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【Abstract】Listening is an important skill. With the development of society and education， the interests of learning a language have changed a lot. No matter what the reason is， the initial contact with the language may be the four learning abilities， which include listening， speaking， reading and writing. However， different learning objectives are more or less affected by the learners’ learning styles. Moreover， learners may encounter some difficulty around the different learning stages and methods. This essay will discuss the details of these issues and put forward some appropriate arguments.
【Key words】listening； spoken language； measure
【作者簡介】常丹丹（1993-），女，黑龙江哈尔滨人，哈尔滨环球雅思学校，英语专业，硕士，口语教师，研究方向：高校英语教育学。
1. The problems of listening （Especially about spoken language）
As far as I am concerned， hearing may be the first step for learners to come in touch with the language. Whatever the language is， the most likely way for a learner to start learning is the pronunciation of a single letter or word. One major difference between spoken language and written language is the density of available information. One other difference is the language standard. The written language is usually very standard， and spoken language is often mixed with local dialects， slang and other non-standard language elements. The first step in listening comprehension is to understand the difference between written and spoken language. As a next step， the differences in listening comprehension between an examination environment and daily human communication are also well worth discussing.
1.1 Listening for tests. Learners in this group are high school students from 12 to 18 years old. Because of the shortage of systematic and detailed learning， their English basic is weak even though they all have strong learning motivation. This is just the learning background of these high school students. The students in this stage are learning to listen to a language so that they can pass a variety of exams while most of them have not studied abroad. There is little basis for language learning， but there is no systematic and detailed learning of all the available knowledge.
1.2 Syllable discrimination and vocabulary. As usual pronunciation phenomenon， similar phonetic symbols， liaison and elision may let some students wrongly judge listening content. Whether it is a listening test or daily communication， having a clear pronunciation and knowing how to distinguish different pronunciations is quite a basic and important part. There are many unavoidable and similar phonetic symbols in languages. An excellent ability to distinguish sounds not only will improve the level of listening but also will make pronunciation more standard. However， it is common that the most basic and important part is the one which is the most easily overlooked. For example， because the pronunciation of [e] and [?] in English is very similar， quite many learners will ignore the subtle differences. At the same time， ‘pet’ is very easy to be mistaken for ‘pat’. In fact， there are many similar phonetic symbols of letters and words. In this case， a syllable resolution error may affect the whole listening comprehension or a whole conversation. Another common variant of the problem is liaison and elision. This situation may not appear in all languages， but it is common in English. In English pronunciation， not in all cases， each word is usually pronounced very clearly. However， some sounds may be reduced， and some words may be read together. If someone does not understand these features of English pronunciation， it is difficult to understand the pronunciation of standard （typical） British or American. On this point， there are two very typical examples. For example， ‘n’ and ‘a’ in ‘an apple’ are often read. Of course this is a simple enough example， but it may sound puzzling if the two words are particularly complicated. There are many kinds of reduction sounds， one of which being ‘v’， which is not pronounced if the next letter is a consonant. It is difficult to raise the level of listening if the listener only knows one meaning and one pronunciation of a word. There are various meanings and pronunciations for a word， and there may be different pronunciations and meanings if the word interacts with other words. However， the listening test will not just focus on the parts that the listeners are familiar with.
2. How to deal with the problems
Compared with writing， reading and speaking， the improvement of listening receives the least systematic attention from teachers and instructional materials （Vandergrift
【Key words】listening； spoken language； measure
【作者簡介】常丹丹（1993-），女，黑龙江哈尔滨人，哈尔滨环球雅思学校，英语专业，硕士，口语教师，研究方向：高校英语教育学。
1. The problems of listening （Especially about spoken language）
As far as I am concerned， hearing may be the first step for learners to come in touch with the language. Whatever the language is， the most likely way for a learner to start learning is the pronunciation of a single letter or word. One major difference between spoken language and written language is the density of available information. One other difference is the language standard. The written language is usually very standard， and spoken language is often mixed with local dialects， slang and other non-standard language elements. The first step in listening comprehension is to understand the difference between written and spoken language. As a next step， the differences in listening comprehension between an examination environment and daily human communication are also well worth discussing.
1.1 Listening for tests. Learners in this group are high school students from 12 to 18 years old. Because of the shortage of systematic and detailed learning， their English basic is weak even though they all have strong learning motivation. This is just the learning background of these high school students. The students in this stage are learning to listen to a language so that they can pass a variety of exams while most of them have not studied abroad. There is little basis for language learning， but there is no systematic and detailed learning of all the available knowledge.
1.2 Syllable discrimination and vocabulary. As usual pronunciation phenomenon， similar phonetic symbols， liaison and elision may let some students wrongly judge listening content. Whether it is a listening test or daily communication， having a clear pronunciation and knowing how to distinguish different pronunciations is quite a basic and important part. There are many unavoidable and similar phonetic symbols in languages. An excellent ability to distinguish sounds not only will improve the level of listening but also will make pronunciation more standard. However， it is common that the most basic and important part is the one which is the most easily overlooked. For example， because the pronunciation of [e] and [?] in English is very similar， quite many learners will ignore the subtle differences. At the same time， ‘pet’ is very easy to be mistaken for ‘pat’. In fact， there are many similar phonetic symbols of letters and words. In this case， a syllable resolution error may affect the whole listening comprehension or a whole conversation. Another common variant of the problem is liaison and elision. This situation may not appear in all languages， but it is common in English. In English pronunciation， not in all cases， each word is usually pronounced very clearly. However， some sounds may be reduced， and some words may be read together. If someone does not understand these features of English pronunciation， it is difficult to understand the pronunciation of standard （typical） British or American. On this point， there are two very typical examples. For example， ‘n’ and ‘a’ in ‘an apple’ are often read. Of course this is a simple enough example， but it may sound puzzling if the two words are particularly complicated. There are many kinds of reduction sounds， one of which being ‘v’， which is not pronounced if the next letter is a consonant. It is difficult to raise the level of listening if the listener only knows one meaning and one pronunciation of a word. There are various meanings and pronunciations for a word， and there may be different pronunciations and meanings if the word interacts with other words. However， the listening test will not just focus on the parts that the listeners are familiar with.
2. How to deal with the problems
Compared with writing， reading and speaking， the improvement of listening receives the least systematic attention from teachers and instructional materials （Vandergrift