摘要
在近几年的国内外听力研究领域,许多学者提出了新的外语听力研究理念,例如听力策略研究、图式理论研究等,这些研究关注的是听力材料的背景知识补充、听力理解过程中的预测和总结等技巧、以及情感控制等。本文认为这些归根结底都是听力理解中的非语言因素,没有触及听力理解的本质。与以上研究不同,本文从“自下而上”模式出发,探索提高英语听力理解的新方法,即在大学英语听力教学中加入一些基础语音知识的讲授和语音训练,以促进学生听力水平的提高。
为检验基础语音知识的讲授和语音训练在听力教学中的作用,本研究就语音知识在提高学生听力水平方面的效果进行了一次实验。实验以南京航空航天金城学院2006级2个班级为研究对象,分别标为实验班和控制班。学期开始时对两个班分别进行了实验前听力测试,并对两个班的测试成绩进行了差异性检验。结果显示两个班在实验前听力测试中不存在显著性差异。实验中,实验班的听力授课以基础语音知识的训练与课本练习相结合的方法开展;控制班的听力讲授方法则为单一的课本练习。为期一学期的听力课程结束后,两班分别参加了实验后听力测试。通过对他们的实验后听力测试成绩进行的差异性检验,发现实验后两班的成绩存在显著性差异,且实验班成绩优于控制班。该实验说明英语听力课堂教学中基础语音知识的讲授和训练确实有助于学生英语听力水平的提高,并且发现语音训练对英语试题中的听写部分影响比较大,对话和短文部分影响相对较小。
本次研究虽然只是一项探索性研究,但依然对大学英语听力教学有一定的启示。
In the research of listening teaching, scholars emphasize the significance of supplementing background knowledge to the learners. Some assert that listening strategies are helpful to the enhancement of listening ability. These studies mainly concern such non-linguistic factors as background knowledge, emotion, predicting, monitoring. These studies focus on the peripheral part of listening by investigating how these factors affect listening instead of touching the essence of listening itself. They can only have an assistant and compensatory effect on listening comprehension.
The present study, based on the theory of bottom-up processing, attempted to find a method to promote English learner's listening comprehension. The author treated the phonetic knowledge as basic in listening comprehension. Meanwhile, to test if the teaching and training of the basic phonetic knowledge worked in improving students' listening ability, the author had done an experiment on the effectiveness of explicit phonetic instruction in improving the students' listening proficiency. In the experiment, two classes of sophomores were enrolled and labeled as an experimental class and a control class, consisting of 72 and 69 students respectively. At the initial stage, a pre-experiment listening test was given to all the research subjects. The statistics of the scores of the pre-test indicated that no significant difference had existed between the two classes, which meant the two separate classes had just been standing at a similar English listening level before the phonetic instruction was conducted. Then the experimental class was taught by combining the course book with systematic explanation of the basic phonetic knowledge and phonetic training involved in the listening materials,while the control class was taught in the traditional teaching method without any interpretation of the phonetic knowledge. After a semester's treatment a post-experiment listening test was conducted for all the subjects.
Through the statistical analysis of the scores in the post-test, it was proved that there was a significant difference between the experimental class and the control class. The former class was better than the latter one, which meant that the training in the basic phonetic knowledge in the listening class did help the students improve their listening proficiency. Phonetic training had great impact on dictation part but had little influence on the conversation part and passage one.
Having summarized the results of the experiment, the author, from the perspective of phonetics, put forward some suggestions for the teaching of English listening in the final chapter with the expectation of providing some help for the College English teaching.
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