Teaching ListeningSonja FollettEnglish Language FellowKhovd University, Khovd, Mongolia

Listening

Is an ‘active’ skill

Is a ‘receptive’ skill

Happens in real time

Is it a neglected skill?

Why Teach Listening?

It helps students acquire language  subconsciously

It provides vital information

– grammar structure

– contextualization of new vocabulary

– pronunciation, rhythm, stress, intonation

• Real communication requires both listening  comprehension and speaking

We Listen…

Twice as much as we speak

Four times more than we read

Five times more than we write

(Rivers 1981, Weaver  1972 in Celce-Murcia, M. Teaching English as a Second  or Foreign Language, p. 70)

Considerations in Teaching Listening

What are listeners doing when they listen?

What factors affect good listening?

What are characteristics of “real‐life” listening?

What are the many things listeners listen for?

What are some principles for designing listening  techniques

How can listening techniques be interactive?

What are some common techniques for teaching  listening?

Listening is a Complex, Interactive Skill

Processes in listening comprehensionRaw speech is processed into short‐term memory

Type of speech event is determined/assigned  (conversation, lecture, TV ad, etc.)

Assessment of speaker’s objective (inform, persuade,  request, etc.)

Background information (schema) applied to aid in  comprehension

Literal meaning assigned to message

Listening is a Complex, Interactive Skill

Processes in listening comprehension Intended meaning assigned to message; different

 from  literal message

Determination to commit information to short‐term or  long‐term memory

Original words, phrases, and sentences are (largely)  “pruned” and the message concept is retained.

Listening is an interactive process and learners may  have difficulty at any of these steps

What Makes Listening Difficult?

• Clustering

- Spoken language is “chunked” into phrases and clauses

Redundancy

- Rephrasing, repetition, elaborations are helpful (extra information, extra time) but make “tracking” speech difficult

Reduced forms

-Phonological (“Jeet?”), morphological (“I’ll”), syntactic (“Finish yet?”)

What Makes Listening Difficult?

Performance variables

-Hesitations, false starts, pauses, corrections, ungrammatical forms

Colloquial language

-Idioms, slang, reduced forms, shared cultural knowledge

Rate of delivery

-Speed of stream of speech; little opportunity to “re- listen”

What Makes Listening Difficult?

Stress, rhythm, and intonation

-Prosodic features of English cause difficulty

Interaction

- Rules of conversation, negotiation, turn-taking, topic nomination and maintenance; two-way, interactive skill

How do we  listen to  listen to  incoming 

incoming  messages?

Top Down Processing

Interactive Processing

Bottom Up Processing

Bottom-Up ProcessingKnowledge of:

-Vocabulary, grammar, sounds

Use background knowledge

Driven by text factors

– Sounds

– Words

– Phrases

– Stress/intonation patterns

Types of Listening SkillsMicro-skills

Sentence level

Retain chunks of language in short-term memory

Discriminate among the sounds of English

Recognize stress and intonation patterns

Recognize grammatical word classes

Process at different rates of delivery

Distinguish word boundaries

Recognize word order patterns

Top Down ProcessingBased on :

General Knowledge/Life experience (Content Schemata)

Knowledge of situational routines (textual schema)

Activate previous knowledge

Driven by learner factors: the listeners – Expectations

– Understanding of the topic

– Context

– Knowledge of the world (Rubin and Peterson)

Types of Listening SkillsMacro-skills

Discourse level

Recognize cohesion devices

Recognize communicative functions

Distinguish main and supporting ideas, new and understood information

Distinguish literal and implied meanings

Understand nonverbal communication signals

Use listening strategies: guessing from context, asking for help, signaling (lack of) comprehension

Types of Classroom Listening

Reactive (listen and repeat)

Intensive (listen for specific sounds, discourse  markers, intonation patterns, etc.)

Responsive (listen and respond – briefly)

Selective (listen for particular items in a longer  stretch of discourse)

Extensive (listen for global comprehension)

Interactive (authentic communication; listening as  part of discussion, conversation, debate, etc.)

Selective Listening Prepositions

Beatles: Eleanor Rigby

Warm up

Activity: Students listen and write the prepositions 

Is one listening enough?

Extensive Listening: This I Believe

Listening for global comprehension

Listen to the “This I believe…” presentation and identify the main idea.

What is important to the speaker?

Principles for Teaching Listening

Integrate listening practice into the course

Don’t assume it “just happens”

Appeal to students’ intrinsic motivation

Include local culture and preexisting schema

Use authentic language and contexts

Highlight relevance to real-life needs

Consider how students will respond

Listening cannot be seen; infer comprehension

Teach listening strategies

Include both bottom-up AND top-down listening

Successful Listening Activities

Purpose for Listening A form of response (doing, choosing, answering,

transferring, condensing, duplicating, extending, conversing)

Repetition depends on T objectives and students’ level

A motivating listening text is authentic and relates to students’ interests and needs

Have the skills integrated Stages: Pre-task , While-task, Post-task

Listening Strategies

Teach student how to listen Looking for keywords Looking for nonverbal cues to meaning Predicting a speaker’s purpose by the context of the

spoken discourse Associating information with one’s existing background

knowledge (activating schema) Guessing meanings Seeking clarification Listening for the general gist For tests of listening comprehension, various test-taking

strategies

Easy-to-plan Pre-Listening Activities

Brainstorming Think-Pair-Share Word Webbing/Mind Mapping Team Interview

Easy-to-plan Listening Tasks

Agree or disagree (with explanation) Create Venn diagrams List characteristics, qualities, or features Strip story (sequencing game) Match speech to visuals Compare and contrast to another speech or

text Give advice

More Listening Tasks

Compare and contrast to your own experience

Create your own version of the missing section

Plan a solution to the problem Share reactions Create a visual Reenact your own version

Easy to Plan Post-listening Assessments

Guess the meaning of unknown vocabulary Analyze the speaker’s intentions List the number of people involved and

their function in the script Analyze the success of communication in

the script Brainstorm alternative ways of expression

References

Bailey, K.M. (2005). Practical English Language Teaching: Speaking . New York: McGraw-Hill.

Bishop, G. (2006). AP State English Lecturers Retraining Program Teacher’s Handboook . Senior ELF Seminar Series given in Hyderabad, India.

Brown, H.D. (2001). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy . White Plains, NY: Longman.

Helgesen, M. (2003). Listening. In D. Nunan (Ed.). Practical English Language Teaching . New York: McGraw-Hill.

Liao, X.A. (2001). Information Gap in Communicative Classrooms. EL Forum, 39 (4). Retrieved from http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol39/no4/p38.htm .

Lynch, T. (2003). Communication in the language classroom . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Richards, J.C. & Renandya, W.A. (eds.) (2002). Methodology in language teaching: an anthology of current practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Slagoski, J.D. (2006). Teaching Listening Skills. Senior ELF Seminar given in Samara, Russia. Retrieved from http://slagoski.googlepages.com/downloadpresentations .