A Review Of Listening Strategies At Home And Abroad In The Past Twenty Five Years

The studies on listening strategies began in the 1980s, and researchers focus on them since then and a number of achievements have been made. Due to the important role of listening comprehension in second language acquisition, the researches on listening strategies attach great importance to strategy identification and strategy training studies. However, the review of listening strategies research is rare. In fact it is a blank since 2000. Therefore, it is necessary to review achievements and limitations in the past twenty five years.This research tries to analyze the status quo of listening strategies made by Chinese and foreign researchers in the past twenty five years (1985-2010), and it focuses on the articles released in the core journals both in China and abroad since 1985. By analyzing Chinese 66 and foreign 79 articles respectively, it will study from research content (descriptive studies and strategy training studies) and research method perspective.In the descriptive studies, 66 % researchers have made comparison between more and less effective listeners and summarized specific listening strategies, and relations between listening strategies and listening tasks are studied, which have some findings. 1) More effective listeners can use strategies more frequently and consciously with different tasks; 2) Metacognitive, cognitive and social/affective strategies are most widely used strategies for listeners. As to specific strategies, selective attention, planning, evaluation, note taking and problem solving are major used. 3) There is a variety of listening materials, including video, broadcast and so on. However, there are some weaknesses. 1) The main focus is on listening strategies related to levels of proficiency, but factors including motivation, attitude, individual difference and style of learning affecting listening strategies are seldom covered; 2) Which strategy plays critical role in listening is in debate in investigating the use of listening strategies. In the strategy training studies, 90% researchers have an agreement on the following findings. 1) Strategy training plays a significant role in arousing listeners'interests, motivation and their listening scores, and provides some implications for improving listeners'autonomous learning. 2) The informants are mainly EFL listeners, and students who take Chinese, French, and Spanish as foreign language; 3) The materials include textbooks, tests and BBC news and so on. There are also some weaknesses. 1) There is no agreement on two questions including which kinds of strategies should be taught and how to teach these strategies; 2) For Chinese researchers, university students are main focus, which is relatively narrow.The main methods for listening strategies are questionnaires, interviews, diaries, retrospection and think aloud. The most widely used methods are questionnaires and tests, and the least used ones are dairies and interviews. They have both advantages and disadvantages, so using them comprehensibly can make the data more exact.There are some implications for the researches. Firstly, in the descriptive studies, researches on factors including motivation, attitude, individual difference and style of learning can be paid attention to. 2) It is still worth exploring which kinds of strategies should be taught and how to teach these strategies; 3) The width and depth are worth strengthening; 4) It is worth putting comprehensive use of various methods into application.