FACTORS CAUSING THE LOW LISTENING COMPREHENSION OF ENGLISH STUDENTS ON THE TOEFL TEST AT THE UNIVERSITY MUHAMMADIYAH OF BENGKULU

Oct 2, 2026

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The objective of this research was to identify factors causing low listening comprehension among English students at the TOEFL test and to determine the most dominant factor. A mixed-method design was employed, combining quantitative and qualitative data. Questionnaire and interview were used as research instruments, with interviews conducted after questionnaires for secondary data. Findings indicate two main factor groups: internal and external, with external factors dominant (mean 2.54). Linguistic complexity was the most dominant (mean 2.62), supported by interviews citing lack of vocabulary and unclear speech.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

INTRODUCTION

TOEFL and listening comprehension

Factors affecting listening comprehension

Prior studies

FACTORS CAUSING THE LOW LISTENING COMPREHENSION OF ENGLISH STUDENTS ON THE TOEFL TEST AT THE UNIVERSITY MUHAMMADIYAH OF BENGKULU Nora Ristika1, Eki Saputra2, Ivan Achmad Nurcholis3, Ria Angraini4 1,2Muhammadiyah University of Bengkulu Email: [noraristika@gmail.com](noraristika@gmail.com), [ekisaputra@umb.ac.id](ekisaputra@umb.ac.id), [ivanachmad](ivanachmad350@gmail.com)[350](ivanachmad350@gmail.com)[@gmail.com](ivanachmad350@gmail.com),[ria@umb.ac.id](ria@umb.ac.id) Abstract The objective of this research was to find out the factors which are causing and low listening comprehension and to determine the most dominant factor causing low listening comprehension of English students in answering listening comprehension questions on the TOEFL test. This research employed mix method design , which involved collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data. The instrument used in this research were questionnaire and interview. After questionnaire done, the researcher interviewed the students to get secondary data. The results showed that there are two factors causing low listening comprehension which are internal and external factors. The results showed that external factors are the major cause of low listening comprehension with the total mean of 2.54. Three from four aspects presented was received positive respond from the students which are speech delivery, linguistic complexity, and physical setting. On the other hand, lack of experience seems the only one factor appeared from internal factors. The most dominant factor was linguistic complexity with mean of 2.62. The results from interview also confirmed that there are two main causes which are lack of vocabulary and unclear speech of what they heard. There are some suggestions provided in this research. First, it is suggested for teacher/lectures to encourage the students to improve their listening ability. Second, it is suggested for students to enrich vocabulary and their linguistic competences. Finally, it is also suggested to the next researcher to conduct similar research in larger scope. Keywords: Cause, Listening Comprehension, TOEFL. INTRODUCTION English as International Language is the most dominant language used and studied in all parts of the world, including in Indonesia. Having proficiency in English isone of the things that must be owned by every student which will later be useful for continuing further studies at the tertiary level both inside and outside the country. English language skills are needed as capital to prepare competent and highly competitive generations of the nation. TOEFL, which stands for Test of English as a Foreign Language, is an international standard test used to assess English competence. TOEFL is intended to assess English language abilities of those whose first language is not English (Pratiwi et al., 2021) . TOEFL is also one of the standard requirements for entering tertiary institutions in Indonesia (Karjo & Ronaldo, 2019) . Several universities in Indonesia require the TOEFL exam as part of their graduation criteria. TOEFL is not only for those who want to follow or continue their studies at their dream campus but also one of the administrative requirements for students to complete their studies. Therefore, the development of English is in the form of TOEFL material training, which aims to prepare students to face global competition. TOEFL is a tool used to measure a person's English proficiency (Soali & Pujiani, 2020) . In the TOEFL test, there are 3 main sections that the students will work on, namely listening comprehension, structure and written expression, and reading comprehension(Phillips, 2001) . From all the sections provided in the test, many students think that Listening Comprehension test is challenging for students (Fitria, 2021) . In this section, the students must listen to various types of passages on the audio recording and understand the information provided. They will be asked to lis

FAQs

What research method was used to study the low TOEFL listening comprehension?

The study used a mixed-method design. It collected and analyzed both quantitative and qualitative data using questionnaires and interviews.

What factors were found to cause low listening comprehension?

Two factor groups were identified: internal factors and external factors. External factors were the major cause.

What is the most dominant factor behind low listening comprehension, and why?

Linguistic complexity was the most dominant factor (mean 2.62). Interview results also pointed to lack of vocabulary and unclear speech as key reasons.

Oct 2, 2026

Upload by Ben