A Survey Study Of Beliefs About English Listening Learning Held By High School Students

Language learning beliefs are one of the most important individual factors that influence learners’learning behavior and outcomes. So far, many researchers have studied English learning beliefs from different aspects. However, these researches are mostly concerned with beliefs about English learning in general, while few researches are concerned with beliefs about a particular aspect of English learning such as listening learning, speaking learning, reading learning, writing learning and translation learning. Moreover, studies of beliefs about English listening learning are much fewer.The current study aims at exploring beliefs about English listening learning held by high school students. English listening learning has its particular characteristics, and beliefs about English listening learning may exhibit particular features that are not covered in previous studies of beliefs about English learning in general. Thus, researches of English listening learning beliefs are necessary.The research questions in this study are as follows:(1) What is the overall picture of beliefs about English listening learning held by high school students? (2) Are there any differences in beliefs about English listening learning between male and female students? If yes, what are they? (3) Are there any differences in beliefs about English listening learning between high achievers and low achievers? If yes, what are they?Both quantitative and qualitative methods are employed in this study. The quantitative research employs a questionnaire with 32 items, which is adapted from Horwitz’s "Beliefs about Language Leaning Inventory" (BALLI). The subjects of this study are 171 Grade-2 students from a middle school of Jiangsu. After collecting data, the author employs SPSS to analyze the data. The qualitative research is a semi-structured interview with 12 students. The interview is carried out in Chinese, and the whole process is tape-recorded. Then, the answers from students are translated into English for further analysis.The major findings of this study are as follows:Firstly, high school students hold some positive and some other negative beliefs about English listening learning. As for the English listening learning aptitude, students generally believe that some people have inborn talents of learning English listening, but they feel uncertain about their own aptitude of learning English listening. In terms of the difficulty of English listening learning, most students agree that it is easier to learn English listening in an English-speaking country. With reference to the nature of English listening learning, students generally hold positive and realistic beliefs, agreeing that English listening learning is a long-term and active process. With regard to the motivations for English listening learning, students hold neutral beliefs, which suggests their lack of strong motivation. As for the learning strategy, students attach more importance to the metacognitive strategy of self-monitoring, the cognitive strategy of guessing the missing information from the known information, and the social/affective strategy of reducing anxiety.Secondly, male and female students show some significant differences in beliefs about the aptitude, difficulty, motivations and strategies of English listening learning. In English listening learning aptitude, female students feel more confident in their aptitude of English listening learning. As to the difficulty of English listening learning, male students hold stronger beliefs that English listening learning is difficult and barriers of basic language knowledge are the main cause of the difficulty. As for the nature of English listening learning, there is no significant difference between male and female students. Differences are significant in the motivations for English listening learning. Male students are more likely to hold such external motivation as passing the examinations, while female students are more likely to hold such internal motivation as obtaining some background knowledge in other fields. Finally, in terms of learning strategies, female students attach more importance to the metacognitive strategy of choosing some listening materials at their level to practice listening after class and the social/affective strategy of asking classmates and teachers for help to solve the doubt about some listening exercises.Thirdly, there also exist some significant differences between high and low achievers in beliefs about the aptitude, difficulty, motivations and strategies of English listening learning. In the English listening learning aptitude, high achievers are more confident in their own aptitude of English listening learning, and low achievers hold stronger beliefs that liberal arts students can do better in English listening learning. As for the difficulty of English listening learning, low achievers are more likely to hold that English listening learning is difficult and that English speaking learning is easier than English listening learning. As for the nature of English listening learning, there is no significant difference between the two groups. As to the motivations for English listening learning, high achievers tend to hold such internal motivation as communicating with foreign friends. Finally, as for the learning strategies, high achievers attach greater importance to the metacognitive strategy of choosing some listening materials at their level to practice listening after class.Based on the findings of this study, the author proposed some pedagogical implications. Firstly, English teachers should identify students’ beliefs about English listening learning and help them develop positive and realistic beliefs. Secondly, English teachers should take the differences between male and female students, and between high achievers and low achievers into consideration.