Unit 5.

  Using Technology to Teach Listening Skills

   Please read
Butler-Pascoe, M. E. & Wiburg, K. M. (2003). Technology and teaching
English language learners. Chapter 4, pp. 81-96.

 
5.1   The Role of Listening in SLA
-  The Comprehension Approach
-  Krashen's Monitor Model
5.2   Approaches to the Teaching of Listening Skills
5.2.1  The Natural Approach
5.2.2  The Total Physical Response (TPR)
5.3   Listening Processes
5.4   Listening Purposes
 

5.1  The Role of Listening in SLA (second language acquisition)

1. Listening was first recognized as a major component of language

learning and teaching in the late 1970s. At that time, research
suggested that language instruction should focus on the learner's
listening comprehension in the early stages of acquisition,
while delaying oral production until the learner was more
familiar with the new language.

2. This school of thought manifested itself in the form of

the comprehension approach which proposed the following:
a. Comprehension abilities precede productive skills in
language learning.
b. The teaching of speaking should be delayed until
comprehension skills are established.
c. Skills acquired through listening transfer to other skills.
d. Teaching should emphasize meaning rather than form.
 e. Teaching should minimize learner stress.
3. The comprehension approach was supported by Krashen's
Monitor Model of second language acquisition. This model
consists of five hypotheses:

a. Acquisition-learning hypothesis (Acquisition is
subconscious, whereas learning is consciously developed by
instruction and aided by error correction).
b. Monitor hypothesis (Conscious learning is limited to use as
a monitor that can edit and make corrections in the
learner's output before s/he writes or speakes, but language
fluency relies on acquisition).
c. Natural order hypothesis (Learners acquire linguistic
structures in a predictable order in L1 and a similar order is
present in L2 acquisition).
d. Input hypothesis (Learners acquire language by exposure
to comprehensible input: "i +1". Learning is first focused
on meaningand structure is learned as a consequence of
understanding the message).
e. Affective filter hypothesis (Depending on the learner’s
state of mind, the affective filter limits what is noticed and
what is acquired. The presence of an affective filter could
act as a mental block if a poor affective state existed)

 
5.2   Approaches to the Teaching of Listening Skills

Two approaches to the teaching of listening skills, the natural

approach and the total physical response (TPR), are supported
by Krashen's Monitor Model of SLA and grouped within the
broader comprehension approach umbrella.

5.2.1  The Natural Approach

 The natural approach, developed by Krashen and Terrell (1983),
focuses on comprehensible input and the optimum affective
state of the learner.
I. Principles and Pedagogical Implications (i.e., application to
classroom practices):
Principles Pedagogical implications

1. Comprehension precedes productions. a. Teachers speak in the

That is, listening and reading skills will target language only.
be acquired before speaking and b. Content is selected
writing skills. according to its relevance
to student interests.
c. Teachers consistently
provide comprehensible
input.
2. Language production emerges from a. The "silent period" is
nonverbal responses, single words,  allowed; students are
combinations of two or three words, to never forced to speak
phrases, sentences, and ultimately to before they are
complex discourse. comfortable doing so.
b. Error correction is given
only when errors interfere
with communication.
3. The syllabus and course content is a. The teaching focus is on
organized around topics with communicating ideas with
communicative goals rather than little or no attention to
linguistic structures. grammatical accuracy in
the early comprehension
and production stages.
4. The learning environment must be a. Activities should ensure
conducive to language learning. that students can practice
the language in a
supportive,
nonthreatening setting
that reduces anxiety,
 promotes motivation, and
builds self-esteem.
 
* Discussion Questions:
1. Is it really good for L2 learners to delay their oral
production?
2. Does the natural approach attend to learners' output? Can
comprehensible input alone lead to learners' comprehensible
output?
II. The Use of Computers in Teaching Listening Skills with the
Natural Approach:
Comprehensible Input Low-anxiety Learning Environment

1. Computers allow teachers to add 1. Multimedia programs can be

multisensory elements, text,
sound, pictures, video, and
animation, which
provide meaningful contexts to
facilitate comprehension.
2. Computers allow learners to hear
the available input as many times
as needed until they feel they
understand it.
Examples:
- Interactive Audio-Picture English
Lessons
- Adult Learning
Activities - California Distance
Learning Project  (news stories and
Interactive exercises)
- British Council - Learn English:
Songs and Lyrics
designed to present material
at different difficulty
levelswith adjustments in speed
of delivery according
to individual learner needs.
Examples:
- Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab
- John's ESL Community -
Listening Activities
2. Computers allow learners to
develop their autonomy to
review and practice materials as
many times as they wish.
3. Computers can
provide immediate, nonjudgme
ntal feedback and additional
assistance to learners. They
correct learners' errors without
giving them embarrassment or
anxiety.
  
* Discussion Questions:
1. According to your language learning experience with
computers, do you think those CALL programs always provide
comprehensible input, particularly in listening?
2. Do you think the feedback from the computer is sufficient
for language learners to develop their listening skills ?

5.2.2  Total Physical Response (TPR)

Total physical response, developed by Asher (1977), is frequently

used as a technique within a variety of teaching approaches and
methods rather than strictly as an approach unto itself. It focuses
on psychomotor associations and lowering of the affective filter.

I. Principles and Pedagogical Implications:

Principles Pedagogical implications

1. Listening comprehension skills are 1. Teachers speak in the

developed before oral production skills target language to
(based on the natural order of L1 students and focus on
acquisition). students' listening
comprehension in the
early stage.
2. Psychomotor association: Learning is 2. Teachers
enhanced through the association of give command
language with motor activity. Motor forms (i.e. "Open the
activity is a function of the right-brain, door") to which
and the right-brain activities should students respond by
precede the language processing physically doing the
functions of the left-brain. action.
3. TPR lowers students' affective 3. Teachers ask students
filter and stress level. to listen only but not to
give an oral response.
 
II. The Use of Computers in Teaching Listening Skills with the
TPR:
 Examples:
- TPR Games (program description from TPR World Website)
- Live Action English Interactive (program description and demo)
- Review of Live Action Spanish Interactive (from Language
Learning and Technology, Vol. 8, No. 3, September 2004, pp. 40-
43)

* Discussion Questions:
1. TPR is usually used in the face-to-face classroom. Is there
anything missing when TPR is used on a computer?
2. Please read the program descriptions of "Live Action English
Interactive" and "Live Action Spanish Interactive" and a
review of the Spanish one. Both programs use the principles
of TPR to design for beginning and intermediate adult
learners. However, TPR is usually used to teach languages to
younger learners. Do you think "TPR-on-a-computer" is good
for adults to learn languages? Why or why not?

 
5.3   Listening Processes
Two types of processes, bottom-up and top-down, have been
identified as central to listening comprehension.
I. Principles of Bottom-up and Top-down Processing:

Bottom-up Processing Top-down Processing

1. It focuses on individual linguistic 1. It focuses on macro-

components of discourse.
2. Comprehension is viewed as a process
of decoding messages proceeding from
phonemes to words, to phrases and
features of discourse such
as the speaker's
purpose and the discourse
topic.
2. Comprehension is viewed
as a process of activating
 the listener's background
clauses and other grammatical information and
elements, to sentences. schemata* (i.e. prior 
knowledge about the
context and the topic) for
a global understanding of
the message.

* Note:  "Schemata" is defined as "plans about the overall structure of events and the
relationships between them" that are stored in the listener's long-term memory
(Richards, 1990). These schemata relate to our real-world experiences and how
we expect people to behave and events to occur.

II. Bottom-up Activities and Top-down Activities in Teaching

Listening Skills:

Bottom-up Activities Top-down Activities

1. Identify sounds or 1. Identify the speaker's communicative purpose

lexical items or the main idea of discourse.
according to their 2. Use schemata to infer the contextual
linguistic function. information from the heard speech or
2. Use phonological cues conversation.
to distinguish 3. These activities are designed to help learners
between positive and develop their pragmatic and discourse
negative sentences or knowledge.
statements and
4. These activities are often used for improving
questions.
communicative skills focusing on meaning
3. These activities are rather than form.
designed to help
Examples:
learners develop their
- Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab
phonological, lexical,
and grammatical - John's ESL Community - Listening Activities
knowledge.
4. These activities are
often used for
learning phonics and
pronunciation
 practice.

Examples:
-  American English
Pronunciation Practice
-  Emily's Pronunciation
Class
 

* Discussion Question:
1. Based on your English (or other foreign language) learning
experience, what type of listening processes do you use
more often, bottom-up or top-down? In your opinion, what
type of knowledge can CALL programs better help learners
to develop, linguistic or background knowledge? Why? Please
give examples.

 
5.4   Listening Purposes
I. Interactional Purposes and Transactional Purposes:
According to Brown and Yule (1983), language communicative
functions can be divided into two
types: interactional and transactional functions. Both language
functions are needed for effective classroom participation. 
Students use interactional language to socially interact with each
other and their teacher and engage in transactional uses
to develop new skills and construct new knowledge.
 

Interactional Purposes Transactional Purposes

1. The focus is on harmonious 1. The focus is

communication in social contexts. on conveying
2. Interactional uses of language typically information and
 include greetings and small talk that language use is message
center on noncontroversial oriented.
topics that elicit agreement among the 2. Transactional uses of
participants. language include
3. Interactional uses of language listening to lectures,
do notrequire careful attention to taking notes, and
details and facts. practicing dictations
and cloze exercises
that require
understanding of
details.
3. Transactional language
is explicit, clear,
and coherent in order
for the listener to
comprehend the
meaning of the
message.
 
II. The Use of Computers in Teaching Listening Skills for Two
Types of Purposes:

Teaching for Transactional

Teaching for Interactional Purposes
Purposes

Example: Examples:
- Learning Oral English Online - Randall's ESL Cyber
This website offers interactional speaking Listening Lab - Listening
practice through dialogs centered on topics Quizzes for Academic
such as making friends, going to a party, and Purposes
dating. Students can practice different - BBC Learning English:
aspects of social conversation. This site also Watch and Listen -
practices another type of interactional Welcome to London
listening that focuses on simple service-
oriented tasks such as ordering lunch and - Adult Learning
shopping in America. Activities - California
Distance Learning
 
 Project
These websites provide
transactional language
practice and are designed
to focus on getting
information and promote
English development for
academic purposes.
 
 
* Discussion Questions:
1. In everyday language use, we often carry out both
interactional and transactional functions of language at the
same time. Can you always distinguish which language
function you are using? If it is difficult to distinguish them,
then why do we have to learn these two functions
separately?
2. In your opinion, which language function do you think CALL
programs can better help students to learn? Why? Please give
examples.
* Please do Exercise 5  Using Technology to Teach Listening
Skills