Audiobooks and listening skill

Abstract

The current study aimed to determine the impact of audiobooks on students’ listening skill. A total of 68 university students (24 male and 44 female) freely participated in a descriptive, nonexperimental investigation. The data was gathered with a survey of 27 questions based on the Likert scale and one open question. Additionally, the survey was validated with Cronbach's Alpha coefficient (0.867) and the judgment of experts. The research was founded on three research questions. Thus, the main findings indicate that the predominant format for audiobooks is online, and the popular genre is fantasy. Regarding listening materials, it was discovered that audiobooks are not listened to by many students despite their many advantages. Further, the listening materials most used by students are songs, videos, and academic lectures. When listening, students use and develop listening subskills and students demonstrated that they had developed most of them. Most learners exhibited proficiency in the subskill of listening for specific details, indicating a strong competence in their listening abilities. Additionally, all students use strategies when listening, and at this point, the most used strategy is imagining. However, it is impressive that pupils do not prefer to take notes when listening when many books and teachers suggest it. Additionally, the tendency of students not to ask a classmate or teacher for help was noted.