Counter-measures On Improving
College Students’Listening Abilities
College of Foreign Languages Guizhou University/Liu Fei
【Abstract】College students in China now spend quite a lot of
time learning English in order to pass the CET.Many students
think the CET-listening section is the most difficult part.During
my teaching process,this question is often been presented,“I
have spent a lot of time in practicing listening,yet my listening
abilities haven’t been improved.Why?” This essay intends
to answer such questions and try to help the students boost their
listening abilities.
【Key words】listening abilities; larger vocabulary; background
information; affective filter; listening stage
1 What makes listening difficult?
There’s a famous Chinese saying,“Shoot the arrow at the
target.” If we can have a clear understanding of what makes
students feel difficult in listening,we can help them improve their
listening abilities more effectively.The following four factors
hinder the students’ listening.
1.1The factor of vocabulary. Vocabulary is an important factor
influencing students’ listening comprehension.Normally the
larger vocabulary a student masters,the better he can understand
the listening material.In ELT in China,there has been an abnormal
phenomenon that the vocabulary hasn’t been given enough
attention to.People intentionally or unintentionally neglect the
importance of words.It seems that some teachers spend more time
in training students’ word-guessing abilities than guiding them to
enlarge their vocabulary.If the teachers emphasize enough on the
students’ vocabularies,this situation can be changed.
1.2The factor of background information.Look at the
following text please:“The procedure is actually quite simple.
First you arrange things into different groups.Of course,one
pile may be sufficient,depending on how much there is to
do.If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities
that is the next step,otherwise you are pretty well set.It is
important not to overdo things.In the short run this may not
seem important,but complications can easily arise.A mistake
can be expensive as well.At first the whole procedure will seem
complicated.Soon,however,it will become just another facet
of life.It is difficult to see any end to the necessity for this task
in the immediate future,but then one can never tell.After the
procedure is completed,one arranges the materials into different
groups again.Then they can be put into their appropriate places.
Eventually they can be sued once more,and the whole cycle will
then have to be repeated.However,that is a part of live.”
It would be difficult even for the native speakers to
demonstrate comprehension by listening to the text.Yet if the
listener is told that the text is about “washing clothes”,the task
of recalling the information is much easier.
This is a commonly quoted example to show how important
the background knowledge is to listening comprehension.If the
students are familiar with the topic of listening material,they can
understand it better and visa versa.
1.3The factor of affective filter.It is often the case that the
students psychologically feel nervous when they listen.When they
come across some new words,they feel fretful.This nervousness
and fret greatly hamper them from demonstration their listening
abilities normally.If the students are self-confident and under no
pressure,they can do their jobs better.
Of course,besides the three factors mentioned above,other
factors,such as the length,the speed of the listening material,the
background noise,etc,will also influence the outcome of the
listening process.
2 What can teachers do to boost students’ listening abilities
In the light of the factors given above,we can take some
counter-measures to help students improve their listening
comprehension.
2.1Vocabulary is enlarged by learning,not by teaching.
The effort that a student makes plays a key role in enlarging
his vocabulary.On one hand,we repeatedly tell the students the
importance of vocabulary enlargement,and regularly have tests
on vocabulary; on the other hand,we guide them to use more
effective ways to remember the words so that they can get twice
the result with half the effort.
2.2Widening students’ background knowledge demands
immediate attention.To some extent,background knowledge
plays an even more important role in listening comprehension.
In order to help students broaden their knowledge,we not
only urge students to read newspaper,magazines,books,liste
n to English programs,watch English films as much as possible
and recommend books for them to read,but also tell them the
relevant knowledge about history,geography,customs,the stylistic
characteristics of language communication etc.,of the UK and the
USA.
2.3Various principles and techniques are carried out in
classroom teaching.As teachers,we must remember what we
mainly do is teaching.We want to guide the students to be more
interested in listening and lower their affective filters so that
their dread will be replaced by interest.The following is what my
teaching usually goes.
2.3.1Pre-listening stage.In this stage,the students do a lotof listening and speaking which lead them to the main texts.
Sometimes a picture or an object will be given to the students
to arouse their interest.In our opinion,listening process is the
realization of integration and interaction of both “top-down”
and “bottom-up” models.This exercise can be categorized
as top-down model and it activates the schema inside the
student’s head.Throw out a minnow to catch a whale.After the
discussion,some of them will present their answers to the class.
2.3.2Listening stage.There are various kinds of exercises
for students to do when they listen.The exercises are usually
designed from easier ones to more difficult.Sometimes we will
make exercises for the students to do or change the order of the
exercises in their textbooks to suit the practical needs.Normally
the exercises are designed as follows:
I.After the students listen to the tape for the first time,they are
required to find out the general ideas,key points of the passages.
II.After the students listen to the tape for the second
time,they are required to get some specific information.
III.After the students listen to the tape for the third time,they
are required to reconstruct the passage without changing the main
ideas and key points.
If the model we use in pre-listening stage is top-down,the
model we use in this stage can be classified as bottom-up.
2.3.3Post-listening stage.Various kinds of exercises are
done in this stage,such as: for oral practice,role-play,information
gap,making a speech,debate,simulation,problem-solving,etc,for
written practice,exchanging letters,writing reports,essay and
so on.The purpose of doing these exercises is to reinforce
the information,expand the topics that the students learned in
classrooms so that they can become fluent in these topics.
3 Conclusion
In this paper,I have been trying to figure out the reasons why
the students find listening difficult,and I have been trying to find
out what teachers can do to help them improve their listening
abilities in an affective way.The methods I mentioned above can
be regarded as a brief summery of what I’ve been doing in my
teaching and I hope they have practical significance.
Reference:
1.Syllabus for First and Second Year English Majors in Tertiary
Institutions.1989,Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press
2.Barry Melaughlin,Theories of second-language learning,
Eolwarol Arnold,1987
3.Zhu Zhizhong,1991,Intensifying the Concepts of Words and
Facing the Chanllengs of Words Earnestly Foreign Language
World
4.David Nunan,1991,Language Teaching Methodology,Pretice
Hall International (UK) Ltd.
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