Study On College English Listening And Speaking Course-Based On The Action Research In S University

English (or any other languages) focuses on the real practical capacity of communication. Inthe secondary or high school education, the focus of English teaching is on writing, vocabularyand grammar, and it is writing&exam-oriented. Among the four skills (listening, speaking,reading and writing), foreign language learners often complain that listening is one of the mostdifficult skills to acquire. Listening and speaking, the practice-focused applications of English,however, always are the weakest in English use. There are various causes for the barrier andobstacles in the improvement of the listening comprehension and spoken English of students,and the situation needs improving in order to a better command of English, which will bebeneficial for the learners to use English in real life.Action research is a widely-accepted research method for educational practitioners. Thisaction research (AR) is composed of studying and planning; taking action; reflecting and revisedactions. AR is a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals workingwith others in teams or as part of a "community of practice" to improve the way they addressissues and solve problems. Foreign researchers and experts have applied AR in differentacademic fields. In1970's, Lawrence Stenhouse believed that the curriculum ought to beorganized in schools so that it was meaningful and relevant to students' experience, and theyshould be encouraged to take on the responsibility of their own learning. He also promoted theidea of 'teacher as researcher'. Since then, action research was widely applied into educationscience. However, AR is a relatively-new term in domestic research. There is no Chinese bookillustrating methodology. According to the research data on CNKI, few articles applying AR inEnglish education, none of the papers about teaching listening and speaking.The author has been teaching College English Listening and Speaking Course for6years,and in the real teaching practice, various problems existed in teaching and learning listening andspeaking. Therefore, from the perspective of better learning and more effective teaching, theauthor does an action research on teaching listening and speaking.This action research is composed of two parts, pre-research and research. In pre-researchprocess, the author selects some pre-research subjects to do a pilot questionnaire. The authordesigns the research based on the results of data analysis. Then a research design based on needs analysis comes out.The research subjects are the students from2009combined degree classes (There are60students in this class, and33are from Class II and the rest27come from Class I). Firstly, theauthor did a pre-test to know the overall English proficiency in order to make research plansbased on their needs. The author revised the detailed action in teaching schedule. After doingthe experiment in a semester, an interview and4post-tests were conducted to see whether thisaction research is rewarding or working. The answer is positive.The author finds there is no obvious difference in listening comprehension betweenstudents varying in their English education background. Because the participants are randomlychosen, the research findings can be provoking to English education reform. and this teachingpractice can be applied in listening and speaking course widely. Actually the previous Englishbackground is not playing the decisive role in the following studies in listening and speaking;the teaching process and contents shall be reformed based on the needs of the learners. Theauthor also puts forward the suggestions in the education reform in teaching listening andspeaking.