Listening is one of the most difficult language skills among the four communication competences; however, it has received much less time in English learning than the other three (reading, writing and speaking). Also, listening is often claimed to be a passive skill in the classroom, as learners seem to sit quietly and listen to dialogues. As language teachers, we are constantly striving to create the conditions under which our students can learn and succeed. At Academy of Finance, the fact is that, teachers and students do not get easy access to the English listening sources because not many books have been written regarding listening skill for academic purposes. As a result, this book is designed to solve the classroom problem dealing with the improvement of listening skill of the students, especially those who are studying English for business and financial environment. Listen to Academic English came out with an intention to help students develop excellent ears while they are joyfully responding to guided listening practices.

LEARN TO LISTEN AND LISTEN TO LEARN

The tasks designed in this book, hopefully, will bring the teachers and learners effective tools to practice listening to Academic English. Furthermore, both learners and teachers will be provided with authentic listening materials to explore business and financial world. They will at the same time gather critical facts and then stop worrying about what they are going to say and focus on what's being said, they will put more thought into what the speakers want to communicate. The book consists of 10 units covering the topics of economics, public finance, banking, accounting and so on. Learners can uncover underlying issues in the field of economics and finance when exposing to the listening audios. Authentic listening tasks will promote active listening of the learners because they are guided to effective listening skill through each unit of lessons and by the way learn how to utilize academic terminologies.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to thank the Administration of Academy of Finance, who provides us great opportunities and much encouragement for designing the book. We also thank the Department of Scientific Project management, AOF for giving us suggestions for formatting and procedures on completing the final draft.

We must thank our Leader of Division of Foreign Languages, Doctor Tran Thi Thu Nhung, who strongly supported us in the production of the book.

We also feel grateful to our colleagues who provided us with essential listening materials to be incorporated into the design of the book. Special thank is given to the group of authors of English Department, the Faculty of Foreign Language at Academy of Finance. The group of authors consists of:

1. Le Thi Huong Giang                      7. Vu Quynh Nga

2. Nguyen Xuan Huong Giang                    8. Vu Thi Phuong

3. Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh                9. Pham Thi Tam

4. Nguyen Thu Giang                        10. Pham Thi Thu

5. Nguyen Thi Thuy Huong              11. Bui Thi Bich Thuy

6. Tran Thi Thu Nhung

Cuốn sách có bán tại các cơ sở:

Nhà sách HVTC - tầng 1 - Nhà Thư viện, Học viện Tài chính, số 58 Lê Văn Hiến, Bắc Từ Liêm, Hà Nội, ĐT liên hệ: Cô Chi (0985.935.568)

Nhà sách HVTC - tầng 1 - Nhà D, Học viện Tài chính, số 69 Đức Thắng, Bắc Từ Liêm, Hà Nội, ĐT liên hệ: Cô Hương (0867.715.020)