Some Thoughts on Teaching Listening Comprehension

唐春梅

【Abstract】In this article I emphatically analyze the main elements that affect students' listening comprehension. We point out the ways and skills to deal with listening comprehension.

【Key words】listening comprehension， listening teaching， listening skill

Ⅰ. Introduction

The development of listening skill in English has recently received growing attention in Chinese middle schools. Many teachers pay more attention to developing listening skill， but they also meet with some difficulties in improving the students' listening skill. How do we improve the students' listening ability？ We must think them over.

Ⅱ. Some main problems in listening comprehension

a. Understanding intonation and stress

Intonation means the rise and fall of the pitch change of the voice. An analysis of English intonation helps us to know the sentence structure and the attitude of a speaker.

We have also seen that every word of two or more syllables， when said alone， has a stress on one of its syllables. However， in connected speech we do not hear a stress on every word. According to sentence stress， we can know the important words in the sentence. In addition， we should notice that any word in a sentence might be logically stressed if it implies special emphasis or contrast.

b. Understanding colloquial vocabulary

There are marked differences between the formal and colloquial varieties. In colloquial language， some sounds are always joined together to form words and groups of words. In connected speech， some sounds， under the influence of their neighbours， are replaced by other sounds. Sometimes two neighbouring sounds influence each other and are replaced by a third sound that is different from both original sounds.

c. Understanding different accents

Accent means a special way of speaking. There are mainly two important kinds of English in the world： American English and British English. So， students must know about the differences between British English and American English.

Ⅲ. Some ways to deal with listening comprehension

a. Pronunciation and Intonation

We should receive special training in pronunciation and intonation. First of all， it's important to listen to pure English spoken by foreigners who treat it as their mother tongue. When listening to the idiomatic English， we'd better try to imitate after it. Only by doing so can we pronounce accurately， and understand native speakers' pronunciation easily. Another important thing is that our listening materials should be arranged step by step. By this means， our ability of differentiating sounds will surely be greatly improved.

In addition， we should also master the knowledge of stressed syllable， unstressed syllable， successive reading， omitting syllable， incomplete demolition and assimilation. All the elements mentioned above are fundamental though abstract to some extent.

b. Structural patterns and grammar

Sounds and words are isolated. Only when they are organized with the help of structural patterns and grammar can they realize the purpose of communication. Familiarity of basic structural patterns will surely bring us quick and easy understanding of listening materials. Structural knowledge is of great use in improving our ability of catching signal words， forecasting language messages， mastering inner relations of language and understanding or remembering listening materials efficiently.

c. Vocabulary

Abundant vocabulary plays an important role in listening comprehension. Besides remembering as many new words as we can， the following notes also can't be neglected.

1）Try to master as many meanings as a word may have. An English word may have several different meanings under different circumstances. The more we know them， the more easily we will understand them.

2）Try to catch the key words of a sentence. English words are divided into notional words and functional words. Readers are used to putting emphasis on notional words. Since notional words have strong linguistic flowing and slow speed， they're easily understood by listeners.

d. Some detailed steps to teach listening

Before students' listening， the teachers should introduce some background knowledge and ask some questions related to the listening material. Students can be made to listen to it with a clear purpose so as to enhance students' listening efficiency.

While listening， firstly， let students listen to the material without a break in order to help them grasp the main idea and important details. Secondly， replay the tape and explain what the students did not understand. Then， play the tape again and discuss the questions in pairs. In this way， students develop their listening skills systematically.

After finishing the exercises， the teacher can get the students to discuss in groups about some topics on listening materials and report their results to class. The step helps to deepen students' impression of what they have learned.

Ⅳ. Conclusion

Listening skill is one of the most important skills. The teachers should try to provide the students with help by giving him carefully selected listening materials and make their teaching more interesting and more effective through various activities and creative teaching methods. Only when the students find the listening easy to understand can they be stirred to practice English listening.

References：

[1]Emery. P. G （1998） Evaluating spoken English： A new Approach to the testing of Listening Comprehension. ELTC （VOL. 34， No. 2）

[2]Richards， J. C. （1983）. Listening comprehension： Approach， Design， Procedure. TESOL Quarterly （VOL. 17， No. 2）

[3]《外語測試的理論和方法》 舒運祥，世界圖書出版社，1999年

[4]《英語教學法》 顧日國，外語教學與研究出版社

[5]《外語教學法》 章兼中，浙江教育出版社，1991年.