Discourse Analysis and the Development of English Listening Comprehension for Non-English Fields of Studies in Iran

Abstract

Comprehension is a receptive skill, as opposed to speaking, which is productive. But this does not mean it is a passive skill. Much to the contrary, listening comprehension is an interactive process in which listeners interact with the text, the tasks and the context external (situation) and internal (background knowledge) to them. Traditional approaches to listening teaching mainly focused on the sentence level and regard the listening process in a passive and static way. To overcome such a deficiency, a new listening approach, that is, discourse-driven approach has been introduced in the listening classroom. The present study is to observe the correlation between the theories of discourse analysis and the nature of listening comprehension and to trace the developmental differences in the learners’ listening proficiency brought from this discourse-oriented approach. Through analysis of listening difficulties, the present study confirmed the effectiveness of discourse-oriented approach, which might add a bit more to the understanding of discourse analysis. Pedagogically, it suggested a relatively uncomplicated procedure that might have considerable and varied payoffs in terms of both teaching and learning of the listening skill.