Listening Strategies and Processes during Paired Listening among Pre-University ESL Learners:

A Qualitative Case Study

Abstract

In many Malaysian ESL classrooms, listening instruction remains dominated by conventional, product- and individual-oriented approaches that limit listening strategy development through peer support and process-oriented engagement. This qualitative pilot study investigates listening strategies and processes during paired listening instruction among two pre-university ESL learners. Grounded in sociocultural learning theory and Vandergrift’s Metacognitive Pedagogical Sequence instruction, paired listening instruction integrated collaboration throughout pre-, while-, and post-listening stages. Following three practice sessions (360 minutes), one paired listening task was video-recorded and verbal interactions were analysed using deductive-inductive content analysis. Findings reveal that learners employed metacognitive strategies (70%) more than cognitive strategies (30%), with monitoring dominating (92%) metacognitive strategy use. Cognitive strategies like information recall and elaboration consistently supported metacognitive processes. Eight metacognitive subcategories emerged from verbal protocols: directing attention, initiating comprehension checks, verifying understanding, judging comprehension, acknowledging gaps, identifying difficulty sources, negotiating understanding modifications, and monitoring task progress. Paired interaction enabled peer scaffolding where partners prompted metacognitive reflection and provided external support for comprehension construction. The study demonstrates that paired listening makes covert cognitive processes observable through obligatory verbalisation, offering methodological advantages for accessing listening processes. Despite its limitations (small sample size, short duration, single task), the findings suggest that paired listening provides a viable process-based alternative to product-oriented approaches in Malaysian ESL contexts, with implications for large mixed-proficiency classrooms where peer support may compensate for limited teacher attention.