Improving listening comprehension through familiarization with features of spoken English

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate if familiarization with features of spoken English could enable students to improve their understanding of native-speaker speech at normal rates of delivery. Test results showed that most students did improve their listening comprehension in this area. However, supporting data obtained from their diaries indicated that about a half of them personally felt that they had not made any improvement. The implications of the contrast between the qualitative and quantitative data obtained from the study are discussed.