The peculiarities of teaching listening in middle classes of secondary schools

Abstract

The article deals with the importance of listening in the process of foreign language learning and teaching. The key issues that complicate the process of information perception have been analyzed. Listening is considered to be a psychomotor process that triggers a number of cognitive mechanisms. The ability to understand foreign language audio texts is the main requirement to master a foreign language. The listening comprehension process includes: decoding auditory sounds, determining the function of the speech event, activating schemata, assigning literal meaning, assigning intended meaning, determining the demand for short- or long-term memory, retaining essential information.

Different groups of tasks used to develop skills of understanding English audio texts have been described. It has been noted that these tasks should differ depending on the level of foreign language students. The main features of listening have been described, such as: the use of the authentic texts, which will catch the interest of potential listeners; the focusing of the students' attention on the purpose of listening; the involving of different listening types.

The advantages of combining two or more skills for effective language acquisition have been considered. The factors that can complicate the listening process have been analyzed, they are as follows: clustering, redundancy, reduced forms, performance variable, colloquial language, rate of delivery, intonation, interaction. It has been found out that the formation of foreign language listening competence of students is an interactive process that requires integrated approaches. It has been confirmed that listening plays an important role in achieving practical, evaluative and educational goals and serves as an effective means of foreign language studying.