A STUDY OF LISTENING COMPREHENSION PROBLEMS FACED BY ESL LEARNERS AT UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL IN SOUTH PUNJAB

Abstract

Listening is one of the most important skills in English language learning. Aim of this study was to identify the listening comprehension problems faced by ESL learners at undergraduate level in a developing district of south Punjab and found different techniques and strategies that can be adopted by the students to improve their listening skill. The study was quantitative and the population was ESL students of a developing district of south Punjab. Random sampling technique was used for sampling. There were 100 students who participated in this research. The instrument of this research was questionnaire. Questionnaire consisted of two sections i.e. about the students’ response towards the importance of listening skill, and listening comprehension problems. This study revealed that these problems were related to the listener, and the speaker, listening material, linguistic aspects, lack of concentration, and physical setting. Data were analyzed through SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) software. The average percentage and positive mean values of each questionnaire item was calculated. Results of this study indicate that the learners faced most of the problems in listening comprehension due to un-clear pronunciation, lack of concentration on the listener’s side, rate of speech delivery, unfamiliar words and topic.