CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
In the past few decades, the research area of learning strategies has been much explored.
Until this day, the facilitative role of strategies in language learning has already been ascertained by numerous studies. In fact, long before the importance of strategies was uncovered in the field of second language acquisition, their function of helping learners cognitively engaged was already well grounded in the pedagogical literature. In the field of educational psychology, learning strategies are viewed as the conscious aspects of goal-directed actions, and it has been well documented that expert performance in any learning behavior involves selection and application of appropriate strategies.
1.1 Background
Strategies are an important contributor to language learning because they help learners become actively involved and self-directed. Learning to employ strategies appropriately enables learners to rely less on the teacher and gradually become autonomous and independent—a trait considered desirable for tackling the daunting task of mastering a language. Also, according to Oxford (1990, p.1), appropriate learning strategies can bring about increased proficiency and boost learners’ confidence.
So far, extensive SLA research has focused on determining the strategy repertoires
possessed by second language learners. As public understanding of the strategy inventory has expanded considerably, attention shifted to the possibility of training in the use of these learning strategies to increase EFL learners’ language proficiency. Many researchers have claimed that it is highly advisable for language teachers to give direct instruction in learning strategies (Chamot, Barnhardt, El-Dinary, & Robbins, 1999, p.5). The gamut of strategies that were identified as useful for facilitating learning in previous research have often been targeted as the focus of instruction. As many empirical studies showed, learning strategy training has proved capable of assisting language learners in developing awareness and gaining control of their own learning. Flowerdew and Miller (2005, p.81), when addressing issues on the skill of listening, suggested that students could be made aware of their listening strategies either through specific training sessions or through the integration of strategy instruction into regular English listening lessons. That was exactly what the present study attempted to address.
1.2 Rationale
According to Chamot et al. (1999, p.157), the rationale for learning strategy instruction can be elucidated by two dominant learning theories—cognitive models and social cognitive models—from which the majority of learning strategies were derived. Cognitive learning models explicate how learning strategies work and why they are needed. Social cognitive models not only discuss the functions of cognition, but also deal with the affective factors
involved in learning.
One of the major cognitive learning models, information processing theory, contends that learning takes place by organizing and connecting new information with already existing knowledge. This belief of information processing corresponds with the tenet meant to be realized by some cognitive strategies such as summarizing, inferencing, and elaborating.
Another vital element in information processing theory, namely metacognition, entails the three skills of planning, monitoring, and evaluation (Woolfolk, 2001, p.260). It is these skills that metacognitive learning strategies draw implications from. Another influential cognitive approach to learning, schema theory, is concerned with applying pre-existing knowledge to real-life experiences. The pre-existing knowledge, or schemata, enables application of many cognitive strategies like making prediction, visualizing events, monitoring comprehension, and so forth (Chamot et al., 1999, pp.157-158).
Social cognitive theories stress the social nature of learning, which is associated with social-affective strategies such as cooperation and questioning for clarification. Also, social cognitive models value the role of motivation, which is one of the underlying causes for success and can lead to self-efficacy—a belief telling one that he or she has the ability to achieve success in a particular task. Because learning to use appropriate strategies results in success experiences, which in turn can heighten motivation, students who utilize more learning strategies are likely to have higher self-efficacy (Chamot, et al., 1999, p.62; Zimmerman, 1999).
In view of that, one noteworthy point, relating to implementing strategy instruction, inferred from this premise is that teachers must ensure learners understand how strategies can make them succeed in order for the learners to build self-efficacy. In other words, teachers should convince students that strategies are a precursor to success.
1.3 The Significance and Purpose of the Study
In recent years, interest in the listening skill in the L2 context has increased remarkably.
According to voluminous works about the first and second languages alike, listening is a frequently used skill and hence merits pedagogical attention. In addition, as the difficulty of listening for ESL students has also been recognized, mostly due to its transient nature, listening seems to assume a more critical role than the other skills in communication (Scarcella &
Oxford, 1992, p.139). However, while listening is regarded as a significant area of development in language learning, it is often neglected in language instruction. Oftentimes, it has been degraded to a stepping stone to other skills (Scarcella & Oxford, 1992, p.139).
Given the widely acknowledged importance accorded to the listening skill, listening instruction should be considered an essential part of any ESL program. Previous research has indicated that training in the use of English listening strategies facilitates listening comprehension (Bissonnette, 2007; Carrier, 2003; Chen, 2007; Cheng, 2002; Chien, 2005;
Huang, 2001; Huang, 2002; Lin, 2006; Rubin & Thompson, 1992; Tutunis, 2001; Viswat &
Jackson, 1994; Yang, 1995). Hence there appears to be a need for English language teachers to provide coaching in listening strategies.
Many researchers have suggested that teachers should not fail to deal with the affective domain by coping with learners’ feelings and beliefs (Oxford, 1990, p.201). The psychological principle involved is that in order for learners to take advantage of learning strategies, they must be willing to change their old beliefs concerning their role in learning, assuming more responsibility. In parallel fashion, Chen (2007), while making efforts to propose a qualitative model for evaluation of strategy training programs, maintained that the success of strategy training should be measured by criteria like learner perceptions and feelings, which she considered were in agreement with the process-oriented nature of strategy instruction.
Therefore, in the present study, learner perceptions were probed—through interviews—to accompany the test-based assessment of the participants’ listening performance; otherwise they would easily go unnoticed.
The significance of the present study can be expounded by the following grounds. First of all, as far as the educational context in Taiwan is concerned, the English listening skill has been receiving an increasingly fair amount of attention. The Ministry of Education (MOE) has made preparations to include listening, in the next few years to come, in the English test of the Basic Competence Exam (BCE)—senior high school entrance exam consisting of several tests which assess junior high school students’ academic achievements in several school subjects. If
learners could receive instruction on listening effectively to enhance their listening performance, they would definitely have an easier time when having to be tested on this very skill. Therefore, discovering ways to enhance teenage learners’ English listening performance is urgent and of paramount importance for educators in Taiwan at the present time. It was hoped that by familiarizing junior high school age learners with learning strategies, they would be able to make the most of them and better their listening performance.
Second, a great number of past studies on listening strategy instruction were geared toward tertiary-level students because they were considered cognitively mature enough to exploit the benefits of such training. Little work has been devoted to experimentation with adolescent learners whose cognitive development is regarded as far from full-fledged. But the present study was predicated on the assumption that adolescent learners are suited to strategy training for two reasons. The first is that as Brown (2001, p.92) once noted, teachers of adolescent students, who are all too often very self-conscious, should apply group work techniques as often as possible, where risks can be taken more easily and thus face-threatening acts were reduced to a great extent. Since group work was much employed in the teaching activities implemented in the present study, it lent itself well to strategy training with junior high school students. Also, Cohen (1998, p. 65) brought to attention the increasingly prevalent view that language teachers are regarded more as learner trainers than as instructors. The widespread belief nowadays is that learning would be enhanced when learners are trained to
become conscious of and proficient in a panoply of strategies that they could utilize throughout the language learning process. Hence, it is justifiable that language teachers teach students to learn ‘how to learn’ from the beginning stage of learning a foreign language, instead of waiting until the learners are older or more proficient.
The chief purpose of this thesis is to determine the effects of a one-month strategy training course on Taiwanese junior high school students’ listening performance. Attempts were also orchestrated to examine the participants’ strategy use and perceptions of the course. The results of this research could be useful to classroom teachers trying to introduce English listening strategies to junior high school students who have never before encountered such training.
1.4 Research Questions
The present study addressed the following three research questions:
1. Does explicit strategy instruction enhance EFL learners’ listening performance?
2. Does explicit strategy instruction increase the learners’ strategy use as compared with those learners who received no strategy training?
3. What are the students’ perceptions of the strategy instruction course?
The first research question was intended to examine the listening performances by participants in the experimental group, who were explicitly instructed in using listening strategies, as measured by GEPT listening tests (see 3.3 Instruments below). The second
research question aimed to determine if students in the experimental group, as compared with the control group, improved their strategy use after the strategy training sessions. This question was answered in accordance with results from a listening strategies questionnaire administered at two different times—one given prior to the experiment, and the other after the experiment.
The final research question probed the participants’ perceptions of the strategy training. The key to this question was mainly provided by interviews, coupled with results from reflection questionnaires so as to elicit more reliable self-reports from learners (Chamot et al., 1999, p.115).
