FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROBLEMS EFL ...

input, activating related schemata, or simply lack of cultural awareness.
One learner (S18) reported that it was difficult for her to understand the message
which was related to the historical “the American Civil War”,” I was not a social
science student so that I didn’t learn History; it was difficult for me to understand
the story.” For learner (S19), the interpretation of the whole text remained
problematic, although certain strategies, such as inferencing were involved: "I
inferred the word meaning from the context. Sometimes I understood all the words,
but when all the parts were put together, I didn't know what the speaker was trying
to say." Learner (S20) could not decide how to interpret the meaning of the word
"hide" from the context: “Once, I remember, the speakers in the dialogue were
mentioning the word ‘hide’ several times, but it was very strange for me. After I
went home, I looked it up in the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary. Then, I
realized there were several meanings in ‘hide’. But to tell you the truth, I didn’t
know which meaning was the right one.” And, learner (S22) did not succeed in
applying a prediction skill to listening comprehension due to insufficient
background knowledge or schemata: "Prediction was hard for me when I got a
topic, story, or report that I have never heard of."
3) Fatigue
Some learners mentioned fatigue as one of the causes for not being successful in
spoken word processing. For learner (S23) and (S24), their attention or other mental
efforts for listening were affected by their overall condition, i.e., whether they were
tired or not. As stated by learner (S25): "my attention to listen is depended on
whether I am tired or not. When my energy is low, I can't listen very well. Maybe
listening to English songs is all right, but not the tests and the assignments." The
other learner (S26) also reported: "I had to work full time in the other courses. When
I got into the listening class in the hot afternoon immediately after lunch, I was
exhausted. I did not feel like using my brain. When I listened to English at that
time, I got dizzy."
4) Poor English proficiency
The students’ result in the listening course showed that most of the students were
extremely weak in their listening comprehension. Many students also admitted (in
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