Exploring the Use of Self-Directed Listening Skills and Strategies by Engineering Students

The purpose of this study was to explore the use of listening self-directed skills and strategies by male and female undergraduate students of Engineering. The participants of this study were Iranian undergraduate students (N=200) at the Iran University of Science and Technology. The instrument of this research was the self-directed listeningquestionnaire including awareness, learning activities, learning strategies, evaluation, and interpersonal skills. Theresults of the study revealed that there was a slight difference between male and female learners in the use of selfdirected listening skills and strategies. The results also showed that awareness strategies appeared more frequently than the other skills and strategies in both male and female learners’ responses, while the ‘interpersonal skills’ in the female learners’ responses and the ‘learning activities’ in the male learners’ responses received the lowest mean scores. Language learners need to do the listening tasks which helped them to be more self-directed in their listening skill; thus, materials developers are suggested to design appropriate tasks to improve this ability