Strategies for interactive listening in modern foreign language learning

Abstract In two-way interactive listening, listeners are expected to use interactional skills or strategies to understand meaning, recognize interlocutors’ intentions, make responses, and establish common ground. However, strategy use can be affected by learner differences and affective factors. The present study investigated the effects of group difference (students majoring in five modern foreign languages) and an affective factor (self-perceived communication confidence) on Chinese native speakers’ strategies for interactive listening. A questionnaire survey was conducted to explore the listening strategies used by 445 college students, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 students to uncover listening difficulties in their language majors. A two-way between-groups MANOVA test revealed statistically significant main effects for language majors and communication confidence on overall and on certain types of strategy for interactive listening. Spanish language majors were found to use strategies more frequently than English, French, German, or Japanese major students. Students in all five language majors with higher self-perceived communication confidence used inference-making, phonological and nonverbal strategies more frequently than low-confidence students. Certain listening difficulties were found to be language specific. In general, vocabulary size as well as lexical segmentation were reported as main listening difficulties, followed by morphological and syntactic variation, and fast speech rate.