The Effects of Audiobooks on EFL Students’ Listening Comprehension

This study investigates the effects of audiobooks on listening comprehension skills of EFL Students, and their attitudes towards using audiobooks in a foreign language classroom. The participants are 66 first-year students of a state university in Turkey. The research follows a prepost-test control group research design using quantitative and qualitative research methods. Quantitative data, obtained from the General Listening Comprehension Skills Scale (GLCSS) scores of the students before and after the treatments, were analyzed using independent samples t-tests. As for the qualitative data, participants’ opinions about the use of audiobooks were elicited via a survey and subjected to content analysis. The outcomes of the GLCSS, developed and conducted by the researchers, revealed similar listening comprehension scores for both groups before the treatment. Throughout a 13 week period, in the experimental group, the teacher used both printed and audio versions of the selected books. The control group was allowed to use only printed versions while all the other in class processes remained the same for both groups. The findings showed that using audiobooks had a positive impact on students’ listening comprehension skills. The analysis of the survey data showed that audiobooks had contributed to participants’ listening comprehension, pronunciation, and motivation.