HURIER Model and the Listening Comprehension of Iraqi EFL Preparatory School Students

Listening is an important language skill, essential for both effective communication and language learning. It involves the ability to receive and understand messages during communication. Listening requires active engagement, concentration, and interpreting both verbal and non-verbal cues. This study aims to explore the impact of the HURIER model (Hearing, Understanding, Remembering, Interpreting, Evaluating, and Responding) on the listening comprehension of Iraqi students learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in preparatory schools. This topic has not been explored in the Iraqi context before. The research seeks to answer the following question: Does the HURIER model significantly enhance listening comprehension at the preparatory school level? The significance of this study comes from examining the role of exposing Iraqi EFL students to authentic native speakers’ speech and evaluating their comprehension. The study sample consists 82 female students from an Iraqi EFL preparatory school in Baghdad. A pre-posttest experimental design is employed, using a researcher-designed listening comprehension test. After confirming the validity and reliability of the instrument, both the control group and the experimental group participated in a listening posttest at the end of the experiment. The results show that students in the experimental group, who were taught using the HURIER model, performed significantly better than those in the control group, who were taught using the conventional method. These results highlight the benefits of incorporating the HURIER model into EFL listening instruction. Accordingly, the study recommends its adoption by EFL teachers to enhance listening comprehension of EFL students and overall English language proficiency.