LISTENING COMPREHENSION DIFFICULTIES OF COLLEGE STUDENTS: BASIS

FOR REMEDIATION STRATEGIES IN THE CLASSROOM

Prof. Cecilia L. Calub, Ph.D.

Prof. Rosalina Garcia, Ed.D.
Prof. Leodivina P. Tagama, Ed.D.
Prof. Ma. Shinette P. Morales, M.A.Ed.
Ms. Francelle L. Calub, M.E.L.T.
College of Education, Tarlac State University

ABSTRACT achieving understandable communication input.

This is a descriptive research that gathered
quantitative as well as qualitative data on the
listening comprehension difficulties frequently
experienced by selected college students enrolled at
the College of Education. These learning difficulties
were categorized based on the factors causing such
difficulties or problems. Remediation strategies for
the teachers to apply in the classroom were proposed.
The main tool used to gather the essential data was
survey questionnaire similar to that of the Likert
Scale. To triangulate the findings an interview was
also conducted. Results of the investigation reveal
that the students often experienced difficulties in
listening to aurally-presented texts due to physical
setting that is noisy and listening
aids/materials/equipment that have problems with
the volume or the quality of sound. They sometimes
had problems with: 1) the listening comprehension
process; 2) the texts’ linguistic features; 3)
concentration; 4) psychological characteristics
pertaining to their interest, attitude towards the text,
and their confidence; 5) the listener; 6) the
speaker/reader; and 7) content of the text. Thus, a
list of appropriate strategies was proposed to
remediate the difficulties experienced by the students
when listening to aurally-presented texts. Based on
the findings several recommendations were given.
Among these are: 1) Further studies should be
extended to cover the students majoring other
courses ( e.g., Physical Education, Mathematics,
Social Studies, Filipino); 2) Conduct research on the
possible reasons for the listening difficulty that
signal the presence of another problem such as ear
infection or an attention deficit; and 3) Apply
remediation strategies proposed in this study.
Keywords: listening comprehension difficulties,
strategies, remediation strategies, comprehension
process, linguistic features
INTRODUCTION
Most English language learners claim that
listening is the communication skill that is easy to
learn. They may be right for listening is a receptive
skill, not a production one. Listening is frequently
used as a communication skill in the classroom that
can facilitate the emergence of the other skills [1].
Supportive to this is the argument of Krashen (1985)
emphasizing that people acquire language by
understanding the linguistic information they hear or
that they listen to [2]. Hence, language acquisition is
achieved mostly through receiving understandable
input and, listening ability is the vital component in
Without understanding inputs at the right level, any
kind of learning simply may not occur. based on
these perspectives, one can surmise that listening is a
basic language skill, and as such it merits a priority
among the four areas for all language learners.
Educators, communication and business
experts agree that listening is an important skill that
requires hard work. Supporting this observation,
Adler and Elmhorst (2002) stressed that listening
involved far more than sitting passively and
absorbing other’s words. In his best - selling book,
Stephen Covey identifies it as one of the “seven
habits of highly effective people.” Cited by Adler and
Elmhorst (2002), Tom Peters, business consultant
and co-author of In Search of Excellence and A
Passion for Excellence, emphasizes that one key to
effective leadership is listening. [3]
Studies conducted indicated that adults spent
an average of 29.5 percent of their waking hours
listening. This is almost a third more time that they
spent talking and virtually twice as much time as they
spent reading. A more recent study focused on
listening in business setting and in different work
contexts. Personnel at all levels – including top-,
middle-, and lower level managers, workers with no
managerial responsibilities, and university students –
were asked to note the time they spent engaged in
various types of communication during a typical
week. the results were impressive: Listening 32.7%,
Speaking 25.8%, Writing 22.6%, and Reading 18.8%
. [4]
Adler and Towne (2001) lamented that
despite the importance of understanding others, the
quality of listening is generally poor in most
organizations. In classroom settings alone,
communication between the teachers and the students
typically achieve no more than 25 to 50 percent
accuracy in interpreting each other’s remarks. After
24 – 48 hours, the recall level drops to 25 percent. [5]
In the field of education, Thomlison
(1984) remarked that listening comprehension (LC)
is considered as indispensable part of literacy
development, as it is the bridge between spoken and
written language.[6] Among children, good listening
comprehension allows them to hear a story and
understand it, retell it in their own words and discuss
it with those around them. Improving students’
listening skills is strongly related to knowing the
factors which have an effect on their listening
performance. Factors affecting listening

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comprehension have to be investigated to determine
which ones serve as interference or contributory to
effective communication between and among the
communicators. If students struggle with listening
comprehension they will struggle to learn
academically, especially in situations where aurally
– presented materials are used for instruction
purposes. Research on second language (L2) listening
comprehension strongly supports the role of a
number of factors such as the quantity of words in a
passage, the organization of ideas, the syntactical
complexity of the passage, the reader’s accent or
articulation of phonemes, the pace or speed in
reading, the listener’s physiological and
psychological condition, the physical or
environmental mood or condition, the volume or
vocal quality of the reader, among others. Brown
(1987) identified eight factors that may have caused
ineffective listening comprehension among second
language (L2) learners. Among these are memory
limitations and the listener’s predisposition for
“chunking,” or clustering; redundancy (rephrasing,
repetition, elaboration, and insertions of “I mean” and
“you know.”); reduced forms and sentence
fragments; hesitations, false starts, pauses, and
corrections; idioms, slang, reduced forms; rate of
delivery and length of pauses; stress, rhythm, and
intonation of English for interpreting questions,
statements, emphasis, sarcasm, endearment, insult,
solicitation, or praise; and rules of interaction such
as negotiation, clarification, attending signals, turn-
taking, topic nomination, maintenance, and
termination. Many scholars have similar
observations stressing hot words, environmental
factor, rehearsing a response, person bias,
daydreaming, a short attention use of filtering,
clustering, redundancy, reduction, variables, speed,
prosodic elements and lack of interaction as greatly
affecting listening comprehension. [7]
Research results revealed that students’
problems in listening comprehension were caused by
speech rate, vocabulary, and pronunciation. In terms
of speaker factor, it was revealed that ‘clarity’ was
the main cause of EFL listening difficulties. As to
listener factor, ‘lack of interest’ ‘the demand for full
and complete answers to listening comprehension
questions’ were the two main difficulties encountered
by EFL students. [8] Hamouda (2013), on the one
hand, attributes the difficulty of listening
comprehension to varied sources: students’ listening
comprehension process, linguistic features, failure to
concentrate, learner’s psychological characteristics,
the listener, the speaker, the physical setting, and the
content of the text. [9] In Rubin’s study (1994), it was
found out that most listening comprehension
difficulties experienced by students were due to four
major factors: the speaker, the listener, the
environment, and the text itself.[10]
The research results examining how certain
factors or conditions affect L2 listening
comprehension is considered very limited. The
literature contains inconsistencies in how factors of
interest within these aspects are described. More
empirical studies are needed to explore learners' own
perceptions of their listening experience since
listening cannot be observed directly and described
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precisely. Learners' perceptions may offer clues to
the sources of comprehension breakdowns.. Albeit,
much of the research reports reveal weak or
inconclusive results, leaving many factors still
unresolved.
The above review of related literature and
studies had provided the researchers adequate
insights relative to the current study . From their
long years of experiences in teaching English as
second language in the classroom, the researchers
had also noticed that most students enrolled in
different courses/disciplines at Tarlac State
University had listening comprehension lapses. This
was proven when the students were given several
classroom listening tests in their Speech and
Reading classes asking them to follow sets of
instructions and to answer comprehension questions
about aurally -presented texts ( e.g., a short passage).
Other teachers in the same university had similar
observation and they lamented that no matter how
simply-stated the instructions were and no matter
how careful the teachers were in reading a text for
comprehension, there were still students who
responded poorly to aurally-given lectures or
aurally-read texts for listening comprehension tests.
Driven by the researcher’s concern with their
students’ listening performance in the classroom,
this study was conducted. The study focused on the
factors that influence their students’ listening
comprehension difficulties that frequently
experienced. The findings of this study became the
basis for the identification of strategies that may
be applied in the classroom to remedy their listening
problems and make them effective listeners and
communicators, in general.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS
This study identified the factors that
contributed to college students’ listening
comprehension difficulties. Specifically, it aimed to
answer the following sub-problems:
1. Categorized as follows, what are the
comprehension difficulties frequently experienced
by the college students when listening to aurally-
presented texts in English?
1.1. Difficulties Related to Students’ Listening
Comprehension Process
1.2. Listening Difficulties Related to Linguistic
Features
1.3. Difficulties Caused by Failure to Concentrate
1.4. Learner’s Perceptions of Listening Difficulties
Related to Psychological Characteristics
1.5. Listening Difficulties Related to the Listener
1.6. Listening Difficulties Related to the Speaker
1.7. Listening Difficulties Related to the Physical
Setting
1.8. Listening Difficulties Related to the Content of
the Text
2. What remediation strategies may be applied in
the classroom to help students’ alleviate their
listening comprehension difficulties?

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study is significant to all teachers,
English learners, course designers, and future
researchers for the following reasons:
1. It will raise teachers' awareness of the students’
difficulties in listening comprehension, awareness
that may be instrumental in helping them
conceptualize and apply appropriate remediation
measures. Having an awareness of the factors that
affect listening comprehension helps teachers better
address the cognitive, affective, psychological,
environmental or language needs of their students.
2. L2 teachers will have a better understanding of
their students’ listening difficulties and correlate
them their own teaching methods/approaches to help
students’ improve their listening comprehension.
3. It is also hoped that the findings about students’
listening difficulties and the factors causing them
can provide English teachers with some guidelines
for reading material development, selection, and
evaluation.
5. Learners need to be aware of the factors which
contribute to their difficulties in listening; when
listeners know something about their own problems,
they will be able to improve their listening practices
to become better listeners.
6. Researchers who are interested in classroom
research focusing on any of the four communication
skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) may use
the findings as a basis for further study in the area.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design. This study is a classroom-based
descriptive research that is quantitative in terms of
the data that were gathered, analyzed, and
interpreted. Students’ listening comprehension
difficulties were gathered through survey
questionnaire and unstructured interview.
Research Locale. The research process was
conducted at the College of Education, one of the 10
colleges of Tarlac State University.
The Participants. Two hundred eighty (280)
students who had taken English 3 and/or were taking
English 3 during the time that the research was being
conducted participated in the research in the 1st
semester of the academic year 2015-2016. One
hundred forty (140) students came from the BEEd
department, similarly, 140 came from the BSEd
department: 70 second year and 70 third year
students from the BEEd classes, also, 70 second
year and 70 third year students from the BSEd
classes.
Samples and Sampling Techniques. Classes
handled by the researchers were purposively chosen
as the target research participants. Four (4) classes (
second year and third year) from the BEEd
department, likewise 4 classes (second year and third
year) from the BSEd department were randomly
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chosen. From each class only 35 were selected to
participate as respondents in the survey. Thus, the
total number of students who participated from the
BEED and BSEd classes was 280 ( 140 from the
BEEd and 140 from the BSEd)
Research Instrument/s and Validation of the
Instrument/s
1. Survey Questionnaire. A survey questionnaire
was used to get information about the listening
comprehension difficulties of the selected
respondents. The extensive and intensive review of
related literature and studies (Rubin, 1994; Dunkel,
1991; Hamouda 2013) on the factors that influence
listening comprehension had provided the researchers
with great ideas on how to construct the research
instrument and what to include as items for
investigation. The components of the survey
questionnaire with checklist and rating scale were
derived from or based on the survey questionnaires
developed by Rubin (1994) and Hamouda (2013).
However, most of the items were adopted from
Hamouda’s (2013) instrument.
The questionnaire consisted of two parts. Part
1 contained 2 questions to collect participants’
names as well as course and section. Part 2 included
eight (8) factors that influence listening
comprehension of the students, namely: A.
Difficulties Related to Students’ Listening
Comprehension Process (12 items); B. Listening
Difficulties Related to Linguistic Features ( 16
items); C. Difficulties Caused by Failure to
Concentrate ( 6 item); D. Learner’s Perceptions of
Listening Difficulties Related to Psychological
Characteristics (5 items); E. Listening Difficulties
Related to the Listener (7 items); F. Listening
Difficulties Related to the Speaker ( 7 items); G.
Listening Difficulties Related to the Physical Setting
(3 items); H. Listening Difficulties Related to the
Content of the Text (9 items). A total of 75
descriptions of listening comprehension difficulties
were identified and described. The answers were
recorded on 4-point Likert Scale (Never, Sometimes,
Often, and Always).
To ensure the validity of the questionnaire, it
was given to three experienced professors, all of
whom have taught BEEd and BSEd students in
English for years in the same university. The
validators also handled graduate students and had
been advisers as well as panelists for undergraduate
and graduate theses. Their expertise were needed to
examine the structure, logical flow of the
questionnaire, the wording, clarity, length, and the
order of the questions. The researcher then made
some modifications based on the comments of the
experts. For instance, items with semantic ambiguity
were clarified or deleted, and items recommended by
the experts were added. Then the questionnaire was
pilot-tested to a group of five (5) BEEd and 5 BSEd
students in each of the four (4) classes) who were
also taking up similar subjects but were not chosen
to take part in the actual survey. There were no
questions raised by the participants during the pilot
test or dry-run. Thus, the researcher proceeded with
the research.
2. Unstructured Interview. The second research
instrument which was employed in this study was
interview. The purpose of the interview was to
triangulate the information that was obtained through
the questionnaire in order to obtain data on how the
listening difficulties which had been identified
through the questionnaire affected the learners’
listening comprehension and the reasons behind the
learners’ difficulties of listening comprehension as
well as to find out if there were other factors
causing such difficulties, which were not mentioned
in the survey questionnaire. Through methodological
triangulation, the students were given the
opportunity to report in their own words their
perceived difficulties so that the researcher may
gain deeper and clearer understanding of their
difficulties.
Data-Gathering Procedure. After having asked
permission to conduct survey on listening
comprehension difficulties from the college dean,
the conduct of the survey through the use of
questionnaires started. Asking consent from the
teachers handling the chosen classes was not
necessary since they were handled by the four (4)
researchers themselves. The survey questionnaires
were distributed to the BEEd students.
The questionnaires were given on separate
days to the respondents, using the same classroom
and answering them with the same amount of time.
The administration of the questionnaire was
supervised by one of the researchers who happened
to be their teacher in the subjects/courses mentioned.
As soon as they were through answering the
questionnaires, interview was conducted. Questions
related to their listening experiences in the classroom
especially when given listening exercises, including
some items in the survey questionnaire, were asked.
Only five representatives of the entire BEED class
were chosen randomly to answer the questions.
From the BSEd class, five representatives were
chosen randomly to answer questions during the
interview. Significant responses were noted and/or
recorded. Similar responses were just summarized.
The data obtained through the questionnaire
and through the interview were organized and
analyzed.
Statistical Treatment. Frequency of the students’
responses corresponding to the items identified and
described in the questionnaire was calculated,
counted and scored. Then, the scores were
converted into percentage. The mean ( or average)
was determined to measure the central tendency.
The mean is equal to the sum of all the values in the
data set divided by the number of values in the data
set, and the formula used was:
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FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
1. Difficulties Most and Least Frequently
Experienced by the College Students When
Listening to Aurally-Presented Texts in English.
Factors causing students listening
comprehension problems were categorized into
different sources including difficulties related to
students’ listening comprehension process, linguistic
features, failure to concentrate, learner’s
psychological characteristics, the listener, the
speaker, the physical setting, and the content of the
text. The lists of descriptions were adopted from
Rubin (1994) and Hamouda’s (2013) checklists of
listening comprehension difficulties.
1.1. Difficulties Related to Students’ Listening
Comprehension Process
Listening comprehension is an active process
in which a person concentrates on selected aspects of
aural input, form meaning from a passage read, and
associate what he/she hears with existing knowledge.
It encompasses the multiple processes involved in
understanding and making sense of spoken language.
Such processes include recognizing speech sounds,
understanding the meaning of individual words,
and/or understanding the syntax of sentences in
which they are presented. Listening comprehension
also involves memory demands to keep track of
causal relationships expressed within the discourse.
Table 1 shows the statistical results on the
difficulties the students experienced most and least
frequently in terms of listening comprehension
process.
Table 1. Difficulties related to students’ listening
comprehension process
Difficulties M D
1. I find it difficult to make a mental summary of 2.17 S
information gained through listening.
2. During listening, I have difficulty checking 2.10 S
whether I correctly understand the meaning of the
whole chunks of the listening text.
3. While listening, I find it difficult to guess the 2.03 S
meaning of unknown words by linking them to
known words.
4. I find it difficult to use the context to guess 1.94 S
those parts of a listening text that I cannot hear
clearly.
5. While listening, I have problems making 1.89 S
meaningful personal associations with the new
information.
6. When I listen to texts in English, I experience 1.85 S
difficulty with listening for the main idea of the
text.
7. I find it challenging to focus on the text when I 1.81 S
have trouble understanding.
8. Before listening, it is difficult for me to predict
from the visuals what I will hear.
1.96 S
9. It is difficult for me to relate what I hear with 1.77 S
something from an earlier pat of the listening
text.
10. I have difficulty finding out what the main 1.72 S
purpose of the listening task I am going to do.
11. After listening, I find it difficult to evaluate 1.72 S
the overall accuracy of my comprehension.
12. While listening, I have difficulty checking 1.60 S
my understanding of the text based on what I
already know about the topic
Grand Mean 1.88 S
 It could be seen from Table 1 that the first information from speakers may be due to their
5 ranking difficulties that many of the respondents inadequacy in the use of English. Brown (1994)
sometimes experienced were: 1) Difficulty in making points out several linguistic sources which make
a mental summary of information they gained listening difficult: 1) use of colloquial language and
through listening (2.17); 2) Difficulty checking slang; 2) use of reduced forms; 3) "prosodic
whether the correctly understood the meaning of the features" of the English language; and the 4)
whole chunks of the listening text (2.17); 3) unfamiliar accents and pronunciation.
Difficulty in guessing the meaning of unknown
words by linking them to known words (2.03); 4) Table 2 presents numerical data representing
Difficulty in using the context to guess those parts of the frequency of listening difficulties the students
a listening text that they could not hear clearly while experienced on linguistic features.
listening (1.94); and 5) Having problems making
meaningful personal associations with the new Table 2. Listening difficulties related to linguistic features
Difficulties M D
information (1.89). However, the grand mean
1. I find it difficult to infer the 2.74 O
suggests that majority sometimes (1.88) experienced
meaning of an unknown word while
difficulties in listening due to the comprehension listening
process involved. 2. I use my experience and
background knowledge of the topic to
The above findings concurred with those of understand the spoken text. 2.64 O
Boyle (1984), Chiang and Dunkel (1992) Rubin 3. I find it difficult to understand
(1994), and Lynch’s (1997) studies. Having such listening texts in which there are too
similar findings, the researchers concluded that the many unfamiliar words including
students have difficulty interpreting inputs in terms jargon and idioms. 2.42 S
of what they know and what they don't know. 4. Complex grammatical structures
Current views of listening comprehension propose interfered with my listening
that listeners must know how to actively process comprehension. 2.35 S
5. I find it difficult to recognize the
language input. Two types of processing used by
signals which indicate that the speaker
many ESL listeners had been identified as cognitive is moving from one point to another. 2.34 S
strategies and metacognitive strategies. This implies 6. I find it surprising and difficult to
that the reading teacher needs to assist students deal with colloquial language and
enhance their strategies in listening to fully slang. 2.25 S
understand what they hear or listen to. 7. When encountering an unknown
word, I stop listening and think about
Interview with the students reveal the the meaning of the word. 2.25 S
following: 8. I find the listening passage difficult
to understand. 2.16 S
1). English text is not easy to understand the first 9. I feel fatigue and distracted when I
time they hear it read by the teacher. Unfamiliar listen to a long spoken text. 2.15 S
vocabulary makes it difficult for them to get the 10. I find it difficult to follow the
meaning and the message of the entire text. Student sequence of the spoken text when the
sentences are too long and complex. 2.12 S
1 said, “ It’s not very easy to understand an English
11. I find it difficult to interpret the
passage the first time it is read. I have only limited meaning of a long spoken text. 2.11 S
knowledge of English vocabulary, especially idioms 12. I find the pronunciation familiar
and figurative words.” but cannot recognize the words. 2.10 S
13. Long spoken text interfered with
2). While listening to the text, the students have to my listening comprehension 2.03 S
translate most words in isolation or by chunks, 14. I do not often pay attention to
making comprehension process tedious. “As soon as intonation of the speaker. 1.92 S
a line or sentence in English is read, I immediately 15. I find it difficult to understand
translate mentally every word one by one. The every single word of incoming speech. 1.88 S
process is tiring’, Student 2 frankly admitted. 16. I find it difficult to understand
listening texts when the topic is
3). Most of the students have short-term memory. unfamiliar. 1.77 S
Unless the teacher reads the passage or text twice and Grand Mean 2.2 S
allows them to take down notes, they would not be
able to easily remember everything that would be Table 2 shows that majority of the respondents
read. Student 3 said, “ Not all of us have keen often found it difficult to infer the meaning of an
memory. Sometimes I ask my seatmate what was just unknown word while listening (2.74) and they often
read coz I easily forget some of the words read within used their experience and background knowledge of
the sentence.” the topic to understand the spoken text (2.64). The
rest of the difficulties listed in the table were
1.2. Listening Difficulties Related to Linguistic sometimes experienced by the students as implied by
Features the mean scores they obtained. The overall mean
(2.2) reveals that majority of the students sometimes
Challenges in listening result from the had difficulties in comprehending aurally-presented
language itself. Lack of English proficiency and their texts due to linguistic features.
professors' use of English in class make studying of The data gathered agreed with Underwood’s
the target language not easy. Research shows that findings (1989) who observed that when
some difficulties in understanding and remembering encountering an unknown word, many students

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stopped listening and started thinking about the
meaning of the word. This practice may interrupt the
flow of speech, thus the students may miss some
essential information. This tendency of seizing to
listen and concentrating on the language word by
word to work out on its structure, and then decide on
its meaning interferes with comprehension
(Underwood, 1989). Underwood also added that
failure to recognize words could also stem out from
student’ inability to segment the word out of
connected speech. [11] This observation concurs what
Brown (1992) said about the effect of the use of
"prosodic features" in reading the text - the stress,
rhythm and intonation, which are very important for
comprehension. In informal situations or spontaneous
conversations, signals are vaguer as in pauses,
gestures, increased loudness, a clear change of pitch,
or different intonation patterns. These signals can be
missed especially by poor or less proficient listeners.
[12]
Interview with the students reveal the
following:
1) Not being able to understand the whole passage or
instructions given is due to the unfamiliarity of many
words used by the author, particularly scientific,
literary, or mathematical terms. Student 1 remarked,
“ Some words in other texts are not easy to
understand. Many are not familiar to us.”
2) To understand a part or some parts of the passage,
they just recall what they learned from others (e.g.,
their teachers), what they had read which sound
similar to what was being presented. Student 2
lamented, “While our teacher reads the passage, I am
trying to recall familiar ideas from the past. Before I
knew it, the reader I already in the next lines. So I
wasn’t able to catch up with the other parts of the
passage.”
3) Simple sentences with few or no dependent
clauses were easier for them to understand or
remember. But listening with compound-complex
sentences with many chunks of words and phrases
confused them, especially if the teacher forgot to
pause after a long chunk of words. Student 3 said, “
Complicated sentences having too many clauses and
conjunctions confused me. Sometimes I have to
mentally separate possible independent clauses or
ideas composing the compound or complex
sentences… The reader should know how to pause
between phrases or clauses.”
5) In the past, the students were not taught well
how to pronounce many English words correctly and
intelligibly. Thus, when their college teacher read the
text a few sounded a bit unfamiliar to them. Student 4
admitted, “ Our English teacher in the high school
(even in the elementary school) read differently (but
not very very different) from our English teacher in
the college. Some are new to my ears.”
1.3. Difficulties Caused by the Failure to
Concentrate
Another factor which affects listening
comprehension is concentration. As observed by the
researchers, during listening lessons students are
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required to be attentive to understand a strand of
newly introduced information. Failure to concentrate
will result in the students missing some of the lecture
content, which will eventually affect their
understanding of the whole lecture. Low
concentration, or not paying close attention to
speakers, is detrimental to effective listening.
Hamouda (2013) said that poor concentration may be
caused by visual or auditory distractions, physical
discomfort, poor volume, lack of interest in the
subject matter, stress, or personal bias. Regardless of
the cause, when a listener is not paying attention to a
speaker's dialogue, effective communication is
significantly reduced. Students’ motivation is one of
the crucial factors that affect listening
comprehension, too. It is more difficult for students
maintaining the concentration when learning a
foreign language. When students find the topic of the
listening text interesting, comprehending would be
easier. Likewise, students find listening very boring
even if they are interested in the topic because it
needs a huge amount of effort in order not to miss
the meaning.
Table 3 presents the statistical data on the
frequency of listening difficulties caused by failure to
concentrate.
Table 3. Difficulties caused by failure to concentrate
Difficulties M D
1. I lose my concentration when I think
of another question.. 2.65 O
2. I lose my concentration if the
reading/recording is of poor quality. 2.62 O
3. I am unable to concentrate because I
search for the answers, and I listen to the
text/passage at the same time. 2.40 S
4. I lose my concentration when the text
is too long. 2.29 S
5. I lose focus of the talk when I got an
expected answer in my mind. 2.27 S
6. I lose my concentration when I think
about the meaning of new words . 2.19 S
Grand Mean 2.4 S
Table 3 reveals that many students often lose
their concentration when thought of another question
(2.65), while some lose their concentration if the
reading/ recording was of poor quality (2.62). Many
were sometimes unable to concentrate because they
searched for the answers, and listened for the
text/passage at the same time (2.40), lost their
concentration when the text was long (2.29), lost
their focus when they got an expected answer in their
mind (2.27), and lost their concentration when they
thought about the meaning of new words they heard
(2.19). It is indicated in the table that as a whole,
majority of the students sometimes (2.4) consider
concentration as a cause to the poor listening
performance that they had in the classroom.
The data gathered go with the findings of
Gilakjani and Ahmadi (2011) who found that text
length was one of the major problems for listeners
since they tended to lose focus after concentrating
too long on the listening. Their students stated that
when the text is lengthy, they have difficulty
remaining focused. According to Gilakjani and
Ahmadi (2011) if the exercise is too long it would be
more suitable to break it up into shorter parts by
pausing or a change of the speaker. Listeners can
also lose their concentration if the recording is in a
poor quality or they are disturbed by outside
noises.[13]
Interview with the students came out with
the following data:
1) The students easily lose their concentration if the
learning environment is noisy. Student 1 complained,
“ Sometimes if there’s noise going on, like students
talking while passing by the classroom and
construction going on in the school, I lose my
concentration. I could not understand everything that
is read.”
2) Their lack of concentration is due to the length of
the text. The longer the text is, the poorer their
concentration is. Student 2 said that if the passage
that is being read is long, she expects not to be able to
answer perfectly the questions in the listening test.
3) Personal problems make them lose their
concentration. “Oftentimes my personal problems
affect my concentration,” Student 3 admitted
1.4. Learners’ Perceptions of Listening Difficulties
Related to Psychological Characteristics
Psychological factors such as misperception,
distrust, unhappy emotions, and people's state of
mind can jeopardize the process of communication.
Similarly, if someone has personal problems such as
worries and stress about physical condition,
communication problem occurs. The listening
comprehension process is a relatively complex
psychological process. When a person feels nervous
or anxious he or she may not be able to concentrate
on the activity that has to be accomplished. When
one feels uncomfortable, the ability to understand an
aurally- presented text is reduced. Boredom and
frustration are other barriers to listening
comprehension. This occurs as a result of lack of
interest in the topic, poor motivation, and less
stimulating or monotonous lecture presentation by
the teacher.
Table 4 shows the statistical results on the
frequency of psychological characteristics as
contributory to listening difficulties met by the
students.
Table 4. Learners’ perception of listening difficulties
related to psychological characteristics
Difficulties M D
1. If I don’t arrive at a total
comprehension of an oral text, I feel
disappointed. 2.43
2. I feel nervous and worried when I
don’t understand the spoken text. 2.41
3. I find it difficult to understand the
spoken text which is not of interest to
me. 2.21
4. I stop listening when I have problems
in understanding a listening text. 2.11
5. Before doing listening
comprehension tasks, I fear that I cannot
understand what I will hear. 1.88
Grand Mean 2.21
Table 4 shows that if the students did not
arrive at a total comprehension of an oral text,
sometimes they felt disappointed (2.43). They
7|Page
sometimes felt nervous and worried when they did
not understand the spoken text (2.41), sometimes
found it difficult to understand the spoken text which
was not of interest to them (2.21); sometimes
stopped listening when they had problems in
understanding a listening text (2.11); before the
listening comprehension tasks, sometimes they
feared that could not understand what they would
hear (1.88). The overall mean 2.21 means that most
of the students sometimes experienced problems in
listening due to some psychological concerns.
In the study of Hamouda (2013), he found
that a very high percentages of students (41.7%)
reached an agreement that they always felt nervous
and worried when they did not understand the spoken
text. Only 6.6% in his study claimed they never
experienced panic when they failed to understand the
spoken text. These figures also pointed out that
psychological factor creates psychological problems
for learners. Such study of Hamouda strengthened
the findings of the current study. Harmer’s research
(2001) is also in concurrence with the above
findings. According to him, many students stopped
listening when they had problems in understanding
a listening text. He also reported that some of his
students lose interest in listening and some even
gave up. The results seem to imply that it is the
teacher’s job to arouse the students’ interest, help
them gain confidence in themselves and make sure
that they can achieve success in listening with the
limited amount of English. Motivation should not be
disregarded as having a vital role in setting up the
mind of the listeners for a successful listening
performance.
Results of the interview reached the
following conclusions regarding the influence of
psychological factors in the students’ listening
comprehension:
1) They fear getting low grades. Thus, if the text is
hard to understand it worries them a lot. According to
Student 5 she always thought of how she would be
able to pass a classroom test. If the test is on listening
comprehension, she claimed that she always tried to
focus.
2) Sometimes if the text is not interesting, they only
half-listen. They are just ‘forced’ to listen to the text
for fear of getting low or failing grade in the
listening tasks. Student 2 confessed that he was not
really a good learner of English. Language, he
S added, is very abstract. So, when they were given
listening comprehension test, he always forced
S himself to listen fearing that he might be called upon
to answer some questions.
S 3) English is not an easy language to understand to
many students. Prior to the reading of a passage, they
S already think that they might not be able to
comprehend it completely. Student 3 agreed with
Student 2. Both claimed that English is not easy to
S
understand though they have been learning to use it
S
since their elementary school days.
1.5. Listening Difficulties Related to the Listener
 Most research data on listening problems
reveal that ESL learners’ problems resulted from
their inability to recognize the main words and
understand the spoken text the first time it was read.
A listener may have difficulty with listening
comprehension, which is greatly influenced by the
level of intelligence that he has. It has been observed
in many classrooms that a student with a low level of
intelligence will have a harder time comprehending
and understanding a text that is being read by
someone else. On the other hand, a person that has a
high level of intelligence will better understand the
message intended by the speaker . There could be
other factors that may have caused listening
difficulty. Among these are the lack of general
understanding of the spoken text the first time they
hear it, poor prediction skill, inability to remember
words they have just heard, the way words are
pronounced, inability to understand text without
transcripts, or difficulty in answering question which
ask for information.
Table 5 shows the findings on the frequency
of listening difficulty due to some other factors that
concerned the listeners themselves.
Table 5. Listening difficulties related to the listener
Difficulties M D
1. At the time of listening, I find it
difficult to predict what would
come next. 2.16 S
2. I find it difficult to recognize
the words I know because of the
way they are pronounced. 2.09 S because of their inadequacy on the use of
3. I find it difficult to quickly
remember words or phrases I
have just read. 2.04 S may bother them especially if the passage
4. There are words that I would
normally understand in writing,
but when I hear them in a stream
of speech, I find it difficult to tell
where one word finishes and
another begins. 2.04 S
6. I find it difficult to listen to
English without transcripts. 2.03 S pose as a problem to them. Student 2 agreed
7. I find it difficult to get a
general understanding of the
spoken text from the first
listening. 1.91 S given several questions to answer that relate
8. I find it difficult to answer
questions which require other
than a short answer (e.g., why or
how questions). 1.90 S motivate the student to get serious listening
Grand Mean 2.03 S to it but the anxiety is still there. Student 3
Table 5 shows that majority of the students
sometimes experienced the following
difficulties/problems in listening: 1) Difficulty in
predicting what would come next at the time of
listening (2.16); 2) recognizing the words they knew
because of the way they were pronounced (2.09); 3)
quickly remembering words or phrases they had just
read (2.04); 4) telling where one word finished and
another began when hearing them in a stream of
speech (2.04); and listening to English without
transcripts (2.03). In general, majority of the students
sometimes (2.03) experienced listening difficulties
because of personal matters.
8|Page
From this result it could be that most students
find it difficult to recognize the words they already
knew because of the way they are pronounced. The
problem may have been due to lack of flexibility in
their listening skill. They could not recognize almost
similar sounding words or are unable to understand
words in context. This result is also consistent with
Ur’s declaration (1984), which states that if a word is
pronounced differently from the way it was said
when it was learnt, the listener may not recognize it
as the same word, or may even miss its existence
completely. Listener anxiety can have a profound
effect too on comprehension abilities. When listeners
are so much concerned with the complexity of the
passage their ability to concentrate falters, and
comprehension declines. [14] Listeners are more
anxious when listening to new information, trying to
sort conflicting information, listening to seemingly
illogical passages, or when they think their
performance reflects their abilities or intelligence.
Answering questions that require long answers also
bothers many ESL listeners/learners, especially if
they are given only a very limited time to write them.
The abovementioned experts believe that
multiple hearing could help in comprehending an
aurally-presented material.
Interview results on the listener as a factor in
listening comprehension are summarized below.
1) The first time students listen to the text, they
already have some doubts as to whether
they would be able to understand everything
the target language. Student 1 said that the
first time they hear a passage being read
requires them to answer comprehension
questions.
2) If the text or passage is new to them, they
doubt if they would be able to comprehend
while listening to it being read for the first
time. A familiar passage or a text may not
that a text or any text that they had already
read, heard or discussed in the classroom
may not worry them, even if they would be
tit. .
3) If the listening activity is a test that aims to
assess their listening competencies, it may
honestly admitted that though the passage is
new, they were forced or motivated to
comprehend every detail of the passage if it
was meant to grade their reading
performance.
1.6. Listening Difficulties Related to the Speaker
Problems of listening comprehension may
also be related to the speaker’s natural speech/accent
and pronunciation. Many experts claimed that
genres of accented speech would result in a
significant reduction in comprehension. Fan (1993)
pointed out that usually ESL/EFL listeners are used
to “their teacher’s accent or to the standard variety of
British or American English”. In this case teachers
have to familiarize the students with both British and
American accents. This is true and even necessary if
the teacher would use a recorded speech, discourse,
or passage which the students would listen to. [14]
Table 6 reveals the findings on the frequency
of difficulty experienced by the students due to the
speaker/reader her-/himself.
Table 6. Listening difficulties related to the speaker
Difficulties M D
1. I find it difficult to
understand well when the
speaker speaks too fast. 2.81 O
2. I find it difficult to
understand the listening text
when the speaker does not
pause long enough. 2.21 S enough to be heard by all students. Student 3
3. I find it difficult to
understand the meaning of the
spoken text without seeing the
speaker’s body language. 2.16 S
4. I find it difficult to
understand the meaning of
words which are not
pronounced clearly. 2.12 S 4 said that it may not be the fast speed in reading that
5. I find it difficult to
understand well when the
speaker speaks with a variety
of accents. 1.93 S patience and concentration for getting distracted from
6. I find it difficult to
understand the natural speech
which is full of hesitation and
pauses. 1.88 S Setting
7. I find it difficult to
understand the recorded
material if I am unable to get
things repeated. 1.55 S environment surrounding the students. Noise or
Grand Mean
2.1 S
It could be seen from Table 6 that the
students often (2.81) experienced difficulty in
understanding well when the speaker speaks too fast.
The following four descriptions of difficulties were
sometimes experienced: 1) Understanding the
listening text when the speaker does not pause long
enough (2.21); 2) Understanding the meaning of the
spoken text without seeing the speaker’s body
language (2.16); 3) Understanding the meaning of
words which were not pronounced clearly (2.12);
and 4) Understanding well when the speaker speaks
with a variety of accents (2.81).
The above findings are in line with the
findings of previous research which suggest that
hesitations and pauses in spontaneous speech cause
perceptual problems and comprehension errors for
non-native speakers. When people speak, they often
hesitate, repeat themselves, say things that are
ungrammatical and change their minds halfway
through a sentence. These things are a natural feature
of speech and may be either a help or a hindrance,
depending on the students’ level. So, the teacher’s
tasks when teaching listening will be to train students
to understand what is being said; to disregard
redundancy, hesitation, ungrammaticality; and to be
conscious of the speakers’ changing their minds.
The interview with the students revealed the
following information:
9|Page
1) It is difficult to comprehend a text when the
person who reads or speaks has a native accent
different from theirs. Student 1 said that she was used
to the Ilocano accent of their former elementary and
high school teachers. When they reached college,
they had to make adjustments to the way their college
English teachers teach how words should be
pronounced or read.
2) Correct phrasing and pausing should be practiced
to understand every detail of the passage being
presented. Student 2 teacher wanted her teacher to
read with proper pausing or phrasing. Reading a
passage quite fast tended to perplex them.
3) Sometimes the recorded material used by the
teacher in the listening test has a problem. The
speaker or the sound system volume was not loud
remembered how one of her teachers got irritated
with a laptop that has speaker that could not be
increased further in volume.
4) If the teacher reads very slowly, it could be very
boring and less interesting to the students. They are
not motivated to listen at all. On the contrary, Student
irritated him. It was the teacher who read very slowly
that annoyed him. He said that he usually lose her
a very slow reading of a passage.
1.7. Listening Difficulties Related to Physical
Not only the difficulties come from the
message, the listener or the speaker but also from the
distortion in the audio signal interferes with listening
comprehension for listeners.
Sometimes inconvenience in the classroom
affects students listening comprehension. In the large
classrooms, students who are sitting at the back rows
may not hear well the recording unlike the students
who sit in front. Students who prefer to stay next to
the windows are effected by the noise that come
from outside. Such observations suggest that teachers
have to take into account all this conditions and try to
reduce all these distractions in the listening
environment. The size of the classroom also makes
difficult for teacher to manage the all class in group
activity or to get feedback from students. The
temperature of class can be counted as a factor that
makes listening comprehension difficult. The class
that does not have air conditioner may be too hot in
summer or too cold during rainy days ( or when the
air condition unit is too cold) which may even
interfere with their listening comprehension.
Table 7 shows the results on the frequency of
difficulties experienced by the students due to the
physical setting or environment.
Table 7. Listening difficulties related to the physical
setting
Difficulties M D
1. It is difficult for me to
concentrate with noises around. 3.08 O
2. Unclear sounds resulting from the
poor quality of the CD player of the
recorded speech/text interfere with
my listening comprehension. 2.85 O Table 8 present the frequency of difficulties
3. Unclear sounds resulting from
poor equipment interfere with my
listening comprehension 2.54 O
Grand Mean 2.82 O Table 8. Listening difficulties related to the content
The data in Table 7 shows that students often
experienced difficulty in concentrating due to the
noises around (3.08). Unclear sounds resulting from
the poor quality of the equipment, e.g., CD player
that played the recorded speech interfered with
students’ listening comprehension. Majority of the
students thought that the difficulties they
encountered in listening comprehension were due to
the bad recording quality / poor- quality tapes or
disks. For example, the text/passage was recorded
while there were noises around or the cassette was
used for such a long time so the quality was worn
out. Unclear sounds resulting from poor-quality
equipment can also interfere with the listener’s
comprehension. Surely, it is difficult to expect the
students to learn to listen better when they are
exposed to so many problems.
The findings concurred with those of Bingol,
Celik, Yidliz, & Tugrul Mart’s (2014) [15] studies
who observed that the quality of sound system had
impact on the listening comprehension of the
students.
Opinions and observations given by the
students during the interview are summarized, as
follows:
1) The cassette should not be recorded and played
while there are noises around. Student 1 suggested
that a speech, script or any spoken material to be used
in listening test should not be recorded in a noisy
environment. All the students suggested that
authentic English listening test materials should be
purchased, or the speaker/speakers in the recorded
listening test material should be native speakers of
American-English.
2) The students are distracted by the noise no matter
how hard they try to focus on the task.
3) Students suggested that all classrooms be made
free from noise. Though the students suggested to
have a noise-free classrooms, two students
complained that inside the classroom, noise also
posed as a barrier. They complained about their
classmates who talk too much, move a lot, or who
had their cellphones turned on.
1.8. Listening Difficulties Related to the Content of
the Text
Research have shown that the material itself
may be the main source of listening comprehension
problems. Unfamiliar words, complex grammatical
10 | P a g e
structures, and the length of the spoken text may
cause listening problems. One factor of concern in
L2 listening comprehension is passage length and the
extent to which listeners can cope with the amount of
information that is presented for processing. [16]
Unlike reading, listening comprehension occurs in
real time. Listeners may not have the option of going
back to something they failed to comprehend
experienced by the students due to the content of the
text.
of the text
Difficulties M D
1. I find it difficult to understand
listening texts in which there are too
many unfamiliar words including
jargon and idioms. 2.43 S
2. I use my experience and
background knowledge of the topic
to understand the spoken text. 2.31 S
3. Complex grammatical structures
interfered with my listening
comprehension. 2.24 S
4. I find it difficult to interpret the
meaning of a long spoken text. 2.11 S
5. I find it difficult to understand
listening texts when the topic is
unfamiliar. 1.99 S
6. I feel fatigue and distracted when
I listen to a long spoken text. 1.97 S
7. I find it difficult to understand
every single word of incoming
speech. 1.97 S
8. I find the listening passage
difficult to understand. 1.78 S
Grand Mean 2.11 S
Table 8 shows that the students sometimes
(2.43) had difficulty understanding listening texts
in which there were too many unfamiliar words that
included jargons and idioms. Many also admitted that
they sometimes (2.31) used their experience and
background knowledge of the topic to understand the
spoken text. Others sometimes (2.24) considered
complex grammatical structures as interference to
their listening comprehension. Sometimes (2.11), they
also found it difficult to interpret the meaning of a
long spoken text, likewise when the topic was
unfamiliar (1.99).
This finding coincides with Butt (2010)
who reported that the major problem hindering
listening comprehension was that the students’
vocabulary was too limited to understand the
message. [17] This also conforms to Vogely’s study
(1998) which shows that the difficulty in listening
comprehension was partly due to the structural
component of the text.[18]
Background knowledge about a topic is also
an important variable that can influence listening.
Even if a person has mastered the skill of analyzing
speech accurately and automatically, lack of basic
background knowledge can cause reduced listening
comprehension. The data reveals that many students
used their experience and background knowledge of
the topic to understand the spoken text.
 The result also proves that the length of the
text can be one major factor that negatively affects
the learners’ listening comprehension. This confirms
Ur’s assertion (1984) which justifies that the
difficulty in listening comprehension is partly due to
the length of the listening text itself which bores
listeners and distract their concentration. Therefore, it
can be inferred that long spoken texts interfere with
the learners’ listening comprehension.
As regards the interview results, the students’
observations are summarized.
1) "Fatigue" negatively influences a foreign language
learner's listening to English. In academic listening
especially, the listener will feel tired trying to
"understand the unfamiliar sounds, lexis and syntax
for long stretches of time". All the students
mentioned that they get bored and tired listening to
a long spoken text or an aurally-presented text.
2) Students who have inadequacy in the use of
English find it difficult to understand the meanings
of many words in the speech.
3) If the topic is unfamiliar, it is not easy to get its
meaning or to interpret it. Sometimes, students just
guess about its meaning or the message the passage
or article intends to convey.
4) Unfamiliar words, complex grammatical
structures, long spoken text, uninteresting topic ,
complexity of sentences and unfamiliar topic create
listening difficulties to the students.
Summary of Data on Listening Comprehension
Difficulties Experienced by the Students
Below is a summary of the categories of
difficulties experienced by many students when they
listened to aurally-presented English texts/passages
Table 9. Summary of data on listening
comprehension difficulties experienced by the
students
Difficulties M D
1.Listening Comprehension 1.88 S
Process
2. Linguistic Features 2.2 S
3. Failure to Concentrate 2.4 S
4. Psychological Characteristics 2.21 S
5. Listener 2.03 S
6. Speaker 2.1 S
7. Physical Setting 2.82 O Causes of
8. Content of the Text 2.11 S Difficulties
Grand Mean 2.22 S Listening Comprehension
Table 9 discloses that students often
experienced difficulties in listening to aurally-
presented texts due to physical setting that was
noisy likewise with listening
aids/materials/equipment that had problems with the
volume or the quality of sound. This factor obtained
a mean of 2.82. They sometimes had problems with:
1) the listening comprehension process (1.88); 2)
the texts’ linguistic features (2.2); 3) concentration
(2.4); 4) psychological characteristics pertaining to
their interest, attitude towards the text, and their
11 | P a g e
confidence (2.21); 5) the listener (2.03); 6) the
speaker/reader (2.1); and 7) content of the text
(2.11). The grand mean (2.22) implies that the
students in general sometimes experienced
difficulties or problems in comprehending texts that
are aurally-presented.
It is noteworthy that the physical setting or
the learning environment was considered as the major
factor that often caused their difficulties in listening
comprehension. Factors related to physical setting
included noise, both background noises on the
recording and environmental noise, and these could
be contributory to their loss of concentration while
listening to aurally-presented text/s. Not seeing the
speakers' body language and facial expressions
makes it perhaps more difficult for the students to
understand the meaning of the text. Unclear sounds
resulting from poor quality equipment can interfere
with the listener's comprehension.
Noise likely imposes an additional load
on working memory. Student listeners may be slower
and less accurate at speech processing in the presence
of noise, and find understanding the speech to be
more effortful or tedious under noisy environment.
As argued by most teachers, when noise interferes
with the perception of a signal, this will be likely to
increase the proportion of processing capability
which a listener must devote to comprehension. [19]
The statistical result suggest that indeed
many college students have listening comprehension
problems. Thus, there is a need to train or taught the
students how to listen effectively. Poor listening
skills could be a hindrance to the effectiveness of
their teaching, since thee students aspire to become
teachers.
2. Proposed Remediation Strategies To Improve
Students’ Listening Comprehension
Not all the problems described above can be
overcome. Certain features of the message and the
speaker, for instance, are inevitable. But this does not
mean that the teacher can do nothing about them.
She/He can at least provide the students with suitable
listening materials, background and linguistic
knowledge, enabling skills, pleasant classroom
conditions, and useful exercises to help them
discover effective listening strategies. A few of the
remediation strategies are listed below.
Remediation Strategies That May
Help Students Alleviate their
Difficulties
The professor/instructor may:
1) Activate the schemata by
1. Listening encouraging the learners to think about
Comprehension and discuss what they already know
Process about the content of the listening text
2) Repeat/rephrase question or
instructions
3) Ask questions everyday so the
student learns the skill through
repetition and practice

2. Linguistic 1) Use clues which are the words or
Features phrases coming after the unknown
words. Students have to make sure that
they do not spend much time on
guessing the unfamiliar word or they
will miss the speaker’s next point.
2) Restate their instructions, and
simplify the vocabulary, syntax, and
grammar
3. Failure to 1) Provide “wait time” for student to
Concentrate process and answer question.
2) Consider alerting the student that
you are about to begin speaking by
gently tapping her on the shoulder or
calling her name. Face her, and make
sure she has eye contact with you.
3) Vary tone and volume also might
help keep her attention
4. 1) Exploit visual aids or draw pictures
Psychological and diagrams related to the listening
Characteristics topics to aid students to guess and
imagine actively.
2) Reduce the anxiety, feel confident
during listening tasks, and raise
personal motivation in enhancing
listening ability
1) Require the listeners (students) a
5. Listener conscious effort and a willing mind to
listen
2) Use pictures, gestures, etc. when
giving directions
1) Help students expose themselves
6. Speaker and get familiar with precise
pronunciation of native speakers
2) Unimportant points or small details
should be spoken more quickly.
Important points, such as main ideas,
are usually spoken more slowly and
clearly.
1) Seat the student in an optimum
7. Physical position in room free of distractions.
Setting 2) Stand directly in front of student
when giving directions.
8. Content of 1) Provide short listening texts.
the Text 2) Teach students how to take note .
3) Adopt and adapt listening materials
that match their students’ interest and
background
d. Use multiple hearing/listening
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
1. The students often experienced difficulties in
listening to aurally-presented texts due to physical
setting (or learning environment) that was noisy and
to listening aids/materials/equipment that had
problems with the volume or the quality of sound.
They sometimes had problems with: 1) the listening
comprehension process; 2) the texts’ linguistic
features; 3) concentration; 4) psychological
characteristics pertaining to their interest, attitude
towards the text, and their confidence; 5) the
listener; 6) the speaker/reader; and 7) content of the
text.
2. Difficulties in listening comprehension which the
college students experienced can be alleviated or
reduced by applying appropriate or suitable
remediation strategies targeting the causes of the
difficulties.
12 | P a g e
CONCLUSIONS
1. The learning environment and the quality of the
audio material/equipment are the most frequent
causes of listening comprehension difficulties
experienced by the students.
2. Listening comprehension difficulties could be
alleviated or reduced by applying remediation
strategies.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. The remediation strategies proposed in this study
may be applied by teachers across disciplines.
2. Schools must provide a teaching-learning
environment that is free from distractions (e.g. noise)
3. Further studies on listening comprehension
difficulties could be correlated with their general
English proficiency or reading comprehension
performance.
4. Future researchers may investigate physiological
or neurological reasons for the listening difficulty.
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[2]
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The researchers appreciate Tarlac State
University Research Office for motivating them to
conduct a collaborative study on topic that was of
interest to them, likewise to the dean of the College
of Education for allowing the students to take part in
the survey.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Dr. Cecilia L. Calub is an English professor of the
College of Education, Tarlac State University (TSU).
She is the Area Head of the MAEd English program
in the same university. She graduated with the
following degrees: Bachelor of Science in
Elementary Education (BSEEd), with specialization
in English, Cum Laude; Bachelor of Science in
Secondary Education BSEd), major in English,
minor in History; Master of Arts in Education, major
in Guidance and Counseling; and Doctor of
Philosophy in Linguistics, major in Applied
Linguistics. In 2005, she was awarded Outstanding
13 | P a g e
in Linguistics Research by the Philippine Normal
University – Manila. She has conducted and
presented a number of research focusing on
linguistics, language education, and gender advocacy
and has presented most of them in in-house
research reviews, as well as in national and
international conferences. (ceciliacalub@yahoo.com)
Dr. Rosalina C. Gracia is a professor of the College
of Education, Tarlac State University ( COEd- TSU).
She is a graduate of Doctor of Education, major in
Industrial Education Management. She handles
Professional Education subjects in the undergraduate
program as well as post-graduate students at TSU.
She is a co-author of a book titled “Teaching
Profession” which is presently used by students of
the COEd. She has conducted and presented a
number of research in the in-house research
reviews, in national as well as international
conferences. (rosalinagarcia_30@yahoo.com.ph)
Dr. Leodivina P. Tagama is a professor of the
College of Education, Tarlac State University. She is
a graduate of the following degrees: Bachelor of
Science in Home Technology, major in Home
Technology, Cum Laude ; Master of Arts in
Education, major in Administration and Supervision;
and Doctor of Education, major in Educational
Management. She has taken units in Music
Education. At present, she is the chairman of the
BSEd program in the college, also the chair of the
TSU Chorale. She has conducted and presented a
number of research in the in-house research
reviews, in national as well as international
conferences. (tagamaleodivina@yahoo.com)
Ms. Francelle L. Calub is a full-time technical staff
of the Office of Technology Development Transfer
and Commercialization (OTDTC), Tarlac State
University. She taught English-related subjects in the
same university for almost eight years. Ms. Calub
graduated with the following degrees: Bachelor of
Arts in English and Master in Education, major in
English Language Teaching. At present she is
pursuing her Ph.D. in Language Education.
(francellecalub@ymail.com)
Prof. Ma. Shinette P. Morales who is an associate
professor of the College of Education, Tarlac State
University has been teaching for almost 24 years.
She graduated with the following degrees: Bachelor
of Science in Business Administration, major in
Accounting and Master of Arts in Education. She
has taken several units in Ph.D. Linguistics. In
addition to being a subject professor, she was
designated adviser of the COEd Sub-Supreme
Student Council. He research interest is on Filipino
Language Education . ( mashinettemorales@yahoo.
com )