Methods of listening training

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I. There are several points to keep in mind during listening training. For those who are learning English, in order to improve their listening and speaking skills while also enhancing their overall English proficiency, they should first pay attention to the following three points: 1. Pay attention to distinguishing and imitating correct pronunciation and intonation. In English, there are many words that sound similar but have completely different meanings, such as cure (to heal) and kill (to murder), menu (a list of dishes) and manure (fertilizer), etc. Imagine if a doctor wanted to say: “I’ll cure you.” (I will heal your illness.) ) but due to poor pronunciation, it came out as: “I’ll kill you.” (I’m going to kill you.) )What a frightened state that patient would be in. For example, if someone says to you, “I am thirty. My wife is thirty too,” but what you hear is “I am dirty. My wife is dirty too,” you will surely be confused. In fact, the difference is just one phoneme. Therefore, from the very beginning we must pay attention to distinguishing and imitating the correct pronunciation and intonation. Improving listening and speaking on this basis will yield good results. 2. Create a suitable listening and speaking environment. Listening and speaking are forms of language communication; without a foreign language environment or appropriate conditions for listening and speaking, it is difficult to achieve success on one’s own. Of course, modern science has provided us with the tape recorder, a tool that allows us to record texts, conversations, as well as existing tapes from home and abroad, so that we can listen to them and imitate them repeatedly. One can also record their oral compositions and retellings, listen to them carefully, identify problems, and correct them promptly. However, under natural conditions, hearing and speaking are inseparable. The process of one person listening is actually the process of another person speaking. If possible, it’s best to organize study partners and hold regular conversation sessions, or make use of facilities such as “foreign language corners” available in public places or parks. This way, one can practice both speaking and listening in a real language environment, which is key to making significant progress. 3. One must have the spirit of not fearing making mistakes in listening or speaking, and of practicing diligently. Those who are learning to listen and speak, especially adults, often make mistakes and are too afraid to speak up and practice. However, language is a kind of *habit; without repeated practice, it is difficult to develop proficient skills. The focus of a conversation is on conveying meaning; as long as the goal of exchanging ideas is achieved, such listening and speaking practices can be considered basically successful. If something goes wrong, make sure to learn from the experience and correct it on your own. II. Four stages of listening training ⑴ Introduction stage: This stage is suitable for beginners. It can be started after learning the letters as well as some simple sentence patterns and vocabulary. Generally, three types of listening exercises can be carried out: 1) Sentence pattern exercises: When doing these exercises, sentence patterns, vocabulary, and grammar can all be combined. There are many sentence-pattern practice textbooks and audio tapes published both domestically and internationally in this area, such as English 900 and Situational Dialogues; 50 English Conversation Topics compiled by Deng Yanchang, and Practical English Q&A translated and edited by Deng Rongcheng. These textbooks are well-structured, progressing from simple to more complex concepts in a step-by-step manner. They take into account the vocabulary and sentence patterns commonly used in daily life, and ensure that key sentence patterns are repeated frequently. The tapes recorded to accompany the textbooks are also of high quality, almost all of them including slower-paced repetition and practice*. 2) Simple and easy-to-understand English stories: Listening to short stories is also an important part of listening training at this stage. Such as “The Tales of Robin Hood” (GRIMM’S TALES), “Aesop’s Fables”, etc. Volumes 1 and 2, etc., can also be used. Listening to stories is aimed at understanding the general idea, and it helps to practice combining the written English symbols with their corresponding sounds. 3) Textbooks compiled both domestically and internationally: Some English textbooks published in China and abroad include Volume 1 to 4 of the unified textbook series \"English\" edited by Xu Guozhang, \"College English\" edited by Zhou Shanfeng and Zhang Xiangbao, \"Essential English\" published by the British company Longman, and \"English for Today\" published by the American company McGraw-Hill. These textbooks have rich content, with texts that are quite long and challenging. If study sessions are combined with listening to the text recordings, either by listening first and then reading or by listening after studying, it is possible to become familiar with the text through listening on repeated occasions; this way, one can learn the text while also practicing listening skills. Finally, in the introductory stage, despite having limited English skills, one should still strive to combine listening and speaking, make active use of what has been learned, find study partners, and engage in conversations. If possible, try to listen to short presentations given in English by people of Chinese and foreign backgrounds about their lives, as well as information on China, the UK, or the US; even if you can only understand part of it, make an effort to do so. ⑵Primary stage: This stage is still a basic learning* phase. The main task is to expand, deepen, and consolidate what was learned in the introductory stage, and training can be carried out in the following areas*: 1) Continuing to practice sentence patterns and short stories: At this stage, it is important to use listening materials that are longer in duration, more difficult, and involve more complex linguistic phenomena, in order to further work on issues related to pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. If one continues to use the sentence patterns from the introductory stage for practice, it is necessary to increase the amount of listening material consumed per unit of time, and strive to improve accuracy when answering or repeating. In short, efforts should be made in terms of material difficulty and reaction speed. For listening to short stories, one can use ready-made audio tapes like \"WHAT A STORY\". What’s special is that when recording the story, several people are deliberately arranged to interject and ask questions, thereby interrupting someone’s narration in order to exchange opinions; this can also be considered a situational dialogue. It is very different from simple question-and-answer conversations, as it is more similar to real life and appears more natural. 2) Listen to various recorded reports to expand what one hears: To broaden vocabulary and gradually get used to speakers with different accents and ages, at this stage one can listen to some simple reports on British and American history, geography, and customs. The speech on the impressions of Britons and Americans during their visits to China is also excellent content. These speeches are generally best to last around half an hour, as they help increase knowledge and improve listening skills. 3) Start listening to Beijing Radio’s international broadcasts: The English programs on this radio cover various topics such as politics, economy, and culture; the language used is quite standard, and the announcers’ pronunciation and intonation are exemplary. Therefore, listening to English broadcasts is an excellent way to learn English. Radil Beijing is easy to listen to; its content is updated daily, and it mostly features news on various aspects of development in our country. Since scholars are familiar with this content, it reduces the difficulty of listening, making it suitable for those who are just starting out in listening comprehension. At this stage, the focus of listening should be on Beijing Radio’s foreign news broadcasts, analyses of the international situation, and some cultural reviews. When listening, one should figure out the general patterns of news broadcasts and pay attention to developing some basic skills and methods for listening to news. If you find it difficult at first, you can use the following two helpful methods: read relevant articles from BEIJING REVIEW, CHINA DAILY, or *N-HUA NEWS BULLETIN* before listening to the broadcast. In this way, with some preparation in terms of content and vocabulary, listening to English broadcasts becomes much easier. Additionally, news and commentary can be recorded for repeated careful listening, with each sentence analyzed in detail. This is also a good training method for practicing listening comprehension. At this stage, group practice combining listening and speaking should still be carried out, including oral compositions and presentations, as well as discussions to the best of one’s ability. ⑶Intermediate stage: At this stage, the focus should shift from mechanical training to practical application, moving from textbooks to the real world. Improving the ability to listen to foreign broadcasts is a key task at this stage. The following training can be carried out. 1) Listen to the VOA Special English Program or the BBC English by Radio: These programs have a slower speaking pace, and vocabulary is carefully selected; therefore, they are very suitable as a starting point for practicing listening to foreign-language broadcasts. At first, you can choose to listen to BBC or VOA based on the accent that you are more familiar with, whether British or American, and then gradually transition to the other one. After having no difficulty listening to these two special types of programs, one can then move on to regular-speed British and American radio broadcasts. The content of radio broadcasts and newspapers and magazines is closely linked. Therefore, while undergoing this training, one should read some English newspapers and magazines. 2) Combining audio and visual elements to train the ability to understand movies and plays: Watching foreign language movies can be included in the training at this stage. Listening to the lines in movies and plays is actually quite difficult. As a starting point, one can begin by watching some domestic films that have been translated into English, such as \"The Shining Red Star\" or even the slide show \"Gao Yubao\". Then choose to watch familiar films, such as \"Lenin in 1918\" and \"War and Peace\", etc. Finally, one might consider watching some original English and American movies that adhere to language standards and have appropriate content, such as \"Titanic,\" \"Million Pound Bank Note,\" \"Jane Eyre,\" \"Lone Star,\" \"Oliver Twist,\" \"The Red Lotus.\" Additionally, the dialogues from English movies that are often shown in CCTV’s program \"ENGLISH ON SUNDAY\" can be useful. It’s not necessary to understand every sentence and every word; the key is to grasp the overall plot and the important details. 3) Continue with some of the listening exercises from the first two stages: Listening training is a long-term, ongoing task; therefore, individuals can, based on their weak areas, continue to use certain listening exercise formats that were used in the earlier stages while moving on to new content, though with increased difficulty and a greater range of vocabulary – it’s important to listen to English more often. Reports on American culture and the **economy, as well as presentations of about an hour given by scholars visiting China on topics of current interest to everyone, international issues, youth issues, and more. Advanced stage: Upon completing this stage, English learners should reach or come close to the listening level of native speakers in the UK and the US, and be able to handle various situations. 1) When listening to external broadcasts, one should train themselves to listen to programs at normal speed. Shift from focusing on news to listening more to column comments and reports. 2) Where possible, try to attend academic seminars conducted in English, as well as lectures and popular science presentations on topics such as linguistics, literature, history, and economics, and actively participate in the discussions that follow these presentations. 3) If interested or necessary, further training can be undertaken in listening to dramatic lines and poetry recitations, such as works by famous playwrights like Shakespeare, Shaw, O’Neill, or renowned poems from English and American literature. 4) Practice listening to courses taught in English. Learning English is aimed at mastering a linguistic tool so as to become more proficient in one’s own field of study; therefore, at this listening stage, one should be able to understand professional courses or presentations given in English. One must practice thinking entirely in English, integrating listening, thinking, comprehension, and note-taking all in English. If such conditions for attending lectures are not available, reading a large amount of professional material, listening to English presentations on related topics, and actively participating in English discussions to exchange ideas with peers can also help to compensate for these shortcomings to a large extent. III. Several specific issues in listening training (1) Combining extensive listening with intensive listening. In listening training, it is necessary to be able to accurately identify important data, dates, names, places, and facts, while also working on understanding the overall meaning of what is heard. Therefore, it is essential to combine intensive listening with extensive listening by alternating between the two approaches; that is, treating intensive listening and extensive listening as separate training sessions and arranging them alternately during practice. Alternatively, a story or report can be divided into sections, with some parts being listened to intensively while the rest are covered through extensive listening. When listening intensively, one should first become familiar with the new words in the audio material; for sentences that are difficult to understand, it’s possible to listen to them repeatedly. In contrast, when listening casually, the focus is on listening to a large amount of content, with the goal of grasping the general idea rather than understanding every detail. There is no limit to the number of times one can listen intensively until the content is fully understood, while the number of times for casual listening depends on the difficulty of the material and one’s own level of proficiency. Generally, it should not exceed three times, otherwise the purpose of casual listening is lost. When listening casually, it’s not advisable to stop in the middle; one should listen through it continuously. When listening intensively, one can pause the device between sentences or at difficult parts and rewind to listen again. A lack of thoroughness can lead to the development of a habit of accepting things as seemingly true without seeking a deeper understanding; on the other hand, it results in focusing on details rather than the overall picture, and failing to grasp the essence of things. Therefore, neither of these two types of training should be neglected. (2) Listening training should cultivate the ability to guess words from context. During listening practice, it is common to encounter situations where words are not clear or understandable. There are many reasons for this; sometimes it is due to the speaker’s unclear pronunciation or poor recording quality, and other times it is because of unfamiliar words or content. In such cases, it is necessary to rely on the ability to recognize word sounds and guess words from context in order to solve these problems. For example, when we hear the song “EDE LWEISS” for the first time, we might have questions about two lines in it; one of them is “You look happy to meet me”. Some people might think, “You look happy to me, to me.” But if you listen carefully, you will notice that when “meet me” is pronounced together, the sound of /t/ is not released, and it is not connected to /m/. Another challenge lies in the lyric “Blossom of smow, may you bloom and grow.” Due to the rhythm, the word “blossom” is sung quickly, making it difficult to hear clearly. Additionally, its connection with the word “of” further complicates things for the listener. In such cases, it’s necessary to use one’s ability to guess words by analyzing the context. This is a song about white flowers, and among the verbs used later on, there is also the word “bloom” (to flower). Only “blossom” fits well in this context. Moreover, only the word “blossom” corresponds to the sounds that can be heard in the recording. Thus, the problem is resolved. When faced with similar situations, one should first remember the words that can be heard clearly, then make guesses based on the context and grammatical clues provided. If possible, one can also look up the words in a dictionary. Developing this ability is a crucial aspect of listening training, as it is essential for working independently and overcoming difficulties. 2) The ability to filter out noise and various distractions: To develop this skill in one’s country, it is necessary to listen to news broadcasts frequently, as well as to recorded reports where the speaker’s lip movements cannot be seen. One must gradually get used to the habit of people adding filler words such as “well” and “eh” while speaking, as well as to the situation where they suddenly change topic mid-sentence. It is also important to be able to accurately fill in those parts of the recording that are unclear or incomplete, or sentences that are spoken in a low voice and passed over quickly. 3) There should be the ability to adapt to British pronunciation, American pronunciation, and some major dialects: Listening training can involve starting with one type of pronunciation and gradually moving on to another. To master the ability to understand British and American accents more quickly, learners can proactively identify or compare the differences in pronunciation and intonation between the two forms of English, so as to overcome this challenge more easily. For example, Americans add sounds after letters such as or and er: doctor (British pronunciation), (American pronunciation); they pronounce words like can’t (British pronunciation), (American pronunciation) in this way. In northern England and Scotland, there are such special pronunciations and spellings, as well as certain variations in African American English, Australian, and New Zealand English; unless there is a specific need, it is generally not necessary to practice or learn them. But it’s useful to have some basic understanding; listening to one or two sample recordings is also helpful. (3) Scheduling of listening training: Listening training requires high concentration, so it is advisable to schedule it during the times of the day when one is at their best mentally. Moreover, the duration should not be too long; one must not listen continuously for more than an hour. Listening is also a skill that requires practice to become second nature, so set aside some time each day for it. One can’t be inconsistent in their efforts – working for a few days and then stopping for a while; nor can they give up after just a short period of time and leave it aside for half a year or a year. (4) Methods of listening tests: There are various forms of listening tests. Depending on one’s level and the goals of training, it is possible to find suitable listening materials that contain test questions, which can be used for practice in order to assess one’s proficiency. 1) Question-and-answer format: After listening to each designated segment, questions can be used to test whether the main idea has been understood, such as \"What is the story about?\", or to check details mentioned in the audio, such as \"When was the conference held?\" 2) Fill-in-the-blank format: This type of exercise is mainly used to determine whether the time, place, and key sentences have been understood. It can help us identify difficult characters and ambiguous phrases, such as: Jan’s cousin bought (15) pencils. 3) Informal format: In this type of exercise, several sentences are presented regarding the ambiguous parts in a given passage; the questionable sentences are placed alongside the correct ones in order to assess the level of comprehension. For example: Jane’s cousin bought 50 pencils. (X) The correct number heard should be 15. 4) Jane’s cousin has _____. a. bought 50 pencils b. brought 50 pencils c. bought 15 pencils d. brought 15 pencils The correct answer is c. The key to the test is whether the listener can hear clearly the pronunciations of ’fifty’ and ’fifteen’, as well as ’brought’ and ’bought’. 5) Dictation or recording format: