1.1. Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………………

6

1.2. Statement of the Problem…………………………………………………………

9

1.3. Significance of the Study…………………………………………………………

10

1.4. Purpose of the Study………………………………………………………………

11

1.5. Research Question of the Study…………………………………………………..

11

1.6. Hypotheses of the study…………………………………………………………..

11

1.7. Definitions of Key Terms…………………………………………………………

12

1.8. Summary………………………………………………………………………………..

16

Chapter 2:Literature Review………………………………………………………..

16

2.0. Introduction………………………………………………………………………

19

2.1. History of listening in ELT……………………………………………………….

23

2.2. Definition of listening by different researchers…………………………………

26

2.3. The importance of listening………………………………………………………

29

2.4. Why is listening difficult…………………………………………………………

32

2.5. How to develop listening…………………………………………………………

35

2.5.1. Bottom-up process in listening……………………………………………..

37

2.5.2. Top down process in listening …………………………………………….

39

2.5.3. Interactive processing in listening………………………………………….

40

2.6. Material for teaching listening……………………………………………………

42

2.7. Designing listening activity for the classroom……………………………………

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LIST OF FIGURES

Abstract

The present study has made an attempt to investigate the impact of contrastive-based pronunciation teaching on listening comprehension ability of Iranian EFL learners. Based on it, this study set out to focus on the phonological feature (segmental feature) and the pronunciation errors which are made by Iranian learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and the impact of such transfers and errors on their listening comprehension ability. To achieve this purpose, the researcher conducted an OPT test (Oxford Placement Test) to homogenize students. Then 40 female EFL learners attending general English course at Iran Language Institute (ILI) in Rasht, Iran whose score fell between 1SD±Mean were chosen to conduct the study. The participants were divided into experimental and control group.

Before starting the training, a pretest was applied to all students, and the treatment started the week after. Unlike the control group, the participants in the experimental one received special treatment. They were trained by contrastive teaching most frequent errors for Iranian EFL learners. The treatment lasted for 30 minutes class hours; one class hour – 90 minutes – a week for four weeks. By the end of the forth week, a post-test of listening was conducted and the results were analyzed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). To do the results quantitative data have been analyzed through descriptive statistical methods (mean and standard deviation), and the researcher ran inferential statistics (t-test) and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The results showed significant difference between the control and experimental group. It was, therefore, concluded that using contrastive-based pronunciation teaching can improve the listening comprehension ability of EFL learners.

This study gives the curriculum designers, administrators, teachers and material developers the opportunity to draw on the findings to shape curricula, create syllabi, develop materials, and conduct classes accordingly.

KEY WORDS:CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS, PRONUNCIATION, LISTENING COMPREHENSION, EFL