Listening comprehension in the certification of the university students` English level

Abstract

The Policy for Improving the English Language Training Process for Cuban higher education students establishes the accreditation of level A2 in English, as one of the requirements to be met by students to graduate from higher education, as described by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Therefore, when entering the university, they take an exam to determine the degree of knowledge they have and place them at the corresponding levels, to certify the required level or work to achieve it, through courses taught by the professors of the Language Center, as one of the ways to do so. One of the main reasons why students do not reach level A2, as found when analyzing the results of the exams administered at Cujae in 2018 and 2019, is related to listening comprehension. The objective of this work is to refer to the difficulties that students face in listening comprehension and to offer strategies to favor the improvement of this skill. The use of listening strategies in the teaching-learning process carried out in the groupswhere the Policyis implemented, has made
possible for students to achieve a better comprehension of what they listen to. This will contribute to attainbetter results in the accreditation of the language level A2 of engineering students.