Innovation in Language Learning

Listening in English as a Foreign Language is generally regarded as an important skill to develop; however, this is not reflected in teaching and research, where listening is often neglected. While it is normally acknowledged that learners struggle with developing their listening comprehension, there is a paucity of research on their beliefs and difficulties concerning listening. This talk will present the results of an ongoing research project exploring the beliefs of learners from an Italian secondary school with data obtained through questionnaires, classroom observations and interviews. The presentation will focus on the learners’ perceived importance, enjoyment and difficulties in listening; their emotions in the classroom and motivation for learning to listen. Further, the talk will explore the relationship between the learners’ listening self-efficacy (the learner’s belief in their ability to succeed) [1] and attributions (the reasons given by learners to explain their successes and failures) [2] and the listening processes they employ [3]. Finally, implications for classroom practice will be discussed, with a focus on how teachers can help learners in the process of learning how to listen.

Keywords: Listening, secondary, learners, self-efficacy, attributions, English as a Foreign language.

References:
[1] Bandura, A. 1993. Perceived self-efficacy in cognitive development and functioning. Educational Psychologist, 28(2), pp. 117-148.
[2] WEINER, B. 1972. Attribution theory, achievement motivation, and the educational process. Review of educational research, 42(2), pp. 203-215.
[3] FIELD, J. 2008. Listening in the Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.