Exploration of English Listening Capacity Based on Multimedia and Network Teaching of Middle School Students

杨泞溪

【Abstract】Listening comprehension is considered as a complex cognitive process， and requires listeners to organize and construct intuitively language meaning by means of connecting what they have already known before with what they are listening in listening materials or text. As we all know， listening is one of the most important components in English test， so it is necessary to train the students listening to increase their listening level. With the progress of technology， multimedia and network teaching gets down to be applied in listening teaching， which has a fairly great influence on the enhancement of English listening capacity. This thesis aims at exploring the effect of multimedia and network teaching on English listening capacity of middle school students， and gives some advice to refine listening teaching methods and improve listening ability of middle school students.

【Key words】English listening capacity； multimedia and network teaching； middle school students； listening teaching

I. introduction

With the growth of modern information technology， more advanced teaching models are introduced English class teaching. Multimedia and network technology becomes one of the most popular English teaching models， especially used in listening teaching. Multimedia and network teaching owns many advantages， such as network comprehensiveness， information opening， and activity interaction. It is a novel teaching tool relating graphics， literature， painting， and music （Yang， 2015）. It is convenient to use and provides an effective way for middle school students to learn English listening. In the past， English teaching often pays attention to reading and writing instead of listening and speaking of middle school students. However， at present， the society demands more people with comprehensive practical capacity. Therefore， in addition to get good scores in listening， students must take a variety of strategies to enhance their own listening comprehensive capacity. Listening teaching cant totally base on test-oriented education to purely improve listening scores， but requires taking effective methods to form the listening comprehensive capacity of middle school students. The thesis mainly aims to explore the influence of multimedia and network teaching on English listening ability of middle school students， and comes up with some suggestions to refine listening teaching methods and improve listening comprehensive ability of middle school students.endprint

II. Practicability of multimedia and network teaching

1. Abundance of content and convenience of usability

Multimedia and network teaching， as a modern teaching method， includes a large amount of information， and it is very convenience to operate. Nowadays， it has become the main mode of English teaching for middle school students and it can make students participate in actively English class teaching and improve English comprehensive ability. According to the literature about language learning environment， in the acquiring process of the second language， favorable and spectacular language learning environment plays a rather important part in English learning. That is because language learning requires learners to connect their own psychological mechanisms with their linguistic environment （Jing & Peng， 2010）. As a result， an appropriate linguistic environment is very important. The traditional listening class teaching only purely listens the material and answers some questions， and students often listen the key words and choose the answers that are similar with what they listen. It is likely that they can get good listening scores by listening key words；however， they dont get into the context of material and understand real meaning. Although it is probable to improve the students listening scores to some degree， it cant be effective to increase listening comprehensive ability of middle school students.

In addition， multimedia and network teaching can create and provide learners with a true language learning environment and atmosphere to help them contact more authentic language materials， activate their interest and potential， and form listening comprehensive ability.

2. Improvement of the students learning autonomy

Middle school students have mastered some basic learning methods and known plenty of disciplinary knowledge. Multimedia and network teaching can present relevant background knowledge and material in the form of the audio and video where the students can get real experience and information and associate what they have known with the background information given in listening materials. Besides， it can make the students build the language meaning actively instead of receiving information passively to develop the students autonomous class learning ability （Mo， 2002）.

Multimedia and network teaching can change the traditional teaching model which centers on teachers and neglects the subjectivity of students. As for multimedia and network teaching， students can think independently with the instruction and guidance of teachers. In the traditional teaching， the teachers present all the knowledge to students and dont create authentic language environment， so the students only receive the information and cant come up with their own opinion and understanding. So the teaching efficiency is very low and has a negative influence on the improvement of their creativity and autonomous learning ability. Besides， new teaching method allows the students to collect various materials， put forward their own views and judgments， and communicate with the teachers and students. Every student can express their own opinions and interact with others to activate their learning potential. Whats more， the teaching method is beneficial to improving the confidence of students because they find it possible to come up with their new opinions， which can attract their interest and attention. When they regard listening learning as an interest， they can learn by themselves and gradually improve their learning efficiency and listening comprehensive ability.endprint

III. Problems of multimedia and network teaching

1. Exaggeration of multimedia and network teaching effect

The theoretical foundation of multimedia and network teaching is constructionism， which provides some support for multimedia and network teaching. The constructionism states that emphasizing students as the center， the students should shift from passive receivers to main performer of information processing and constructer of knowledge meaning， and change the teachers who is the initiator and inculcator of knowledge into the helpers and facilitators of constructing language meaning for students （Wang & Sun， 2005）. It means that the students can construct language meaning with the help and facilitation of teachers， in other words， the building of language meaning needs the interaction of teachers and students.

However， some researchers and teachers think multimedia and network teaching provides open teaching space where the students can learn all the time and choose freely their own learning materials. They start to focus on the advancement of multimedia and network teaching equipment and neglect the importance of teachers. It seems that they only use these advanced teaching equipment， the students can improve their listening scores and comprehensive use ability. At this point， they depend on excessively the technology but overlook the influence of teachers.

2. Low quality of courseware contents

At present， in order to save time and pursue the efficiency of preparing lessons， most of the courseware moves the contents of textbooks. A lot of courseware contents are rich and contain some good materials and examples， but they are presented according to the beforehand design procedures. As a result， they cant fully teach students in accordance with their aptitude， and it doesnt reach the result of prediction. Meanwhile， the contents in courseware only present the students and they still receive the information passively rather than think actively， which cant activate their interest and potential， and enhance their learning autonomy. At the same time， when the students listen to the material， they just choose the proper answers according to these questions， but dont consider the context and understand profoundly the passage.

3. High requirements of multimedia and network teaching equipment

The multimedia and network teaching has high request for the equipment. At first， the school needs a great number of computers and internet to carry out network teaching activities. Besides， it is necessary to install the server， teachers computers， students computers， and network equipment in the classroom. Whats more， it also should include video recorders， digital cameras， scanners， multimedia editors， graphics， animation， workstations， and so on （Wang & Sun， 2005）. The equipment requires costing a large amount of money， so most of middle schools cant carry out multimedia and network teaching totally.endprint

IV. Suggestions for multimedia and network teaching

1. Refinement of courseware contents and quality

Many courseware contents only move those of the textbooks and lack of the vitality and interestingness， so the students have difficulty understanding and mastering them. In order to settle down the problem to some extent， the teachers can show and teach more background knowledge. Background knowledge is an important way to help the students understand the listening materials. Generally speaking， the listening material often involves the political， economic， cultural， historical and geographical aspects of Britain， the United States and other countries （Zhu & Jing， 2005）. Therefore， the teachers should encourage students to look up the customs and tradition of western countries， and compare the differences between eastern and Western culture. After the students think about these questions， they can collect more background information. When they listen to materials， they are able to link background information that they have known with what they listen to. It can improve autonomous class learning ability and listening overall capacity.

2. The selection of multimedia and network teaching subjects

Multimedia and network teaching requires too much money and it has trouble providing the teaching equipment for every class and students. Therefore， we must consider selecting a part of students to take part in multimedia and network teaching in order to settle down the shortage of equipment. In fact， some students cant adapt to the multimedia and network teaching because of emotional communication. They prefer to interact and communicate with their teachers and classmates face to face， and we should make these students take part in traditional class teaching and others can be considered as the subjects of multimedia and network teaching. By this way， it can take advantage of limited equipment to carry out new teaching method for those who prefer to multimedia and network teaching. Both can learn effectively and improve their listening comprehensive ability.

3. The importance of teacher in multimedia and network teaching

As for the thought of depending on the multimedia and network equipment， in order to achieve good scores and improve their overall ability， it must consider three factors， including the students， teachers， and teaching equipment. Only when they cooperate with each other， learning process can be conducted effectively. Therefore， in the process of multimedia and network teaching， it is necessary to realize the importance of them because the teachers can guide students participate in multimedia and network teaching to improve their listening comprehensive ability.

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