Correlations Between Learning Strategies And English Listening Achievements: A Comparison Between Non-English Foreing Language Majors And Non-Foreign Language Majors

In China, English listening occupies an important position in English acquisition. However, English listening is also a difficult course for college students. In such a case, many researchers attempt to find out some effective learning strategies so that college students can deal with some problems in the process of English listening. With the purpose of exploring which learning strategies have effect on improving the English listening proficiency of non-English foreign language majors and non-foreign language majors, the present study examines the two groups’ differences in learning strategy use and English listening achievements as well as the correlations between learning strategies they used and their English listening achievements.In this thesis 31 non-English foreign language majors and 31 non-foreign language majors from one university are chosen as the sample. A questionnaire and an IELTS listening test are employed to collect the data. Independent-samples t-test and Pearson correlations are adopted to analyze data. First, the results of independent-samples t-test suggest non-English foreign language majors’ actual use of metacognitive, cognitive and social/affective strategies and their English listening achievements are all higher than those of non-foreign language majors. Second, the results of Pearson correlations show: 1) The metacognitive strategies the two groups of students employed correlate significantly with their English listening achievements; 2) No marked correlations are found between the two groups’ social/affective strategy use and their English listening achievements; 3) Only non-foreign language majors’ using of cognitive strategies correlates significantly with their English listening achievements.The findings imply these students’ ability of using metacognitive strategies should be developed so as to facilitate their English listening achievements. Moreover, since there are differences in using learning strategies and their listening achievements between non-English foreign language majors and non-foreign language majors, the English listening learning of non-English foreign language majors, who are often ignored, should be paid more attention to.