Introduction
Social cognitive theories (e.g., Bandura,
1986, 1997) are human functioning
theories which contribute to the notion that
humans can control and manage their own
behavior. According to social cognitive
theories “what people think, believe, and
feel affect how they behave” (Bandura,
1986, p. 25). Learning a foreign language
has thus always been related with some
level of "affect" including apprehension or
tension especially when taking a test
although a small amount of anxiety is
normally expected as a natural warning
symptom and as a facilitative factor. With
the shift of research focus from teachers to
learners in second language acquisition,
affective factors such as attitude,
motivation and anxiety are believed to
account for successful language learning
outcomes.
According to Bandura (1997), anxiety is
“a state of anticipatory apprehension over
possible deleterious happenings” (p. 137).
People experiencing anxiety exemplify
apprehension as well as evident behavior
which often interfere with their everyday
life performance as well as in academic
situations. Anxiety is often considered to
be of various types and degrees. Cubukcu
(2007) maintains there are three main
types of foreign language anxiety: a)
communication apprehension, b) test
anxiety and c) fear of negative evaluation.
He argues that people with communication
apprehension are shy about
communicating with others and
havedifficulty speaking in public and
listening to spoken messages.
Furthermore,communication apprehension
in foreign language learning originates
from the personal knowledge that one will
almost certainly have difficulty
understanding others and making oneself
understood; that is why many talkative
people remain silent in the class. He
further states that test anxiety refers to a
type of performance anxiety stemming
from a fear of failure and thus associates
test anxiety with language anxiety because
learners hold unrealistic expectations on
language achievement. Since tests and
quizzes are frequently used in language
classes, students with test anxiety may also
develop language anxiety (Wu, 2001).
The third type of anxiety is fear of
negative evaluation that deals with
apprehension about others’ evaluations,
avoidance of evaluative situations and the
expectation that others will evaluate one
negatively. It may occur in any situation;
learners may be sensitive to the
evaluations-real or imagined- of their
peers (Cubukcu, 2007).
As Worde (1998) puts it, nearly half of
EFL learners experience some degree of
anxiety. According to Kondo and Ling
(2004), anxiety might cause language
learners to deal with certain potential
problems. Those learners who are anxious
may not enjoy their study
(Gregersen&Horwitz, 2002), something
which will have a negative effect on their
performance. While in foreign language
contexts the anxiety research mostly
focuses on oral production (Kimura,
2008), the attention has newly shifted to
receptive skills such as listening which is
regarded as one of the most effective skills
for foreign language learners (Vogely,
1998).
Listening as the most frequently used skill
plays a crucial role in learning a foreign
language (Vogely, 1998) simply because it
is usually through this skill, accompanied
by reading, that students become capable
of receiving the information (Serraj &
Noordin, 2013). The significance of
listening in learning a second/foreign
language has been highlighted by scholars
in the field (Rivers, 1981; Ferris &Tagg,
1996; Ferris, 1998; Field, 2003).
Furthermore, listening comprehension, as
some scholars state, is at the crux of L2
learning and hence the development of this
skill can play a crucial role in developing
other language skills (Dunkel, 1991, as
cited in Vandergrift, 2007).
One of the ways in which learners'
listening comprehension abilities can be
enhanced is through adoption of listening
strategies, the identification and
classification of which have been the main
focus of second language listening
research (Thompson & Robin, 1996;
Vandergrift, 1999). Additionally, interest
in listening strategy use has increased as
the research in the field indicates
(O’Malley, Chamot& Walker, 1987).
Listening comprehension “takes place
within the mind of the listener, and the
context of interpretation is the cognitive
environment of the listener” (Buck, 2001,
p. 29). Listening comprehension is
regarded as an essential means of
communication and an indispensable part
of oral language competence. Thus, on the
one hand, development of listening
competence is deemed necessary for
successful communication. On the other
hand, since listening is generally a
challenging skill for second/foreign
language learners and generates difficulty
(Mohammadi Golchi, 2012), it seems
necessary to develop effective listening
strategies to cope with this problem.
Moreover, (carefully designed) listening
strategies can help second/foreign
language learners overcome problems
associated with their listening test
performance and also enhance their
listening comprehension (Mendelsohn,
1994).
Therefore, proceeding from what was
mentioned above regarding the importance
of listening strategy use and test anxiety in
relation to listening test performance and
bearing in mind that the variables, taken
together and especially in terms of
language proficiency level of the learners,
have been, to our knowledge, little
researched in the EFL context of Iran, the
present study set out to investigate the
issue. That is, a major goal was to
determine whether (and how) listening
strategy use and test anxiety are related to
listening test performance. The secondary
aim of this study was to examine the
difference between intermediate and
advanced EFL learners with regard to their
test anxiety and listening strategy use.
Review of the related literature
Test anxiety and test performance
Test anxiety has appeared as one of the
most significant constructs in modern-day
psychology and considerably the most
widely studied specific form of anxiety in
the literature (Zeidner, 1998). Test anxiety
construct has matured within a large
cocoon of consideration ever since its
beginning in the early 1950s, with
researchers making important steps toward
understanding its nature, origins,
components, determinants, and treatments
(Tavakoli and Rezazadeh, 2009). It has
been defined as cognitive, physiological,
and emotional responses created by stress
experienced during the assessment and it
is a sense that has a negative contribution
on the students’ attitudes towards courses
(Hall Brown, Turner, &Beidel, 2005).
According to Bachman and Palmer (1996),
test performance is ascribed to test-takers
and test task features. Test-taker
characteristics comprise (a) language
knowledge, (b) topical knowledge, (c)
personal characteristics, (d) strategic
competence, and (e) affective schemata of
these characteristics. The test-taker
characteristics and test task characteristics
impact on each other, and as a result, the
results of test performance are affected by
these interactions. They mention various
types of personal characteristics related to
test performance (e.g., age, sex,
nationality, etc), but one characteristic of
great significance is test anxiety, which
has been defined as “unpleasant feeling or
emotional state that has physiological and
behavioral concomitants and that is
experienced in formal testing or other
evaluative situations” (Dusek, 1980 as
cited in Cubukcu, 2007, p.135).
Individual differences, such as one’s
attitude, belief, motivation, and affective
state, are believed to affect the foreign
language learning process (Aydin, 2009).
As an affective factor, test-taking anxiety
has recently been studied in various
contexts. Regarding test anxiety, Tavakoli
and Amiryousefi (2011), experimenting
with Iranian EFL learners, found that test
takers usually experienced test anxiety and
that some factors like lack of self-confidence and time limitation provoked
test anxiety.
Research on the role of test anxiety in the
performance of students has repeatedly
signified that high levels of cognitive test
anxiety enhance the probability of notable
declines in exam performance. Cassady
(2004) explored the effects of cognitive
test anxiety on learners’ memory,
understanding, and comprehension of
expository text passages in situations
without externally-imposed evaluative
pressure. The results collected through
structural equations embodied a significant
impact of cognitive test anxiety on
learner’s performance in conditions with
and without external evaluative pressure.
It was also discovered that cognitive test
anxiety was stronger in those conditions
with external evaluative pressure.
These findings can be interpreted in
support of processing models of test
anxiety which hold test anxiety interferes
with learning through deficiencies in
encoding, organizing, and storing in
addition to the classic interpretation of
retrieval failures. Correspondingly,
Cassady and Johnson (2001) found that
there was a strong negative correlation
between performance and the scores on
the cognitive test anxiety scale, with weak
or inconsistent correlations between
performance and the other measures of test
anxiety like procrastination.
The significance of language anxiety has
drawn considerable attention in research
on the affective domain of second
language learning. Some researchers have
surveyed significant variables that affect
test anxiety. Aydin and Zengin (2008), for
instance, stated that learner’ beliefs,
attitudes, expectations and affective states
were significant variables that impacted
upon the foreign language learning
process. It was revealed that, as an
affective state, test anxiety had also
substantial effects on the process.
The importance of test anxiety in
understanding sources of student anxiety
in evaluative situations and poor test
performance is now readily ostensible
(Bonaccio& Reeve, 2010; Hembree, 1988;
Vitasari, Wahab, Othman, &Awang,
2010). For one, Birjandi and Alemi
(2010), investigating the impact of test
anxiety on the test performance of Iranian
EFL learners, found L2 learners’ test
anxiety was rather low, with most of its
components having no significant negative
correlation with test performance.
However, they found that general test
anxiety, because of its functioning at the
higher-order affective level, had a
significant negative correlation with test
performance. They also discovered that,
test preparation anxiety, in view of
facilitating test performance, manifested a
positive, although non-significant,
association with test performance. They
also presented various reasons for test
anxiety. The first reason was lack of
preparation as indicated by (a) cramming
the night before the examination, (b) poor
time management, (c) failing to organize
text information, and (d) poor study habits.
They concluded the second source of test
anxiety was worrying about (a) past exams
performance, (b) how other students are
doing, and (c) the negative consequences
of failure. It is worth mentioning here that
Birjandi and Alemi (2011) explored the
relationship between test anxiety and test
performance in general. However, the
present study investigated the possible
relationship between test anxiety and a
subcategory of test performance, namely
listening test performance.
Listening strategy use and listening
comprehension
The association of listening
comprehension with the use of listening
strategies has been widely studied in the
past few decades. According to Ho (2006)
“Listening strategies refer to skills or
methods for listeners to directly or
indirectly achieve the purpose of listening
comprehension of the spoken input”. (p.
25) Listening strategies are divided into
three major subcategories of cognitive,
metacognitive and socio-affective
strategies (O’Malley &Chamot, 1990).
Metacognitve strategies involve planning,
monitoring, evaluating comprehension.
Cognitive strategies are used to manipulate
information. Examples of cognitive
strategies are rehearsal, organization,
summarization, and elaboration. Socio-affective strategies come to play when the
listening is two-way and meaning is
negotiated between speaker and listener as
in conversation. Examples of socio-affective strategies are cooperative
learning, clarification questioning, and
managing one’s emotions in the learning
situation.
According to Vandergrift (1997), learners
employ these strategies in order to make
comprehension easier and also to have
more effective learning.
Several studies have been conducted on
listening strategy use (Fujita, 1984; Goh,
2002; Vandergrift, 2003). For one, Hsueh-Jui (2008) conducted a study to identify
the interrelationship between learners’
listening strategy use across listening
ability, and learning style. 101 Taiwanese
EFL students took part in the study. They
used two structured questionnaires for
collecting the required data. Applying
ANOVA, the results revealed a
statistically significant difference between
the listening strategy use and the
participants’ attainment levels. The results
also showed that listening strategy use was
significantly correlated with learning
styles.
Furthermore, Baleghizadeh and Rahimi
(2011) conducted a study to explore the
possible relationship between motivation,
metacognitive strategy use and listening
test performance of Iranian EFL learners.
Their findings indicated that there was a
statistically significant association
between listening test performance of
Iranian EFL learners and their
metacognitive strategy use. According to
Baleghizadeh and Rahimi, metacognitive
listening strategies enhance the EFL
learners’ listening test performance,
leading us to assume that EFL learners’
listening ability is related to their
(metacognitive) strategic knowledge (i.e.
knowledge of listening strategies) in one
way or another.
In the same vein, Amin, Amin, and Aly
(2011) investigated the relationship
between strategic listening (i.e. listening
strategy use) and listening test
performance of eighty secondary school
EFL students. The required data were
collected through 1) Strategic Listening
Interview (SLI), 2) Strategic Listening
Questionnaire (SLQ) and 3) Strategic
Listening Checklist (SLC) with think-aloud protocol. An EFL listening
comprehension test was used in order to
measure their listening comprehension
abilities. The results revealed a significant
positive relationship between strategic
listening and listening test performance.
Several studies have also been conducted
in the context of Iran on listening strategy
use. For instance, MohammadiGolchi
(2012) investigated listening anxiety and
its relationship with listening strategy use
and listening comprehension among sixty
three Iranian IELTS learners. It was found
that listening anxiety had reverse
association with listening strategy use and
listening comprehension.
Several other studies have explored test
anxiety and listening strategy use among
ESL/EFL learners (Goh, 2002; Gu&
Johnson, 1996; In’nami, 2006; Kim, 2000;
Legac, 2007; Oxford, 1990; Vandergrift,
1999; Zhang & Liu, 2008). Vandergrift
(2003), for instance, investigated the
relationship between listening strategy use
and listening proficiency of 36 junior high
school students in Canada. The findings of
his study revealed that the more proficient
listeners made use of metacognitive
strategies more often than did the less
proficient listeners, and the variations in
this type of strategy use had a significant
relation across the listening ability.
Anxiety, proficiency level and listening test
performance
Recently, a number of researchers have
studied the effects of anxiety on the
listening skill. For example,
Elkhafaifi(2005) investigated the
relationship between listening
comprehension and anxiety in the Arabic
language classroom. He found that
learners' anxiety varied according to their
level of ability in foreign language
listening. The results of his study indicated
that the learners with higher levels of
foreign language learning anxiety also
tended to have higher levels of anxiety.
Regarding two types of anxiety among
students of first-, second-, and third-year
Arabic, he found that students in third-year
Arabic reported significantly lower levels
of both types of anxiety than did students
in first-year.
Likewise, Mills, Pajares, and Herron
(2006) also found that learners' anxiety
varied according to their level of ability in
foreign language listening. They also
concluded that listening self-efficacy was
positively associated with listening
proficiency only for the female learners,
and listening anxiety was positively
associated with the listening proficiency of
both males and females.
In another study, In’nami (2006) explored
to what extent test anxiety influenced
listening test performance. His findings
revealed that among the three components
of test anxiety (i.e., general test worry,
test-irrelevant thinking, and emotion),
none affected listening test performance.
He discovered that the non-relationship
between test anxiety and listening test
performance might be due to test-takers’
personal characteristics (especially, test-takers’ English proficiency levels,
experience of successful test performance
in the past, and self-esteem), strategic
competence that controls anxiety, and the
low-stake nature of test results.
Similarly, Shomoossi and Kassaian (2009)
investigated the effect of test anxiety in
relation to two major skills—listening and
speaking—associated with test anxiety, as
well as the extent of anxiety before and
after the listening test. The results of their
study indicated that there was no
significant difference between test anxiety
before and after the listening
comprehension test. However, they
reported that anxiety was a more serious
factor in taking speaking tests than in
listening comprehension tests.
As mentioned earlier, on the one hand, the
contribution of listening strategy use to
successful listening comprehension and
test performance has been documented by
the experts in the field (e.g., Fujita, 1984;
Vandergrift 2003). On the other hand, test
anxiety has been found to negatively affect
listening comprehension and test
performance (e.g., Elkhafaifi, 2005;
In’nami, 2006; Mills, Pajares, and Herron,
2006). However, to the best of our
knowledge, little research, if any, has been
conducted on the relationship among
Iranian EFL learners’ test anxiety,
listening strategy use and listening test
performance moderated by their language
proficiency level. The present study thus
set out to delve more deeply into the issue
and investigate whether (and how) these
variables are associated and whether
listening strategy use and test anxiety can
predict Iranian Intermediate and Advanced
EFL learners’ listening test performance.
Research questions
The following questions were thus
formulated for the present study:
1. Is there any statistically
significant relationship between
Iranian EFL learners’ test anxiety
and listening test performance?
2. Is there any statistically
significant relationship between
Iranian EFL learners’ listening
strategy use and listening test
performance?
3. Concerning test anxiety and
listening strategy use, which one
is a significantly stronger
predictor of listening test
performance?
4. Do intermediate and advanced
EFL learners differ with regard
to their listening strategy use?
5. Do intermediate and advanced
EFL learners differ with regard
to their level of test anxiety?
Methodology
Participants
Eighty (40 intermediate, 40 advanced)
EFL learners took part in this study from
an English language institute in
Kermanshah. The participants were all
native Persian speakers and English was
their second language. Their age ranged
from 15 to 26. They were mainly selected
based on convenience sampling.
Instruments
Listening performance test
Two different listening texts (Texts A and
B), each containing six items, were
adopted from TOEFL’s listening part
(Educational Testing Service, 1989, pp.68
and 76). TOEFL was adopted for the
present study because first, TOEFL is a
highly-accredited advanced-level
proficiency test. Second, since TOEFL
mainly adopts a multiple-choice format
which is usually the most familiar test
format to Iranian test-takers in comparison
to fill-in-the-blank, matching-type, etc.
item-formats of other proficiency tests like
IELTS, Cambridge CAE, CPE, etc., it is
typically preferred by, and best suits
Iranian EFL test-takers and thus the risk of
test-takers' language ability being
undermined by such construct irrelevance
variance (Messick, 1989) as task
unfamiliarity is reduced. However, since
test methods may impact upon test
performance, it is important not to use a
single task type if we are to lessen such
effects (e.g., Bachman, 1990). Thus, two
different task types, namely multiple
choice and open-ended tasks, which are
both familiar to Iranian test-takers, were
used for each level in the present study.
Test anxiety questionnaire
Participants were asked to complete the
Test Anxiety Scale (TAS; Sarason, 1975).
The TAS has 37 Likert-scale items. The
TAS is based on the theory and evidence
that test anxiety is composed of test-relevant and test- irrelevant thinking and
has been used widely as a leading
instrument in the research of the ilk. Using
Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient, the
reliability of the TAS was recalculated in
the present study which came to be 0.82.
Listening strategy use questionnaire
The listening strategy use questionnaire
was originally developed by Lee (1997)
and modified by Ho (2006). Moreover, the
questionnaire has been modified by
MohammadiGolchi (2012) for Iranian
context and some more strategies have
been added. The questionnaire consists of
39likert-scale items divided into 3
categories of metacognitive, cognitive and
social/affective. MohammadiGolchi
(2012) reported the internal consistency of
the questionnaire to be 0.92. Using
Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient, the
reliability of the questionnaire in the
present study was calculated to be 0.79.
It is worth mentioning here that since both
Test Anxiety Questionnaire and Listening
Strategy Use Questionnaire have already
been validated and used extensively in
various studies of the ilk, revalidating
them (e.g., through factor analysis, pilot
testing, etc.) was not deemed necessary
although they were both additionally
judged by two experts in the field, both of
whom considered them “quite
appropriate” for the purposes of the study.
Procedure
The study spanned a two-week period. In
week one, the participants completed the
listening strategy use questionnaire and
took the two sections of the listening
performance test. In week two, they took
the other two sections of the listening
performance test and the test anxiety
questionnaire. In order to prevent the
practice effect on test performance, two
parallel multiple choice and open-ended
tasks were used. All the participants in
each level were randomly assigned to one
of the two groups, and the order of each
section of the listening performance test
was counterbalanced across the groups in
order to control the order effect of task on
listening performance test. It is noteworthy
that the listening texts were played twice,
and they were allowed to take notes.
Listening performance test administration
took about 30 minutes. Answers to the
open ended tasks in the listening
performance test were scored as either
correct or incorrect by their teachers and
the researchers. High inter-rater reliability
of 0.901 was obtained.
Data analysis
The statistical analyses were conducted by
using the Statistical Package for Social
Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The data were
analyzed through Pearson product moment
correlation, Multiple-regression, and
Independent Sample t-test.
Results
The data were collected through using the
three research instruments; namely,
Listening Performance Test, Test Anxiety
Questionnaire, and Listening Strategy Use
Questionnaire as mentioned earlier and
they were analyzed using such parametric
statistical analyses as Pearson product
moment correlation, Multiple-regression,
and Independent Samples t-test.
To investigate the first research question
of whether there was any statistically
significant relationship between test
anxiety and listening test performance of
Iranian EFL learners, Pearson correlation
coefficient was run whose results are
summarized in Table 1 below.
As is evident from Table1, there was a
statistically significant reverse correlation
between test anxiety and listening test
performance.
The second question sought to investigate
whether there was any statistically
significant relationship between listening
strategy use and listening test performance
of Iranian EFL learners. A Pearson
correlation coefficient was conducted
whose results are summarized in Table 2
as follows:
As Table 2 indicates, there is a significant
positive relationship between listening
strategy use and listening test performance
of Iranian EFL learners.
Multiple regression analysis was run to
determine the best linear combination of
test anxiety and listening strategy use for
predicting listening test performance. The
descriptive statistics (i.e. the means and
standard deviations) can be found in
Table3, summary of one-way ANOVA in
Table 4 and coefficients in Table 5.
As Tables 4 and 5 indicate, listening
strategy use significantly predicted
listening test performance, F (2, 77) =
43.40, P< .05.
The fourth research question set out to
investigate whether there was any
significant difference between
intermediate and advanced EFL learners
with regard to their listening strategy use.
An Independent Samples t-test was run to
compare the two groups on listening
strategy use whose results are summarized
in Table 7. However, the descriptive
statistics are first summarized in Table 6
below.
As Table 7 displays, t 78=3.03 (p < .05),
the two groups (intermediate and
advanced) significantly differed with
regard to their listening strategy use; that
is, advanced EFL learners (M=28.37, SD
=4.92) used more listening strategies than
their intermediate level counterparts
(M=25.25 SD =4. 25). In other words,
proficiency level of studying English had
significant positive effect on EFL learners’
listening strategy use.
The last research question sought to
investigate whether intermediate and
advanced EFL learners significantly
differed with regard to listening test
anxiety. To this end, the descriptive
statistics were computed and an
Independent Samples t-test was run whose
results are summarized in Tables 8 and 9
respectively.
As indicated in Table 9 above, t78=4.27 (p
< .05), the two groups (intermediate and
advanced) significantly differed with
regard to their test anxiety; that is,
advanced EFL learners (M=123.27, SD
=9.86) had less test anxiety than
intermediate EFL learners (M=132.72, SD
=9.99). In other words, proficiency level
of studying English had significant
positive effects on reduction of EFL
learners’ level of test anxiety.
Discussion
The primary purpose of this study was to
examine the possible relationship between
EFL learners' test anxiety, listening
strategy use and listening test
performance. Since the relationship
between test anxiety and listening test
performance is deemed to be intuitive,
only few empirical studies have
investigated their dynamic relationships to
date.
As the results indicated, a significant
reverse relationship was observed between
test anxiety and listening test performance.
That is, as the results showed, the higher
the level of test anxiety was, the lower the
listening test performance scores were.
The findings here align with the results of
Mills, Pajares and Herron (2006), and
Elkhafaifi (2005), which revealed when
learners’ anxiety decreased, their
comprehension of listening tasks
increased. However, the findings of the
study stand in contrast with those of
In’nami (2006). He explored the extent
test anxiety influenced listening test
performance of 79 Japanese first-year
university students. His findings revealed
that among the three components of test
anxiety (i.e. general test worry, emotion,
and test-irrelevant thinking), none affected
listening test performance of Japanese
university students. The results of In’nami
(2006), which are not in line with our
findings in the present study, might
indicate that the relationship between test
anxiety and listening test performance is
seemingly culture- and context-specific
and thus still needs further investigation.
The findings of the current study as
examined by the first research question
provide empirical support for the
prediction that test anxiety and listening
test performance are negatively related.
However, since, to our knowledge, no
empirical studies, at least in the context of
Iran, have investigated this relationship,
the results in this regard seem to bring a
new correlate and construct of test anxiety
into focus in the field of EFL learning
which can ignite further research in the
field.
Since the results of the present study (and
those of the others already mentioned)
revealed a negative association between
test anxiety and listening test performance,
it is plausible to state that test anxiety
might be considered as a barrier for
(listening) test performance in a
second/foreign language. The findings of
the study in this regard are strongly
supported by the results of a study by El-Banna (1989) which indicated that high-
proficiency level ESL learners tended to
have poor performance in their language
tests, whereas ESL learners with low
levels of anxiety appeared to outperform
their counterparts on the language tests
used.
The current study also explored the
relationship between Iranian EFL learners’
listening strategy use and listening test
performance. The results revealed a
statistically significant positive correlation
between listening strategy use and
listening test performance of Iranian EFL
learners.
The findings of the study in this respect
are in line with those of Hsueh-Jui (2008)
who, as mentioned earlier, attempted to
identify the interrelationship between
learners’ listening strategy use across
listening ability, and learning style. A
statistically significant difference was
found between the listening strategy use
and the participants’ attainment levels.
In a similar vein, Baleghizadeh and
Rahimi (2011), exploring the relationship
between listening strategy use and
listening test performance of Iranian EFL
learners, showed that there was a
statistically significant relationship
between Iranian EFL learners’ listening
test performance and their metacognitive
strategy use.
The present study also aimed at
investigating whether intermediate and
advanced EFL learners differed in their
listening strategy use. The results
indicated that advanced EFL learners used
significantly more listening strategies than
their intermediate level counterparts. That
is, proficiency level in English had
significant positive relationship with EFL
learners’ listening strategy use.
The findings of the current study support
those of Vandergrift (2003). Vandergrift
investigating the relationship between
listening strategy use and listening
proficiency of 36 junior high school
students in Canada, found that the more
proficient listeners made use of
metacognitive strategies more often than
did the less proficient listeners, and the
dissimilarities in this type of strategy use
had a significant relation across the
listening ability.
The findings are also in accordance with
those of Ghoneim (2013), who
investigating the listening comprehension
strategies used by college students to cope
with the aural problems in EFL classes,
concluded the advanced EFL learners used
more listening strategies than their
intermediate level counterparts.
Such findings indicate that the adoption of
a combination of numerous listening
strategies is vital in improving EFL
listeners’ test performance (Carissa, 1997).
According to Carissa, those students who
achieved higher scores in listening test
performance tended to make use of a
combination of such listening strategies as
summarization, self-evaluation, inference,
feedback, elaboration, and reprise.
Furthermore, as Vandergrift (2004)
maintains, in order to accomplish the
listening process more efficiently, listeners
regularly use such strategies as
compensation strategies, and other existing
pertinent information to deduce what was
not understood.
According to Brindley (1997), in order to
comprehend a listening input properly,
both linguistic and non-linguistic
knowledge are required. This might be the
plausible reason why the participants of
the present study in the intermediate group
could not perform as well as their
counterparts in the advanced group did,
most probably due to the fact that low-
proficiency level listeners had limited
language knowledge (including knowledge
of vocabulary) in comparison to their
counterparts in advanced group, an issue
which might have consequently led to
problems in comprehending the message.
As recommended by Carrier (2003) and
Coskun (2010), teaching and training
learners to use listening strategies would
be of great help; however, merely strategy
training might not have potential impact
on the real improvement in one's listening
comprehension. Teachers also have to
enhance students’ linguistic knowledge
(e.g. structures, phonology, vocabulary,
etc.) since as Brindley (1997) maintains, in
order to understand a listening input
properly, both linguistic and non-linguistic
information are required.
Finally, the present study explored
whether intermediate and advanced EFL
learners differed with regard to their test
anxiety. The results showed that advanced
EFL learners had lower level of test
anxiety than their intermediate level
counterparts. That is, proficiency level in
English was found to have significant
reverse relationship with EFL learners’
level of test anxiety. The findings of the
study are in line with the results of Mills,
Pajares and Herron (2006), and Elkhafaifi
(2005) which, as mentioned earlier,
revealed when learners’ anxiety decreased,
their comprehension of listening tasks
increased. These studies also showed
learners’ level of anxiety varied based on
their foreign language listening ability
level. For instance, Elkhafaifi (2005),
investigating the relationship between test
anxiety and listening comprehension in an
Arabic language classroom, revealed that
learners' anxiety varied according to their
level of ability in foreign language
listening. Elkhafaifi's results also indicated
that the learners with higher levels of
anxiety also tended to have higher levels
of listening anxiety.
Conclusion and implications
The present study set out to investigate
whether there existed a statistically
significant relationship between Iranian
EFL learners’ test anxiety, listening
strategy use and listening test
performance. The study also aimed at
identifying whether intermediate and
advanced EFL learners differed with
regard to their listening strategy use, and
level of test anxiety. The findings revealed
there was a significant negative
relationship between test anxiety and
listening test performance, suggesting that
in order to improve students’ listening test
performance, the level of test anxiety must
be reduced to certain extent of course;
since a small amount of anxiety is
normally expected as natural. The results
also revealed a significant positive
relationship between listening strategy use
and listening test performance of Iranian
EFL learners. It was also found that
advanced EFL learners employed more
listening strategies and had lower level of
test anxiety than their intermediate
counterparts.
From the evidence of the present study,
some implications may be drawn. Since it
has been found that amount of listening
strategy use has significant positive
relationship with listening test
performance, it can be concluded that the
utilization of listening strategies would
help learners improve their listening test
performance. Therefore, it is deemed
essential for ESL /EFL teachers to
encourage learners to use listening
strategies and nourish them with
challenging opportunities to use them
whenever the need arises when taking
listening comprehension tests in general
and in taking high-stakes exams such as
IELTS and TOEFL in particular.
They must also know and be taught how to
use listening strategies appropriately, since
several studies (e.g. Brindley, 1997;
Vandergrift, 2003) reveal that the
proficient and the non-proficient learners
use listening strategies quite differently.
That is, as stated by Vandergrift (2003),
training less proficient listeners to
efficiently employ such (metacognitive)
strategies as investigating the listening
task supplies, triggering suitable listening
processes, predicting the task, and
observing and assessing one’s
understanding would improve their
listening comprehension and plausibly
their listening test performance.
The prime suggestion would be directed
for materials developers and syllabus
designers. It seems that learners are very
much in need of course books and
materials that enrich students’ listening
strategies and explicitly highlight their
use. Furthermore, the construct of listening
strategy has not been given due attention
in education including L2 education. Thus,
syllabus designers, and materials
developers need to do their best to design
lessons that promote listening strategies
and encourage learners to use listening
strategies consciously.
Moreover, since the results revealed test
anxiety had a negative relationship with
the learners’ listening test performance, it
seems reasonable to suggest that reducing
test anxiety may positively affect their
listening test performance. In order to help
students improve their listening test
performance, teachers must be able to
understand the nature of their students’
test anxieties which might vary from one
individual to another. It is thus important
that teachers be made aware of what
language anxieties their students may be
suffering from. Consequently, EFL/ESL
teachers should try to provide educational
practices and strategies that tackle this
problem, reduce test anxiety, and enable
learners to deal with new stressful
situations. Thus, foreign language
teachers, instructors and examiners ought
to be trained during their pre-service and
in-service educational programs in the
methods and techniques of reducing the
level of test anxiety. Moreover, EFL
learners with poor listening strategy use
and high level of test anxiety must be
identified and treated in order to enhance
their listening test performance.
