Chinese College English Learners’ Achievement In Listening Comprehension--A Longitudinal Study In A CLIL Context

The purpose of this study is to validate the effects of the implementation of the Content and Language Integrated Learning(CLIL)approach on listening by examining the listening performance of college English language learners.This study uses a mixed-methods approach,a combination of qualitative and quantitative,to test the listening achievement and listening self-efficacy of college English learners.The research involves two classes,a pilot class which implemented the CLIL method,and a control class which adopts English as a Foreign Language(EFL).In the study,the listening part of the College English Test band-6 serves as listening material,testing students’ listening comprehension achievement.The listening self-efficacy questionnaire collects quantitative data on self-efficacy using the 5-point Likert scale.Finally,the interview to ten students constructed the qualitative data.There are three research questions in this study.(1)Compared with EFL,what effects does CLIL have on the college English learners’ listening comprehension?(2)Compared with EFL,what effects does CLIL have on the college English learners’ listening self-efficacy?(3)Compared with EFL,what effects does CLIL have on the college English learners’ self-assessment on listening comprehension?For Question 1,the results of the research show that students in the CLIL class have significantly better listening comprehension skills than those in the EFL class.For question 2,the research results show no significant difference in the listening self-efficacy between the two classes.For question 3,the gap of listening self-assessment between the two classes is slight,but the overall self-assessment on CLIL class is slightly higher than the EFL.In English learning,the listening level is critical.There is not so much empirical researches on listening comprehension in China.The CLIL pedagogy is expected to have a positive effect on listening.Therefore,it is meaningful to study the impact of CLIL on students’ listening levels.There is a lack of empirical research on pedagogy in China,and mixed experiments are even rarer,with most of them taking quantitative or qualitative approaches.Nevertheless,the single experimental approach has potential drawbacks.The mixed-method can compensate for the shortcomings of the single experimental approach.Therefore,this study adopted a mixed-method approach,which is a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods.The quantitative method collects numerical data,and qualitative method collects narrative data.I am hoping to contribute to the relevant areas.