The Difficulties Encountered by EFL Learners in Listening Comprehension as Perceived by ELC Students at the Arab American University-Jenin

The study aimed to investigate the difficulties EFL students encounter in listening comprehension as perceived by ELC students at the AAUJ. The aims of the study were to identify the difficulties students face in listening comprehension and to study the relationship of the difficulties encountered by EFL students with students’ academic level, academic year, gender, type of school and number of school years studying English. In order to achieve the study objectives, the researcher developed a two different data collection instruments: A questionnaire and an interview. First, the questionnaire was developed and given to a sample of 189 EFL students studying at the English Language Center (ELC). The sample was chosen randomly. The interview then was held with 12 students chosen randomly from the sample of the study. It consisted of 4 questions. The researcher conducted this study on university-level students who take English courses at the English Language Center (ELC) at the Arab American University-Jenin (AAUJ). The sample consisted of (95) males and (94) females. The results of the study showed that disability of word recognition, lacking background information about the topic, noises around, poor quality listening equipment and not enjoying the listening excerpt got high effect degree. In addition, speed rate of speech and gliding over words while speaking, which got a moderate effect degree in the questionnaire results, were the problems students stated in the interview. Besides, the researcher found out that there were no significant differences in the difficulties students encountered in listening comprehension due to academic level, academic year, gender, type of school and number of school years studying English. In the light of the findings of the study, the researcher recommended that more research should be conducted on the difficulties and importance of listening comprehension and strategies to improve listening comprehension. She also recommended that the ministry of education on the one hand and English teachers on the other hand have to pay attention to teaching listening skills at schools.