Listening Comprehension Strategies And Autonomous LC Learning In CALL Environment

Listening comprehension (LC) has been a focus of teaching foreign language for many years. Early discussion of listening teaching focused on input adaptations made by teachers to enhance comprehension. It was not until 1960s that the focus of research shifted from "how to teach" to "how to learn". And till then listening strategy training aroused wide public concern. The empirical study made by O'Malley and Chamot (1989) verified Anderson's theory of listening process and confirmed that strategy training could help students to utilize the language input they received and improve their performance on listening tasks. With the development of modern cognitive psychology, it is widely acknowledged that listening is an active mental process, in which a listener tries to understand the listening materials with the help of listening strategies and kinds of knowledge. Thus the importance of listening strategy use and listening strategy training can be seen to the learning of listening. At present, with the background of college English teaching reform, autonomous learning of listening is becoming a trend. How to conduct effective strategy training to the autonomous listeners in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) environment turns to be a tough problem to all of the English teachers.Resting on the previous research on learning strategies at home and abroad, this thesis will mainly focus on listening strategy use and listening strategy training in autonomous learning of listening under CALL environment. With the study, the author intends to find out answers to the following questions: 1) Does listening strategy training significantly influence learners' strategy use in autonomous learning of listening in CALL environment? 2) Does listening strategy training improve the listening comprehension proficiency of autonomous learners in such learning environment? 3) What sorts of listening strategies used are significantly correlated with learners' listening comprehension proficiency?In this experimental study, a non-equivalent pretest-posttest control group design was used with 2 intact classes majoring in Electronic Engineering. One class was assigned as the Control Group (n=32) and the other as Experimental Group (n=33). The experiment instruments included a questionnaire on listening comprehension strategies and tests of listeningcomprehension proficiency. The test papers were extracted from nationwide College English Test of Band Four (CET4), and a significance test was conducted in another class of the same major and grade to make sure that there wasn't any difference between the two test papers. The questionnaire was based on O'Malley and Chamot's typology of learning strategies (1987). It was partly integrated with Oxford's (1990) Strategy inventory for Language Learning (SILL) and author-designed questions on the basis of his own teaching experience. First, the two groups took the pre-tests and did the pre-training questionnaires. The results suggested there was no significant difference between the two groups in the employment of listening strategies and in the listening comprehension proficiency. Then, the two groups were set in an autonomous learning model in CALL environment, in which subjects should conduct learning of listening all by themselves in autonomous learning rooms with the use of an on-line learning system closely related to the listening textbooks. Subjects of the experimental group received extra one-hour listening strategy training every week. The strategy-based instruction lasted 14 weeks. After that, the two groups took the post-training tests and did the questionnaires again. The results showed that there existed significant difference between the two groups in the employment of listening strategies and in the listening comprehension proficiency. The frequency of listening strategy use and listening comprehension proficiency of the experiment group were comparatively higher than that of the control group. At last, correlation analysis was conducted between the listening strategy use and the outcome of listening comprehension tests. The results revealed that most of the listening strategies were positively correlated with subjects' listening comprehension proficiency, especially the metacognitive strategies.The present research suggests listening strategy training can enhance students' strategy awareness, increase the frequency of listening strategy use, and improve students' listening comprehension proficiency, which confirms the effectiveness of listening strategy training to autonomous learning of listening, in CALL environment. Through the correlation analysis between strategy use and listening comprehension proficiency the author raises some suggestions as to the focus of listening strategy training. Nowadays, autonomous learning of listening is strongly recommended and widely adopted, which demands individualized learning and learnerautonomy. While more importantly, great emphases should be put on strategy-based instruction, which can make real autonomous learners and ensure the learning success.