Effects Of Working Memory Training On L2 Learners' Listening Comprehension From The Perspective Of Cognitive Load Theory

Among English listening,speaking,reading and writing,the four basic and main language skills,listening is ranked the top which shows its great significance.In recent decades,linguists and educational experts have conducted a lot of researches on factors affecting listening comprehension.The majority of these researches,however,are from non-cognitive perspective,such as anxiety,ambiguity tolerance,personality and so forth.Listening comprehension is a complex cognitive process,in which the input language information interacts with the existing language ability and background knowledge in learners' cognitive structure to understand the input information.Therefore,learners' cognitive structure is closely related to their immediate information processing ability and the effect of listening comprehension.However,there has been little research on the relationship between cognitive structure and listening comprehension,which is one of the important reasons for the author to do this study.Previous studies have found that subjects who get high scores in listening test can skillfully handle the pressure during the process of listening.As a matter of fact,it is a process in which listeners can distribute cognitive resource under the control of central executive while listening.Based on the related researches,it can be concluded that appropriate and effective treatment of cognitive load resources can help learners to carry out listening activities efficiently.In the present study the author selects 60 non-English majors from two classes in the undergraduate college where the author studied.This study mainly explores what effects can make on learners who learn English as the second foreign language through the training of components of working memory from the perspective of cognitive load theory,so as to answer the following research questions:1)What are the differences in English listening comprehension between students who accept the normal training of phonological loop and who accept higher training of phonological loop?2)What are the differences in English listening comprehension between students who receive normal training of visuospatial sketchpad and who receive video-audio visuolspatial sketchpad training?3)During the process of listening,are there any differences in students9 central executive systems in the two groups while performing two tasks(listening and writing the general idea of the passage they listen to)at the same time?As for the first research question,the author designs the first post-test which is clearly shown in the third chapter to investigate the result.The second post-test is employed to answer the second research question.The third research question is proved by two questionnaires as well as the empirical study.Through the analysis of the collected data,this study draws the following conclusions:In the first place,students who accept higher training of phonological loop do better than the students who receive normal training of phonological loop.In the second place,students who receive video-audio visuospatial sketchpad training outperform the students who receive the normal training of visuospatial sketchpad.Last but not least,most students cannot do two or more than two tasks at the same time.However,there is a little difference between these two groups of students' central executive system.Students who receive higher training of phonological loop and video-audio visuospatial sketchpad training perform much better than the students who receive the normal training of phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad.Students have a limited memory and only by way of training working memory can students improve a lot while doing listening comprehension.These findings have important implications for the practical teaching of listening,and they have important theoretical significance for the study of cognitive load theory and working memory mechanism.First of all,it will provide some useful guidance for the practical listening teaching and will give some beneficial suggestions for English teachers to find more effective ways for their listening teaching.Besides,this study takes cognitive characteristics and rules of students in the process of listening comprehension into consideration,which is a beneficial attempt for listening teaching.Last but not least,this study makes up the deficiency of empirical research on cognitive load theory and working memory mechanism.