Study Of English Listening Strategies And Fostering Of Learner Autonomy

The study is concerned with "learning strategies," the special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain new information. It focuses on the application of listening strategies to second language acquisition by students learning English as a second language as well as by students learning foreign languages. As a result, the author tries to stimulate students to learn English better by using listening strategies efficiently. There is a need for an integrated treatment of listening strategies in second language acquisition based on theory and research. The theory used here describes what role listening strategies play in the language acquisition process. The theory is also used to organize the presentation of research results, examine the findings, and draw the conclusions.Among the four basic skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) in English study and applications, listening ranks the first. Listening takes up an extremely important position in college English teaching. We should strengthen students' capability of English listening comprehension. So, listening comprehension ability is a kind of human speech ability. It is in the catalogue of languages' knowing and comprehending and is the central link of improving linguistic communicative capacity. "Listening" is not only one of the basic ways to acquire linguistic knowledge but an important means to ensure languages standardization and strengthen language practice. If we can strengthen and improve students' listening comprehension ability, we may help them enhance their interests in English study. Then they may learn English more autonomously. As a result, we can stimulate listening teaching of college English within the range of non-English majors.Since 1970s, many language acquisition researchers at home and abroad have given the concept of learning strategies from different angles such as information processing theory, the relation of strategies and language materials, the aim of using strategies, the relation of strategies with learning process, and so forth. O'Malley&Chamot (1990) thought learning strategiesare the special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain new information. Oxford (1992) thought learning strategies are adopted actions, act procedures and methods to improve second language skills which can stimulate the internalization, storage, correction and utilization and so on of the new language. O'Malley&Chamot (1990) classified learning strategies as metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and social/affective strategies on the basis of information processing theory according to Anderson's cognitive theoretical framework. This classification originated from practical research and is more comprehensive and representative compared with other classifying methods. Many scholars at home and abroad have already drawn on it and used it as their quotation. In line with this classifying method, many scholars have carried out analyses in a good many of aspects on English listening comprehension strategies. With practical learning methods offered by these scholars, English listening teaching has got great development in our country in these years.Meanwhile, since 1960s, western educationalists have advocate making cultivating learning autonomy as one of the aims of educational reform. A good many professionals and scholars have been undertaking explanation, analysis, summing-up and practice of self-regulating learning, such as Benson, P., Candy, p., Dickinson, L., Little, D., Littlewood, W., Sheerin, S., van Lier, L., Voller, P., Wenden, A. etc.. McDevitt(1997) thought training independent learners is the ultimate result of education. Holec(1981) stated that the aim of foreign languages teaching is to help learners acquire not only languages and communicative skills but autonomy, i.e. learn how to study on their own. These scholars' viewpoints make up the ideological base on which learning autonomy exists.On the basis of these theories, the author designed a set of questionnaire about students' listening comprehension strategies and learner autonomy. Non-English major students enrolled in six classes in Shanxi University served as participants in the study. The effective questionnaire Igot eventually was 298 pieces. The multiple choices were designed by adopting Likert five-grade marking system and the choice content is determined by specific questions. For example, in the part of listening comprehension strategies, choices were set up as "always use (A)", "use on occasions (B)", "know and plan to use (C)", "know but don't use and don't plan to use (D)" and "don't know (E)" (Zhang Dianyu, 2005). And then, with the means and percentages got in the questionnaire I drew such conclusions: From the above research, we can come to the conclusion: the clearer learners understand learning strategies and are assigned learning tasks, the better their learning results are. Strategies are important skills to ensure students' effective learning. Teachers should be aimed at carrying out strategy training on students by analyzing the characteristics of English learning (Dong Ruiting, 2004), stimulate students to consciously adjust their listening strategies in their listening processes. Then they ask students to find out those strategies most suitable for themselves and to go further in improving their own metacognitive level and macro- and micro-regulating ability through the reflection on their own listening processes and effects. And by these actions students can approach their own aims nearer and get twice the result with half the effort (Tang Yifei, 2000). The final aim is to let students realize the importance of strategies through training, to raise their strategy applying consciousness and to help them explore how to learn more effectively and implement self-evaluation and self-direction to their learning. At last, let students realize the aim of our research: improving their learner autonomy by making use of strategies and helping them make great progress in their later learning.