A Study Of The Effect Of Metacognitive Strategy On Non-English Majors' English Listening Strategies And Listening Styles

According to the Second Language Acquisition theory,listening as the most basic form of language input plays an important role in language learning.It makes the language rules internalize and promotes the cultivation of other language skills.With the further study of metacognitive theory,its role and application value in foreign language teaching practice are becoming more and more prominent.More and more scholars are realizing the potential of metacognitive strategy and its application.The most famous is O'Malley & Chamot's(1990)classification of learning strategy,including cognitive strategy,metacognitive strategy and social/affective strategy.Metacognitive strategy,which refers to the ability of rationally planning,arranging,monitoring and evaluating learning tasks by consciously using metacognitive knowledge,is a higher level strategy among the three strategies.Metacognitive strategies mainly include planning strategy,monitoring strategy and evaluating strategy.In addition,listening styles as a learning style is a learning strategy.Listening style has a great influence on students' ability to learn listening comprehension.However,few studies have investigated the effect of metacgnitive strategy on students' listening styles and students' listening comprehension ability of different listening styles.This study conducted a listening teaching experiment for one semester based on metacognitive strategies for non-English majors in a university in Shanxi Province.The listening metacognitive strategy training made preparation of students' planning learning,monitoring learning and evaluating learning from three stages,that is,pre-listening period,while-listening period and post-listening period.The research instruments mainly included questionnaires,pre-listening and post-listening tests and interviews.This study mainly discusses the following four questions:(1)What is the effect of listening metacognitivestrategy training on the students' awareness and use of meatacognitive strategy?(2)What is the effect of listening metacognitive strategy training on students' listening comprehension achievements?(3)What is the effect of listening metacognitive strategy training on the optimization of students' listening styles?(4)What are the effects of different listening styles on students' listening ability and the differences in understanding overall and detailed questions?This study divided students into experimental class and control class.Students in EC were guided to use planning strategy,monitoring strategy and evaluation strategy into their listening process in order to improve their listening comprehension ability.In the meantime,the author helped students identify their own listening styles.The control class was based on traditional listening teaching methods.Through the investigation and comparison of the listening learning strategies of the two classes before and after the experiment,the students' awareness and use of metacognitive strategy in the experimental class had improved significantly after the metacognitive strategy training,while the control class did not change significantly;comparing the pre-listening and post-listening achievements of the two classes,the author found that the listening comprehension level and performance of the experimental class were improved effectively;through investigation and comparison of students' listening styles in the two classes before and after the metacognitive strategy training,some students' listening styles in the experimental class had optimized due to the metacognitive strategy training and the synthetic listening style is the best style,while the control class did not change significantly;in experimental class,through the comparison of different listening styles' listening comprehension ability after the metacognitive strategy training,listening styles can affect students' listening comprehension level of college students.Students with different listening styles have significant differences in understanding overall and detailed questions.The results proved that the metacognitve strategies teaching in listening helps students to set learning goals,arrange learning tasks,monitor their listening process and make timely self-assessment.At the same time,teachers should instruct students to define their own listening style and understand the advantages and disadvantages of listening styles to strivefor the best.By promoting students' knowledge of metacognitive strategies and enhancing the awareness of metacognitive strategies,students' listening styles can be optimized to synthetic styles and listening comprehension abilities are promoted effectively.