Listening overview and discussion

How to: You have one minute to discuss each question with your partner How to: You have one minute to discuss each question with your partner. Draw from your experiences in everyday life, and as a language learner and teacher. Utilize the knowledge you gained from Chapter 8 in “Learning Teaching” and other teacher training resources.

What is listening? Define it in your own words.

Listening is an active, purposeful process of making sense of what we hear.

Why do we listen (in our own lives, everyday)?

Mainly to: Engage in social rituals (with family, friends, coworkers, merchants, taxi/bus drivers, etc.) Gather and exchange information Enjoy ourselves (pleasure)

What are some things people listen to everyday – and that you could use as classroom materials?

Internet content Music (with lyrics) TV shows (and commercials) Movies (and trailers) News Radio broadcasts Recordings (e.g. airport announcements) Commercially prepared CDs and tapes (and books on tape/CD) Phone conversations Lectures Teacher and/or student talk (planned, semi-planned, spontaneous)

What are the types of listening we engage in on a day-to-day basis?

Listen for gist (general idea of what is being said) Listen for specific information (only need to understand specific, limited parts) Listen for details (for exact information that will help achieve a task) Listen for inferences (to know how a person feels)

What should teacher’s objectives in the classroom be What should teacher’s objectives in the classroom be? What should teachers strive to do?

Expose students to a range of (everyday) listening experiences Make listening purposeful/meaningful Help students understand the process of listening and how they might approach it (i.e. teaching listening strategies) Build students’ confidence in their own listening ability

How can a teacher successfully teach listening in class?

Make sure instructions are clear Give students a specific purpose/task Do lots of pre-listening work Provide any necessary scaffolding while listening Tell students not to worry about understanding every word (at least initially) Review, recycle, and connect

What does listening involve? What do people do when they are listening?

Get clues from the environment (facial expressions, gestures, background noise, setting, other people) Use background knowledge about the setting, topic, language Predict what the speaker is going to say next Distinguish which words are important and carry meaning Understand and interpret the meaning of those words and groups of words (pronunciation, colloquial vocabulary, ungrammatical utterances, redundancy) Ask questions when they don’t understand Note the meaning of silences Have a goal in mind and try to achieve it

What are some features of an effective listening activity?

Must really demand listening throughout Must really demand listening throughout. Should not be a listening or memory test. Instead, the sequence of steps should help guide students through it. Steps or tasks should be realistic or useful in some way. Need to get students to do something with the information they hear (e.g. discuss, take notes, draw) The activity must help students to improve their listening.

What are the elements of a good listening lesson?

Has pre-listening activities Allows students to know the kind of text and purpose for listening in advance Gives students a purpose for listening (e.g. to get general or specific information or to accomplish a task) Requires some kind of response from the listener such as taking notes, answering questions, or making a group decision Uses appropriate material (topic is of high interest or value, at right level, authentic, etc.) Gives students more than one chance to listen – each time with a different purpose Has follow-up activities which include other skills

What is a typical route map for a listening activity?

1. Before the lesson (familiarize yourself with the materials and activity, think about learners’ needs and challenges, plan for clear instructions, consider seating arrangements and use of the board, etc.) 2. Lead-in (raise motivation or interest, focus on language items that might be useful in the activity) 3. Set up the activity (organize students, give clear instructions – demonstrate/model/show vs. tell) 4. Run the activity (allow students to do the activity while you monitor and facilitate) 5. Close the activity (sense when the students are ready to move on; make a judgment about when coming together as a whole class would be useful to most people > time warning) 6. Post-activity (hold some type of feedback session on the activity – address comments and questions about the topic and the language)

What is a typical framework for a listening lesson?

1. (P) Predicting content 2. (P) Warm-up questions 3 1. (P) Predicting content 2. (P) Warm-up questions 3. (P) Vocabulary activity 4. (P) Task listening or listening overview 5. (D) Listen for main idea(s) 6. (D) Listen for details 7. (D) Listen for inferences (what is not explicitly said yet implied) 8. (P) Summarize 9. (P) Discussion questions 10. (P) Language work (vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, etc.) 11. (P) Extension activities (projects)

What are some typical pre-listening activities?

Brainstorming about a topic (word or subject map) Discussion questions Pictures, maps, diagrams, graphs, or videos to activate background knowledge Realia related to the topic (e.g. menu or movie schedule) Vocabulary or grammar work Prediction questions (about content)

Why do pre-listening activities?

Set the context Establish a purpose for listening Generate interest Activate background knowledge Help acquire new knowledge Learn vocabulary and language used in the listening Predict content Preview listening tasks

What makes a good listening text?

How can you check the level of difficulty of a text?

Check how the information in the text is organized Check how familiar students are with the topic Check the vocabulary and expressions used Check if there is any cultural information Check if the text has multiple objects or individuals, and if they are clearly differentiated Check if the text offers visual support to aid in the interpretation of what the listeners hear

What do effective listeners do while listening (i. e What do effective listeners do while listening (i.e. what are some during-listening strategies)?

Are ready and have a plan to achieve a given task Use background knowledge to predict what will be said Use linguistic knowledge to predict what will be said Monitor performance while listening Pick out only salient points (listen selectively, ignore irrelevant details) Take notes (write relevant information in shorthand) Note the approximation of a difficult word (check later)

Listen for key words for topic identification Check with other listeners Ask for clarification Reconstruct orally or in writing Listen for transition points (*See the “teaching listening strategies” PDF on my website for useful ideas on how to teach each strategy listed on this and the previous slide.)

What are some typical during-listening activities?

Main idea and detail questions Cloze (fill in the blanks) Fill out a graphic organizer or form Order, number, rank, or list items Detect mistakes Take notes Write section summaries

What are some typical post-listening activities?

Discuss the topic Write about the topic Language work or review Extension activities and projects related to the topic

What are some testing techniques for listening?

Discrete-item (multiple-choice questions) Integrative (summarizing and dictation) Communicative (writing a complaint letter after hearing a description of a problem) Interview (with the teacher or another student) Self-assessment (learner rates self on given criteria via questionnaire or journal) Portfolio (collection of student work and performance)