A Study on English Listening Learning and Psychological Diversity of Junior Middle School Students in Long Wen Education

張燕珍

Abstract： As English becomes an international language， people are paying more attention to English. Especially they pursue the continuous improvement of oral English， which requires people to improve their listening ability continuously. More and more educational researchers in China conduct researches on listening teaching of junior middle school teachers. However， nowadays there are still lots of problems on which kind of teaching methods are most suitable for improving junior middle school students English listening learning. English listening learning of junior middle school students in Long Wen Education is chosen for further study in this thesis. At the same time， combining with psychological diversity of junior middle school students in Long Wen Education， teachers should teach students in accordance with their aptitude and shouldnt follow the same pattern.

Key words： listening ability; listening teaching; psychological diversity

1.Introduction

As Liu Runqing & Wen Xu（2015）point out， “Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication”. So language is used for human communication. English is an important language for junior middle school students in Long Wen Education to learn. Listening， as a necessary part of English， is also both a part of language skills and one of significant language communication.

1.1Research Background

Firstly， junior middle school teachers in this society attached much significance to read and write， but they neglected training students listening and speaking ability， which resulted in a typical "deaf and dumb English" among junior middle students. Secondly， the junior middle school teachers personal education concept is relatively backward. Lastly， lack of suitable listening comprehension materials belong to other difficulties of junior middle school teachers in listening teaching.

1.2 Necessity of the Research

Firstly， listening is an important indicator of language ability. Secondly， listening comprehension is one of the most basic channels for ensuring effective communication among people. The listener is not just to understand the superficial of view expressed by the speaker， what is more important is that the listener can understand the speaker's intentions.

2.The Psychological Factors in Influencing Junior Middle School Students English Listening Learning

These psychological factors mainly include anxiety， motivation and willpower. Teachers should fully consider the psychological impacts of these factors on students in English listening teaching.

2.1 The Anxiety factor in Listening Learning

Anxiety is an emotion characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil， often accompanied by nervous behavior. When students in Long Wen Education practice English listening in the classroom， they can not understand the input materials and they cant follow the speed or rhythm of speech， which are all the factors to lead to listening comprehension difficulties.

2.2 The Motivation factor in Listening Learning

As Le （2014） points out， “motivation is a term used to refer to some kind of driving force， either internal or external， in human or subhuman beings. Internal motivation is one caused by internal factors and External motivation is caused by the external stimulation.

2.3 The Willpower factor in Listening Learning

According to PSYCHOLOGY OUTLINE， the willpower is the purposeful determination. People can control and regulate their behavior to overcome difficulties. So when junior middle school students in Long Wen Education learn English， they need willpower to learn well in English listening learning and willpower can conquer their bad habits.

3.The Psychological Diversity of Junior Middle School Students in Listening Learning

The psychological diversity are also the key points in this thesis. In the process of listening training， teachers in Long Wen Education should fully think about the psychological factors of junior middle school students and respect the psychological differences of junior middle school students.

3.1 Gender Differences and English Listening Learning

The main manifestations of psychological gender differences are shown in intelligence， speech development， behavior， interest or confidence.

3.1.1 Genetic Analyses of Gender Differences

According to Peng Danling（2016）， individual difference refers to the phenomenon that individuals differ from each other in physical and mental characteristics for their genetic and environmental exchange during their growth. Gender is one of the important aspects in individual differences. Female growth and vocal organs are older than male. In terms of the flexibility of thinking， boys in Long Wen Education are superior to girls in Long Wen Education.

3.1.2 Differences between Male and Female Junior Middle School Students

In all kinds of verbal abilities， English listening comprehension with words is a very complicated learning process. The average scores of female junior middle school students in Long Wen Education in certain word tasks， such as the formation of synonyms and the fluency of words， are significantly higher than male.

3.1.3 Gender Differences in Listening Learning and Teaching Strategies

Male junior middle school students in Long Wen Education can take advantage of their own logical reasoning ability in English listening comprehension and develop their own interests， enthusiasms and self-confidences in conducting English listening training. And female junior middle school students in Long Wen Education can make good use of their abilities of mechanical memory and practice makes perfect.

3.2 Personality Differences and English Listening Learning

According to Liu Runqing & Wen Xu （2015：280）， “ in the eyes of many language teachers， the personality of their students constitutes a major factor contributing to success or failure in language learning.

3.2.1 The Performances of Personality Differences in Junior Middle School Students Listening Learning

The personality differences in junior middle school students' English listening learning mainly come to ability and character. Knowledge and skills are the foundation of ability， but only those which can be widely used and migrated can be transformed into ability. So if junior middle school students in Long Wen Education have kept reciting English words and learning grammar， their English listening ability can be improved.

3.2.2 The Influences of Personality Differences in English Listening Learning

Junior middle school students in Long Wen Education who is given more abilities can make themselves confident in English listening learning. But students in Long Wen Education with introverted personality will behave more depressing in English listening class. Their well-focused learning in the listening class enables them to better set their listening goals and make plans to work hard for accomplishing them， which is beneficial to their English listening comprehension.

4.The Language learning Strategies of Dealing with Psychological Differences in English Listening Learning

Liu Runqing & Wen Xu （2015）had given a definition to learning strategies -- “l(fā)earning strategies are learners conscious， goal-oriented and problem-solving based efforts to achieve learning efficiency and they are the particular approaches or techniques that learners use to try to learn an L2”. In other words， students in Long Wen Education can use learning strategies when they are faced with psychological differences in English listening learning.

4.1 Metacognitive strategies

“Metacognitive strategies make use of knowledge about cognitive processes and constitute attempts to regulate language learning by means of planning， monitoring and evaluating. They have an executive function.” （ibid.282） It refers to methods which is used to let junior middle school students in Long Wen Education understand the way they learn. Using these strategies， first， students in Long Wen Education should make a plan before listening to English. Then they should think about the monitoring of listening comprehension materials that should be remembered or reviewing attention to a task in English listening learning.

4.2 Cognitive strategies

“Cognitive strategies refer to the steps or operations used in problem solving that need direct analysis， transformation or synthesis of learning materials. They have an operative or cognitive-processing function.”（ibid.281） They are more directly related to individual learning tasks in English listening learning. First， middle school students in Long Wen Education can rehearse the listening comprehension materials. Besides， they can use information in listening text to guess the meaning of new words. Lastly， students can summarize what they have heard to ensure the information has been retained.

4.3 Affective strategies

“Affective strategies concern the ways in which learners choose to interact with other learners and native speakers. Generally， they are considered applicable to a wide variety of tasks.”（ibid.283） Junior middle school students in Long Wen Education should have a positive attitude toward their English listening learning and they should encourage themselves.

5.Conclusion

In this thesis， the author only researches English listening learning and psychological diversity of junior middle school students in Long Wen Education. The aim of this thesis is to appear to more teachers to pay close attention to English listening learning of junior middle school students. In this thesis， the author concentrates on the psychological factors in influencing junior middle school students English listening learning and the psychological diversity as well as the language learning strategies of dealing with psychological differences in English listening learning， which contributes to the future studies on junior middle school students English listening learning.

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