A Study On Chinese EFL Learners' Fossilization In Listening Comprehension

This M.A. thesis investigates Chinese EFL learners'fossilization in listening comprehension. After so many years of English listening acquisition, it is still difficult for Chinese EFL learners to take in oral English input easily and quickly. This investigation contributes to the research in this area and deepens the general discussion of fossilization in the past.Selinker first brought forward the concept of fossilization in 1972. Afterwards, as the study in this field proliferates, it becomes more specialized as well. Besides the heavily focused topic of bottleneck in spoken English, English listening comprehension started to be given the priority.This thesis, starting the discussion with the theories of fossilization and combining features of listening comprehension, analyzes what is fossilization in listening comprehension, what may have caused the phenomenon and what are the possible solutions.Through the study, this thesis tries to discuss the possible reasons from multiple points of view, including a questionnaire by an English listening class, analysis of psychology, of linguistics and of culture.Final indications from the study is, Chinese EFL learners can break through their listening bottleneck by getting to know more cultural knowledge, field background and listening strategy, and adjusting learning mentality. For teachers, they should recognize mistakes also indicate progress. Thus teachers can avoid bringing students psychological fear of making mistakes and help students to gain better listening comprehension ability.