A Case Study Of Listening-and-Speaking Centered College English Teaching Practice

Along with the growth of international exchanges in the21st century, collegestudents study English no longer just for the purpose of passing College English Test Band4or College English test Band6, but for the cultivation and development of theircommunicative competence. Against this background, the Ministry of Educationpromulgated College English Curriculum Teaching Requirements (for trial implementation)in2004, in which the teaching objective of college English was set to develop students’ability to use English in an all-around way, especially in listening and speaking, so that intheir future work and social interactions they will be able to exchange informationeffectively through both spoken and written channels, and at the same time they will beable to enhance their ability to study independently and improve their cultural quality so asto meet the needs of China’s social development and international exchanges.To promote the smooth implementation of listening-and-speaking centered collegeEnglish teaching, the Ministry of Education issued The Program for College English Tests(trial) in early2005and college English tests have undergone a sweeping reform since2006. The significant detail of the reform lies in the fact that more importance was attachedto testing students’ comprehensive competence, especially their competence in listening,which could be revealed by the increase of the percentage of “listening comprehension”from20%to35%.The implementation of College English Curriculum Teaching Requirements andThe Program for College English Tests aims at meeting college students’ needs ofcultivating and developing their communicative competence. Thus, the study, based on thetheoretical framework of Needs Analysis, on the one hand, analyzes college Englishteaching syllabi or curriculum teaching requirements which serve as the main basis forcolleges and universities to organize their English teaching for non-English Majors andcombs the changes in the syllabi or the requirements of cultivating and developinglistening and speaking abilities so as to enhance both teachers’ and students’ understandingof the importance of listening-and-speaking centered college English teaching. On theother hand, the study, based on College English Test (abbreviated as CET hereafter) Band4 score report, students’ questionnaire and teachers’ interview, tries to provide a clearerpicture of the effectiveness achieved by the implementation of listening-and-speakingcentered college English teaching practice and the difficulties it confronts. Also, the studyexplores into students’ different practice of needs and preferences for listening or speaking.Based on theoretical survey and practical exploration, the study finally proposessuggestions for better implementation of listening-and-speaking centered college Englishteaching.