EFL College Students’ Perceptions of the Difficulties of Comprehending Academic English Lectures

Abstract

Students’ perceptions of the difficulties of comprehending academic English lectures affect their academic learning. Therefore, the present study is designed to explore EFL college female undergraduate students’ perceptions of the difficulties of comprehending academic English lectures to bring to light those factors that affect students’ academic performance and suggest solutions to overcome them. Participants were 365 female college students picked randomly from various grade levels enrolled in a four-year pre-service teacher education program at the College of Basic Education in Kuwait. The study adopted a descriptive design employing Likert’s five-point scale assigned under two factors: linguistic difficulties and non-linguistic difficulties. Independent variables include age, nationality, grade level and GPA. Results showed that students’ difficulties were at a medium level. Significant differences were observed for nationality, grade level and GPA. Implications and recommendations for future research were discussed.