LISTENING COMPREHENSION COMPETENCE DEVELOPMENT IN VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present a theoretically grounded and practically oriented four-stage model for developing the professionally oriented listening comprehension competence (POLC) of pre-service German language teachers within a virtual learning environment (VLE). Listening comprehension has consistently been identified as the most neglected receptive skill in foreign language teacher education, receiving systematically less methodological attention than speaking, reading, or writing. Surveys of foreign language teachers confirm that despite believing listening is teachable, instructors infrequently employ research-informed strategies; the dominant approach tests listening comprehension rather than teaching it. In DaF/DaZ teacher education specifically, certification programmes subsume listening comprehension within broader skill modules, rarely addressing it systematically. The shift to virtual learning environments intensifies this gap: while platforms such as Moodle offer H5P interactive modules, learning analytics, and asynchronous audio delivery, their potential for staged listening comprehension competence development has not been operationalised for DaF teacher education.

Methodology. The study employs theoretical analysis and synthesis of current scholarship in L2 listening development, the CEFR Companion Volume framework, DaF-specific listening methodology, professional development stage models, and empirical findings on VLE-based listening instruction.

Scientific novelty. The article proposes a four-stage developmental model – (1) Receptive Awareness, (2) Strategic Practice, (3) Interactive-Mediative Competence, and (4) Professional Autonomy – specifically adapted to pre-service DaF teacher education in a VLE. Each stage is operationalised through CEFR Companion Volume descriptors (B2–C2), H5P task types, and a three-phase lesson structure. The model integrates two axes rarely combined in existing research: language proficiency growth (from B2 to C2) and professional competence growth (novice to autonomous practitioner). The model is instantiated through a curated corpus of 15 CC  BY-licensed German-language podcasts from Bildung auf die Ohren (Deutscher Bildungsserver).

Conclusions. The proposed model provides a principled, replicable framework for VLE-based listening instruction which coherence rests on simultaneous alignment of professionally relevant audio genres, students' linguistic proficiency levels, platform technical affordances, and measurability of outcomes against CEFR standards. Future research should empirically validate the model and examine its effects on POLC gains across the B2–C2 proficiency range.