Improving Listening and Speaking Skills in Mixed Level Groups (on the Material of New English File)

The purpose of our study is to investigate works of scholars about the problems of listening and speaking in learning foreign languages. We try to analyze the difficulties in doing listening and speaking exercises in mixed level groups focusing on “New English File” (Intermediate) textbook. “New English File” presents different kinds of listening and speaking tasks in order to improve all four skills (listening, reading, speaking, and writing). In our study we refer to Wenden's statement (1986), who noted that we need to find out listening problems in order to improve listening skill. According to it, we discovered difficulties not only in listening, but also in speaking of students in mixed level groups. These difficulties helped us to find the ways of improving students’ abilities to listen to authentic materials and apply them in communication. Problems in listening and speaking in mixed level groups were taken from the results of questionnaire. Students’ questionnaire determined the effective ways of using role plays and various activities in practice. The result of our study showed that the textbook was worse using in mixed level groups. Different creative activities in English classes motivate students to learn foreign languages, and improve knowledge.