The objective of this study was to analyze the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and listening

comprehension skills in elementary school students at a rural school in Espíndola, Ecuador. A

cues than of global and inferential comprehension skills. It was also observed that complex aspects of

vocabulary, especially collocations and the recognition of derived forms, represent the greatest

difficulties. Finally, a positive correlation was identified between vocabulary knowledge and listening

comprehension, confirming that lexical development is a key component in strengthening oral

comprehension in rural EFL contexts.

Keywords: correlation, listening skills, rural context, vocabulary aspects

El propósito del presente estudio fue analizar la relación entre el conocimiento de vocabulario y las

habilidades de comprensión auditiva en estudiantes de Educación General Básica de una institución

rural de Espíndola. Por lo tanto, se optó por un enfoque cuantitativo, con un diseño no experimental, de

tipo correlacional. La muestra estuvo constituida por estudiantes de nivel educativo básica media, a

quienes se les aplicó dos pruebas estandarizadas: una examinó las dimensiones de vocabulario: forma,

significado y uso, mientras que la otra valoró las habilidades en comprensión auditiva. Asi mismo, los

datos fueron procesados mediante estadística descriptiva, la prueba de normalidad Shapiro-Wilk y el

coeficiente de correlación de Pearson. De esta manera, los resultados evidenciaron que los estudiantes

presentan un mejor dominio de habilidades perceptuales como la discriminación auditiva y el uso de

Palabras clave: correlación, habilidades auditivas, contexto rural, aspectos del vocabulario

What happens when students listen to a foreign language but cannot make sense of what they hear?

classrooms, particularly in rural areas, these skills are frequently taught in isolation. As a result, students

often fail to understand oral messages and are unable to apply their existing knowledge in listening tasks

(Mohini, 2019).

In this context, it becomes essential to acknowledge the close relationship between listening

comprehension skills and vocabulary knowledge. On one hand, listening comprehension involves the

ability to distinguish phonemes, recognize words, understand grammatical structures, and draw on

background knowledge to construct meaning (Rost, 2002). Additionally, Richards (2008) emphasizes

that listening is not a passive act of receiving sounds, but an active, interactive, and goal-oriented process

that requires attention, memory, and reasoning. These skills include identifying the speaker’s

communicative purpose, understanding the main idea and supporting details of the discourse,

and A. Alsabbagh, 2023; Richards, 2008). Unsurprisingly, one of the central concerns in second

language acquisition and applied linguistics has revolved around understanding how listeners respond

to spoken language. From this perspective, the cognitive demands associated with listening

comprehension are explained through several theoretical models developed over time. According to

Richards (2008) and Rost (2002), three widely recognized models, bottom-up processing, top-down

processing, and the interactive model, offer complementary views on how listeners decode and interpret

explains that vocabulary knowledge comprises several strands, with three central dimensions: form,

meaning, and use. Each of these components contributes to a deeper and more functional understanding

of a word. Equally important, in second language acquisition, vocabulary knowledge is frequently

examined in relation to the four major language skills, listening, speaking, reading, and writing (Mateo

and Criado, 2021). Moreover, Maskor and Baharudin (2016) classify these four skills into two broader

vocabulary functions: receptive and productive. These distinctions offer valuable insights into how

learners process, understand, and use lexical items according to the communicative context.

Previous studies further support the strong connection between vocabulary knowledge and listening

comprehension. For instance, Khajavy and Aghaee (2023) argue that, within EFL teaching, the

interaction between vocabulary knowledge and background knowledge is conditional rather than linear;

vocabulary, form, meaning, and use, significantly predict listening comprehension, reinforcing the

multidimensional nature of lexical competence. Likewise, Rafique et al. (2023) established that

vocabulary knowledge, particularly receptive vocabulary, is a key determinant of English proficiency,

underscoring the importance of incorporating vocabulary-centered approaches in L2 instruction.

However, despite the valuable insights provided by these studies, they offer limited understanding of

what occurs at the primary level, particularly in rural educational contexts. For this reason, the researcher

vocabulary knowledge, (2) to determine their listening comprehension skills, and (3) to examine the

relationship between vocabulary knowledge and listening comprehension skills among elementary EFL

learners at a public institution in Espíndola. In this sense, the study has the potential to contribute

meaningfully to the theoretical understanding of receptive language skills in early EFL education and

provide empirical evidence that strengthens pedagogical decision-making at the primary level.

The research implemented a quantitative approach. As Gay et al. (2011) mentioned, this method

emphasizes the use of structured tools such as tests or questionnaires, to gather numerical data suitable

for statistical analysis. In this study, data was obtained through an achievement test, and the resulting

scores were used to examine whether a relationship exists between the development of listening

of listening comprehension skills and vocabulary knowledge.

Furthermore, this research follows a non-experimental design, which, as noted by Creswell (2012),

involves observing and measuring variables as they naturally occur, without manipulation or random

assignment. The researcher does not control or influence the conditions of the study; rather, the focus is

on identifying patterns and relationships between variables in their natural context (Ary, Jacobs,

Sorensen, and Walker, 2014). Such an approach is typical of descriptive and correlational studies in

systematic sampling technique, allowing the researcher to focus on a specific group that meets the

study’s criteria (Cresswell, 2018). These learners share similar characteristics, including an English

proficiency level corresponding to CEFR A1.1, an age range between 11 and 12 years old, and

instruction received through traditional face-to-face modalities. Finally, this relatively small and

cohesive group will provide a suitable context for the systematic application of the research tools and

the accurate observation of the variables under investigation.

To ensure ethical compliance, informed consent forms were distributed to the students’ legal

representatives, authorizing the researcher to administer the instruments and document the results.

Additionally, the researcher, who also served as the classroom teacher, obtained authorization from the

school authorities and was granted the necessary time to conduct the study responsibly and effectively.

British Council, ensuring validity and alignment with international benchmarks. Furthermore, an

external validation process was carried out with the participation of five experts, who reviewed the

instruments to verify their relevance, clarity, and accuracy. Their evaluations were analyzed using

Aiken’s V coefficient, which confirmed the validity of the test items. This process enhanced the

reliability and credibility of the collected data and supported an objective comparative analysis of

students’ performance.

Objective 1. To identify the vocabulary knowledge of elementary EFL learners at a public institution in

Espíndola.

Table 1. Students’ vocabulary knowledge

30

1.373

30

0.953

The results revealed that students possess a foundational level of vocabulary knowledge, performing

strongest in basic aspects such as spelling (M = 1.57; SD = 0.41) and meaning-matching, which

surpassed half of the full score, yet encountering notable difficulties with more complex components

like collocations score (M = 0.88; SD = 0.52), vocabulary in context, and grammatical word-form

recognition (M = 0.77). These weaker indicators correspond to the dimensions of vocabulary “depth”

and “use,” underscoring that deeper lexical knowledge is essential for supporting higher-level listening

processes. This pattern is consistent with Khajavy and Aghaee (2023), who showed that both vocabulary

breadth and depth significantly predict listening comprehension, with breadth exerting a stronger

nuanced aspects of lexical knowledge, reinforcing the developmental pattern seen in the present study.

Objective 2. To determine the listening comprehension skills of elementary EFL learners at a public

institution in Espíndola.

Table 2. Students’ listening comprehension

2.00

2.00

Students demonstrated stronger performance in auditory discrimination and interpreting non-verbal

cues, while scoring considerably lower in identifying main ideas and inferring meaning. This pattern

suggests that learners rely heavily on perceptual strategies—such as phonological cues and visual

information—rather than on advanced lexical processing. Such reliance is typical at early proficiency

levels, where beginners compensate for limited vocabulary by depending on bottom-up cues to construct

Rost, M. (2002). Teaching and Researching Listening (2nd ed.). Pearson Education. www.pearson-

Webb, S. (2005). Receptive and productive vocabulary learning: The effective of reading and writing

Zhang, P., & Graham, S. (2020). Learning Vocabulary Through Listening: The Role of Vocabulary