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Title
An Investigation into Listening Comprehension Difficulties of More Skilled and Less Skilled Listeners and the Concordant Strategies

Authors
Liu Han and Hu Xiaoqiong

Bios
Liu Han is a second-year postgraduate student majoring in Linguistics and English teaching at the Foreign Languages College, China Three Gorges University.

Hu Xiaoqiong is a professor at the Foreign Languages College, China Three Gorges University. She completed her M.A in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at Guangzhou Foreign Language Institute, China. Her main research interests are applied linguistics, second Language acquisition and cross-cultural communication.

Abstract
There are differences in listening comprehension difficulties between more skilled listeners and less skilled listeners. Different listening groups also adopt different cognitive, metacognitive and social affective strategies to overcome these difficulties. To uncover these differences, both a quantitative and a qualitative study are conducted. Thinking aloud method is also adopted alongside.

46 students majored in Computer Science took part in the quantitative study. They were required to listen to two short passages. The first passage is the authentic material, after which, the students should finish the multiple choices of 10 questions and then write down all the difficulties they have met in the listening. The second passage is dictation, and students are also needed to write down their difficulties. This time spelling mistakes are not included since the aim is to test their listening ability. Results are accounted. Combined with their CET4 (College English Test 4, a national English test for all the college students), all the participants are divided into two groups i.e. more skilled group and less skilled group. Difficulties as well as strategies are analyzed according to Anderson’s three-phase model, perception, parsing and utilization. Afterwards, two students are selected from each group to think aloud while listening to the third short passage. Difficulties and strategies they adopt are transcribed by the author.

It is shown in the study, both in quantitative and qualitative study that more skilled listeners have less cognitive difficulties than less skilled listeners in terms of perception, parsing and utilization and use more strategies than less skilled listeners in listening comprehension. Another finding of the study is that more skilled listeners tend to try harder than less skilled listeners in listening.  

Key words:- listening difficulties; strategies; more skilled; less skilled;