The Effects of Listening Strategies Instruction on EFL Students’ Listening Achievements and Motivation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to scrutinize the effects of listening strategies on the listening performance and motivation of EFL students. The study used a quasi-experimental design that rearranged students into experimental and control groups, which required pre- and post-tests. The subjects of the study were 2021 enrolled first-year Natural science students at Mettu University. Two intact sections (50 students in each section) participated. Listening achievement tests, motivational inventory questionnaires and interviews were used as data collection instruments. After the pre-test was undertaken for both groups, the strategy intervention was given for the experimental group. During strategy training, the experimental group was taught listening strategy training with different strategies of instructions (cognitive, metacognitive, and social affective), while the control group was taught through conventional instruction for ten weeks, and both groups received a post-test. Both inferential and descriptive data analyses were used. Finally, the results of the study showed that the students who undertook strategy training outperformed the control group, as the p-value was less than 0.05; which is 0.000 or (p<0.05). Furthermore, the results of the independent sample t-test, motivation inventory questionnaire and interview confirmed that teaching listening strategies had a positive effect on students' listening achievement and those students underwent the strategy instruction were motivated than the other one . Finally, based on the results of the study, it is possible to suggest that classroom teachers need to give due emphasis on the fundamental importance of listening and teaching listening strategy in the EFL classroom.