Elizabeth Apostolou PhD Candidate Research Assistant Research Centre for English Language Teaching, Testing & Asses

1. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki20th International Symposium on Theoretical & Applied Linguistics1-3 April 2011Listening Comprehension Difficulty: The Learner Perspective Elizabeth Apostolou PhD Candidate Research Assistant Research Centre for English Language Teaching, Testing & Assessment University of Athens

2. Context of study • Part of PhD thesis aiming at: The investigation of listening comprehension difficulty from the perspective of the test task and the oral text. • Sources of data: • Phase I analysis of KPG B2 level candidates’ listening task performance (item analysis) • Phase II examination of L2 learners’ perceptions of listening task & text difficulty (interviews & open questionnaires)

3. Aim of study to give an insight into Greek learners’ perceived task difficulties in a listening comprehension test • reveals what Greek learners find confusing or difficult in listening task performance in English

4. Design of the studyHow? semi-structured, focused interviews carried out with undergraduate students of the Faculty of English Studies, University of Athens

5. Design of the studyWho? contribute to the continuation of the study with a different group of subjects (actual B2 level learners) Research subjects: • 7 undergraduate students • participated in a workshop on Teaching and Assessing listening

6. Design of the studyWhat? Before the interviews: • a listening comprehension test involving test items derived from the KPG B2 level listening comprehension past papers. Test items: • Multiple-choice (M/C) • True/False/Not Stated (T/F/NS) • Completion items

7. Design of the study:What? • While taking the test: • note down their difficulties next to test items • notes used as stimuli on the day of the interviews • After the end of the test: • fill in a feedback questionnaire (of a closed type): • rate test items and oral texts in terms of difficulty • evaluate the effect of specific text and task variables on their performance • responses used to form the questions of each interview

8. Interviews • Interviews carried out: • on a different day from the test • separately with each individual • in Greek • Each interview: • lasted 30-45 minutes • was recorded

9. Interviewing • Test item difficulties • explain difficulty with reference to specific test item types • Text-related difficulties • elaborate on factors of text difficulty (i.e., rate of speech, accent, text density, etc.) • Their reasoning & thought processes in responding

10. Interview Data Analysis • transcribed • translated into English • analyzed using N-Vivo 7, a software for qualitative analysis

11. FindingsM/C test items(1)

12. FindingsM/C test items (2)

13. FindingsM/C test items(3)

14. FindingsT/F/NS (1)

15. FindingsT/F/NS (2)

16. Findings Completion items

17. What causes difficulty to L2 learners? Item-related factors • In MC items • Semantically relevant distractors • Lexical overlap • Lexical difficulty • Item Length • In T/F/NS items • False vs. Not stated • In Completion items • additional difficulties at the level of production

18. What causes difficulty to L2 learners? Required Comprehension processes • In MC items • Focused listening for specific information • Inference making • Processing load (text density & item length) • In T/F/NS items • Focused listening • Processing load • In Completion items • Inference making • Paraphrasing

19. Conclusions Listening is a multi-dimensional procedure and performance on listening test tasks requires a complex combination of knowledge & processing skills (Buck, 2001). Listening comprehension in L2 is difficult irrespectively of language proficiency level.

20. Next phase… examine actual B2 level learners’ perceptionsof listening task and text difficulty (open questionnaires) combine learners’ perceptions with item difficulty results derived from item analysis (Phase 1)

21. Implications For testing & assessment: • shed light into the aspects of test design influencing candidate performance • contribute to the design of more valid tests of listening comprehension For pedagogy: • help teachers enhance their students’ listening skills

22. Elizabeth Apostolouelapostol@enl.uoa.gr Thank you for attention