Developing listening skills : Developing listening skills
Reading and listening skills : Reading and listening skills Although much of the methodology is common to both types of receptive skill lesson, listening and reading are different.
When listening there is often a pressure to respond almost immediately, and also a pressure brought about by having only 'one go' at understanding.
Here are some of the factors we considered important in a reading lesson. : Here are some of the factors we considered important in a reading lesson. The level of the text is important. It should challenge learners without being too difficult.
Teachers need to consider whether there is a need to pre-teach a few items of vocabulary.
Teachers need to set meaningful tasks before reading/listening to help understanding and to mirror the 'real life' situation of reading/listening for a purpose.
After reading/listening learners should have the opportunity to compare answers with each other before checking with the teacher. Listening/reading skills can be subdivided to include such things as gist understanding (getting an overall idea) or a more detailed understanding.
Typically learners will read/listen to the same text more than once.
Teachers should try to build some interest in the text: before setting reading/listening tasks. Are all the points relevant to listening lessons?
Varieties of listening input : Varieties of listening input made or received a telephone call
listened to a radio news bulletin
watched a television news bulletin
had a conversation with a friend
listened to a lecture
had a conversation with a group of friends watched a movie either in the cinema or on television
watched at least 10 minutes of daytime television
listened to a music CD or audio cassette
taken part in a small discussion group Tick the ones that you have done in the last 48 hours.
Imagine doing the things in the earlier slide in a foreign language : Imagine doing the things in the earlier slide in a foreign language Which would be harder, listening to the news on the radio or watching it on television? Why?
Which would be harder, talking to a friend on the telephone or face to face? Why?
Which would be harder, talking to a friend or to a group of friends? Why?
How is watching a movie different from watching 10 minutes of daytime television?
How is listening to a lecture different from listening to music on a CD?
How is listening to a lecture different from taking part in a small discussion group?
What learners need : What learners need People listen in flexible ways according to the contexts in which they are listening. This flexibility and range of skill is something that learners need help developing.
What makes listening difficult : What makes listening difficult I worry more about listening than reading because you can't go back to check.
English people speak too fast and sometimes the words sound different to the way I learned them.
My school is near the airport. Sometimes the noise of the planes stops me understanding.
I can understand my teacher but other people with different accents are really hard for me to understand.
English people ‘eat their words’. I can understand videos very well but audio tapes are quite difficult for me.
I can understand English people when they speak only to me but I find it hard to join in their conversation.
I can listen OK for a short time but then I get tired and miss things.
I worry when there is a word I don't understand.
I remember I was very confused when I started learning English because I didn't know what 'um' and 'er' meant! In each case try to think of a way the teacher could help the situation.
Helping learners to overcome problems : Helping learners to overcome problems Skills to negotiate meaning
Teach learners ways of asking for repetition ('Sorry, could you repeat that, please?') and also of checking that they are following the speaker ('So, she forgot to pay for the dress?')
Helping learners to overcome problems : Helping learners to overcome problems Variety of accents
Provide students with examples of different speakers so that they listen to varieties of English other than their teacher.
Helping learners to overcome problems : Helping learners to overcome problems Word counting exercises
Read a sentence to the class at normal speed using usual contractions, stress and intonation. The students must count how many words are in the sentence (contractions count as two).
Helping learners to overcome problems : Helping learners to overcome problems Play the tape more than once
Where tapes are used, it can be a good idea to reassure learners that they will hear the tape again before you first play it.
This helps to reduce the stress of listening
Helping learners to overcome problems : Helping learners to overcome problems Hesitations and false starts
Occasionally draw students' attention to how native speakers use hesitation devices to create thinking time.
Help students to 'filter out' the unneeded parts of spoken English so that they can focus better on the really meaningful parts.
Helping learners to overcome problems : Helping learners to overcome problems Set achievable/meaningful tasks
Well-set tasks can help learners to focus on the important parts of a text. It can also help them to realise that they can understand the message of the speaker without having to understand every word.
Helping learners to overcome problems : Helping learners to overcome problems Show learners pictures
This is useful when using audio tapes or other situations when the nature of the input does not provide any visual stimulus.
What makes listening difficult : What makes listening difficult I worry more about listening than reading because you can't go back to check. Cinzia
English people speak too fast and sometimes the words sound different to the way I learned them. Alejandra
My school is near the airport. Sometimes the noise of the planes stops me understanding. Nena
I can understand my teacher but other people with different accents are really hard for me to understand. Li Na
English people ‘eat their words’. Maria. I can understand videos very well but audio tapes are quite difficult for me. Stefan
I can understand English people when they speak only to me but I find it hard to join in their conversation. Anja
I can listen OK for a short time but then I get tired and miss things. Milena
I worry when there is a word I don't understand. Jacques
I remember I was very confused when I started learning English because I didn't know what 'um' and 'er' meant! Emiliano In each case try to think of a way the teacher could help the situation.
Some practical considerations : Some practical considerations The participants on a teacher training course were asked to teach a lesson which was not observed by their tutor. After the lesson they wrote a commentary on what happened. Read the extracts from the commentaries and answer the questions.
Jon : Jon I tried to play the tape a second time for the students but I couldn't find the right place on the tape - I think I rewound it too far - so I read it to them instead.
How could Jon have ensured he found the right place?
Do you think reading the text was a good idea in the circumstances?
Judith : Judith I played the tape and then asked the learners a few questions. Most of the students did OK.
What advice would you give Judith?
Laura : Laura I told the students they would hear the tape twice, but they found it quite difficult and hadn't really understood, so I ended up playing it three times.
Was Laura right to tell her students how many times they were going to listen?
Was she right to change her plan?
Andy : Andy While the learners were listening to the tape I wrote the vocabulary they needed for the next activity on the board to save time.
Do you think this was a good idea?
Kirsty : Kirsty Before I asked the students for their answers I got them to check in pairs. I could see they all had different answers so I played the tape again and stopped it in two or three places.
Do you think Kirsty was right to play the tape again?
Was she right to stop the tape?
Rachel : Rachel We've listened to a lot of tapes recently so I wanted to do something a bit different. I wrote a story about something that really happened to me and read it to the class.
Do you like Rachel’s idea for a listening lesson?
Can you think of any ways of adapting it?
Mike : Mike As the learners watched a television documentary about becoming an astronaut, they made notes.
What assumptions would you make about the level of Mike’s class?
Tracy : Tracy We watched a video of a news summary. Before listening I asked students what was in the news at the moment. The first task was to put stories in order as they listened foreign news, sports news, weather, politics and so on.
What type of listening skills was the first task practicing – intensive listening or gist listening?
Summary : Summary The receptive skills of listening and reading have much in common.
People listen to various types of input and learners need exposure to varied material and tasks.
It is important to empower learners while they listen, by giving them the language to ask for clarification, repetitions, and request a slower delivery.
Try to help learners appreciate how much they do understand rather than always focus on what they didn't manage to grasp.