A Study On The Problems And Their Solutions In English Listening Teaching In High School

Listening, speaking, reading and writing are the four essential skills of language competence. The mastery of a foreign language requires balanced development in these four areas. However, in China, English listening teaching has been neglected for a long period of time. In high schools, on the one hand, many listening materials are chosen from written prose and recorded at an artificial speed, which are unauthentic and deny the characteristics of spoken language. On the other hand, classroom activities lack interaction and most listening classes are pure listening test classes instead of listening comprehension ones. Therefore, the author assumes that lack of systematic study and lack of guidance of scientific theories on listening teaching should be responsible for the two problems.In this paper, the author has analyzed the nature of listening comprehension process and the characteristics of spoken language. Besides, the author has recalled the development of listening teaching and the teaching approaches that have affected listening teaching. The author holds that authentic listening materials and Interactive Approach are the keys to the solution of the two problems.In order to prove this assumption, the author conducted an experiment, during which the control group was taught in the traditional way, and the experimental group with Interactive Approach. After four months' experimental teaching, the author administered oral and written tests to the two groups. The results of the post-tests showed that the students' listening comprehension ability in the experimental group had been significantly improved. Interactive Approach has proved to be an effective way to improve students' listening ability in real-life communication.