Working Memory, Learning Style, Language Proficiency And Efl Listening Comprehension

Nowadays, EFL education in China has put much emphasis on teaching listening, but the listening proficiency of Chinese students still beyond satisfaction. Therefore, the study on listening comprehension is of great importance and value. Linguists have reviewed the factors that may influence EFL listening comprehension from the perspectives of text characteristics, task characteristics, listener characteristics, etc., and have studied the relationship between some of these factors and EFL listening comprehension. However, data-based studies still limited, and most of these studies just focus on one factor. This study intends to do comparison among different factors and chooses three factors from the perspective of listener characteristics—working memory, learning style, and language proficiency, which are widely believed to have some correlation with EFL listening comprehension but have been subject to limited research. This paper will focus on these three factors to examine their possible influence on listening comprehension, and will try to find out which one serves as the best predictor.The subjects of this study are 92 graduate students of intermediate level from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. A series of tests have been done to measure their working memory capacity, learning style preferences, listening comprehension achievements and language proficiency. The major findings of the study are demonstrated as follows.First, working memory significantly correlates with EFL listening comprehension performance, and can predict listening comprehension performance in a proportion of 21.1%.Second, there exists significant correlation between language proficiency and EFL listening comprehension. Language proficiency can predict EFL listening comprehension performance in a proportion of 40.8% and can cause significant discrepancy in listening comprehension between different levels.Third, among the eleven types of learning style, Chinese students prefer closure-oriented style and global style. However, there is no significant correlation between listening comprehension and learning styles.Fourth, the Regression Analysis and the One-Way ANOVA Analysis show that language proficiency is a relatively more effective predictor for EFL listening comprehension performanceAt last the implication of the study is discussed. In short, this study reveals the important role of working memory and language proficiency in EFL listening comprehension, and provides some pedagogical implications on teaching and practicing listening comprehension.