the impact of explicit listening strategy instruction on reading comprehension across varying listening proficiencies in iranian efl learners

Listening comprehension has been viewed as a significant skill in language learning. listening comprehension is a problem- solving activity in which learners actively construct meaning from aural sources and relate what they hear to their prior knowledge. the primary goal of this research was to determine if teaching listening strategies can positively impact reading comprehension ability among iranian efl learners. in order to achieve this goal, the following tools were utilized: a) the language proficiency test, b) l2 (english) listening comprehension test, and c) metacognitive awareness of listening strategies inventory. in general, 163 iranian efl students, between the ages of 19 and 23, were selected through convenience sampling from the humanities faculty of farhangian university in arak, iran. this homogeneous group was randomly assigned to control and experimental groups. reading comprehension tests, along with metacognitive awareness listening strategies inventories, were given to both, experimental and control groups as pre/post-tests with a ten-week gap between them. after the pretests, the treatment phase commenced where the experimental group was taught listening strategies, while the control group did not receive any specialized listening strategy instruction. a t-test revealed that listening strategy instruction had a significant effect on iranian efl learners’ reading comprehension ability. the findings suggest that explicit instruction in listening strategies fosters improved reading comprehension.