FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROBLEMS EFL ...

Successive ‘progress achievement tests’ were employed through out the course to
see the students’ progress and to measure the students’ listening performance. At
the end, these tests were recorded to determine students’ grade in the listening
course.
The tests were taken from “Listening to TOEFL: Test Kit 2” (see pp 70). 90%
of the semester score of the students were results of the total sum of these tests
which were given on a continuous basis. In the continuous assessment of the
course, for example, there were activities in which the students were made: to
listen to a recorded interview (of native speakers) and then to carry out various
tasks (such as, multiple choices, filling the blank, matching), to listen to a recorded
‘real life’ conversation (of native speakers) and then to carryout various tasks, to
listen to a recorded story of an incident and to answer comprehension questions,
to listen to a recorded dialogue and to answer comprehension questions, etc,. The
students’ results of the total sum of all the tests in the listening course were
considered as the students’ listening achievement. The analysis of the scores
helped to determine the students listening ability.
The analysis was based on the scale given by Educational Testing Service
of TOEFL (http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/TOEFL/pdf/Score). The scale has four levels
of listening abilities: (1) Strong, (2) Average, (3) Minimal, and (3) Poor listening
abilities. The scale is also expressed in numbers rated zero to six. Based on the
scale, the extent of the examinees English listening ability was determined.
According to the scale, for example, a score of 6 indicate strong listening abilities,
5 indicate average listening abilities and 4 indicate minimal listening abilities. A
score of 3, 2, or 1 also show lack of listening ability. This implies that a student who
scored below half of the given scale can be labeled to be weak in listening ability.
When we come to the particular intent of the analysis, the students’ results
of the semester showed that 81% of the students scored below 50%, which
indicated many of these students to be extremely weak in their listening
performance (see Appendix F). This implies that the learners' listening ability is
poor, and this poor listening ability also can be one factor which affected the
learners EFL listening comprehension.
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