In recent years, a number of primary, and somewhat intersecting, research strands related to
exploring listening comprehension 1
in the language classroom have become apparent. One
strand, with a typically productoriented focus, has tended to concentrate on identifying and
quantifying the listening strategies learners deploy, as well as investigating the impact on
learners’ listening ability of instruction in the use of a predetermined set of strategies to
compensate for anticipated or actual breakdowns in comprehension (Field, 2008a). A second
strand receiving increasing attention is concerned with examining the role of metacognitive
instruction in promoting listening comprehension, and adopts a chiefly ‘topdown’,