Whenwe'relearningaforeignlanguagemakingsenseofwhatwehearisthefirststeptowardfluency.Itsoundsobviousbutuntilrecentlywedidn'tknowmuchabouthowlisteningworks.Newresearchshowsthateffectivelisteninginvolv

　　Whenwe'relearningaforeignlanguagemakingsenseofwhatwehearisthefirststeptowardfluency.Itsoundsobviousbutuntilrecentlywedidn'tknowmuchabouthowlisteningworks.Newresearchshowsthateffectivelisteninginvolvesmorethansimplyhearingthewordsthatfloatpastourears.Ratherit'sanactiveprocessofanalysinginformationandmakingmeaning.

　　Studiesofskilledlanguagelearnershaveidentifiedspecificlisteningstrategiesthatleadtoexcellentcomprehension.Inadditiontothatbenefitresearchhasshownthatlearnerswhoadoptthesestrategiesbecomebetterlisteners.

　　Sowhatarelisteningstrategies?Skilledlearnersgointoalisteningactivitywithasenseofwhattheywanttogetoutofit.Theysetagoalfortheirlisteningandtheymakepredictionsaboutwhatthespeakerwillsay.Beforethetalkingbeginstheyreviewwhattheyalreadyknowaboutthesubjectandformanintentionto“listenoutfor”what'simportant.Oncetheybeginlisteningtheselearnersmaintaintheirfocus;iftheirattentionwanderstheybringitbacktothewordsbeingspoken.Theydon'tallowthemselvestobethrownoffbyconfusingorunfamiliardetails.Insteadtheytakenoteofwhattheydon'tunderstandandlatermakeinferences(推测)aboutwhatthosethingsmightmeanbasedonothercluesavailabletothem:theirpreviousknowledgeofthesubjecttheidentityofthespeakerandsoon.Allthewhileskilledlearnersareevaluatingwhatthey'rehearingandtheirownunderstandingofit.They'recheckingtheirinferencestoseeifthey'recorrect.

　　Suchstrategiesareallaboutthinkingandtheyproduceavarietyofbenefits.Researchindicatesthatsuchlearnersarebetteratanalysingandstoringnewinformationbetteratfindingthebestwaystopracticewhattheyhavelearned.LastyearforexampleUniversityofOttawaresearcherLarryVandergriftpublishedhisstudyof106undergraduateswhowerelearningFrenchasasecondlanguage.Halfofthestudentsweretaughtinatraditionalfashionlisteningtoandpracticingtextsspokenaloud.Theotherhalfdealingwiththesameskilllevelandtaughtbythesameteacherweregivenclearinstructiononhowtolisten.InthejournalLanguageLearningVandergriftreportedtheresults:Thesecondgroup“significantlyoutperformed(胜过)”t