An Experiment On A New Model Of Practicing Listening Comprehension

According to the close relationship between reading and listening comprehension as well as the schema theory, I proposed a model of using multimedia to improve Chinese EFL learners listening comprehension. The model supposed that students'listening comprehension of oral English could be improved through reading corresponding subtitles of the chosen play, and that students'interest of learning English would be aroused. An experiment was designed to field-test the model in Suzhou Vocational University. Two English-major classes of the same English level were involved: one was English-Education class; the other was Business-English class. Both of them had the same courses in the experiment period. During the two-month experiment, I tried every means to testify the validity of the proposed model. After careful consideration of various English plays, I finally chose the popular American teleplay-Desperate Housewives as their listening materials. Aimed at improving students'listening to authentic English conversations, the study intended to solve the following questions:1. Whether the model can really improve students'listening comprehension of authentic English conversations?2. Whether the model can inspire students'interest of self-practicing listening comprehension?3. Whether reading comprehension has positive effects in the process of listening?Based on the analysis of collected data and one questionnaire, I obtained the following findings:1. Students'listening comprehension of authentic English conversations was improved after the experiment.2. Most students were interested in the experiment, and took initiative to read English subtitles in their free time.3. The results of the experiment showed that reading comprehension had a positive effect on listening comprehension.