An Investigation of the Listening Strategies Used by Second-Year EFL Students at Biskra University

Abstract

Many Algerian students find it difficult to understand the spoken language because listening is a highly complex process during which they have to construct meaning out of information provided by the speaker. Their difficulties include decoding words or sentences, poor knowledge of the structure of the language, lack of prior cultural knowledge, inferring abilities and the use of listening strategies. In fact, successful listening requires the integration of a range of strategies: cognitive strategies, meta-cognitive strategies and socio-affective strategies. This study aims to investigate the listening strategies used by second-year EFL students at Biskra University. For this purpose, a questionnaire was administered to seventy participants. In addition, to make the findings of this study more reliable, the thinkaloud method was used with eight participants. The results of the two research instruments revealed that most of the participants use few strategies and need help to acquire listening skills. Hence, it is suggested to teach them listening strategies to enable them to minimize listening obstacles and to maximize strategy orchestration