An Investigation Of Listening Strategies Employed By English Majors

This study is undertaken to make an investigation into listening strategies used by English majors. Specifically, the purpose of the study is to find out 1) the listening strategies used by English majors, 2) the relationship between listening strategies and listening proficiency and 3) the differences in strategy use between successful and unsuccessful listeners.The subjects involved in the study were 106 English juniors from three universities in Shandong Province. They were asked to complete a self-designed questionnaire with reference to the questionnaires of Su (2003), Wang (2002) and Wen (1996a). The questionnaire adopted O'Malley and Chamot's taxonomy of learning strategies in the framework of cognitive theory. Besides, subjects' raw test scores of the listening section of Test for English Majors Grade 4 (2003) were used to divide the subjects into successful and unsuccessful listeners. Data analysis was done with Statistical Package for Social Sciences 11.0.The results of the study reveal that subjects use inferencing, note-taking, directed attention, selective attention, elaboration and affective strategies most frequently. They use social, monitoring and mother-tongue strategies least frequently. Among the three major types of listening strategies, cognitive strategies are the most frequently used and social/affective strategies are the least frequently used. Second, correlation analysis presents that among the three major types of listening strategies metacognitive strategies (r=.263, p=.006) and social/affective strategies (r=.271, p=.005) are correlated with listening proficiency. Within the subtypes, directed attention (r=.317, p=.001), functional planning (r=.193, p=.047), self-management (r=.312, p=.001) and affective strategies (r=.257, p=.008) are correlated with listening proficiency. The results mean that the above-mentioned strategies have a positive effect on listening proficiency. Multiple regression analysis displays that metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and socio/affective strategies together can predict 10%variance in the listening scores on Test for English Majors Grade 4 at the significant level of .05. To a limited degree, listening strategies can predict listening proficiency. Thus learning strategies may have some effect on listening proficiency, but it is not the only factor that affects listeners' listening proficiency. Third, T-test indicates that there are differences between successful and unsuccessful listeners in strategy use. Among the three major strategies, successful listeners use metacognitive strategies and social/affective strategies more frequently than unsuccessful listeners. Among the subcategories, successful listeners use directed attention, functional planning, self-management and affective strategies more frequently than unsuccessful listeners.The results of this study imply that strategy instruction may lead to the improved performance on listening tasks. Strategy instruction may help learners to learn more effectively and raise learner autonomy. Thus it is necessary to carry out strategy instruction.Based on the major findings, suggestions are made to listeners and teachers. Listeners should develop their metacognitive awareness. They should have a comprehensive system of knowledge about listening tasks and listening strategies. Also, they should be clear about personal factors that may facilitate or impede listening. Teachers should cultivate listeners' metacognitive awareness by asking listeners to keep a journal, carry out discussions on strategy use at the pre- and post-listening stages, or reflect on the performance before listening and during listening through a checklist of listening strategies. In addition, teachers should conduct strategy-based instruction. By weaving strategy instruction into language teaching, teachers explicitly explain the purpose of using strategies, model useful strategies, lead discussions about strategies and provide contextualized strategy practice.Needless to say, there are limitations concerning th...