Suzanne Graham, Denise Santos and Ellie Francis-Brophy.

1. Listening in the languages classroom: Developing teacher educators' understanding and practice.(From the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation project, Foreign language listening comprehension: from current practice to improved pedagogy). Seminar funded by the Higher Education Academy Suzanne Graham, Denise Santos and Ellie Francis-Brophy.

2. Aims • To develop understanding of what ‘teaching listening’ and ‘listening effectively’ consist of • To discuss the current scenario of listening pedagogy and envisage alternative ways of approaching listening in ITE. • To familiarize participants with some listening strategies • To identify a framework that can be used for teaching listening • To apply that framework to the instruction of listening strategies • To apply the points discussed in the development of an ITE session on listening

3. Overview of session: Part 1 • Discussion of pre-session statements • What is effective listening – what do good listeners do? • What are we doing now and what are the problems with the current approach? • What our research tells us • How to fill the gap? • Listening as product x Listening as process • Looking at how learners listen

4. Overview of session: Part 2 • The role of research findings in teacher development • A framework for teaching (listening) strategies: theory • A case study from our study • Planning a session with trainee teachers: a focus on listening strategies

5. Part 1 The BACKGROUND

6. Pre-session questions: Which of these sentences are true? • Listening is the skill in which Year 12 and 13 learners feel it’s hardest to do well. • For Year 11 learners, speaking is the skill in which they feel it’s hardest to do well. • In the latest Ofsted inspection of MFL teaching across the country, listening was a skill that was generally well-taught. • Textbook listening materials address all the aspects of the Programme of Study that concern listening. • The most important thing when doing a listening activity is to help learners find the right answer. • Teachers have a clear understanding of how to teach learners how to listen effectively. • Giving learners more challenging texts to understand increases their confidence in language learning.

7. 1:  Listening is the skill in which Year 12 and 13 learners feel it’s hardest to do well. True Graham (2002, 2004, 2006) found this to be the case, using a large sample of Year 11, 12 and 13 language learners

8. 2. For Year 11 learners, speaking is the skill in which they feel it’s hardest to do well. True This was the finding reported in Graham (2002, 2004, 2006). Listening was not an area of strength nor of particular difficulty. That Year 12 and 13 learners found it so much more difficult suggests there is a gap between the listening skills we develop in learners lower down the school.

9. 3. In the latest Ofsted inspection of MFL teaching across the country, listening was a skill that was generally well-taught. Not true 

10. (Cont’d) Ofsted (2011) says ‘The overall progress made by students at Key Stages 3 and 4 was good or outstanding in over half of the 470 lessons observed. However, there were weaknesses in too many lessons, particularly in speaking, listening and reading in modern languages.... Although students’ listening skills were generally satisfactory, they were not always strong because their development in some of the schools visited relied too heavily on exercises from text books.... Secondary schools should....make more use of authentic materials to help develop students’ language skills and their intercultural understanding’.

11. 4. Textbook listening materials address all the aspects of the Programme of Study that concern listening. False Our analysis of textbooks for Phase 1 of our study shows that there is very little attention to: 

12. Textbook analysis findings • Focus on locating very specific, factual information, matching or repetition • Very little focus on dealing with unknown words • Texts relatively short, little redundancy • Listening as finding information, presentation and drilling. Little sense of dealing with the unpredictable • Very little focus on listening strategies – more so in more recent books

13. Listening strategies in teachers’ guides • In books with an average of over 100 listening activities, very few references to listening strategies and how teachers might present these (min 0, max 16) • Strategies briefly included: prediction (but rarely verification); using tone of voice/intonation; selective attention/focusing on specific information – but lack of specific advice on how to implement: ‘Encourage pupils to listen for clues in Maribel's tone of voice’ • Greater focus on procedures, lack of clear advice: ‘They may need to hear this a few times and have extra time to write‘; ‘Warn them that there is a lot of extraneous detail’.

14. (Cont’d) Some aspects of the NC Developing language-learning strategies • Pupils should be able to: • use previous knowledge, context and other clues to work out the meaning of what they hear or read Developing language skills • Pupils should be able to: • listen for gist or detail • respond appropriately to spoken and written language • deal with unfamiliar language, unexpected responses and unpredictable situations

15. 5. The most important thing when doing a listening activity is to help learners find the right answer. Teachers think this Most frequent words in ‘justifications’:

16. Listening as a product (or as process)? • Feedback tends to focus on ‘right answers’ ‘Without establishing why the errors occurred, we have no means of assisting learners to get it right next time.’ (Field, 2008:81) • Testing listening vs teaching listening

17. 6. Teachers have a clear understanding of how to teach learners how to listen effectively. • Yes, but… • Focus on procedures for task completion • Responses to our questionnaire: justifications = procedures • Also in the questionnaire: large number of middle answers • Our previous research: focus on ‘topics’

18. 7. Giving learners more challenging texts to understand increases their confidence in language learning. • This was the finding of Macaro and Erler (2008) for reading with Year 7 learners, leading the authors to argue that we need for MFL a curriculum ‘which provides learners with a range of [reading] problems to be overcome via strategy use at a much earlier time, and which has higher expectations of what they can achieve in the first 2 years of their foreign language study’ (Macaro and Erler, 2008: 116).

19. Pause for reflection Has any of the “answers” surprised you? If yes, which one(s) and why?

20. What is effective listening, ieWhat strategies do effective listeners use? Getting in the right frame of mind – concentration, calmness Preparing to check out the evidence and verify predictions Preparation strategies Making predictions Thinking about the likely topic and themes of the passage Making predictions Thinking of words and phrases that might be heard, plus synonyms

21. Strategies used by effective listeners Looking at the local and global context Self-questioning Strategies to gain an overall sense of the passage Comparing early and later parts of the passage Controlling my background knowledge • Bringing it all together • Does my interpretation make sense? • Does my interpretation fit the context? • Does my interpretation fit in with what I know • already? Evaluating decisions taken

22. Difficult words: weaker listeners (1)(based on Graham, 1997) Context Sentence structure Surrounding words Tone of voice Unknown word/phrase Understanding?

23. Difficult words: weaker listeners (2) Individual words Thinking of English Wild guessing Context Unknown word/phrase Understanding?

24. Difficult words: better listeners Context Tone Sentence structure Surrounding words Unknown word/phrase Understanding

25. Pause for reflection Do you feel that learners in general, at any stage of their learning, adopt the ‘effective’ strategies? Do you feel that teachers receive enough information in their initial training about those strategies?

26. What are we asking learners to do here? (from) Extract from Listos 2 Rojo, Pupil’s Book, p. 14, exercise 3a, plus transcript from accompanying Teacher’s Book

27. Audioscript: translation extract • - What is your sister Pili like? • - Well, she’s always here and there. She’s never at home. She’s very sociable. She really enjoys going out and she has a lot of friends. • - What is your friend Marta like? • - Marta is a very serious person. I like her a lot. • - What is your cousin Julio like? • - Everybody likes Julio. He’s a very friendly and nice guy. (Listos 2 Rojo, Teacher’s Book, p. 29)

28. Pause for Reflection What skills and/or knowledge are required for the successful completion of the task? What opportunities are missed?

29. To recap: we looked at… what teachers in England believe about listening; how those teachers think listening is ‘delivered’; how the above compares with what ‘good listeners do, and what the NC asks us to do

30. Our respondents Random sample of 90 high schools in England, across a range of contexts + 32 local schools Replies received from 46 schools throughout England; a total of 115 teachers in a range of state maintained schools (91% in comprehensives) Majority of teachers (approx 85%) non-native speakers of language taught Experience: 0-3yrs (20%); 4-8rs (22%); 9-15yrs (32%); 16+ yrs (26%)

31. Instruction on how to teach listening • How much instruction on how to teach listening comprehension did you receive in your initial teacher training? • 1% A lot (more than for other skills) • 46% A fair amount (the same as for other skills) • 49% A little (less than for other skills) • 1% None (didn’t train as a language teacher) • Have you received subsequent training (e.g. INSET) on how to teach listening comprehension? 18% Yes 82% No

32. Findings: the purpose of listening

33. Findings: Pre- and post-listening PRE: Most emphasis on reminding learners of vocabulary (80% - always/frequently), some prediction of vocabulary (48%) Less emphasis on ideas/content (40%) or possible answers (20%) POST: asking learners how they felt (51%), advising on dealing with difficulties (50%), asking learners how they dealt with task ( 21%)

34. Procedures and justifications Common first procedure: explaining or going through as a class the task requirements; pre-teaching key words Justifications: ensuring pupils’ readiness and preparedness to effectively answer/complete the task and building student confidence; pupils’ preparedness, correct task completion leading to implied understanding and self-efficacy

35. Findings: beliefs

36. Pause for reflection GAP? THE ROLE OF ITE Current practice Ideal practice Based on the discussion so far, list key issues characterising ‘current practice in MFL listening’ as opposed to ‘ideal practice’ Then reflect: is there a gap between those two scenarios? What is the role of ITE in closing that gap?

37. How to fill the gap? The role of strategies ‘In a helpful summary of attribution theory, Dickinson (1995) explains that if learners attribute their lack of progress to fixed causes (such as their level of ability), they tend to give up the minute they encounter any difficulties, believing they are ‘no good at languages’ anyway. They are more likely to persist if they feel the outcome of their learning is not predetermined and they have some control over it. Strategies can play an important part in giving them that sense of control and changing their perceptions of themselves.’ (Harris et al , 2001, p. 16)

38. ‘Often poor learners don’t have a clue as to how good learners arrive at their answers and feel that they can never perform as good learners do. By revealing the process, this myth can be exposed.’ (Rubin, 1990, p. 282)

39. Pause for reflection Observe some student quotes about their listening. Which of those students seem to be in control of their listening process? Which are not in control? Why? Control/no control

40. Making links with ITE Think of a training session you have done with your current cohort on listening. Write down the steps you have followed during that session.

41. Now read this excerpt ‘Picture this scene during a listening lesson. A teacher introduces the topic of a listening text and invites students to say what they know about it. She writes their ideas and unfamiliar words on the board. Next, she tells the students to read the instructions for the listening activity carefully to find out what information in the listening text to pay attention to. After this, the teacher plays the recording and the students listen attentively. …’

42. (Cont’d) ‘…They complete the activity by giving appropriate written responses (for example, choosing the correct options, filling in the blanks, sequencing information, drawing a diagram, jotting down notes). The teacher plays the recording again and instructs the students to confirm or change their responses. After that, she tells the class what the correct responses are, and the students find out ‘where they have gone wrong. …’

43. Cont’d ‘…Does this sound familiar to you? Well, that was what I used to do when delivering listening lessons. My emphasis was on the product or outcome of my students’ listening. What mattered most was how accurate or complete their responses were. In retrospect, even though I did many listening exercises, I was not teaching my students how to listen effectively. I was merely testing their comprehension without showing them how they could improve their listening.’ (Goh, 2010:179-180)

44. Product or process? • The audio: extractfromAuthentik en français (2001) ‘Alors, bien sûr, tous les secteurs sinistrés vont avoir, euh, du mal à s’en remettre car les dégâts sont énormes et le bilan humain est déjà très lourd, donc: 26 morts et au moins 3 disparus. C’est le département de l’Aude qui a payé le plus lourd tribu à ce phénomène exceptionnel….’ • The task: For each question, tick the correct answer: 4. The number of people killed or missing runs to at least: • 3b) 29 c) 26 d) 500

45. And now? • Hum, vingt-six morts! Voilà numéro quatre! Il a dit ‘vingt-six morts et trois…’ and three people missing. […]So, do I take it twice? Or, do I add it up? (reading from the sheet) ‘The number of people killed or missing amounts to…’ Of course, when you add up the numbers, it’s going to be twenty-nine. (Alan, p.63) •  Yes, I heard ‘vingt-six morts’. So, twenty-six dead, I think, so it’s probably that one. (Sue, p. 62) (from Graham et al., 2008)

46. Exploring thinkalouds The task: m/c task (in English) The topic: French politics The procedure: student thinks aloud while doing the task What can the thinkaloud tell us about how the student’s listening process? (See ‘Preparation’)

47. Your turn • What are the strategies used by the student to answer question 1? • The passage is about: • The decline of Jean-Marie Le Pen • The defeat of François Mitterand • A socialist mayor • The rise of the National Front in France Use Appendix 1 for reference. Thinkalaoud

48. The audioscript (extract) ‘Le Front national est né en 1972, avec pour objectif de regrouper diverses tendances d’extrême-droite. Quand le socialiste François Mitterand devient Président de la République en 1981, le Front national présidé par Jean-Marie Le Pen est au plus bas….’ (Pillette & Graham, 2000, p. 39)

49. Part 2 The POSSIBILITIEs

50. To recap: Overview of Part 2 • The role of research findings in teacher development • A framework for teaching (listening) strategies: theory • A case study from our study • Planning a session with trainee teachers: a focus on listening strategies