FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROBLEMS EFL ...

from his poor listening ability: "It was not the fault of the listening materials; it's all
my fault because of my poor listening ability. I'll work harder." Learner (S3) also
articulated his listening problem: "My English is not good. In addition, I had not a
habit of EFL listening in the past, so it’s difficult for me to listen and understand."
5) Difficulties related to listening strategies
This group contains the listening difficulties that are attributed to the listening
strategies. The components of this group include forgetting to apply strategies,
inability to apply strategies, and ineffective use of strategies. They will be
discussed one by one.
a. Forgetting to apply strategies
Learners sometimes forgot to apply listening strategies while they are engaged in
listening. For instance, learner (S11) responded, “I can't always remember the
inferencing strategy and cannot use it often.” Learner (S18) attempted to use self-
monitoring and directed attention strategy, but often forgot to employ them in
listening process: “sometimes I forgot to remind myself.” This might imply that
strategy use has not yet reached an automatic stage of learning for these learners,
or might imply that strategies were not yet internalized as part of their existing
listening skills.
b. Inability to apply strategies
Some learners encountered practical problems while trying to put their
understanding of strategies into practice. This might be due to the learners’
unfamiliarity with the procedures for specific strategy application. As exemplified in
learner's (S5) response: “Roughly, I know what 'elaboration' is about. But, when it
comes time to apply it, it gets somewhat difficult,” the learner understood the
strategy of elaboration but was unable to apply it in listening process.
c. Ineffective use of strategy
There is also a failure of comprehension even after applying strategies. Another
frequent report from learners was that the texts were still not comprehensible in
spite of strategy use. As learner (S6) indicated when the inferencing strategy was
used: "I inferred the word meaning from the context" but still "when all the parts are
put together, I don't know what the speaker is trying to say." Likewise, learner (S5)
probably used the imagery strategy, but was left puzzled: "Easy to imagine. Hard
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