Towards a curriculum in listening comprehension for training Chinese EFL students

Abstract

This field study is aimed at exploring a suitable
curriculum in listening comprehension, especially for
training Chinese EFL (English as a Foreign Language!
students. The paper is concerned with relating three
themes: why the emphasis should be laid on listening
practice, what strategies should be used to develop a
feasible curriculum and what factors should be considered
during the designing process. This study project
is intended to be useful to both Chinese EFL teachers
in search of a listening curriculum and the students
who need ear training in EFL study. The basic aims,
objectives and scope of the study are explained in the
Introduction.
The first chapter presents an overview of existing
difficulties and problems in developing the aural abilities
of the Chinese EFL students. In Chapter 2, the
importance of establishing clear and definite teaching
aims is discussed and two basic aims of teaching listening
comprehension are suggested according to the students'
needs in their communication with native speakers and in
their further study of EFL. Chapters 3 and 4 are concerned
with choosing and sequencing the course content.
Criteria of selecting materials and of classifying unit
aims and objectives are studied in an attempt to find a
way of teaching listening skills in a systematic manner.
Chapter 5 outlines the main teaching activities and
strategies of achieving the established objectives.
The final chapter is devoted to the discussion of establishing
an evaluation procedure throughout the whole
designing process, with stress put on testing students'
progress and the results of their learning. The whole
content of the study is summarized through a suggested
curriculum model in the Conclusion.
In the process of study, theoretical concepts and
linguistic principles basic to understanding spoken
English are discussed and used as a reasonable basis for
the curriculum. It is intended that this field study
will contribute in some way to curriculum design in
Listening comprehension, a facet of TEFL which has seldom
been systematically treated in China.

Date of Award	1983
Original language	English