Abstract
Listening has changed its position from a passive activity as which deserved less class time to an active
process through which language acquisition takes place and it has obtained much attention both in
language pedagogy and in research (Vandergrift, 2004). The present study investigated the relationships
between listening anxiety and listening performance. The population was 56, male and female, Iranian
MA EFL learners studying TEFL in Islamic Azad University of Zanjan. In order to make the participants
homogeneous, Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was run and 30 learners were selected as the final
participants. After homogenizing the students as intermediate ones, a valid questionnaire of Foreign
Language Listening Anxiety Scale (FLLAS) by Kim (2000) was administered to the 30 intermediate
students. Having administered the questionnaire, the researcher asked the subjects to sit for an IELTS
listening test taken from Cambridge ILTS. The data collected from the questionnaire and as well as the
scores of their listening performances were analyzed through SPSS (21.00). Results indicated that there
was a significant and negative relationship between listening anxiety and learners’ listening
performances. The results of this study may provide insights into helping EFL learners to reduce their
listening test anxiety and also increase the level of their confidence.
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Farnaz Ebadi
Department of English, Zanjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zanjan, Iran
Mohammad Reza Oroji
Department of English, Zanjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zanjan, Iran
Received: 15-05-2016, Accepted: 24-06-2016, Published Online: 02-07-2016