This chapter presents analyses of the data collected through the listening
comprehension tests, background information questionnaire, English listening anxiety questionnaire, English self-efficacy questionnaire, and English metacognitive
awareness listening questionnaire. The findings are presented in the following five sections. The first section reports the background information of the participants. The second section reveals the relationships of English listening performance to listening anxiety, self-efficacy and metacognitive awareness at junior high school level. The third section presents the relationships of English listening performance to listening anxiety, self-efficacy and metacognitive awareness at senior high school level. The predictors of English listening comprehension at junior high and senior high levels are shown in the fourth section. The last section displays the conclusion of this chapter, where the results of the current study are summarized.
Results of Background Information Questionnaire
The valid questionnaires collected from junior high school participants were 121 and 123 valid questionnaires were collected from senior high school participants.
According to the background information questionnaires, the junior high group included 66 (55%) male students and 55(45%) female students, whereas the senior group contained 45 (47%) male students and 78 (54%) female students.
Table 3 lists the length of the years that participants have learned English. As can be seen in Table 3, most of the participants in the junior high group have learned English from six to ten years (58%) or within five years (37%). Only a few
participants in the junior high group have learned English from eleven to fifteen years (5%). As for the senior high group, the majority of the participants have learned
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English from eleven to fifteen years (51%) or from six to ten years (44%).
Table 3
Participants’ Reported Years of Learning English
Items Junior High Group (n=121)
Senior High Group (n=123) No more than five years 45 (37%)
Six to ten years 70 (58%) 54 (44%)
Eleven to fifteen years 6 (5%) 63 (51%)
Table 4 shows the participants’ perception of the most difficult English skill.
Based on Table 4, the participants in the junior high group regarded English listening (37%) as the most difficult skill, followed by English speaking (24%), English writing (22%), and English reading (17%). However, the senior high group members reported speaking (37%) the most difficult one, followed by writing (34%), listening (20%), and reading (7%).
Table 4
Participants’ Perception of the Most Difficult English Skill
Items Junior High Group (n=121)
Senior High Group (n=123)
Listening 44 (37%) 25 (20%)
Speaking 29 (24%) 45 (37%)
Reading 21 (17%) 9 (7%)
Writing 27 (22%) 42 (34%)
In terms of the utilized materials of practicing English listening outside of the
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classroom, as can be seen in Table 5, most of the participants in the junior high group (95%) and senior high group (73%) revealed that they practiced English listening through listening to English magazines. In addition, a high proportion of the students in the junior high group also reported strengthening their listening ability via listening to English radio broadcast (55%) and English online sources (50%). As for the senior high participants, 42% of them trained their listening ability through online sources, 26% through radio broadcast, and 6% via other sources (e.g., having conversations with English native speakers). However, it should be noted that up to 67% of the participants in the junior high group and 37% in the senior high group reported that they had no extra English listening practices after class.
Table 5
Reported Materials for English Listening Practice Outside of the Classroom Items Junior High Group
(n=121)
Senior High Group (n=123)
No extra practice 81 (67%) 45 (37%)
English magazines 38 (95%) 57 (73%)
English radio broadcast 22 (55%) 24 (26%)
English online sources 20 (50%) 33 (42%)
Others 0 6 (6%)
Note: The materials that each participant reported might be more than one. Hence, the total of items chosen by each group may exceed the number of students in each group.
Table 6 presents the length of time that the participants spent on extra listening practice out of the classroom in a week. According to Table 4, most of the participants in the junior high group were exposed to extra English listening practice for less than an hour whereas the majority of the participants in the senior high group were for one
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to two hours in a week.
Table 6
The Time Spent on English Listening in a week Items Junior High Group
(n=121)
Senior High Group (n=123)
Less than an hour 46 (38%) 42 (34%)
One to two hours 24 (20%) 48 (39%)
Two to four hours 25 (21%) 24 (20%)
Four to six hours 15 (12%) 6 (5%)
Six to eight hours 2 (6%) 3 (2%)
Over eight hours 4 (3%) 0
Relationships of English Listening Performance to Listening Anxiety, Self-efficacy, and Metacognitive Awareness at Junior High School Level Table 7 demonstrates the descriptive statistics of junior high participant’s responses to the three questionnaires and their performance on the listening comprehension test. As can be seen from Table 7, the mean score of the listening comprehension test was about 18 (out of 30). The mean scores of the junior high participants’ listening anxiety, self-efficacy, and metacognitive awareness were about 24, 47, and 67. In terms of mean scale score, the listening metacognitive awareness scale obtained the highest score (3.18) on a five-point-scale, followed by the listening self-efficacy scale (2.94), and the listening anxiety scale (2.65).
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Table 7
Descriptive Statistics (Junior High Group, n= 121) Variable Min Max Maximum
Notes. LS = listening score; LAS = listening anxiety score; LSES = listening self-efficacy score; LMAS = listening metacognitive awareness scale; NA = not applicable
The first research question sought to explore the relationships between English listening performance and the three learner factors (i.e., English listening anxiety, English self-efficacy, and English listening metacognitive awareness) at junior high school level. Pearson correlation analyses were conducted, and the correlation coefficients are presented in Table 8. As can be seen from Table 8, English listening anxiety, English listening self-efficacy, and listening metacognitive awareness were all correlated significantly with the English listening score. Particularly, English listening self-efficacy was found to have the largest correlation (r = .58, p < .01) with English listening comprehension, even though the strength of the correlation was just moderate. Similarly, a moderate correlation (r = .46, p < .01) was also found between English listening metacognitive awareness and English listening comprehension score. Compared to English self-efficacy and listening metacognitive awareness, English listening anxiety revealed a significant but lower correlation (r = -.32, p
< .01) with English listening comprehension. Besides, the direction of the correlation
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was negative. In other words, participants who experienced higher listening anxiety were prone to obtaining lower listening comprehension scores.
With regard to the inter-correlations among the three learner factors, the results in Table 8 indicate that all the three learner characteristics were in significant
correlation to each other. As shown in Table 8, the strongest correlation was found between English listening self-efficacy and English listening metacognitive awareness (r = .74, p < .01), followed by the correlation between English listening anxiety and English listening self-efficacy (r = -.44, p < .01), and then the correlation between English listening anxiety and English listening metacognitive awareness (r = -.38, p
< .01). The last two correlations were negative.
Table 8
Correlation Matrix (Junior High Group, n= 121)
Variables LS LA LSE LMA
Listening Score (LS) 1
Listening Anxiety (LA) -.32** 1
Listening self-efficacy (LSE) .58** -.44** 1
Listening Metacognitive Awareness(LMA) .46** -.38** .74** 1
** p < .01.
Relationships of English Listening Performance to Listening Anxiety, Self-efficacy, and Metacognitive Awareness at Senior High School Level Table 9 shows the descriptive statistics of senior high participant’s responses to the three questionnaires and their performance on the listening comprehension test. As can be seen from Table 9, the mean score of the listening comprehension test was about 31 (out of 45). The mean scores of the senior high participants’ listening anxiety, self-efficacy, and metacognitive awareness were about 25, 41, and 70. In terms of mean scale score, the listening self-efficacy obtained the highest score (3.40)
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on a five-point-scale, followed by the listening metacognitive awareness scale (3.35), and the listening anxiety scale (2.76).
Table 9
Descriptive Statistics (Senior High Group, n=123) Variable Min Max Maximum
Notes. LS = listening score; LAS = listening anxiety score; LSES = listening self-efficacy score; LMAS = listening metacognitive awareness scale; NA = not applicable
The second research question were to explore the relationships between English listening performance and the three learner factors at senior high school level. Pearson correlation analyses were conducted, and the correlation coefficients are shown in Table 10. As presented in Table 10, all the three learner factors were correlated significantly with the English listening score. Among all the relationships, English listening self-efficacy was proved to have the strongest correlation with English listening comprehension (r = .48, p < .01), even though the strength of the correlation was moderate. A moderate significant correlation was also found between English listening metacognitive awareness and English listening comprehension (r = .43, p
< .01), and between English listening anxiety and English listening performance (r = -.41, p <.01).
A close look at Table 10 also reveals the inter-correlations among the three
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learner characteristics. As can be seen from Table 10, the strongest correlation was found between English self-efficacy and listening metacognitive awareness (r = .67, p
< .01), followed by the correlation between English listening anxiety and English listening self-efficacy (r = -.57, p < .01). However, the direction of the relationship was negative. The weakest correlation was shown between English listening anxiety and English listening metacognitive awareness (r = -.45, p < .01). The direction of the relationship was also negative.
Table 10
Correlation Matrix (Senior High Group, n=123)
Variables LS LA LSE LMA
Listening Score (LS) 1
Listening Anxiety (LA) -.41** 1
Listening self-efficacy (LSE) .48** -.57** 1
Listening Metacognitive Awareness(LMA) .43** -.45** .67** 1
**p < .01
Predictors of English Listening Comprehension
With respect to the last question, Table 11 presents the results of the regression analysis for junior high school group. A stepwise method was used with English listening anxiety, English listening self-efficacy, and English listening metacognitive awareness as the independent variables and English listening comprehension as the dependent variable. The results show that only English listening self-efficacy was a significant factor of English listening comprehension ability at junior high school level (t = 7.74, p < .001). The value of the coefficient of determination (R2) shows that 34% of the variance in English listening comprehension ability could be explained by English listening self-efficacy as the predictor. This result of the best
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fitting model is statistically significant, F (1,119) = 59.97; p < .001.
Table 11
Results of Stepwise Multiple Regressions of English Listening Ability on Listening Anxiety, Listening Self-efficacy, and Listening Metacognitive Awareness (Junior High Group)
Model 1
B SE Beta
(constant) 7.56*** 1.40***
LSES .22*** .03*** .58***
R2 .34
Adjusted R2 .33
F 59.97***
R2 change .34
Notes. LSES = listening self-efficacy score; *** p < .001
The result of the regression analysis for senior high school group is shown in Table 12. A stepwise method was also used with English listening anxiety, English listening self-efficacy, and English listening metacognitive awareness as the
independent variables and English listening comprehension as the dependent variable.
Based on Table 12, listening anxiety and listening self-efficacy were significant predictors of English listening comprehension ability at senior high school level:
English listening anxiety (t = -2.04, p < .05), English listening self-efficacy (t = 3.87, p < .001). The value of the coefficient of determination (R2) shows that 26% of the variance in English listening comprehension ability could be explained by the model with listening anxiety and listening self-efficacy as predictors (i.e., Model 2). The examination of R2 change shows that 23% of the variance in English listening comprehension ability can be explained by listening self-efficacy, and additional 3%
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by listening anxiety. In sum, listening self-efficacy was found to be the best predictor of English listening comprehension ability, accounting for most of the variance (R2
= .23). The result of the best fitting model is statistically significant, F (2, 120) = 20.69; p < .001.
Table 12
Results of Stepwise Multiple Regressions of English Listening Ability on Listening anxiety, Listening Self-efficacy, and Listening Metacognitive Awareness F, R, Adjusted 𝑅2and 𝑅2change (Senior High Group)
Model 1 Model 2
B SE Beta B SE Beta
(Constant) 17.49 2.38 26.20*** 4.88
LSES .34*** .06 .48*** .26*** .68 .37
LAS -.22* .11 -.20*
R2 .23 .26
Adjusted R2 .22 .24
F 36.29*** 20.69***
R2 change .23 .03
Notes. LSES = listening self-efficacy score; LAS = listening anxiety score;
* p <.05; *** p < .001
Summary of Chapter Four
The results of the present study are summarized as follows. English listening anxiety, English listening self-efficacy, and English listening metacognitive awareness significantly correlated with English listening performance both at junior and senior high school levels. Specifically, at both education levels, the strongest correlation was found between English listening self-efficacy and English listening performance, followed by the correlation between English listening metacognitive awareness and
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English listening score. Both of the correlations were positive. The weakest
correlation at two education levels lay between English listening anxiety and English listening attainment, which was in negative direction.
As for the inter-correlations among the three learner factors, results at the two education level are also the same. The strongest correlation was found between English listening metacognitive awareness and English listening self-efficacy. The second strong correlation was found between English listening self-efficacy and English listening anxiety. The correlation between English listening metacognitive awareness and English listening anxiety was the weakest. The last two correlations were in negative direction.
Regarding the predictors of English listening performance, English listening self-efficacy, which accounted for 34% of the variance in English listening comprehension ability at junior high school level and 23% at senior high school level, appeared to be the best. English listening self-efficacy was also proved to be the only significant predictor to English listening performance at junior high school level. In addition to English self-efficacy, English listening anxiety contributed 3% of the variance to English listening attainment at senior high school level.
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