On Listening Skills

1. On Listening Skills

2. I. Thinking ahead of the speaker – Anticipation helps • Listening is a temporally extended activity in which the listener continuously develops more or less specific readiness for what will come next.

3. I. Thinking ahead of the speaker – Anticipation helps An effective listener: • constantly setting up hypothesis in his mind • constantly testing his hypothesis by matching it with what he has heard

4. I. Thinking ahead of the speaker – Anticipation helps The skill to anticipate depends on: • the listener’s familiarity with the theme of the message • the listener’s knowledge of the speaker as well as the setting

5. I. Thinking ahead of the speaker – Anticipation helps Training focus: pre-listening preparation • discuss the topic • read related materials • do some vocabulary work

6. II. Letting things go – Speed and vocabulary • The good language learner is the one who can tolerate vagueness and incompleteness of knowledge.

7. II. Letting things go – Speed and vocabulary The difficulties with listening: • the listener cannot control how quickly a speaker speaks • the listener is not always in a position to get the speaker to repeat what has been said • the choice of vocabulary is in the hands of the speaker

8. II. Letting things go – Speed and vocabulary Train focus: keeping up with the speaker • let things that have passed go • do not dwell upon half-missed points • wait for the second, or even third chance to fill the gap in the message

9. III. Can’t remember so much? –Learn to select, learn to simplify • The inability to produce an item should not be taken to mean that the learner cannot comprehend it.

10. III. Can’t remember so much? –Learn to select, learn to simplify One common unpleasant / frustrating experience with listening: • while listening, you seem to understand everything that you hear, but as soon as the voice stops, all is gone!

11. III. Can’t remember so much? –Learn to select, learn to simplify Two perspectives: • differences between comprehension & production • 3 communication states: one-way, partial two-way and full two-way • 1st goal: to comprehend what is being said to us • possible traps on effective listening • Are we paying equal attention to every element in each utterance? • Are we attempting to memorize and repeat and write down all the details in a passage?

12. III. Can’t remember so much? –Learn to select, learn to simplify Training focus: learning to select and simplify • listen with a purpose • grasp the key words and the main points • turn the complicated sentence structures into simple ones, interrogative into affirmative, passive into active

13. IV. Focus on the main idea • He who hesitates is lost!

14. IV. Focus on the main idea What is a main idea? • the central or most important idea which gives the paragraph purpose and direction • purpose: to inform, to explain, to narrate, to compare, to argue, to persuade, etc.?

15. IV. Focus on the main idea Training focus: recognizing the main idea • stated in a topic sentence • more often than not: the first sentence of a paragraph • difficult idea / to persuade and convince: at the end of the paragraph • hinted at by the sentences in the paragraph as a whole

16. V. Don’t attempt to write too much • Note-taking is essential in listening. It helps us organize facts and retain concepts for later use.

17. V. Don’t attempt to write too much Two requirements: • recognize the main topics • write down the important details and supporting examples

18. V. Don’t attempt to write too much The general principle for note-taking: • reduce the language by shortening the words and sentences • write the minimum to give sufficient meaning • choose an appropriate time to write • lay them out clearly

19. V. Don’t attempt to write too much Training focus: note-taking • use abbreviations and symbols • write down different speakers’ words in separate spaces, e.g. separate columns or lines

20. V. Don’t attempt to write too much Some useful abbreviations and symbols : From Latin: • cf. compare (with) • e.g. for example • etc. and so on • et al. and others • ibid. in the same place (in a book or article) • i.e. that is • N.B. note well (something important) • Viz. namely (naming someone or something you have just referred to)

21. V. Don’t attempt to write too much Symbols: • ∴ therefore, thus, so • ∵ because • = is equal to, the same as • ≠ is not equal to, not the same as • + plus, and, more • －minus, less • > greater than • < less than • » much greater than • « much less than • ≥ equal to, or greater than • → leads to, causes, results in • ← comes from, results from, develops from • ↑ growth, increase, rising • ↓ decrease, reduction, dropping, declining • ～ variation

22. V. Don’t attempt to write too much Abbreviations: • apt – apartment • acc – accountant • acpt – accept • ad – advertisement • adv – advice • amap – as much/many as possible • amt – amount • apv – approve • asap – as soon as possible

23. V. Don’t attempt to write too much • bal – balance • bldg – building • cert – certificate • cfm – conform • cncl – cancel • cnf – conference • cmi – commission • cmp – comoplete • cmpe – compete/competitive • cmu – communicaiton • conc – concern/concerning/concerned • cond – condition • co. - company

24. V. Don’t attempt to write too much • dept – department • disc – discount • dpt – departure • exch – exchange • ext – extent • flt – flight • frt – freight • fyr – for your reference • gd –good • guar – guarantee • h.o. – home office

25. V. Don’t attempt to write too much • info – information • imps – impossible • imp(t) – important • incd – include • indiv – individual • ins – insurance • intst – interested • i/o – in stead of • iou – I owe you • ivo – in view of • manuf – manufacture • mdl – model • memo – memorandum • mgr – manager • mkt – market • msg - message

26. V. Don’t attempt to write too much • nlt – no later than • obs – observe • obt – obtain • ord – ordinary • pat – patent • pc – piece • pkg – packing • pl – people • pls – please • posn – position • poss – possible • prod – product • qlty – quality • quty – quantity

27. V. Don’t attempt to write too much • rcv – receive • ref – reference • regl – regular • rep – representative • resn – reservation • rpt – repeat • respon – responsible • sec – section • sitn – situation • std – standard

28. V. Don’t attempt to write too much • tel – telephone • temp – temporary • tgr – telegraph • tho – though • tks – thanks • trd – trade • trf – traffic • ttl – total • u – you • ur – your • wk – week • wl – will • wt – weight • xl – etra large

29. VI. Be careful with numbers • Failure to get a correct number, sometimes a mere mistake in digit, can seriously affect the understanding of the whole story and therefore cause severe losses.

30. VI. Be careful with numbers The use of numbers: • telephone numbers • addresses • prices • temperatures • time and dates • scientific stories • statistics update • reports about ongoing events

31. VI. Be careful with numbers Training focus: identifying numbers • differences between million and billion, “-teen’s” and “-ty’s” • different ways of number presentations: “seventeen point five million” / “seventeen million five hundred thousand” / “seventeen and one half million” • saying numbers over to yourselves after you hear them: 1,234,567

32. VI. Be careful with numbers • 31,563 • 777,800 • 3,400,000 • 56,345,000 • 322,700,000 • 2,175,000,000 • 78,000,000,000 • 422,000,000,000 • 4,500,000,000,000

33. VI. Be careful with numbers • 五分之一 • 二分之一 • 四分之一 • 四分之三 • 五分之三 • 十分之九 • 千分之三 • 五十三分之七十九 • 九十五分之二十六 • 五又三分之二 • 六又二分之一 • 九又四分之一

34. VI. Be careful with numbers • 0.8 • 0.323 • 0.0009% • 9.007 • 98.53%

35. VII. Making use of them – Signals and fillers • A speaker has many ways to indicate that he or she is moving from one point to another, or giving an example, or repeating a point, or whatever.

36. VII. Making use of them – Signals and fillers Signals: • expressions like “Secondly…”, “Then…” • a pause • a gesture or a slight move • increased loudness or a change of pitch • a different intonation

37. VII. Making use of them – Signals and fillers Fillers: • “er…” • “erm…” • “and er…”

38. VII. Making use of them – Signals and fillers Training focus: explaining the use of signals and fillers • learn to listen to and watch the speaker for the “signals” in order to connect the various parts of a speech • learn to recognize the “fillers” and know that they are not part of the essential message

39. VIII. How is it being said –Formal or informal language? • Between the extremes, a range of formality or informality exists.

40. VIII. How is it being said –Formal or informal language? Distinct division: • formal: lecture / public address • well-organized • structured language • with notes or even a complete text to guide the speaker • towards written language • informal: chat / spontaneously produced speech / everyday talk

41. VIII. How is it being said –Formal or informal language? Indistinct division: • formal lecture – informal aside / anecdote • formal description of medical condition – informal explanation

42. VIII. How is it being said –Formal or informal language? Formality or informality depends on: • social setting • ages • status of the speaker and listener • their attitudes to each other • topic • to what extent they share the same background knowledge

43. VIII. How is it being said –Formal or informal language? Training focus: focusing not only on what is said, but also on how it is being said • have limited experience of informal language • have difficulty when switching to informal language within a formal situation • have problem in judging the importance of these scattered informal utterances

44. IX. Represent the ideas clear and clean – Outlining • In listening, the skill of outlining reflects, to a certain extent, the listener’s ability in understanding how the facts or ideas, or the scattered pieces of information are related to one another.

45. IX. Represent the ideas clear and clean – Outlining Outlining: • a method of classifying and organizing idea • a skill to language learners when they are taking lecture notes, reading, or writing a paper • a comprehensive and effective method in language learning, particularly for advanced listeners

46. IX. Represent the ideas clear and clean – Outlining Systems: • Roman numerals • Arabic numbers • letters

47. IX. Represent the ideas clear and clean – Outlining Training focus: outlining • symbols used • placement of the topics • indentation • punctuation

48. IX. Represent the ideas clear and clean – Outlining The blank form of an outline looks like this: I. ______________________________________________________ A. _________________________________________________ 1. __________________________________________ a. ___________________________________ b. ___________________________________ (1) ___________________________ (2) ___________________________ 2. __________________________________________ B. _________________________________________________ II. ______________________________________________________

49. X. The “Inverted Pyramid”in news reporting • Broadcasting news in English has some particular characteristics, such as its style, its structure, the choice of words, and the logical order of presentation, etc.

50. X. The “Inverted Pyramid”in news reporting The “Inverted Pyramid”: • the most important information is usually included in the news lead • each succeeding sentence becomes less significant, providing further information