Investigating The Factors That Affect Esl Students’ Listening Comprehension With Reference To The 1st Year Humanities Students Of University Of Kelaniya

Abstract

One of the most important components of language learning in the ESL context is listening. In spite of its importance, listening has been a neglected skill in ESL context since researchers considered it as an ability that would develop without assistance. However, recently there has been an increased focus on ESL listening comprehension among researchers. Though it is an important skill, there are some difficulties in listening comprehension among ESL students which can be classified as linguistic and non-linguistic difficulties. This research study aims to investigate some selected problematic areas in listening comprehension among most of the ESL students. In order to achieve the study objectives, the researchers will develop two data collection methods: secondary resources and classroom observation. To overcome those problems various techniques would be applied with reference to Bottom-Up and Top-Down strategies. Activities are designed to overcome those problems and to investigate its effectiveness to the development of their listening comprehension. 50 students from the Faculty of Humanities are selected as the sample. Moreover, the study will suggest some pedagogical implications to ESL teachers and learners to eliminate listening comprehension problems in the language teaching and learning process.