Indian Journal of Fundamental and Applied Life Sciences ISSN: 2231-6345 (Online) An Online International Journal Available at http://www.cibtech.org/jls.htm 2013 Vol. 3 (3) July-September, pp.628-633/Alipour et al. Research Article 628 THE IMPACT OF SELF-EFFICACY ON IRANIAN INTERMEDIATE EFL LEARNER’S LISTENING COMPREHENSION ABILITY *Hanieh Alipour, Shahrokh Jahandar and Morteza Khodabandehlou Department of English Language, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon Branch, Iran *Author for Correspondence ABSTRACT The present investigation was an attempt to study the effect of self-efficacy on Iranian EFL learner’s listening comprehension ability. To that end, an OPT test was administered to 100 university students learning English language in institutes. Learners who scored between one above and below the standard deviation were selected. 40 learners were selected and they were divided into experimental and control group, each group contained 20 learners. A listening comprehension test was administered to both groups as a pre-test to take their initial knowledge of listening comprehension. The listening section of the TOEFL test was selected to test the listening ability of the participants. A self-efficacy questionnaire was also distributed among the participants. The experimental group received treatment in order to help them improve their self-efficacy beliefs in ten sessions .The control group received no treatment. Finally both groups sat for the post-test of the same listening comprehension test. The results were analyzed through ANCOVA and it was explored that self-efficacy had a positive effect on Iranian EFL learner’s listening comprehension ability. Key Words: Self-efficacy, Listening Comprehension Ability, Learner's Belief INTRODUCTION Listening comprehension is one of the most significant skills of a good language learner in normal daily life. It is a major component in language learning and teaching and is seen as the promoter of language learning. Although listening is now well recognized as a critical dimension in language learning, it still remains one of the least understood processes. According to Morley (2001), during the 1980s, special attention to listening was incorporated into new instructional frameworks, that is, functional language and communicative approaches. Throughout the 1990s, attention to listening in language instruction increased dramatically. Listening comprehension is now generally acknowledged as an important facet of language learning; nevertheless, "much work remains to be done in both theory and practice" (Morley, 2001). The importance of listening in language learning can hardly be overestimated, as people always do more listening than other skills. Through reception, we internalize linguistic information without which we could not produce language (Douglas Brown, 2001). Statement of the Problem Listening involves a complex process that allows us to understand and interpret spoken messages in real time by making use of a variety of sources such as phonetic, phonological, prosodic, lexical, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic (Lynch, 1998). On the other hand, it is well documented that language learning success or failure is influenced by the affective side of the learner. Many times affective factors come to impede the listening process. Of the factors impeding the process may be self-efficacy, which is defined as "beliefs in one's capabilities to recognize and execute the course of action required to produce given attainments" (Bandura, 1997). Self-efficacy beliefs are assumed to influence task choices and goals setting, effort in pursuit of goals, persistence, resilience in the face of difficulties and the final outcome (Schunk and Meece, 2006). According to Pajares and Schunk (2001), self-efficacy provides the foundation for human motivation, well-being and achievement. Individuals tend to select tasks for which they feel competent and confident, and high efficacious individuals tend to contribute more effort, persist longer and rebound faster when