AN INVESTIGATION OF STUDENTS’ PROBLEMS IN LISTENING COMPREHENSION IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE WITH REFERENCE TO GRADE NINE STUDENTS OF ATSEYOHANNES SECONDARY SCHOOL BY

Abstract

This study is aimed at investigating students’ problems in listening comprehension in English Language with reference to grade nine students of Atseyohannes Secondary School which is found in Mekelle. The study was conducted in the academic year of 2017 E.C. A descriptive method was applied to investigate the problem. From 500 students 100 were selected using systematic sampling technique to fill the questionnaire, and four English teachers were selected using available sampling for interview and observation. Each teacher was observed during the teaching and learning process using observation checklist. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of data analyses were used to analyze the data. Quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis were used to analyze the data gathered from the students, and qualitative was used to analyze the data gathered from the teachers.. The analysis of the study showed that there were different listening comprehension problems during English classes. Among the problems were; there was lack of students’ participation and performance, there was lack of teachers’ motivation and encouragement, teachers gave value the other skills over listening, teachers used incorrect pronunciation while teaching listening, they also used incorrect listening phases, there were lack of varieties of texts and recorded materials (authentic materials), there were difficult grammatical structures and vocabularies, there was complexity of a text, and there was sound pollution. However, the researcher has got some solutions for the problems. Among the recommendations are teachers should get training on how to teach listening comprehension and to use the phases of listening properly, education bureau and teachers should provide materials, and students should listen to the lessons properly and do certain activities.