Language Contact and Confidence in Second Language Listening Comprehension: A Pilot Study of Advanced' Learners of German

Abstract

Over the past several decades, listening comprehension has not received a great deal of focus in foreignlsecond language acquisition (SLA) research compared to other skills and competencies. Although there is growing research on instructional techniques and strategies to enhance those skills in the earlier stages of second lan guage (L2) learning, there is little investigation of text-related factors, us wetl as individual learner factors, that may contribute to advanced-level listening skills. This paper reports on a pilot study on both textual and individual factors for advunced-level listening comprehension, Twenty-seven advanced learners of L2 German served as participunts, along with 10 native speaker controls, for multiple-choice listening items including both short and extended listening texts. In addition, a background survey assessed language-contact factors to look for significant influence on advanced-level listening comprehension. T test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests show that the nonnative speakers do not differ signijicantly from the native speaker controls for these tasks, but that confidence in interpreting meaning was significant for certain item types. Correlational analyses point to several language contact factors that indi cate both quantity and quality of L2 experience were signjficant for overall listening comprehension accuracy, as well as for confidence. Based on these preliminary find ings, more research is recommended to explore experiential variubles thut may predict advanced attainment in listening.

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