Chapter I Introduction
1.1 Importance of listening in language learning
Listening is one of the language skills frequently used in daily life. Researchers havefound out those listening accounts for 40%-50% of adults’ communication time. Speakingaccounts for 25%-30%. Reading accounts for 11%-16%, and writing accounts for 9%.(Gilman & Moody, 1984, p.331-34) As Freeman firmly believes that “we have slowly butemphatically shifted our means for communication from the printed word to images andsounds，英语论文题目，英语论文范文，from books to television, movies, radio, and recordings. Instead of reading today,most of us prefer to look and listen”. (Dunkel, 1991, p.431-457) Listening is not only animportant means of communication, but also plays a critical role in language learning.However, in foreign or second language learning, listening comprehension has been paidlittle attention. And some researchers call listening “Cinderella skill in second languagelearning”. (Nunan, 1997, p.47-51) Listening comprehension is not paid rightful attention insecond language acquisition over a long period of time. When considering someone who hasa good command of second language, mastering the skills of reading and writing must bethought in the first place by a majority of people. Gradually, the skills of listening andspeaking are neglected. However, in recent years, people begin to realize that listening, asone important means of obtaining comprehensible input, plays an essential role in secondlanguage acquisition. People begin to pay more attention to the skill of listening, whichdeserves much more attention in second language teaching and learning．Beginning in the early 1970s, it was studied by Asher, Postovsky, Winitz, later, Krashenwho treats listening as a tool for understanding and a key factor in facilitating languagelearning paid attention to the role of it. Listening gradually emerges as an importantcomponent during the process of second language acquisition. (Feyten, 1991, p.173-80) Itgradually becomes known when Krashen’s ideas about comprehensible input obtaindistinguished achievement. After a period of time, this tendency is strengthened by JamesAsher’s Total Physical Response Approach. Today, amount of researches are focused onlistening, and some achievements are gained. But compared with researches on otherlanguage skills, it has a long way to go. In China, almost all the college students need tolearn listening skill. And they spend a lot of time in doing listening exercises; meanwhile,they almost get unsatisfied scores in listening tests. So research on listening comprehensiondifficulty has significant meaning in improving listening skill. For a foreign language teacher,it is one of the hardest tasks to cultivate students’ listening comprehension competence. Inorder to develop excellent listening comprehension ability, enough exercises are needed. Anddifferent from grammar, there are no specific rules for students to follow when they dolistening comprehension exercises.People have not paid much attention to listening comprehension for a long time. Whenit comes to improving English scores, traditionally, the abilities of improving reading andwriting skills are concerned in the first place. Under the influence of consciousness, listeningand speaking are gradually “neglected”. Until the National College English Band 4 and 6Testing Committee issued a Reform Plan in early 2017, the percentage of listening in CETtests has incre |
