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The aim of this research is to explore the factors that affect listeners when they are introduced to the generic features of texts. In this intervention study, learners in a Mexican university are introduced to the linguistic features, generic structure and context of spoken narrative texts about a film, in the first and foreign language (L1) and (L2), in order to better understand the development of L2 listening skills. On the basis of participants’ stimulated recalls (SR) and semi-structured interviews, I analysed the listeners’ thought processes and listening strategies, after they are introduced to the generic features of narratives. While initially set up as experimental study with an experimental (EG) and a control group (CG), the qualitative data reveals that different listeners’ in both groups used different listening cognitive, metacognitive, affective and sociocultural strategies, during the intervention. The participants in this study are 34 undergraduates studying for an English language teaching degree. Seventeen students are enrolled in the fourth semester and take part in the CG and another seventeen in the EG. The CG attended a regular class, whereas the EG received instruction from a genre-based approach for listening purposes in a scaffolded way, going from guided deconstruction to independent reconstruction of spoken narratives. Participants analyse the texts’ social and textual elements including the context, language used, variations and organisation. The findings show that listening at a discourse level is multidimensional. Participants in the EG elaborate and incorporate different types of prior knowledge. While listening, they attempt to identify and contextualize social situations as well as structural elements based on knowledge gained through a genre-based approach. Findings unveil aspects affecting the outcomes of a genre based approach in listening and can help researchers appreciate the practicality of these findings for the understanding of listening from a genre-based perspective.