Yemeni EFL Advanced Learners' Performance in Process and Product-Oriented Listening Comprehension Test

Abstract

This study aimed to develop and validate a culturally and linguistically appropriate listening comprehension test for advanced Yemeni EFL learners, grounded in an integrative process/ product model of listening. A quantitative descriptive design was employed, involving questionnaire administration, test construction, pilot testing, and statistical validation with 60 fourth-year university students. The questionnaire identified the most essential listening micro-skills, which guided the development of a 50-item proficiency test assessing both process-oriented (bottom-up) and product-oriented (top-down) listening skills. The final test demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = .789) and construct validity through exploratory factor analysis. Descriptive results indicated that learners rated lexical and syntactic decoding skills as most important, whereas prosodic and discourse-level skills were perceived as more challenging. Although process-oriented scores were numerically higher than product-oriented ones, the difference was not statistically significant (p = .053). The findings highlighted the balanced yet complex nature of advanced listening performance and emphasized the necessity of context-sensitive listening assessment tools in low-resource EFL settings. Pedagogically, the study underscores the importance of integrating authentic listening materials and explicit strategy instruction to enhance advanced learners' integrative listening proficiency. The study contributes to both theory and practice by providing a validated, context-specific assessment tool and a model for listening test development applicable to similar EFL contexts.