An Investigation On Non-english Major Students' Use Of English Listening Strategies In A Chinese University

Since the 1970s, researchers on second language acquisitions gradually shifted their research focus from improvement of teaching methods to the study of individual differences in language learning. Of all these differences, researchers have been carrying out various studies on the use of language learning strategy, especially on the use of listening comprehension strategies. They have been attempting to identify those effective listening strategies used by successful listeners, and then exploring how to teach those less effective listeners to use these strategies.The present study attempts to find out listening strategies adopted by non-English major students in Jiangxi Industry and Polytechnical college. It makes comparison of listening strategies between effective and ineffective listeners, and then explores the gender differences in using listening strategies. In addition, this study also investigates the relationship between students'listening strategy use and listening proficiency level. The purpose of this study is to help arouse both teachers'and students'consciousness to the significance of listening strategies in English listening comprehension and provide some instructions for the students to improve their listening comprehension ability in the future. The subjects of this study were 249 freshmen (89 female students and 160 male students) in Jiangxi Industry and Polytechnical college. Three instruments were used here to analyze the relevant data. They were Practical English Test for Colleges (PRETCO) B level, a listening strategy questionnaire, and an interview. The data were analyzed by the SPSS (Statistic Package for Social Science) version 13.0 statistic program. Descriptive analyses, group comparisons (effective and ineffective listeners; male and female listeners), co-relational analyses were used to analyze the data obtained in this study.The findings of this study show that the total strategy use of listening by all subjects in this college is at a medium frequency level. Cognitive strategy is mostly frequently used, and then comes metacognitive and social/affective strategy. Secondly, effective listeners use metacognitive, cognitive and social/affective strategies much more frequently than ineffective ones. Statistically significant differences exist on the three major strategies. As for subcategories of major strategies, there are statistical differences in the use of selective attention and self-evaluation, inferencing, translation, repetition and lowering anxiety. Thirdly, female students use metacognitive strategies and social/affective strategies more often than male students, but male students use cognitive strategies more frequently than female students. The differences in the use of both metacognitive strategies and cognitive strategies reach the significant level. Finally, of the three major listening strategies, metacognitive strategies and cognitive strategies are positively correlated with listening proficiency, but social/affective strategies show negative relation to listening proficiency, though this relationship has not reached a significant level.On the basis of the findings above, several implications for the teaching of English listening can be drawn for EFL teachers in Chinese universities. First, teachers should foster students'awareness of using learning strategies in listening comprehension. Secondly, teachers should encourage students to use metacognitive strategies and cognitive strategies in their listening practice. Next, teachers should take gender into consideration while offering instruction on how to use listening strategies effectively.