OnImprovingListeningSkills.doc

On Improving Listening Ability:From the Perspective of the listening Anxiety1. IntroductionEnglish is well-established as a world language. As is known, language learning consists of four basic skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. But now, it is generally recognized that listening is a highly integrative skill. As Rivers and Temperly put it, for the language used in social practice, 45% of that is done through listening. It shows that listening plays an important role, facilitating the emergence of other language skills. But at the same time, some statistics show that nearly 50% students regard listening as the most difficult part. So the training of listening ability takes up a very important position and it is also a technical barrier difficult to break down. 2. The classification and demonstration of the listening anxiety Anxiety is almost impossible to define in a simple sentence. Brown puts, it is associated with feelings of uneasiness, frustration, self-doubt or worry. It has been proved that the anxiety has a negative effect on language learning, and it is considered to be an important factor affecting listening comprehension. Kreshen puts it, all the other factors may fail to encourage listening comprehension when students are inclined to be anxious. 2.1 The classificationIn listening comprehension, the anxiety can be divided into two kinds. The first is called “the facilitating anxiety”, which can be transformed into the study power. It will help students build up the confidence, meet the new study challenge, focus their attention, urge them to endeavor toward the target spontaneously, and facilitate them to make greater progress. But the second one, “the debilitating anxiety”, which can be used to promote listening comprehension only through students can first overcome it, because it will hinder the process of language learning and the possibility of students contacting the new study, hurt students confidence, and destroy the study mood of students. In this case, it is necessary to help students avoid the negative influence of the second one, and know what kinds of negative demonstration belong to the debilitating anxiety.2.2 The demonstrationThe first is “students passive input”. They will impose some intangible pressure on their psychology when they are doing listening, and they may use the passive attitude to treat what they have heard. Thats all because they never regard themselves as an active element in the process of listening. The second is “students constant tiredness”. In listening, the tempo of the whole information is controlled by others; students can not control the speed of the tape or even stop or rewind what they havent heard clearly. So, they will listen to the tape attentively, and then their cerebrum must be extremely nervous. Gradually, they are tired and feel sleepy. The third is “students worries and nervousness”. The reason is that their listening ability is limited and they are lack of confidence. Undoubtedly, it will block the progress of the thought and stop the input of the information. The last is “students vulnerability to disturbance”. They can easily be disturbed by something, and their attention can quickly be scattered. At this time, they forget what they are doing, and when they remember to listen, they have lost most of the information. 3. The causes of the anxiety in listening comprehension We can give the understatement that most students are once confused by the listening anxiety. Someone may overcome it, but there are still some people who cant find the essential reasons that cause the listening anxiety. So here, these aspects those students should pay attention to if they have being puzzled by the listening anxiety.3.1 The insufficient storage of linguistic knowledge Linguistic knowledge is an essential requisite. It is very difficult for one to know what they heard without any definite elementary information. The first is “pronunciation”. Many words in English sound in such a way as to conceal their original pronunciation and show a lot of phonetic phenomena. If students are not familiar with it, they just cant distinguish the right pronunciation. The second is “vocabulary”. Vocabulary is an important part in ones ability of communication. If students storage of vocabulary is not enough, it will surely influence their listening. The last is “grammar”. Grammar can help us to catch the implication of the vocal sounds and understand them well, and it is also an essential condition of a whole passage comprehension. If students dont have a solid foundation, itll directly influence their listening and cause the anxiety.3.2 The deficient knowledge of cultural backgroundAs Ander and Lynch put it, Language is the means used by a community to express its culture. So gaps in our knowledge of second language culture, of the associations and references available to native users, can present obstacles to comprehension.” So it is very necessary for students to know some background about English countries. The first kind exists in the interior world of English-speaking countries. The most obvious phenomenon is between BE and AE. The second kind is between English-speaking countries and our nation, as our history, culture, customs, habits, life style, social system, etc. are completely different from theirs. Many students are lack of this kind of knowledge, no wonder they are making mistakes about them and dominated by the anxiety.3.3 The poor psychological quality The process of listening comprehension is a complicated psychological one. Linguists tell us that it is very easy for one to produce some frightened feelings when he has poor psychological diathesis. Put it briefly, there are three important reasons. First, these people are always afraid of being given some bad or negative evaluation. Second, they never believe they can finish the work perfectly. Third, they cant achieve the target which they expected to, and then they will despise them. In fact, these unfavorable factors can be avoided if they can treat themselves objectively.4. The countermeasures of alleviating the listening anxiety4.1 Training the good listening skills and habitsThe first is “predicting skills”. Prediction is one of the most important factors of linguistic ability, is one of the most essential elements on improving listening comprehension, and it is the primary condition if they want to master the material. The second is “guessing ability”. Guessing is an important skill for foreign language learning, especially for listening. We should try to find some clues from the context to guess the meaning of the new word, the new sentence structure in listening, but not stop to listen. Guessing ability will help us not to make the mistake of attending to one thing and losing another. The third is “listening for the main idea”. They must pay attention to the logical relations between the sentences, try to catch the main words and sentences and learn to summarize by more practice. They ought to receive the information purposefully, and bear in mind that the fundamental thought, principal content are the key points. The last is “taking notes”. In order to capture the information given in listening, students have to take notes, or else theyll forget what theyve heard. To take intelligent notes, first, dont try to take down the passage word by word, just make special note of striking or important words. Second, make notes on main idea and on sub-ideas presented. Third, listen to the tape or the teacher carefully, but dont stop to ponder the ideas presented. Fourth, leave blanks for the missed words, phrases, or ideas.4.2 The help of the teacher During the process of helping students to overcome the listening anxiety, teachers play an important role in class. Then, how to become a good teacher? First, give students more chances, let them have the opportunities to fill the blanks in their mind which they may think them later. Second, set different tasks according to the listening stages. Third, giving a hand when students dont understand the listening material may take students out of the depression and the anxiety. Fourth, give them enough time to do the task and use alternatives may reduce students anxiety.4.3 Cultivating the interest in listening comprehension As students begin to learn the listening part, they always keep a curious state. But soon, they will find they cant understand the material even it doesnt contain new words or new structures. If it happens, they will lose the interest and underestimate themselves. In this situation, for teachers, there are three aspects they should pay attention to. The first one, give them the encouragement of each progress which students made in time. Second, provide some interesting materials which are not very difficult for them, let them understand a lot. And at the same time, tell them the listening anxiety is a very common phenomenon in the process of listening. Third, design the varied class activities. We find that a strongly motivated student with great interest is easier to study well.4.4 Combining speaking with listeningWe know that speaking and listening are the first two steps in the process of la