Teaching of Listening

1. Teaching of Listening Heidi Laidemitt, Emily Sadler, & Derek Yiu

2. Ten Commandments • Stop talking. Obvious, but not easy. • Put the speaker at ease. • Show a desire to listen. Act interested & mean it • Remove distractions. • Empathize. • Be patient. Give the speaker time to finish; don’t interrupt. • Hold your temper. Don’t let your emotions obstruct your thoughts. • Go easy on argument & criticism. Suspend Judgment. • Ask questions. • Stop talking. In case you missed the first commandment.

3. To teach strategies or delve right in? • Features of Speech • Speech is fast • Critical level: the level of speech rate above which comprehension becomes impossible. • Speech is variable. When words are woven together, they often take on different forms. • Word boundaries are blurry (creates comprehension breakdown). • Speech has to be processed in real time. (Renandya, W. & Farrell, T, 2011)

4. To consider… • Students’ proficiency levels • Assessment

5. Proficiency Levels • Beginner • Memorizing useful phrases and sentences • French • Substitution tables (see board) • Guided listening • “What is it?” • Listen and do (TPR-Bingo, Simon Says, People Sculpture, etc.) • And choose • And draw

6. Cont. • Picture Ordering • Same or different • Listening to stories • Listen and finish/retell/correct • Intermediate • Adapt • Information Transfer • Advanced • Note-taking • Predicting (Fluency) • Interviews

7. Listening Assessment • Dictation • Text w/questions • Responding to statements • MC, T/F/O, Short Answer • Recorded Cloze • Information Transfer • Activities

8. Different types of listening • Active and Passive listening • Meaning-focused v. language focused listening • Listening for: • Comprehension • Vocabulary • Content • Theme/Meaning • Sounds

9. Hot Topics • Extensive Listening (Renandya, W. & Farrell, T., 2011) • “Strategy training places a heavy burden on teachers, an extensive listening approach in the same vein as an extensive reading approach should be adopted.” (p. 52). • Podcasts: Consult handout resources • Videos: Consult handout resources • Songs/Music: “Last One Standing” and “Catch It!”

10. Hot topics cont. • Metacognitive Awareness • Quantitative (Form) and Qualitative (Meaning/Use) Awareness (Kennedy & Trofimovich, 2010) • Different strategies (Kemp, 2010; Kennedy & Trofimovich, 2010) • Listening Log • Written comments • Journals

11. Pronunciation • Stress & Intonation • Learning a new sound • Key questions • Hearing • Distinguishing • Same or different? • Identifying • Pictures • Activities

12. Teacher’s role • EFL Context • Teacher may be the sole source of “Input” (Teacher-centered) • Encourage Ss to use outside sources e.g., TV, movies, music, and so on • ESL Context • Teacher is mainly a resource/guide (Student-centered) • Ss are constantly exposed to Native English speakers

13. Non-Conversation Based Activities • Difficulties • No opportunities to interact with speakers and no opportunities to pick up on non-verbal cues. • Unable to catch the sounds or the words but also missing the gist or important details of the spoken text. (Renandya, W. & Farrell, T, 2011)

14. Catch It! • Ss listen to a song, write down the words and phrases they hear, and compare their lists with a partner. • Some results included “increased interest in using music to study English outside of class…students became more aware of how to take more active approach to language learning outside of class.” (Lieske, p. 91). • Ideas • Use Pre-activity Questionnaire to gauge music interest and use for English language learning. • Use a Post-activity Questionnaire to find out more about music used to learn English

15. Last One Standing • http://community.eflclassroom.com/video/video/listTagged?tag=lastonestanding

16. Conclusion • Listening may be the hardest of the 4 skills because one cannot control how others speak. • It is important to foster awareness of listening strategies (metacognitive) • Use authentic materials (tv, movies, songs, podcasts, radio, etc.)