An Empirical Study On The Cognitive Strategies-based Instruction Of College English Listening

The thesis aims to explore the effects of cognitive strategies on the instruction ofcollege English listening. If cognitive strategies can enhance one’s listeningcomprehension, then the instruction based on the strategies can substantiallyimproved the overall level of college students’ English learning. Based on the Schematheory put forward by F. Bartlett, together with the theories and researches on learningstrategies at home and abroad, the present study discussed the college Englishlistening instruction on the basis of cognitive strategies presented by O’Malley&Chamot.The experimental subjects were freshmen from Qiqihar Medical University,50Pharmacy majors in the experimental group,35Medical Laboratory majors in thecontrol group. On the basis of the investigation from the questionnaires, the listeninginstruction based on cognitive strategies was conducted in the experimental group. Apretest-midtest-posttest design was adopted, in which four questions were researched:(1) what are the students’ difficulties in listening comprehension? And what kind ofcognitive strategies should be adopted in listening instruction?(2) Do these cognitivestrategies produce positive effects on the students’ listening comprehension?(3) Dothese strategies have the same effects on students at different levels? And what leadsto such effects?(4) Do the students change their cognitive strategies in listeningcomprehension after the teacher’s instruction?After ten-week instruction, the author collected the data from the pretest,midtests, posttest and interview, among which the data from the tests were analyzedby SPSS (12.0)(Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) and drew the followingconclusions:(1) The students’ difficulties in listening mainly focused on the lack ofphonetic knowledge, background knowledge and systematic listening strategyinstruction, etc., for which the employment of strategies in the experiment mainlyconcentrated on the overlearning of phonetic and linguistic knowledge, activatingbackground knowledge and administering strategies such as note-taking to reinforcememory.(2) Cognitive strategy instruction could improve the students’ listeningcomprehension.(3) The students at low level had the most improvement in listeningafter cognitive strategy instruction.(4) Some students changed their employment of cognitive strategies after cognitive strategy instruction: some students did not adoptany strategies when doing listening practice before the cognitive strategy instructionand they began to employ the cognitive strategies after the strategy instruction; somestudents transferred the strategy of note-taking about memorizing in chunks to theother aspects of English learning like reciting, speaking and writing, etc..In conclusion, the thesis demonstrated the significance of the employment ofcognitive strategies in listening learning. It discussed the process during which somespecific cognitive strategies combined with listening instruction. The administrationof cognitive strategies in listening instruction can produce positive effects on thestudents’ listening comprehension, which is worth popularizing. Meanwhile, cognitivestrategies may exert more effects if they can be administered by combining with eachstudent’s level and traits. The listening materials used for the instruction should not betoo difficult, otherwise the effects of the strategies will not be desirable. Theinstruction based on cognitive strategies is not the more, the better, so it is veryimportant to adjust in a flexible way.