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1、山 东 经 济 学 院本科毕业设计 (论文 ) Application of Learning Strategy in Listening Comprehension设计 ( 论文 ) 题目 : 指导教师：学号：姓名：外国语学院（部）英语专业届山东经济学院教务处制学习策略在听力中的应用山东经济学院学士学位论文原创性声明本人郑重声明：所呈交的学位论文，是本人在导师的指导下进行研究工作所取得的成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的研究成果。对本文的研究做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在论文中作了明确的说明并表示了谢意。本声明的法律结果由本人承担。学位论文作者
2、签名：年月日山东经济学院关于论文使用授权的说明本人完全了解山东经济学院有关保留、使用学士学位论文的规定，即：学校有权保留、送交论文的复印件，允许论文被查阅，学校可以公布论文的全部或部分内容，可以采用影印或其他复制手段保存论文。指导教师签名：论文作者签名：年月日年月日Application of Learning Strategy in Listening Comprehension ABSTRACT As is known to all, it is far from sufficient for an English major to keep his eyes only on textbo
3、oks and several literature classics, various listening materials can be regarded as a good way to acquire English comprehensively besides speaking, reading, writing and translating. Listening comprehension is a complicated process of communication with its own characteristics. It takes a long time f
4、or scholars both at home and abroad to realize the features of listening comprehension and its importance. And not until recently did they begin to apply learning strategies in listening comprehension. This paper is aimed to analyze the application of learning strategies in listening comprehension.
5、The thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter one gives a historical overview of listening comprehension, its classification and distinctive features. Chapter two touches upon the problems in listening comprehension. Chapter three illustrates learning strategy and its application in listening compr
6、ehension. Keywords:listening comprehension; features; learning strategy; application 学习策略在听力理解中的应用摘要众所周知，作为一名合格的英语专业的学生，光靠精读几本教科书或阅读几本文学名著是远远不够的，要全面的掌握英语，除了说，读，写，译之外，多听英语材料不失为好的办法。认识听力的特征和重要性， 国内外学者花费了大量的时间，直到最近才把学习策略应用到听力理解中。本文主要论述在英语听力中学习策略的使用。全文分为三章， 第一章系统回顾了听力研究的历史发展过程， 听力材料的分类及听力独特的特征。第二章指出了目前在
7、听力学习中普遍存在的问题。 第三章讲述了学习策略及在听力理解中应用学习策略。希望这篇文章能够帮助旨在提高英语听力的学生。关键词 ：听力理解；特征；学习策略；应用i CONTENTS Introduction. 1Chapter One An Overview of Listening Comprehension . 1I. A Historical Overview of Listening Comprehension. 1II. Classification of Listening Comprehension. 2III. Distinctive Features of Listening
8、 Comprehension . 2i. An Immediate Correlation Between Word Pronunciation and Word Formation . 2ii. A Limited Time Period of the Revelation of the Information . 2iii. Extreme Importance of Phonological Features in Listening Comprehension . 3Chapter Two Problems Existing in Listening Comprehension . 3
9、I.Linguistic Problems . 3i. Lack of Phonetic and Phonological Knowledge . 3ii. Vocabulary Bottleneck . 4II.Psychological Elements . 4i. Attitude . 4ii. Motivation . 5iii. Personality . 5III. Selecting Listening Materials at Random and Failure in Post-listening Comprehension . 5IV. Physical Barriers.
10、 6i. Memory Functioning . 6ii. Attention Span . 6Chapter Three Application of Learning Strategies in Listening Comprehension . 7I.Definition of Learning Strategy. 7ii II. Classification of Learning Strategy . 7i. Cognitive Strategy . 7ii. Meta-cognitive Strategy . 8iii. Social/Affective Strategy . 8
11、III. Application of Learning Strategy in Listening Comprehension. 8i. Application of Cognitive Strategy . 8ii. Application of Meta-cognitive Strategy . 9iii. Application of Social/Affective Strategy. 9Conclusion. 10Bibliography. 11Acknowledgements . 121 Introduction As one of the five important requ
12、irements of English learners, listening plays an important part in our daily life. Listening comprehension is indispensable if we are to master English comprehensively. However, listening has always been the least understood part compared with speaking, reading, writing and translation. According to
13、 the syllabus for TEM 4 and TEM 8, listening comprehension accounts for 35% of the whole test. This is most likely to claim much attention of the students and puts much pressure on them at the same time. However, although many students have given much attention to listening comprehension and made gr
14、eat efforts in order to improve listening ability, the result is still not so encouraging. It needs some strategies, in other words, learning strategies are also applicable in listening comprehension. However, it takes a long time for scholars both at home and abroad to realize the importance and fe
15、atures of listening comprehension and an even longer time to connect listening comprehension with learning strategy. There are a variety of difficulties which need to be overcome in listening comprehension. This thesis is aimed at helping improving students listening comprehension by applying learni
16、ng strategies. Chapter One An Overview of Listening Comprehension I. A Historical Overview of Listening Comprehension As we all know, listening comprehension is generally acknowledged as an important skill in language learning. It makes up the five essential abilities of an English learner with othe
17、r four: speaking, reading, writing and translating. Listening comprehension is generally defined as such a process: the hearer receives and selects useful information of the speakers, internalizes it as his own and then either makes a response to it or not. Yet, compared with other four skills, it t
18、akes a longer time for scholars to understand listening comprehension thoroughly. For a long time, listening comprehension is considered as a natural ability that can be developed by its own. In other words, “ Teachers expect students to develop their listening skills by Osmosis and without help” (O
19、xford, 1993: 205). It is believed that if students listen to the target language every day, they will improve their listening skills through the experience. Listening comprehension has been neglected or poorly taught. Arguments for listening comprehension began to be voiced in the mid-1960s by River
20、s, who has been long an advocate for “ listening comprehension” (Morley, 2001: 70). Rivers had enough foresight to say that “ Speaking does not of itself constitute communication unlesss what is being said is comprehended by another person”(1996: 196). and that “ Teaching the comprehension of spoken
21、 speeches is therefore of primary importance if the communication aims to be reached ” (1996: 204). Slowly and steadily, more attention has been given to listening comprehension in the 1970s. The status of listening began to change from incidental and peripheral importance to a status of central imp
22、ortance. Instructional programs expanded their focus on pragmatic skills to 2 include listening as well as reading, writing and speaking. In the recent decades, listening comprehension is gradually regarded as an active skill. Byrnes characterizes listening comprehension as a “ highly complex proble
23、m-solving activities that can be broken into sub-skills”(1984: 318). In order to comprehend spoken message, listeners may need to integrate information from a range of sources: phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, etc.The fact that we achieve all this in reality as the message unf
24、olds makes listening comprehension “ complex, dynamic and fragile” (Celce-Murcia, 1995: 366). Nowadays, learning strategies began to be applied in listening comprehension. It is great progress to connect the two. “ Nevertheless, much remains to be done in both theory and pratice” (Morley, 2001: 69).
25、 II. Classification of Listening Comprehension Trying to classify listening comprehension into one category is impossible as there is a variety of listening forms. All of them are of the same importance if we are to master the language of English, to improve the linguistic proficiency and to equip u
26、s with the knowledge of all facets of life of foreign countries. Listening comprehension can be classified from different perspectives. According to the purpose of listening materials, it can be classified into listening for test purpose, such as the listening section in TEM 4 and TEM 8 and listenin
27、g for information-providing purpose such as the news broadcast. According to the forms of questions that appear on a test paper, there are multiple-choice listening, gap-filling listening and dictation listening. According to the content of listening comprehension, it can be grouped as political lis
28、tening, economic listening, technological listening, cultural listening, entertainment listening, so on and so forth. III. Distinctive Features of Listening Comprehension Like many other essential requirements of an English learner, listening comprehension also claims high and comprehensive ability.
29、 For example, he needs to know the basic rules of the English language, master sufficient vocabulary, have enough background knowledge and so on. However, it carries its own characteristics. i. An Immediate Correlation Between Word Pronunciation and Word FormationWith thousands of words and a great
30、deal of grammatical rules, a student may have no trouble in reading articles and written materials, but he may be not able to understand the listening materials. It is not surprising because in some cases, he is a “ deaf” man. Only when the materials are written down can he determine whether he unde
31、rstands the materials or not. Unlike other sections, in listening comprehension, you have to link the form with the meaning of the word quickly. ii. A Limited Time Period of the Revelation of the Information Either in conversation or listening tests, listening materials temporarily exist. The messag
32、e 3 reveals itself while being uttered. After that everything disappears. One can never revert to the beginning to have it once again. Therefore, one has to strain his ears and grasp the meaning as quickly as possible. Sometimes, taking notes may be a great help. iii. Extreme Importance of Phonologi
33、cal Features in Listening Comprehension Since listening comprehension is firstly uttered by the speaker, phonological features such as stress and intonation give significant information about the speakers. Take intonation for example, there are four types of intonation in English language, known as
34、the four tones: the falling tone, the rising tone, the fall-rise tone and the rise-fall tone. The most frequently used are the first three. When spoken in different tones, the same sequence of words may have different meanings. Generally speaking, “ the falling tone indicates that what is being said
35、 is a straight-forward, matter-of-fact statement, the rising tone often makes a question of what is said, and the fall-rise tone often indicates there is an implied message in what is said” (Dai Weidong, He Zhaoxiong, 2005: 30). Thus, sometimes, even we fail to follow the speaker, we may still know
36、the intention or the attitudes of the speaker. Chapter Two Problems Existing in Listening Comprehension As has been revealed in the above chapter, listening comprehension covers a wide range of subjects, carries its own characteristics and claims not only listening ability but also reading ability a
37、s well as note-taking ability, to name just a few. It is understandable that many problems exist in listening comprehension of the English learners. I.Linguistic Problems i. Lack of Phonetic and Phonological Knowledge Phonetic knowledge is the good foundation for understanding listening comprehensio
38、n. Lacking of such knowledge leads to various problems, which can be categorized as follows: Firstly, the listener s pronunciation may be incorrect. He stores in his memory the wrong information of a word, so he is unable to know the meaning of a word when it is uttered by others. Stress also plays
39、an important role in listening comprehension. For example, one understands “ resign” , however, he is puzzled at “ resignation” because of the change of stress. Then we should take into account the different pronunciations between British English and American English, such as “ schedule ” , “ missil
40、e” , “ kilometer” , etc. Secondly, he is not accustomed to liaison, especially foreigner s liaison. Because of not getting used to liaison, learners usually make the following mistakes. Firstly, they mistake two words for one, for example, “ a part”for “ apart” , “ a special”for “ especial” . Someti
41、mes they divide one word into several components, for example, “ underground ” for “ under the gound” . Secondly, word clipping occurs. It means a word appears abridged resulting from weak listening comprehension. For instance, they mistake “ set up tent cities” for “ set up ten cities”and “ freeze
42、the nuclear program ” for “ to free the nuclear program ” , so on and so forth. Thirdly, they are unable to analyze affixes. A great amount of English words derive from some words which previously exists plus prefixes or suffixes. Without the knowledge of the 4 addition the affixes, learners will en
43、counter many new words which they think are hard to master. As a result, these so-called new words affect the listening comprehension. For example, “ marine”means “ relating to sea ” , “ way”means “ road” , but suppose that a student does not know the meaning of “ sub-” , then he seems not to unders
44、tand the word “ submarine ” , which means “ under the surface of the sea, or naval vessel that can operate under water as well as on the surface”and “ subway” , which means “ underground railway or underground pedestrian tunnel” . ii. Vocabulary Bottleneck It seems unnecessary and meaningless to str
45、ess the importance of vocabulary in listening comprehension, because it is so evident that even a pupil knows what predicament he will face in communication if lacking of sufficient vocabulary. However, some students complain that they can still not grasp the meaning of the listening though they hav
46、e memorized thousands of words. As far as vocabulary is concerned, the following aspects should call our attention when handling listening comprehension. Firstly, homonymy and polysemy cause difficulties in not only understanding written articles but also comprehending listening materials. Homonymy
47、refers to the phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same form, i. e., different words are identical in sound or spelling, or in both. When two words are identical in sound, they are homophones. When two words are identical in spelling, they are homographs. Polysemy means that one
48、word has more than one meaning. This kind of phenomenon increases the difficulty of listening comprehension. Take homonymy for example, “ find”and “ fined” , “ cent”and “ sent”and “ compliment”and “ complement”are all homonyms. Obviously if we can not find the exact meaning of the word in the contex
49、t, it would be misleading. Secondly, collocations in listening comprehension such as “make do with” , “ has been ” will pose some challenges. Thirdly, a great number of new words emerge, such as “ netizen” , “ e-bay” . Fourthly, there are a huge number of complicated proper nouns, for example, “ UND
50、P” . II.Psychological Elements So far, we have known that phonetic and phonological factors have effects on how the learners improve their ability of listening comprehension. We will now examine a number of psychological dimensions: attitude, motivation and personality. i. Attitude The result of lis
51、tening comprehension are often subject to personal factors, which are changeable and thus hard to identify. Suppose that a student has just been criticized by his teacher for his improper behaviors in class, it is understandable that his feeling goes up and down to some extent. His spirit must be ve
52、ry low. When it comes to listening, which requires concentration of his mind, the result can be disappointing. Therefore, attitude towards the teacher or the listening materials can affect the outcome of the listening comprehension. 5 According to Krashen, attitude can be categorized into two groups
53、, “ positive and negtive”(1981: 89). The positive attitude can encourage listeners to acquire more input and ignore distractive factors. ii. Motivation Motivation, defined as the learner s affective state or learning drive, has a strong impact on his efforts in learning a second language. The most e
54、xtensive research into the role of motivation has been conducted by Gardener and Lambert. They drew a basic distinction between “ an instrumental motivation, an integrative motivation and an intrinsic motivation” (1972: 60). The first occurs when people learn a forgein language for external goals su
55、ch as passing exams, financial rewards or furthering a career，etc. The second occurs when people learn a foreign language because of the wish to identify with the target culture. The third occurs when people learn the second language for enjoyment or pleasure from learning. Compared with other motiv
56、ations, the intrinsic motivation can help us learn a second language better. It is our own interest towards a second language that can make us learn it well. It is the same with listening comprehension. Therefore, we d better cultivate interest towards listening comprehension instead of doing a list
57、ening task unwillingly. iii. Personality In general psychology, personality has been explored in terms of a number of personal traits. Cattell, for instance, attempts to measure personality by using a series of dichotomies, such as “ cool and warm, shy and venturesome, not assertive and dominant”(19
58、70: 101). Eysenck identifies two general traits-“ extrovert and introvert, neurotic and stable ” (1964: 54). According to Rod Ellis, “ affective factors such as learners personalities can influnce the degree of anxiety they experience and their preparedness to take risks in learning and using an L2”
59、 (2001: 73). One of the intuitively appealing hypotheses that have been investigated is that extrovert learners learn more rapidly and are more successful than introvert learners. It has suggested that extrovert learners will find it easier to make contact with other users of the L2 and therefore wi
60、ll obtain more input. In a word, an out-going personality may contribute to acquisition. Being extrovert, the classroom learner may benefit from getting more practices in using the L2. According to the above theory, students who are extroverted do well in L2 learning. It is of course true of the lis
61、tening comprehension. III. Selecting Listening Materials at Random and Failure in Post-listening Comprehension As has been mentioned above in “ motivation” , selecting proper listening materials is quite important. Many students tend to use whatever materials that come to them to train their listeni
62、ng skill, regardless of their own ability and the level of complexity of the listening materials. This can only frustrate them if the material is too difficult or has no use if the 6 material is too easy. Besides, many students tend to put the listening material away immediately they finish it witho
63、ut correcting it, giving himself a proper comment, exchanging opinions with others and learning experience from others. In this case, they may find themselves no improvement at all. What is the use of listening? IV. Physical Barriers Apart from psychological factors, two physical aspects-memory and
64、attention span-have been focused on, because they play a critical role in listening comprehension in the author s viewpoint. We must abide by scientific approaches to tackle these problems. i. Memory Functioning An influential model of memory functioning within cognitive psychology (Atkinson andSchi
65、ffrin, 1968: 99) suggested that two major stages are implied: short-term memory and long-term memory. Short-term memory is to store simple sentence patterns, so it lasts very short. Once the simple sentence structure is related to meaning, short-term memory is transfered into long-termmemory. Theref
66、ore, the key to successful language skill training is how to transfer short-term memory into a long-term one. Long-term memory is closely related to intensity and frequency. Psychologically, intensity not only refers to efficient measures taken during training but also liveliness and importance of t
67、he listening materials, sentimental response and relevant association aroused in recipients. Frequency refers to the times when materials are presented. Generally speaking, the more frequent the material appears, the longer the material is kept in the learner s mind. So students should repractise th
68、e same listening material often, to find out why they fail to grasp the meaning here and improve their listening ability with a more definite purpose. It is advisable that we listen one listening material more than one time and have it better understood instead of listening to many materials without
69、 any result. ii. Attention Span Attention span means the period of time during which man is able to mentally focus, attend and sustain concentration. The attention span in listening means the time when one can go on listening without feeling bored and distracted. Attention span is subject to interna
70、l and external factors. Internal factors are hard to be identified because these factors are different with different people. But it is fairly easy to identify external distractive factors. Stuffy rooms and noisy surroundings, tapes of poor quality, for example. Researchers have also found that in t
71、he process of listening comprehension, the highly intensified attention to materials can only last about 15-20 minutes (Bligh, 1983: 12), then fall down to a low level, after a while rise to the previous level again. The process shows a shape of the letter U. Bligh (1983) also found that students wh
72、o undertake listening training will show the sign of over-fatigue after focusing on a 50-minute lecture, so any listening training against the rule of attention span will directly affect the result of the listening comprehension. 7 Chapter Three Application of Learning Strategies in Listening Compre
73、hension Always, when we do something, we tend to use certain kinds of ways to guide us. That is strategy. Whether people adopt strategies or not and what kind of strategies they choose determine the time and the efforts they spend on the task and the results. Since all learners, good learners or und
74、erachievers use somewhat similar strategies, it has been notoriously difficult for researchers to reach a consensus in strategy studies. So far what has been accepted is that successful learners tend to use more strategies and use them more selectively and flexibly. I.Definition of Learning Strategy
75、 Learning strategy still has no widely-accepted definition since it was first proposed 30 years ago.Bialystock (1978: 69) thought “ Strategy is the most ideal way to improve the second language learning ability by using effective information.”Westein and Mayer (1986: 315) believed “ Linguistic learn
76、ing strategy is what learners do or act in the process of language learning which aim to give an effect on the process of coding.” Rubin (1987: 331) generalized learning strategy as “ any operation, procedure, plan and customary behaviors while learners obtain, store, reobtain and use linguistic inf
77、ormation. ” O Malley and Chamot (1990: 40) took learning strategy as “ special thoughts and actions learners use to help themselves comprehend, learn or store information.” Oxford (1990: 32) termed strategy as “ specific actions learners take in language studies to facilitate language study and help
78、 himself learn more quickly and become more adaptable to a new environment. ” According to the above definitions, it is easy to see that learning strategies are learner s conscious goal-oriented and problem-solving based efforts to achieve learning efficiency.More specifically, we notice that learni
79、ng strategy not only involves learners mental process but specific visible behaviors they take to go through the complete study. II. Classification of Learning StrategyAmong various divisions of learning strategy,those by Chamot and Oxford (1986: 175) are widely-accepted. In their opinion, there are
80、 three types of strategies: Cognitive strategy, Meta- cognitive strategy and Social/Affective strategy.i. Cognitive Strategy This type of strategy involves analyzing, synthesizing and internalizing what has been learned. It consists of some sub-categories, for example, how to use the target language
81、 reference language materials, how to apply rules to understand or produce second or foreign language sentences, how to take notes and make summaries, how to predict the possible questions that will be proposed while listening, and how to use background knowledge or schema etc. 8 ii. Meta-cognitive
82、Strategy This type of strategy refers to the techniques in planning, monitoring and evaluating one s learning. It is composed of some sub-categories too. Under meta-cognitive categories are planning skills such as self-management, paying attention to important things selectively, arranging learning
83、tasks and knowing the requirements of the task; monitoring skills such as shifting learning strategies timely and self-evaluation skills which enable learners to become more aware of their progress and weakness. iii. Social/Affective Strategy This type of strategy deals with the way learners interac
84、t or communicate with others, native or non-native, to exchange their experience and improve linguistic skills. Affective strategy involves controlling their anxious feelings in the process of listening to achieve the best result. In listening comprehension, affective strategies are closely related
85、to the attitude, motivation and personality of the individuals. According to Arnold (1999: 21), affective information and other information co-exist in the same memorynet-work. Affective information can activate other information from long-term memory, thus it is the basis of the organization of oth
86、er information.III. Application of Learning Strategy in Listening Comprehension We have stated that learning strategies can facilitate linguistic tasks, so it is with the listening comprehension. According to the problems existing in the listening comprehension of English learners, the author tries
87、to apply strategies in listening comprehension in the following way: i. Application of Cognitive Strategy In listening comprehension, cognitive strategy mainly manifests itself in predication, note-taking and the use of background knowledge and schema and language rules. Firstly, in prediction, it m
88、eans we should forecast what will happen in the listening materials by skimming the topic, multiple-choice terms and pictures before listening and forecast the ending and the speaker s attitude towards the thing they are talking about by their tune and the already revealed message. Secondly, during
89、the process of listening, we store the new information mainly by the storing function of the short-term memory. However, limited time and high pressure may make our brain function quite slowly, thus making notes is extremely necessary. It should be emphasized that we only need to write down the key
90、words or the general idea to assist us. Thirdly, background knowledge or schema functions here. Take a piece of news for example, Turkey is pressing Italy to extradite the Turkish guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan who was arrested on Tuesday. Turkey said it will abolish the death penalty to persuade
91、Italy to hand him over. Why extradition is related to the abolishment of death penalty? The reason is that any person who is sentenced to death after extradition can not be extradited according to the Italian 9 law. Without such background knowledge, listening comprehension will be affected to some
92、degree. Teaching practices prove that without necessary background knowledge, students will have difficulties in comprehension. What is more, in the light of diversified background information, it is impossible to grasp them overnight. Therefore, it is advisable we accumulate background knowledge co
93、nsciously every day. Though studying English materials can increase some knowledge, yet the useful way to expand background knowledge is to study other courses, read newspapers, browse the Internet and watch TV instead of focusing energy and time solely on English course. Fourthly, learners should b
94、e familiar with linguistic rules, cultivate linguistic skills such as intonation, stress, liaison, etc. ii. Application of Meta-cognitive Strategy If a student uses meta-cognitive strategies, he chooses the proper kind of materials which suit him, knows what he wants to achieve by doing that listeni
95、ng comprehension. In the process of listening, he shifts from one strategy to another to help him. After listening, he gives himself an evaluation, to see whether he has made progress or not. We have to understand the relationship between listening materials and listening before we determine the bes
96、t choice of the listening textbooks. In daily life, people have a definite purpose in doing anything. He first makes sure what his goal is, then decides how to attain that goal. Different goals require different approaches. On the one hand, people hold various purposes toward improving the listening
97、 skill, so the listening materials vary accordingly. For example, hotel staffs are unlikely to choose technological stuff as their training materials; technologists will not pick political reports as their training course. On the other hand, when diversified materials are concerned, though they rese
98、mble each other in style, topic and structure to a great extent, yet their focus, orientation of the content and the level of difficulty can only meet the demand of a small group of people. Therefore, trainees have to make a reasonable choice of the listening materials based on their purposes and th
99、e present states. We have discussed in the previous chapter that while listening, the intensity of our attention shows the shape of the letter U and many external factors may distract our attention. Here, to recollect our attention timely also belongs to meta-cognitive strategy. Besides, if we use m
100、eta-cognitive strategy, after listening we should give ourselves an evaluation instead of putting the materials away immediately. iii. Application of Social/Affective Strategy To apply social strategy in listening comprehension, we should cooperate with others, get to know what they have achieved in
101、 their listening comprehension and learn from those better than ourselves. Affective strategy has close relationship with attitude, motivation and personality. In order to achieve a good result of listening comprehension, we should adopt a positive attitude. For example, we should do listening compr
102、ehension in a cheerful mood. As for motivation, we d better do any listening tasks out of our enjoyment or pleasure from doing these tasks, namely the intrinsic motivation. This can be achieved by selecting the proper listening materials. It is 10 important for students to adopt the right textbooks.
103、 The right textbooks can facilitate the rapid improvement of listening and achieve the goal as expected. In this sense, listening materials are facilitative. In contrast, the wrong textbooks can suppress the progress of listening, so they are suppressive. The criterion for right or wrong is determin
104、ed by the fact that whether the textbooks match the purpose or the actual proficiency of the listeners. Take a concrete example. Both A and B take the TOEFL examination. A mainly listened to news reports instead of texts of TOEFL during the preparation. The result is not quite good. B scored high ma
105、rks by choosing the materials designed for TOEFL. The example illustrates the close relationship between materials and expectation. Whether the textbooks are facilitative or suppressive is also closely related to people s interests or emotions. It is facilitative when the textbooks can cater to peop
106、le s desire for knowledge, activate interests and provoke thinking. Listening can be rapidly improved accordingly. Objectively speaking, every kind of listening material has its specialty and strength. The best choice is that the textbooks can meet our expectation and personal listening capabilities
107、. As for personality, we have stressed that extrovert people learn L2 better and it is the same with listening comprehension. Do not be shy and participate more often with other people, especially with foreigners. Speaking has unseparated relations with listening. If we communicate more with foreign
108、ers, learn more native expressions and answer their questions promptly, it would do great help to listening comprehension. As mentioned above, strategies function together instead of one. We should build strategy awareness, apply strategies in listening comprehension and improve listening skills ste
109、p by step. Conclusion Listening is essential for developing other skills and it provides a basis for language learning. But it is also the most difficult of all skills for learners to master. Listening is different from printing materials. Since there are no transcripts, students must concentrate on
110、 listening materials. It is no use depending on the texts wholly to get the answers. During the listening process, listeners follow the speaker, grasp the general idea and figure out the speaker s intention and attitude. In addition, learners should have the knowledge of phonetics, vocabulary and gr
111、ammar. Many learners are afraid of listening and try to avoid listening. However, it is impossible, especially for college students, who have to pass many tests. Students of English major face the same headache actually. For example, they fail to choose the proper listening materials, they do not ha
112、ve sustained concentration while listening and can not recollect their attention timely, and they do not give an evaluation to themselves after listening or communicating with others so as to learn from their successful experience. In light of these problems existing in our listening comprehension,
113、learning strategies are applied. Strategies are the mental and physical actions people take to guide them to facilitate the tasks. According to Chamot and Oxford (1986: 175), learning strategies are classified into three categories: Cognitive strategy, Meta-cognitive strategy and Social/Affective St
114、rategy. We apply these strategies to listening comprehension, and then the above problems are solved one by one. It should be emphasized that these strategies complement with each other. They should be used together during the whole process instead of using one solely. 11 Bibliography 1Arnold, D. Me
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122、86: 315. 20 戴炜栋,何兆熊 . 新编简明英语语言学教程 M. 上海: 上海外语教育出版社 , 2005: 30 21 郑厚尧. 听力理解和短时记忆 J. 外语界 , 2002 (3). 12 Acknowledgements On the occasion of presentation, I would like to avail myself of this precious opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to those who offered their generous assistance. Without th
123、eir ideas, insights and criticisms during the discussions, it would be difficult to complete the paper. First and foremost, I owe much indebtedness to my supervisor, Professor xxx, who has encouraged me not only to study hard the language but also to conduct research work under her patient guidance
124、and careful instruction. In the composition of this thesis, she provided her cherished books, sacrificed her spare time to correct the errors and then gave advice, which engraves in my mind her serious attitude and amicable personality. Then my genuine thanks must go to all the teachers in English d
125、epartment, who unselfishly imparted their knowledge in classes and thus equipped me the tools for future success. Last but not least, special gratitude should be saved for my dear parents, whose affectionate love and care as moral support motivated me to overcome a variety of difficulties in my study and life.
