Study On The Correlation Between Listening Self-efficacy And The Use Of Listening Comprehension Strategies Among Science Undergraduates

With the rapid development of globalization, English as a universally accepted language tool plays an increasingly important role in our daily life. Accordingly, a good command of English will make people better communicate with the outside world. In recent years, many a researcher in EFL has been committed to improving learners’ comprehensive practical English ability, especially their listening and speaking abilities. Meanwhile, more and more scholars have recognized the influence of learners’ affective factors. The purpose of this paper is to probe the relationship between listening self-efficacy and the use of listening comprehension strategies among science college students and offer some suggestions for English teachers.Detailed information has been acquired by the author conducting a method integrated with quantitative and qualitative modes. In the preliminary stage, literature-consulting, materials-analyzing and opinions-inducting help to construct the theoretical basis for the development of this thesis. In the quantitative study,161science students from Wuhan University of Science and Technology were investigated through a listening self-efficacy questionnaire and a listening comprehension strategies use questionnaire. Then the data were analyzed by the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS, version17.0)The major findings of this paper are as follows.1.listening self-efficacy:(1) The whole level of science students’listening self-efficacy is moderate. In terms of its two sub-scales, perceived basic capability and perceived control, students perform better in the former than in the latter.(2) Girls are more efficacious than boys in their general listening self-efficacy. However, in specific self-beliefs, boys have stronger belief in their perceived basic capability than girls do and girls’ beliefs in their perceived control are stronger than that of boys’.(3) The levels of science students’ listening self-efficacy vary according to their listening comprehension achievements.2. students’use of listening comprehension strategies:(1) The general frequency of science students’use of listening comprehension strategies is relatively high. At micro-level, the frequency of students’use of cognitive strategies is overwhelmingly high, that of meta-cognitive strategies is moderate and that of social/affective strategies is low.(2) There is nearly no difference in the general frequency of their use of listening comprehension strategies between boys and girls. Specifically, girls use meta-cognitive strategies much more frequently than boys do, but use less cognitive strategies and the frequency of their use of social/affective strategies is almost equally low.(3) More successful students use strategies more frequently than the less successful do; the former use meta-cognitive strategies much more frequently, use cognitive strategies slightly more frequently and use social/affective strategies less frequently than the latter.3. the correlation in between: Science students’listening self-efficacy is positively correlated with their use of listening comprehension strategies.According to the results and analysis, the author makes some suggestions for the improvement of science students’English study:(1) English teachers should pay high attention to the cultivation of science students’ listening self-efficacy and spend more energy on the enhancement of boys’beliefs in their perceived control.(2) Teachers are supposed to carry out the training of listening comprehension skills, especially the meta-cognitive and social/affective strategies, all through the process of listening practice classes.(3) Teachers may have students’ self-beliefs enhanced through the training their use of listening strategies; in turn, they could intensify students’beliefs in themselves, so as to better facilitate their using of various listening comprehension strategies.