Investigating the Micro Skill Clusters in Listening Comprehension for EFL University Students

Micro-Skill Clusters are different components of listening skill used by students to perceive what the speaker is saying and to interpret what they intend to mean. When students can use Micro-Skill Clusters, they can develop their learning in general and Listening Comprehension in particular. This study aims to identify and compare EFL university students' use of the listening micro skill clusters types at Tikrit and Kirkuk Universities, Colleges of Education- Department of English. The use of the listening micro skill clusters types are formulating content sense of an utterance, formulating a conceptual framework linking utterances, and interpreting (possible) speaker intentions at the two universities, EFL university students’ using of the listening micro skill clusters types at the recognition and production levels in the two universities. The differences between males and females use of listening micro skill clusters at the two universities. A descriptive quantitative research design is adapted, and the sample of the present study is 227 in the third year of the Department of English, Colleges of Education at Tikrit and Kirkuk Universities, who were selected randomly. The study is conducted during the second semester of the academic year 2023 / 2024. The data was gathered using a diagnostic test that scored based on predefined scoring schemes to assess students' performance in listening comprehension. The current study's findings reveal that students at English departments and colleges of education at the universities of Tikrit and Kirkuk use MSC at a high level. Some conclusions, recommendations, and suggestions for further studies are presented in light of the results.