The Listener
Foreign-language students are not familiar enough with clichés and collocations in
English to predict a missing word or phrase. They cannot, for example, be expected to
know that rosy often collocates with cheeks nor to predict the last word will be
something like rage when they hear the phrase he was in a towering. . . . This is a
major problem for students.
Lack of sociocultural, factual, and contextual knowledge of the target language can
present an obstacle to comprehension because language is used to express its culture
(Anderson and Lynch 1988).
Foreign-language learners usually devote more time to reading than to listening, and
so lack exposure to different kinds of listening materials. Even our college students
majoring in English have no more than four hours’ regular training per week.
Both psychological and physical factors may have a negative effect on perception and
interpretation of listening material. It is tiring for students to concentrate on
interpreting unfamiliar sounds, words, and sentences for long periods.