The top-down strategies in an EFL class of the vocational high school: an experimental study on enhancing students’ listening comprehension skills

• Published in: JEFL (Journal on English as a Foreign Language) Vol. 13; no. 2; pp. 399 - 426
• Main Authors: Larandang, Badrun, Thamrin, Nur Sehang, Naniwarsih, Andi, Omolu, Fikriani Aminun, Nadrun, Nadrun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN) Palangka Raya 11.08.2023
• Subjects: background knowledge; listening comprehension; pre-activity; self-assessment; top-down strategies
• ISSN: 2088-1657; 2502-6615
• DOI: 10.23971/jefl.v13i2.6269

Despite numerous studies emphasizing the benefits of using background knowledge and vocabulary in EFL listening courses, there is a lack of rationale for implementing top-down strategies that holistically integrate prior knowledge, vocabulary enhancement, and self-assessment. In order to address the issues, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the teacher's top-down strategies in improving students' listening skills. Therefore, we utilized pre-experimental research, particularly a one-group pretest-posttest design, to ascertain the strategies’ effectiveness. Twenty-one participants in this study were selected randomly. We used paired sample T-test with SPSS software to figure out if there was a statistically significant difference between the pretest and post-test scores after repeated intervention encounters. The statistical analysis showed that the average post-test score (M= 77.8571) was considerably higher than the average pretest score (M= 63.5714). The findings indicated that the students’ listening proficiency improved after being addressed with top-down strategies. This finding suggests that the teacher’s top-down approach helps students raise their listening comprehension skills. The study's results call for using top-down strategies to stimulate students' listening comprehension, to learn more effectively, and increase their listening consciousness.