中学英语听力策略训练模式初探.doc

A Study on English Listening Strategy Training Mode In Secondary School Abstract: Among listening, speaking, reading, and writing these four skills, listening is one of the most important factors. Strategy training in the listening classroom has been proved by many studies as an essential and effective way of improving listening proficiency. The essence of strategy training is to help the students with “self-examination”. They will be able to find the reasons of listening difficulties and the problems existing in their methods, and also select and adopt relative measures, and then carry out self-monitoring, self-evaluation, and self-adjusting timely. This paper focuses on the discussion of the effective strategy training mode that can improve the students listening proficiency through English listening strategy training to the students in my practice school.Key Words: listening comprehension; learning strategies; strategy training中学英语听力策略训练模式初探摘 要：在听、说、读、写四项语言技能中，听是十分重要的一种技能。在听力教学中加强策略训练是帮助学生提高听力水平的必要和有效途径。策略训练的实质是帮助学生“内省”，找到听力困难的原因和方法中存在的问题,然后采取针对性措施，并适时地对自己进行监察、评估和调节。本文通过对所在实习学校学生进行的一次英语听力策略训练，探讨提高学生听力水平的有效训练模式。关键词：听力理解；学习策略；策略训练CONTENTSIntroduction11.The Definition and Classification of Listening Strategy21.1 Metacognitive Strategies21.2 Cognitive Strategies31.3 Social/ Affective Strategies32. The Circumstance of Domestic and Foreign Researches on Listening Comprehension and Listening Strategies52.1 Foreign Research on the Second Language/Foreign Language Students Listening Comprehension Strategies52.2 Researches on Listening Comprehension Strategies in China63. Listening Strategies Training83.1 Basic Principles of Listening Strategies Training83.2 The Contents of Listening Strategies Training93.3 The Mode of Listening Strategies Training103.4 Listening Strategy Training Experiment133.4.1 The Object of Study133.4.2 The Steps of Experiment133.4.3 Results and Discussion144. Conclusion14Bibliography.17中国最大的论文知识平台Introduction Among listening, speaking, reading, and writing these four language skills, listening does not only occupy a primary position in obtaining language information and vibration, but also is one of the principal ways to improve other skills. As the second language acquisition theory says, “The importation of language is the most basic condition for language acquisition, without language importation, without language acquisition” (Krashen, 1985). And from American pedagogy experts W.M.Rivers and M.S.Temperlys (1978) statistics we can also find out the rate of listening is as high as 45% in the communicate activities. So listening plays an important role in foreign language teaching, for the purpose of developing learners language abilities, and further more achieving smooth communication with native English speakers. Since China participates in WTO, the communication between China and other countries has become more and more frequent, improving the students comprehension abilities has been an urgent problem that needs to be solved. Therefore it naturally proves to be a hotspot as well as a difficult point. Although English teaching has been given more attention in China, and it is taught in universities, high schools, middle schools, primary schools, even kindergartens. However, listening is still a rather poor link in secondary school English teaching. It is obvious that improving the students listening comprehension abilities consists of various practical difficulties, such as the limitation of class hours, the number of students in every class and the lack of guidance of scientific theory etc. A lot of students can even get perfect marks in the written test, but can not achieve what they desire in listening tests, which results in many secondary school students fear of listening tests. This situation is mainly determined by two factors, for one thing, the time for listening teaching is extremely less than reading, so that the assimilation of language and the cultivation of communicative ability is affected by the students poor listening comprehension; for another, guidance for the students listening strategy training has not been paid much attention to by the teachers, and there exists great aimlessness. Therefore, if we want to enhance students listening comprehension ability, and thereupon enhance all-round language ability, it would be necessary to offer guidance for the students listening strategy training.1. The Definition and Classification of Listening Strategy“Listening strategy is an organic part of language learning strategies which refers to the thoughts or behaviors taken by the learners in the process of language studying or utilizing” (Ellis, 1994). As one of the most important factors which affects listening comprehension, learning strategies can be divided into three types based on the information processing theories: metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies, and social/ affective strategies (O Malley& Chamot, 1990), and the three strategies bring direct or indirect influence to the process of language learning.1.1 Metacognitive StrategiesAs one kind of higher order executive skills, it is not only the actions the learners take such as planning, monitoring, and evaluation in order to promote the success in completing some learning activities, but also a measure used to proceed self-management by learners. It is an acquaintance of the students with kinds of cognitive strategies intention, effects, operation, the acquaintance with self characteristics of the language learners, as well as the acquaintance with various kinds of learning activities. Metacognitive manipulation refers to the thinking of learning process, involving planning, goal-setting, selective attention, self-monitoring, and self-evaluation and so on.1) Goal-setting: make sure the long term goals and short term goals are planned to approach before learning.2) Planning: establish a self study plan on the basis of study aims.3) Selective attention: focus on the aspect which needs to be paid special attention and the problems which need to be focused on in some learning tasks; for example, listening to the key words or phrases. If the learners focus on the theme and difficulty on the base of the given options during the listening comprehension, they will correctly understand the exercises, and achieve the required results.4) Self-monitoring: monitor the execution of ones own learning tasks and the usage of modulation methods etc. in the process of learning English. For instance, the learners should make sure whether they understand the listening materials, whether the strategies used are suitable, attention is paid to, and whether their plans are completed in time5) Self-evaluation: evaluate the case of the work, the performance in class, and the usage of strategies after finishing the task. We may do such actions as to estimate whether he himself can finish the aims of his plan, review the progress of ones own listening, and analyze the reasons why he can not understand the meanings of the listening materials.1.2 Cognitive Strategies Cognitive strategies refer to the information processing, concluding strategies of repetition, contextualization, inference, elaboration etc. As one kind of strategies directly connected with learners study tasks, cognitive strategies are what the learners use in dealing with incoming information, and raising learning and memorizing abilities, especially the actions and process of carrying out a concrete class assignment and activities. Some cognitive strategies that are helpful to listening comprehension are as follows:1) Rehearsal: when we come across a new word or a new phrase, rehearsal is useful to memorizing.2) Inference: do some necessary inferences on the basis of information from the oral passages. It covers the actions such as the conjecturing implication of new language units, predicating the results, and filling in the blanks.3) Summarizing or gist listening：integrate the heard information in a pause, in order to assure the memorizing of information.4) Elaboration: link up information stored in long term memory with new information.5) Transfer: use the stored language or conception knowledge to make the new study tasks simple.1.3 Social/ Affective StrategiesSocial/ affective strategies are concerned with sociability, the learning environment, motivation, attitudes, insecurities, and confidence and so on. In foreign language learning, motivation is the learners aspiration and desire to learn a foreign language. Attitude is the tendency of the students understanding, emotions, affections, behaviors to foreign language learning. The sensations of anxiety always represent as fear of making mistakes, fear of losing face, or fear of the teachers criticism etc. Confidence is the learners affirmative thoughts to their abilities and knowledge level, the more confident people feel, not afraid of making mistakes in the process of language learning, and boldly communicating with others in English, the greater success of study that the learner will gain. Krashen（1982）s “the Affective Filter Hypothsis” believed that the success of the second language acquisition depends on the learners emotion factors. Negative attitude, including lack of motives or confidence and learning motivation, is regarded as a filter, hinders the learners ability to apply the incoming information, and moreover, affects the effect of language study. Some linguists such as OMalley figured out that social/ affective strategies have two major areas: interaction with another person and rational control over the effect. Generally speaking, social/ affective strategies can be used in executing various kinds of learning tasks. Some useful strategies for listening comprehension are as follows:1) Cooperation: solve the problems, collect the information, check the answers, and obtain the feedback of learning activities with the classmates.2) Questioning for clarification: invite the teachers or classmates to repeat, paraphrase, explain or give an example.3) Self-talk: manage ones own psychology aiming at reducing the anxiety of some learning task or strengthening confidence of success.Listening strategies just take learning strategies as its theoretical frame, which can be divided into self-management methods, listening methods, cooperation and self-adjustment methods. 2. The Circumstance of Domestic and Foreign Researches on Listening Comprehension and Listening Strategies 2.1 Foreign Research on the Second Language/Foreign Language Students Listening Comprehension Strategies It was not until the beginning of 1980s that researching experiments on listening strategies were carried out in western countries. These mainly include two aspects: one is researches on the second language/foreign language students listening comprehension, the other is about the research on the listening comprehension strategies training of the second language/foreign language. The former discusses the question “which kind of listening strategy should be taught”; the latter discusses “how to teach these listening strategies”. There are two main pairs of strategy training mode: individual training and universal training; implicit training and explicit training. Based on the relationship of learning materials, strategy training can be divided into individual training and universal training (OMalley& Chamot, 1990; Oxford& Leaver, 1996). Individual training is purely a way to teach learning strategies without the combination of learning contents. This training method can raise the students strategy awareness and is helpful to improve their strategy abilities. With the usage of discussion and lectures, Cohen, Flaitz and Feyten (Oxford & Leaver, 1996) carried out shore term trainings of the students, and found that students benefited from it. While Wenden (Oxford& Leaver, 1996)s experiments testified that individual training had no use in helping the students discover the relation between learning tasks and strategies. Universal training refers to the training combining with common course learning. With the help of this training method, the students can have the opportunities to practice the newly-teaching listening strategies in the practical listening tasks, which contribute to strategy transferring. The researches have testified that universal training is more effective than individual training. According to the knowledge level of learners, western strategy training method can also be implicit and explicit training. Brown& Palinscar（1982）examine three degrees of training: blind training, informed training, and controlled training. In blind training, the students are not told the name of the strategy, and also the aims and basis of training, but are only asked to do some exercises which can promote the use of strategy; in informed training, the students know the strategies, the aims and basis of training in advance; in the controlled training, they do not only know the strategies, training aims and basis, but are also taught how to compare, monitor and evaluate the strategies. Through an experiment among the students, they found that the students scores gradually became better with the improvement of the three training level. OMalley and Chamot (1990) also introduced insetting training and direct training. I think that blind training and insetting training belong to implicit training, and informed training, controlled training, and direct training are all explicit training. As OMalley and Chamot (1990) have pointed out those learning strategies are the special thoughts and behaviors taken by the learners to help themselves to comprehend, learn, or keep information. In other words, learning strategies contains both visible outer behaviors and invisible inner thinking processes, and the usage of listening strategies may be conscious, or may be unconscious. So trainers must call up the learners sense to change abstract inner thoughts into teachable external behaviors. Most of the western researchers agree with explicit training whose significant feature is to bring up the learners strategy awareness. It involves these aspects: a. find out the strategies used when finishing listening; b. introduce new strategies and figure out their importance and value; c. set an example; d. provide a number of exercises to practice these strategies; e. provide opportunities for the students to discuss the situation of strategy used, and evaluate the effect.2.2 Researches on Listening Comprehension Strategies in China One of Wen Qiufang (1995)s studies showed that when other conditions are the same, the variation of English learning strategies have decisive effects upon the learners accomplishments. Liu Shaolong(1996) did an experiment on the aspects of background knowledge and listening strategies for seven participators, in which he used the method of “sound thinking” to follow up the participators and analyze their thoughts. According to his experiment, whether provided or not, and whether possessed or not the relative background knowledge conspicuously affects the usage and frequency of listening strategies. In the “The Psychology Process and Development Rules of Foreign Language Learning” published in the first issue of “The Psychology Press”, the author Wang Yijue (1984) talked about the psychology process and development rules of foreign language learning from the view of psychology. Professor Wu Yian of Beijing foreign language university made a study on the information working process of answering the subjects with diversified selections among Chinese English learners with the method of self- introspection in 2001. The research pointed out that no matter how strong the language abilities are, the participators would all transfer their language or non-language knowledge. Gui Shichun（1992） once took an experimental research on the course of English learning among Chinese students. One conclusion of the research is that “language information is as important as non-language information in the process of language communication”. In the thesis “The Relationship between Learning Strategies and listening”, Jiang Zukang（1994） said that language structure practice for the students was helpful to their comprehensive abilities of listening comprehension, as well as their listening comprehension abilities to the real information. In the thesis On the Teachability of Listening Learning StrategiesAn Empirical Study on Chinese EFL Beginners written by Su Yuanlian（2003）, The result of this investigation pointed out that listening learning strategies instruction can improve Chinese EFL beginners transactional performance, enhance their strategy awareness and listening confidence, and positively assist them to become more actively engaged in their own learning processes. The materials mentioned above prove that listening strategy vitally influences listening comprehension. Therefore strategy training is an effective way to improve students autonomy in their listening study. The present circumstance of domestic and foreign researches on listening comprehension and listening strategies show that even though it is difficult to judge which strategy is better to be taught, or which strategies training plan is much better, the researchers could be sure that strategies training is contributive to arouse the students interests in language learning. So that in listening teaching, the teachers not only have to provide opportunities of listening practice to the students, but also need to strengthen listening strategies training.3. Listening Strategies Training3.1 Basic Principles of Listening Strategies Training Learning strategies change themselves in order to fit different lea