Ambiguity Tolerance, Learner Beliefs, Learning Styles, and Listening Comprehension of Senior EFL Students

The current study investigated the relationship between learner beliefs, learning styles, ambiguity tolerance and listening comprehension of Iranian senior students majoring in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Four hundred and eighty-seven participants participated in the study by completing the Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) developed and validated by Horwitz (1987), the Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire (PLSPQ) designed by Reid (1987), the Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale (SLTAS) developed by Ely (1995), and a listening comprehension test of IELTS. The results of Pearson Correlations indicated that there was a significant positive correlation between a) learner beliefs and listening comprehension, b) learning styles and listening comprehension and, c) ambiguity tolerance and listening comprehension of the participants. Moreover, the results of multiple regression analyses showed that ambiguity tolerance was a stronger predictor of listening comprehension of EFL learners. The results of the study might be of benefit to (foreign language) education policy makers, syllabus designers and teachers to enhance EFL learners’ ambiguity tolerance level, change their written-in-the-stone beliefs, and help them choose and use the type of learning styles which suit them most in order to boost their foreign language acquisition in general and their listening comprehension in particular.