An Investigation of Cognitive Operations on L2 Listening Comprehension Performance: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

The purpose of the paper was to investigate the interactions and differences among components of cognitive operations on EFL listeners' comprehension performance. More specifically, components of the cognitive operations in terms of interpreting main ideas, identifying details, and interpreting implications were the focus of the study to measure 63 EFL sophomores' listening comprehension competence at one university in Taiwan. Three main questions were addressed: (1) What is the most difficult cognitive operation in terms of interpreting main ideas, identifying details, and interpreting implications? (2) For different proficiency listeners, what is their listening performance in terms of those three cognitive operations? (3) How are listeners' perceptions regarding their listening performance consistent with the quantitative research results? By applying a qualitative and quantitative research method, results of the study demonstrate that subjects perform better on items referring to main idea questions than on items referring to inference ones. Detail questions seem to affect the low listeners' performance differently. Implications of the results for the selection of test types and question types on listening comprehension tests are drawn to arrive at highly valid listening comprehension tests.