The Application of Af fective Factors inListening Comprehension in Secondary School

敬一丹

【Abstract】Since the 1990s， listening strategies， as an effective means to improve the listening ability is of concern. Advocated by O'Malley and Chamot， metacognitive strategies， cognitive strategies， affective strategies are widely seen as three main strategies in listening comprehension. However，in the teaching process， teachers often ignores the use of social affective strategies.At the beginning of the 1980s，the American linguist S. D. Krashen developed his “Affective Filter Hypothesis”. This thesis， based on the “Affective Filter Hypothesis”，analyzes the affective factors and the impact on learners in their listening process from the teaching point of view and proposes teaching strategies to develop learners' positive factors and to overcome the negative affective factors.

【Key words】listening strategies； affective strategies； Affective Filter Hypothesis； motivation； anxiety； confidence

1. Introduction

Language is the tool of human communication and plays the most important role of exchanging ideas and emotions. In China， English is the first foreign language， and Cooper said in 1998， listening comprehension occupies a very important role in English learning and teaching. But as Cele Mroia M （1995） pointed out that the listening was a “complex dynamic and fragile process”， despite its crucial role in English learning， it is difficult for researchers to find effective strategies to promote listening skill of the learners. In the traditional English class， students have to listen， repeat， answer questions in listening. It is quite easy for them to get bored and lose interest in listening and even the teachers have no idea to change the embarrassing situation.

The aim of this study is to analyze the close relationship between quality of listening and three major affective strategies and to propose some teaching strategies to develop learners' positive factors and to overcome the negative affective factors.

2. Related Materials

2.1 Definition of listening strategies.Listening strategies can be defined as： The learning skills and methods of conscious actions that students used in the listening process in order to improve the effect of listening. It plays a decisive role in students' English listening.

2.2 The classification of listening strategies.According to O'Malley and Chamot （1994）， listening strategy can be divided into three categories： metacognitive categories， cognitive categories and affective categories. These three strategies have been widely regarded as the main strategies of listening teaching， the intermediary to turn knowledge into ability and they have been applied by the majority of listening teachers.endprint

2.3The Affective Filter Hypothesis.American linguist Stephen Krashen pointed out that the understanding of language input is a necessary condition for language acquisition， but this is not enough. In fact， even if the learners can understand the input of the learning materials， it does not mean that their listening comprehension is successful. He proposed that the understanding input is only a necessary， if not an important condition for second language acquisition. Some psychological barriers the learners encountered impede the learners to apply some understandable language composition to language communication and he named these barriers the affective Filter.

According to Krashen's view， the students in the listening class have inappropriate motivation， are lack of confidence， and feel anxiety. Those three problems affect their listening comprehension and cause psychological barriers.

2.4 Affective factors.Research on effective factors has become a very important issue in language teaching. There are various emotional factors that can affect learning， and the impact is not the same. However， these emotional factors do not act in an isolated way， but are intertwined.

2.4.1 Motivation.As a crucial psychological factor， motivation serves as the powerful source of the learners to concentrate and continue their study. It can stimulate the learner to conduct conscious and long-lasting learning activities， and to control their behavior towards a certain goal. The stronger the motivation is， the greater the possibility of the success. In the listening process， strong motivation gives the listeners implication to complete the listening in a conscious and active way.

2.4.2 Anxiety.When listeners can not achieve the desired goals， their self-esteem or self-confidence can not satisfied and they are frustrated by a sense of failure and guilt which increase tension， worry， anxiety and other negative emotions. Consequently， these negative emotions can directly lead to failure in listening behavior， the failure of listening behaviors will increase anxiety， tension and fear， and they finally loss interest and motivation in learning. It will form a vicious cycle of learning.

2.4.3 Confidence.Confidence refers to learners' individual trust of their own ability about their knowledge， ability， behavior， judgment. Strong sense of self-confidence on language acquisition plays an active role in language acquisition. It helps to reduce students' anxiety in the listening process， to raise motivation to learn， to inspire enthusiasm， and to enhance interest in complete the listening tasks with a more relaxed state of mind.endprint

3. Current Situation on Listening Comprehension Teaching in Middle School In the current listening comprehension teaching of Middle school， it is still traditional inculcated-based way of teaching. The problems mainly exist in several aspects：

3.1Students have inappropriate motivation in the listening class. Many students listen to the materials with the purpose of either free to listen， or getting high marks. Driven by the inappropriate motivation of aimlessly or quick profit purposes of listening， their failure in completing the listening task is very natural. Some students just select to pay attention to the materials that they are interested in. If students do not have a strong motivation and desire to learn， they will raise passive attitude， even a negative resistance towards the learning task， and therefore they can not be initiative to obtain information and actively complete the listening task in the listening process.

3.2Students are prone to feel anxiety in listening process. In Listening class， teachers normally introduce the related new words first， allow students to repeatedly listen to the materials， and then give the correct answer. Teachers just act as mechanical broadcasting operators and answers providers. This teaching method is more like listening tests， because the students listen， and then test and the process repeat over and over again. Therefore， the students do not receive proper lead-in in the pre-listening period， and the listening process has not been effectively guided， which made them difficult in achieving the desired goals. Consequently， they feel anxiety， and frustrated. It will also form a vicious cycle of learning. Effectively eliminate or reduce anxiety， and stimulate motivation for learning is important means for learners to achieve good learning goals.

3.3students are lack of confidence.In listening class， students do what the teachers require them to. They are lack of autonomy， and interaction with teachers and their classmates. When they fail to achieve the listening goals or reach the teaching requirements， they feel embarrassed for fear of criticism， being laughed at. The results increase the anxiety， tension and they can not feel their own value and capabilities.

4. Suggestions for Developing Positive Affective Factors in Listening Comprehension Teaching

According to the analysis above， the affective factors of learning English itself has both positive and negative side， only teachers and learners make effort to defuse the negative side， and to give full use of the positive side can make a significant impact on listening teaching.endprint

4.1To make clear listening goals. The purpose of listening has a close relationship with the students' listening ability. Students are the main participants of the listening. Therefore， should do proper choice according to their actual situation， or ask their teachers to recommend the corresponding difficulty of tape for training. And doing each test not with the purpose of getting a high score， but first should have a normal state of psychology， just take each test as a listening training. Do listening practices according to their own plans and the plans can be subdivided into small steps： try to understand the first sentence （this is always the key note of an article or paragraph）； use shorthand strategy to remember more details； overcome the shortcomings of susceptibility or strive to not dwell on the incognizance words， just jump over immediately， to achieve the best level of listening step by step.

4.2Consolidate and strengthen students' basic knowledge.A solid foundation of knowledge will decrease fears and anxiety and made the students have steady mentality to complete listening tasks in the listening process. If the students are lack of basic and related knowledge about listening materials， they may misunderstand or even completely can not understand the content of the material in the listening process so that produce anxiety， and then influence listening effect. Therefore， on one hand， teachers should be conscious on the content of the listening materials to let the children repeat and imitate them in order to develop the students sense of listening， and adapt to the rhythm of speed， voice inflection， and the sensitive degrees of the pause time between words and sentences.

4.3Cultivate the confidence of listening.In listening classes， the teachers should choose listening materials neither too easy nor too difficult， and the appropriate selection means listening materials are of familiar topics， reasonable length sentence， appropriate vocabulary and moderate speech rate， which can maintain and enhance the enthusiasm of the students in their listening process. Moreover， before listening， teachers can introduce to the students some background knowledge， and guide students to activate relevant information stored in the brain； Students had better cultivate the habit of quickly scanning the title of the questions， which can also reduce fear and anxiety if they encountered unfamiliar topics or the material are quite long .

4.4Teachers should learn to appreciate students.The teacher should act as "facilitator" to help students to give play to their potential maximally， but it can not be separated from students positive emotional activities. Therefore， teachers should evaluate the student's performance from the view of encouraging， fully giving the students compliment to let them have positive affective experience， which shows positive affirmation attitude of teachers response in the teaching process， and enhances students' self-confidence and stimulates their inner motivation.

5. Conclusion

We have discussed three kind of psychological barriers above that can affect the students listening comprehension in the class， such as inappropriate motivation of study， lack of self-confidence and high level of anxiety. Thus， during the process of listening teaching， teachers should convert their conception， use the scientific teaching theories and teaching methods， strengthen the emotional factors that influence the listening actively， develop students' positive emotion， and create a good learning environment and learning atmosphere.endprint