Date of Graduation

2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

College/School

School of Education

Department

International and Multicultural Education

Program

International & Multicultural Education EdD

First Advisor

Brad Washington

Second Advisor

Sedique Popal

Third Advisor

Matthew Mitchell

Abstract

This interpretive case study explored the effectiveness of listening strategy instruction that promoted self-regulated learning and gained insights into students’ and instructors’ perceptions of strategy-integrated listening instruction among second semester learners of Chinese as a second language at a military college in Northern California. Most of previous studies investigated listening strategy use and the relationship between listening strategy use and listening achievement. Few studies investigated the effectiveness of listening strategy instruction. Thus, this study addressed the gaps in research by examining the effectiveness of integrating listening strategies into regular curriculum and explored students’ and instructors’ perceptions of listening strategy instruction among learners of Chinese as a second language.

An interpretive case study research design was employed to achieve the goal of this study. The participants included one instructor and six students who studied at an intensive Chinese basic course. Three sources of data were collected from 25 classroom observations, a focus group session with the student participants , and a face-to-face interview with the instructor. All data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed to answer the research questions.

The findings of this study showed that some of cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational strategies were identified as effective in promoting self-regulated learning among learners of Chinese as a second language. The findings also supported that listening strategy instruction helped learners raise awareness of strategy use, increase self-confidence, improve listening abilities, and foster learner autonomy and self-regulation. The findings further indicated that implementing strategy-integrated listening instruction could improve teaching quality, but might face possible challenges from teachers. Finally, the findings suggested that teacher training on integrating listening strategies into regular curriculum should be provided.

This study has implications for language teachers, foreign language learners, and language course developers, who are involved in the field of foreign language teaching and learning. More research on self-regulated learning and listening strategy instruction among learners of Chinese as a second/foreign language would further expand the understanding of listening strategy instruction in the field and better assist language learners to succeed in their learning.

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