Context and Listening Comprehension

Qin Yingying

【Abstract】Context is very important factor that cant be ignored in speech communication. Context contributes much to understanding the meaning of words. The exact and thorough interpretation of words and utterance results from contexts. The relation is discussed between context and listening comprehension， and the functions of context are analyzed in listening. It is pointed out that the analysis of contextual clues is useful in understanding listening materials and also introduces some ways on contextual clues in listening so as to improve listening comprehension.

【Key words】context； listening comprehension； listening teaching

At present， in CET-4 the ratio of listening comprehension has been increased from the former 20% out of the total score to 35% since June， 2006. Thus it becomes an urgent task to improve students listening comprehension in English teaching. However， in many colleges and universities， teachers are only the recording players while students are sitting there to listen in listening class. Therefore for the sake of misunderstanding listening comprehension and teaching in a simple， out-dated way， most students can not have a good command of listening ability.

Context is important in communication for it asks the speaker to take all the factors that may influence the utterance into consideration and encode them into words and at the same time helps the interpreters to decode the meaning through the combination of the signals and the situation.

It is easy for us to pay attention to context in real life but how the foreign language teachers teach a language with the employment of context in a limited environment， such as classrooms， is a big problem.

Elements like what the topic is， whether the speaker of the utterance is a male or a female， what his or her social status is， as well as what the relationship between the involved speakers is， all contribute to the meaning of a certain word， a phrase or a sentence. Besides people with different social roles， managers and employers， parents and children， doctors and parents， teachers and students would use different expressions. Finally， when and where this dialogue takes place is vital. Talking in a church is quite different from talking in a restaurant or at home.

In CET-4， questions like “where does this conversation most probably take place” or “Whats the possible relationship between the two speakers” are quite common. It becomes very necessary for students to familiarize themselves with typical phrases and expressions used at different times and in different places. For example， the expressions like “What is the trouble” or “What is wrong” usually used between doctors and patients. The person who says “What can I do for you” or “May I make a recommendation” is usually a servant in a restaurant.

It is unlikely for one to be regarded as a good listener if he or she has no sufficient cultural knowledge. Western and Chinese cultures differ in value systems， peoples ways of thinking and habits of expressions， and so on. As far as value system is concerned， westerners praise highly of originality and personality while oriental people emphasize unity and stability. Westerners think deductively and linearly while easterners think inductively and circularly. Cultural connotation is probably one of the greatest barriers among all the differences lying in front of foreign language learners.

Students with a lot of cultural background knowledge in English， America， or any other English speaking countries， tend to understand their way of thinking， as a result， their real meaning of utterances. In addition， they can understand the whole expression through culture background.

Example 3：

W： My hand still hurts from the fall on the ice yesterday. I wonder if I broke something.

M： Im no doctor， but its not black and blue or anything. Maybe you just need to rest it for a few days.

Q： what do we learn about the woman from the conversation？

A） She is black and blue all over.

B） She has to go to see a doctor.

C） She stayed away from work for a few days.

D） She got hurt in an accident yesterday.

（Question 18， PartⅢ， CET4， December， 2010）

In this conversation， there might be a phrase that students have never met before： black and blue， which might be an obstacle while listening. But if students are aware of some differences in color expressions between Chinese and English， such as black tea， blue film， blue blood， be in a blue mood， to name just a few， listeners will naturally associate it with the equivalent Chinese expression “qing yi kuai zi yi kuai” which means badly hurt. In this conversation， the man said that the womans hurt is “not black and blue or anything”， which indicates that the damage to the woman is not that serious. So consequently， it becomes easy for them to make the correct choice.

Therefore， it is a must for teachers to cultivate students knowledge of a foreign culture. They might encourage students to participate in various activities related to English learning， such as reading English magazines， newspapers， novels， listening to English broadcast like VOA or BBC， watching original English movies， and participate in certain games or competitions aiming at improving their practical use of the English language.

Effective application of context plays a crucial role in the teaching of listening comprehension as well as in CET 4. Teachers should see context from a new point of view， trying to cultivate students' sense of context with more innovative teaching methods， and finally， make use of it to the greatest extent. Also teachers should help students to realize the importance context； at the same time， foster their competence of anticipation. Furthermore， they could intentionally introduce some cultural backgrounds to students. And finally， try to lead them to analyze speaker's communicative intention. Only in this way， can students develop their sense of context and better make use of its theory in almost any kinds of listening tasks.

References：

[1]Harmer，Jeremy How to Teach English[M].Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2000.

[2]Kramsch，C.Context and Culture in Language Teaching[M].Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Educational Publishing Corporation，1994.

[3]Richards，J.C.The Context of Language Teaching[M].Cambridge：Cambridge University Press，1985.