A Study on Metacognitive Strategy Use in Listening Comprehension by Vocational College Students

Abstract

Metacognitive strategies concerning general skills, through which learners manage, direct, regulate and guide their learning. For several decades, researchers have recognized the importance of Metacognitive strategy use for successful English listening comprehension. Most of the previous studies of metacognitive strategies use in China have been carried out among undergraduates, but few focus on that of vocational college students. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out investigation into metacognitive strategies use in English listening comprehension among vocational college students so as to give vocational college English teachers pedagogical implications on how to train their students and facilitate their teaching. The aim of the present study is to make a tentative investigation into the metacognitive strategies use in the listening comprehension among vocational college students. The subjects in the present study consist of one hundred and thirty nine vocational college students in the Jiangxi Blue Sky College. And three instruments were involved in the present study. They are questionnaire, listening comprehension test and interviews. The present research has yielded the following findings: 1. Based upon the results, the frequency of students’ metacognitive strategy use frequency is relatively low, and there is a rather large discrepancy among students ' use of metacognitive strategies in listening. 2. The analysis shows that females employ metacognitive strategies more often than males’ students. There is significant difference in the use of planning strategies, monitoring strategies, self-evaluation strategies and self-regulation strategies, and the most significant difference is shown in monitoring strategies.3. From the results, it is found that the higher score the students get, the more frequently they use the strategies. Especially to the monitoring strategies, there is significant difference between the high score and low score students.4. With regard to the relationship between the employment of metacognitive listening strategies and listening comprehension ability, analysis shows that there is a positive relationship between metacognitive strategies and listening comprehension ability. The more frequently they apply the metacognitive listening strategies, the stronger their listening comprehension ability will be.