Which approach best promoted low-proficiency learners’ listening performance: metacognitive, bottom-up or a combination of both?

Abstract This study examined the effects of a 10-week metacognitive instruction on low-proficiency Chinese EFL learners’ listening performance. It also explored the relative effectiveness of metacognitive instruction, bottom-up instruction and a combination of the two types of instructions on learners’ listening performance. Eighty low-proficiency Chinese college students were assigned to one control group and three experimental groups. One experimental group received metacognitive instruction, another experimental group received bottom-up listening strategy training and the third experimental group was exposed to a combination of the aforementioned trainings. The control group did not receive any training. The linear mixed effects model (LMM) results indicated that the integrated approach was the most effective at improving low-proficiency listeners’ listening performance, followed by bottom-up training. The metacognitive instruction alone did not prove useful at promoting the development of listening performance. The pedagogical implications of the study are also discussed.