The article discusses the decisive factors in the process of training students’ listening skills in foreign language classes, in our case Romanian as a non-native language. Intercepting and understanding the sound message is a very complicated mental activity. And, listening represents the most complex aspect of the speaking activity, seeking to be developed as a priority. The reception of speech by hearing is directed by auditory, motor, visual sensations, its quality being, therefore, determined by clarity. In the current research, it is concluded that the effectiveness of listening depends on several factors, such as: the knowledge/application of the principles that are the basis of the process of training the listening competence, within the teaching-learning of the Romanian language, related to the degree of development of psychological mechanisms in the audience. Moreover, when the mechanisms of listening do not work, arise difficulties related to the particularities of the act of listening to natives, to the particularities of the language being studied. The mechanisms can be developed if students are taught to listen effectively and complying with these factors favors the formation of an active listener in the educational process, creating premises for improving communication skills, in general.