The Effect of Active Learning Instruction on the Intermediate Iranian EFL Learners’ Listening Comprehension Ability

Abstract

This research was conducted to investigate the effect of active learning instruction of listening on the listening comprehension ability of the intermediate Iranian EFL learners; moreover, it investigated the difference between male and female learners who had experienced active learning instruction in terms of the mentioned variable. The participants were 52 Iranian EFL learners who were distributed into control and experimental groups after making sure of their homogeneity through a proficiency test. To evaluate learners’ listening comprehension, a researcher-made listening test (pre-test), which was validated and its reliability using Cronbach’s Alpha was calculated to be 0.762, was conducted at the beginning of the term as a pre-test. During the term, which took about 20 sessions, active learning instruction of listening was fulfilled by the use of peer teaching and four types of tasks (jigsaw task, gap filling task, graphic organizer task, and information transfer task) as the treatment for the experimental group. In contrast, the learners of the control groups experienced traditional approach to instruction of listening comprehension. At the end of the term, the same listening comprehension test was applied as the post-test. The results of independent samples t-tests and Mann-Whitney U test revealed that active learning instruction of listening comprehension had a significant effect on the learners' listening comprehension ability of those in experimental groups. In addition, there was no significant difference in terms of listening comprehension between males and females of the experimental groups. The findings can provide insights to teachers and teacher trainers to be aware of beneficial characteristics of active learning instruction in the development of listening comprehension.