A Study Of The Relationship Between Listening Metacognitive Awareness And Listening Styles Of English Majors

Among the four basic language skills,listening is the first important skill which language learners need to master.It is also the key of effective communication.In recent years,with the advancement of globalization,many domestic and foreign scholars paid close attention to the research of English majors’ listening and speaking ability.With the development of listening research,researchers gradually discovered the importance of metacognition in the process of listening,and they also discovered the importance of listening metacognitive awareness.As an important factor influencing second language learning,listening styles became the research focus of many domestic and foreign scholars.However,some current researches on listening metacognitive awareness seldom considered the factor of individual listening styles.Therefore,this study intends to explore the correlation between listening metacognitive awareness and listening styles.This study combines the quantitative and qualitative research methods to explore the following research questions:What is the state of listening metacognitive awareness of English majors?What is the state of listening styles of English majors?What is the relationship between listening metacognitive awareness and listening styles?The subjects in this study are the 2nd year students of English major from Tianjin University of Science and Technology.The research data are drawn from two questionnaires and an interview,which are analyzed by the social science statistical software SPSS 19.0.The findings are presented as the following:Firstly,Chinese students of English majors have a higher degree of listening metacognitive awareness,but there are some differences among the five factors of listening metacognitive awareness.Secondly,there are significant differences in all the five factors of listening metacognitive awareness between high-score group and low-score group of English major students.The high-score group is in much better condition than the low-score group students in all the five factors.Thirdly,most of English majors’listening style belongs to "global style",with "analytic style" in the second place.The small members of students belonging to "synthetic style" have stronger listening ability than those who belong to the former two styles.Fourthly,listening metacognitive awareness and listening styles have significant correlation.Finally,in all of the three listening styles,there is no significant difference in the factor of "mental translation";students with "synthetic style" have the strongest listening metacognitive awareness in the factors of "problem solving","directed attention" and "planning and evaluation";there is no obvious difference in the factors of "person knowledge" between"analytic style" and "global style";English major students with "global listening style"have higher listening metacognitive awareness in the three factors of "problem solving","directed attention" and "planning and evaluation",with "analytic style" coming next.The research results provide some implications of improving English listening skills and English teaching in the relationship between listening metacognitive awareness and listening styles.