Students’ perceptions on their listening comprehension difficulties in EFLclassrooms: An Ecuadorian case

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate difficulties in listening comprehension that students have in the EFL classroom by answering the following questions: How do the factors of listeners and speakers affect their listening comprehension? How does the listening passage hinder the students’ listening comprehension? This research took place in five private high schools located in Quito. One English teacher was selected from each of the five schools. These five teachers were observed, surveyed and interviewed. In addition, one-hundred twenty-five students participated in this study and fifteen were chosen randomly to represent the sample. This group of students was interviewed and answered a questionnaire. Information was collected using class observation sheets, teachers’ questionnaire, and students’ questionnaire and analyzed through a quantitative and qualitative process. According to the results, one of the major challenges affecting English students’ ability to listen is the mixture of several accents such as American and British in their English material. It also showed that students are distracted by external noises in their surroundings. The lack of vocabulary is also a problem that students face during listening exercises. Finally, it was concluded that students are bored by the themes presented in their studies