This study investigated the aspects of listening comprehension for which the shadowing method is effective, compared with the listening instructions generally applied in English pedagogy in Japan. The text comprehension model developed by van Dijk and Kintsch (1983) and Kintsch et al. (1990) was applied in this study. The participants were 56 university students, who were assigned to the shadowing method group (n = 28) or general instruction group (n = 28). Each group underwent a 60-minute training session once a week for 5 weeks. Pre- and post-listening tests based on the situation model were conducted for both groups before and after the training. The results of a t test showed that the difference between the pre- and post-tests with the propositional text base was significant and that the scores for the shadowing method were higher. However, the tests for surface structure and situational understanding indicated no significant difference between the two groups. These results demonstrate that the shadowing method has a positive influence on listening comprehension; however, it does not facilitate situational understanding, which requires understanding the whole text.