Listening And Speaking Skills:

• Listen for variety of purposes• Respond to a variety of stimuli

There are four aspects of speaking and listening in the National Curriculum programme of study for English:

1. Speaking: to speak competently and creatively to explore, develop and sustain ideas through talk.

2. Listening and responding: to understand, recall and respond to speakers’ implicit and explicit meanings; to explain and comment on speakers’ use of language, including vocabulary, grammar and non verbal features.

3. Group discussion and interaction: to take different roles in groups to develop thinking and complete tasks; participate in conversations, making appropriate contributions building on others’ suggestions and responses.

4. Drama: Using dramatic techniques, including work in role to explore ideas and texts; create, share and evaluate ideas and understanding through drama.

Listen for variety of purposes

It is important for young children to be able to:• Listen carefully for different purposes, such as to get

information or for enjoyment.• Use spoken language for a variety of purposes.• Follow and give simple directions and instructions.• Ask and answer questions.• Use appropriate volume and speed when they speak.• Participate in discussions and follow the rules of polite

conversation, such as staying on a topic and taking turns.• Use language to express and describe their feelings and

ideas.

It is important for teachers to:• Ask open-ended questions that invite children

to expand upon their answers.• Present new words to children to expand their

vocabularies.• Respond to questions and let children take the

conversational lead.• Respond to children's questions and let them

build their language skills.

Respond to a variety of stimuli

Stimuli, games and puppets• Use varied stimuli during the first five minutes of each lesson.

For example a poem, photograph, a painting or a piece of music encourage children to talk about the stimulus.

• Give children a topic and ask them to speak without hesitation or repetition for one minute.

• Turn it into a game where others can challenge when the rules are broken and if the challenge is successful the challenger continues the topic to the end of the minute unless challenged.

• Use puppets to encourage talk. • They can be used to support talk in a variety of genres, for

example to recount, explain, instruct and inform. • Use a tape recorder so that children can reflect on their use of

language and voices.

Developmental Levels of Listening

Levels of Listening Factors That Influence Listening AbilitiesLiteral Level (hearing, receiving, attending)

refers to hearing or the actual physical awareness of sounds and language caused by stimuli (e.g., words, verbal and nonverbal cues)

includes hearing, but involves the listener's ability to focus attention on the speaker or on the verbal and nonverbal language without becoming distracted; requires motivation, desire, and effort on the part of the listener

physical factors (e.g., hearing loss, hyperactivity, limited attention span, inability to sit still, easily distracted)

physical environment (e.g., comfort of listener, location of listener in relation to the speaker)

emotional and psychological factors (e.g., environment and conditions of trust that exist, listener's self-concept)

fluency in English

Interpretive Level (remembering, responding, assigning meaning)

refers to the process that listeners engage in as they assign meaning to the stimuli; depends upon prior knowledge of the topic and the language of the speaker, and the context of the listening situation, as well as on the listener's schema as it relates to the speaker's schema

refers to the selective storage of information in the listener's mind for retrieval at another time

insufficient language development: limited personal language that makes it difficult for listener to make sense of other's language

impaired speech that limits reproduction of sounds and hence accurate listening ability

Critical Level (evaluating, judging, reacting, responding)

refers to the judgements made by the listener as a result of interpreting the speaker's ideas using critical thinking skills

includes evaluating, but refers to the expression of judgements and interpretations, as well as to seeking clarity of understanding

perception of the importance and value of the message

pre-formed opinions and attitudes toward the speaker or the message

inability to make connections between new ideas and prior knowledge

inability to process oral language in a meaningful way