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UNIVERZA V MARIBORU

FILOZOFSKA FAKULTETA Oddelek za anglistiko in amerikanistiko

DIPLOMSKA NALOGA

Iva Kladošek

Maribor, 2016

UNIVERZA V MARIBORU

FILOZOFSKA FAKULTETA

Oddelek za anglistiko in amerikanistiko

Graduation thesis

DEVELOPING LISTENING SKILLS BY USING LISTENING LOGS

Diplomsko delo

RAZVIJANJE SLUŠNIH ZMOŽNOSTI S POMOČJO DNEVNIKOV

POSLUŠANJA

Mentor: Kandidatka:

doc. dr. Katja Plemenitaš Iva Kladošek

Somentor:

asist. dr. Melita Kukovec

Maribor, 2016

Lektorica: Ida Rebernak, profesorica angleščine in slovenščine

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to express my gratitude to my mentor dr. Katja Plementitaš

and to my co-mentor asist. dr. Melita Kukovec, for all their help, advice and

patience.

My special thanks goes to my family for their encouragement, love and

support during my studies.

I would also like to thank my friends, especially to Gregor Antoličič, Mateja

Čuš, and Alexandra Minozzi for their support while writing my diploma

thesis.

And thank you, Valter, for all your support and understanding.

UNIVERZA V MARIBORU FILOZOFSKA FAKULTETA

Oddelek za anglistiko in amerikanistiko

IZJAVA

Podpisani-a Iva Kladošek rojen-a 4.4.1985 študent-ka Filozofske fakultete

Univerze v Mariboru, študijski program Angleški jezik s književnostjo in

geografija , izjavljam, da je diplomsko delo z naslovom Razvijanje slušnih

zmožnosti s pomočjo dnevnikov poslušanja pri mentorju-ici doc. dr. Katji

Plemenitaš in somentorici asist. dr. Meliti Kukovec, avtorsko delo.

V diplomskem delu so uporabljeni viri in literatura korektno navedeni; teksti

niso prepisani brez navedbe avtorjev.

Kraj, Maribor

Datum, 19.5.2016

_________________________________

(podpis študenta-ke)

ABSTRACT

For some students developing listening skills can be very challenging. This

diploma paper deals with the importance of teaching and developing

listening skills effectively in a foreign language classroom. In most cases

when students listen to a text in a foreign language, they rarely think about

how they listen and what can they do to improve their listening skills. For

this reason, Listening Logs are presented in this thesis as a tool for

developing listening skills. The thesis is divided into two parts. The first

part is theoretical and the second one is empirical. In the theoretical part

listening process is described as well as the process of planning listening

activities in the classroom. In addition, uncertainties and problems causing

learners demotivation to listen are discussed. Finally, Listening Logs are

presented as a tool to encourage students to listen outside the classroom.

In the empirical part, the results of how students reflect on their listening

are presented. This is followed by an interpretation of Listening Log forms

which were completed by the students. The results show that Listening

Logs are a useful tool for developing listening skills and that students'

grade in English does not affect on the opinion that Listening Logs are an

effective activity for developing listening skill. This was investigated by

forming five hypotheses, two of which were rejected and three were

confirmed. The results also show that Listening Logs develop learner's

autonomy.

KEY WORDS: developing listening skills, planning, pre-listening

stage, while-listening stage, post listening stage, Listening Logs.

POVZETEK

Razumevanje sporočila, pisnega ali ustnega, je ena od veščin, ki

pogojujejo uspešno komunikacijo. Razvijanje slušnih zmožnosti je zato

temeljnega pomena pri učenju tujega jezika, ki učiteljem, predvsem pa

dijakom in študentom, predstavlja velik izziv. Pa vendar slednji le redko

razmišljajo o možnostih za izboljšanje uspešnosti poslušanja. Diplomsko

delo se osredotoča na vlogo učenca (dijaka in študenta) v procesu razvoja

slušnega dojemanja kot veščine pri učenju tujega jezika. V teoretičnem

delu je predstavljen proces poslušanja, način načrtovanja slušnih

dejavnosti v razredu ter opis negotovosti in problemov, s katerimi se

poslušalci srečujejo pri razvijanju slušne zmožnosti. Opišemo tudi

dnevnike poslušanja, ki služijo kot orodje za spodbujanje študentov, da

poslušajo besedila v angleščini tudi izven učilnice. V praktičnem delu

analiziramo rezultate anket, v katerih študenti razmišljajo o lastnih

zmožnostih poslušanja, in interpretiramo dnevnike poslušanja. Rezultati so

potrdili, da je uporaba dnevnikov poslušanja zelo učinkovita ne le pri

razvijanju slušnih zmožnosti, temveč tudi kot spodbuda k večji

samostojnosti učencev. To ugotavljajo tudi študenti, pri katerih končna

ocena pri angleščini ne vpliva na mnenje, ali so dnevniki poslušanja

uporabni pri razvijanju slušnih zmožnosti.

KLJUČNE BESEDE: razvijanje slušnih zmožnosti, načrtovanje, pred

poslušanjem, med poslušanjem, po poslušanju, dnevniki poslušanja.

CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 1

THEORETICAL PART ............................................................................... 2

2 LISTENING PROCESSES...................................................................... 2

2.1 Bottom-up and Top-down processes in listening .............................. 3

2.2 Extensive and intensive listening ...................................................... 4

2.3 Listening in a foreign language ......................................................... 5

3 PLANNING LISTENING ACTIVITIES .................................................. 10

3.1 Reasons and goals for listening ...................................................... 10

3.2 Choosing texts for listening ............................................................. 12

3.3 Designing listening tasks ................................................................ 17

3.3.1 The pre-listening stage ............................................................. 18

3.3.2 The while –listening stage ........................................................ 23

3.3.3 The post-listening stage ........................................................... 26

4 POTENTIAL PROBLEMS AND UNCERTAINTIES FOR FOREIGN

LANGUAGE LISTENERS ....................................................................... 29

4.1 Potential problems in learning to listen to English .......................... 29

4.1.1 Lack of control over the speed at which speakers speak ......... 29

4.1.2 Not being able to get things repeated ....................................... 30

4.1.3 The listener’s limited vocabulary .............................................. 30

4.1.4 Failure to recognise the signals ................................................ 31

4.1.5 Problems of interpretation ........................................................ 31

4.1.6 Inability to concentrate .............................................................. 31

4.1.7 Establishing learning habits ...................................................... 31

4.2 Uncertainties for listeners ............................................................... 32

4.2.1 Uncertainties of confidence ...................................................... 32

4.2.2 Uncertainties deriving from the presentation of speech ............ 32

4.2.3 Uncertainties because of gaps in the message ........................ 33

4.2.4 Uncertain strategies.................................................................. 33

4.2.5 Uncertainties of language ......................................................... 33

4.2.6 Visual uncertainties .................................................................. 34

5 LISTENING LOG AS A TOOL FOR DEVELOPING LISTENING SKILLS

................................................................................................................. 36

5.1 Listening Logs ................................................................................ 36

5.2 Elements of Listening Logs ............................................................. 37

5.3 Principles of listening texts in Listening Logs .................................. 38

5.4. Examples of Listening Logs ........................................................... 39

EMPIRICAL PART .................................................................................. 45

6 PURPUSE OF THE STUDY ................................................................. 45

6.1 Research questions ........................................................................ 46

7 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................. 46

7.1 Research methods and research instruments ................................ 46

7.2 Research sample ............................................................................ 47

7.3 Research hypotheses ..................................................................... 47

7.4 Results ............................................................................................ 48

7.5 Findings .......................................................................................... 56

CONCLUSION ......................................................................................... 60

References.............................................................................................. 62

APPENDIX 1............................................................................................ 65

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: A framework for grading listening input .................................... 13

Figure 2: An example of a task looking at picture before listening at pre-

listening stage .......................................................................................... 20

Figure 3: An example of a task labelling the picture at pre-listening stage

................................................................................................................. 22

Figure 4: An example of a task putting pictures in order ......................... 25

Figure 5: An example of Listening Log form 1......................................... 42

Figure 6: An example of Listening Log form 2......................................... 43

LIST OF GRAPHS

Graph 1: The number of students ............................................................ 47

Graph 2: Average grades and students' feelings ..................................... 58

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Types of texts ............................................................................. 14

Table 2: Sources of listening .................................................................... 48

Table 3: The topic .................................................................................... 49

Table 4: The type of source ..................................................................... 50

Table 5: Did you find Listening Log useful? ............................................. 50

Table 6: What have you learnet in the process of working on the Listening

Logs? ....................................................................................................... 51

Table 7: Difficulties while listening ........................................................... 52

Table 8: How did you overcome the problems? ....................................... 53

Table 9: The students' feelings and moods while listening ...................... 53

Table 10: Contigency table for the final grade and usefulness of Listening

Logs ......................................................................................................... 57

Table 11: Contigency table for final grade and type of listening ............... 57

Table 12: T-test for two independent samples ......................................... 59

Developing Listening Skills by Using Listening Logs Iva Kladošek

1

1 INTRODUCTION

Most people take listening for granted. Usually, we do not realize how

important listening is in our lives and how much time we devote to

listening. When we are born we first learn to listen. Most people would say

that we only listen to the music, radio or television. However, this is not

true. We listen to our family, friends, colleagues at work, when we are

buying different things, at the bank; even when we are sitting in the park,

listen to other people's conversation. These situations are called listening

situations and while we are listening in our mother's tongue we never

consider them as listening situations. It is different when we are listening in

a foreign language.

In order to participate in a conversation we need to master not only

speaking skills but also listening skills. When the conversation is in our

mother tongue we often forget how important listening skill is in order to

respond to a friend, colleague, or a person or people who are involved in

the conversation properly. Students of a foreign language sooner or later

find how difficult it is to listen and to understand what is said in a foreign

language. To some students of foreign language listening for

comprehension represents something very difficult and challenging to

achieve and develop. Many language teachers do not put enough

emphasis on developing listening skills in the classroom and that is the

reason why some students say listening is the most difficult skill, especially

if they do not see the speaker. In the real world, we do not always see the

speaker; for example, when we are talking on the phone or when we are

listening to the radio. These listening situations cause students the biggest

problem and they quickly give up listening because they lose motivation.

At this point, the teacher's role is to develop listening skills by motivating

students to listen and by exposing students to different listening situations.

The teacher can choose between different listening tasks. The most

popular these days is using Listening Logs. Listening Logs can be used in


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the classroom or as homework since students can develop listening skills

in the classroom as well as at home.

THEORETICAL PART

2 LISTENING PROCESSES

Listening is a word that we use on a daily basis without giving it much

thought. Listening is a vital mental capacity by which we understand and

take part in the world around us. The foundation of our ability to

communicate is oracy. Oracy is the ability to understand and participate in

spoken communication. Therefore oral language has an interior quality

that reflects our thoughts and an exterior quality which enables us to

communicate with others (Rost, 1994).

Listening has been all too often overlooked. Most people claim that being

fluent in a foreign language would mean mastering speaking and writing

skills. Listening and reading are therefore secondary skills. However, this

is not true. Today, listening is becoming more and more important in the

classroom (Nunan, 1991).

When we listen, we receive a speaker's message; focus on it and

contextualize it; find relevance in it; and respond to it. The key to

involvement is the finding of relevance. While listening, we need to put

what we hear in some form of context if we want to process it in real time

and make sense of it. This process is called activation of schemata – the

accessing of related concepts in the mind of listener. Listening involves

active and passive processes which are far more complex and

multidimensional than is often imagined (Kemp, 2009).

Anderson and Lynch (1993) argue that there are two facts about listening.

The first fact is that listening skills are as important as speaking skills. In

order to be able to communicate, both skills need to be developed. The


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second fact is that listening is a reciprocal skill which means that there is a

chance for a speaker and listener to exchange their roles.

2.1 Bottom-up and Top-down processes in listening

The terms bottom-up and top-down are used to describe two different

aspects of listening. In the bottom-up process, we use information in the

speech itself to try to comprehend the meaning. We divide sounds and

impose structure on these in terms of words, phrases, clauses, and

intonation patterns (Hedge, 2003).

Example: A friend calls to invite you at her party at her house. As you have

never been at her house before, she gives you directions. You listen

carefully and make notes. When listening to directions, understanding

exact words is very important. This listening process is called bottom-up

listening process. (Retrieved from <https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk

/article/listening-top-down-bottom>, on 14. 9. 2015).

Bottom-up listening involves the listener in scanning the input to identify

familiar lexical items; segmenting the stream of speech into constituents.

Top-down listening refers to the use of contextual clues and to various

types of prior knowledge which is inside listener's head. Prior knowledge

has been termed as schematic knowledge and it consists of context, which

is, the situation and topic, and co-text (Hedge, 2003). Top down listening

strategies involve the listener in assigning an interaction to, for example,

story-telling, praying, joking, complaining, assigning persons, places and

things to categories, etc. (Nunan, 1991).

Example: Somebody tells a story about his/her holiday, which was a

disaster. The listener listens with interest and interjects at certain moments

in order to express surprise or sympathy. Listener's main concern was

understanding the general idea and knowing when some response was

expected. With background knowledge the listener understands the


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meaning of the message. (Retrieved from <https://www.

teachingenglish.org.uk/article/listening-top-down-bottom>, on 14. 9. 2015).

Misunderstandings may arise when schematic knowledge differs, even

between speakers of the same language, due to cultural differences

(Hedge, 2003). There are two different types of schemata used by

listeners:

1) formal schemata – these consist of the knowledge we have of the

overall structure of some speech events, and

2) content schemata – that include general world knowledge,

sociocultural knowledge, and topic knowledge (Hedge, 2003).

Until recently, the focus was firmly on the development of bottom-up

processing strategies. In the recent years, the use of both types of

strategy has been recognized as necessary and it is generally accepted

that learners need the access to both strategies. It is important to teach

not only bottom-up skills, but also to help students to use what they

already know to understand what they hear. If the teacher finds out that

there are gaps in students’ knowledge, then the teacher may provide

schema-building activities to prepare students for the listening tasks

(Nunan, 1991).

2.2 Extensive and intensive listening

Students can improve their listening skills through a combination of

extensive and intensive listening. Listening of both kinds is important for

students to hear voices other than the teacher's, enables students to

acquire good speaking habits, and it improves their pronunciation

(Harmer, 2007).

What is the difference between extensive and intensive listening?

Extensive listening is listening where a teacher encourages students to

choose for themselves what they listen to. Usually it will take place outside

the classroom: in the student's car, home, etc. When students are able to


5

choose what they are going to listen to, the motivational power for listening

increases dramatically (Harmer, 2007).“Extensive listening is listening for

pleasure and without obligating the listener to keep demonstrating a

satisfactory level of understanding” (Field, 2008, p. 54).

Intensive listening focuses on making sense of a language structure or

extracting exact detail when listening to audio material on tape, CD or hard

disk. Many teachers use this material when they want to practise listening

skills (Harmer, 2007 and Waring, 2010).

Most people agree that listening in a foreign language is much more

difficult that listening in the first language. When we listen in a foreign

language we listen differently and we put much more effort in order to

understand as much as we can.

2.3 Listening in a foreign language

Learning to listen in our first language is different from learning to listen in

a foreign language. Listening to mother tongue requires considerable

cognitive development and attention to social and linguistic input over the

years. However, learning to listen in a foreign language seems to be even

more difficult due to numerous problems (Rost, 1994).

Foreign language acquisition requires constant exposure to the target

language, which is a meaningful input for the learner.

Acquiring good speaking and listening skills in English is the main aim for

many second and foreign language learners. The most important aim

when developing listening skills in a foreign language is comprehension.

Listening comprehension is a process of understanding what the speaker

said. This includes understanding of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation,

and getting the idea of what we hear.

Developing listening comprehension in second language learning is very

much linked to two essential features of the first language acquisition.


6

First, young children at the early part of their lives are allowed to a ‘silent

period’ .This means they are not expected to produce adult-like language

in response. Second, even after they start talking, children understand

more than they can say. These two characteristics had a major influence

on the development of teaching methods known collectively as the

comprehension approach and comprehensible input. Comprehensible

input is all the learners hear and from which they select cues in order to

construct a mental model of the speaker’s message (Anderson and Lynch,

1993).

What various forms of the Comprehension Approach have in common are:

concentration, at the early stages of a language course, and activities

which develop learner’s comprehension, without requiring them to produce

in a target language or they might answer in their mother tongue. In this

case the learners are relieved of the burden of speaking in the second

language before they feel ready. This leads to increased confidence,

motivation, and competence (Anderson and Lynch, 1993).

As learners of the second language we face some problems while

listening in a foreign language. One of the principal skills which listeners

must develop if they want to participate in a conversation is the ability to

identify the conversation topic. At the early stages of language learning,

identifying the topic is a very hard task. Therefore, to get clarification of a

topic, the students of foreign languages have to develop some strategies

to make their difficulties plain to their native speaker. This important skill is

the one that we use in our mother tongue and less frequently than in a

second language (Anderson and Lynch, 1993).

Ur (1994) claims the listener in foreign language may face following

problems: hearing the sound, understanding intonation and stress, coping

with redundancy and noise, predicting, understanding colloquial

vocabulary, fatigue, understanding different accents, and visual and

environmental clues.


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Hearing the sound

Sometimes students do not perceive certain English sounds which do not

exists in their mother tongue. For example the sound /θ/ as in ‘think’ does

not exist in Slovene. Therefore, Slovene students very often do not notice

at first that it occurs in English. Usually, they may simply assimilate it to

the nearest sound familiar to them and pronounce it as /f/. Sometimes,

foreign learners of English may have difficulties with the sequences and

consonant clusters. They can get the consonants in the wrong order

(hearing ‘parts’ for ‘past’), or omit one of the sounds (‘crips’ instead of

‘crisps’), or hear a vowel that is not pronounced (‘little’ for ‘little’). One

reason why students mishear the sounds is because students are not

used to the stress and intonation patterns of English and the way these

influence the realization of certain phonemes and the meaning of the

utterance.

Understanding intonation and stress

The stress, intonation and rhythm in English language can interfere with

the foreign student’s proper understanding of spoken English. Therefore, it

is worth drawing students’ attention to the existence of certain general

patterns such as the division of utterances into tone-groups. In each tone

group there are strings of syllables run together to form a single sequence

and they are generally characterized by one heavily stressed ‘tone’. The

rhythm of speech is based on these ‘tones’ and other minor stresses. The

importance of intonation derives from the great extent to which it often

influences the meaning of an utterance. That means a significant word is

often stressed by being pronounced in a higher level. Due to many

different stress patterns, intonation, and rhythm in spoken English it would

be of dubious value to give or practise in details. It is however the best if

the students are exposed to plenty of informal native speech.


8

Coping with redundancy and noise

When we listen to someone speaking, we usually have to put up with the

‘noise’. Some words may be indistinctly pronounced or drowned by the

interference from the outside. The foreign language listeners find these

gaps very difficult to cope with. This happens for three main reasons: first,

the number of gaps is much larger; second, they are not familiar enough

with the combination of sounds, lexis, and collocations of the language to

make predictions and guesses to what was missing; and the third, even

when the number of gaps is not much larger than those in their mother

tongue, many foreign learners face a psychological problem. If they come

across an incomprehensible word, they are completely thrown off balance

because they think they must understand everything, even unimportant

details. Foreign language learners assume that successful comprehension

is total comprehension. They find it very difficult to get used to the idea

that they can be a perfectly competent listener even though they do not

understand 100 per cent of what is said.

Predicting

If the listeners can predict what they will hear next, then it is more likely

they will understand and perceive it well. Prediction is difficult for the

foreign language learner for various reasons, such as intonation and

stress, familiarity with the clichés, collocations, idioms, and commonly

used proverbs. Most predictions depend on vocabulary or grammar. A

learner, who has a reasonable grasp of the pronunciation, vocabulary, and

grammar of the target language, may make the same prediction of what is

following as a native speaker.

Understanding colloquial vocabulary

Students of foreign languages may already know much of the vocabulary

used in colloquial speech. However, this does not mean they are familiar

with it. It takes some time for the newly learnt word to become really

known and readily recognized by the students. Sometimes students are


9

not able to identify the word because they cannot quickly search their

memory for the meaning of the word. The learners also need to know that

some words are very common in colloquial English, while in formal English

they may be a taboo. Another problem that may arise with the

understanding of colloquial vocabulary is that some words in colloquial

speech may disappear completely. For example ‘Where are you going?’

can be pronounced in colloquial English as ‘Where you going?’ without a

grammatical mistake being made or heard. Longer words which are

pronounced differently from what the foreign learners may expect because

their colloquial pronunciation does not accord with their spelling can also

be a problem.

Fatigue

For the students of foreign language it is very difficult and tiring to listen to

and interpret unfamiliar sounds and words for a long time. The effect of

fatigue depends on the listeners and their concentration while listening.

However, it is well known that when doing comprehension tasks the

learners’ grasp is better at the beginning of the task and it is getting worse

as they progress on. This happens because the listener runs out of the

energy that is necessary to absorb and interpret the strange sounds.

Understanding different accents

Some foreign language students have difficulties in understanding

different accents of the target language. Sometimes they are very

surprised when they do not understand a lot even though they have been

learning English for some time. As we know there are numerous different

accents of English and even if the teachers were able to teach all ‘native’

accents there are in English, this would not satisfy the learners’ needs.

What teachers can do is to familiarize students with two most frequently

used English accents. These are the British and American standard

varieties. Afterwards, the teacher may use examples of some other


10

English accents, so the students can get familiar with some other types of

accents.

Visual and aural environmental clues

While listening many students do not use visual or aural clues which would

lead to better understanding. Many of them misunderstand words because

they are analysing words in isolation instead of linking them to the context

or accompanying visual stimuli. Sometimes they even misunderstand in

spite of visual help or a gesture while listening. This happens because

they are unable to perceive and interpret visual or other stimuli. That is

why it is very important to practise listening to conversations (Ur, 1994).

Having in mind which difficulties the students may face while listening in a

foreign language helps when we want to plan listening activities in the

classroom or outside the classroom.

3 PLANNING LISTENING ACTIVITIES

When planning listening activities it is important to bear in mind the kind of

real-life situation we are preparing our students for and the difficulties that

students are likely to encounter. It is essential to be aware of the nature of

teaching-learning process in the classroom. There are certain physical

considerations such as the number of students, size and arrangement of

the classroom, technical and pedagogical considerations such as

motivation, participation, giving feedback, handouts, etc. (Ur, 1994).

3.1 Reasons and goals for listening

Many learners of English language will sooner or later find themselves in a

situation where they will need or want to listen to English in a real life

situation for different purposes. In the English language classroom,

teachers must ensure that learners experience a range of different

listening purposes with the emphasis on those which might be immediately

relevant to their lives outside the classroom (Hedge, 2003).


11

According to Kathleen Galvin (1985), there are five main reasons for

listening:

a) to take part in social rituals,

b) to interchange information,

c) to exert control,

d) to share feelings,

e) to enjoy (Galvin, 1985).

Underwood (in Hedge, 2003) adds the following reasons for listening:

a) listening to live conversations in which one takes no part and where

the purpose is curious eavesdropping,

b) listening to announcements, news items and weather forecasts

where the purpose is to extract information,

c) listening to or watching plays, radio, and TV entertainment

programme where the purpose is enjoyment,

d) following instructions in order to carry out a task efficiently,

e) attending a lecture or following a lesson in order to understand

concepts and information,

f) listening to someone give a public address in order to infer views

and attitudes (Hedge, 2003, p. 243).

“It is worth establishing which of these listening situations are likely to

feature largely in our students' lives and to bear this in mind when planning

listening work. This does not, however, mean that practice of all listening

situations should be neglected, as students will find a variety of listening

activities more motivating, and much that can be learned from one

situation is transferable to others” (Underwood, 1994, p. 7).

And what is the main goal when teaching listening? The main goal when

teaching listening is to provide natural listening situations which students

are most likely to encounter in real life (Ur, 2012).


12

3.2 Choosing texts for listening

Listening activities need some kind of input which may be pre-recorded,

on audio or video tape, or it may be live - the teacher, an outside speaker,

or the learners themselves. The point is to select the right recording to

listen to and where we have to consider the mode (broadcast, taped or

live) and the content (Rost, 1994).

The features of listening input can cause a text to be difficult not only for

foreign language listeners but also for native listeners. These main

features are: the way in which the information is organized, how familiar

the student is with the topic, the explicitness of the information heard, and

what type the input is. Most of the information in a listening text is

organized in sequences in simple narrative text where events are

described in the order in which they occur. This way students understand

a story better and they remember the events of a story. Students also

understand a listening text better if they are listening to a familiar topic.

This shows how important the role of background or schematic knowledge

in listening is. What makes listening even more difficult is when the text

also contains redundant facts and not just vital information, if the text

contains only the relevant information and nothing else, if a speaker

chooses to refer to the people he mentions differently. For example, young

children have difficulties in understanding the listening text when pronouns

are used for people (Anderson and Lynch, 1993). Brown and Yule (1983)

have categorized spoken text into three types:

a static text – the speaker is describing an object or is giving

instructions on how to assemble a model;

a dynamic text – the speaker is telling a story and will much likely

contain shifts of scene and time. People in the text will probably drift

in and out of the story;


13

an abstract text – in this text the speaker is talking abound his

ideas or beliefs. The speaker can say for instance why he has

chosen a particular school or university.

Figure 1: A framework for grading listening input

(Brown and Yule 1983, p. 55)

As we can see from the grid, there are two levels of difficulty. In the first

one, difficulty increases from left to right, between different types of input

which corresponds to the static/dynamic or abstract relationship.

According to the grid, it is less difficult language input and opinion-

expressing is the most difficult. If we look at the grid vertically, we can find

scale of relative complexity. Brown and Yule suggest that “one of the

factors that make one language text more complex than the other is the

number of important and confusable elements it contains” (Anderson and

Lynch, 1993, p. 55). For example, listening to a story with two male

characters will be more difficult than a similar story with one male and one

female (Anderson and Lynch, 1993).

“In selecting texts for classroom use it is worth considering the possible

dimensions of difference we need to address; for example, the distinction

between monologue and dialogue, both of which will be encountered by

learners in listening situations outside the classroom” (Hedge, 2003, p.

244). There are variations within monologues and dialogues. The table


14

below shows the characteristics of particular types of monologue and

dialogue.

Table 1: Types of texts

A MONOLOGUE

1. Unscripted (but possibly

prepared), e.g. lectures, talks,

speeches

Some of the features listed under 4 but

greater clarity and better organized, with

more discourse markers and slower.

2. Scripted e.g. news, written talks,

stories read to children

Similar to written prose with little repetition,

rephrasing, reasonable speed and

relatively formal and deliberate style.

3. Public announcements Speed careful and moderate, formal style

with ritual phrases, heavy information load,

often uncertain acoustics, distorted by

noise and therefore difficult to hear.

B DIALOGUE

4. Unscripted, spontaneous

conversations between native

speakers, or involving non-native

speakers

Repetitions, rephrasings, reformulations,

hesitations, natural rhythm, contracted

forms, incomplete sentences, fast pace,

variety of accents, colloquialisms.

5. Spontaneous commentary Many of the features of 4, especially

incomplete sentences and varying speed,

e.g. very fast sports commentary.

6. Telephone conversations Some features of 4, but generally more

structures and turn-taking: more careful

enunciation, slower pace. Problems of

gaps in the message as a result of noise,

distortion, and lack of visual clues.

(Hedge, 2003, p. 245)

When deciding on a listening text, it is important to consider certain criteria

that help when making decisions about whether the text is suitable for a

certain group of students. Before using a listening text in class,

Underwood (1994) says we should know more about: the language,

length, content, the style and speed of delivery, how close to ‘real speech’

it is, and the quality of the recording.


15

a) Language

Using listening text of the right level in combination with appropriate

activities will not only develop listening skills but will also contribute to

students' overall language learning. Students should be exposed to

language which they are capable of understanding it although it is slightly

above their current level of knowledge.

b) Length

There are no rules about the length of a listening text for a particular level.

It is easier to pay attention to longer listening if the content of the text is

interesting to students, or if the listeners have a specific task to do in

relation to the text. When dealing with a longer text it is essential to stop

the tape from time to time, use it in more manageable sections, and give

pauses so that students have enough time to think. However, short

passages may sometimes cause problems because the students do not

have time to get used to the voice or topic, and the listening is over before

they get the grips with it. In this case it is important that students should be

given more pre-listening tasks, so they will know what to expect when the

recording is played.

c) Content

If the content is of interest to students, they will be motivated to listen to.

Teachers must find which topics his/her group of students prefer and then

provide them with a wide range of stimulating materials.

d) The style and speed of delivery

Some people speak quickly; and some slowly; some give more stress to

important words; others vary their pitch or volume. It is important for

students who are at the early stages of learning not to be faced with too

many variables at once. A good text at this stage is the one in which

speaker's speech is quite slow and deliberate, has a pleasant tone and a

varied pitch. There should be no more than three speakers because


16

students may have difficulty in differentiating between voices. It is also

advisable that the speaker on the recording should not have a very strong

regional accent or speak RP (Received Pronunciation) English. The words

of a style should be spoken at normal speed and the pauses between

groups of words should not be too long. These pauses give the listeners

time to think about the part of the message and prepare them for the next

part.

e) How close to 'real speech' it is?

Choosing texts which are as real as possible is essential when selecting

listening text. Spontaneous speech will therefore include repetitions, false

starts and hesitations. Students also need to learn the skill of how to listen

for information – letting unimportant things pass and focus on the

important ones; the ones that give information. Spontaneous speech will

also include so called redundant parts – parts that contribute little to the

important message.

f) The quality of the recording

There is no point in listening to the recordings if students are not able to

hear them clearly. Part of the problem lies in the learning situation itself

such as poor acoustics in the classroom, noises from outside, poor

equipment, etc. Some recordings have background sounds – other voices,

music, traffic, etc. They make a listening situation more realistic and they

can be very helpful to the listeners. A recording which has something extra

like music or good sound effects can make listening more pleasant

(Underwood, 1994).

When deciding between an 'authentic' and a 'prepared' listening text many

teachers prefer prepared materials with controlled vocabulary, usage and

speed (Rost, 1994). “Others prefer authentic texts with visual support and

simple texts to build confidence, and semi-authentic texts to present some

aspects of spoken discourse” (Hedge, 2003, p. 246).


17

Brown and Yule (1994) suggest that listening materials can be graded by

the speaker, intended listener, content, support, and types of purposes. In

the early stages of a course all the tape speakers should speak a similar

type of accent and usually only one person will be speaking. As the course

continues, the students may be exposed to tapes with more than one

speaker – three speakers maximum. As the students progress, speakers

of other accents may be introduced. However, the extreme accents should

be avoided even with the advanced students, since even native speakers

have difficulties with understanding. Brown and Yule (1994) also suggest

that if the teacher provides more external support to listeners, it is easier

for them to understand the language used. Types of support are: written

transcript, photographs, maps, cartoons, videos, graphs, diagrams, etc.

3.3 Designing listening tasks

Listening tasks are most effective if they are constructed in a way that the

students are required to do something in response to what they hear that

will demonstrate their understanding. Such tasks are expressing

agreement and disagreement, drawing pictures or marking diagrams, and

answering questions (Ur, 1994). When dealing with listening tasks, we use

the following procedure which nowadays has become standard practice:

- the teacher and the students prepare for the listening in different ways.

For example various activities are used to help students to become

familiar with the topic or language features of the text, and to activate

their prior knowledge (that they might have). The role of the teacher is

to create interest, provide reasons for listening, and the confidence to

listen.

- the teacher must be sure students have understood what to do in the

while-listening task.

- the students carry out the task by themselves. If the students have

misunderstood what is required in the task, the teacher may intervene.

- when giving feedback the teacher should help students see how

successful they have been in doing the while-listening task.


18

- the teacher should focus on the text or on bottom-up strategies which

will help further development of effective listening (Hedge, 2003).

The teacher's role when designing listening tasks is to ensure that the

lesson proceeds in an orderly and productive way so that the students feel

relaxed and secure while listening. Listening tasks should include:

- the pre-listening stage, where the context of the listening text is

represented, and the tasks are explained;

- the while-listening stage, where the students listen to the passage and

do the while-listening activities;

- a period when students check or discuss their responses, and help

each other with the task in pairs/groups;

- a repeat listening if necessary for students to complete or to continue

the activity or to check information they missed;

- perhaps some assistance from the teacher or some further discussion

between students, if necessary listening to some parts or to all text;

- post-listening, where answers are checked by the teacher or the class;

- discussion of where students failed to understand or missed

something and why this happened;

- a post-listening extension activity (Underwood, 1994).

3.3.1 The pre-listening stage

At the pre-listening stage, the teacher needs to decide what kind of

listening purpose is appropriate for the text and the students need to 'tune

in' to the context and the topic of the text. They may have to express their

attitudes towards the topic and bring to the front of their mind anything that

they already know about the topic and to hear and use unfamiliar words in

the text which would otherwise distract or create anxiety during listening

(Hedge, 2003). For example, before playing a recording of news

broadcast, headlines or photos of the newspapers can be looked at and

discussed. As they listen to the news broadcast, they can identify which

photos or headlines are covered in the broadcast (Wright, 1989).


19

Pre-listening work can be done in different ways and it can consist of a

whole range of activities, including:

- the teacher giving background information;

- the students reading something relevant;

- the students looking at pictures;

- discussion of the topic/situation;

- a question and answer session;

- written exercises;

- following the instructions for the while-listening activity;

- consideration of how the while-listening activity will be done.

(Underwood, 1994, p. 31).

Each of the previously mentioned activities help students to focus on the

topic by narrowing down the things that the students expect to hear and by

activating relevant prior knowledge and already known language. Pre-

listening activities are also important when the teacher is going to speak or

read the listening text, although the extent and the nature of activities may

be different (Underwood, 1994).

At the pre-listening stage the teacher ensures that the listening text and

activities are made as realistic as possible. It is important for students to

hear the language that sounds natural, as well as to get listening

experiences which are as authentic as possible. It is impossible to provide

truly authentic materials all the time. In this case increasing the sense of

realism is recommended by providing information about where, when, by

whom and to whom the words were spoken and by devising activities

which might emerge from those particular texts (Underwood, 1994).

According to Underwood (1994), the essential part of the pre-listening

stage is to make sure that the students know exactly what is required of

them. The teacher must make sure that all the students understand what

they have to do before recording is played, the text is read or the listening


20

text is spoken. Not knowing what to do can cause students to 'switch off'

and not to try to do anything, and this can distract the students. Students

also find it helpful if they know in advance what is expected from them to

do. This information helps them concentrate on the task and it can act as a

motivation. However, activities chosen by a teacher will depend on factors

such as the time available, the material, the ability of the class, the

interests of the class and teacher, the place and the nature and content of

the listening text itself. When deciding which activity types we should use

for the pre-listening phase, we can chose between:

looking at pictures before listening

Students are asked to look at the picture or pictures before they listen to

the text. The teacher asks them questions regarding the picture or a group

discussion follows. It is also very common for students to name the items

which will feature in the listening text. We should avoid giving long list of

unknown words and long explanations as this will not help students to

listen naturally. This pre-listening task is an effective way of reminding

students of forgotten or unknown lexis.

Figure 2: An example of a task looking at picture before listening at pre-listening stage

(Logan and Thaine, 2012)


21

looking at a list of items/thoughts

This type is usually used when practising new vocabulary with new

learners. The list should not consist of difficult words, but it should also be

based on a clear aim. For example, these words/ideas will be

ticked/underlined at the while-listening stage. Presenting the list in the

order in which the words occur in the text makes this phase easier,

however, to make it more difficult, the order of the words can be jumbled.

One suggestion is to put the words into English alphabetical order.

making lists of ideas

Making a pre-listening list of words/ideas/etc. is often a good idea because

students create their own list which contains words and expressions they

already know, or which they learn by asking for help. This can be done in

a relaxed way as a pair or group activity. For example: items you would

like to own.

reading a text before listening

It is very common for the students to be asked to read a text before

listening and then, at the while listening stage, they have to check certain

facts. Some students, who have learned English mainly from the printed

word, might have difficulties connecting the sound they hear with the word

they have only seen printed on the page.

reading through questions

Many listening activities require students to answer questions which are

related to the listening text they hear. These questions can be really

helpful to students because they know what information they have to seek

in the text.

labelling a picture

This activity is used when we want to revise already known vocabulary. If

the students are able to complete all the labels before the listening, they


22

can listen and check if they were right and get the feeling of satisfaction. If

there are some (too) difficult words, the teacher can explain them before

the lesson.

Figure 3: An example of a task labelling the picture at pre-listening stage

(Underwood, 1993)

completing part of a chart

This is very popular activity. The students complete a part of a chart and

sometimes they can fill in their own views, judgements, and preferences.

predicting/speculating

The students predict precisely what the speaker will say next.

However, this belongs to a while-listening activity, but for pre-listening

activity the students predict in a more general way. The teacher may say

something about the topic and the speaker(s) and they suggest what they

think they will hear in the listening text. This activity is used with advanced

students and adult students.

previewing the language which will be heard in the listening text

Before students listen to a text, the teacher may give a preview of the

language which students will hear in an authentic situation. This preview


23

can be done during a discussion or by giving printed lists of expressions

that they will hear.

informal teacher talk and class discussion

This type of activity is very common for pre-listening stage. The teacher

usually gives some information about the topic they are going to hear and

indicate what the student should expect to hear. The teacher must be

careful not to give too much information, because the students might get

bored and do not want to listen. On the other hand, this activity can be

used to motivate the students by making them feel that the text they are

about to hear is very interesting (Underwood, 1994).

3.3.2 The while –listening stage

This stage, as it arises from the name, contains activities done by the

students during listening. The aim at this stage is to help the students to

catch the main meaning of the text they listen to in order to have enough

information to interpret the text they hear. The teacher should point out

that at this stage students should not worry about interpreting long and

difficult questions and subsequent of complex answer, but they should be

concerned with demonstration of the important information (Rixon, 1986).

Hedge (2003, p. 252) claims “the work at the while-listening stage needs

to link in relevant way to the pre-listening work”. At this stage the students

must attend to the text more intensively to find the information they are

looking for. It is also essential to choose interesting while-listening

activities so that the students want to listen and continue with their

activities.

When choosing a while-listening activity the teacher must consider several

criteria. Underwood (1994) gives factors which affect the choice of while-

listening activities:

the possibilities for varying the level of difficulty if required;


24

the inconvenience of carrying out activities which require individuals to

give their responses orally in the classroom. This kind of work is best

done in a language laboratory;

whether the work is to be done by the students with the teacher

present or whether is to be done as private study;

whether or not the while-listening activities generate material or ideas

which might be used for other, post-listening work.

When choosing a while-listening activity the teacher must find an activity

which would be interesting and challenging for the students so they will be

able to concentrate on the task. Other criteria are also to do different types

of listening activities, since students might get bored. Another very

important issue is choosing the right level of difficulty of the listening task.

If the exercises are too difficult or too easy, the students might get

demotivated or frustrated. There are as well other things that can lead to

frustration and demotivation, for example, exercises containing both

listening and writing at the same time. This might be very difficult,

especially for the beginners who have problems in spelling and writing

(Machačkova, 2009).

As it was mentioned, there are numerous different activities for the while-

listening stage. Here are some:

Marking/checking items in pictures – students are asked to respond to

various stimuli by marking things on the picture;

Which picture? – students hear a description or a conversation and

have to decide which picture is the “right” one;

Storyline picture sets – two or three sets of pictures are presented to

the students who listen to a story and try to decide which set of

pictures represents the story;

Putting pictures in order – a number of pictures are presented to the

students and their task is to put the pictures in the correct order

according to the listening text;


25

Figure 4: An example of a task putting pictures in order

(Jones, 2003)

Completing pictures – this activity is popular with younger students

who are required to follow the instructions and draw or colour different

items;

Picture drawing – students draw known items;

Carrying out actions – the teacher gives instructions and the students

do a series of actions, e.g. Simon says…;

Making models – each student is given items with which to build the

model or make the pattern. The teacher gives/plays the instruction;

Following a route – the students follow a route on a road plan or a

map;

Completing grids – the teacher provides, or ask students to draw, a

grid. Then they enter their answers in the correct boxes on the grid,

depending on what they discover from the listening text;

Form/chart completion – the students are required to find the

information from the listening text and use it in various kinds of written

(or drawn) completion exercises;

Labelling – students label diagrams/pictures to enable them to learn

and remember the various parts of a car or whatever;


26

Using lists – students must make a list (shopping list, list of places to

visit, etc.);

True/false – this activity can be used both for listening comprehension

and for reading comprehension;

Multiple-choice questions;

Text completion – students must complete lines of poetry, story,

songs, etc. Students often find difficult to keep up because they

cannot read as quickly as the speaker speaks;

Spotting mistakes – this activity is based on a picture, printed text, etc.

The teacher talks about the picture and deliberately makes mistakes.

The students are required to indicate each time they spot a mistake.

Predicting – at while-listening we give students the opportunity to

speculate on what they might expect to hear. It is more precise

exercise, concerned with predicting the exact word or words which

might be expected.

Seeking specific items of information – this exercise is concerned with

listening to extensive listening text with the aim of finding some

previously specified information (Underwood, 1994).

No matter which activity is chosen, the teacher must always provide

feedback whether the students have succeeded in the task and (if not)

why not. Pair or group checking can follow while-listening activities and

can lead to post-listening of the text and tasks. Hedge (2003) states that it

is always a good idea for the teacher to try a while-listening activities for

himself/herself, before going into the class, to see how manageable it is.

3.3.3 The post-listening stage

In the post-listening stage students use their knowledge which was

acquired during the while-listening stage to complete the exercises. Post-

listening activities are usually much longer than while-listening activities.

At this stage students have time to think, to write, and to discuss. If the


27

pre-listening activities have built some expectation, and the while-listening

activity has satisfied these expectations, it is hard to sustain the interest at

this post-listening stage, unless it is motivating.

There are numerous reasons why to incorporate post-listening activities

into the lesson plans. One of them is to check if the students have

understood the listening text and if the students have finished their task

successfully. The teacher must reflect on why some students have failed

to understand or missed parts of the message. At the end of listening the

discussion usually follows. The teacher has the opportunity to draw

attention to specific parts of the listening text and tries to find problems

which have caused problems for the students (Underwood, 1994).

There are a few tasks which teacher can do after listening to a text:

discussing student’s reaction to the content of the listening selection;

asking students thought-provoking questions to encourage discussion;

setting students to work in pairs to create dialogues based on the

listening text;

assigning reading and writing activities based on what students listen

to (Pierce, 1989, p. 43).

The teacher has lots of options for post-listening activities, such as:

Form/chart completion – this can be done as well as in while-listening

stage as in post-listening stage. The completion of some task may be

done only at more leisurely pace after listening. For example the

completion of chart may not depend on the listening text;

Extending lists- the students are asked to make a list or tick a list while

listening, and then they add some words/sets when the listening is

finished;

Sequencing/grading – ordering stories/items;

Matching with a reading – this activity is useful for students who have

difficulties in matching the heard word with the written one. These


28

exercises are matching words or phrases from the two texts – the

listening text and the reading text;

Extending notes into written responses – notes made at the while-

listening stage can be extended into written texts. This activity is

appropriate for more advance students. The written text can be

anything from one sentence to long pieces of prose;

Summarising – summarizing can be done by extending notes that

were made at the while-listening stage or depending by the memory.

This activity generates a lot of marking or it can be done as an oral

activity for example to retell a story;

Using information from the listening text for problem-solving and

decision-making activities – students collect information from a

listening text or from a listening text and other sources as well and

apply the information to the solution of a problem. A while-listening

activity can be used to discover the information and the interpretation

and at post-listening stage application is done;

Jigsaw listening – the class of students is divided into a small number

of groups and each group listens to a different listening text on the

same topic. Then, the groups exchange information to get the

complete picture. This kind of listening can be very motivating and

enjoyable, but it has to be well-planned in order to run smoothly;

Identifying relationships between speakers – students try to identify

what features of the listening text made the relationships clear.

Sometimes the lexis is sufficient (the forms of address, references to

shared knowledge). When discussing these feature, the students’

awareness of how language is used in certain social settings will be

raised;

Establishing the mood/attitude/behaviour of the speaker – this activity

is similar to one above. It is not just the words that are important but

also how they are spoken (stress and intonation);


29

Role-play/simulation – these activities can be based on a number of

different stimuli: role cards, stories, characters seen on television or as

listening passages;

Dictation – the aim in this activity is to produce a correct written

version free from spelling errors (Underwood, 1994).

4 POTENTIAL PROBLEMS AND UNCERTAINTIES FOR

FOREIGN LANGUAGE LISTENERS

A vast number of students believe that the hardest part when learning

English as a foreign language, is listening. Students encounter different

types of problems. The problems and uncertainties that students

experience are different from student to student. Some students, who

learn the language from what they hear, usually perform better in listening

activities.

Anderson and Lynch (1993) argue that the first principal skills that

listeners must develop if they want to participate in the conversation is the

ability to identify the topic of conversation in order to make a relevant

response. The second skill is to make prediction about the developments

of the topic to which the students will have to respond, and the third skill is

the ability to recognize when he or she has not understood enough of the

input to make a prediction or a respond.

4.1 Potential problems in learning to listen to English:

4.1.1 Lack of control over the speed at which speakers speak

Many students believe that the greatest difficulty when listening is that the

listener cannot control how quickly a speaker speaks and this leads to not

being able to follow the listening text. Students are sometimes very busy

working out the meaning of one part so they miss out the next part of

listening text. Or they simply ignore a whole chunk. In both cases, they fail.


30

According to Ur (1994), students may ask the teacher to speak more

slowly and clearly, but this will not help the students to develop their

listening skills. Ur (1994) says that the students should be exposed to as

much natural informal speech as they are able to understand.

4.1.2 Not being able to get things repeated

The listener is not always in the position to get the speaker to repeat an

utterance. Sometimes repetitions cannot be asked for, especially when

listening to the radio and watching television. In the classroom, recording

material is usually in the hand of the teacher and he or she is the one who

decides when is appropriate to stop the tape or re-play it. However, it is

very difficult for the teacher to judge if the students have understood a

particular section and when it is useful to stop it or not.

One of the best choices when doing listening work is in a language

laboratory or listening centre.

4.1.3 The listener’s limited vocabulary

The choice of vocabulary is in the hands of the speaker. The listener has

to do the best she/he can to follow. Sometimes it is possible to stop the

speaker and ask for some clarifications. Sometimes, a listener can deduce

the meaning of an unknown word from the context. This word can be like a

barrier to a foreign listener and makes the listener to stop and think about

the missing word and therefor misses the next part of the speech. This

tendency to stop listening and to concentrate on the immediate problem

often occurs when the teacher gives more emphasis to accuracy than

fluency. This style of teaching leads students to focus on the language

word by word, to work out its structure, and then to decide its meaning.

However, in listening this method does not work. It is much better to listen

to what is coming, and letting things that have passed go. Speakers often

say things more than once, or rephrase them and the listener gets more

opportunities to get the meaning. Even in our native language we

frequently understand only a part of what a speaker means but generally


31

we are able to continue with the interaction and to respond. Brown and

Yule (in Underwood, 1994, p. 18,) call ″this expectation, this habit, of

tolerable mutual comprehension which we wish our students to achieve,

not the total comprehension of everything said and meant, which is

completely beyond the powers of native listeners″.

4.1.4 Failure to recognise the signals

Sometimes the listener is not able to recognize when the speaker is

moving from one point to another or when giving an example. These

signals are very difficult to recognize especially to a person who is

listening to a foreign language. Students need to learn to listen for the

‘signals’ in order to understand better.

4.1.5 Problems of interpretation

Students who are unfamiliar with the context may find very difficult in

interpreting the words they hear. For example, the proverb ‘the snow is

very bad so there is nobody in the office’ can be difficult to understand

correctly.

4.1.6 Inability to concentrate

Concentration is a major problem when listening. It can be caused by

various different things. If the topic is interesting to students, the

concentration will be much better. Despite the interesting topic, the

concentration may be lower because the students find listening very

difficult and tiring, because they have to make an enormous effort in order

to follow the speaker. There are also outside factors that lower

concentration. Such factors are poor recording, bad CD player, rooms are

acoustically unsuitable, etc.

4.1.7 Establishing learning habits

Teachers teach their students to understand everything in the English

lesson. They want to ensure their students know what they are talking


32

about, by repeating and pronouncing words or phrases slowly and pausing

frequently, and by grading which language is suitable for their level. Due to

this, students are worried that they will not be able to understand words or

phrases when listening, and they become discouraged by their lack of

success. Therefore, it is important to encourage the students to take

chances when listening (Underwood, 1994).

4.2 Uncertainties for listeners

Cherry (in Hedge, 2003) introduces the term uncertainties for issues in

second and foreign language listening. He categorizes some major areas

of uncertainty: in speech sounds and patterns; in language and syntax; in

recognition of content; and uncertainties caused by environmental noise

and disturbance that create gaps in the message. All these issues may

cause a lack of motivation towards the topic, negative reactions to the

speaker, anxiety to say or respond to a question, debate or the next part of

conversation. Hedge (2003), states the following uncertainties:

uncertainties of confidence, uncertainties deriving from the presentation of

speech, uncertainties because of gaps in the message, uncertain

strategies, uncertainties of language, and visual uncertainties.

4.2.1 Uncertainties of confidence

Students’ lack of confidence can be linked by a classroom procedure that

does not contextualize the text or prepare the topic by activating prior

knowledge. Therefore it is extremely important that the teacher prepares

students for what they might hear.

4.2.2 Uncertainties deriving from the presentation of speech

Unplanned or unrehearsed spoken language is very different from the

written text language. An unplanned language or spoken language

consists of repetitions, pauses, filters, incomplete sentences, false start,

restructuring, random order of information, and corrections. Spoken

language contains a higher degree of colloquial language and contractions


33

than most written text. Students of the foreign language need to adjust to

all of these variables, especially if they have heard only planned speech of

lectures, scripted broadcasting, or any other listening text at a slow speed

in Standard English.

4.2.3 Uncertainties because of gaps in the message

Gaps occur due to environmental noise, poorly articulated speech or poor

attention. When gaps occur, the listener has an option to predict if he or

she wants to get the message.

4.2.4 Uncertain strategies

These strategies are linked to a face-to-face communication. When a gap

occurs in the message, a listener can always ask for some clarifications. A

listener can use verbal expressions like ‘Sorry, I didn’t understand that’ or

‘Can you, please, repeat’, or gestures like nodding, smiling, or use

expressions of surprise and concern. All languages have similar strategies

but one must be careful when using them since they may differ and the

meaning might also be different.

4.2.5 Uncertainties of language

It is very advisable to use listening text in informal colloquial English since

most of audio recordings for ELT have been modified so that the students

can facilitate comprehension. Here are some differences between

spontaneous informal talk and classroom recordings:

Spontaneous informal talk

- variations in speed of delivery, often fast;

- natural intonation;

- the natural features of connected speech, e.g. elision;

- variety of accents;

- any grammatical structures natural to the topic;

- colloquial language;


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- incomplete utterance;

- restructuring in longer, more complex sentences;

- speakers interrupt or speak at the same time;

- speakers use ellipsis;

- background noise present.

Recordings for English language learners

- slow pace with little variation;

- exaggerated intonation patterns;

- carefully articulated pronunciation;

- Received Pronunciation;

- regularly repeated structures;

- more formal language;

- complete utterances;

- grammatically correct sentences;

- ellipsis infrequent (sentences usually complete);

- background noise absent (Hedge, 2003, p. 240).

The answer to the question which recording should be used more is that

the teacher should use both, natural speech and classroom recordings, for

the students to develop good listening skills.

4.2.6 Visual uncertainties

In most real listening situation, the speaker is visible and the listener sees

speaker’s gesture and body language. Many teachers mainly use only

audio recordings. If the speaker is visible then the use of audio recordings

is unnecessarily restricting. Audio recordings are very useful when the

situations where the speaker is not visible are practiced. Such situations

are telephone conversations or radio programmes. Many students will

have difficulties returning back on audio listening once they have used

video recordings. Nevertheless, both technical resources should be used

for different kind of listening activities (Hedge, 2003).


35

Most students say that listening is much easier if they are able to see the

speaker(s). Students can see the facial expressions, reactions, gestures,

and lip movement. All those factors can help to better comprehension.

However, when using video for listening work we must provide task that

include listening and watching. This is very important because a lot can be

understood just by watching and students do not need to listen carefully

(Underwood, 1994).

Despite the problems students of foreign languages face while listening in

a foreign language they must be motivated to continue listening. The other

important aspect while listening is so called learners’ autonomy. Learner’s

autonomy is “a capacity for detachment, critical reflection, decision-

making, and independent action. It presupposes, but also entails, that the

learner will develop a particular kind of psychological relation to the

process and content of his learning” (Little, 1991 in Kemp, 2009, p. 387). It

is very important for the students to develop this skill to become more

independent in listening and to be able to see their own problems that they

face while listening and try to change or improve their listening strategies,

approaches, etc. The teacher has many tools to motivate students to listen

also outside the classroom and to develop their autonomy. One of the

tools is to use Listening Logs.


36

5 LISTENING LOG AS A TOOL FOR DEVELOPING

LISTENING SKILLS

5.1 Listening Logs

Learning to listen in foreign language takes time and practice. We do not

learn listening only in the classroom because there is no time. Therefore,

teachers must provide students with certain listening material and motivate

students to listen outside the classroom. There are many sources and

materials to use when developing listening skills. One of them is Listening

Logs which are rarely used in the classroom and unknown to some

teachers and students.

The Listening Log is a form of journal where students use diaries for a

certain time, and the students are exposed to the language outside of the

classroom and have a chance to reflect on them (Kemp, 2009). The

Listening Logs are therefore a great tool for developing listening skills.

Listening logs can be used as out-of-class activity in which students

document their participation and reflect how this particular listening helped

them to improve their listening skills. Listening logs can be used as an

ongoing assignment through which students listen to authentic material,

take notes on the content, and they reflect to each listening text (Gilliland,

2015).

Kemp (2009) argues that Listening Logs illustrate six factors: the

development of schemata by realizing that routines help students to fill

the gaps in their understanding; evidence of metalinguistic and

metacognitive awareness where students know what makes difficult for

them to understand listening (background noise, vocabulary, speed of

delivery, accent, etc.); learner control the situation by predicting and

preparing for the difficulties; learning language through listening;

motivation and involvement; and evidence of progress and the


37

cumulative effect of the activity for example when students write about

television programme they watch regularly and comment on their use of

subtitle. Thereby students show awareness of changes in their

dependence.

Snavely and Dago (2015) state that before Listening Logs are used the

teacher must set these goals:

to increase students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation,

to strengthen students’ listening strategies,

to develop students’ self-awareness of their listening strengths and

weakness,

to give students an opportunity and means to listen to English

media,

to broaden students’ understanding of other cultures.

5.2 Elements of Listening Logs

There are certain elements of the Listening Logs which need to be taken

into consideration in order to listen and reflect successfully:

Sources: teachers can let students to decide which source will they

listen to or can give them specific sources depending on the aim of

the activity. Sources may be: TV, radio, movie, internet, language

lab programmes, etc.;

General topic: students review what they have heard;

Summary of key points: students summarize what they have

heard and give important point and ideas of the listening that leads

to excellent summarization and making notes;

Vocabulary/key grammar point: students note down new words

or phrases that they hear while listening, or they listen for a specific

word or grammar point while they do the task;

Personal reflection: at the end students reflect on what they have

heard and they self-evaluate their own listening skills (Snavely and

Dago, 2015).


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Each element of the Listening Logs develops students’ listening skill.

When writing a summary of what they have heard, they must attend to

main points rather than details. To respond, they must activate their

background knowledge with what they have heard and when reflecting

students think about the strategies they used. Listing new lexical items

helps students to learn the language as a whole (Gilliland, 2015).

5.3 Principles of listening texts in Listening Logs

When deciding which listening text student should listen to, Gillilan (2015)

claims that it is essential to focus on the following principles to improve

listening skills through a different kind of listening text:

1. Learners need access to a wide variety of authentic listening text. It is

important that students listen to realistic situations with different

language styles to benefit from cross-cultural and social dimensions of

listening.

2. Learners choose listening opportunities based on individual interest.

They should have some background knowledge about the topic in

order to draw on prior experience to make sense of what is going on

(Field, 2008). With free choice of listening students perform better

results and are more motivated for listening.

3. Listening text should be at ‘i minus 1 level’ for maximum

comprehension which means that listener can make sense of almost

everything that is being said without much effort (Vandergrift & Goh,

2012 in Gilliland, 2015).

4. Students should listen on a regular schedule for a minimum duration

each time. Even when they are not in the class, students are exposed

to their new language.

5. Learners should repeat some listening text multiple times. Listening to

the same text allows students to become more familiar with the

context, vocabulary and the structure. That way students understand

the listening text better and practice bottom-up skills.


39

6. Learners should develop metacognitive knowledge about their own

listening process.

7. Subtitle may help – but they may hurt. There is always a question

whether the subtitles should be used or not. Some students argue that

they understand much better if they use subtitles in the language of the

video. Field (2008 in Gilliland, 2015) claims that if the first language

subtitles are used, the students may not focus on the spoken

language.

5.4. Examples of Listening Logs

When using Listening Logs, the teacher must first find resources for

listening and set criteria for what kind of listening situation students should

listen to and define how much time is spent for listening. Students can

choose to listen to radio programmes, news, podcasts, TV shows, comedy

sitcom, cartoon, reality show, etc. If the students have difficulties in finding

their own real life listening situations, the teacher’s role is to help them find

one. Below are some internet sites which offer a variety of listening

situations:

BBC Learning English

(Retrieved from <http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish> on 27. 2.

2016);

Australia Network Learning English

(Retrieved from <http://legacy.australianetwork.com/learningenglish/>

on 27. 2. 2016);

Voice of America Learning English

(Retrieved from <http://learningenglish.voanews.com/> on 27. 2. 2016).

These are national broadcasting sites that offer a variety of audio and

video programming. They offer also supporting materials for English

learners. BBC Learning English is for intermediate level, Voice of America

is for high beginners and intermediate level, and Australia Network

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish

http://legacy.australianetwork.com/learningenglish/

http://learningenglish.voanews.com/


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Learning English is for high beginners, intermediate, and advanced

learners of English (Gilliland, 2010).

English Listening

This site has a large collection of authentic listening materials and a video

which covers all levels from A1 – C2. The passages are read by many

different speakers on a variety of topics and the transcript is provided

along with a test (Retrieved from https://www.englishlistening.com/, on 26.

2. 2016);

TED Talks

TED - stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. This website

offers 18 minutes long videos which cover topics from science to business

and global issues. This website does not provide any additional material or

transcripts (Retrieved from <https://www.ted.com/talks>, on 27. 2. 2016);

British Council

British Council is UK’s international organization for cultural relations and

educational opportunities. The website offers a wide variety of listening

activities including short "soap opera" and covers all levels of English.

Students can listen to different topics or watch videos accompanied with

transcriptions and handouts (Retrieved from <https://learnenglish.

britishcouncil.org/>, on 27. 2. 2016);

BBC Radio

On this website students can choose between 6 and more BBC radio

stations. This site has no videos and no transcripts or any additional

learning material. Students can listen to different topics such as news,

history, art & culture, science & nature, politics, entertainment,

documentaries, etc. and can be difficult to understand. Thus, this website

should be used only for advanced students (Retrieved from

<http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio.>, on 27. 2. 2016).

https://www.englishlistening.com/

https://www.ted.com/talks

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio


41

It is also very important to give instructions to students on how long they

need to listen and to give out handouts where they write their reflections.

There can be various types of questions about summarizing the listening

situations, responding to what has been heard, and evaluating the

language in real life situation. Below are two examples of the forms of

Listening Logs that may be used for listening outside the classroom.


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Figure 5: An example of Listening Log form 1

LISTENING LOG

Name: _______________________

Class/Period: __________________

Date: ____________________

Source/Programme: _____________________________

1. Write a brief description of what happened in the show or event.

2. How did the information or story make you feel? Did you relate to

anything that was similar to your own life?

3. Was the language used casual/conversational or formal/academic?

What new words did you learn?

How fast did the speakers talk?

Were you able to understand most of the event or only some of it?

Retrieved from <http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/ apps/pages/index.jsp?type

=u&uREC_ID=114002&pREC_ID=124602>, on 24. 2. 2016)

http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/


43

Figure 6: An example of Listening Log form 2

Listening Log Report Form

Title: Name: Program: Date viewed: Date of report: I. Summary of Program in my own words (75-150): II. My Reaction 1. Was the information interesting, boring, shocking, exciting? Why or why not? 2. Did it seem important information for you personally? Why or why not? 3. What did you learn about US culture after viewing this program? 4. How difficult was it for you to understand the contents? III. Vocabulary List one new word that you heard. List the word, part of speech, definition and the sentence you heard the word in. Then, write your own sentence. A. new word _____________ part of speech ________ definition____________________________________________________ B. Sentence I heard from the program using this word: ___________________________________________________________ C. My original sentence: ___________________________________________________________ IV. Question Write a question that you have about this topic after seeing the program. (Retrieved from <facultyfiles.deanza. edu/gems/ heisteingloria/261 listeninglogfall09.doc>, 29. 2. 2016)


44

The main difference between the two examples of Listening Log forms is

that in the first one (Figure 5) students listen to whatever they want to,

while in second one (Figure 6) all the students listen to the same source.

From both forms we can see that they can be divided into two parts. In the

first part, students must include their name, the date, source of listening,

and the activity itself. They must write a short description of what they

were listening and write their reactions about what they hear and relate

them to the lives of the students. Questions about students’ reactions and

feelings towards the listening text are in both forms similar. In the second

form a question about what difficulties the students encounter gives them

a skill to find their own problems while listening in a foreign language. In

my opinion, this question is very important in order to discover your own

problems, to overcome them and to find solutions for this problem. The

second part of the forms is the reflection on grammar, vocabulary and the

syntax of the listening text. Here, the students write down which new

words they hear, what they think of the utterance, and how much of what

is being said they understand. The second form goes much more into

details in grammar. The students must not only write a new word but also

the part of speech and its definition, the sentence the student hears from

the program using this word, and their original sentence with this word.

The first form focuses on how fast the speaker talks and whether the

student understands most of the event or only some of it. With the

question of how much the student understands, we can discover how

successful the student is in listening. It is a good idea to include questions

such as ‘What can I do to help me/improve my listening?’

The second form has an option for the students to write their question

about the topic. This is also very effective in involving students to give

feedback on what their general opinion on using Listening Logs inside and

outside the classroom is.

Students can benefit from doing the Listening Logs. As they listen to

native speakers, they have a chance to see inside of their community


45

events and have an opportunity to broaden their knowledge of a country,

culture, people and their habits. Listening Logs can also provide good

language learning habits. They develop autonomy by selecting, attending,

and responding to events without the help of a teacher. The activities that

follow listening help students to reflect on what they have heard, where

they faced difficulties, and how to improve listening which means that such

activities build metacognitive listening (Gilliland, 2015).

There are some challenges when using Listening Logs. Students may

need support finding online sources, and when Listening Logs are a class

assignment, teacher must set some parameters for types of events and

timing (Gilliland, 2015).

EMPIRICAL PART

6 PURPUSE OF THE STUDY

For quite some time it has been known that listening was a ‘neglected’,

‘overlooked’, and ‘taken for granted’ skill in the classroom. Many believed

that listening ability will develop automatically through practice of

grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Therefore, many teachers have

not paid much attention to the developing of listening skills, until now,

when the interest in oracy is growing and a focus on listening in the

classroom is stronger (Hedge, 2003). Many teachers use more or less

recorded material while developing listening skills. Whilst there are

advantages for using recorded material, there are also good reasons for

the students to be exposed to ‘live’ presentation.

Therefore, my aim was to investigate if Listening Logs are a useful tool for

developing listening skills, what their advantages and disadvantages are,

how the students reflect on their own listening and if the students’ grade

influences on their attitude towards Listening Logs. In order to achieve

this, I gave the students a task based on Listening Logs.


46

6.1 Research questions

The following research questions developed from my reasoning:

Are Listening Logs an appropriate tool for developing listening

skills?

What motivates students to listen to the foreign language outside

the classroom?

What kind of listening strategies do students use while listening?

What is their attitude towards using Listening Logs?

Do Listening Logs develop autonomy in learning?

7 METHODOLOGY

7.1 Research methods and research instruments

The worksheet was administered to 78 students of Elementary Education

via e-classroom. The worksheet or the Listening Log form was divided into

two parts. The first part was a table in which students had to write the

source of listening, date, duration, the topic they listened to, and the new

words and phrases they learnt. The second part of the form consisted of 7

open-ended questions and 1 comment.

After the worksheet was given, the instructions for Listening Logs were

presented. Students had to listen to something on the internet for at least

20 min over the period of four weeks and then they had to fill in the

Listening Log form. A list of suggested websites for listening was uploaded

via e-classroom. All students were attending 2nd year of Elementary

Education programme at the Faculty of Education in Maribor.

After collecting the completed Listening Log forms, the data were analysed

by the program for statistical analysis SPSS. Also, graphs and tables were

made by using this program. All data were statistically organised,

accompanied with explanations and findings.


47

7.2 Research sample

The research sample consisted of 78 students, 73 females and 6 males.

The reason why this group was chosen was the fact that their knowledge

of English was between intermediate and advanced level and their grades

in English varied.

Graph 1: The number of students

7.3 Research hypotheses

Based on the questionnaire and previous findings, I have formed the

following five hypotheses:

1. Most students think that using Listening Logs is a useful tool to

develop listening skills;

2. Students who have a lower grade in English believe that Listening

Logs are not a useful tool for developing listening skills;

3. Students who have a lower grade in English prefer to listen to

recordings with visual support like videos;

4. Students, who have a better grade in English, feel more

comfortable in listening than those who have a lower grade in

English;


48

5. Most students used bottom-up strategies while listening.

7.4 Results

On the basis of the research results the data leads to a conclusion that

Listening Logs are a useful tool for developing listening skills.

After analysing the answers from the questionnaire, three hypotheses

were confirmed and two were rejected.

In the first part of the Listening Log form students had to write the source

of listening, the topic and duration of listening. The following table presents

which source of listening was most often chosen:

Table 2: Sources of listening

According to Table 1, 51 students listened to BBC Radio, the second most

popular sources that students listen to was TED Talks and a combination

of NPR and BBC Radio. The third most chosen source was TED Talks.

The combination of YouTube and BBC Radio was listened to by 4

students, and ESL Podcast was listened to by 2 students. The same

number of students listened to NPR and BBC.

Usually, students chose to listen to a topic which is interesting to them.

This gives them motivation to listen. The topics which students chose to

listen to fall into seven groups: Science and Technology, Movies and


49

Documentaries, Documentaries, News, Movies and Books, Stories and

Music. The Documentary group contains documentaries that were

mentioned in the Listening Logs form. These documentaries are about

sport, health, cooking, and history. Table 3 shows which topics were

chosen the most.

Together, students listened to recordings for 7214.42 minutes which

means that one student on average listened for 92.49 minutes.

Table 3: The topic

More than one third of students listened to Documentaries, followed by

Science and Technology which was listened by 24 students. The third

most popular topic was news which was listened to by 7 students. Movies

and Books were chosen by 6 students, Documentaries about music were

listened to by 5 students, 4 students listened to stories and 3 students

listened to Movies and other documentaries.

Another important aspect to consider is that many students mentioned that

it is easier for them if they can listen and watch a video rather than just

listen. The table below shows that 12 students chose to listen to a video.


50

Table 4: The type of source

The focus of the second part of the listening log form was the students’

reflection on what they heard. It is important that the students recognize

and overcome the problems they face while listening to a foreign

language. They should also understand and utilize the strategies which

they already know and will allow them to successfully complete the tasks.

Students must also consider new methods to overcome their problems.

Question 1

The first question presented to the students was intended to find out what

students think about Listening Logs and if they think they are a useful tool

to develop listening skills.

Table 5: Did you find Listening Log useful?

Only 5 students believe that Listening Logs are not a useful tool for

developing listening skills; 73 students think that they are. The reason why

these 5 students thought Listening Logs were not useful was because they

had too many problems with new words. They struggled to identify new

vocabulary, often so much so they could not find and define new words

after the exercise. The other 73 students believed that Listening Logs are

an effective tool to develop listening skills and an enjoyable way to be

exposed to natural conversations.


51

Question 2

The second question was about which website the students used to find

most of their resources used in their Listening Logs. As seen from the

chart Source of listening, the most popular website was BBC Radio,

followed by NPR, TED Talks, YouTube, and ESL Podcast. See Table 1:

Source of Listening.

Question 3

With the third question, the reason why they have chosen a certain topic

was investigated. Almost all students stated that they decided to listen to a

certain topic because it was interesting to them. Some students claimed

that beside the alternative ‘interesting topic’ for 7 students it was important

that they could see the speaker and for 1 student the duration of listening

was most important.

Question 4

The fourth question asked the students what they thought they learnt while

working with the Listening Logs. The following table presents the answers

the students stated in the Listening Log form.

Table 6: What have you learned in the process of working on the Listening logs?

35 students answered that they found out they needed to be very

concentrated and focused while listening. 26 students said that they

learned new words and phrases, 9 students believed that they understood

more if they could see the speaker. Students noted that in videos they can

see the speakers’ gestures and lip movement which allows them to


52

understand more. The 8 students represented by the group Other answers

stated answers such as “Now I know how to operate online radio”, “what a

Listening Log is”, “difficult task” and “the British have a lot of accents”.

Question 5

The purpose of the fifth question was to help the students acknowledge

which difficulties they had while listening and how they overcame them. 53

students wrote that they had the most problems in understanding, writing

and finding new words in a dictionary. 14 students had difficulties in

understanding due to accents and fast speaking, 8 students struggled with

understanding and pronunciation of new words and three students stated

three different difficulties which were ‘listening text was in a too high level’,

‘I had no difficulties’ and ‘I had difficulties in finding an interesting topic’.

Table 7: Difficulties while listening

44 students overcame their difficulties by searching on the web and then

in a dictionary for the meaning of an unknown word. 24 students said that

they prefer repeated listening, and 10 students used a combination of

these methods.


53

Table 8: How did you overcome the problems?

Question 6

Question number six reflects the students’ feelings and moods while

listening. The table and the graph below show how the students felt while

listening.

Table 9: The students' feelings and moods while listening

36 students claimed that they felt very comfortable while listening, 26

students noted that they felt uncomfortable due to various reasons such as

lack of knowledge of English and using Listening Logs for the first time. 12

students said that they had to concentrate on listening in order to

understand better and 4 students said they did not feel anything special.

Question 7

The aim of question number seven was to recognize which strategies

students used. Students generally used bottom-up strategies which were

‘writing down an unknown word and google it’. The most frequently top-

down strategy was ‘focusing and predicting what will happen next’. 58


54

students used bottom-up listening strategies and only 20 students used

top-down listening strategies.

At the end of the Listening Log form students had an option to write a

comment. Only 20 students out of 78 added comments. The students who

wrote the comments found Listening Logs very interesting and some

believe it is a great way to develop listening skills. Below are some

examples:

This is a fantastic idea, the listening log and all. From where I am

sitting and I am a bit lazy, this is a great way to, not so much

enforce but rather to gently push the students into actively

educating themselves in the language regularly, which is very

important. I would also like to thank you for handing out the

recommended sites, BBC Radio player is a great site and I think

might listen to it in the future, or who knows, maybe introduce it to

my children, if I will ever have them. Learner 1.

I think it is good for us to be obliged to do the listening log, because

I think that we do not spend enough time to really listen something

in English. There are always subtitles. Learner 2.

I think that listening is very important, because in school most of the

time we just read and write. Listening is put on the side road in our

school system (I mean for high school). Learner 3.

These completed Listening Logs forms give the evidence of the

developing of schemata; evidence of metalinguistic and metacognitive

awareness; learner’s control; learning language through listening;

motivation, involvement and evidence of progress (Kemp, 2009).

We can find evidence of metalinguistic and metacognitive awareness in

the fact that the students find for themselves what is causing them


55

problems. Most students had difficulties in vocabulary, following the speed

of delivery, different accents and background noise. Some of them had

also problems if they did not see the speaker. For that reason they

preferred to look for the source with visual support.

Many students wrote in the Listening Log form that they needed to listen

once or twice to understand what was said. One of the students wrote:

The first time of my listening I could not understand anything

because they were speaking too fast and with different accents.

The second listening was easier because I got used to the accent

and I understood almost everything. Learner 5.

This fact gives us the evidence of the development of schemata. One of

the aims of using Listening Logs is that the students develop the skill to

recognize their problems or to take the control over the problem and act

independently, and when necessary, find the solution to their difficulty

(Kemp, 2009). One student wrote that he overcame the problem by

predicting what would happen next.

I had some difficulties in understanding. I was not sure if I

understood the word correctly, so I predicted what will happen next

and I also predicted what this word meant. Learner 6.

All the students included new words and phrases they learnt through

listening. Below are some examples of learning language through

listening:

I have found out that the phrase ‘gang fare’ means a conflict

between two or more gangs…I have not heard this phrase before…

Learner 7.

…NITTY-GRITTY - The basic and practical facts. The daily nitty-

gritty of running a company …get down to the nitty-gritty …: OK,


56

let's get down to the nitty-gritty – what do I need to do to get rid of

him. Learner 8.

Students chose the topic based on their interests which motivated them to

continue listening. For this reason we can say that challenge and

motivation are closely linked to language development (Kemp, 2009).

7.5 Findings

To verify the first hypothesis, which says that most students think using

Listening Logs is a useful tool to develop listening skill, we had to examine

the frequency distribution. We have found out that 73 students believe that

using Listening Logs is very effective. Chi-square test which was

conducted to examine if the proportion of people who believed that

Listening Logs are a useful tool for developing listening skills, is

significantly greater that 50%. We found out that the difference between

the number of participants who believe that listening logs are useful and

those who believe they are not, is statistically significant ((1) = 59.28, p <

0,001). Overall, most students believe that using Listening Logs is a useful

tool for developing listening skills.

The second and the third hypothesis were not confirmed. The second

hypothesis was that the students who have a lower grade in English

believe that Listening Logs are not a useful tool for developing listening

skills and the third was the students who have a lower grade in English

prefer to listen to recordings with visual support like videos. Both

hypotheses were tested with the calculation of point-biserial coefficient

correlation.

We discovered that the correlation between the grades in English and

usefulness of Listening Logs is insignificant (r = -0.013, p = 0.912). That

means that this hypothesis was rejected. Those students who have a

lower final grade in English do not necessary think that Listening Logs are

not useful. If we look at Table 7, we can see that only two students with


57

the grade 6 and 7 believe Listening logs are not a useful tool for

developing listening skills and 35 students believe that they are. From

Table 7 we can see that there are 3 students with a higher grade who

believe that Listening Logs are not useful and 34 students with a higher

final grade in English think they are.

Table 10: Contigency table for the final grade and usefulness of listening logs

Final grade

5 6 7 8 9 10 Total

Usefullness yes 1 13 21 15 11 8 69

no 0 1 1 2 1 0 5

total 1 14 22 17 12 8 74

The third hypothesis that the students with lower grades in English choose

videos for Listening Logs was not confirmed. The correlation between the

final grade in English and the type of source of listening is insignificant (r =

0.51, p = 0.051).

Table 11: Contigency table for final grade and type of listening

Final grade

5 6 7 8 9 10 total

Type of listening

listening 1 12 19 15 9 7 63 listening to video 0 2 3 2 3 1 11

Total 1 14 22 17 12 8 74

Despite the fact that many students said using visual support while

listening makes listening easier, does not necessary mean that visual

support would use only students with the lower final grade in English. As

we can see from Table 11, 11 students chose to use visual support. Out of

11 students, 5 of them with the lower grade and 6 of them with the higher

final grade in English chose to use visual support. It is however interesting

that despite of a great knowledge of English students still want to use


58

visual support. This may not be only because it makes listening easier but

it makes it more interesting to also see the speaker(s).

The fourth hypothesis, students who have a better grade in English feel

more comfortable in listening than those who have a lower grade, was

tested with two different tests. The variable of feeling was measured with

the question of how participants felt while they were listening. The possible

answers were: confident, uncomfortable, focused and nothing special. In

the first test the variable was put on ordinal measurement level. The

answers were classified as: uncomfortable, nothing special, focused and

confident. Then we calculated Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient

between the final grade in English and the feeling while listening. We

found a statistically significant positive correlation between the feeling

while listening and the final grade in English (r = 0.24, p < 0.05). The

correlation between the two variables is low. Average grades for each

group according to how they felt while listening is shown in Graph 2.

Graph 2: Average grades and students' feelings

The graph represents the connection between the average grade and the

students’ feelings while listening. From the graph we can see that

students with the higher final grade felt more focused and confident in

1

2

3

4

5

uncomfortable nothing special focused comfortable

aver

age

grad

e

Feelings


59

listening that those students who had a lower final grade in English.

Students with the lowest grades felt nothing special or even uncomfortable

in listening. This is because they did not understand much and listening

represents a very difficult task for them. Those students who said that they

needed to be very focused in order to understand what was said had an

average final grade.

This fourth hypothesis was tested differently. We compared the grades of

those students who felt confident while listening and the grades of those

students who felt uncomfortable focused and those who did not feel

anything special.

Then we used the t-test to compare two independent samples whether the

arithmetic means of the groups in a final grade defer significantly. We

found significant difference. This hypothesis was confirmed. The arithmetic

means of groups in final grade is represented in Table 12.

Table 12: T-test for two independent samples

AM1 AM2 SE t df p

Final grade 2,33 3,06 0,29 -2,51 72 <0,05

Note. AM1 – arithmetical means for uncomfortable group; AM2 – arithmetical means for

confident group; SE – standard error; t - test t statistics; df- degrees of freedom; p – the

probability value

The fifth hypothesis, that most students used bottom-up strategies, was

also confirmed. Here, we used frequency distribution of the answers. We

concluded that 20 students used top-down strategies and 58 students

used bottom-up strategies. Using Chi-square test we found that the

percentage between these two categories is significant (1) = 18.51, p <

0.001.


60

CONCLUSION

The starting point for this thesis was to discover if Listening Logs can be

used in the classroom and outside of it in order to develop listening skills.

As it was said before, developing listening skills can be very demanding

for both, teachers and students. But overall, listening can be very

motivating and a fun activity if we find the right methods, approaches and

tools to do so. In the search for the right tool for developing listening skills

we came across a tool which seems to be very popular when learning a

second language in foreign countries. This tool for developing listening

skills is a Listening Log.

By reviewing many sources we have found out that when we listen in our

mother tongue, we listen differently from listening in a foreign language.

When we listen in a foreign language, we listen for comprehension and

there are numerous problems which make our listening even more

challenging. There are always questions on how to introduce listening

activities to the foreign language students and how to prepare the lesson

for developing listening skills. It is essential that we know which potential

problems students might face, what the purpose of listening is and how

important it is to organize task into stages: pre-listening, while-listening

and post-listening stage. However, it is not enough for students to develop

their listening skills only in the classroom, teachers must encourage them

to listen outside the classroom and hereby develop students’ autonomy by

reflecting on their own listening. Only by reflecting on how well they

performed a task they are able to realize what makes listening difficult for

them and find solutions.

The questions from the Listening Log form investigated the students’

attitude towards what they were listening and the Listening Log itself. We

wanted to know if the students are capable of reflecting on their own

performance, if they benefit from using Listening Logs, what their

problems while listening to a native listening text are and how they found


61

the solution for their problems, and how their final grade in English effects

on their performance and opinion about using the Listening Log. We have

discovered that the students like to listen to what seems relevant to them.

Therefore, it is very important the students are motivated for listening and

only this way they will be able to try different strategies and approaches to

develop their listening skills. We also believe that throughout these

activities they can develop language and schemata which are relevant to

their lives. Another important issue that arose while listening is that many

students preferred to find a source with a visual support. They reported

that it was much easier for them to understand. Although, the given

instruction did not include sources with video input, many felt more

confidence in watching. This is an important view and we would suggest

visually supported text to the students with a lower grade in English.

From the completed Listening Log forms it is evident that most students

enjoyed working with the Logs. They found it an appropriate tool for

developing their listening skills. We can therefore conclude that Listening

Logs are a great tool for developing listening skill, so they should be used

more often in the English lessons at our schools.


62

References

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Rixon, S. (1986). Developing Listening Skills. London: Macmillian

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Listening_Logs_for_Extensive_Listening_Practice

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APPENDIX 1

LISTENING LOG

Title:

Source/programme: Link:

Date: Duration:

Topic: New words/phrase I’ve learnt:

YOUR REFLECTION ON MANAGING THE LISTENING LOG

Answer the following questions.

1. Did you find Listening Log a useful instrument for learning English and

why?

2. On which website did you find most of the listening sources that you

used in your Listening Log?

3. Why have you chosen the topics?

4. What have you learnt in the process of working on the Listening Log?

5. Which difficulties have you encountered and how did you overcome

them?

6. How did you feel when you were listening?

7. Which listening strategies did you use while listening to the radio

programmes?

8. You may add any other thought you find relevant.

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