The effect of input source (Native vs. Non- native) and EFL learners’ perceptions towards it, on their listening performances, across gender

Abstract

The issue of the "native/non-native speaker's input source" occupies an important place in any EFL listening comprehension test. This study is meant to unveil whether listening to a native or non-native speaker (i.e., input source) and students' perceptions towards it affect the performance of upper-intermediate EFL learners in a listening test. For this purpose, an experimental design was used to compare the performance of two groups of learners on an EFL listening test. A test of 20 multiple choice items was administered to 66 EFL learners (31 male and 35 female), half of whom listened to a native speaker's voice while the other 33 test takers listened to a non-native speaker's voice. Moreover, a perception questionnaire considering students' perceptions towards using native or non-native input source in listening tests was utilized. The results of the study highlighted that the overall performance of the two groups differed significantly. That is, the listeners to the non-native input outperformed those who listened to a native speaker. Also, the results of the questionnaire revealed some noteworthy findings which indicate that students preferred the use of non-native input in listening tests. Moreover, considering gender as a moderator variable, a statistically significant main effect was found for gender; that is, gender does play a significant role as a moderator variable. In other words, female test takers performed better than males in both conditions. Further findings and implications are discussed in the paper.