Students’ Perceptions on their Listening Comprehension Difficulties in EFL Classrooms: an Ecuadorian Case

Abstract

he research addresses elements related to students' perceptions of difficulties in listening comprehension in English as a foreign language classrooms. It presents an Ecuadorian case study with the objective of identifying the problems that English students face in developing this ability. The research was conducted in four private schools located in the Tumbaco-Quito Valley, and the sample selected were 125 second-year high school students aged 16-18 and 5 teachers. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used. The quantitative method was used to analyze the data obtained through the different research instruments. Qualitative, on the other hand, was used to describe the essential aspects related to students 'and teachers' perceptions about the development of auditory comprehension. The research instruments used to gather information offered by the participants were a questionnaire of 18 questions for students and a questionnaire for teachers. In addition, a student interview was used. The results show that the fundamental factors that affect students' listening comprehension are the poor knowledge of the language and the subject of the auditory material, the accent of the speaker and the use of complex grammatical structures in the oral discourse.