Conclusion and implications
Before concluding, some limitations of the present study need to be mentioned. First of all, this study was carried out in a classroom¬based setting, where the participants were only one intact class in one technological college and were not more broadly selected. In addition, with relatively small group, it is difficult to objectively differentiate proficiency groups clearly. Therefore, a larger population using randomized selection for future research in listening strategy training is strongly suggested. Second, this study mainly employed one type of instrument – reflective journals to explore students’ strategy development over time; however, other methods such as interviews could have been usefully included for triangulation, so as to elicit more objective and comprehensive findings.
Overall, the findings of the present study show that there appear to be positive changes in students’ strategy use in enhancing their listening processing as a result of SI and writing reflective journals. Therefore, it is suggested that there needs to be a shift in conventional listening instruction where a test¬oriented approach predominates. Research has indicated that the more emphasis there is on testing as the goal of listening instruction, the more prescriptive teaching and passive learning there tends to be (Wang, 2002). As a result, students have been prevented from developing effective listening strategies and from understanding and activating their listening in a L2. This study of SI has attempted to address these aspects.
Based on the results of the present study, a number of pedagogical implications for listening SI are suggested. First, both teachers’ and students’ perceptions of listening instruction need to be changed. It needs to be recognized that listening instruction is no longer simply testing listening or word¬for¬word decoding of listening content. Integrated SI holds promise for effective listening pedagogy. Although the effects of helping learners to develop effective listening strategies may not have as immediate an effect as cramming learners with practice listening questions to get higher testing scores, the findings of this study have provided convincing evidence that SI can help learners to reach their long¬term goal of developing into more autonomous listeners, which can facilitate listening outside the classroom. Second, consistent and systematic SI integrated into listening instruction is recommended. The results of this study suggest that the teacher needs to play an active role in implementing SI at the initial stage, especially in relatively conventional listening classrooms. The teacher can adapt the systematic strategy training procedures suggested from research to develop students’ metacognition. These procedures have been shown to empower learners in executing better control over their listening, to expand and fine tune their own strategy repertoire and in turn, to approach their listening tasks more successfully. Furthermore, it is crucial to help students develop integrated strategy use of both bottom¬up and top¬down strategies in coping with different task demands. When listening strategy training is conducted, the responsibilities of learning to listen will gradually shift to learners themselves through self¬reflection on, and self¬regulation of their listening in the L2. Fourth, as the results indicate, different students progress at different rates in their learning of strategies to improve listening performances. To capture these individual differences, multiple approaches to evaluating students’ listening performance are recommended in L2 listening classrooms. One alternative assessment is to implement reflective journals on a regular basis. It not only encourages students to self¬assess and self¬direct their own listening process more systematically, but also provides the teacher with deeper insights into students’ problems or efforts in learning to listen. This, in turn, can help close the gap between what is taught and what learners need. Finally, curriculum support for explicit and integrated strategy training is strongly needed. Since learning to listen is a slow and long¬ term process, it is suggested that explicit strategy training needs to be integrated into the listening instruction curriculum to maximize systematic positive outcomes over the longer term. By doing so, students’ acquisition of effective listening strategies and self¬directed learning in listening can be more fully cultivated. Only with collaboration among students, teachers, and policy or curriculum authorities in Taiwan will listening strategy training be effectively and successfully implemented in regular listening instruction. In doing so, there is great potential to reach the ultimate goal of facilitating autonomy in L2 listening for Taiwanese college students.