An exploration of the relationships between students’ listening skills, self-rated academic listening, and their metacognitive awareness

Deb, Joyshree (2020) An exploration of the relationships between students’ listening skills, self-rated academic listening, and their metacognitive awareness. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This empirical study investigated international students’ challenges in listening to academic lectures, and their use of metacognitive listening strategies to overcome their problems. The participants were 46 international students at Memorial University of Newfoundland who were enrolled in various levels of different academic programs. The data were collected using the following instruments: an IELTS listening test, demographic questions, the self-rated academic listening questionnaire (ALSA), the metacognitive awareness listening questionnaire (MALQ), and two open-ended questions. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, Pearson-product moment correlation coefficients, and linear regressions to measure the relationship between listening skills, self-rated academic listening, and the use of metacognitive strategies while performing academic listening. The results of the study suggest that (1) there is a negative relationship between students’ listening performance and their use of metacognitive strategies, and (2) there is a positive relationship between students’ listening performance and self-rated academic listening skills. ANOVA results show that PhD students perform much lower in listening compared to undergraduate and master’s students. The results of the open-ended questions revealed the major reasons behind listening challenges encountered by the international students and their suggestions on the way of overcoming these challenges. The findings of this study are informative for teachers to understand international students’ listening difficulties and help them improve their pedagogical methods. The study may also be useful for researchers who are interested to work in the field of second language listening.

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