understand.” Do any of these sound familiar to you? They certainly do.

When EFL English learners struggle with listening comprehension, it can be frustrating. If you use videos, CDs, or audio cassette tapes, or perhaps even when you speak, your students may find the lesson input interrupted due to lack of listening comprehension skills. Comprehensible input (Krashen, 1989) is an integral part of any English or foreign language class.

Contributing factors

These seven factors can contribute directly or indirectly to your students’ listening and comprehension skills.

1. Vocabulary

ELT author, researcher, and speaker Scott Thornbury said, “…count a hundred words from a (reading) passage. If more than ten of the words are unknown, the text has a lower vocabulary recognition rate than 90%. Therefore, it is , illegible.” (S. Thornbury, 2004) The same is probably true for a listening passage. Remember: “You can never be too rich, too thin, or have enough vocabulary in a foreign language,” as the old saying goes.

2. Sounds that rhyme

Have you ever taught or learned poetry? If so, you’ll remember that there are several types of rhyming patterns that can be used. Alliteration, onomatopoeia, assonance and consonance, simile, metaphor and allusion, among others, lend their particular atmosphere to the language written or spoken in English.

Note: If you want or need a quick refresher on these poetic elements, you should read, “How to Evoke Images, Emotions, and Ideas When Writing Poetry That Captures Your Readers’ Imagination” and “How to Write Poems That Capture the Hearts and Imagination of Your Readers.” ” from the author. (L. M. Lynch, 2007)

3. Idioms and expressions

In all languages ​​there are idioms and frequently used expressions that allow their speakers to convey nuances of thought to each other more effortlessly and clearly than simply “explaining” everything verbally. Not only is it useful to know as many of these as possible, but if you don’t, the meanings of many conversations or spoken exchanges can be “lost” to the listener.

4. Pronunciation

Everyone speaks differently and uses continuous speech forms in distinctive ways. Elements including elision, contraction, joining, linking, register, accommodation, aspect, intonation, and others affect pronunciation and speech patterns individually. When students are not familiar with these elements, or even ignore them, listening comprehension can be significantly affected.

5. Regional or national accents

The same sentence when spoken by people from different mother tongue (L1) backgrounds, regional locations, or ethnic origins can vary decisively. Unfamiliarity with this on the part of EFL students can cause a definite lack of listening comprehension or “intelligible input”, as mentioned above.

6. Grammar in context

When grammar and its aspects are taught as “separate” topics, that is, outside of a relevant context, students may be “handicapped”, so to speak, by not understanding how and when native speakers use certain grammatical structures during a oral speech. or verbal exchange. So when they, the learners, hear a grammatical structure that they “know”, but learned “out of context”, they can often “miss” it, misunderstand it, or simply not understand what they are hearing.

7. Rhythms of language

One of the big differences between English and, say, Spanish, is that one language is “syllable-based” while the other is “accent-based.” This explains why non-native speakers sound “funny” when speaking a language that is not their mother tongue.

With epithets like, “oh she loved him, but he chewed, no he didn’t, not a guud, mahn for demm boat.”

These types of epithets derive not from a lack of English or other foreign language skills in particular, but rather from pronunciation based on the use of an “incorrect” rhythm of spoken language.

So what to do about it then?

In the next segment of the article, we will briefly consider what approaches can be taken to address these and other issues related to developing fluent oral discourse and oral exchanges in English or other foreign languages.