An Analysis Of Non-english Major’s English Listening Obstacles And Strategies From Cognitive Perspective

Listening comprehension is a complex process, which, according to traditional view, is considered to be a passive process emphasizing learners’memory. In recent years, many scholars try to analyze listening process from cognitive perspective. They claim that listeners are active model builders. The paper attempts to analyze non-English major’s obstacles by using the schema theory from cognitive perspective and their strategy uses during listening process. The paper adopts a research method of combining both quantitative method and qualitative method. Through analyzing the data obtained from experiment, the following conclusions are drawn:(1) the main obstacles affecting students’listening comprehension are:vocabulary obstacles, obstacles in listening skills and obstacles in background knowledge, etc.;(2) activating and constructing schema and a good understanding of top-down and bottom-up process do contribute to listening comprehension by overcoming obstacles during the process;(3) high proficient learners (HPL) and low proficient learners (LPL) have differences in some specific use of metacognitive strategy, cognitive strategy and social-affective strategy. It is expected that this study can offer help for learners to be aware of the obstacles in their listening process and to seek strategies so as to change them into more effective learners. Meanwhile, it is hoped that the study can provide positive implications for listening teaching.