Saudi Undergraduates about English Academic Listening difficulties at Umm Al-Qura University - Dissertation Example

Listening is considered an important skill in acquiring the first language and is crucial in the process of Second Language learning. This skill however has not been attributed with sufficient considerations in the field of ESL/EFL learning. Various authors considered instructional issues for major studies of ESL/EFL teaching in various countries like Canada and Singapore (Brown, 2008; Field, 2008). For English language schools in Iran however, the skills of listening are not highlighted even with the significant access available in terms of listening materials in classrooms, such as CDs and DVDs. As a result, students believed that their difficulties in understanding what they were listening to did not match their competence. According to Graham (2006), persistent issues in securing listening skills may cause passivity as well as decreased motivation and decreased involvement in the lessons. In other words, the listening skill is not given enough attention in the classroom and is not given sufficient value in the global setting (Graham, 2006).

Even with the centrality of interpreting the medium of securing strategy instruction for EFL learners at the lower intermediate levels, most language instructors understand that the first language must not be used in the class as it may interfere with the learning process (Macaro, 2001).

It has been suggested by Bently and Bacon (1996) that listeners usually establish meaning based on their oral input because listening is an active dynamic and is an important part of the learning process, specifically for L2 learning. Nagle and Sanders (1986) have secured a listening comprehension-processing model indicating how the automatic and controlled processes help listeners secure meaning based on an oral input. Moreover, evidence-based on a varied context and input from the Constructivist construction by Vandergrift (1999) suggests how listeners can gain meaning based on oral support. Various studies highlight the types of learning strategies that second language learners apply during listening (Carrier, 2003; Chang and read 2006). Authors contend that good language learner applications must be used in order to help students who are struggling in their language learning.

Hassan and colleagues (2005) carried out a review of ESL studies that highlighted learning strategies from various languages. Most of the studies indicated that learning strategies include metacognitive (learning awareness), cognitive (mental learning), and socio-affective learning (individual and social interaction behavior). Hassan, et.al., (2005) identified learning strategies as strategies that learners use often in order to improve their learning.

Chang and Read (2007) assessed visual support in the process of foreign language learning processes, evaluating the effect of various kinds of listening support on low-level proficiency learners in English learning in Taiwan. Four groups took part in their study with two groups assigned to listening supports and another one focused on pictures or a written background text. A third group was a recipient of listening input repetition and the fourth group was the control group, not having any listening support.