The Influence Of Strategy Use On Listening Comprehension

Listening comprehension (LC) has been recognized not as a passive receptive skill but as an active complex cognitive process. There is an increasing emphasis on listening comprehension in second language (L2) pedagogy. Vandergrift (1996) indicates that listening is the most important among the four language learning modalities for language learning. Krashen's (1980) i + 1 comprehensible input theory suggests that the learning situation should provide input that is just one step ahead of the listener's processing capabilities. In order to make the input become comprehended intake, the meanings conveyed must be firmly embedded in comprehensible context. That comprehensibility may arise from the here and now of the physical environment or from an abstract and temporarily removed context that the hearer can recreate on the basis of broad cognitive skills or well-developed knowledge of the world. In other words, the hearer uses various strategies to make the input comprehensible and to achieve the goals of listening comprehension.Most research on language learning strategies has concentrated on the identification, description, and classification of learning strategies used by L2 learners however, it is not clear what combinations of strategies are most effective for students while doing listening comprehension. There is not enough empirical research about how students process listening texts, and whether or not individuals classified as "good listeners" actually use strategies differently or more frequently than individuals identified as "less effective listeners".Based on subjects' scores and their strategy use during listening to aural texts, this study has used quantitative and qualitative research methods to analyze the problems related to Chinese EFL students' listening comprehension and strategy use. The main purpose of this study is to find out:1. What is the structure of listening strategies learners reported using during an authentic listening task?2. Is there a relationship between learners' strategy use and their scores in their listening task?3. Is there a combination of listening strategies which can predict listening comprehension scores?4. Are there any differences between effective listeners and less effective listeners in terms of strategy use?The subjects were 42 Chinese students at Yanjing Overseas Chinese University in Beijing in 2005. The SPSS software is selected as tool to analyze the data. With the output of the calculation the answers of the research questions were acquired.To the first research question, the results of factor analysis showed that the items could be summarized into six factors (top-down strategies, social strategies, self-management strategies, bottom-up strategies, academic rule-related strategies and self-reliance strategies). Among these strategies, Chinese EFL students tended to use top-down strategies more frequently than bottom-up strategies during listening.To the second research question, according to the results of simple regression, 29 out of 37 items of the Listening Strategy Use Questionnaire showed significant relationship with listening score.To the third research question, the SPSS analysis showed there was the combination of 9 listening strategies which could predict more than half of the listening score. According to the equation, the more frequently the subject used 7 strategies in the 9 ones, the higher listening score the subjects could obtain. However, the more frequently the subject used the other 2 strategies in the 9 ones, the lower listening score the subjects could obtain.To the fourth research question, t-test analysis was used to testify the difference between effective and less effective students on strategy use in English listening comprehension. The t-test showed that there were significant differences between the top 30% and the bottom 30% of the subjects. Effective students used more strategies more frequently than less effective students.There are five chapters in the dissertation. In Chapter One, the author makes an introduction of this study. In Chapter Two, the literature providing background to this study is presented in more detail. In Chapter Three, the subjects, the methods of collecting data and analyzing the data are explained in detail. In Chapter Four, the data analysis and resultsof each research question are illustrated. Finally, in Chapter Five a summary of the study is provided; limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies are pointed out.