An Experimental Study On The Teaching Model Of Curriculum-Based Autonomous Listening Of English Majors

Over the last twenty years, learner autonomy has been extensively researched both at home and abroad and has become the integral part of language learning methodologies throughout the world. However, among the researches on learner autonomy, much attention has been paid to second or foreign language learning as a whole, while the researches on autonomy in relation to EFL listening in China are just at the beginning stage. The limited researches on autonomous listening are based on reflection and reasoning, far less research has been based on systematic analysis of data. What is more, in the teaching practice of autonomous listening, most teachers equal autonomy to self-teaching, neglecting the important roles of teachers, leaving the students to learn by themselves, thus resulting in the decrease of students'learning interest. Therefore, empirical studies of different forms of autonomous listening are needed to prove the effectiveness of autonomous listening. Under this context, the author establishes a new teaching model ------ curriculum-based autonomous listening (CBAL), and conducts an empirical study to prove the effect of the autonomous listening model on the development of autonomy in listening and the improvement of listening proficiency. Three problems are to be addressed in this experiment:1). Can learner autonomy in EFL listening be fostered in this CBAL model? If yes, to what degree can it enhance learner autonomy in EFL listening?2). Will the students'listening proficiency be improved more effectively in this CBAL model than in the traditional one?3). Are the students satisfied with this new teaching model? Can it be popularized? 88 English-major sophomores from two classes in Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences have participated in the present study, with one being the experimental class, and the other, the control class. The training has lasted for 18 weeks. A pretest and posttest of listening comprehension, a twice-used questionnaire, an end-of-course evaluation questionnaire and students'listening journals are used as instruments to collect data in this study. Data analysis is implemented by SPSS. The major findings are summarized as follows:1. This CBAL model has been proved to be effective to foster learner autonomy in listening. The students in the experimental class are able to produce more effective learning plans, participate more in decision-making processes and assess their learning process more deeply.2. The students in the experimental class have improved their listening proficiency more significantly than the students in the control class.3. Most students are satisfied with this new teaching model and think this model should be popularized in the future.In light of the above findings, this paper suggests this CBAL model should be popularized in listening teaching in order to improve students'listening proficiency.