Exploring Factors Affecting Listening Skills And Their Implications For The Development Of The Communicative Competence: A Case Study

Abstract

This case study attempted to explore factors that affect listening skills and their implications in the development of communicative competence at a public university in Colombia. The participants were three English intermediate-level students from the Foreign Language program of the University of Pamplona. Data were gathered through non participant observations and semi-structured interviews, then analyzed using Hatch’s (2002) interpretive model and MAXQDA11. Findings revealed that factors affecting EFL participants’ listening skills are: motivation, paralinguistic features (such as the accent, noise, rate of delivery, pronunciation, and intonation), known vocabulary, concentration, teacher’s methodology, use of materials and learner’s background. Additionally, it was found that these factors are directly or indirectly implied in the development of communicative competence.

Key words: Listening skills, factors, communicative competence.