On The Teachability Of Listening Learning Strategies To Chinese EFL Learners At The Beginning Level

This study investigates, within the cognitive model for transactional listening comprehension, and the pedagogical model for learning strategy instruction, the effect of listening learning strategy instruction (LLSI) on Chinese EFL beginners' transactional listening comprehension performance. In addition, the effects of LLSI on non-linguistic aspects of listening comprehension, such as awareness of strategy use and confidence in listening, as well as on effective and ineffective listeners are also investigated.A cohort of 66 Grade One students in a vocational school participated in the study. They were randomly divided into two groups: an experimental group (N = 34) and a control group (N = 32). Based on a pre-training questionnaire which identified the students' listening difficulties and strategies they often used, fifteen metacognitve, cognitive and social/affective strategies were selected for instruction. A series of training schemes were then prepared by the researcher, which served as guidelines for the class teacher to conduct the instruction on nine strategies in normal classroom sessions. The rest were taught by the researcher in the form of lectures. The training lasted for a duration of four months. A posttest, eight immediate tests and a post-training questionnaire were administered, and results of the experimental group were compared with those of the control group. These results were analyzed from quantitative and qualitative perspectives.The findings show that LLSI improved the subjects' transactional listening performance. The experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in the posttest and in five of the eight immediate tests. The main factor that caused the improved performance was the instruction on the strategies that influenced the subjects' transactional listening comprehension process. It was also discovered that LLSI enhanced the subjects' awareness of strategy use. The subjects in the experimental group exhibited higher frequency of strategy use and were more awareof the strategies they should or could use during each stage of the listening process, thus taking on greater responsibility for their own learning. LLSI was also found to be effective in enhancing the subjects' confidence in transactional listening. The majority of them held a favorable attitude toward the instruction. On the other hand, it was found that LLSI failed to increase the subjects' types of strategies and that the strategies taught in the two lectures (i.e., one-time training) were generally ineffective. As for the effect of LLSI on the effective and ineffective listeners, it was found that the latter benefited more from LLSI than the former in terms of listening performance, awareness of strategy use and learning confidence.These findings suggest that LLSI has a facilitative effect on Chinese EFL beginners' listening learning process, both linguistically and extra-linguistically, and that listening learning strategies are teachable and learnable.