The Relationship Between Prior Knowledge and EFL Learners' Listening Comprehension: Cultural Knowledge in Focus

Abstract

The present study investigated the impact of cultural familiarity on improving Iranian EFL learners’ listening
comprehension. To do this, forty English language learners were selected at a private language institute in Isfahan based on
their scores in FCE test and were randomly assigned to four groups of ten. A pre-test was administered to the four groups before
any treatment. During the experiment, Group A had exposure to target culture texts. The participants in Group B had exposure to
international target culture texts. The participants in Group C had exposure to source culture texts. The participants in Group D
had only exposure to culture free texts. At the end of this treatment, the four groups took a post-test which was the same as pretest
to see whether the treatment had any influence on their listening proficiency. The results of the post-test showed that the
four groups performed differently on the post-test, which indicated that greater familiarity with specific culturally-oriented
language listening material would improve Iranian EFL learners’ listening proficiency.