The Relationships Between Global/Analytic Style, Listening Strategies And Listening Comprehension

There are a number of factors which influence the success of foreign language learning - language aptitude, motivation, personality, learning styles, etc. Learning styles and learning strategies are the two among them. Individual learners' style preferences and their selection of learning strategies in foreign language learning can affect the proficiency levels of foreign language learners. The research studies on these two aspects are usually related to a specific language skill. In this study, listening comprehension will be the focus. Listening is important to verbal communication; on the other hand, it is a necessary channel to obtain new knowledge and information. Therefore, how to improve the proficiency level of listening comprehension is a big problem to solve.This thesis focuses on the relationship between learning styles, learning strategies and listening comprehension. Firstly, the study is to survey the style preferences of the students, whether they are global or analytic; and then to check if there is any relationship between the style preferences and listening comprehension achievements. Secondly, the listening strategies which are correlated with the results of the listening comprehension tests will be explored. Finally, the listening strategies which are preferred respectively by the global and analytic subjects will be singled out. The research findings indicate that there is no relationship between the global/analytic style and listening comprehension achievements. However, altogether there are 20 listening strategies which are found to be helpful in listening activities since they are positively correlated with the listening comprehension achievements. Furthermore, there are 8 listening strategies which are preferred by the global subjects and 28 by the analytic subjects respectively. From these strategies, their particular tendencies can be perceived.