CHALLENGES IN TEACHING & DEVELOPING LISTENING SKILLS

Teaching of Listening Skill(MBMMBI: PEELT)

Outcomes:To reflect and review teachers’

classroom practices in the teaching of listening.

To examine challenges faced by teachers in teaching and learning of listening skills.

To offer solutions to meet challenges faced by teachers and pupils.

To identify and examine listening strategies for developing effective listening.

Activity 1: Reflecting on practices in teaching listening skills

Task 1(page 8): In your group, discuss how do you teach listening in your class?

Consider:To what extent do you teach listening

skill?What do you normally do in your

listening class?Do you think it is effective? Why/ Why

not?

Share your experience in your group.

Share it with the whole groups.You may want to consider:

◦Which of the tasks have you used in the classroom?

◦Which have you not used?◦What are your reasons for using

some and not others?

Activity 2: Challenges In Teaching Listening

Task 1:Listening skill is often considered a difficult

skill to teach and develop. Hence, many teachers avoid teaching this

skill. What do you think? Why do you think listening needs to be

taught?In your group, discuss why the situation

arises?Share your opinions with the whole groups.

The importance of developing the listening skill

“Comprehending the spoken form of the target language is one of the most difficult tasks for the language learner, yet

it is probably the most neglected skill in language

teaching.”Paulson, C.B. (1976)

“Effective communicators are, first and foremost, effective listeners.

Only when you listen to your partners and understand their

perspectives can you make informed choices about what to

say or do. Whether you’re listening to your instructor in class, or to

persuasive message through the media, or to a friend who needs

your help and support, listening is one of your most essential skills.”

Judi Brownell, (2005)

Task 2: (Groupwork)Listening is considered an important skill that needs to be developed among our learners. However, teachers and learners face difficulties in teaching and learning this skill. ◦What are the challenges faced by you in

teaching listening?◦Suggest solutions to these challenges.

Complete the table in the poster paper.Do gallery walking and share your

views with others.

Some of the challenges faced by teachers are:

1. Sourcing for appropriate listening texts.

2. Cannot see the processing done by the

learners.3. Technical problems with

equipment.4. Time consuming.5. Not tested in centralized

examinations.

Task 3: GroupworkTeachers are not the only ones who

have problems teaching listening. Learners have difficulties too in

developing their listening skills.◦What are the challenges faced by your

learners in listening?◦Suggest solutions you would use to meet

these challenges?Complete the table in the poster paper.Do gallery walking and share your

views with others.

Potential problems in learning to listen to English. Pps whose culture and education

includes a strong storytelling and oral communication tradition are better at listening than those from a reading and book-based background.

Pps who are familiar with the stress and intonation occur in English have less trouble than those whose own language is based on different rhythm and tones.

Potential problems in learning to listen.1. Lack of control over the speed

at which speaker speaks.◦Learners are busy working out the

meaning of one part that they miss the next part.

◦Or, they simply ignore a whole chunk because they fail to sort it out quickly.

2. The learner is not always in a position

to get the speaker to repeat an utterance.

◦Repetition cannot be asked for when listening to radio or watching television.

◦The decision to control the recorded material is not in the hands of the learner.

◦Doing listening work in a language lab will give merit to the learner.

3. Choice of vocabulary is in the hands of

the speakers.◦An unknown word can be like a

suddenly dropped barrier causing them to stop and think about the meaning, thus missing the next part of the speech.

◦Let things that have passed rather than dwelling upon them often gives surprisingly good result.

4. Learners need to concentrate as the shortest break in attention can seriously impair comprehension. ◦Listening work is very tiring.◦Make the topic interesting.

5. An inferior machine or poor recording can make it very hard for the learner. ◦Ensure the equipment is in good

condition.

6. Learners are worried if they fail to understand a particular word or phrase when they are listening.◦Encourage moderns to take chances

in order to prepare the learners for the listening experiences they will have outside the classroom.

Activity 3:Listening Strategies For Effective ListeningTask 1:Refer to page 11.Study the list of strategies which

your learners can use to develop their listening skills.

How many of these strategies have you taught your learners?

Discuss in your group.

Task 2: (page 12 – 17)In your group, discuss and

complete the table on how and when to teach the listening strategies. (Refer to Handout A, B and C).

i. Identify the strategies in column 1(use the strategies listed in Task 1).

ii. Refer to CS and identify the listening sub-skills that these strategies can help to develop.

Handout A:Listening Strategy CS How to teach

itWhen to teach it/ Type of text

A. Be ready and have a plan to achieve a given task.

Y4: 1.5.2Y5: 1.5.2Y6: 1.5.3

B. Use world knowledge to predict what will be said.

Y4: 1.7.1Y5: 1.7.4Y6: 1.7.4

C. Use linguistic knowledge to predict what will be said.

Y4: 1.3.3Y5: 1.3.1,

1.5.2Y6: 1.5.2,

1.7.4

D. Monitor performance while listening.

Y4: 1.7.2Y5: 1.5, 1.7.2

Y6: 1.5.3

Handout B:Listening Strategy CS How to

teach itWhen to teach it/ Type of text

E. Pick out only salient points, listening selectively and ignoring irrelevant details.

Y4: 1.5.3Y5: 1.5

Y6: 1.7.2

F. Take notes, writing down relevant information in shorthand.

Y4: 1.7.1, 1.7.2

Y5: 1.5.1, 1.7Y6: 1.5.1

G. Note an approximation of a difficult word/ name. Check later.

Y4: 1.1.1Y5: 1.1

Y6: 1.1.1

H. Listen for key words for topic identification.

Y4: 1.6.1Y5: 1.3.1,

1.6.1Y6: 1.3.1

Handout C:Listening Strategy CS How to

teach itWhen to teach it/ Type of text

I. Check with other listeners.

Y4: 1.5.4Y5: 1.4.1Y6: 1.1.2

J. Ask for clarification.

Y4: 1.2.1Y5: 1.7.3Y6: 1.5.3

K. Reconstruct orally or in writing.

Y4: 1.5.4Y5: 1.5.1Y6: 1.7.2

L. Listen for transition points.

Y4: 1.7.3Y5: 1.7.4Y6: 1.5.1

THANK YOU.