Teaching Listening Strategies to Less Proficient EFL College Students

• Main Authors: Cheng-jung Chao, 趙正蓉
• Other Authors: Huei-chun Teng
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/59176613549164869536

碩士 === 國立臺灣科技大學 === 應用外語系 === 103 === The present study aims to investigate the effect of listening strategy instruction to less proficient EFL college students. The participants were seven junior students from an university of science and technology with an average simulated TOEIC score of 250. Four instruments were adopted in the study, including listening strategy questionnaire, student’s in-class reflection, student’s learning diary and teacher’s self reflection journal. Before the experiment, all participants completed the listening strategy questionnaire. Then, for the next 12 weeks, the participants met with the instructor once a week for two hours to receive listening strategy instruction. In total, 24 listening strategies were taught in the class. During the experiment, the participants were asked to write reflection after each class and keep a learning journal of assigned listening tasks. The instructor also kept a reflection journal to keep track of the teaching progress. During the 12 weeks, four semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data of learner’ learning process. Finally, after 12 weeks, the participants were asked to take post-test and finish the listening strategy questionnaire. The results showed that all participants improved in post-test and indicated that the instruction was effective for their listening comprehension performance. The questionnaires also showed that the frequency of strategy use also increased due to instruction. From students’ learning journals and interviews, the researcher found that listening strategies helped learners focus more on the listening task and deal with problems they encountered. Thus, it is suggested that listening strategy instruction could be incorporated into college English class. Moreover, providing enough time and practice opportunities for students is also important. Finally, through teaching, the teacher could better understand less proficient EFL students’ listening difficulties and help them improve listening comprehension.