The current study aimed to investigate whether, and to what extent, there is a relationship between field independence/dependence cognitive styles and Iranian EFL learners' listening comprehension ability. For this purpose, a sample population of 131 subjects was randomly selected. A battery of tests including: a) the Group Embedded Figures Test (1971) , b) the TOFEL listening test (1995), c) the listening task preference questionnaire, and d) the Michigan ECPE test (1996) were administered.

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... data analysis showed that the correlation between the TOFEL and the GEFT scores for FD learners (both males and females) was significant(r =0.70), and higher scores on the GEFT led to an increase in the FD learners' TOFEL scores. Conducting one-way and two-way ANOVAs, it was suggested that while there was a relationship between cognitive style and listening comprehension (F= 18.02) and no relationship between sex and listening comprehension (F=0.267), the interactional effect was significant (f = 7.03). Therefore, sex can be regarded as a source of performance difference in listening comprehension but not by itself and it seems that the interaction of sex and cognitive style can have a stronger effect on this skill. Regarding the learners' preference toward the different parts of the TOEFL listening section, most learners favored the short conversations, informal assessment, and one item/one conversation; however, the FI ones did better on the longer conversations of the second and the third parts of the TOEFL Listening test.