ENGLISH LISTENING PROFICIENCY AND FACTORS AFFECTING ENGLISH LISTENING SKILLS OF FIRST YEAR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT THAT PHANOM COLLEGE, NAKHON PHANOM UNIVERSITY

This research is aimed at studying English listening proficiency and factors affecting English listening skills of first year undergraduate students at That Phanom College, Nakhon Phanom University. The study focused on two parts: 1.) factor related to the students and 2.) factor related to previous management of English teaching and learning andit also focused on seven aspects:1.) students’ English knowledge and skill, 2.) students’ attitude of English learning,3.) students’ motivation of English learning, 4.) students’ personality of using English,5.) students’ opportunity of using English, 6.) teachers’ previous arrangement of English teaching and learning, and 7.) teachers’ previous teaching aspect. The subjects of this research were first year undergraduate students studying during the first semester of the academic year 2017at That Phanom College, Nakhon Phanom University. These subjects were 35 undergraduate students from two programs of study: Program of Energy Engineering and Program of Modern Trade Management. This research consists of two instruments for collecting data. The first instrument is the test of English listening based on CEFR or Common European Framework of Reference for Language and questionnaire which B1 level was used for testing English listening skill, and the second instrument is the questionnaire. Statistics used for analyzing data were frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. Results of the study found that the mean score of English listening skill of the student was at low level. The factors affecting English listening skill of these students were both parts of students and previous management of English teaching and learning. For some of the students, the factors which caused the students’ English listening skill were English knowledge and skill, personality of using English, and opportunity of using English. As attitude of English learning and motivation of English learning, they were not the factors affecting these students’ English listening skill. In part of previous management of English teaching and learning, the factors caused the students’ English listening skill were both previous learning and teaching management and previous teaching technique.