Listening Strategies Utilized by Thai EFL Students for Comprehending ASEAN Englishes-Accented Conversations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1601.08Keywords:
listening strategies, listening comprehension, ASEAN Englishes, non-native accented conversationsAbstract
Listening is widely regarded as an essential language skill for achieving proficiency in both educational and professional contexts. Despite its significance, listening comprehension remains one of the most challenging tasks for language learners, especially in the context of non-native English accents. According to numerous scholars, the ability to select and apply appropriate listening strategies is crucial for successful listening comprehension. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how Thai EFL students, categorized as high-ability and low-ability listeners, utilize cognitive and metacognitive listening strategies to comprehend Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Englishes-accented conversations. In this regard, 300 participants were required to report their perceived use of listening strategies through a questionnaire adapted from the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), followed by verbally explaining their use of these strategies in detail through a think-aloud task. The findings indicate that the high-ability listeners significantly employ overall listening strategies more frequently than the low-ability listeners. More importantly, the high-ability listeners demonstrate a greater awareness of which strategies to use and how to apply these strategies in a systematic way to successfully achieve comprehension of ASEAN Englishes-accented conversations. Based on these findings, Strategies-Based Instruction (SBI) is recommended as an instructional approach to help low-ability listeners effectively and appropriately utilize practical listening strategies to improve their comprehension of conversations involving non-native English accents.
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