The Effect of Recursive Listening Activities on EFL Iraqi Pupils' Language Learning

Abstract

Teaching the English language proficiently today needs to cover more aspects than what is known. Recursive listening activities involve repeatedly listening to the same audio material with specific tasks or goals in mind during each iteration. This approach deepens comprehension, helps students notice linguistic features, and builds confidence in listening skills. This study aims to investigate how recursive listening activities improve pupils' ability to understand spoken English in various contexts; to investigate the effect of repeated listening on the retention and usage of new vocabulary among Iraqi EFL learners. The study hypothesizes that there is statistical significant difference among the mean score of Iraqi EFL pupils who participate in recursive listening activities will demonstrate better comprehension of spoken English in various contexts compared to those who do not engage in such activities, there is a statistical significant difference of Repeated listening vocabulary-focused on audio materials in higher retention and more effective usage of new vocabulary among Iraqi EFL learners and those who receive traditional method without repeated listening. The sample of the study consists of (60) pupils who have been selected from second grade at Umm Al-Mu'minin School for Girls in the center of Tikrit is selected during the academic year 2024-2025. The sample is divided randomly into two groups, experimental and control group, each group has 30 pupils. The two groups are equalized in their ages, the parents' educational attainment, and scores in the pretest.  The data is collected from the results of the two posttests have been analyzed statistically by using a t-test for measuring the pupils comprehension.The results show that there is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group in the posttests which indicates that  recursive listening activities are more effective than the prescribed method of teaching. Drawing from the study's findings and conclusions, suitable recommendations and suggestions for future research are provided.