on strategies of improving the english listening abilities淺論提高英語聽力的策略

1、<p>　　On Strategies of Improving the English Listening Abilitiesof Junior Middle School Students</p><p><b>　　Contents</b></p><p>　　AbstractI</p><p>　　Introduction

2、l</p><p>　　The current situation of the teaching of English listening in middle</p><p><b>　　schooll</b></p><p>　　The importance of listening1</p><p>　　Th

3、e problem of the teaching of listening2</p><p>　　The analysis of the reasonsfor students’ poor listening ability2</p><p>　　Teacher’s factor2</p><p>　　Student’s factor3</p>

4、;<p>　　Phonetics and phonology factor3</p><p>　　Vocabulary factor and Grammar factor4</p><p>　　Listening habits4</p><p>　　Background knowledge4</p><p>　　Psyc

5、hological factors5</p><p>　　Environment factor5</p><p>　　How to improve students’ listening ability6</p><p>　　About the teaching aspect7</p><p>　　3丄 1 Improve the t

6、eacher’ own general quality7</p><p>　　Development of students' interest in English listening7</p><p>　　Design the pre-listening, while-listening，and post-listening classroom activities. 8

7、</p><p>　　About the student aspect11</p><p>　　Improvement of students' pronunciation11</p><p>　　Enhancement of students’ vocabularies and grammar knowledge12</p><p

8、>　　Extension of students' cultural background knowledge12</p><p>　　Taking notes and developing good habits13</p><p>　　Develop a good state of mind13</p><p>　　About the env

9、ironment aspect14</p><p>　　Conclusion14</p><p>　　Bibliography15</p><p>　　Acknowledgements16</p><p><b>　　Abstract</b></p><p>　　With the deve

10、lopment of the society，our country constantly carries out the educational reform to meet the demand of the 21st century _ the era of knowledge economy. More and more emphasis is being put on “the program of balanced deve

11、lopment”. Meanwhile, English teaching and learning should be regarded as a course of all-round development of the four skills, which refer to listening，speaking，reading and writing. However, listening is a relatively dif

12、ficult skill for the students. The new English </p><p>　　Key words: listening; teacher; student; environment</p><p>　　隨著社會(huì)的發(fā)展，為滿足21世紀(jì)--知識(shí)經(jīng)濟(jì)時(shí)代的要求，我國不斷進(jìn)行教育改 革。人們?cè)絹碓蕉嗟闹匾暡H導(dǎo)“均衡發(fā)展計(jì)劃”。與此同時(shí)，人們還認(rèn)為英語的學(xué) 習(xí)

13、和教學(xué)應(yīng)該被視為是英語學(xué)4的四項(xiàng)技能（聽，說，讀，寫）全面發(fā)展的過程。 不過，聽力學(xué)習(xí)這一技能對(duì)于英語學(xué)習(xí)者是相對(duì)困難的一項(xiàng)技能。在21世紀(jì)，學(xué)生 聽力差這一問題變的越來越嚴(yán)重，所以由教育部發(fā)布的新英語課程標(biāo)準(zhǔn)明確表明了 提高初中學(xué)生的聽力的重要性。為了解決這一問題，英語教學(xué)改革家開始把訓(xùn)練學(xué) 生的聽力能力放在優(yōu)先發(fā)展的地位。</p><p>　　關(guān)鍵詞：聽力；教師；學(xué)生；環(huán)境。</p><p

14、>　　Introduction</p><p>　　As technology advances and trade and exchanges between countries increase, it is becoming more and more important to understand English in many situations，such as face-to -face，on

15、 the telephone，in business meeting lectures，speeches，television, and so on. So, at present，English education becomes more and more important and lots of significant achievements have also been made in it. English，a tool

16、for communication, has a profound influence on the students’ future development.</p><p>　　It is true that listening，speaking，reading，and writing are four basic skills in English teaching and learning. In the

17、 four skills of English, listening is the basic，and the most important skill However, foreign language learners often complain that listening is one of the most difficult skills to acquire. At the same time，Listening is

18、an important step in the learning of English but it is often neglected. As teachers, they should pay more attention to listening teaching, so they can perfect thei</p><p>　　The current situation of the teach

19、ing of English listening in middle school</p><p>　　Imagine what will happen if we can’t follow what others say while we must make some response to it during a conversation? It is the most important that we m

20、ust make ourselves understand what people say before we give any proper response. Listening comes first.</p><p>　　The importance of listening</p><p>　　As we know, listening is an essential part

21、of the communication process.</p><p>　　Listening is the first language mode that children acquire. It provides a foundation for all aspects of language and cognitive development, and it plays a life-long rol

22、e in the processes of learning and communication essential to productive participation in life. “It is one of the important ways in English language communication. According to Rivers study indications, listening occupie

23、s 45% of the whole social interactions. From this，we can see that good listening can help to improve students’ a</p><p>　　The problem of the teaching of listening</p><p>　　Although most students

24、 begin to keep in touch with English as long as they enter their primary school, even when they are still in kindergarten, they really start to master comprehensive English abilities when they become junior middle school

25、 students. To them，listening is one of the most difficult skills to acquire. Whether those listening problems can be solved properly plays a very important role to the learners’ future language study. Thus，the emphasis o

26、f this thesis is on strategies of Engl</p><p>　　The analysis of the reasons for students’ poor listening ability</p><p>　　In English teaching，the weakness of students1 listening mainly depends o

27、n three aspects, one is from the teachers，and one is from the students themselves and the third is from the environment.</p><p>　　Teacher’s factor</p><p>　　The most important and most difficult

28、part of the making of a good language teacher is the development of professional competence，which is the state or quality of</p><p>　　being adequately qualified for the profession and armed with a specific r

29、ange of skills， strategies，knowledge and abilities.</p><p>　　For a long time in China, the grammar-oriented perspective has led to the emphasis on language learners1 grammatical competence instead of their c

30、ommunicative competence. Although students have studied English at school for several years and even get high marks in examinations，they are poor in actually using and listening to the language. In most English classes,

31、the teacher is used to analyzing sentences，explaining grammatical rules and language points. Then the students begin to be involved in</p><p>　　Student’s factor</p><p>　　Understanding learner’s

32、listening problems is perhaps the first step for developing effective teaching strategies. In China, many Chinese students also have some problems while listening. Such as:</p><p>　　Phonetics and phonology f

33、actor</p><p>　　“Everybody knows that phonetics studies human speech sounds and the way they are articulated, and phonology deals with the sound system of a particular language.” [2] (p39) “According to an Am

34、erican scholar，Rita Wong, phonetics is crucial in listening comprehension. This is because sound is the direct medium of listening and speaking. Only by using correct sound, can we express our views and ideas accurately.

35、 Similarly, it is inevitably that poor pronunciation will cause aural difficulties in</p><p>　　smooth acceptance of others’ ideas expressed in correct pronunciation.” [3] (p96) Unfortunately, we found that m

36、any Chinese students lack basic knowledge of sound discrimination and phonetic changes，which severely hinders their improvement in listening ability.</p><p>　　Vocabulary factor and Grammar factor</p>

37、<p>　　“Vocabulary is the major component of language; people always compare vocabulary to building material. For every English learner，study English without a certain amount of vocabulary is just like builders build

38、ing houses without bricks” [4] (p56).Vocabulary is the building materials of languages, so students must master enough vocabularies if they want to improve their listening ability. However，in china， many middle school st

39、udents do not have abundant vocabulary. So, when they hear unfamiliar w</p><p>　　Grammar plays an important part in the analysis of written sentence structure and sentence pattern. Systematic grammar knowled

40、ge is like a strong frame of a building, it can help students to catch the implication of vocal sounds, and understand them well，and it can also tell students the tense，voice and mood. However，in china many middle school

41、 students also lack of systematic grammar knowledge.</p><p>　　Listening habits</p><p>　　For example, they always try their best to get the meaning of each words, each sentences. Once they meet a

42、 new word or a difficulty sentence，they will stop to think. It is doubtless they can’t catch up with the speed any more. Still some students can’t directly understand materials in English，but with the help of Chinese，exp

43、erienced the process of a heart translation. These bad habits are the main factors influencing their listening comprehension. In fact，it is unnecessary to know every word，eve</p><p>　　Background knowledge<

44、;/p><p>　　“Language is a kind of cultural expression. It is very necessary for students to</p><p>　　know some background about English countries，such as the history，culture，customs and habits，even

45、life styles” [5] (pi3). Language is a kind of cultural expression. It is necessary for students to know some background knowledge about the English countries，such as the history，culture，customs, life styles and habits. I

46、f students lack these kinds of knowledge，they cannot understand the listening materials correctly. For example，there are two passages of the same difficulty. One explains something ab</p><p>　　Psychological

47、factor</p><p>　　Listener’s listening ability is also influenced by psychological factors. During listening，the listener may meet some words or sentences they do not know，it will make them feel very nervous.

48、“Anxiety has a negative effect on listening comprehension” [6] (p69). “Many students have experienced the anxiety during listening. They tend to miss much part of a taped material when they fail to recognize a word or a

49、phrase and stop to think about it.” [7] (p69). Some students say that as soon as the list</p><p>　　2.3 Environment factor</p><p>　　As we know, the English environment in China is different from

50、other countries e.g. Canada. In China, English is a foreign language, not a second language. For example，Chinese immigrant students in Canada can learn English more quickly than those in China because in Canada，English i

51、s regarded as their second language. They enjoy a much better English environment. This is what is needed in China.</p><p>　　What’s more, one major reason for students’ poor listening skill is that</p>

52、<p>　　listening is often neglected in language teaching due to lack of teaching materials， both with print materials and audio or video tapes, lack of equipment (tape players， VCRs，VCDs，computers) in some schools

53、and lack of real-life situations where language learners need to understand spoken English. At present，there are too many students in one classroom in China. Too many students studying in one room means that there is a l

54、ittle time for each student to speak and practice oral English. In order </p><p>　　Originally，the purpose of learning a foreign language is to use it in communication. Whereas，most Chinese- English learners

55、do not learn English for this purpose. Instead, they learn English for the purpose of passing various exams and getting a well-paid job in the future. In China, students’ study achievement is mainly evaluated by exams, e

56、specially the Entrance Examination for College that is the final purpose of most high school students. In addition, English is considered as one of the thre</p><p>　　How to improve students9 listening abilit

57、y</p><p>　　In the light of the problems existing in the teaching of the listing and，the features</p><p>　　of the listening of junior middle school，we will take measures from the teachers, the st

58、udents，the environments to help the students to develop their listening skills.</p><p>　　About the teaching aspect</p><p>　　Understanding teacher’ problems may be the first step for developing e

59、ffective teaching strategies. Therefore, it is necessary for the teachers to improve themselves and point out the bad habits and then help the students form good habits. What should the teachers do?</p><p>　

60、　Improve the teacher’ own general quality</p><p>　　In order to improve the students’ listening ability, teachers have to make themselves perfect in all aspects. They should maintain their ideological level，a

61、nd try hard to improve their own professional competence.</p><p>　　Only in this way，can the teachers develop more influence to impel the students’ comprehensive development. Thus，if the professional competen

62、ce of English teachers is improved and the specific skills, strategies, knowledge and abilities are developed，I will be sure that it can do great help to improve the junior middle school students’ listening ability.</

63、p><p>　　Besides, in English class，teachers should try to organize their classes in English， which is the most effective way, students can concentrate their attention while listening to English. Teachers can als

64、o know from the expressions in students’ eyes if they understand. Second，using the first five minutes efficiently before the class，or the revision time，ask students to listen to the radios，television programmers in Engli

65、sh. “By brainstorming what they know about the topic before listening，learners</p><p>　　Development of students’ interest in English listening</p><p>　　In the past，teachers and students paid mor

66、e attention to grammar，and many students were unwilling to open their mouths to speak English. Some students felt nervous and were afraid of making mistakes. All these factors hinder students’ listening comprehension. So

67、, the teacher can take some measures to eliminate these factors. Such as :(1) the teacher combines speaking and listening together，then encourages the students to speak out; (2) students will get good marks if they liste

68、n to the listening</p><p>　　Design the pre-listening, while-listening, and post-listening classroom activities.</p><p>　　The classroom activities play a vital role in English listening teaching.

69、 There are at least three tasks or activities that teachers need to consider in order to help the students do listening practices effectively. That is pre-listening activities, while-listening activities，and post-listeni

70、ng activities. “It is important to remember when designing activities not to demand that students remember more details the native-speaker would in a real life, because we do not want our students to get int</p>&

71、lt;p>　　The pre-listening stage</p><p>　　During the pre-listening stage, the teacher helps the students prepare to listen by making the topic relevant and interesting to students. That is to say, pre-liste

72、ning activities should aim to motivate students，to activate their prior knowledge, and to teach key words or key structures to the students before listening beings so that students are effectively，the martially and lingu

73、istically prepared for the listening task.</p><p>　　So it’s a good idea to keep the number of unknown words to a minimum; pre-teaching 7 to 10 words is usually good for reading preparation. Keep in mind that

74、 the meanings of some words could be easily guessed from the context.</p><p>　　At the same time，encourage guessing if the context helps to make the guess possible and accurate. Research in listening has show

75、n that good listeners are good predictors?“ By helping our students become better predictors, we are helping them</p><p>　　become better listeners/^ 10] (p86). But in the beginning the students may have diff

76、iculty in predicting. If so, the teachers can help them by asking leading questions.</p><p>　　Thus, one of the reading strategies practiced in the pre-reading stage is to form predictions about what is to be

77、 read. The students could be asked to:</p><p>　　Examine the accompanying visual information (diagrams，maps, photographs)</p><p>　　Reflect on the title or the topic</p><p>　　State wh

78、at they already know about the topic</p><p>　　State what they would like to know about the topic</p><p>　　Write their own questions that they want the text to answer</p><p>　　Answer

79、 the teacher’s general questions about the text type or topic</p><p>　　Brainstorm the topic in groups or whole class</p><p>　　Guess the topic by looking at key words from the text.</p>&l

80、t;p>　　The students have to study some visual or reading materials related to the listening text and then based on them to answer some questions or to have a discussion.</p><p>　　The students have to make

81、a list of words they suppose are likely to occur in the listening text.</p><p>　　The while-listening stage</p><p>　　The while-listening stage is the most difficult for the teacher to control，bec

82、ause this is where students need to pay attention and process the information actively. However，if the teacher provides a reason，goal，or task for the learner，this can help and encourage the listener to focus.</p>

83、<p>　　Sometimes it is good to just let the students listen and enjoy what they are listening to without a specific task.However，most of the time, it is helpful to provide a task for the students to do while they are

84、 listening. This gives the students a purpose to listen and helps them focus on listening itself. By providing a variety of types of tasks，students learn to listen for a variety of purposes which better prepares them for

85、 listening in the real world outside the classroom.</p><p>　　There are other activities that can be carried out in the lesson, such as :</p><p>　　1 ? The students tick off from a list the words

86、mentioned in the listening text.</p><p>　　The students fill out a form with the information from the listening text.</p><p>　　The students note down part of or the whole listening text.</p>

87、;<p>　　The students do some drawings or actions according to the listening text.</p><p>　　The students sequence the sentences or paragraphs based on the listening text.</p><p>　　The stude

88、nts have to spot and correct errors.</p><p>　　The students have to judge whether some statements about the listening text are true or false.</p><p>　　After the students have listened to the part

89、 of the listening text, the teacher stops the recorder and asks them to predict how the text will continue.</p><p>　　The post-listening stage</p><p>　　The post-listening stage is where the teach

90、er can determine how well the students have understood what they have heard. But it is important to design the tasks well. One important point to keep in mind is whether teachers are testing the students’ listening compr

91、ehension or their memory. The most typical type of post-listening task is the multiple-choice comprehension question，which dose little to help students develop good listening habits and strategies. The teacher needs to d

92、ecides how to bal</p><p>　　The following are post-reading activities:</p><p>　　Oral discussion of the topic of the text</p><p>　　Role-play a different situation from that of the tex

93、t but using the same characters，or role-play the same situation as in the text but using different characters.</p><p>　　Writing a summary of the main content of the text</p><p>　　Comment on the

94、content of the text or write your opinion on the text</p><p>　　Retelling the story of the text</p><p>　　finishing the story, that means either predicting an ending or changing the ending to one

95、of your own choice</p><p>　　Listening to or reading some supplementary materials about the topic.</p><p>　　Guided speaking/writing: make a list of key words and phrases, and then ask students to

96、 write the story</p><p>　　Post-reading work usually contributes to the development of all the language skills and may involve using other skills than just reading.</p><p>　　Teachers need to be a

97、ware of the fact that this three-stage approach should not be carried out mechanically for every text. Sometimes they are mixed together.</p><p>　　The four basic abilities in English are not isolated. They p

98、ut together everywhere. Therefore while teaching listening, if the teacher teaches some ability purely，usually we can’t accept the good result. If the teacher teaches the four abilities together，it will leave the student

99、s the deep impression，and then receive the good result. For example， while teaching dialogues, first let the students look at the picture or performance, second listen to the dialogue carefully, then think about the ques

100、</p><p>　　3.2 About the student aspect</p><p>　　3.2.1 Improvement of students’ pronunciation</p><p>　　In order to improve the students’ pronunciation, the students can do more exerc

101、ises. At the beginning of the listening training，the students should learn</p><p>　　something about connecting reading，weak reading, lost tone and stress shifting，and pay more attention to the pronunciation