Language Skills- Listening

Student ID: 9710002M Susan 9710004M Jeffrey 9710010M Joyce

OutlineAural Comprehension Instruction: Principles

and Practices•Tracing The History: Listening and Language Learning•Some Psychosocial Dimensions of Language and The Listening Act•Affect and Attitudes•Developing Listening Comprehension Activities and Materials

Skills and Strategies for Proficient Listening• Introduction: The Importance of Listening in Language Learning• Theories of Language Comprehension• A Developmental View of Listening Skills

Conclusion

Aural Comprehension Introduction

In retrospect, the four themes that dominated the Second AILA (International Association of Applied linguistics). Conference in 1969 seems to have been prophetic in pointing the way toward trends in second/ foreign language education.

The important of four new views• Individual new views on the importance of learning• Listening and reading as nonpassive and very complex receptive processes• Listening comprehension’s being recognized as a fundamental skill• Real language used for real communication as a viable classroom model

• In 1970- Listening status changed from neglect to one of increasing importance.

• In 1980- Listening was incorporated into new instructional frameworks.

• In 1990- Aural comprehension in S/FL acquisition became an important area of study

The Importance of Listening in Language Learning

• In reality, listening is used far more than any other single language skill in normal daily life.

Four Models of Listening and Language

Model # 1 Listening and Repeating Learner Goal - Pattern-match, to

listen, to imitate, and to memorize.

Instructional material-based on a hearing and pattern matching model

• Procedure-Firstly, ask student to listen to a word, phrase, or sentence pattern.

• Secondly, repeat it (imitate it). Finally, memorize it.

• Value-Enables students to do pattern drills, to repeat dialogues and to use memorization.

Model # 2 Listening and Answering Comprehension Questions

Learner Goal- To process discrete- point information, to listen and answer comprehension questions.

• Instructional material-

Features a student response pattern based on a listening- question-answering model with occasional innovative variations on this theme.

• Procedure-Firstly, listen to an oral text along a continuum from sentence length to lecture length.

Secondly, answer primarily factual questions.

• Value- Enables students to manipulate discrete pieces of information, hopefully with increasing

speed and accuracy of recall.

Model # 3 Task Listening

• Learner Goals-To listen and do something with the information, that is, carry out real tasks using the information received.

• Procedure- Ask student to listen and process information. Using orally transmitted language input immediately, through language in a context, then the task is successfully performed.

• Value- The purpose is to engage learners in using the information content presented in the spoken discourse, not just in answering questions about it. There are two types of task as follows-

• Language use tasks - designed to give students’ practice in listening to get meaning from the input with the express purpose of making functional use of it immediately.

• Language analysis task- Guiding them toward personal intellectual involvement in their own learning.

Model # 4 Interactive Listening

• Learner goal - To develop aural/oral skills in semiformal interactive academic communication.

Instructional material - Provides a variety of student presentation and discussion activities, by both individual and small-group reports.

Procedure - Ask students’ to participate in discussion activities

that enable them to develop all three phrases of the speech act; speech decoding, critical thinking, and speech encoding.

• Value- Learners have opportunities to engage in and develop the complex array of communicative skills in the four competency areas (linguistic competence, discourse competence, sociolinguistic competence, and strategic competence).

Some Psychosocial dimensions of Language and the Listening Act

The Dynamic Process of Communicative Listening Active, not Passive

Listening in Three Modes: Bidirectional, Unindirectional, and Auto directional

• Bidirectional-The obvious mode is two-way or bidirectional communicative listening. Two participants take turns exchanging speaker role and listener role as they engage in face to face or telephone verbal interaction.

Unidirectional Listening Mode- The input comes from a variety of sources such as; overheard conversations, public address announcements, recorded messages, the media, and public performances.

• Auto directional Listening Mode - Think as Self-dialogue communication. Sometimes we simply attend to our own internal language which we produce as we think through alternatives, plan strategies, and make decisions - all by talking to ourselves and listening to ourselves.

Psychosocial Functions of Listening: Transactional Listening and Interactional

Listening

Translation language Function- Used for giving instructions, explaining, describing, relation checking on the correctness, requesting, relating, checking on the correctness of details and verifying understanding.

Interactional Language Function- Is “social-type” talk. Identifying with the other person’s concerns, being nice to the other person, and maintain and respecting “face.”

Psychological processes-

Bottom-Up and Top Down

Bottom-up Processing Goal- Discriminate between

intonation contours in sentences. Discriminate between phonemes.

Listen for morphological endings. Recognize syllable pattern, number of syllables and word stress. Be aware of sentence fillers in informal speech. Select details from the text

Top-Down processing

Goal - Discriminate between emotional reactions. Get the

gist or main idea of a passage. Recognize the topic

Affect and Attitudes

In developing activities and materials for listening instruction, it is essential to consider the affective domain, which includes attitudes, emotions, and feelings.

Linguistic Messages (the words)

Meanings begin in people, but sometimes meanings don’t come across clearly, and we hear speakers protest, “but that’s not what I meant.”

Paralinguistic Messages (vocally transmitted meaning)

The very way the voice is used in speaking transmits meaning, and the speaker’s attitude toward that he/she is saying is transmitted by vocal features. Vocal elements basic stress, rhythm, and intonation.

• Extralinguistic Messages (meaning transmitted through body language) Speakers also convey meaning through body language. Element includes body movements, body postures, body and hand gestures, facial expressions, facial gestures, eye contact, and use of space by the communicators.

• Intellectual, Emotional, and Moral Attitudes

An important part of communication is the expression and comprehension of attitudes.

• Intellectual - These include expression and comprehension of agreement/disagreement; confirming/denying; forgetting/remembering; possibility/impossibility; and more.

• Emotional Attitudes

-includes expressing pleasure/displeasure; interest/lack of interest; surprise; hope; fear; worry; satisfaction/dissatisfaction; wants/desire, and more.

• Moral Attitudes

Moral attitudes are expressed in the language of apologizing; expressing; approval/disapproval; appreciation; and more.

Developing Listening Comprehension Activities and Materials

Information Processing- listening comprehension is an act of information processing.

• Linguistic Functions - The real world spoken communication can be viewed as serving two linguistic functions: interactional and

transactional.

• Dimensions of Cognitive Processing - In the final section, there are some suggestions for creating a self-access, self-study listening center.

There are three principles of materials development.

It includes- Relevance, Transferability/Applicability, and Task Orientation.

• Relevance-

Both the listening lesson content (the information) and the outcome (the nature of the use the information) need to be as relevant as possible to the learner.

• Transferability/Applicability

Foster transfer of training, the best listening lessons presented in

class activities that mirror real life.

• Task Orientation Language Use Tasks The purpose is to give students practice in listening for information and then immediately doing something with it. The outcome of communicative

such as; Listening and performing (command games and songs), Listening and performing operation

(listening and constructing a figure, drawing a map).

Listening and solving problem (riddles, logic puzzles, chronological problem). Listening and transcribing (writing notes, taking telephone messages). Listening summarizing information (outlining giving the gist of a message).

Interactive listening and negotiating of meaning through questioning/answering routines (questions for repetition of information, questions for elaboration). Language analysis Task.

Listening and language use tasks help students to build the following two things-

A Base of content Experiences To develop learner vocabulary, build a repertoire of more experiences acts, and increase predictive power for future communicative situations.

• A Base of Operational Experiences

This will help learners to acquire a repertoire of familiar information-handling operation in

the second language.

Language Analysis Tasks

To give students opportunities to analyze selected aspects language structure and language use.

There are varieties activities that can include analysis of some features of fast speech, analysis of phrasing and pause points,

analysis both monologues and dialogue exchanges, with attention to discourse organizational structures.

Describing and analyzing sociolinguistic dimensions, and communicative strategies used by speakers to deal with miss-communication.

Also, recordings of real-life conversations, talks and discussions can be used to introduce listening analysis.

Communicative OutcomesAn Organizing Framework

• What is an outcome?An outcome is a realistic task that

people can envision themselves doing and accomplishing.

There are six categories outcomes.Each of outcome can be subdivided

into more narrowly focused specific outcomes, which can be modified to suit a given student group.

Outcome 1Listening and Performing Actions and Operation• Includes responses to -----directions,

instructions and description in a variety of contexts.

Drawing a pictures, figureSelecting a place or person form

description.Operating a piece of equipmentA map task

Outcome 2Listening and Transferring Information• Two kinds of information transfer:• Spoken-to-writtenListening and taking a message then

transferring to another person.Listening and filling in blanks.Listening and completing a form.Listening and summarizing .

Outcome 2Listening and Transferring Information• Spoken-to-writeListening to the direction and passing

them.Listening to part of story and

repeating it to others.

Outcome 3Listening and Solving Problems

• Many kinds of activities for either groups or individuals can be developed (Games and Puzzles)

Word games. Number games and story arithmetic problem. Asking question. Careful listening to completion of the game. Listening to story and formulate solution. A jigsaw mystery. Comparison tasks. Short descriptions.

Outcome 4Listening, Evaluating, and Manipulating Information• Listener evaluates and/or manipulates the

information. Writing information received to answering question

or solving problems. Evaluating information. Evaluating arguments. Evaluating cause and effect information. Making predictions. Summarizing information. Evaluating and combining or condensing

information. Organizing unordered information.

Outcome 5Interactive Listening-and-Speaking: Negotiating Meaning through Question/Answering Routines• Focus on both the product of transmitting

information and process of negotiating meaning.

Repetition ParaphraseVerificationClarification

ElaborationExtensionChallenge

Outcome 6Listening for Enjoyment, Pleasure, and Sociability• Focus on “teacher-talk” and “students-talk” Using tasks. General interesting chat improvised by the

teachers. On personal topics (hobby, personal

opinion) Afford student “practice” opportunities in

both listening and speaking.

Self-Access/Self-Study Listening and Language Learning

• Purpose: Provide an inviting listening center within a

conventional language laboratory or a broader language resource center.

Self-study facility needs to offer a wide choice of appealing audio and video materials on a variety of topics and at a range of proficiency level.

Listening materials also include carefully designed worksheet that present listening task for self-study.

Auditory materials have a special relevance and applicability potential that commercial material lack.

Setting Up a Self-Access/Self-Study Listening Resource Center

• It can be stared with a modest listening library of audio and video recorded material and the teacher-time needed to put materials into self-study packets or modules.

• Self-access/Self-study materials can be used in a more conventional language laboratory setting.

• Whatever the setting, the most important point is that the individual learner has complete personal control over the materials.

The Procedure for Using Self-access/Self-study materials

1. Students check out a listening packet or modules.

2. Students play the tape on their own schedule of starting, stopping and replying.

3. Students check their own themselves for verification of comprehension.

4. Students consult the teacher or monitor when necessary.

Guidelines for Developing Self-Access/Self-Study Listening MaterialsFocus on listening as an active process

with instant or delayed manipulation of information received.

Focus on purposeful listening.Focus on a variety of practice material.Focus on internal communicative

interaction.Focus on providing learners with

verification of comprehension.Focus on encouraging guessing.

Guidelines for Developing Self-Access/Self-Study Listening MaterialsFocus on selective listening.Focus on self-involvement.Focus on providing learners with less

threatening listening.Focus on integrating auditory and visual

language.Focus on gradually increasing

expectations for level of comprehension.Focus on the fun of listening.

Conclusion

Listening, the language skill used most in life, needs to be a central focus.

Introduction: The Importance of Listening in Language Learning

• How to facilitate listening at students’ proficiency levels?

Beginning level--- students can ’t read well and they have most

direct connection to meaning in the new language by listening.

Intermediate level--- understanding grammatical system of foreign

language, listening can be used to stimulate awareness of detail and promote accuracy.

Introduction: The Importance of Listening in Language Learning

Advance level--- both good at read and write,

language become a viable source of input, listening should still occupy a central place of their language use.

Theories of Language Comprehension

• Listening is the primary channel for language input and acquisitionListening before speaking.Two approaches:Total Physical Response (TPR) (Asher 1969)Natural Approach (Krashen and Terrell 1983)

Listening Comprehension Is a Multilevel, Interactive Process of Meaning Creation• Two process:Top-down– higher level process Bottom-down—lower level process• Phase of comprehension:Perceptual Processing (Anderson

1985)Parsing PhaseUtilization Stage

Listening Comprehension Is a Multilevel, Interactive Process of Meaning Creation• Top-down and Bottom-up processes can be used in different proficiency levels.• Meaning structures in the mind: Frames (Minsky 1975) Scripts (Schank 1975) Schemata (Rumelhart 1980)Content schemataFormal schemataBoth of them can aid the reader and listener in comprehension text.

Models of the Comprehension Process• Two process of comprehension:Information receiving Constructs meaning

• Nagle and Sander (1986) point:Comprehension is not exactly the same

things as learning, successful comprehension makes material available for learning.

Principals for Listening Comprehension in the Classroom

• Increase the amount of listening time in the second language class.

• Use listening before other activities.• Include both global and selective listening.• Activate top-level skills.• Work towards automaticity in processing.• Develop conscious listening strategies.

Skills and Strategies• Skill are the sub-processes of the

competent listeners.• If skills are practiced enough, they

become automatic and are activated much more quickly.

• Listeners become aware of the need for repair and seek an appropriate strategy.

• Major difference between skills and strategies is that strategies are under the learner’s conscious control.

Types of Strategies• Three strategies:Meta-cognitiveCognitiveSocio-affective• O’Malley, Chamot and Kupper (1989):Effective learners select strategies appropriate to the processing phase.

A Developmental View of Listening SkillsProfile of the beginning-level Student in listening • The new phonemic system is an unbroken code: Sounds which native speakers consider similar may be perceived and classified as different; sounds which native speakers consider different may be perceived and classified as the same.

• The novice stage is very short duration. Almost immediately upon hearing the new language, learners begin to sift and sort the acoustic information by forming categories and building a representation of the L2 system. • The novice stage is important for the development of positive attitudes toward listening. Learners should be encouraged to tolerate ambiguity, to venture informed guesses, to use their real-world knowledge and analytical skills, and to enjoy their success in comprehension.

• True beginners are found in beginning classes for immigrants to English-speaking countries and in EFL classes abroad. Many teachers in the second setting are not native speakers themselves, and some may lack the confidence to provide students with the kind of global listening experiences they need.

• Thus, teachers should attempt to provide this important input. There are five suggestions are meant to encourage such teachers. 1. Global listening selections should be short ― one to three minutes in duration. 2. The teacher does not have to speak as if he or she were addressing colleagues at a professional meeting.

3. It is best to add new material (vocabulary and structures) gradually. Experience with recombinations of familiar material builds learners’ confidence and lessens the amount of totally new texts the teacher must prepare. 4. Global listening exercises such as short teacher monologues can be given to large classes. Students should be kept active with a task to perform while listening, so the teacher can be sure that he or she is using class time wisely.

5. Selective listening exercises, which focus on structures or sounds in contrast, are relatively easy to prepare.

A. Techniques for Global Listening • One important use of global listening is the presentation of new material.• Text for global listening should be short, and preceded by a prelistening activity.• The prelistening stage should develop learners’ curiosity about how all the phrases and words they have heard will fit together in a context.

B. Selective Listening Techniques

• The other half of the listening plan is to bring some of the new contrasts and patterns into conscious awareness through selective listening exercises.

Bottom-Up Processing Goals and Exercise Types, Beginning-Level Listeners• Discriminate between intonation contours in sentences• Discriminate between phonemes• Listen for morphological endings• Recognize syllable patterns, numbers of syllables, and word stress• Be aware of sentence fillers in informal speech• Select details from the text

Top-Down Processing Goals and Exercise Types, Beginning-Level Listeners• Discriminate between emotional reactions• Get the gist or main idea of a passage• Recognize the topic

Interactive Processing Goals and Exercise Types, Beginning-Level Listeners• Use speech features to decide if a statement is formal or informal• Recognize a familiar word and relate it to a category• Compare information in memory with incoming information• Compare information that your hear with your own experience

Profile of the Intermediate-Level Learner• Intermediate-level learners continue to use listening as an important source of language input to increase their vocabulary and structural understanding. • Intermediate-level learners have moved beyond the limits of words and short phrases; their memory can retain longer phrases and sentences.

Techniques for Global Listening: At the intermediate level, it is no longer necessary to provide learners with simplified codes and modified speech. There are several definitions of authenticity in materials. • Porter and Roberts (1987) state that authentic texts are those “instances of spoken language which were not initiated for the purpose of teaching… not intended for non-native learners” (p.176).

• Rogers and Medley (1988) use the term authentic to refer to all language samples which “reflect a naturalness of form, and an appropriateness of cultural and situational context that would be found in the language as used by native speakers” (p.468).

Techniques for Selective Listening At the intermediate level, students need a well-organized program of selective listening to focus their attention on the systematic features of the language code. Furthermore, the intermediate level is an appropriate time to teach explicitly some strategies of interactive listening: how to use one’s knowledge of formal grammar to check the general meaning of a speaker’s statement and how to use one’s background knowledge to predict and direct the process of comprehension.

Bottom-Up Processing Goals and Exercise Types, Intermediate-Level Listeners• Differentiate between content and function words by stress pattern• Find the stressed syllable• Recognize words with reduced vowels or dropped syllables• Recognize words as they are linked in the speech stream• Recognize pertinent details in the speech stream

Top-Down Processing Goals and Exercise Types, Intermediate-Level Listeners• Discriminate between registers of speech and tones of voice• Listen to identify the speaker or the topic• Find main ideas and supporting details• Make inferences

Interactive Processing Goals and Exercise Types, Intermediate-Level Listeners• Use word stress to understand the speaker’s intent• Recognize missing grammar makers in colloquial speech and reconstruct the message• Use context and knowledge of the world to build listening expectations; listen to confirm expectations

Profile of the Advanced Learner• Between High-Intermediate and Advanced Levels.• Truly proficient bilinguals are able to use their second language skills fully to acquire knowledge: They have cognitive and Academic language proficiency (CALP).• Curriculum and program planners have established courses in English for Specific Purpose (ESP), English for Academic Purposes (EAP), and adjunct courses in which mainstream content classes offer language support.

Bottom-Up Processing Goals and Exercise Types, Advanced-Level Listeners• Use features of sentence stress and intonation to identify important information for note taking• Recognize contractions, reduced forms, and other characteristics of spoken English that differ from the written form• Become aware of common performance slips that must be reinterpreted or ignored

• Become aware of organizational cues in lecture text• Become aware of lexical and suprasegmental markers for definitions• Identify specific points of information

Top-Down Processing Goals and Exercise Types, Advanced-Level Listeners• Use knowledge of the topic to predict the content of the text • Use the introduction to the lecture to predict its focus and direction• Use the lecture transcript to predict the content of the next section• Find the main idea of a lecture segment• Recognize point of view

Interactive Processing Goals and Exercise Types, Advanced-Level Listeners• Use knowledge of phrases and discourse markers to predict the content in the next segment of the lecture• Make inferences about the text

Directions for Future Research• Prioritization of the importance of elements in bottom-up and top-down processing that affect listening at each proficiency level• Given the importance of automaticity in perceiving and parsing, it would also be helpful to know about the effects of more intensive classroom practice on bottom-up processing.

Conclusion ESL/EFL teachers have several responsibilities with respect to the listening skill.• They must understand the pivotal role that listening plays in the language learning process in order to utilize listening in ways that facilitate learning.

• They must understand the complex interactive nature of the listening process and the different kinds of listening that learners must do in order to provide their students with an appropriate variety and range of listening experiences.• Teachers must understand how listening skills typically develop in second language learners ― and must be able to assess the stage of listening at which their students are ― so that each student can engage in the most beneficial types of listening activities given his or her level of proficiency.

The End

Thank You!!