2005 6

28 3

CELEA JournalBim onthly

Jun2005
Vol
28 No
3

FACTORS AFFECTING LISTENING COMPREHENSION

AND STRATEGIES FOR LISTENING CLASS

Li Chengxing
Heilongjiang August First Land Recla m ation University

and knowledge This involves understanding a

Abstract
As one of the fundamental language skills speaker s accent or pronunciation his gra m m ar
and his vocabulary and grasping his m eaning
listening is a mediu m through w hich listeners gain a
Howatt and Dakin
In order to decode m essage
large portion of their informationEspecially in this
input exactly and accurately the listeners m ust
day of mass co m m unication
itis of vitalim portance
have storage of certain a m ount of codescorrect
that our students are taught to listen effectively and
pronunciation exact m eaning and correct usages
criticallySo the past years has seen a steady increase
of certain m ount of vocabulary

in the interest in studying listening co m prehension

IIFactors affecting listening co m prehension
We can read considerable articles on listening skills
and so me related listening teaching strategiesIn this
article so me factors w hich influence listening
co m prehension were analyzed and so me teaching
suggestions were put forward to make the listening
classes m ore effective
Key w ords
decoding
listening
co m prehension
strategies

teaching

1 Incorrect and insufficient codes

In China because of the traditional teaching
style w hich stressed the ability to deal with every
kind exa minations both teachers and students
have paid m uch attention to the ability of reading
co m prehension and doing a lot of written
exercises w hile ignoring the students ability of
listening and speaking as a result m ost students
only pay attention to the spelling and superficial
m eaning of m ost w ords and they don t grasp the
exact pronunciations of w ords Their poor
linguistic co m petence does not enables the m
presu m ably to recognize the form atives of the
heard utterance i
eto dissect out of the wave
fro m of the m orphe m es w ords and other
m eaning
bearing ele m ents of the utterance

listening

I Introduction
Listening co m prehension a co m plicated
decoding process involves a nu m ber of basic
processes so m e depending upon linguistic
co m petence so m e depending upon previous
knowledge that is not necessarily of a purely
linguistic nature and so m e depending upon
psychological variables that affect the m obilization
of these co m petences and knowledge in the
particular task situation

2 Lacking necessary listening skills

Lacking necessary listening skillsis the second
critical factor affecting the students listening
co m prehension Because of the ignorance of the
im portance oflistening teaching
the students have
less listening practice for their foreign language
learning and the teaching purposes of listening
class and m ost listening m aterial w hich is selected

Fro m the point of view of listeners linguistic

co m petence listening is a co m plex process in
w hich listenersinteract with a speaker to construct
m eaning within the context of their experiences
113

Factors Affecting Listening Co m prehension and Strategies for Listening Class Li Chengxing

in the class focus on checking the students ability

instead of teaching necessary listening skills So
the teaching m odels of m ost listening class confine
tolistening and checking answers

3 Inappropriate listening m aterial

In listening class teachers tend to choose
passages record news of broadcasts or prepare
lectures All of the m have value but they are
extre m ely difficult sources for early practice in
selective listeningThis type of listening exercises
does not present the redundancies the
colloquialisms the hesitations the gestures and
the facial expressions that are an inseparable part
of the spoken language They e m phasize
inform ational content and fail to provide the
signals used to co m m unicate inform ation and
m eaning

IIIStrategies for listening classes

Taking the above factors into consideration
we can divide the listening class process into three
stages
1 Pre
listeningpurpose m ust be given at this
stage
2 Duringin
w hilelistening
3 Post
listeningspeaking

1 Pre
listening Setting the Stage
Effective listening requires that students be
prepared for w hat they are about to hear so that
they can re m ove the obstacles at the literal level
Pre
listening activities encourage students to listen
at the interpretive and critical levelsSo m e jobs
that have to be done and purposes for pre
listening
are listed below
11 Set proper purposes for listening
When proper and clear purposes for listening
are designed for the students
they will know w hat
they will pay attention to and they will beco m e
active listeners w ho listen for so m e certain things
This enhances their co m prehension and retention
Students w ho have identified a purpose for
listening are m ore willing participants secure in
knowing w hat is expected of the m
12 Correct so m e wrong pronunciations of so m e
w ords and re m ove linguistic obstacles
It is im portant for students to get rid of so m e
wrong
pronunciations Through
students
discussion the teachers can find their bed
pronunciations w hich are obstacles for their
114

listening co m prehension and correct the m

13 Ignite interest by discussing and enrich so m e
background knowledge and m otivate students
to attend to the spoken m aterial
Topics or so m e reading m aterial related to the
listening m aterial should be design by the teachers
for the students to discuss or read Activities that
prepare students for reading are often equally
helpful in preparing the m for listening When
students are able to relate the m aterial they will
listen to their ow n experience they are m ore
willing to listen actively Using pre
listening
activities teachers can create an environ m ent
conducive to listening and encourage effective
listening by re m ove obstacles oflisteningThrough
involve m ent in pre
listening activities students
can develop an interest in the speaker s topic and
beco m e willing active listeners

2 During Listening Supporting and Managing the

Listening Process

Creating

separate instructional listening

situations m ay be useful occasionally however
it
is m ore effective w hen listening instruction
perm eates the school day Isolated listening
instruction is artificial and does not foster transfer
to students real life To practice listening in
m eaningful
contexts
students
require
opportunities to engage in open dialogue with peers
in such inform al situations as writing conferences
and literature circles They also need practice in
m ore form al situations such as listening to student
prepared speeches and guest speakersIn listening
class
so m e jobs have to be done by the teacher
21 Choose appropriate listening m aterial
The teacher should try to selectthose teaching
m aterial w hich can be used in the way as follows
First
the teacher can use brief mini
lessons to
instruct students about effective listening practices
and behaviors for a variety of situations and
purposes Second the students can listen in a
variety of situations for a variety of purposese
g
one
on
one conversations group discussions
form al speeches oral reading and students
presentations
Third the students can develop
their social skills through listeninge
gattending
to speaker
questioning for clarification
using and
interpreting
nonverbal su m m arizing and
paraphrasing to de m onstrate understanding

Forth
the students can use listening effectively as
a m eans of learning and connecting to prior
knowledge

CELEA Journal 61

22 Teach listening skills

According to Wills1981
134 there are a
series of micro
skills of listening w hich she calls
enabling skillsThey are

encourage students to understand that there are

purposes for listening and e m phasize that the
inform ation gained will be useful to the m Post
listening activities are m ost effective w hen
im ple m ented im m ediately after the listening
1 guessing at unknow n w ords or phrases
experience beco m es a direct extension of it Well
without panic
planned post
listening activities offer students
opportunities to connect w hat they have heard to
2 using one s ow n knowledge of the subject
their ow n ideas and experiences and encourage
to help one understand
interpretive and critical listening and reflective
3identifying relevant points rejecting
thinkingIt is im portant to encourage students to
irrelevant inform ation
reflect and to clarify and extend their thinking
4 retaining relevant point note
taking about w hat they have heard by m aking concrete
responses w hich m ay be written
spoken visual
su m m arizing
or dra m aticSo certain activities and assign m ents
5 recognizing discourse m arkers e
g Well m ust be designed by the teacher in order to
Oh another thing is Now
finally etc
enhance Students co m prehension
6 understanding differentintonation patterns
and uses of stress etcw hich give clues
to m eaning and social setting
7 understanding inferred inform ation e
g
speakers attitude or intentions

It is of vital im portance that our students be

taught to listen effectively and critically w hile
actually they are not introduced to the skills and
put the m into their practice
23 Foster students
co m prehension of the
speaker s language and ideas by designing
proper questions
Certain
tasks
can
attract
students
participation Active participation in the listening
experience helps students co m prehend the
speaker s language and ideas connecting the m to
w hat they already know about language and the
topicBy checking the answers to the questions to
m onitor their ow n understanding of the speaker s
m essagee
gasking the mselvesDoes this m ake
sense
students know w hen to request
clarification of w hat they do not understand To
encourage students critical reactions and personal
responses to the speaker s ideas and use of
language should be teachers m ain dutyStudents
w ho listen attentively jotting notes questions
and responses are better prepared to interact with
the speaker during or after listening

3 Post
listening Responding Reflecting and
Reconstructing Understanding
31 Design follow
up activities
Follow
up activities to listening experiences
are critical because they extend students learning
115

32 Cultivating a good environ m ent

Cultivating a good environ m ent for im proving
listening co m prehension is im perative for
im proving the students co m prehensionExposure
to oral English is very im portant to im prove
students listening co m prehension So it is very
im portant for the teachers to create a good English
learning environ m ent and provide the students
with m any accessible resourcesThe students need
to hear the language spoken in m eaningful contexts
in order to acquire it Their receptive language
abilities precede their expressive speaking
language abilities so they need to spend a great
deal of tim e listening before and as they develop
their speaking abilities

References
Austin S 1970 Speaking Listening A
Contemporary Approach Harcourt Brace
World
IncUSA
Carroll E R G Abbott P Wingard1985
The Teaching of English as an International
Language A Practical GuideGreat Britain
Carroll E R 1969 The Learning of Language
National Council of Teachers of English
Publication New York
Underw ood M 1989 Teaching Listening New
York Long man Inc
Nunan D 1991 Language Teaching Methodology
London prentice Hall
Wang JJ 1994 The feasibility of integrating
listening and speaking courses for English majors
at Tertiary level Proceeding of the First
International Sy m posiu m on Foreign language
teaching Wuhan Huanzhong University of
Science and Technology Press