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tiation of meaning in order to achieve their purpose. We can infer that listening plays an important role in communication, because speaking does not of itself constitute communication unless what is said is understood by another person. Teaching the comprehension of spoken speech is therefore of primary importance if the communication aims is to be achieved. Listening is used far more than any other single language skill in our daily life. Usually, we can expect to listen twice as much as we speak, four times more than we read, and five times more than we write. More stress has been made by Higher Education in China today that we should enable students of various majors to develop their communicative competence in a foreign langrage, in order to cater for the social demand for people with knowledge and better communication ability in a foreign language. Therefore, the importance of listening cannot be underestimated in our curriculum; it is imperative that it cannot be treated trivially in foreign language teaching. 3.2.2 Listening is a dynamic process, not a passive state Listening along with reading has had a traditional label of “receptive skill” and “passive process”. “Many teachers and students take auditory input for granted. However, as is pointed out by Jenny Thomas and other recent pragmatics, listeners make constant interpretation as they “hear” the spoken text according to their own purposes for listening, their expectations, and their own store of background knowledge. So we can reject the conceptualization of listening as a ‘passive act’, calling it a ‘listener-as-tape-recorder’ explanation of listening. This has been also confirmed by Anderson and Lynch.” [16] For example, Jane has a conversation with her friend about courses she is going to take next term: Jane: I'm going to take four courses next term. Friend: Can't you take three? Jane: Thank you. But I'd like to finish them all quickly. When her friend hears her utterance, he may make an immediate suggestion from his background knowledge that she will be very busy if she takes four courses for next term. So he says, “Can't you take three?” When she hears his response, she may figure out that his utterance means that he is giving her a suggestion that she should not overwork, so she may say “thank you” in return. 3.2.3 What teachers should do in improving listening comprehension Effective listening comprehension requires active participation and negotiation from the listener's part. Improving listening requires efforts from students as well as teachers. 1) Teacher is not the tape player, or the lecturer, but he is a helper or an organizer of class activities. He should adjust the activities to students' interest. 2) Students can be involved actively in activities like listening to mimic, role play, answer questions, take notes, make comments, discuss in groups, etc. Task-based listening may sustain students' interest, and develop their communication ability. 3) Improving listening shouldn't be limited to listening class only. It can be done in other classes like reading and speaking, even can be accomplished in activities outside classroom. 4) The teacher must give correct information about listening materials. There is no short cut. Encourage students to read something in their spare time about geography, history, culture, stories, and so on. Introduction of relevant background knowledge merits attention. Successful communication depends o