Developing Arabic Listening Comprehension of University Students through Authentic Audio-Visual Materials and Metacognitive Strategy Instruction

Abstract

Listening comprehension is often the least developed skill among Uzbek students of Arabic, whose training traditionally focuses on reading and the grammatical analysis of written texts. This article analyses the cognitive nature of listening, the specific difficulties that Arabic speech presents to Uzbek-speaking learners, and the methodological conditions for developing this skill at university level. Particular attention is paid to the use of authentic audio-visual materials and to metacognitive strategy instruction, which teaches learners to plan, monitor and evaluate their own listening. Criteria for selecting authentic materials by level are proposed, and a lesson cycle combining top-down and bottom-up processing with metacognitive reflection is described. The article concludes that listening should be taught as a process rather than merely tested as a product.