The Relationship between L2 Listeners’ Self-Efficacy and Listening Proficiency for Various Listening Tasks and Comprehension Skills

Abstract

Despite abundant evidence supporting the predictive power of self-efficacy for general language proficiency, the specific relationship between L2 listeners’ self-efficacy that vary depending on task types, listening comprehension skills, and listening proficiency has been relatively under-researched. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between L2 listeners’ self-efficacy and listening proficiency for three types of listening tasks (response, semi-production, and production tasks) and four main comprehension skills (understanding gist, understanding details, inferencing, and identifying the speaker’s opinion). A total of 174 tertiary level learners participated in this study. Data sources included a self-efficacy questionnaire that measured specific self-efficacy for three tasks that varied in demands and four main comprehension skills and a listening comprehension test. Results of this study showed that L2 listeners’ overall self-efficacy demonstrated a close relationship with their listening comprehension proficiency. As for specific self-efficacy for listening tasks and comprehension skills, self-efficacy for outline-filling and summarizing, understanding gist, details, and inferencing demonstrated significant relationships with listening proficiency. These factors also had substantial predictive power on listening proficiency. Findings of this study have implications for further research on the role of self-efficacy in L2 listening comprehension development and listening pedagogy.