EFL Listening Comprehension in Relation to Systematic Instruction of Strategy Use

Previous researches concerned with EFL Listening performance confirm the fact that proficient and skilled listeners use more strategies than the less skilled ones. To see whether this fact applies for Iraqi EFL students in Cihan University, the researcher investigates the relative influence of direct strategy instruction on learners' listening comprehension performance. The participants were 40 second-year students of the department of Translation at Cihan University, selected according to their scores on Topnotch Placement Test (Saslow & Ascher, 2006).A strategy use questionnaire was administrated to the students who were divided into experiment and control groups, 20 learners each. The Listening Comprehension Strategy Inventory (LCSI) was given to both groups in order to extract the pattern of their strategy use. Then, the same inventory was administrated to both groups after a training session on the experimental group. A significant difference was found between the mean of the experimental group with that of the control group. The results obtained from the pre and post-test showed that students who received strategy instruction have developed noticeably over those who haven't. That is to say, explicit strategy training proved to be effective in improving listening and led to a better comprehension performance.