Listening comprehension has been a focus ofteaching second language for many years in China.However,there are many problems in the practicallistening class,such as a distorted listening motiva-tion,a lack of sufficient and authentic input and acorresponding neglect of metacognitive awareness oflearning in actual teaching.In fact,what we are do-ing in the listening class is to test rather than to teach,to foster the passive receiver rather than the activelearner.This article analyzes these problems from the-oretical perspective,speculating on the limitations interms of the comprehensible input,the affective filterand metacognitive awareness.Then,based on theauthor’s teaching experience,it provides some sugges-tions to solve the present problems.It suggests what isneeded in teaching listening is careful consideration ofpre-,during and post-listening tasks incorporatingboth the top-down and bottom-up processes.
