Final Reflection

1.  Write a list of listening skills that you learned about from each of the units that we studied.  Find them on - page 9, page 35, page 58, page 82, page 107.

(1)Taking notes while listening, first consider the topic, then identify main ideas, last write down details that support the main ideas.
(2)If the speaker doesn't state his or her idea clearly, listen carefully to the facts given by the speaker, and make inference about what the speaker trying to imply.
(3)Listen to the examples given by the speaker and get a clearer picture of the key concepts. Rising intonation works like a comma to let the listener know that the examples haven't come to an end yet.
(4)Appositive is a phrase that gives additional information in a sentence to help the listener understand more clearly about the scientific or specialized terms.
(5)Organize notes with a T-chart to make it easier to understand the information given by the speaker. Use T-chart to separate the ideas into two columns, for example, causes and effects, problems and solutions, etc.

2.  Which listening skill (mentioned above) did you find the most valuable?  Why?

I find the the skill that teach us to organize the notes with T-chart most valuable. Because usually I understand almost every sentence the speaker say while listening, but if the lecture is long enough, I can't really remember why the speaker give out certain information when the talk is over. So if I take notes with logic, then I can efficiently review the ideas of the speaker. 

3.  What are some ways in which your listening in English has improved this semester?

I think my English listening skill has improved in the efficiency of getting a complete idea of a speech. I often get lost in the middle of the speech once I don't understand certain words, but this semester I won't be panic if I don't know some meanings of the words, and still finish the whole structure of the speech.

4.  What are some challenges that you still face in your English listening?  How do you plan to overcome these challenges?

I still have to practice my note-taking skill while listening, the problems are the notes need to be more organized and more details are needed. I find out that the structure of a speech are similar to the writing essay, so I plan to use my writing sense of structure while listening, hope this conscious can make my notes more logical and much easier to read.

5.  Based on your experience with listening to many different types of activities in English this semester (listening to radio reports, radio interviews, TED talks, the audio book, a song, etc.), what is the most efficient way that you can train yourself to improve your English listening on your own?  Explain your answer.

I think listening to TED talks is the most efficient way for me to train myself to improve my English listening. Because the audio book, radio reports, radio interviews are somehow too organized and too perfect. But in my opinion the real life conversation and lecture are often with defects, either digression or not so well-organized.Therefore, TED talks seem to be the listening activity that could really happen in day- to -day life. In order to use listening ability in real world, I think it is best to use TED talks to train myself.