Listening comprehension skill

State-of-the-art article

Recent developments in second and foreign language listening comprehension research


Larry Vandergrift Institute of Official Languages and Bilingualism, University of Ottawa, Canada
lvdgrift@uottawa.ca



Listening comprehension lies at the heart of language learning, but it is the least understood and least researched skill. This paper bringstogether recent research and developments in the field of second and foreign language (L2) listening. It begins with a brief discussion of the different cognitive and social factors that impact listening, followed by a summary of recent research into the development of perception skills and metacognitive knowledge. An integrated model for teaching learners how to listenis then elaborated. In addition, recent research on listening in multimedia environments, academic listening and listening assessment is presented. The paper concludes with a discussion of areas for further research, arguing that the process of listening needs more research attention with in-depth studies that probe deeper into the interaction of the processes and factors that influencesuccessful L2 listening.


Listening comprehension is an important language skill to develop. Language learners want to understand target language (L2) speakers and they want to be able to access the rich variety of aural and visual L2 texts available today via network- based multimedia, such as on-line audio and video, YouTube, podcasts and blogs. Furthermore, listening comprehension isat the heart of L2 learning; and the development of L2 listening skills has demonstrated a beneficial impact on the development of other skills (e.g. Dunkel 1991; Rost 2002). Clearly, it is important to develop L2 listening competence; yet, in spite of its importance, L2 learners are rarely taught how to listen effectively (e.g. Mendelsohn 2001,
2006; Berne 2004; LeLoup & Pontiero 2007).While we have learned more about the cognitive nature of listening and the role of listening in communication, L2 listening remains the least researched of all four language skills. This may be due to its implicit nature, the ephemeral nature of the acoustic input and the difficulty in accessing the processes. In order to teach L2 listening more effectively, teachers needa richer understanding of the listening process. A narrow focus on the right answer to comprehension questions (product) does little to help students understand and control the processes leading to comprehension. Listening is often perceived by language learners as the most difficult language skill to learn (e.g. Hasan 2000; Kim
2002; Graham 2003) and, consequently, can become asource of anxiety for L2 learners (Elkhafaifi 2005a).
Research into L2 listening is important because a better understanding of the process will inform pedagogy. Students who learn to control their listening processes can enhance their comprehension. This, in turn, affects the development of other skills and overall success in L2 learning.
This paper brings together research anddevelopments in the field of L2 listening over the
past six years. It begins with a critical overview of the methods employed to investigate listening. This is fol- lowed by an overview of recent research dealing with: the cognitive and affective dimensions of listening; approaches to teaching L2 listening; the use of tech- nology in listening instruction; academic listening; and, finally, listeningassessment. The paper concludes with a discussion of areas for further research.

1. Investigating listening

1.1 Investigating the product of listening

Traditionally, research has focussed on the product of listening. Listening comprehension test scores are used to determine the success of an experiment with two groups of learners. Both groups complete a pre- test; the experimental group...