The Application Of Metacognitive Strategies To Listening Teaching In Senior High Schools

Among the four foundamental methods of learning English, listening is the most significant one of obtaining and astringing information. From the study done by Rivers and Temperly, we can know listening makes up 45% of human language communication activities. In the new reform of college entrance examination throughout our motherland, the proportion of listening comprehension scores will be largely increased, and from it we find that the test of listening comprehension is becoming increasingly significant in the English test. If one wants to improve his English comprehensive ability, he must enhance the listening competence. However, nowadays, learners’ listening competence is especially bad. Because of the long-lasting exam-oriented education of almost all the schools, teachers always attach little importance to listening instruction and training, which results in the difficulty of improving students’ listening competence. What’s worse, from the current circumstance, we can see a big disadvantage in our motherland’s listening instruction. Teachers always lay less emphasis on listening than other models such as reading, writing, etc.. However, as the role of listening plays in English learning is getting increasingly important, more and more people begin to do research on listening comprehension. Among them, many people attach importance to improving learners’ listening competence through the instruction of listening learning strategies, therefore, from this we can see the importance of doing listening learning strategies training among students.Metacognitive strategy, which contains planning, assessing and monitoring strategy, belongs to the branches of learning strategy. As a control strategy of high level, it is fit for different varieties of learning tasks. If learners can master metacognitive strategies, they will plan, evaluate, regulate and monitor their learning strategies and learning content well according to their learning goals and learning needs in their learning process. In this process, under no circumstances can we neglect the influence of metacognitive strategy.First, in Chapter 1 and 2, the author analyzes the definition and components of metacognition, metacognitive strategy, the definition of listening together with the present situation of listening teaching. Then, in Chapter 3 and 4, this paper puts forward the listening instruction mode based on metacognitive strategies instruction according to the already existed mode, and it tends to enhance learners’ awareness of using planning, assessing along with monitoring strategy in the training of three stages of before, during and after listening, which will enhance learners’ awareness of metacognition, their degree of using employing metacognitive strategy, and learners’ listening competence will be enhanced as well. This research uses 60 learners from one class of Senior One in No.1 Middle School of Yongzhou in Hunan province as its research target, and 10 weeks of metacognitive listening strategy instruction was carried on these 60 learners. This research combined teaching strategies and teaching activities together, which both included normal listening training together with the listening teaching which is based on metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive strategy.In Chapter 5 and 6, by analyzing questionnaires and listening tests result of these learners, this study aims to discuss two questions through the questionnaires, metacognitive strategy training and listening tests results:(1) The influence of metacognitive strategy training on students’ awareness of using metacognition and degree of using metacognitive strategy; (2) The influence of metacognitive strategy training on listening tests scores.After analyzing metacognitive strategy questionnaires and listening tests scores, this research comes to the following conclusions:(1) Doing the listening training based on metacognitive listening strategy for high school students can deepen their understanding of metacognitive knowledge; (2) Doing the listening training based on metacognitive listening strategy for high school students can improve their overall awareness and degree of using planning, assessing along with monitoring strategy. (3) Doing the listening training based on metacognitive listening strategy for high school students can improve their listening tests scores, which will eventually do good to the students’ listening comprehension. Finally, this paper comes to its conclusion, the advice for high school English instructors, senior students as well as senior high schools, followed by the study’s limitations.