Table of Contents
1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….1 2. Literature Review…………………………………………………………………………...2 2.1 Definition of Listening Comprehension…………………..………...……...…2
2.2 Nature of Listening Comprehension………….…………………………...…2 2.3 Modes of Listening Comprehension………………………..………………..2 3. Problems of Listening Comprehension in Middle School …………………….....3 3.1 Problems in Teachers? Teaching……………………………………...………..3
3.1.1 Teachers? Teaching Ideas……………………………………………….......3 3.1.2 Teachers? Teaching Methods……………………………………………….3 3.1.3 Problems in Choosing Listening Materials………………………………...4 3.1.4 Influence of Traditional English Education System………………………..4 3.2 Problems of Students…………………..………………………………………4 3.2.1 Linguistic Problems…………………………………..…………………...4 3.2.1.1 Speed Problems……………………………………..………………..4 3.2.1.2 Pronunciation Problems…………………………….……………......5 3.2.1.3 Vocabulary Problems………………………….……………………...5 3.2.1.4 Grammatical Problems……………….………………………………6 3.2.2 Non – Linguistic Problems……………………………………………….7 3.2.2.1 Cultural and Background Knowledge Problems…………………….7 3.2.2.2 Psychological Problems……………………………………...............8 3.2.2.3 Inappropriate Listening Habits…………..……………………....…...9 4. Strategies for Improving Teaching Listening………………................................10 4.1 Teaching Listening Skills…………………..…..…………………………...10 4.1.1 Teaching Predicting Skill……………………………………………....10 4.1.2 Teaching Note – Taking Skill…………………………………………..10 4.2 Arousing Students? Interest……………………………………………….. .11 4.2.1 Using Modern Multi – Media Facilities…… …………………….........11
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4.2.2 Building an Intimate Relationship with Students……………………...11 4.2.3 Selecting Appropriate Listening Materials……………………………..11
4.3 Teaching Basic Language Knowledge……………………………………...12 4.3.1 Teaching Students Effective Ways to Expand Vocabulary…………..…12 4.3.2 Teaching Pronunciation……………………………………………...…12 4.3.3 Teaching Grammatical Knowledge………………………...…………..13 4.4 Clarifying the Purpose of Listening………………………………………...14 4.5 Training Students? Psychological Qualities…………………………………14 4.6 Expanding Students? Cultural Background Knowledge…………………….15 5. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….16 References……………………………………………………………………………18
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1. Introduction
The final goal of mastering a language is to communicate with others, using the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. According to the data investigated by Rivers and Temperley(1978), among the time an individual is engaged in communication, approximately 9% is devoted to writing, 16% to reading, 30% to speaking and 45% to listening(Hedge,2002, p. 228). The data indicates that effective listening comprehension is one of the guarantees to carry out successful communication and it should be considered as the most important in English learning.
Although listening plays a very important role, the current teaching of English listening faces a lot of problems. Many students are tired of attending listening classes, if they cannot understand some new words or phrases, they will feel upset and lose patience and confidence in the rest of the listening. As for some teachers, the model of listening teaching still remains the traditional one: explain the new words-play the tape-do the exercises-check the answers. They only focus on the right answer to the question while neglecting the process of learning.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate obstacles in listening comprehension and provide possible solutions to their obstacles. Through investigation and analysis, the author aims to find ways to help students overcome the obstacles in listening comprehension, and help students improve their English listening, which provides a solid foundation for their future study of English.
This paper consists of five parts. Part One is the introduction which illustrates the importance of listening comprehension, the current situation of listening teaching in Middle schools and the purpose of this study. Part Two states the definition, the nature and the models of listening comprehension. Part Three analyzes the problems in listening comprehension. Part Four comes up with the strategies to solve students? listening comprehension problems. Part Five is the conclusion of this thesis.
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2. Literature Review
2.1 The Definition of Listening Comprehension
Listening comprehension is a complex process of understanding speech in a second or foreign language. In listening, what the listener wants to achieve is an adequate understanding of what the speaker means (Brown, 1990).In human communication, listeners not only listen to others, but also have to comprehend what others talk about. That is what is called listening comprehension. Listening comprehension includes the auditory perception and all sorts of cognitive competence in attaining the goal of understanding. In order to have a better understanding of listening comprehension, listeners ought to know about its nature. 2.2 The Nature of Listening Comprehension
In order to be successful in listening comprehension, we should have some knowledge of the nature of listening comprehension. Current understanding of the nature of listening comprehension draws on research in psycholinguistics, semantics, pragmatics, discourse analysis and cognitive science.
Littlewood (1981, p. 67) points out that the nature of listening comprehension means that the learner should be encouraged to engage in an active process of listening for meanings, using not only the linguistic cues but also his nonlinguistic knowledge.
In Moreley?s view, “in accounting for the complex nature of processing language, it has been hypothesized that ? bottom-up? and ? top-down? modes work together in a combined co-operative process.”(Moreley, 1991)
In a word, listening comprehension is a complex process of memorizing, generalizing, predicting and language transforming. It involves two basic process modes: bottom-up and top-down.
2.3 The Modes of Listening Comprehension
In the field of cognitive theory, two views illustrate the procedure of listening: bottom-up and top-down processing. The “bottom-up” model assumes that listening is
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a process of decoding the sounds, from the smallest meaningful units (or phonemes) to words to grammatical relationships to complete texts (Nunan, 2001, p. 200). Bottom-up processing techniques mainly focus on sounds, words, intonations, grammatical structures.
In “top-down” model, the listener makes use of background knowledge, knowledge of the text structures and knowledge of the world to assist in the interpretation of discourse (Nunan, 2001, p. 201). “top-down” techniques are more concerned with the activation of schemata, with deriving meaning, with global understanding, and with the interpretation of a text (Brown, 1990, p. 246).
Actually in the course of listening comprehension, listeners operate from both “bottom-up” and “top-down” models.
3. Problems of Listening Comprehension in Middle School
3.1 Problems in Teaching Listening
Teachers are important factors on the way of students? learning, their teaching ideas, teaching methods, ways of choosing listening materials, etc. can influence students? listening a lot. 3.1.1 Teachers’ Teaching Ideas
In middle school, the traditional teaching methods remain a dominant place in classroom English teaching. Such long – lasting influence is because teachers still think it practical and effective to teach students knowledge of language, purposefully assisting them in the College Entrance Examination. The prevailing thought makes many teachers believe that reading and writing are more important than speaking and listening. So teachers focus on teaching language knowledge about reading and writing and pay little attention to listening, some teachers even abandon teaching listening in their classes.
3.1.2 Teachers’ Teaching Methods
For many teachers, the mode of listening teaching still remains the traditional
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