Problems and Factors Affecting Listening & Speaking

7/29/2019 Problems and Factors Affecting Listening & Speaking

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Why Listening?

to learn something / to getinformation

for enjoyment /entertainment

as a part of our participation in social

situations / to be sociable

to exchange views / arguments


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In principle, the objective of

listening comprehension practice

in the classroom is that students

should learn to function

successfully in real-life listening

situations.

Penny Ur


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1. What are some of the factors

that affect the listening process?

2. What is known about the listeningprocess?

3. Designing listening activities for

the classroom.


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1. What are some of the factors

that affect listening process?a.The speaker

b.The listenerc. The content

d.Visual support


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What are some of the factors thataffect listening process? The Speaker

It covers such factors as the number of speakers, thespeed at which they speak, the degree of overlapping intheir speech, the variation in accents, colloquial languageand reduced forms they use, etc.

Colloquial language and reduced forms makecomprehension more difficult.

The more exposure the listener has to them , the greaterthe ability to comprehend.

Awareness of a speakers corrections and use of rehearsing(erI meanthat is ) can assist the listener.

Listeners need practice in recognizing these speech habitsas clues to deciphering meaning.


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What are some of the factors thataffect listening process? The Listener

Interest in the topic increases thelisteners comprehension; the listener

may tune out topics that are not ofinterest.

A listener who is an active participant

in a conversation generally has morebackground knowledge to facilitateunderstanding of the topic.


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What are some of the factors thataffect listening process? The Content

Content that is familiar is easier to

comprehend than content withunfamiliar vocabulary for which thelistener has insufficient backgroundknowledge.


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What are some of the factors that affectlistening process? Visual Support

The support that is given to listeners asthey listen. (video, pictures, diagrams,gestures, facial expressions and body

language.) The more the support, the possibility for

listeners to create comprehension


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2. What is known about the listening

process?

a.Bottom-up processing

b.Top-down processing


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What is known about the listening

process? - Bottom-up processing

It refers to deriving the meaning of thetext based on the incoming language data,from sound, to word, to grammatical

relationships, to meaning. In other words,it is a process of identifying sounds,imposing structure, inferring meaning andanticipating what comes next. Stress,rhythm and intonation also play a role inbottom-up processing.


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What is known about the listeningprocess? - Top-down processing

It refers to utilizing backgroundknowledge and global understandingto derive meaning from and interpretthe text.


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What is known about the listeningprocess? - Summary

These days, it is generally recognizedthat both bottom-up and top-downstrategies are necessary. Indeveloping courses, materials andlessons, it is important, not only toteach bottom-up processing skills,

but it is also important to helpstudents use what they already knowto understand listening texts.


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3. Designing listening activities for theclassroom

a. Pre-listening activities

b. While-listening activities

c. post-listening activities


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1. Play the cassette.2. Relate topic to students interests and set the scene.3. Do follow-up work.4. Pre-teach essential vocabulary.

5. Check the students have performed the task satisfactorily.6. Get students to compare answers in pairs.7. Have group feedback and invite groups to agree or

disagree.8. Check that students are completing9. Prepare students to listen.10. Set the listening task carefully and check students know

what they have to do.11. The teacher confirms correct answers, if necessary.12. From your monitoring, decide whether to play the

cassette again.

(2, 4, 10, 9, 1, 8, 12, 5, 6, 7, 11, 3)Pre-listening: 2, 4, 10, 9While-listening: 1, 5, 6, 8, 12Post-listening: 3, 7, 11


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Designing listening activities for theclassroom - Pre-listening activities (1)

The pre-listening stage is to introduceenough about the topic, type of text orpurpose for listening in order to activate

the students schema and get themready to predict what they will hear andmake sense of it.

Pre-listening activities serve not only toassist with comprehension but also tomotivate students to want to listen.


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Designing listening activities for theclassroom - Pre-listening activities (2)

Ideas for pre-listening activities

Looking at the pictures /tittles/diagrams/chart etc. before listening

Making lists ofpossibilities/ideas/suggestions/etc

Reading a text before listening

Reading through questions (to be

answered while listening) Labeling a picture

Predicting/speculating

Informal teacher and class discussion


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Designing listening activities for theclassroom - While-listening activities (1)

The period in which students actuallycarry out all the activities while theteacher observes and operates themachine.

The activities is for students to employ acertain listening skill: listening for gist,listening for specific information, listeningfor detail, and inferring.

Whatever activities you choose to use, itsimportant to provide immediate feedback

on whether, and to what extent, thestudents have succeeded in the task(s).


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Designing listening activities for theclassroom - While-listening activities (2)

Ideas for while-listening activities Making/checking items in pictures. Which picture? Storyline picture sets. Putting pictures in order.

Completing pictures. Picture drawing. Carrying out actions. Following a route. Form/chart completion.

Labeling. T/F Multiple choice questions. Text completion. Spotting mistakes. Seeking specific items of information.


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Designing listening activities for theclassroom - Post-listening activities (1)

The last period of a listening class.

It is to consolidate what has been

learned by the students, whetherthey can use the new informationand language gained from theirlistening in a different context andconnect it with the language theyalready have.


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Designing listening activities for theclassroom - Post-listening activities (2)

Ideas for post-listening activities

Matching with a reading text.

Re-telling the listening text.

Using information from the listening textfor problem-solving and decision makingactivities.

Establishing the mood/attitude/behavior ofthe speaker.

Identifying relationships between speakers.

Role-play


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SummaryAssisting students in the development of listeningcomprehension is a challenge. It is a challengethat demands both the teachers and studentsattention because of the critical role that listening

plays, not only in communication, but also in theacquisition of language. Knowledge of thelistening process and factors that affect listeningenable teachers to select or create listening texts

and activities that meet the needs of ourstudents. Teacher, then, must weave theselistening activities into the lessons to create abalance that mirrors the real-world integration oflistening with speaking, reading, and writing.

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Problems and Factors Affecting Listening & Speaking