Are You Still There? Students’ Online Listening Behavior Patterns and Academic Achievement

The study analyzed students’ listening behavior patterns in an online learning setting, focusing on their online interaction and listening strategies across metacognitive, cognitive, and socio-affective aspects. It sought to understand how students adjust to an online learning environment and the conditions that maximize students’ participation and achievement. Using a descriptive research design, the study explored students’ online listening strategies. In addition, an interaction analysis was conducted to understand how they listen, engage, and learn in an online learning setup. An Online Listening Strategies Inventory (OLSI) was developed and validated to support this analysis. One hundred sixteen (116) college freshmen students taking a general mathematics education course participated in the study. The results of the study revealed that students equally utilize metacognitive, cognitive, and socio-affective strategies for listening in an online learning setting. This implies that students apply all the necessary strategies they know to adjust to and cope with an online learning environment. Furthermore, the interaction analysis revealed that students in an online learning setup engage, collaborate, and learn more when the teacher and other students’ cameras are turned on. This suggests that students find learning in an online setting more engaging and encouraging when it is “more like a face-to-face” experience. Finally, a framework for designing an effective online learning setup that recognizes and responds to students’ listening behavior patterns is proposed.