Presented by:

Ismat Zarin
Senior Lecturer
Department of English
Eastern University

Listening is the process of receiving, attending and

assigning meaning to aural stimuli.
(Scarcella & Oxford,1992)
Listening has long been the most ignored skill in
language teaching.
(Carrol,1971;Rivers, 1981)
Vandergrift (2005) examined the relationship
among motivation, metacognition, and proficiency
in listening comprehension.

Motivation is the crucial force which

determines whether the listener embarks on
a task at all. The primary motive for
learning a language is that it provides a
means of communication.
(Littlewood, 1984:53).
It is easy in SLL to claim that a listener will
be successful with the proper motivation.
(Brown, 2000:143, 160)

1.

2.

3.

4.

Is there a relationship between a learners motivation to

learn listening in English with the native accents and
pronunciation of the language?
Are the native accents and pronunciation creating problems
to learn effective listening for Bangladeshi English language
learners?
What are the basic problems of Bangladeshi English
language learners in relation to listening to native English
speakers?
Can the English spoken by non-native speakers be a
teaching-learning aid for practicing listening skill with
Bangladeshi English language learners?

Research design
Experimental-quantitative-interpretive(Grotjahn 1987:59-60)

Primary research
Statistical (Questionnaire Survey)

Secondary research
existing literature

Semi-structured Questionnaire on Likert Scale:10 items

Participants : 325 first year undergraduate students from 29 universities
in Bangladesh(9 Public and 20 private universities)

100.00%

Percentage of Students

60.00%

90.00%

52.31%

80.00%

47.38%

50.00%

Strongly

70.00%

Agree

60.00%

40.00%

Agree

50.00%

30.00%

40.00%

16%

30.00%

20.00%

20.00%

10.00%

0.30%

0.00%
Strongly
Agree &
Agree

Strongly
Disagree &
Disagree

Undecided

34.77%

36%

11.69%

Strongly
Disagree

1.53%

Disagree

10.00%
0.00%

Undecided

0.92%
Strongly Agree &

37.84%
61%

Agree
Strongly
Disagree &
Disagree
Undecided

Findings:
100.00%
Strongly Agree &

65.23%

50.00%

Strongly Agree &

34.76%

Agree
Strongly Disagree

0.00%

Agree

0%

& Disagree
Undecided

Chart 4:Learners feel stressed out while

practicing listening to native speakers

Strongly
Disagree &
Disagree

Undecided

Chart 5:Native accents are very difficult to

understand

Findings:
250

0%

200
No
of
students

40.92%

150

59.08%

100

Strongly
agree &
Agree
Strongly
Disagree &
Disagree
Undecided

50
0
Strongly

Strongly

Agree

Disagree &

&Agree

Disagree

Undecided

Chart 6: Learners do not have enough

experience of listening to native speakers

Chart 7:Sometimes learners feel helpless

when they dont understand localized
pronunciations and accents of English by
native speakers

40.00%
35.00%

30.00%
25.00%
20.00%
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%

0.00%
Strongly Agree

Agree

Strongly
Disagree

Disagree

Undecided

Diagram 2: Attitude of students on the effect of native pronunciation and accents on demotivating
them towards learning listening skill as ESL learners.

11

Findings: Cont.
Attitude of the Students
100.00%
2.46%
15.70%
10.77%

Strongly Agree
33.23%

Agree
Strongly

37.84%

Disagree

80.00%
60.00%
40.00%
20.00%
0.00%

Disagree
Undecided

Chart 6:English language spoken by nonnative speakers is easier to understand

Chart 10:English language spoken by nonnative speakers do not demotivate learners

References:
Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching. New
York: Longman.

Carroll, John B. (1972). Defining Language Comprehension: Some

Speculations. Chapter 1 in Carroll and Freedle (eds) (1972).
Language comprehension and the Acquisition of knowledge. New
York: Wiley.
Littlewood, T.W. (1984). Foreign and Second Language Learning, CUP.
Rivers, V. M. (1992). Communicating Naturally in a Second Language.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 243 p.
Scarcella, R. C., & Oxford, R. L. (1992). The tapestry of language
learning: the individual in the communicative classroom. Boston, MA:
Heinle & Heinle.
Vandergrift, L. (2005). Second language listening: Listening ability or
language proficiency? The Modern Language Journal, 90, 618.

Questions?

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