THE EFFECT OF LISTENING STRATEGIES ON THE LISTENING AND SPEAKING SKILLS AND LISTENING MOTIVATION

The significance of listening strategy teaching over the past 30 years has become more widely acknowledged since it facilitates listening comprehension. However, few studies on teaching listening strategies have looked at this problem from the viewpoint of the students, and teacher, as well as handling students’ motivation, cognitive awareness of listening strategies, and speaking skills. This study aimed to determine the effect of teaching listening strategies to 6th Graders in English lessons on the students' cognitive awareness of listening strategies, listening comprehension and motivation levels, and English speaking skills. The intervention mixed method design was applied to carry out this study. A quasi-experimental design was used to teach the use of listening strategies. The listening strategies teaching took place for six weeks in a secondary school in one of the cities in western Turkey. Quantitative data were collected through using the CALSS, the MSLE, the listening test, and the speaking skill scoring key. Qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured student interviews, diaries, and motivation forms. As a result of the research, teaching listening strategies developed students’ listening and speaking skills. Students' level of cognitive awareness towards listening to English enhanced. Students’ motivation levels for listening increased. In conclusion, students should be encouraged to use listening strategies, and when necessary, the strategies should be reminded, and their use should be demonstrated. Keywords: cognitive awareness, EFL, listening skills, listening strategies, secondary school students