A Study Of Autonomous Listening Out Of Class For Non-English Majors

In the thesis, the present situation of English listening for non-English major college students is analyzed. The characteristics of listening comprehension and advantages of internet resources in English listening learning are also elaborated. Then, a learning model is proposed to advocate web resource-based autonomous listening out of class with the assistance of the teacher among non-English major college students. The model is designed by applying the concept of autonomous learning to English listening out of class. An empirical study, which lasts one term, is carried out among non-English major college students in their second year from the Science and Technology College of Nanchang University. It turns out to testify the presumption that web resource-based autonomous listening out of class can not only improve non-English major college students'listening comprehension proficiency, but also promote their learning habit and autonomy. Quantitative and qualitative methods are used in the research, including literature review, questionnaire, learning diary and listening comprehension proficiency tests. There are two important contents in the thesis: a questionnaire and an empirical study.The questionnaire is conducted at the beginning of the experiment. It is aimed to investigate non-English major college students'understanding about autonomous learning and their present state of autonomous learning especially English listening. It includes motivations, learning material, management of autonomous listening, application of strategies, self assessment and autonomous listening after class. The survey shows that most of the non-English major college students are extrinsically motivated, and their autonomy is still low. They don't have an efficient and sound timetable for their autonomous study after class. And they are poor in managing their autonomous study and obtaining learning materials especially English listening. They still can not make use of learning strategies consciously so as to improve learning efficiency. So learner training and teacher's supervision and assistance are necessary for non-English major college students'autonomous learning especially English listening out of class.Two classes of non-English major college students in their second year from the Science and Technology College of Nanchang University take part in the experiment. One class is in the control group. The other is in the experimental group. Both of the groups are taught by the same teacher. And there are pretest and posttest of the students'listening comprehension proficiency of both groups. SPSS is used to analyze the results of those tests. The result of the pretest shows that the listening comprehension proficiencies of both groups of students are almost the same. In the following semester, the students in the experimental group receive learner training, strategy training and web resources recommendation from the teacher. They also learn to manage their own study by keeping learning diaries and exchanging views about their study through instant messenger like QQ or e-mails with their fellow students and the teacher, while the students in the control group get no additional assistance from the teacher. In the end of the semester, there is a posttest of the students'listening comprehension proficiency of both groups. As the result shows, the students in the experimental group make greater progress in their English listening learning, which proves that web resource-based autonomous listening out of class could be a proficient way to improve non-English major college students'listening. Besides, the students in the experimental group also show their improvement in learning habits and management of autonomous learning through their diaries. It proves that autonomous listening out of class is not only beneficial for non-English major college students'listening but also for the promotion of their autonomy.In the end of the thesis are the implications which can be concluded from the experiment, the existing problems in the present study and further researches in the future.