A Study Of Listening Strategies On Notional Words Dictation For Non-English Majors In Private Colleges

Based on the Learning Strategy, the thesis is to investigate the use of listening strategy non-English majors in private colleges adopt in the notional words dictation of CET4. In addition, the thesis is to explore the correlation between the use of listening strategy and the dictation performance with the analysis of the questionnaire and the dictation test results.Based on O’Malley and Chamot’s classification of meta-cognitive strategy, cognitive strategy and social strategy, the questionnaire is designed and implemented. SPSS 20.0 is used to analyze the data. The experiment is carried out in the forms of test and questionnaire. The test of dictation is from one model test paper. The participants are 155 freshmen majored in the Business Administration and International Trade in Ningbo Dahongying College. They are divided into three groups: top group, medium group and bottom group. Three research questions are discussed: 1. What kinds of listening strategies do students employ in notional words dictation, and are there any listening strategies used in different frequencies? 2. Is there a correlation between the use of listening strategy use and the achievement in notional words dictation? 3. What are the differences in the use of strategy between top group and bottom group? At last, the author combines the data and the interview to discuss the result.The findings indicate: 1. The overall strategy use frequency is at different levels. Social/affective strategy is more frequently employed without any effect on the listening performance, meta-cognitive strategy is at a medium frequency level and cognitive strategy is at a lower frequency level; 2. There is a significant correlation between the students’ strategies and their dictation scores. Techniques of attention control and inference are a strong factor when students do compound dictation; 3. Top group use far more meta-cognitive strategies and cognitive strategies than bottom group. The study shows that meta-cognitive strategy and cognitive strategy have some effect on the dictation results. The higher scores the students get, the more frequently the students use their strategies. The thesis sums up some efficient strategies and points out that teachers should try to make students aware that they should use and illustrate strategies into notional words dictation and have regular training of meta-cognitive strategy. Tentative suggestions for English listening teaching are proposed.