《英语听说》课程教学资源（参考资料）L2 Listening in China - An Examination of Current Practice.pdf_大学文库

38 W.A.Renandya and G.Hu that would benefit L2 learners and help them become better L2 listeners (see Santos and Graham,this volume).This,however,may not always be the case for three reasons.First,teachers may not have access to the professional literature and consequently may be unaware of recent developments in L2 listening.Second,even those who keep up with the literature may find con- flicting views about the main factors that affect the processing of spoken text and about how best to teach L2 listening (Wang 2010:Wang and Renandya 2012).As a result,they may feel bewildered and unable to choose between these various views.Third,contextual factors such as paucity of suitable lis tening materials and lack of access to online resources may constrain teach ers from trying out new ways of teaching listening.Many teachers,as noted by Field(2008)and Siegel (2014),continue to use traditional methods of teaching L2 listening that focus more on the product than the process of listening.One such method which is still widely used in L2 classrooms is known as the comprehension-based approach where students listen to a recording multiple times and are then required to answer a set of compre hension questions as if they were taking a listening comprehension test. Not surprisingly,L2 learners continue to find L2 listening to be one of the most difficult skills to learn (Vandergrift and Goh 2012).Those at the lower end of the proficiency scale find L2 listening particularly hard.Many have reported that they are unable to cope with the fast rate of speech,cannot recognize words they already know in print,have difficulty segmenting words in connected speech and,as a result,fail to form a coherent representation of the meaning of the text(Zeng 2007).Even those at the more advanced levels sometimes find listening to be demanding,as is the case with college English teachers from China with whom we have been working for several years These are teachers whose overall English proficiency is quite advanced but whose listening skill seems to lag behind other skills such as reading,writing and speaking.In the general proficiency test that we administered as part of the admission requirements to the postgraduate programme they were apply ing for,they tended to perform well on the reading,speaking and writing components,but scored poorly on the listening segment. In this chapter we begin by describing the kinds of problems that Chinese college English learners encounter when listening to spoken English.These include both lower level (e.speech rate,word recognition)and higher level (e.g.failure to make schema-based inferences)listening problems.These problems are related to the processes of listening rather than to the products, with the latter being typically focused on in comprehension-based teach ing approaches.We then outline pedagogical strategies that Chinese college English teachers believe are useful to help their students overcome various

38 W.A. Renandya and G. Hu that would beneft L2 learners and help them become better L2 listeners (see Santos and Graham, this volume). Tis, however, may not always be the case for three reasons. First, teachers may not have access to the professional literature and consequently may be unaware of recent developments in L2 listening. Second, even those who keep up with the literature may fnd conficting views about the main factors that afect the processing of spoken text and about how best to teach L2 listening (Wang 2010; Wang and Renandya 2012). As a result, they may feel bewildered and unable to choose between these various views. Tird, contextual factors such as paucity of suitable listening materials and lack of access to online resources may constrain teachers from trying out new ways of teaching listening. Many teachers, as noted by Field (2008) and Siegel (2014), continue to use traditional methods of teaching L2 listening that focus more on the product than the process of listening. One such method which is still widely used in L2 classrooms is known as the comprehension-based approach where students listen to a recording multiple times and are then required to answer a set of comprehension questions as if they were taking a listening comprehension test. Not surprisingly, L2 learners continue to fnd L2 listening to be one of the most difcult skills to learn (Vandergrift and Goh 2012). Tose at the lower end of the profciency scale fnd L2 listening particularly hard. Many have reported that they are unable to cope with the fast rate of speech, cannot recognize words they already know in print, have difculty segmenting words in connected speech and, as a result, fail to form a coherent representation of the meaning of the text (Zeng 2007). Even those at the more advanced levels sometimes fnd listening to be demanding, as is the case with college English teachers from China with whom we have been working for several years. Tese are teachers whose overall English profciency is quite advanced but whose listening skill seems to lag behind other skills such as reading, writing and speaking. In the general profciency test that we administered as part of the admission requirements to the postgraduate programme they were applying for, they tended to perform well on the reading, speaking and writing components, but scored poorly on the listening segment. In this chapter we begin by describing the kinds of problems that Chinese college English learners encounter when listening to spoken English. Tese include both lower level (e.g. speech rate, word recognition) and higher level (e.g. failure to make schema-based inferences) listening problems. Tese problems are related to the processes of listening rather than to the products, with the latter being typically focused on in comprehension-based teaching approaches. We then outline pedagogical strategies that Chinese college English teachers believe are useful to help their students overcome various

3 L2 Listening in China:An Examination of Current Practice 39 listening difficulties.In the final section,we present a set of pedagogical rec- ommendations grounded in current research for teaching listening in China and other similar L2 learning contexts,in particular in places where English is taught as a foreign language Why Is Listening Difficult? Listening is one of the first language skills that LI users acquire naturally in the early years of their lives.They develop their ability to comprehend oral language 'seemingly without effort and attention(Siegel 2014:22) This,however,is not often the case with L2 learners of English,especially those who learn English in a foreign language (EFL)context like China. These EFL learners get more exposure to written than oral language because the English language curriculum is typically heavily biased towards literacy rather than oral skills.As Stephens(2011)pointed out,These students typi cally demonsrate literaey skills that are superior to theirr skills(p.31) What kinds of difficulties do students often encounter?L2 learners have reported both lower level and higher level problems(Goh 2000).Lower leve problems are associated with inefficient processing of the language features of spoken text(e.g.sound and sound blending ord boundaries in speech and complex grammatical structures),whilst higher level problems have more to do with failure to make relevant connections within and between utterances to comprehend the intended message of the text.A consensu is lacking amongst researchers about which of these two types of problems contributes more to L2 learners'inability to comprehend spoken text,but there is growing evidence that comprehension failure is often associated with lower level processing problems (e.g.Field 2009;Goh 2000;Wang 2010; Wang and Renandya 2012). In a study of university students from China who were learning English in Singapore,Goh (2000)used Anderson's three-phase theoretical frame- work(i.e.perception,parsing and utilization)to categorize their listening problems.Her study revealed that most of the difficulties were lower level processing problems associated with the first two phases of perception and parsing.Simi arly,Zeng(2007)reported that the majority of listening prob lems (see Table 3.1)that his college EFL students in China encountered most frequently had to do with lower level processing such as rate of speech, word recognition,unfamiliar words,complex sentences and unfamiliar pronunciation (see McAuliffe and Brooks,this volume,for a listening pro- gramme designed to address these difficulties)

3 L2 Listening in China: An Examination of Current Practice 39 listening difculties. In the fnal section, we present a set of pedagogical recommendations grounded in current research for teaching listening in China and other similar L2 learning contexts, in particular in places where English is taught as a foreign language. Why Is Listening Diffcult? Listening is one of the frst language skills that L1 users acquire naturally in the early years of their lives. Tey develop their ability to comprehend oral language ‘seemingly without efort and attention’ (Siegel 2014: 22). Tis, however, is not often the case with L2 learners of English, especially those who learn English in a foreign language (EFL) context like China. Tese EFL learners get more exposure to written than oral language because the English language curriculum is typically heavily biased towards literacy rather than oral skills. As Stephens (2011) pointed out, ‘Tese students typically demonstrate literacy skills that are superior to their oral skills’ (p. 312). What kinds of difculties do students often encounter? L2 learners have reported both lower level and higher level problems (Goh 2000). Lower level problems are associated with inefcient processing of the language features of spoken text (e.g. sound and sound blending, word boundaries in speech and complex grammatical structures), whilst higher level problems have more to do with failure to make relevant connections within and between utterances to comprehend the intended message of the text. A consensus is lacking amongst researchers about which of these two types of problems contributes more to L2 learners’ inability to comprehend spoken text, but there is growing evidence that comprehension failure is often associated with lower level processing problems (e.g. Field 2009; Goh 2000; Wang 2010; Wang and Renandya 2012). In a study of university students from China who were learning English in Singapore, Goh (2000) used Anderson’s three-phase theoretical framework (i.e. perception, parsing and utilization) to categorize their listening problems. Her study revealed that most of the difculties were lower level processing problems associated with the frst two phases of perception and parsing. Similarly, Zeng (2007) reported that the majority of listening problems (see Table 3.1) that his college EFL students in China encountered most frequently had to do with lower level processing such as rate of speech, word recognition, unfamiliar words, complex sentences and unfamiliar pronunciation (see McAulife and Brooks, this volume, for a listening programme designed to address these difculties)

3 L2 Listening in China:An Examination of Current Practice 41 research participants also attributed listening difficulties mostly to language- related variables (e.g.speech rate,word recognition,new vocabulary,sen- tence complexity and phonetic variations). As the results reported above show,micro listening problems are so wide- spread that Field (2009)concludes that 'a disturbingly large number of larger-scale problems of understanding actually have their origins in small scale errors of word recognition'(p.14).Because of this,Field (2008)and others (e.g.Renandya and Farrell 2011;Wilson 2003)have called for lis- tening teachers to pay more attention to lower level,bottom-up processing problems.Field(2009)provides examples of how simple words and phrases are ofen perceived by L:may be heard as invent as prevent,the church where she was buried as the church where she was married.What is often puzzling and also frustrating to L2 learners is that they can readily recognize and decode these words in print but fail to do so when they hear them in speech. The Teaching of Listening in China As in other EFL contexts it is only fairly recently that oral skills have started the weighting of the listening section of the compulsory CET (College English Test)Band 4 was increased from 15 to 35%in 2008 (Li 2013) Consequently,listening now receives more instructional attention in college English classes. Until recently the teaching of listening has largely reflected more tradi- tional methods (see Li 2013;Wang 2010)characterized by the following features: An emphasis on the product rather than the process of listening,with the main pedagogical aim being to help students extract meaning from the text: .Use of inauthentic scripted materials devoid of features typically found in naturally occurring conversational/spoken language; Test-oriented listening practice whose main purpose is to prepare students for the CET test; Overuse of the comprehension-based approach,which puts students on the perpetual cycle of (i)listening,(ii)answering comprehension ques- tions and (iii)checking answers

3 L2 Listening in China: An Examination of Current Practice 41 research participants also attributed listening difculties mostly to languagerelated variables (e.g. speech rate, word recognition, new vocabulary, sentence complexity and phonetic variations). As the results reported above show, micro listening problems are so widespread that Field (2009) concludes that ‘a disturbingly large number of larger-scale problems of understanding actually have their origins in smallscale errors of word recognition’ (p. 14). Because of this, Field (2008) and others (e.g. Renandya and Farrell 2011; Wilson 2003) have called for listening teachers to pay more attention to lower level, bottom-up processing problems. Field (2009) provides examples of how simple words and phrases are often incorrectly perceived by L2 learners: burst may be heard as birth, invent as prevent, the church where she was buried as the church where she was married. What is often puzzling and also frustrating to L2 learners is that they can readily recognize and decode these words in print but fail to do so when they hear them in speech. The Teaching of Listening in China As in other EFL contexts it is only fairly recently that oral skills have started to gain popularity in China. In recognition of the increased importance of listening in developing college students’ oral language skills in English, the weighting of the listening section of the compulsory CET (College English Test) Band 4 was increased from 15 to 35% in 2008 (Li 2013). Consequently, listening now receives more instructional attention in college English classes. Until recently the teaching of listening has largely refected more traditional methods (see Li 2013; Wang 2010) characterized by the following features: • An emphasis on the product rather than the process of listening, with the main pedagogical aim being to help students extract meaning from the text; • Use of inauthentic scripted materials devoid of features typically found in naturally occurring conversational/spoken language; • Test-oriented listening practice whose main purpose is to prepare students for the CET test; • Overuse of the comprehension-based approach, which puts students on the perpetual cycle of (i) listening, (ii) answering comprehension questions and (iii) checking answers

42 W.A.Renandya and G.Hu It is worth noting that these features are still commonly found in other similar EFL contexts where English is not used for genuine communicative purposes.Siegel (2014),for example,found that in Japan the comprehen- on-based approach was still popular with the English teachers he observed in his study.Overall,the literature seems to indicate that this situation is also quite common not only in Asia but also in other EFL countries in the world (Vandergrift and Goh 2012). More recently,however,newer and more diverse methods of teaching lis- tening have started to gain some traction (gmethods that are more pro- cess-oriented with a strong metacognitive focus such as those suggested by Vandergrift and Goh 2012).As a result of greater exposure to newer ways of teaching listening,teachers are more willing to explore and implement L2 listening pedagogy that reflects current scholarship in L2 listening theory and research.What is interesting here is that the types of listening problem that students face remain largely the same (i.e.mostly lower level process- ing problems),but teachers seem to be more open to consider a wider rang of pedagogical options (see Wang 2010).This trend was evident in Wang and Renandya's(2012)study,in which in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 teachers to find out what they could do to help students overcome the listening difficulties summarized in Tables 3.1 and 3.2.These teachers offered a range of instructional strategies,as discussed below. Speech Rate Although many of the interviewed teachers realized that the ultimate goal of L2 listening would be to comprehend authentic texts for effective com- munication,they acknowledged the fact that their students started at a lowe base and needed structured support to cope with the fast rate of speech.The majority suggested slowing down the speed so that students can hear the individual words more clearly.They also recommended that students should be encouraged to adjust the speed of their listening text according to their preference when they do their independent listening practice.The availabil- ity of digitally mediated listening materials (e.g.podcasts)has made it eas- ier for students to manipulate the speech rate and choose a speed that they find the most comfortable.Another suggestion was to get students to viev the script before they listen to a text spoken at a normal rate,which both students and teachers in the study found useful for overcoming difficulties associated with speech rate and other listening problems such as word recog- nition and phonetic variations

42 W.A. Renandya and G. Hu It is worth noting that these features are still commonly found in other similar EFL contexts where English is not used for genuine communicative purposes. Siegel (2014), for example, found that in Japan the comprehension-based approach was still popular with the English teachers he observed in his study. Overall, the literature seems to indicate that this situation is also quite common not only in Asia but also in other EFL countries in the world (Vandergrift and Goh 2012). More recently, however, newer and more diverse methods of teaching listening have started to gain some traction (e.g. methods that are more process-oriented with a strong metacognitive focus such as those suggested by Vandergrift and Goh 2012). As a result of greater exposure to newer ways of teaching listening, teachers are more willing to explore and implement L2 listening pedagogy that refects current scholarship in L2 listening theory and research. What is interesting here is that the types of listening problems that students face remain largely the same (i.e. mostly lower level processing problems), but teachers seem to be more open to consider a wider range of pedagogical options (see Wang 2010). Tis trend was evident in Wang and Renandya’s (2012) study, in which in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 teachers to fnd out what they could do to help students overcome the listening difculties summarized in Tables 3.1 and 3.2. Tese teachers ofered a range of instructional strategies, as discussed below. Speech Rate Although many of the interviewed teachers realized that the ultimate goal of L2 listening would be to comprehend authentic texts for efective communication, they acknowledged the fact that their students started at a lower base and needed structured support to cope with the fast rate of speech. Te majority suggested slowing down the speed so that students can hear the individual words more clearly. Tey also recommended that students should be encouraged to adjust the speed of their listening text according to their preference when they do their independent listening practice. Te availability of digitally mediated listening materials (e.g. podcasts) has made it easier for students to manipulate the speech rate and choose a speed that they fnd the most comfortable. Another suggestion was to get students to view the script before they listen to a text spoken at a normal rate, which both students and teachers in the study found useful for overcoming difculties associated with speech rate and other listening problems such as word recognition and phonetic variations

3 L2 Listening in China: An Examination of Current Practice 43 Phonetic Variations Phonetic variations, many of the teachers in the study believed, seem to be the main culprit for students’ word segmentation and word recognition problems. Phonetic variations refer to diferent ways individual words or groups of words are pronounced in connected speech (e.g. going to is often pronounced as gonna). Te majority of the teachers felt that class time should be devoted to focused instruction on problem areas. Tis can take the form of an awareness raising activity (i.e. sensitizing students to the particular speech phenomenon) or focused practice (i.e. practicing how to pronounce words in connected speech). Word Recognition Students are often unable to recognize words they already know partly due to their unfamiliarity with the way words are pronounced in connected speech, and partly due to their own incorrect pronunciation. Many of the teachers pointed out that some students were unable to recognize some words they heard because they pronounced those words diferently from the speakers in the recording. Tus these teachers felt that improving students’ pronunciation would help to develop and strengthen students’ word recognition skills. A number of the teachers suggested a mixture of instructional procedures involving reading aloud, repetition, shadowing (listening and repeating immediately) and teacher correction to help students with their pronunciation problems. Unfamiliar Vocabulary All of the teachers agreed that unfamiliar vocabulary would be one of the main sources of listening difculty. Te majority suggested pre-teaching key vocabulary items before letting students listen to the recording. Some recommended that students preview the new words the day before they come to class so that teachers can devote classroom time to other comprehensionenhancing listening activities. Tey also suggested that additional vocabulary learning activities should be developed at the post-listening phase in order to reinforce what students have learned

44 W.A.Renandya and G.Hu Complex Sentences Speech that contains long stretches of utterances and embedded clauses is perceived to be difficult.This phenomenon is interesting because spoken language generally contains shorter and simpler utterances.However,in the context of the study reported in Wang and Renandya(2012),the listening materials in many coursebooks.were prepared passages read out by native English speakers with predetermined scripts(p.94).Whilst scripted materi- als are not without value,they do not represent authentic speech and should be used sparingly.To help students cope with scripted texts a number of the teachers recom nended making the written script available to the learners to alleviate the difficulty of decoding complex syntax.These teachers also rec- ommended repeated listening as a way to help students become used to lis- tening to complex sentences present in speech Processing-Related Problems When asked about how students could handle processing-related problems (e.g.being distracted,easily forgetting what is heard),some of the teach ers recommended teaching listening strategies,in particular those that can help students become more aware of their processing problems and enable them to plan,implement and evaluate their success or failure in overcoming their problems.Research into metacognitive listening strategies has shown some promising results(Vandergrift and Goh 2012),and som of the teach ers seemed to be keen to incorporate listening strategies in their teaching Others,however,had some reservations about the effectiveness of teach- ing listening strategies,believing that strategies would be useful only for the more advanced students.These teachers believed that lower proficiency students would need more practice in lower level processing(e.g. word rec ognition and fluency practice via repeated listening)to build up their basic listening skills before they are taught listening strategies. Pedagogical Recommendations The discussions above show that teachers are generally aware of the kinds of listening problems that L2 listeners face,understand the sources of these problems and are increasingly well informed about the range of pedagogical

44 W.A. Renandya and G. Hu Complex Sentences Speech that contains long stretches of utterances and embedded clauses is perceived to be difcult. Tis phenomenon is interesting because spoken language generally contains shorter and simpler utterances. However, in the context of the study reported in Wang and Renandya (2012), ‘the listening materials in many coursebooks . were prepared passages read out by native English speakers with predetermined scripts’ (p. 94). Whilst scripted materials are not without value, they do not represent authentic speech and should be used sparingly. To help students cope with scripted texts a number of the teachers recommended making the written script available to the learners to alleviate the difculty of decoding complex syntax. Tese teachers also recommended repeated listening as a way to help students become used to listening to complex sentences present in speech. Processing-Related Problems When asked about how students could handle processing-related problems (e.g. being distracted, easily forgetting what is heard), some of the teachers recommended teaching listening strategies, in particular those that can help students become more aware of their processing problems and enable them to plan, implement and evaluate their success or failure in overcoming their problems. Research into metacognitive listening strategies has shown some promising results (Vandergrift and Goh 2012), and some of the teachers seemed to be keen to incorporate listening strategies in their teaching. Others, however, had some reservations about the efectiveness of teaching listening strategies, believing that strategies would be useful only for the more advanced students. Tese teachers believed that lower profciency students would need more practice in lower level processing (e.g. word recognition and fuency practice via repeated listening) to build up their basic listening skills before they are taught listening strategies. Pedagogical Recommendations Te discussions above show that teachers are generally aware of the kinds of listening problems that L2 listeners face, understand the sources of these problems and are increasingly well informed about the range of pedagogical

3 L2 Listening in China:An Examination of Current Practice 45 options for teaching L2 listening.To further improve their students'listen- ing ability they could consider an even wider range of pedagogical options that reflect current scholarship in 1 listening pedagogy.Discussed below are pedagogical practices that L2 listening experts (e.g.Chang 2016;Field 2008;Richards 2015;Vandergrift and Goh 2012)believe should feature more prominently in the L2 listening classroom. Listening as a Process For many years the focus of L2 listening pedagogy has been on the product of listening with comprehension as the key objective of instruction.The suc- cess of a listening lesson has often been described in terms of the number of post-listening questions students are able toanswer Little attention has been paid to the process of comprehension,that is,how students process the various interrelated elements of listening and arrive at their unique comprehension of the text. Current 12 listening pedagogy encourages teachers to pay attention not only to the product the process of listening By focusing on the pro cess (e.g.how students infer meaning when the listening input is not clear or when they lack relevant prior knowledge),teachers are in a better position to support learners who might experience processing problems at the percep- tion,parsing and utilization stages of listening.They can also teach students metacognitive listening strategies (e.g.directed attention,selective listening) to help them to plan,manage and evaluate the listening process.Such listen- ing strategies help students think about the process of listening,reflect on and becon mo aware of the factors that affect their comprehension,under stand the skills and strategies they could use to solve their listening problems, and thus facilitate the comprehension of spoken discourse(Goh 2000). Listening as Comprehension and Acquisition Listening has traditionally been associated with the teaching of compre- believed to aid understanding of oral discourse.This traditional view of lis- tening is still widespread in many L2 contexts.Whilst the view of listening as comprehension has served useful pedagogical purposes,there isa need to consider listening from a different perspective,one of listening as acquisition

3 L2 Listening in China: An Examination of Current Practice 45 options for teaching L2 listening. To further improve their students’ listening ability they could consider an even wider range of pedagogical options that refect current scholarship in L2 listening pedagogy. Discussed below are pedagogical practices that L2 listening experts (e.g. Chang 2016; Field 2008; Richards 2015; Vandergrift and Goh 2012) believe should feature more prominently in the L2 listening classroom. Listening as a Process For many years the focus of L2 listening pedagogy has been on the product of listening with comprehension as the key objective of instruction. Te success of a listening lesson has often been described in terms of the number of post-listening questions students are able to answer correctly or incorrectly. Little attention has been paid to the process of comprehension, that is, how students process the various interrelated elements of listening and arrive at their unique comprehension of the text. Current L2 listening pedagogy encourages teachers to pay attention not only to the product but also the process of listening. By focusing on the process (e.g. how students infer meaning when the listening input is not clear or when they lack relevant prior knowledge), teachers are in a better position to support learners who might experience processing problems at the perception, parsing and utilization stages of listening. Tey can also teach students metacognitive listening strategies (e.g. directed attention, selective listening) to help them to plan, manage and evaluate the listening process. Such listening strategies help students think about the process of listening, refect on and become more aware of the factors that afect their comprehension, understand the skills and strategies they could use to solve their listening problems, and thus facilitate the comprehension of spoken discourse (Goh 2000). Listening as Comprehension and Acquisition Listening has traditionally been associated with the teaching of comprehension skills. Classroom practices are typically organized around activities believed to aid understanding of oral discourse. Tis traditional view of listening is still widespread in many L2 contexts. Whilst the view of listening as comprehension has served useful pedagogical purposes, there is a need to consider listening from a diferent perspective, one of listening as acquisition

6 W.A.Renandya and G.Hu (Richards 2009).An L2 learner's oral competence is only as good as his/her listening ability.Viewed in this way,listening is one of the two main sources of language input(i.e.reading and listening)that can be exploited to facili- tate learners'language proficiency development. In order to facilitate students'language acquisition processes,teachers can design listening activities that promoe the noticing of language features.in particular those non-salient language features (e.g.tenses,plurals,non-count nouns)that students would not normally pay attention to unless these are highlighted during lessons.Afterwards,students can be encouraged to use these just noticed language items in speaking and/or writing activities.There is considerable research evidence that noticing activities can help learners restructure their existing linguistic system and further their L2 development (Richards 2009). More Focused Practice of Problematic Text Features As was mentioned earlier,lower level perception problems are often cited as one of the main sources of listening comprehension breakdown.Students often say that they cannot understand the e text because they are not able to 'catch the words',although they know these words in their written form. Since problems at the perception stage can have negative knock-on effects on the subsequent processing of the text,perception-related problem will need to be systematically addressed in the classroom.Wilson (2003) has called for teachers to give more attention to spoken text features such as sound assimilation (e.g.tuck it in becomes takitin)and re-syllabication (e.g.went in becomes wen tin)that often cause problems.Regular focused practice of problematic text features using dictogloss,for example,can sen sitize L2 learners to their listening problems and promote greater awareness of how they themselves can do more focused practice independently out side the classroom.In dictogloss,students first listen to the text for a general understanding.They then listen again and jot down key words,which they use subsequently to reconstruct the original text.During the reconstruction stage,students are encouraged to pay attention to some language features that have caused them problems in the past.Deliberately encouraging the students to notice these problematic features means they will be more likely to do more independent practice and become more able to deal with these features in future listening lessons

46 W.A. Renandya and G. Hu (Richards 2009). An L2 learner’s oral competence is only as good as his/her listening ability. Viewed in this way, listening is one of the two main sources of language input (i.e. reading and listening) that can be exploited to facilitate learners’ language profciency development. In order to facilitate students’ language acquisition processes, teachers can design listening activities that promote the noticing of language features, in particular those non-salient language features (e.g. tenses, plurals, non-count nouns) that students would not normally pay attention to unless these are highlighted during lessons. Afterwards, students can be encouraged to use these just noticed language items in speaking and/or writing activities. Tere is considerable research evidence that noticing activities can help learners restructure their existing linguistic system and further their L2 development (Richards 2009). More Focused Practice of Problematic Text Features As was mentioned earlier, lower level perception problems are often cited as one of the main sources of listening comprehension breakdown. Students often say that they cannot understand the text because they are not able to ‘catch the words’, although they know these words in their written form. Since problems at the perception stage can have negative knock-on efects on the subsequent processing of the text, perception-related problems will need to be systematically addressed in the classroom. Wilson (2003) has called for teachers to give more attention to spoken text features such as sound assimilation (e.g. tuck it in becomes takitin) and re-syllabication (e.g. went in becomes wen tin) that often cause problems. Regular focused practice of problematic text features using dictogloss, for example, can sensitize L2 learners to their listening problems and promote greater awareness of how they themselves can do more focused practice independently outside the classroom. In dictogloss, students frst listen to the text for a general understanding. Tey then listen again and jot down key words, which they use subsequently to reconstruct the original text. During the reconstruction stage, students are encouraged to pay attention to some language features that have caused them problems in the past. Deliberately encouraging the students to notice these problematic features means they will be more likely to do more independent practice and become more able to deal with these features in future listening lessons