Abstract/Summary

While research into second language listening is on the increase, over the last decade the interest in research has been primarily in investigating the factors affecting learners’ listening ability and how to develop listening proficiency focusing on learners’ listening strategies and the crucial role played by metacognition. At the same time, although the teacher potentially plays a crucial role in improving learners’ motivation, self-beliefs and performance in relation to listening, it has been argued that language teachers’ awareness of research and theory relating to listening is limited. Furthermore, their cognition in relation to listening remains a neglected area for research. As a result, our understanding of a variable that potentially influences listening pedagogy and outcomes is limited. The current study investigated the extent to which research-based training about listening strategy and metacognition based-instruction benefitted Algerian EFL teachers’ and students’ self-efficacy for listening, in addition to students’ listening proficiency. It also investigated the nature of the relationship between these three main variables and other factors, including students’ metacognitive knowledge, strategy use and vocabulary knowledge. This study was conducted in two English language departments in Algerian universities, employing a quasiexperimental and mixed method design, with one intervention group (97 students and five teachers) and one comparison group (89 students and five teachers). Data were collected quantitatively and qualitatively from the participants before and after the intervention which lasted for six weeks. The participants’ self-efficacy was explored through two different questionnaires, one for teachers and another for students, in addition to interviews. Students’ listening proficiency was assessed through two different listening tests, one at pre-test and another at post-test. Their metacognitive knowledge and strategy use were elicited through a questionnaire, and strategy use was further investigated through a stimulated recall interview with 20 students. Vocabulary knowledge was assessed only at pre-test through an aural vocabulary knowledge test. Classroom observation and teacher instructional logs were also utilised in this study to explore teachers’ instructional practice in teaching listening. The analyses demonstrated that teachers’ self-efficacy in both groups improved, however those in the intervention group reported a higher level at post-test than those in the comparison group even though the latter had a higher level at pre-test. Moreover, divergence was found between their stated and actual practice in teaching listening at pre-test, comparing data in the questionnaire and classroom observation was found. There was however marked convergence between teaching logs and classroom observation data. Students in the intervention group demonstrated a statistically significant improvement across the measures of self-efficacy, listening performance and strategy use; however, a nonsignificant improvement was found in relation to their metacognitive knowledge. By contrast, students in the comparison group demonstrated a statistically significant deterioration across all the measures. Further analyses revealed that teachers’ self-efficacy was a significant predictor of students’ listening performance only for the intervention group at post-test. Teacher selfefficacy was not a significant predictor of student self-efficacy in either group, neither at pretest nor at post-test. Similarly, students’ self-efficacy was a significant predictor of students’ listening performance only for the intervention group and merely at post-test; on the contrary, their listening performance was a significant predictor of their self-efficacy for both groups at the two timepoints. This study provides evidence that strategy and metacognition-based training affected both participants’ self-efficacy and students’ listening performance positively, and that teachers also become more confident in teaching listening through such instruction. It also uncovers the causal relationship between various variables involved in the teaching and learning of foreign language listening.