Acknowledgments I would like to express my appreciation to a number of people for their invaluable assistance in preparation and development of this thesis.

My most sincere thanks go first and foremost to my supervisor, She has offered me valuable suggestions in the academic studies. In the preparation of the thesis, she has spent much time reading through each draft and provided me with inspiring advice. Without her patient instruction, insightful criticism and expert guidance, the completion of this thesis would not have been possible.44279

I also owe a special debt of gratitude to all the professors in Foreign Languages Institute, from whose devoted teaching and enlightening lectures I have benefited a lot and academically prepared for the thesis.

Last but not the least, my gratitude also extends to my family and friend who have been assisting, supporting and caring for me all of my life. 

 A Study On Improving Listening Comprehension Through Shadowing Exercise ---- A Case Study of A Junior High School in Hangzhou

Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of the shadowing exercise, usually used in interpretation to train one’s short-term memory, on.junior high school students’ listening comprehension. A total of 96 Grade One students from a junior high school in Hangzhou participated in the study. The students were assigned into two groups to receive different treatments. Both groups repeated the recordings in post-listening activity. The difference between these groups was that students in Experimental Group did the shadowing exercise in which they could not read the listening material while repeating, while students in Control Group could read the listening material. The results of the three post-tests revealed that the shadowing exercise had a significant effect on students’ listening comprehension and those who did the shadowing exercise outperformed the other group. Based on the obtained results, it was concluded that the shadowing exercise could be helpful in enhancing students’ listening comprehension.

Keywords: listening comprehension; shadowing exercise; short-term memory

关于影子练习法提高英语听力理解的研究——基于杭州某初中学生的研究

摘  要本论文主要研究影子练习法对初中生英语听力理解能力的提高作用。影子练习法是一种常见的口译训练方法，它主要是通过训练人的短时记忆以提高听力理解能力。为了验证影子练习法的作用，研究者邀请了杭州某一初中的96名初一学生参加本次的研究调查。这些学生被平均分成两组`吹冰|文\论*文-网www.chuibin.com，其中一组是实验组，而另一组则是控制组。在实验组中，参与者把影子训练法作为一种听后活动，他们几乎同步跟读课本英语录音,形影不离的复述原话却不能翻看课本中的听力材料；然而在控制组中，参与者可以在跟读英语录音时翻看课本中的听力材料。经过三个月后的实验，实验组学生的听力理解水平明显高于控制组学生的听力理解水平。由此可知，影子练习法能够提高初中生英语听力理解能力。

毕业论文关键词：听力理解；影子练习法；短时记忆    

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 3

2.1 Background Information of Listening Comprehension 3

2.2 The Factors Affecting Listening Comprehension 3

2.2.1 Linguistic Factors Affecting Listening Comprehension 3

2.2.2 Non-linguistic Factors Affecting Listening Comprehension 3

2.2.2.1 Short-term Memory Affecting Listening Comprehension