An Empirical Study On Autonomous Learning In English Listening Teaching In Secondary Vocational School Based On Learning Strategy Training

At present, with the development of globalization, “listening” becomes particularly important in foreign language learning, and listening teaching has been an important part of foreign language teaching in recent years. However, in the English listening class in secondary vocational schools, teachers still play the dominating role and students are made to be passive knowledge receivers and lack of the ability of autonomous learning, so students’ listening ability is very weak. In order to change the present situation, we should change the students’ learning styles and promote students’ autonomous learning, and we should require learners to take responsibility for their own learning.Based on the modernized educational concepts, such as human-centered, quality-oriented education and life-long education, autonomous learning is not only an effective learning method but also the goal of teaching. The New Curriculum Standards(2011) clearly stated that learning process and teaching concepts should be optimized. The new curriculum reformation reflects the following two characteristics:(1) The New Curriculum Standards lays emphasis on learners’ learning process and learning strategies rather than on learning results;(2) Student-centered teaching method displaces the traditional teacher-centered teaching method.Based on the investigation of students’ autonomous learning ability in English listening in secondary vocational school, the author analyzed the main problems and the causes leading to the lack of of students’ autonomy in English listening. Then the author carried out the empirical research on improving students’ autonomous learning ability through autonomous learning strategy training. In this research, the author proposed three questions:(1)What is the current situation of students’ English listening autonomous learning ability in secondary vocational schools? And what are the students’ problems in English listening autonomous learning?(2) Can students’ listening comprehension level be improved through autonomous learning strategy training?(3) Through the autonomous learning strategy training, can students’ autonomous learning awareness, as well as the students’ autonomous learning ability be improved?The research lasted for one academic term and the research subjects in this study are the students of two parallel classes of Business English major in Grade One 2014 in the Secondary Vocational Department of Weifang University of Science and Technology. Due to the identical level of students’ English listening, the author arbitrarily selects Class One as the experimental class and Class Two as the control class. The traditional teacher-centered teaching mode continues to be used in the control class, while the student-centered teaching mode with integration of autonomous learning strategy training is used. In the research, the questionnaire, listening tests and interview were adopted as the research instruments. The author used quantitative and qualitative research methods to collect and analyze the data of questionnaire and listening tests.The results of the research showed that under the guidance of the concept of autonomous learning and through the training of autonomous learning strategy in English listening class, the listening comprehension ability of students of the experimental class have been significantly improved comparing with the students of the control class; the students’ autonomous learning ability is generally enhanced. Through autonomous learning strategy training, students are able to develop and implement a learning plan, and they can monitor their learning process and evaluate their learning results. The traditional dominating roles of the teachers have been changed into the instructor, coordinator, resource providers in the students’ learning process. Based on the research results, there came to the conclusion that in the English listening teaching of secondary vocational school, it is necessary and effective to cultivate students’ autonomous learning ability by autonomous learning strategy training.On the one hand, the thesis enriched the theoretical research on the teaching method of English listening autonomous learning in secondary vocational school; on the other hand, it provides practical guidance and advises for the students to effectively use their listening resources and to further improve the effect of their listening autonomous learning.