Listening overview and discussion

1. Listening overview and discussion

2. How to:You have one minute to discuss each question with your partner.Draw from your experiences in everyday life, and as a language learner and teacher.Utilize the knowledge you gained from Chapter 8 in “Learning Teaching” and other teacher training resources.

3. What is listening?Define it in your own words.

4. Listening is an active, purposeful process of making sense of what we hear.

5. Why do we listen (in our own lives, everyday)?

6. Mainly to:Engage in social rituals (with family, friends, coworkers, merchants, taxi/bus drivers, etc.)Gather and exchange information Enjoy ourselves (pleasure)

7. What are some things people listen to everyday – and that you could use as classroom materials?

8. Internet contentMusic (with lyrics)TV shows (and commercials)Movies (and trailers)NewsRadio broadcastsRecordings (e.g. airport announcements)Commercially prepared CDs and tapes (and books on tape/CD)Phone conversationsLecturesTeacher and/or student talk (planned, semi-planned, spontaneous)

9. What are the types of listening we engage in on a day-to-day basis?

10. Listen for gist (general idea of what is being said)Listen for specific information (only need to understand specific, limited parts)Listen for details (for exact information that will help achieve a task)Listen for inferences (to know how a person feels)

11. What should teacher’s objectives in the classroom be? What should teachers strive to do?

12. Expose students to a range of (everyday) listening experiencesMake listening purposeful/meaningfulHelp students understand the process of listening and how they might approach it (i.e. teaching listening strategies)Build students’ confidence in their own listening ability

13. How can a teacher successfully teach listening in class?

14. Make sure instructions are clearGive students a specific purpose/taskDo lots of pre-listening workProvide any necessary scaffolding while listeningTell students not to worry about understanding every word (at least initially)Review, recycle, and connect

15. What does listening involve? What do people do when they are listening?

16. Get clues from the environment (facial expressions, gestures, background noise, setting, other people)Use background knowledge about the setting, topic, languagePredict what the speaker is going to say nextDistinguish which words are important and carry meaningUnderstand and interpret the meaning of those words and groups of words (pronunciation, colloquial vocabulary, ungrammatical utterances, redundancy)Ask questions when they don’t understandNote the meaning of silencesHave a goal in mind and try to achieve it

17. What are some features of an effective listening activity?

18. Must really demand listening throughout.Should not be a listening or memory test. Instead, the sequence of steps should help guide students through it.Steps or tasks should be realistic or useful in some way.Need to get students to do something with the information they hear (e.g. discuss, take notes, draw)The activity must help students to improve their listening.

19. What are the elements of a good listening lesson?

20. Has pre-listening activitiesAllows students to know the kind of text and purpose for listening in advanceGives students a purpose for listening (e.g. to get general or specific information or to accomplish a task)Requires some kind of response from the listener such as taking notes, answering questions, or making a group decisionUses appropriate material (topic is of high interest or value, at right level, authentic, etc.)Gives students more than one chance to listen – each time with a different purposeHas follow-up activities which include other skills

21. What is a typical route map for a listening activity?

22. 1. Before the lesson (familiarize yourself with the materials and activity, think about learners’ needs and challenges, plan for clear instructions, consider seating arrangements and use of the board, etc.)2. Lead-in (raise motivation or interest, focus on language items that might be useful in the activity)3. Set up the activity (organize students, give clear instructions – demonstrate/model/show vs. tell)4. Run the activity (allow students to do the activity while you monitor and facilitate)5. Close the activity (sense when the students are ready to move on; make a judgment about when coming together as a whole class would be useful to most people > time warning)6. Post-activity (hold some type of feedback session on the activity – address comments and questions about the topic and the language)

23. What is a typical framework for a listening lesson?

24. 1. (P) Predicting content2. (P) Warm-up questions3. (P) Vocabulary activity 4. (P) Task listening or listening overview5. (D) Listen for main idea(s)6. (D) Listen for details7. (D) Listen for inferences (what is not explicitly said yet implied)8. (P) Summarize9. (P) Discussion questions10. (P) Language work (vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, etc.)11. (P) Extension activities (projects)

25. What are some typical pre-listening activities?

26. Brainstorming about a topic (word or subject map)Discussion questionsPictures, maps, diagrams, graphs, or videos to activate background knowledgeRealia related to the topic (e.g. menu or movie schedule)Vocabulary or grammar workPrediction questions (about content)

27. Why do pre-listening activities?

28. Set the contextEstablish a purpose for listeningGenerate interestActivate background knowledgeHelp acquire new knowledgeLearn vocabulary and language used in the listeningPredict contentPreview listening tasks

29. What makes a good listening text?

31. How can you check the level of difficulty of a text?

32. Check how the information in the text is organizedCheck how familiar students are with the topicCheck the vocabulary and expressions usedCheck if there is any cultural information Check if the text has multiple objects or individuals, and if they are clearly differentiatedCheck if the text offers visual support to aid in the interpretation of what the listeners hear

33. What do effective listeners do while listening (i.e. what are some during-listening strategies)?

34. Are ready and have a plan to achieve a given taskUse background knowledge to predict what will be saidUse linguistic knowledge to predict what will be saidMonitor performance while listeningPick out only salient points (listen selectively, ignore irrelevant details)Take notes (write relevant information in shorthand)Note the approximation of a difficult word (check later)

35. Listen for key words for topic identificationCheck with other listenersAsk for clarificationReconstruct orally or in writingListen for transition points(*See the “teaching listening strategies” PDF on my website for useful ideas on how to teach each strategy listed on this and the previous slide.)

36. What are some typical during-listening activities?

37. Main idea and detail questionsCloze (fill in the blanks)Fill out a graphic organizer or formOrder, number, rank, or list itemsDetect mistakesTake notesWrite section summaries

38. What are some typical post-listening activities?

39. Discuss the topicWrite about the topicLanguage work or reviewExtension activities and projects related to the topic

40. What are some testing techniques for listening?

41. Discrete-item (multiple-choice questions)Integrative (summarizing and dictation)Communicative (writing a complaint letter after hearing a description of a problem)Interview (with the teacher or another student)Self-assessment (learner rates self on given criteria via questionnaire or journal)Portfolio (collection of student work and performance)