Investigation on the factors triggering difficulty in listening comprehension from the perspectives of both students and teachers: The case of third year students of english at Mohammed Seddik Ben Yahia University /Jijel

Abstract

Undeniably, listening comprehension plays a significant role in both English as a Foreign Language learners’ daily communication and their learning process. Yet, comprehending listening passages in the foreign language is not an easy task for EFL learners. Based on the assumption that many factors cause difficulty to third year EFL students in listening comprehension in the classroom at the University of Mohammed Seddik Ben Yahia, Jijel, the present study aims chiefly at probing into these factors from the perspectives of both students and teachers. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the researchers made use of a mixed method (quantitative and qualitative) to data collection. Two questionnaires have been administered to both sixty third year EFL Licence students and seven oral instructors. Besides, two focus group discussions have been conducted with fourteen students from the sample which answered the questionnaire. The findings of the study showed that the major factors triggering difficulty in listening comprehension mainly encompass fast speech rate, lack of vocabulary knowledge, idiomatic expressions and slangs, and reduced forms