Working on Listening skills

Listening is considered to involve the active selecting and interpreting of information comingfrom auditory clues so that a listener can identify what is happening and what is being expressed.

-Richards, JC. 1983. “Listening Comprehension: Approach, design, procedure.” TESOL Quarterly 17:2.

Passive or Active?

monitor comprehension associate new information with background

knowledge make inferences about unknown words continue listening even if they don’t

understand certain words have metacognitive knowledge about the task manage to get the main idea rather than

listen word-for-word

Effective listeners

What interferes with listening comprehension?

What interferes with listening comprehension?

Make it relevant to ss (interesting) Provide background knowledge Pre-listening exercise to activate content Use a variety of activities

Involve ss in focused listening

giving them charts / categories asking questions ahead of time showing pictures/charts discussing the topic first describing the context role playing the situation providing key word list brainstorming (situations / pros / cons) Predicting Doing follow-ups that allows them to connect directly

with their lives

listening activities (with focus) to overcome the difficulties

Why, when, what and how much to listen in the classroom?

Why?- Complex skill of the

language learning.- Important component of

communication.- Learn how to interact in a

foreign language.

When?- From the beginner levels

of learning.

What?- Authentic material

including real language- Appealing material for

students

How much?- In every single class.- The more we listen, the

better.

WHEN DOING LISTENING EXERCISES….

TRY THIS AVOID THIS

Apply meaningful input+1 but take into account your students’ level

Taking listening exercises just from cassettes and cds

Work with authentic material

Having your students watch a whole movie with no purpose

Find interesting and appealing material for your students (movies- songs- musical videos- interviews- trailers)

Taking a very advanced material for your students, because they can feel demotivated and overchallenged

TRY THIS AVOID THIS

Minimize interruptions and external distractions

Making your students aware of every single word

Plan a warm up or a pre –listening activity

Working with extense pieces of listening exercises

Define what kind of exercise it is and what is it intended for.

Including lots of unknown vocabulary

Involve specific materials relevant for students’ reason of study

Focusing only on the grammar topic you are working with

Predict your students’ difficulties with the exercise

Overchallenging your students

Redesign some of the listenings from books

Working with the material that you just can find in the books

Make use of the technology Working on this skill in an isolated way.

SOME EXAMPLES

SONGS1. Before listening activities:

- Presentation of the new vocabulary (puzzles)- Talking about the band or singer’s background,

how the author came up with the song. - How much the students know about the song

2. While listening activities:- Design completion exercises- Replace words by drawings- Scramble some words of the lyrics

3. After listening activities:- Matching exercises- Inferring the purpose, meaning of the song- Eliciting students’ points of view towards

the lyrics- Talking about students’ experiences related

to the lyrics

Eg

MOVIES/ TRAILERS

1. Before listening activities:- Presentation of the new vocabulary (puzzles)- Talking about the students’ perceptions and

points of view about the movie- How much the students know about the movie

2. While listening activities:- Questions about specific information- Design True and False exercises- Checking exercises

3. After listening activities:- Design open questions, matching or

completion exercises- Design questions about more general

information- Questions based on visual features

EXAMPLE

THE INPUT HYPOTHESIS

Look for interesting material and come up with greatIdeas for yourStudents and make of yourTeaching something different, Enjoyable and Nice to plan, something thatInvites your student to learn Not only for need but also for fun.God bless your job!