COMMUNITY PEDAGOGY:

Prepared by Carmen Salazar*

*Articles for this section may be sent to Professor Carmen Salazar, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Los Angeles Valley College, VanNuys, California91401. Please send a typed original and copy for each paper submitted. Maximum length is 15 double-spaced pages.

COLLEGES

COLLEGES PEDAGOGY:
Prepared by Stella T. Clark*

AND

UNIVERSITIES

Listening Comprehension: Need and Neglect

MDonna Reseigh Long, The Ohio State University
Introduction The importance of listening comprehension in the second language learning/teaching process has been firmly established by the wealth of recent articles that have appeared in major professional journals.' In addition, instructional strategies based on listening comprehensionas the primary skill, such as the Total Physical Response (TPR) method (Asher, 1977) and the NaturalApproach(Terrell, 1977; 1982), have attracted a great deal of attention within the profession. But in spite of growing awareness of the role of listening in second language acquisition, recent classroom research reveals that second language teachers are still payinglittle attention to the systematic development of their students' listening skills.2 Many members of the profession, having shifted away from the traditional grammar/translation and audiolingual approaches to second language instruction, are concentrating their efforts on help*Members are invited to send material to: Dr. Stella T. Clark, Department of Foreign Languages, California State University, San Bernardino, 5500 State University Parkway, San Bernardino, CA 92404. Please send a typed original and copy for each paper submitted. Maximum length is 15 double-spaced pages.

ing students develop oral proficiency. This attitude is due in large part to the promotion of notional/functional syllabi, the ACTFLOral Proficiency interview and communicativeapproaches that have encouraged us to teach for functional proficiency, i.e., the ability to use the target language in real life and lifelike situations. It is true that those in our profession need to work toward this goal. What is lacking, however, is a more balancedperspective that recognizes listening comprehension as the other half of oral communication.True communicationcan take place only when both aspects are present. Consequently, instructors must begin teaching listening skills and incorporatinglistening practice into the second language curriculum if students are to be truly able to communicate. Theoretical perspectives Understanding how learning takes place can help in prioritizinggoals of instructionas well as selecting strategies and techniques that optimize students' learning.Three major theories help to focus the role of listening comprehension within the second language acquisitionprocess. Psychologist David Ausubel (1978) be-

922 HISPANIA 1987 70 DECEMBER lieves that meaningfullearning requires both potentially meaningful material and a meaningful learning set (a dispositiontowardlearning on the part of the learner). Accordingto Ausubel, what the learner already knows is the most important factor influencing learning. Ausubel's theory points out the equal importance of both cognitive and affective factors in learning. We are well aware of the affective characteristics of typical second language learners who find themselves "captive" in a required series of courses. With respect to existing cognitive characteristics, many students have little previousknowledge about their native language and how languages in general operate and, as a result, encounter significant difficulties in learning a second language. In choosing methods and materials, as well as in prioritizing instructional goals, these factors must be taken into account. Applying Ausubel's theory to the case of listening comprehension brings out several imporant factors:
1. Capitalizing on students' inherent need to comprehend can be a significant motivatingfactor in acquiring a second language. 2. Lack of comprehension can produce anxiety and other affective barriers to learning. 3. Input must be linked to what students' already know of the target language or to similar concepts and structures in their native language before it can be converted to intake (i.e., for comprehension to take place).

learn. Unless second language educators spend instructionaltime teaching and practicing listening skills, learners will not master them. Listening- the neglectedskill? One convincing reason for the apparent neglect of listening comprehensionis the lack of materials currentlyavailableto instructors who wish to emphasize listening skills. The standardtape programs accompanyingmajor textbooks consist primarily of repetition and substitution drills and offer little in the way of developmental exercises. Another major problemis instructor fatigue. Whenresponsibility for providingcomprehensibleinputfalls entirely on instructors who teach several classes a day, the burdenbecomes excessive. Visualreinforcementis also an essential component in developing listening skills, yet the logistics of arranging for videocassette recorders and monitors, overhead projectors and other audio-visualequipmentare prohibitive in many of our schools and universities. In spite of such inconveniences, however, there are effective means by which listening practice can be provided in the second language classoroom once the important objective of incorporating listening practice into the curriculumon a regular, systematic basis has been established. Suggestions for coping with those problems will be discussed in the following sections. ListeningActivitiesfor Beginning Students The first task in developinglistening comprehension skills is putting learners at ease. In the beginning stages of instruction, learners are unable to discern the relative importance of individualcomponents of the linguistic code. To beginners, each word and structure is as important as the next, and they often get lost trying to pay attention to all of the sounds, structures, words, intonation, stress and pitch. Reminding them that this is a normal stage of second language acquisition may help to make beginners feel more comfortable. In one's native language, it is not necessary to pay such close attention because everyday conversationis full of natural repetitions, elaborations, rewordings, and other redundancies. The most important point to stress is that total comprehensionin every situation is impossible-even in one's native language. Many times a day we hear

Krashen's Input Hypothesis (1980) seeks to explain how languages are acquired. Though highly controversial, it does stress the importance of listening comprehensionin the acquisition/learning process. Krashenbelieves that language is acquired by understanding input that contains structures slightly beyond the acquirer's competence (i.e., comprehensible input) and that comprehension is encouraged through context and previous knowledge. According to the input hypothesis, speech will emerge on its own when the acquireris ready and will contain many errors. Speaking ability is fine tuned by exposure to additionalcomprehensible input. A thirdtheoretical perspective that applies not only to listening, but also to all learning in general, is Carroll'sModel of School Learning (1963). Carroll'smodel places time at the center of all learning processes. In the model, learning is a proportionof time actually spent on a given learning task to time needed to

PEDAGOGY: AND UNIVERSITIES 923 COLLEGES

unfamiliarwords, but we are still able to understand the topic. In learning to understand Spanish, beginners must overcome the tendency of becoming excessively concerned with the individualparts of the code and concentrate on figuring out the main idea. The followingare suggestions for helpingstudents develop confidence in listening to the target language. English or Spanish? A beginning step in developing listening comprehension is to be able to distinguish the sounds of the target language from those of the native language. Instructors can prepare an exercise in which students choose the Spanishwords by pairing Spanish words with similar-soundingEnglish words, such as luz/loose, de/day, a bear/ haber, etc. Students have only to choose the letter a or b as the Spanish word. The Spanish/Englishglossary at the end of most textbooks provides more than enough words for such an activity. Other good sources are Sounds ofEnglish and Spanish (Stockwelland Bowen, 1965) and the original A-LM Spanish materials (1961). Statement or question? Distinguishing questions from statements is another important listening skill, since questions almost always require a response from the listener. Again, the instructor can utilize the required textbook for the course as a source of readymade statements and questions. What is the topic? Identifying the main topic can be practiced by providing students with "chunks"or clusters of vocabularyitems that they must categorize under a familiar topic. For example, the instructor might read the following items: la cuenta, el postre, el camarero, cenar, la propina. Students would categorize the topic as "en un restaurante." Eventually, of course, listening practice will have to progress from exercises that concentrate on bits and pieces of the message to those which stress the global meaning. The following exercises foster this skill. Connecteddiscourse. Several studies have revealed that teacher questioningfollowedby student responding occupies a significant proportion of available instructional time in second language classrooms (see Long, 1986; Nerenz and Knop, 1983). While questioning is an excellent technique for involving learners in practicing speaking skills, they need to listen to longer segments of realistic speech in order to develop adequate listening

comprehension skills. Instructors can help students develop the abilityto understandthe main idea, as well as details, by spending part of each class providing connected discourse over topics for which the students already have a frame of reference- their own school, the family, current events, popular music, sports, etc. Connected discourse, here, refers to anecdotal or longer segments of speech. At New Mexico State University, for example, learners completing the firstsemester Spanish course are expected to understand a five- to ten-minute presentation by an instructor, in which visuals are used or advance information is given in English about the context, situation and purpose of the presentation (Vald6s, Long and Pino, 1986). Many instructors already instinctively provide their students with such target language monologues. Throughcareful planning and preparationof appropriatefollow-up activities, this monologuing technique can be used more routinely and extensively in the curriculum. How then, can one plan connected discourse segments? Natural speech is characterized by re-starts, repetitions and other redundancies, pauses, speech extenders (pues, ummm, etc.), clarifiers (quiero decir, digo, etc.), elaborations, examples, series, paraphrases, incomplete sentences and many conventions that are often eliminated in typical classroom talk. By all means, they should be included in segments of connected discourse. The following example of connected discourse was obtained from a native speaker of Spanish who was describing housing in her country: <<Unacasa tipica de Guatemala (pause). Bueno, yo tendria que empezar por pensar en los medios econ6micos que tienen los duefios de la casa. Porque, por ejemplo, clase media (pause), digamos un profesional que esta empezando, gana muy poco. Entonces se, pues, compraria a plazos una pequefia casita (pause) y digo pequefiaporque se estin poniendo pequefias (pause), las habitaciones cada vez mis pequefias. Un patiecito pequefio y ?que tendra? Unas tres habitaciones, una sala comedor, una pequefiacocina, un cuarto para la sirvienta, un bafiito tambi6n para la sirvienta, y una pequefia lavanderiay un patiecito y eso es todo. Eso es la mayoria de los profesionalesj6venes, digamos. Ahora, la mayoria de gente pobre, que en Guatemala hay tanta gente pobre, ellos viven en casas

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1987 HISPANIA 70 DECEMBER

de vecindad. Ellos alquilancuartos, alquilan cuartos, utilizan un bafio comtin. Eso es la gente pobre, muy pobre. Ahora, el campesino vive en las fincas. Y alli les dan lo que se llama un rancho. Rancho es una casa que antes tenia techo de paja, pero ahora es de lkmina de zinc, limina galvanizada, y 6se (pause) es unas dos habitaciones generalmente y la cocina (pause), muy sencillo, y tiene un patio grande y alli generalmente siembran, siembranalgo de lo que consumen ellos o siembran lejos (pause). Siempre en las fincas les dan un terreno de siembra para ellos para su propioconsumo. Ahora bien, la gente que tiene mayores ingresos, maisdinero, ellos viven en casas muy grandes. Y pasa en Guatemala, ahora estoy pensando en la Ciudadde Guatemala, la capital, pasa lo que pasa en todas las ciudades del mundo, creo yo, que el que tiene mis dinero suele vivir en las afueras donde hay menos ruido, menos congestionamiento de trifico, donde hay mis arboles, entonces, entonces 6sa es la idea. Ahora bien, cuando yo crecai, generalmente yo vivia en casas muy grandes, de estilo coloniales, con vario patios, tres patios. El t1ltimo patio era para la servidumbre, etc., etc. Pero eso se ha terminado porque el espacio se est~ agotando (laugh). Si, se esti agotando. Y como dije antes las casas se achican, se achican. Tambi6nya no se puede, la gente acomodada,digamos, ya no puede tener, aunque tenga dinero, toda la servidumbre que se tenia antes. En primer lugar es muy caro y segundo lugar la servidumbre, yo creo que es menos, gracias a Dios, porque la gente se educa mis hoy dia. Entonces, y tambi6nhay m~s industria, entonces, consiguen otros trabajos, otros empleos. Gracias a Dios se han mejoradolas personas que en que los escasos recursos se han mejoradoy buscan mejores empleos porque ser sirvienta es muy sacrificado, muy sacrificado.>> In this passage (3 minutes, 16 seconds), one notes the types of redundancies and fillers mentioned above, and a model for realistic monologuing emerges. In the language classroom, instructors can maximize students' opportunities for comprehension and help them develop self-confidence by providing connected discourse which recombines familiar vocabulary,and uses cognates, gestures, visual aids and other realia, as well as the discourse features mentioned above. It is not always necessary to limit grammar

structures andvocabularyto those previously studied, as long as there are sufficient other clues to comprehension. Elaborationand recombinationcan be used to go over the topic several times without its becoming tedious and will provide the redundancies necessary for comprehension.At least one such exercise should be incorporated into every class session, starting off with 2-5 minute segments and graduallyincreasing the length until the desired course listening objectives are met. Topics may be reintroduced at later dates, but paraphrased or reworded so as not to become monotonous. Follow-upexercises for beginners might consist of asking questions to which students can respond with simple si/no, one-word answers or short phrases in Spanish, or even answer in English. As their speaking skills improve, students can be asked to make more and more verbal responses in the target language in the followup exercises, and small-group discussions of the topics should be encouraged. By working in small groups (includingpartner work) opportunities for both listening and speaking are increased. Students should also be providedwith the means of making incomprehensible input (input that contains vocabulary and structures too far beyond the learners' control) comprehensible. They can be taught simple techniques from the beginning of instruction. Repeatingunfamiliarwords and phrases with a rising intonation (Ifrontera? ?Col6n? ide vez en cuando?), for example, alerts the speaker that the listener does not understand. In addition to ?no comprendo>> and por favor,,, students should have at ,?repita, their disposal the interrogatives ?qui6n? ?qu6? cuaindo?id6nde? and ?por qu6? to help them pinpoint specific missing information. The speaker can then respond with an appropriate target-language explanation accompanied by pantomime or some other visual clue. While live input by the instructor in the classroom is most effective, all of the above types of exercises can be recorded by the instructor either on audio or video tape (if the necessary equipment is available) and used as reinforcement activities later both in the classroom and the language laboratory. Developing a library of taped materials will help relieve the fatigue factor that generally accompanies teaching multiple sections of beginning language. It also provides a sys-

PEDAGOGY: COLLEGESAND UNIVERSITIES

925

tematic means of reentering previouslylearned material. Varietyof dialects. In addition to listening to their own instructor, students need to hear other Spanish speakers. Although many native speaker instructors do not make a point of emphasizing their dialect in beginning courses, confusion often results when students must change instructors in subsequent courses. One way of dealing with the problem is to invite guest speakers to the classroom, but they must be carefully coached in techniques for providingcomprehensibleinput. It is unrealistic to expect that beginning and intermediate students will comprehenda native speaker who uses no visual cues and many unfamiliar words and structures. As Chaudron (1983) points out, "in some way, linguistic simplicity involves less varied, more common and structurallymore elemental or regularized linguistic materials. Yetdisputes will inevitably arise, for analyses will differ in the assumptions as to underlying linguistic structures or derivations, and consequently as to which structures are the simplest linguistically"(128). Chaudronmentions simplifying vocabulary for second language learners by employing more frequent words or simple circumlocutions. Since course instructors are best qualifiedto judge their students' knowledge of the target language and culture, they should arrange to listen to the guest speakers' presentation before class, if possible, or at least suggest core vocabulary and structures appropriateto the topic. Guest speakers should be encouraged to use visual aids and gestures and to watch their audience for signs of lack of comprehension. If guest speakers are not available, and the instructor wishes to point out simple dialectal differences, dialogues from a traditional tape program can be utilized as an alternative. A brief introductionto the tape is given in English or Spanish. The instructor describes the setting and characters and assigns students a specific task such as listening for certain types of details (What are the characters wearing?), determining the sequence of events, detecting irrelevancies (Who said something totally irrelevant to the conversation? What was it?), understanding the main idea (What is the topic of conversation?), making inferences (Whatkinds of personalities do the speakers have? Are they old

or young?), predictingoutcomes (Howdo you think the events will turn out?), and evaluating (Did the characters do the right thing?). These follow-up activities can be conducted in English at early stages of instruction and later on in Spanish.

Activities Students for Intermediate

Students at the intermediate levels of Spanish instruction can benefit from enrichment activities aimed at fine-tuning their listening skills. Slide presentations, filmstrips, and films can be used to supplementthe reading materials frequently used at this level. Songs, stories, and poetry readings are other possibilities. Advance organizers (introductions, key vocabulary, maps, outlines, etc.) should precede the presentation and comprehension activities should follow. At the intermediate level, not only can the instructor present more creative listening opportunities, but the student shouldbe able to respond in more creative ways. Because the pedagogical objectives for the intermediate level emphasize greater productive skills, follow-up activities for intermediate students can incorporate more speaking and writing activities and may consist of questions and answers (students should also be encouraged to ask the questions), expressing opinions, writing summaries, and creative activities such as dramatizing, role-playing, and poetry writing. Even students with limited writing skills can enjoy creating cinquainpoems (Allen and or working in groups to preValette, 1971)Y pare a skit about one of the listening topics. Realistic situationsin which intermediate students can interact in the target language, of course, are very desirable activities for the intermediate classroom. Such student/student interactionhelps learners develop speaking skills while providingpractice in listening at the same time. Maximizing opportunities for pair and small group activities also allows the instructor to pursue the role of facilitator while the learners themselves take on the role of providing input for each other. Exposure to comprehensible input from native speakers is, of course, the most desirable objective in teaching listening skills. If a school or university has a program of English as a Second Language, there may be available a number of native speakers of Spanish who would be willing to participate in a conversation exchange with your inter-

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mediate students. In a conversation exchange, half of the allocated time is devoted to conversationin Spanish and the other half to English. The instructors of the participating groups facilitatethe procedureby explaining the guidelines, making necessary introductions, and unobtrusively monitoring conversations. Because both groups have limited skills in the target language, tension usually falls by the wayside as the desire to communicate takes over. An informal setting, such as a student lounge, helps to provide a relaxed atmosphere for conversation.Both groups receive large quantitites of target-language input as well as a nonthreateningopportunity for communicatingin the language that they are studying. If no ESL students are available, competent students from advancedSpanish classes may be recruited for an informal conversation session. Equipmentand Materials The overheadprojectoris one of the finest tools for helping students develop listening comprehension skills. Appropriate transparencies can be used to illustrate presentations and to make the input comprehensible. They provide visual reinforcement and also help students acquire vocabulary. Unfortunately, many instructors do not have ready access to an overhead projector, or lack the necessary transparencies. Restricted budgets or incompatiblefacilities (locationof electrical outlets, projection screens, movable desks, etc.) may prevent them from taking advantage of this desirable piece of equipment, but good alternatives do exist. Slide projectors are often more readily available and easier to carry from buildingto building. Non-photographicslides are easy and inexpensive to prepare (See Seng, 1985, andWipf, 1978) and can be used like overhead transparencies as visual aids to listening activities. If a slide projector is not available, or if the classroom has no screen, blank walls or window shades, then the instructor must rely on other visual aids. Posters, maps, photographs, drawings, magazines, newspapers, books, pamphlets, cartoons, and other types of print materials can all be incorporatedinto listening activities. Dolls and dollhouses, colorforms, trucks, cars, tinker toys, building blocks, and other childrens' toys can be used to illustrate many presentations- especially those relatinga series of events. Garagesales

are excellent and inexpensive sources of these materials. Finally, realia collected during visits to Spanish-speaking countries are unique accompaniments to travelogue-type presentations. Don't overlook the mundane. Ticket stubs, postcards and stamps, receipts, menus, napkins, matchbooks,wrappers, plastic bags, advertisements, coins and bills, bottles and cans, T-shirts, etc. are all novel and interesting to students who have never been to the country. Often these realia call to mind amusing anecdotes that can be related to students. Students who have sufficient speaking skills can then respond by describing similar (or contrasting) experiences that they have had. TestingListening Comprehension When teaching a second language, instructors are faced with nonnaturallanguage settings and formats, which they must attempt to make as realistic as possible throughinclusion of lifelike activities and exercises and encouraging students to use the language they are studying. Second language testing places similar demands on the instructor,and many second language educators (see Omaggio, 1986) believe that testing formats should be contextualized similarlyto everyday classroom practice. Contextualization of test items is especially important for beginning students whose skills are limited, and often the context must be presented in English. As students gain more skill in the target language, advance organizers may be presented in the target language as well. The usual dichotomousauralformats- cierto/falso, si/ etc. -can be used effecno, 16gico/absurdo, tively in testing listening comprehension at beginning levels of instruction, especially when preceded by written or visual advance organizers, and often a group of test items can be based on a single context. Example:
Advance organizer: students look at the visual in which students are in a classroom with their professor, studying a map of Mexico. Silno. Los estudiantes estudian el mapade Espafia. Answer: no. El profesorestAal ladodel mapa. Answer: cierto. Los estudiantes estin en la clase de frances. Answer: absurdo.

Cierto/falso. L6gicolabsurdo.

PEDAGOGY: COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES 927

items can be used Auralmultiple-choice at anylevelandmaytakethe formofquestion/ answer,incomplete stem/rejoinder, sequencthe outcome,idening of events, predicting tifying irrelevancies,identifyingthe main inferences.The limitation topic,andmaking is thattheydo nothave of these itemformats the characteristicsof natural utterances. However,when groupedarounda specific they becomemore topicandcontextualized, as test items. acceptable
Question/answer Advance organizer: Las siguientes preguntas se refieren a las tiendas y negocios que se encuentran en el centro de una ciudad tipica. Incompletestem/rejoinder Advanceorganizer:Jorge, un estudiante chileno, piensa hacer un viaje por los Estados Unidos. Complete los consejos de su amigo norteamericano, ?D6nde se compran los peri6dicos? a. En la biblioteca. b. En el banco. c. En la pasteleria. d. En el quiosco. No es posible ir de Omaha a Nueva Yorken ... a. autobiis b. avi6n c. barco d. coche

Gisting.Havingstudentsgist or summarizethe contentis an excellenttesting morefavorably technique,andcorresponds with natural listeningformatsthando the tests explainedabove.Gists discrete-point or in writingin either be given orally may the targetlanguageor in English.Forpurinstructors oral mayprefer poses ofpractice, with gisting, as studentscan be provided immediate feedback. Written gistingmaybe reservedfortestingsituations. the Providing gist in Englishassures that an incorrectanswer is the result of lackof comprehension, to produce a summary statement notinability in the targetlanguage. the salientpointsofa lisListing. Listing a realistic is also testingtechteningpassage inreal to note-taking niquethatcorresponds as the life. Becauselistingis notas difficult skillsrequired bygisting,even summarizing learners canlistitemsin language beginning the targetlanguage.
English as a Second Language

Jerry.
Sequencingevents.

the Advance organizer: are following questions

onmy routine. a. meacost&. based daily b. mebafie.

c. desayune.

melevante alassieAyer te. Me vesti y ...

outcome. Predicting El Advance organizer: se lepobrede Mariano vant6tardeesta mafiana. Se vistio ripidamente y sali6en cocheparasu

inthe literature of Pedagogy, much attention hasbeenslowto classroom although practice follow.This maybe due largelyto the lack of suitablelisteningmaterialscurrently on main Identifying topic. market or the of video and the inavailability jCuail Advance Esta bella estrella la de organizer: aids. Whileappropriate es el temadelasiguiente naci6 en M6xico other technological televisi6n escunarraci6n? y aprendi6 listening commercially-prepared compreheningles chando losdiscos deElvis sion materials are not plentiful,appropriate Presley. A los diecisdis fortheSpanish andtestingactivities practice afiosgan6el titulo de can be classroom by resourceful developed ElPaso." "Miss Actualmentehace el papelde instructors without oftime greatinvestments en la telenovela andmoney. Melissa
Tenia mucha oficina. prisa
y no vio la luz roja.Asi, pas6por el cruce y ... "Falcon popularisima

a. choc6con un taxi. b. se meti6enunapasteleria. Summary c. apag6la radio. The listeningskill has recentlyreceived d. salud6a un amigo.

mateWhilegoodsupplementary listening to appear arejustbeginning rialsforSpanish finematerials havebeen onthemarket, many ofEnglish as a Secforthe teaching produced Theirtechniques andcharacondLanguage.4 to manylanguages teristicsmaybe adapted andculturesandare good sources of ideas who wish to make for Spanish instructors a moreintegral part listening comprehension of instruction.

Crest."

a. un programade televisi6n. b. la misica de Elvis Presley. c. un concurso de belleza. d. una actriz popular.

* NOTES 'See Byrnes, 1984; Krashen et al., 1984; Terrell, 1983; Richards, 1983. 'See Long, 1986; Nerenz and Knop, 1983; Nerenz, 1979. In the Longstudy,listening activities (defined as activities designed principallyfor the development of

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Annals 17 (1984): 261-75. Long, Donna Reseigh. "Listening: What'sReally Going On In the Classroom?"In Second LanguageAcquisition: Preparingfor Tomorrow.Ed. Barbara Snyder. Report of the Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Lincolnwood, IL: NationalTextbook, 1986. 28-37. Nerenz, Anne G. and Constance K. Knop. 'Allocated Time, CurricularContent, and Student Engagement Outcomes in the Second-Language Classroom." Canadian Modern Language Review 39 (1983): 22132. Nerenz, Anne G. and Constance K. Knop. "HelpingStudent Teachers Maximize Class Time in the SecondLanguage Classroom."Canadian Modern Language Review39 (1983): 840-46. Nerenz, Anne. "UtilizingTime in Foreign Language Instruction."In Teachingthe Basics in the ForeignLanguage Classroom: Optionsand Strategies. Ed. David P Benseler. Report of the CentralStates Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Skokie, IL: National Textbook Company,1979. 78-89. Omaggio, Alice C. Teaching Language in Context:ProfiInstruction.Boston: Heinle & Heinle, ciency-Oriented 1986. Richards,Jack C. "ListeningComprehension:Approach, Design, Procedure." TESOL Quarterly 17 (1983): 219-40. CITED 0 WORKS Seng, Mark W. "Inexpensive NonphotographicSlides IlA-LMSpanish. New York:HarcourtBrace & World,Inc., lustrate GrammaticalConcepts or Lexical Items and 1961. Stimulate Student Conversation." ForeignLanguage Annals 13 (1985): 117-25. Allen, Edward David, and Rebecca M. Valette. Classroom Techniques: Foreign Languages and English as Stockwell, Robert P. and J. Donald Bowen. Sounds of a Second Language. New York: Harcourt Brace English and Spanish. Chicago:University of Chicago Jovanovich, 1971. Press, 1970. Asher, James J. Learning Another Language Through Terrell, Tracy D. "The Natural Approachto Language Actions: The Complete Teacher'sGuide. Los Gatos, Teaching:An Update."TheModernLanguageJournal CA: Sky Oaks Publications, 1977. 66 (1982): 121-32. Ausubel, David P., Joseph D. Novak, and Helen Hane- Terrell, Tracy D. 'A Natural Approachto Second Lansian. Educational Psychology: A CognitiveView.New guage Acquisition and Learning."The Modern LanYork:Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978. guage Journal 61 (1977): 325-37. New York: Burling, Robbins. Sounding Right. Rowley, MA: New- Ur, Penny. Teaching ListeningComprehension. bury House, 1982. Cambridge University Press, 1984. Byrnes, Heidi. "The Role of Listening Comprehension: Valdes, Guadalupe, Donna Reseigh Long and Cecilia A Theoretical Base." Foreign Language Annals 17 Pino. "Building Enrollment Through Curriculum (1984): 317-29. Change: The Implementation of a ComprehensionBased Programin Spanish." Carroll, John B. "AModel of School Learning."Teachers ForeignLanguageAnnals 19 (1985): 413-25. College Record64 (1963): 723-33. Talkin the Classroom-- An Winitz, Harris. 'A Reconsideration of Comprehension Chaudron,Craig. "Foreigner Aid to Learning?"In ClassroomOrientedResearchin and Production in Language Training." In Harris Second Language Acquisition. Eds. Herbert W. Winitz, ed., The Comprehension Approachto Foreign Seliger and Michael Long. Rowley, MA: Newbury LanguageInstruction.Rowley,MA: Newbury House, 1981. 101-40. House, 1983. 127-45. Krashen, Stephen D. "Second LanguageAcquisitionRe- Wipf,Joseph A. "The Preparationand Use of Non-Photosearch: Needs and Priorities."InACTFLProceedings graphic Slides in the Second-Language Classroom." In Teachingfor Tomorrowin the Foreign Language of the Conferenceon ProfessionalPriorities. Ed. Dale L. Lange. Hastings-on-Hudson,NY:ACTFL MateriClassroom. Ed. Reid Baker. Report of the Central als Center, 1980. 64-9. States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign LanKrashen, Stephen D., Tracy D. Terrell, Madeline E. guages. Skokie, IL: National Textbook Company, 1978. 111-21. Ehrman, and Martha Herzog. 'A Theoretical Basis for Teaching the Receptive Skills."ForeignLanguage

listening skills) constituted only 2% of total classroom time. Teacher talk in the target language (22% of total classroom time) consisted primarily of questions, not monologuing or other forms of connected discourse. Nerenz and Knop found that on the average, about 4.9 of the total available time was devoted to the listening skill by eight preservice student teachers. They reported that listening instruction took place in large groups and was teacher-centered, including structuring (15.8%), modeling (11.5%), questioning (23.8%), explaining (23.5%), evaluating (24.2%) and management (.4%) behaviors. In her 1979 study, Nerenz found that 20 inservice classroom teachers used 2% of available time for listening activities. 3See Allen and Valette (1977) 321-22. In writing this type of five-line poem, students work in pairs or on their own. In the first line, they state a subject in one word (a noun). In the second line they describe the subject in two words (a noun and adjective or two adjectives). The third line is a description of an action about the subject in three words (usually three verbs). Line four expresses an emotion about the subject in four words. In line five the subject is restated in another single word (usually a noun). 4See Burling, 1982, and Ur, 1984, for general ESL listening strategies and techniques.