Investigating the Causes of Poor Listening Comprehension among ESL Undergraduate Students

Abstract

The current study investigates the causes of poor listening comprehension among ESL undergraduate students of majoring in English at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, Shaheed Benazirabad (SBBU, SBA). Meeting the research objectives, the data were collected using a quantitative research method. The sample (n=204) was selected randomly, and a closed-ended questionnaire was used for data collection. The questionnaire was based on four categories:(a) Problems related to listening text, (b) Problems related to the listener, (c) Problems related to the speaker, and (d) Problems related to the physical setting. The data were analysed through SPSS software. The study came out with these findings namely noise as a barrier, unfamiliar words, unfamiliar topics, long listening texts, lack of prior knowledge, lack of interest, complex grammatical structures, slang expressions, hesitation, pauses, the spoken text contains jargon, variety of accents, speech rate, pronunciation, and physical setting. Considering the above findings, the study suggested effective remedies to overcome poor listening comprehension issues.