The Study On The Methods Of Developing Senior High School Students' Predicting Skills Of English Listening And The Practice

The importance of listening comprehension is well accepted in the field of foreign language education, and has recently carried much further the listening comprehension research. This, in turn, has greatly promoted the training of listening skills, and meanwhile the requirements are running much higher. That's why predicting, as an advanced skill in listening, has a universal recognition now.This thesis explores the nature and process of the micro-skill of predicting in order to improve the listening ability of foreign language learners, and try to discover the way to train senior high school students for the predicting skill, and meanwhile to pave the way of its further development in college. We analyze both advantages and disadvantages that will present themselves if the skill is started in senior high school. Then we propose the goals for the skill and approaches to manage it. Also we found that the skill isn't well developed in high schools as the result of teachers' neglect of it and the improper practice of the traditional listening approaches and methods, which never goes beyond the predicting strategies. And I believe that the key is to satisfy the conditions under which the skill functions.The whole thesis is divided into six parts. In the introduction we discuss the importance of listening comprehension, the actual current practice of the skill in senior high schools in China, and significance of developing the skill. Before we raise the questions to be solved in the thesis we look back to the history of the related researches in our field.Chapter One states our understanding of listening comprehension by analyzing the cognitive and the emotional processes of listening.Chapter Two, which makes an important part of this thesis, explores predicting process in listening by defining prediction, discussing its nature and function, and classifying all kinds of predictions. Our focus is on predicting process and its nature. We discuss the factors that affect the process and on these factors we make our hypotheses.Chapter Three is another important part, in which how to train senior high school students for the predicting skill is discussed. The definition of foreign language predicting, its forming process and its nature are studied. We think it feasible to practice the skill in senior high school after analyzing the advantages and disadvantages for it, but it should be kept in mind that any imaginable trouble may arise. Then we propose the tentative goals and methods for the skill.Chapter Four is concerned about teaching practice. We conduct an experimentalstudy, and discover that the new method is much better than its traditional equivalent in improving the listening ability as well as developing the predicting skill as the new method tries to create the conditions for the skill.The last chapter is the conclusion. It displays the research achievements and reveals the problems emerging from the research.