Lecturers' and students' perceptions of the effectiveness of teaching listening skills to English foreign language students at three Ethiopian universities

Abstract

The main aim of this research was to explore lecturers’ and students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of teaching listening skills to English foreign language (EFL) students at three Ethiopian universities with the purpose of proposing guidelines and recommendations for effective teaching and learning of EFL listening skills. The research was prompted by a number of research projects which indicated that listening skills and the teaching of listening in the Ethiopian context were not effective resulting in students who are ill equipped for listening effectively. A mixed method approach was followed as a design for the empirical research study. A pragmatic research paradigm, using both quantitative and qualitative methods and then blending the two methods was employed. Quantitative data were collected from 72 lecturers and 158 students at three Ethiopian universities by means of close-ended questionnaires using a five-point Likert scale instrument. For the qualitative phase of the study data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews with lecturers and students. Observations of listening lessons presented in the classroom and in the language laboratory were done by means of completing an observation checklist and note-taking. These were used to triangulate data. The analysis of the data obtained by means of the questionnaires and the observation checklist were done using descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data obtained by means of unstructured interviews (which were transcribed verbatim) were coded and divided into themes. The research findings indicated that the lecturers’ perceptions of the activities used during the pre-, while- and post-listening phases and the use of listening material were more positive than those of students and that females perceived the effectiveness less positive than males. The data obtained by means of interview questions confirmed what was found in the quantitative part of the study. Observations carried out in the three universities showed that the teaching of listening skills was mostly poorly done and that the listening material used was not suitable and did not interest students. The use of bottom-up and top-down strategies were found to be used inadequately in the teaching of EFL listening skills. The teaching methods and strategies used, as well as activities provided during each listening phase were found to be generally poor. A model for teaching EFL listening in the classroom was proposed in this study. Lecturers and students expressed their challenges in teaching and learning EFL listening skills and also made recommendations for best practices on how to improve the teaching and learning of EFL listening. These challenges and recommendations for best practices mostly centred around lecturer-related, student-related and institutional-related factors. This study has suggested recommendations pertaining to the lecturers, students, institutions of higher education, the Ethiopian Ministry of Education and schools.