This thesis presents a study of language learning strategy use in a working ESL listening curriculum that incorporates explicit strategy training. The main goal of this study was to investigate listening strategy use in a regular classroom setting as opposed to a controlled experiment. Thus, strategy training was not prescribed as a treatment for experimental purposes, but rather already existed as part of the normal classroom routine. Specifically, this study sought to answer: 1) whether students would use those strategies they learned about; 2) whether there would be a difference in frequency of strategy use between authentic texts and those created specifically for language instruction; 3) whether those who typically use strategies would perceive them to be easier than those who didnt; and 4) whether those who typically use strategies would perform better on listening comprehension exercises. Participants were those students who the host institution placed in two sections of its high-intermediate ESL listening course, and as such constituted a naturally occurring classroom group. Data on learning strategy use was elicited through written retrospective reports students wrote in six three-question surveys that accompanied classroom listening exercises. Key findings were that learners do not consistently report that they use those strategies for which they receive explicit training; learners do not report the use of social and affective strategies; students report significantly less strategy use on authentic exercises than they do on exercises from the course materials; those who typically use strategies found exercises to be easier, overall, than those who didnt typically use them; and that there was no reliable relationship between strategy use and performance on multiple choice comprehension questions. The study confirms Donato & McCormicks (1994) claim that instruction in encapsulated strategies will not necessarily lead to strategy use and concludes that literature on language learning strategies tends to neglect the external variables such as input complexity and social context that inherently exist in a natural classroom language learning setting.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04242003-184502 |
| Date | 25 September 2003 |
| Creators | Johnson Jr., Jeffrey P. |
| Contributors | Dr. Pascual Masullo, Dr. Dawn E. McCormick, Dr. Alan Juffs |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu:80/ETD/available/etd-04242003-184502/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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