An Investigation Into Students' Learning Strategies And Learning Outcomes In The Web-based Self-access Learning Environment

In the last ten years educational circles have witnessed a dramatic shift from seeing computer as an adjunct or source of supplementary educational material to treating it as a platform where effective teaching / learning can be promoted. With recent advances in the computer technology, especially in terms of multi-media technology, researchers and language teachers become more and more interested in exploring learner autonomy by using multi-media technology to assist language teaching. Learner autonomy, strategy instruction, and use of computer and the Web are important components of the New College English Teaching Reform.However, the present situation in listening instruction of College English has led to a rethinking of the way in which the College English curriculum is set up and arranged in China. Listening instruction is often not regarded as an important component of college English curriculum. In two years' college English study, there are 60 periods more or less devoted to listening instruction. For most college students of non-English majors, poor listening comprehension has hindered their effective learning processes as well as their language learning interest.The New College English Curriculum Requirements issued by National Ministry of Education state: "The objective of College English is to develop students' ability to use English in an all-round way, especially in listening and speaking…In designing College English course, …the extensive use of advanced information technology should be encouraged, computer-and Web-based English teaching should be promoted, and students should be provided with favorable environments and facilities for language learning" (College English Curriculum Requirements, 2004). Given the accessibility of the computer technology and the teaching soft wares, it is significant to probe into an effective and efficient way to learn /teach listening via the web-based self-access learning environment (WSLE).The origin of computer-assisted language learning can be traced back to the 1960s. The majority of the research studies on the WSLE have been done in the...