Using Aural Authentic Materials to Develop ListeningComprehension in the EFL Classroom

Listening is probably the least explicit of the four language skills, making it themost difficult skill to learn. It is evident that children listen and respond to languagebefore they learn to talk. When it is time for children to learn to read, they still have tolisten so that they gain knowledge and information to follow directions. In the classroom,students have to listen carefully and attentively to lectures and class discussions in orderto understand and to retain the information for later recall.The assessment of listening comprehension for academic purposes is an area whichhas not received much attention from researchers. Rankin suggests that adults spend morethan ۴۰ percent of their communication time listening, in contrast with ۳۱.۹ percentspeaking, ۱۵ percent reading, and ۱۱ percent writing. Clearly, much of the educationalprocess is based on skills in listening. Students have to spend most of the time listening towhat the teacher says, for instance, giving lectures or asking questions. According toWolvin and Coakley, the amount of time that students are expected to listen in theclassroom ranges from ۴۲ to ۵۷.۵ percent of their communication time. Taylor on theother hand, estimates that nearly ۹۰ percent of the class time in high school anduniversity is spent in listening to discussion and lectures. Since listening occupies such alarge percentage of the communication time of most people, it is therefore advantageousto possess effective listening skills in order to meet listening demands that occur daily.