Prioritizing and addressing perceived listening challenges of IELTS test takers in Bangladesh

Abstract

Listening comprehension is an essential part of L2 learning. However, listening skills are neither taught nor assessed in the mainstream secondary and higher secondary public exams in Bangladesh. As a result, higher secondary students do not face a test of their listening skills until they attempt an IELTS test. For this reason, the listening test for the IELTS is challenging for post-higher secondary students. The purpose of this study is to explore the difficulties in the IELTS listening test perceived by Bangladeshi test takers; how test takers are prepared for the test and how experienced test takers report on the preparation for the test. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches have been adopted for the research. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six IELTS preparatory-course trainers. In addition, five experienced IELTS test takers were also interviewed who scored a band score of 7.0 or above. All the participants were selected through purposive sampling. As a part of the quantitative research approach, 224 participants from the IELTS preparatory course were surveyed. The findings show that the primary challenge for the test takers is their inability to recognize known words as well as new vocabulary while listening to the audio in the IELTS test. The findings of the study may help IELTS trainers assist the potential test takers to deal with the difficulties of the IELTS listening test.