Course Description:

At the end of this course students will be able to demonstrate comprehension of critical listening
materials through summarization and discussion. Reveal a logical understanding and critical thinking
of various authentic materials. Students learn to recognize the structure of the listening texts, the
particular kind of the language and the main points and subsidiary points

At the end of this course, the students are expected to be able to employ systematic and accurate
listening to take notes, outline, and evaluate original, spoken English at advanced level;
comprehending main ideas and details of literal, inferential, critical, and evaluative dialogues as well
as narrative, descriptive, expository academic and argumentative discourses, and more advanced
speech of various types, styles, and functions, in order to understand authentic English speech for
refined communication

Learning outcomes:

 Requires the listener to understand, interpret, and assess what they hear
 To be able to identify relevant points of authentic speech
 Identify relevant points of authentic talk shows and interviewsidentify inferred information
& organization of ideas in talk show and interview
 Students able to analyze and respond to oral argument and other types of authentic
discourse
students able to analyze and evaluate information in social and scientific situation

Activities:

follow the main ideas and some details of a typical news story

 extract the plot from a television show or movie

 show increased skills in note-taking

 analyze video content for persuasive elements, distinguishing fact from opinion
and news from commentary

 recognize the purpose of accompanying visual and text information, noting how
it can both facilitate and distract from comprehension, and adjust focus of attention
accordingly

 utilize strategies for accommodating unfamiliar words and phrases without

getting lost

 identify words and phrases that are useful to learn and then learn them

 engage effectively in critical discussions about content you have listened to

 write short summaries and critical commentaries of material

 show awareness of effective techniques and procedures for selecting and

listening to recorded materials to improve your overall language proficiency
Listening skills that are useful in a wide variety of situations-particularly those involving persuasive
speaking. 1) Consider speaker's credibility. 2) Listen between the lines. 3) Evaluate the message. 4)
Weigh the evidence. 5) Periodically review and summarize.

Critical listening involves hearing what someone says, identifying key points and/or
arguments and solidifying your opinion. Think of a debate, or how you feel when you listen
to a politician speak.

When you engage in critical listening, your goal is to analyze what the speaker is saying and
determine his agenda.

What is "critical listening?"

Critical listening is a form of listening that if usually not mentioned, since it involves
analysis, critical thinking and judgment. Making judgments during listening is often
considered as a barrier to understand a person, and there's a lot of truth in that.

However, critical listening occurs when you still want to understand what the other person is
saying, but also have some reason or responsibility to evaluate what is being said to you and
how it is being said. For example, if there's an upcoming election and you need to decide who
to vote for, you probably use some form of critical listening when you watch a televised
debate. You listen, AND you evaluate.

While experts on learning and communication almost universally demean the importance and
value of critical listening, when it comes to real life, listening critically is used every day.

The key though, is to try to understand the other person FIRST, before one evaluates.

4. Critical Listening

Critical listening involves just that – being critical about what is being said, taking the
important bits and making a judgment as needed.

Essentially, this type of listening is great in the business world – it helps listeners get to the
point quickly and keeps things streamlined and efficient.

By using critical listening as a skill, we can make decisions sooner as well as coming up with
solutions to problems and analysis of situations much quicker.

‘Critical’ can often have a negative connotation, but in this context, it simply means cutting
through what is being said to lift out the most important, relevant parts.

This is a great skill to learn when it comes to business meetings, anything involving finances,
and any kind of high-stress situation.

By taking on board the most crucial information from what someone says, we can learn to
reach a conclusion much sooner and more easily.
‘Critical’ also means to scrutinize what is being said and take some things with a pinch of
salt. It requires us to seek the truth amongst the noise of opinion and exaggeration.

Critical Listening

Unlike empathic listening, which is non-judgmental, critical listening involves judgment.

During critical listening, a listener takes into consideration the possible motives of the
speaker and the context, as well as the words. When a salesman points out the qualities of an
item, a critical listener analyzes the speaker's words and the situation and makes judgments
about the speaker's truthfulness or sincerity, as well as the usefulness of the item to the
listener.

What?

A guide to help students interpret, analyze and evaluate information encountered in a variety of
media formats. Use this guide with the spoken and performed texts included in the Perspectives
anthology.

When?
During and after reading, listening or viewing

Why?
All texts are a dialogue between the creator and the consumer. Often this dialogue takes place
between writers and readers. With spoken texts the dialogue is between the speaker and listener.
To gather meaning from audio text, students need to analyze both content and presentation. Their
analysis must take into account how the context, audience, purpose and style of an audio text
impact the meaning.

How?
The student text library includes many audio texts such as podcasts, interviews and songs. The Story
Corps series is particularly well suited for use with this Critical Listening Guide.

1. Select an audio central text. Tell students they will conduct three rounds of listening.
2. Create a Critical Listening Guide using at least two relevant questions from each category—
context, audience, purpose, values and style—related to the selected text.
3. Round 1 (first listen): Have students listen to the text all the way through without the
transcript and without stopping. Allow students to briefly discuss their initial reactions to the
text with a partner.
4. Pass out the transcript (included with each audio text) and Critical Listening Guide. Go over
each question. A mini-lesson may be necessary to define context, audience, purpose and
style.
5. Round 2 (close listen): Have students listen to the text with the transcript and guide in hand.
Pause the audio to discuss key features of the text, using the Critical Listening Guide to
structure the discussion. Students should annotate their transcripts using thinking notes to
describe context, audience, purpose, values and style. Pause the audio to point out key
features of the text, and provide wait time for students to write their responses to questions
on the Critical Listening Guide.
 6. Round 3 (reflective listen): Have students listen to the text all the way through without
stopping. Allow time for students to complete their Critical Listening Guide responses.
7. Ask students to share how their interpretations of the text may have changed or deepened
since the first listen.

Components of critical listening

Meeting 2
Listen and demonstrate understanding of main ideas and details:
a. Grammar, academic vocabulary, idiom, phrasal verbs, transitions
b. Identity main points and supporting details
Meeting 3, 4, 5
Listening strategies:
a. Note taking
b. Summarizing
c. Listing the arguments
Meeting 6
Reacting to the contents that the students have listened to

Meeting 7
Analyzing the video content for persuasive elements
Distinguishing fact and opinion from the news

Meeting 8
Decoding relationship among ideas:
Signal words, lecture cues, and body language
Comprehend authentic sources
Structure of a lecture or talks

Meeting 8
Recognizing the speaker’s attitude, feeling

Meeting 9
Use context clues, draw inferences, and make predictions

Meeting 10
Agreeing and disagreeing with ideas in the lecture and offer support