1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述包含参考文献）

2. Literature Review 2.1 Theoretical issues 2.1.1 Listening anxiety For some time, educators have recognized the existence of foreign language anxiety and its potential for significant interference with language learning and production. In 1986, Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope defined FL anxiety as ”a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process” (p. 128). In fact, it is widely accepted that anxiety plays a crucial role while learning a foreign language. The impact of such an emotional arousal in language learning has long been considered in language classroom. Much of the past studies have been conducted on the aspect of anxiety associated with oral production in L2; however, recently interest has been extended to cover all language skills (Kimura, 2008). One of these skills is listening. During listening process, different factors may cause uneasiness and tension for language learners and result in poor listening. Young (1992) stated that poor listening ability results from many factors, such as insufficient emphasis on listening, immature teaching methodologies, ineffective listening strategies, and students#8217; lack of vocabulary, but the increasingly important one is anxiety. It plays a very important role because the anticipation of foreign language use in receiving information can provoke anxiety. According to Scarcella and Oxford (1992), listening anxiety occurs when students face a task they feel is too difficult or unfamiliar. Young (1992) also stated that listening comprehension is highly anxiety-provoking if the discourse is incomprehensible. Learners may feel anxious while listening in the target language due to some difficulties associated with FL listening. Generally, as defined by Oxford (1993) listening is a complex, problem-solving skill and it is more than just perception of the sounds. Listening includes comprehension of meaning-bearing words, phrases, clauses, sentences and connected discourse. It is usually a hard skill to master in one#8217;s own language, let alone in another language. Besides, such difficulties may be increased during international exams. In relation to listening section of IELTS, Rasti (2009) stated that most IELTS candidates find listening as one of the most difficult sections of IELTS due to the fact that it is both fast and confusing. Moreover, perhaps the biggest problem that candidates have with the IELTS academic listening test is that the listening recording is only played once. Therefore, they fear from losing some parts while listening. In this respect, because listening is a challenging skill for foreign language learners in general and causes difficulty, studying positive effects of humorous song on listening anxiety may help to overcome many problems related to target language listening. 2.1.2 Listening comprehension This study is based on second language classroom. We only choose L2 listening comprehension as the object of study. For the purposes of this study, we operationalize L2 listening comprehension the same way as Buck (2001, p. 114), that is, as the ability to 1) process extended samples of realistic spoken language, automatically and in real time; 2) understand the linguistic information that is unequivocally included in the text; and, 3) make whatever inferences are unambiguously implicated by the content of the passage. This default construct is sufficiently flexible and broad to fit most contexts and to allow listeners to demonstrate their comprehension ability in real-life listening contexts. As a comprehension process, listening shares many important characteristics with reading (Bae amp; Bachman, 1998; Kintsch, 1998; Samuels, 1987). Both require receptive language processing, which involves decoding and interpretation. Both processes, therefore, use two basic knowledge sources: linguistic knowledge (e.g., vocabulary and syntax) and world knowledge (e.g., topic, text structure, schema, and culture) for purposes of text comprehension. Like reading, listening also entails top-down and bottom-up processing to apply these knowledge sources to the language input during comprehension. Both listening and reading necessitate cognitive processing that is flexible and adaptable to task demands in order to construct in memory a mental representation of what has been comprehended. Finally, the success of both listening and reading is influenced by additional factors, such as metacognition and motivation (Grabe, 2009; Vandergrift, 2005). 2.1.3 Humorous song With the decline of the dominance of structural syllabi in EFL classrooms, humor was implicitly reintroduced alongside a new emphasis on its authentic, relaxed and creative effects in language learning (Byrant, Comisky amp; Zillman, 1979; Zillman and Byrant,1983). Humor actually came to be employed to produce a resourceful encouraging lesson, not only for elementary levels, but also at upper-intermediate and advanced levels. The concept of humor is associated with the concept of interest, laughter, smiling jokes, ect. The effects of humor in language classrooms could be the injection of motivation, removing anxiety and stress and creating a comfortable environment for foreign language learners (Deneire, 1995). Humor can be regarded as a reinforcing tool to make students remember what they should know about the central part of every culture and also know something about the traditions and beliefs of that culture (Guegan amp; Fisher, 1975). Higbee (1996) believes that attention is one of the key factors in learning, as students need to pay attention to a concept in order to remember it. Also Girdfanny (2004) advises teachers to use humor in language classrooms because when they use it, the students pay more attention in order to not miss any of the jokes or witticisms. Beside that, humor can open students to new ideas and increase their motivation, because they are more willing to take risks and view mistakes as opportunities for learning (ibid: p, 18). Beside the effects of humor, one can regard the effects of song in language learning. Song can have a two-fold effect in the process of language learning. The first effect is the one like humor, as a tool to release the tension and anxiety caused by the process of language learning (Langfit, 1994). The other aspect of song is its relationship with the underlying principles and the mental processing of language at the metalevel (Fiske, 1993; Heller amp; Campbell, 1981;Sloboda, 1985; Swain, 1986).

2. 研究的基本内容、问题解决措施及方案

3. Methodology 3.1 Research questions The present study is aimed at investigating the effects of humorous song on listening comprehension and listening anxiety. Thus, the research questions are addressed as followings: 1. Is there any effect of humorous song on listening anxiety? 2. Is there any effect of humorous song on listening comprehension? 3.2 Participants The subjects in this study are 50 sophomores of English majors, coming from two intact classes in Nanjing University of Technology. We will choose 25 girls from class A and 25 girls from class B, then arrange them in two same corresponding multimedia classrooms, classroom A and classroom B. Next, we will only play the chosen humorous song in the classroom A. Then we will ask students of both classes finish the questionnaire The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLACS). After the questionnaire both classes will start the same listening test at the same time. 3.3 Instruments The research consistes of three phases, and therefore three instruments respectively are used to collect data in this study. In advance, I will choose two typical humorous songs on the Internet. The two songs will be played in the classroom A. The next phase of the research will be the administration of the second instrument which is the Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale (FLLAS), developed by Kim (2000). The instrument consists of 33 five-point scale items (see appendix B). Finally, the last phase of the research will be the administration of the third element which is the instrument for evaluating students#8217; listening comprehension being the listening Test adopted from IELTS practice tests plus by Jackman, and Macdowel (2001). IELTS is a standard test of English language proficiency and one of the most internationally prestigious tests of English which has gained a lot of reputation recently. It is a proven test of English all over the world. It is a valid test which measures English language learners#8217; proficiency level in English. It is accepted worldwide and its validity has been approved frequently. Over 1.4 million candidates sit for the test each year to be able to start their journey to international education and employment. IELTS is recognized by more than 6000 institutions in more than 135 countries worldwide (IELTS Handbook, 2011). The third phase of the research is listening test. I will choose the test from the Internet randomly. 3.4 Data collection 3.4.1 Listening anxiety test Having collected the required data, the researcher will embark on the process of data analysis. In order to answer the first question the Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale (FLLAS) adopted from Kim (2000) will be used since the question was seeking for the comparison between two classes. 3.4.2 Listening comprehension test Lastly, in order to answer the second question, we will collect the grades of the listening test of two classes. 3.5 Procedure In the present study, participants will be asked to complete the test. We will choose 25 girls from class A and 25 girls from class B, then arrange them in two same corresponding multimedia classrooms, classroom A and classroom B. Next, we will only play the chosen humorous songs in the classroom A. Then we will ask students of both classes finish the questionnaire the Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale (FLLAS) adopted from Kim (2000). After the questionnaire both classes will start the same listening test at the same time. FLLAS are administered to students to measure their foreign language listening anxiety. According to the results of the test, we will compare the datum of the two classes also compare the grades of the listening test of the two classes.