An Empirical Study On Effects Of Applying Listening Cognitive Strategies To English Listening Teaching In A Junior High School

Listening,regarded as one of the fundamental language skills,is viewed as one of the most crucial parts in English language learning.Learning how to comprehend while listening to a second language is to be considered as a difficult process.Listening cognitive strategies can be used to assist English listening learning.This study aims to explore the effectiveness of the use of cognitive strategies in listening learning,especially note-taking and resourcing.This research project attempts to address the following research questions:1.What cognitive strategies should be used to solve junior high school students’ listening difficulties?2.What are the effects of the cognitive strategy instruction on junior high school students’ strategy awareness?3.To what extent can cognitive strategy instruction improve students achievement in English listening comprehension level?This experimental research was conducted in a junior middle school in Chaoyang City,Liaoning Province,China.It lasted 16 weeks from September 3rd,2018 to December 21 st,2018.Ninety-seven students participated in the study.A mixed-methods approach was utilized incorporating pre-test and post-test(quantitative data)to gain information with regard to the effectiveness of the cognitive strategies for enhancing listening comprehension as well as the questionnaire and interview(qualitative data)to retain the participants’ views on the effectiveness of note-taking and resourcing.All collected data were analyzed by applying qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis methods.The findings of this study indicate that cognitive strategies are beneficial for solving difficulties in English listening and developing participants’ strategies awareness,and significantly improving students’ English listening achievements as well.As a result,teaching English listening with the use of cognitive strategies is very effective.Finally,pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research are discussed,which are anticipated to be beneficial for English listening teaching in the Chinese context.