What makes a good L2 listener?

Abstract Listening poses significant challenges for L2 learners and is difficult to improve ( Graham, 2011 ). Research shows that L2 Chinese learners’ listening performance lags behind speaking and reading even after four years of college study ( Winke et al., 2020 ). However, the factors influencing listening comprehension remain underexplored ( Cai, 2015 ; Wang & Treffers-Daller, 2017 ). This study investigates the impact of oral proficiency, vocabulary size, metacognitive awareness, and test anxiety on listening comprehension among 89 CSL learners. Results from multiple regression analyses indicate that oral proficiency and vocabulary size are significant predictors of listening performance. For less proficient listeners, oral proficiency was crucial, while vocabulary size was most significant for advanced listeners. The importance of step-by-step vocabulary development and proficiency-guided language output opportunities is discussed.