Factors Affecting Listening Comprehension and Its Solutions

School of Foreign Languages，Xianyang Normal University/Ma Ya-li

School of Culture and Communication， Shaanxi University of Science & Technology/Wang Ya-rong

【Abstract】The current situation of listening teaching is dissatisfactory.Many students have spent a lot of time and made much effort to practice listening， but their listening ability cannot be improved effectively.So language teachers should try to work out some effective measures to help them overcome listening problems and to become good listeners.

【Key Words】Listening factors solutions

1.Importance of Listening

English plays an important part in modern society and is widely used in the world.With the development of science and technology， the social demands are getting higher and higher for foreign languages.Listening， speaking， reading and writing are the essential skills in English learning.Among them， listening is the most important skill and is one of the basic useful forms of language communication.It is the main way for people to learn the language.

2.The Problems in Teaching and Learning about Listening

Listening plays important role in learning a foreign language.Most Chinese teachers just play the recorder and check the answers in class.Some try to help students understand the content.But English listening is a complex activity in which the listener must have the ability to follow the speaker to understand the details.Of course， its difficult for students to understand listening materials if he hasnt enough vocabulary and grammar knowledge.

3.Factors Affecting Listening Comprehension

Listening comprehension not only refers to peoples listening ability， but also includes other capacities， such as， memory capacity， a general ability and the forecast ability.Listening comprehension can be affected by various factors.

First， phonetics is one of the most obstacles.A good intonation and pronunciation will be good for listening ability.So if the students want to improve listening， their pronunciation should be standard.If he can not pronounce correctly， he will find its hard to understand what he heard.The basic phonetic knowledge is a must for students who want to improve their listening.

Second， vocabulary is also a serious factor affecting listening.A good command of vocabulary can improve listening.So students should try every means to enlarge their vocabularies.

Third， a solid foundation of grammar knowledge is necessary for students to understand English.Meanwhile， its true of English listening ability.But in college learners usually ignore grammar， which influences listening.Insufficient and incorrect grammar knowledge usually leads to poor listening.

Fourth， background knowledge is an important factor influences English listening.To understand an article， students usually need some background knowledge of the relevant contents or listening comprehension will be harder for Chinese students.

4.Strategies to Improve Students English Listening Comprehension

（1）Supplying Suitable Listening Materials.Be sure that listening materials are appropriate for students.Proper listening materials can not only give their confidence but also enlarge their knowledge about culture or customs of the foreign countries which are good for their studying.

（2）Developing Students Cultural Awareness.Teachers should cultivate the students ability to distinguish cultural differences while helping the students with their listening.To get students be familiar with cultural differences and help them know about more culture and customs of different countries.

（3）Strengthening Phonetic Knowledge.Good pronunciation is very important for students.A wrong pronunciation often brings the mistake of meaning.Many students cannot pronounce these morphemes correctly， which influences the comprehension.Students should know some general pronunciations or some rules.But wrong pronunciation can't be conquered in a day.Learners need to practice a lot.Then they should pay attention to imitating the sound and the tone to improve their listening ability.

（4）Developing Listening Skills.Actually its unwise to listen to without any skills.There are lots of skills to improve English listening ability.Such as， paying attention to the topic sentences and taking notes， which can help learners grasp the information.Also， students should ignore the unknown words or they will miss other important information.And students should infer and predict information while listening.Students need to make full use of background knowledge to predict what is going to be heard.

5.Conclusion

Listening should not be ignored in English learning.It is the most difficult in the whole process and many students face lots of problems.Try to avoid factors affecting students English listening comprehension by laying a solid foundation including correct pronunciation， large vocabulary and good grammar.Students should avoid the interference of mother tongue.In a word， improving students English listening comprehension is a long-term work.It needs teachers and students to make efforts jointly.

References：

[1]李承興.影響英語聽力理解的因素及聽力教學的相關策略[J].中國英語教學（英文版），2005（3）.

[2]李旸.影響英語聽力理解的障礙因素及應對策略[J].唐山師范學院學報，2003（4）.