Research On Application Of Metacognitive Strategy In English Listening In The Web-based Self-access Learning Environment At Vocational College

Metacognitve strategies refer to consciously planning, monitoring and evaluating study tasks on the basis of metacognition theory.With the development of research on learning strategies, metacognition plays a more and more important role in language learning, and people pay more attention to the application of metacognitive strategies. Metacognitive strategies are regarded as advanced strategies in all the learning strategies. If learners have proper knowledge of metacogntion, they can independently plan according to study objectives, monitor and evaluate the use of strategies in the learning process, modify the plan if necessary. There are close connections between the content of metacognitve strategies and self-access learning. Metacognitive strategies are very important for improving the English learning.With the development of modern science and technology, the foreign language learning environment has changed greatly in many colleges. As one of vocational colleges, Wuhan Polytechnic College established web-based self-access learning center earlier than other colleges in Hubei province even in China. The center provides the good external atmosphere for the students to improve their levels of English listening and self-access learning ability. The English teachers change their roles from the role of teacher to the role of teacher, guider and supervisor.Listening is a important skill in English learning process. It is not only the channel of language input, but also the vital condition for communication. But students in vocational colleges are lack of listening skills. Improvement of listening levels and scores not only relies on language knowledge and also is effected by learning environment and learning strategies. As a result, it is necessary that teachers should train and guide student with metacognitve strategies in the listening instruction in the web-based self-access learning environment.This study focuses on the application of metacognitive strategies in English listening in the web-based self-access learning environment (WSLE). The author gives literature review on related research of listening comprehension, learning strategies and metacognitve strategies at home and abroad. Then she analyzes present states of English listening and teaching in vocational colleges, and does more analyses on the function and affects of students'uses of metacognitve strategies under teachers'guidance in the WSLE. The author focuses on the following aspects from the use of metacognitve strategies:the relationship between the use of metacognitve strategies under the teacher's training and the change of student's scores in English listening; differences in using metacognitve strategies between high achievers and low achievers, and their scores changes by choosing different strategies. The subjects of the study are 85 freshmen from two classes from the Business School of Wuhan Polytechnic College. They are the class of E-commerce 10301 and the class of E-commerce 10302. Class 10302 (43 students) is the control group, while Class 10301 (42 students) is the experimental group. The WSLE refers to the self-access learning center in Wuhan Polytechnic College. The experimental group and the control group take the pretest on computers in the learning software system at the same time in the WSLE. The author determines the high achievers and low achievers of the experimental group according to the scores in the pretest. The control group conducts only the routine self-access learning and instruction (1 period/45 minutes)each week in the WSLE. Besides the routine self-access learning and instruction, the experimental group receives metacognitive strategies training under the teacher's guidance each week for 45 minutes (1 period) in the WSLE. The training lasts for 12 weeks. After the training, the experimental group and the control group take the posttest on computers in the learning software system at the same time in the WSLE. The contents of both the pretest and the posttest are selected from the question bank in the learning software system in the self-access learning center. The two tests are of certain reliability and validity. The author also conducts the interview with 12 students (6 high achievers and 6 low achievers) after the posttest. After collecting the data, the author makes analyses with the help of SPSS 17.0. After about 12 weeks'training, it is shown that the experiment group's English listening scores have improved conspicuously, but the control group's scores changes a little. In the experiment group, high achievers' scores improve more than low achievers'scores and high achievers use metacognitve strategies more frequently than low achievers.There are some shortcomings in this study. For instance, the subject is focused on one major from one vocational college; data collection and analyses are not subjective enough. The author hopes that the study may serve as a reference for students'English listening learning and the teachers'guidance in the WSLE in vocational college.