A Review of Second Language Listening Comprehension Research

Abstract

ing activities in student textbooks and even in methodology texts designed specifically for listening (2; 99; 120; 121). In the past decade, scholars have reviewed the factors that may influence second language (L2) listening comprehension (19; 38; 39; 44; 68; 69; 84; 98; 99), referring, in some cases, to factors isolated for first language (L1) learning (2; 29; 36; 37; 42; 43; 70; 72). Surprisingly few of the myriad of factors listed in these reviews have been researched and, of those that have, even fewer have been subjected to adequate experimental controls. In the main, many factors are cited as relevant either because they are suspected on logical grounds to affect listening or because they are thought to be relevant based on parallels found in reading research. Of those factors that have been researched, most have been the object of only a limited number of research studies, often only on one of the more commonly taught languages. Finally, most of the research results are based on listening comprehension measures that have not been standardized, making it difficult to compare results. There is, however, a small-but growingbody of research on listening comprehension that forms a lively, ongoing dialogue about how learners interact with oral input. How and when do learners rely on top-down factors (background knowledge, semantics) and on bottom-