Learner Strategy Use And Performance On ESL Listening: An Exploratory Factor Analysis Approach

After reviewing relevant literatures on learning strategy use and its relationship with language performance level, this study aims to address the following two research questions: What is the trait structure of strategy use in ESL listening in testing situation and non-testing situation? Is the factorial structure of strategy use equivalent across high- and low-proficiency learners?The investigation is carried out in Zhejiang University of Technology with 1000 participants from 19 majors. The two instruments are a College English final examination and a task-based ESL listening strategy questionnaire which focuses only on passage listening comprehension multiple-choice items. With descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, independent samples T test, and most importantly, exploratory factor analysis, this study presents interesting findings.The basic trait structure of strategy use in ESL listening in testing situation is quite similar to that in non-testing situation, which implies that Chinese students are instrumental learners and are inclined to create testing atmosphere in non-testing situations. The only difference in the trait structure lies in the order of the factors. The first factor is affective monitoring in testing situation, the second being directed and selective attention. In non-testing situation, the first factor is using clues available, predicting and verifying. In testing situation, students tend to be under higher stress and in need of affective monitoring. In non-testing situation, students are more relaxed and more able to use the clues available. The answers to the second question are interestingly against the commonly-held belief that the more strategies a learner can invoke the better. There is no systematic factorial difference between high-proficiency learners and low-proficiency learners. The only difference is found in factor loadings. The first factor for high-proficiency learners is focusing attention while the first factor for low-proficiency learners is evaluating and planning for improvement. High-proficiency learners know how to focus on the tasks in tests while low-proficiency learners seem to care more about whether they are giving the right answers, which can be viewed as an indication of lack of confidence and a wish for improvement as well. The results of the independent samples T test indicate that there is no significant variance in the frequency of each strategy use between the two groups. Strategy use alone is not a sufficient condition for high performance.The paper concludes with a summary and suggestions for further research.