EFL Learners Phonemic Awareness: Correlation Between Phoneme Identification and Listening Comprehension of Students in UNP

Phonemic awareness refers to a learner’s ability to understand the individual sounds (phonemes) within spoken language—a foundational skill in communication. Given the significant phonological differences between the English and Indonesian sound systems, Indonesian EFL learners often mispronounce English words by substituting or misusing phonemes. While the relationship between phonemic awareness and reading comprehension has been widely studied, its connection to listening comprehension remains underexplored. Employing a quantitative correlational design, the data were collected from 83 English education students who had completed courses in both Phonetics and Phonology and Advanced Listening. Phonemic awareness was measured using a researcher-adapted online test administered via Google Forms, while listening comprehension was assessed using final exam scores from the Advanced Listening course. Statistical analysis using SPSS revealed a strong positive correlation between the two variables (r = 0.785, r2 = 0.616), suggesting that higher phonemic awareness is strongly associated with better listening comprehension. The study is limited by its sample size, the educational level of the participants, and its focus solely on listening skills. Nevertheless, the findings contribute to the growing body of research on the role of phonemic awareness in second language listening comprehension.