Teaching Listening Skills

120 hours TESOL Certification Course

TESOL Asia of The Asian EFL Journal Professional Group

Slides courtesy of Mrs. Perly Gaborno- Ilustre

Objectives
At the end of the session, you should be able to: explain top-down and bottom-up processing identify different listening types: specific information, gist/global listening, inference list specific examples of different task types modify different listening tasks to provide different types of practice

Scoping my sharing
Definition of listening Background to the teaching of listening Principles for teaching listening Classroom techniques and tasks

What is listening?

What is listening?
Listening is an active, purposeful process of making sense of what we hear. (Helgesen, 2003)

Productive skills

Speaking

Writing

Receptive skills

Listening

Reading

Listening as a skill
Listening is a passive skill. Listening is a very active skill.

Listening is very active.

As people listen, they process not only what they hear but also connect it to other information they already know.

Creating meaning through listening

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh5xu35b AxA

Creating meaning through listening

Meaning is not in the text (whatever is being listened to) but is something that is constructed by listeners based on a number of different knowledge sources ( Buck, 1995)

How to teach listening more effectively

To understand how listening works and how to teach it more effectively, start by thinking about your own listening.

 Write at least three things. 1) 2) 3) What ideas or experiences were you able to relate to the things/ topics you listened to?

What have you listened to?

Background to the teaching of listening

Gouins Series Method
I walk through the door. I walk. I draw near to the door. I draw near. I draw nearer to the door. I draw nearer. I get to the door. I get to. I stop at the door. I stop. (Titone, 1968, cited in Richards and Rogers, 2001)

Background to the teaching of listening

The Reform Movement promoted ideas such as the teaching of spoken, as opposed to written, language and that learners should hear language before seeing it in written form

Background to the teaching of listening

The Direct Method
often associated with Charles Berlitz promoted the teaching of listening comprehension and the idea that new teaching points should be introduced orally

Background to the teaching of listening The audiolingual method

heavily influenced by the behavioral psychology of the day emphasized MIM/MEM (mimicry/memorization) of new structures Its popularity paralleled the establishment of speech laboratories for dialogue and pattern practice drills.

Background to the teaching of listening

The audiolingual method A typical audiolingual lesson might look something like this: 1) Present the new language item to be learned, giving a clear demonstration of its meaning through non-verbal means such as by pictures or actions (Do not give grammatical explanations.)

A typical audiolingual lesson might look something like this:

2) Model the target pattern, using a number of examples 3) Get the whole class to mimic and memorize the new pattern following the teachers model 4) Introduce a substitution drill, first to the whole class divided into two, and then with individual responses

A typical audiolingual lesson might look something like this:

5) Repeat the first four steps, using negative versions of the target structure 6) Repeat the first four steps, using the interrogative versions of the target structure 7) Check for transfer, using previously unrehearsed cues. Solicit both whole class and individual responses.

A typical audiolingual lesson might look something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGuZyelU Tc4

The role of communicative language teaching in teaching listening

Communicative language teaching The idea that the students learn through the act of communication-increased the role of listening.

The input hypothesis Stephen Krashens input hypothesis made a major impact on language teaching

The input hypothesis

says that, for language learning to occur, it is necessary for the learner to understand input language which contains linguistic items that are slightly beyond the learners present linguistic competence. Learners understand such language using cues in the situation. (Richards, et.al. 1985)

The input hypothesis We acquire language by meeting language that is a bit higher than our current level. Listening is a major source of comprehensible input.

Before we discuss the principles, lets learn about listening by listening

Before you listen: What does the picture show?

P_R_DI_ _

Before you listen: What does the picture show?

P __ R __ K __ N __ L __ __

Before you listen: What does the picture show?

__ I N __ H __ T __ L

H __ T S __ __ T

P_ST_ _ I_ E

What do you like about nature?

What would you feel if this would happen to nature?

Before you listen, keep in mind these questions:

According to the song, what happened to the following:

paradise trees the girl

Lets listen to the song!

Big Yellow Taxi Counting Crows and Vanessa Carltonfile://localhost/Users/perlyilustre/Music/iTunes/iTunes
Media/Music/Unknown Artist/Unknown Album/Counting Crows - Big Yellow Taxi ft. Vanessa Carlton.mp3

While listening, answer the listening cloze test. Listen and fill in the missing words. file://localhost/Users/perlyilustre/Documents/big yellow taxi_cloze test.docx
Effect of Listening Cloze in EFL Listening Comprehension http://www.eric.ed.gov/

Pictures taken from:

http://www.my-walls.net/wpcontent/uploads/2012/11/Seychelles-Paradise.jpg http://jiminmontana.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/ddt.jpg http://schoolbox.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/asian-momdaughter.jpg http://www.mikearauz.com/2009/01/listen-before-youspeak.html

Principles for teaching listening

1) Expose students to different ways of processing information: bottom-up vs. topdown (Rumelhart and Ortony, 1977) (Chaudron and Richards, 1986) Based on the way learners attempt to understand what they read or hear

Bottom-up processing
The students start with the component parts: words, grammar, and the like

Top-down processing
The learners start from their background knowledge, either content schema (general information based on previous learning and life experience) or textual schema (awareness of the kinds of information used in a given situation) (Long, 1989)

Top-down Based on: General knowledge/life Bottom-up experience Knowledge of: (content/schema) vocabulary Knowledge of grammar situational sounds routines(textual shema)

How our students experience bottomup processing-Try reading this:

you as, time a at word one, slowly English process you When individual each of meaning the catch to easy is it, now doing are the of meaning overall the understand to difficult very is it, However. word passage

Whats more effective?

Life experience

ACTIVATION

Vocabulary

Structures

Interactive processing (Peterson, 2001)

Principles for teaching listening

2) Expose students to different types of listening Its not just what they are listening to. Its what they are listening for. Let them experience listening for different reasons.

Consider the following text:

A: Lets go outside. We could go for a walk. Maybe play tennis. B: Look out the window. Its raining. A: Raining. Oh, no. Can be used for: Listening for specific information

Global or gist listening

A: Lets go outside. We could go for a walk. Maybe play tennis. B: Look out the window. Its raining. A: Raining. Oh, no. Can also be used for: Listening for gist: Students try to understand in a more general way: What s the main topic of the conversation?

Principles for teaching listening

Principles for teaching listening

3) Teach a variety of tasks But dont demand too much e.g.: Task: Listen to the story. Write a summary in English. Level: Beginner

Principles for teaching listening

4) Consider text, difficulty, and authenticity On speed: By pausing the spoken input (the tape or the teacher) and allowing some quick intervention and response, we in effect slow down the listening process to allow the listeners to monitor their listening more closely. (Rost, 2002)

Cognitive load: Factors that increase or decrease the amount of understanding (Brown, 1995):
1) The number of individuals or objects in a text (e.g.: More voices increase difficulty) 2) How clearly the individuals or objects are distinct from one another (e.g.: A recording with a male voice and a female voice is easier than one with two similar male voices or two similar female voices)

Cognitive load: Factors that increase or decrease the amount of understanding (Brown, 1995):
3) Simple, specific spatial relationships are easier to understand than complex ones (e.g.: In a recording giving directions, information like turn right at the bank is easier to understand than go a little way on that street)

Cognitive load: Factors that increase or decrease the amount of understanding (Brown, 1995):
4) The order of events (e.g.: It is easier when the information given follows the order it happened in, as opposed to a story that includes a flashback about events that happened earlier.)

Cognitive load: Factors that increase or decrease the amount of understanding (Brown, 1995):
5) The number of inferences needed (e.g.: Fewer are easier than more) 6) The information is consistent with what the listener already knows (e.g.: Hearing someone talk about a film you have seen is easier to understand than hearing the same type of conversation about one you havent seen.)

Authenticity: Brown and Menasche, 1993)

1. Task authenticity Simulated: modeled after a real-life; nonacademic task such as filling in a form Minimal/incidental: checks understanding, but in a way usually done outside of the classroom; numbering pictures to show a sequence of events or identifying the way something is said

Authenticity: Brown and Menasche, 1993)

2. Input authenticity Genuine: created only for the realm of real life, not for classroom but used for language teaching Altered: no meaning change, but the original is no longer as it was (glossing, visual resetting, pictures or colors adapted)

Authenticity: Brown and Menasche, 1993)

Adapted: created for real life (words and grammatical structures changed to simplify the text) Simulated: written by the author as if the material is genuine; many genuine characteristics Minimal/incidental: created for the classroom; no attempt to make the material seem genuine

Principles for teaching listening

5) Teach listening strategies Predicting: Effective listeners think about what they will hear. This fits into the ideas about prelistening Inferring: It is useful for learners to listen between the lines.

Principles for teaching listening

5) Teach listening strategies Monitoring: Good listeners notice what they do and dont understand Clarifying: Efficient learners ask questions (What does __ mean? You mean ___?) and give feedback (I dont understand yet.) to the speaker.

Principles for teaching listening

5) Teach listening strategies Responding: Learners react to what they hear. Evaluating: They check on how well they have understood.

Classroom techniques and tasks

Modifying materials for listening lessons-but why modify?

Creative thinking

may simply be realizing that there is no particular virtue in doing things the way they have always been done.
- Rudolf Flesch Educator/philosopher

Classroom techniques and tasks

Modifying materials to add listening for specific information Micro listening: (usually done after they know the main topic of the recording, but before they have begun the main listening task) Lets use micro listening on Old McDonald Had a Farm: file://localhost/Users/perlyilustre/Desktop/OLD MCDONALD HAD A FARM - with lyrics.mp3

Micro-listening
(usually done after they know the main topic of the recording, but before they have begun the main listening task) Choose a few target items that occur several times on the recording: e.g.: names of colors, people, places, etc. Tell the students the topic of the recording. Ask them to listen for the target items. Each time they hear one, they raise their hands.

Modifying materials to add listening for specific information

Bits and pieces: (before the main task) Tell the students what the topic will be. In small groups or as a class, they brainstorm vocabulary likely to come up on the recording. Each learner makes a list. Then they listen to the recording and circle the words they hear.

Modifying materials to add listening for specific information

What do I want to know? (before the main task) Tell the students the topic and enough about what they will hear for them to imagine the situations. In pairs or small groups, they write two or three questions about the information they think will be given. Then they listen and see how many of the questions they are able to answer.

Modifying materials to add listening for specific information

Dictation and cloze (modified) Have the students fill in the blanks before they listen. They read the passage and make their best guesses. Then when they listen to the text, they have an actual listening task: to see if they were right.

Dictation
If you use dictation, does that make you a dictator?
Slide from Helgesens Seminar-Workshop at Claret School in Sept. 2013

Dictation
What do you like?
accuracy intensive listening
Slide from Helgesens Seminar-Workshop at Claret School in Sept. 2013

What do you dislike?

boring dont have to understand very bottom up

Dictation: example
A long . longroad went through a A was walking down the road. Suddenly she saw a . He was wearing a shirt, , and a hat. He and said, 22

Helgesen, 2003 Practical English Language Teaching

Read & run

A, Look at your handout. What do you need to know? Tell B.
B, go to the poster outside. Read and remember as much as you can. Come back. Tell A. Change roles and keep going.

Listening in the classroom

Suggested flow: 1) A warm-up activity that integrates top-down and bottom-up data 2) A main listening task 3) A speaking task related to the previous task

Choose one example of something you listened to. Imagine that you have a recording of it that you want to use for a lesson. 1) What would the task be? What would the students do as they listened? 2) Design a lesson plan. What kind of prelistening task would you use? What kind of information would it target? 3) How would you follow it up with a speaking task?