The Impact of Explicit Polysemy Instruction on Listening Comprehension: A Cognitive Linguistic Intervention among Iranian EFL Learners

Listening comprehension poses a significant challenge for EFL learners, particularly when they encounter lexically ambiguous input. Polysemous words—words with multiple related meanings—are a key source of such ambiguity. Grounded in cognitive linguistics, this quasi-experimental study investigated the efficacy of explicit polysemy instruction on the listening comprehension of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. Sixty learners were selected from a private language institute and randomly assigned to an experimental group (n=۳۰) and a control group (n=۳۰). Both groups were pretested using the Listening section of the Preliminary English Test (PET). Over eight instructional sessions, the experimental group received explicit instruction on polysemous words, focusing on core senses and their radial networks, followed by listening practice from the Developing Tactics for Listening coursebook. The control group engaged solely in the listening practice without any explicit vocabulary instruction. Following the treatment, a PET listening posttest was administered. An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) with the pretest as a covariate was conducted to compare posttest scores. The results revealed a statistically significant difference between the groups, with the experimental group outperforming the control group (F (۱, ۵۷) = ۸.۶۸, p =.۰۰۵, partial η² =.۱۳۲). This finding indicates that teaching English polysemous words from a cognitive perspective has a positive, significant effect on EFL learners' listening comprehension. The study underscores the value of integrating cognitive linguistic principles into vocabulary instruction to address a specific listening difficulty.

کلیدواژه ها:

listening comprehension ، polysemy ، cognitive linguistics ، EFL learners ، vocabulary instruction ، quasi-experimental study