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The importance of integrating skills in the teaching of

english as a foreign language
Enviado por orellana
 Scientific article. Kind of article: monography
1. Summary
2. Segregated-skill instruction
3. Two forms of integrated-skill instruction
4. Advantages of the integrated-skill approach
5. Integrating the language skills
6. Conclusion
7. <refs>References
SUMMARY
This article has been made as a guide for teachers of English as a foreign language to develop the
students´ abilities in the language. It is the application of an integrating approach for the
development of communicative skills in the classroom, in which the four skills in the acquisition of
knowledge of a foreign language can be taught in a coherent way, and practiced together, with a
distinction of the importance of one upon the other
One image for teaching English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) is that of a tapestry. The
tapestry is woven from many strands, such as the characteristics of the teacher, the learner, the
setting, and the relevant languages (i.e., English and the native languages of the learners and the
teacher). For the instructional loom to produce a large, strong, beautiful, colorful tapestry, all of
these strands must be interwoven in positive ways. For example, the instructor's teaching style must
address the learning style of the learner, the learner must be motivated, and the setting must provide
resources and values that strongly support the teaching of the language. However, if the strands are
not woven together effectively, the instructional loom is likely to produce something small, weak,
ragged, and pale--not recognizable as a tapestry at all.
In addition to the four strands mentioned above--teacher, learner, setting, and relevant languages--
other important strands exist in the tapestry. In a practical sense, one of the most crucial of these
strands consists of the four primary skills of listening, reading, speaking, and writing. This strand
also includes associated or related skills such as knowledge of vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation,
syntax, meaning, and usage. The skill strand of the tapestry leads to optimal ESL/EFL
communication when the skills are interwoven during instruction. This is known as the integrated-
skill approach.
If this weaving together does not occur, the strand consists merely of discrete, segregated skills--
parallel threads that do not touch, support, or interact with each other. This is sometimes known as
the segregated-skill approach. Another title for this mode of instruction is the language-based
approach, because the language itself is the focus of instruction (language for language's sake). In
this approach, the emphasis is not on learning for authentic communication.
By examining segregated-skill instruction, we can see the advantages of integrating the skills and
move toward improving teaching for English language learners.
SEGREGATED-SKILL INSTRUCTION
In the segregated-skill approach, the mastery of discrete language skills such as reading and speaking
is seen as the key to successful learning, and language learning is typically separate from content
learning (Mohan, 1986). This is contrary to the integrated way that people use language skills in
normal communication, and it clashes with the direction in which language teaching experts have
been moving in recent years.
Skill segregation is reflected in traditional ESL/EFL programs that offer classes focusing on
segregated language skills. Why do they offer such classes? Perhaps teachers and administrators
think it is logistically easier to present courses on writing divorced from speaking, or on listening
isolated from reading. They may believe that it is instructionally impossible to concentrate on more
than one skill at a time.
Even if it were possible to fully develop one or two skills in the absence of all the others, such an
approach would not ensure adequate preparation for later success in academic communication,
career-related language use, or everyday interaction in the language. An extreme example is the
grammar-translation method, which teaches students to analyze grammar and to translate (usually
in writing) from one language to another. This method restricts language learning to a very narrow,
noncommunicative range that does not prepare students to use the language in everyday life.
Frequently, segregated-skill ESL/EFL classes present instruction in terms of skill-linked learning
strategies: reading strategies, listening strategies, speaking strategies, and writing strategies (see
Peregoy & Boyle, 2001). Learning strategies are strategies that students employ, most often
consciously, to improve their learning. Examples are guessing meaning based on context, breaking a
sentence or word down into parts to understand the meaning, and practicing the language with
someone else.
Very frequently, experts demonstrate strategies as though they were linked to only one particular
skill, such as reading or writing (e.g., Peregoy & Boyle, 2001). However, it can be confusing or
misleading to believe that a given strategy is associated with only one specific language skill. Many
strategies, such as paying selective attention, self-evaluating, asking questions, analyzing,
synthesizing, planning, and predicting, are applicable across skill areas (see Oxford, 1990). Common
strategies help weave the skills together. Teaching students to improve their learning strategies in
one skill area can often enhance performance in all language skills (Oxford, 1996).
Fortunately, in many instances where an ESL or EFL course is labeled by a single skill, the
segregation of language skills might be only partial or even illusory. If the teacher is creative, a
course bearing a discrete-skill title might actually involve multiple, integrated skills. For example, in
a course on intermediate reading, the teacher probably gives all of the directions orally in English,
thus causing students to use their listening ability to understand the assignment. In this course,
students might discuss their readings, thus employing speaking and listening skills and certain
associated skills, such as pronunciation, syntax, and social usage. Students might be asked to
summarize or analyze readings in written form, thus activating their writing skills. In a real sense,
then, some courses that are labeled according to one specific skill might actually reflect an
integrated-skill approach after all.
The same can be said for ESL/EFL textbooks. A particular series might highlight certain skills in one
book or another, but all the language skills might nevertheless be present in the tasks in each book.
In this way, students have the benefit of practicing all the language skills in an integrated, natural,
communicative way, even if one skill is the main focus of a given volume.
In contrast to segregated-skill instruction, both actual and apparent, there are at least two forms of
instruction that are clearly oriented toward integrating the skills.
TWO FORMS OF INTEGRATED-SKILL INSTRUCTION
Two types of integrated-skill instruction are content-based language instruction and task-based
instruction. The first of these emphasizes learning content through language, while the second
stresses doing tasks that require communicative language use. Both of these benefit from a diverse
range of materials, textbooks, and technologies for the ESL or EFL classroom.
"Content-Based Instruction." In content-based instruction, students practice all the language skills in
a highly integrated, communicative fashion while learning content such as science, mathematics, and
social studies. Content-based language instruction is valuable at all levels of proficiency, but the
nature of the content might differ by proficiency level. For beginners, the content often involves basic
social and interpersonal communication skills, but past the beginning level, the content can become
increasingly academic and complex. The Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA),
created by Chamot and O'Malley (1994) shows how language learning strategies can be integrated
into the simultaneous learning of content and language.
At least three general models of content-based language instruction exist: theme-based, adjunct, and
sheltered (Scarcella & Oxford, 1992). The theme-based model integrates the language skills into the
study of a theme (e.g., urban violence, cross-cultural differences in marriage practices, natural
wonders of the world, or a broad topic such as change). The theme must be very interesting to
students and must allow a wide variety of language skills to be practiced, always in the service of
communicating about the theme. This is the most useful and widespread form of content-based
instruction today, and it is found in many innovative ESL and EFL textbooks. In the adjunct model,
language and content courses are taught separately but are carefully coordinated. In the sheltered
model, the subject matter is taught in simplified English tailored to students' English proficiency
level.
"Task-Based Instruction." In task-based instruction, students participate in communicative tasks in
English. Tasks are defined as activities that can stand alone as fundamental units and that require
comprehending, producing, manipulating, or interacting in authentic language while attention is
principally paid to meaning rather than form (Nunan, 1989).
The task-based model is beginning to influence the measurement of learning strategies, not just the
teaching of ESL and EFL. In task-based instruction, basic pair work and group work are often used to
increase student interaction and collaboration. For instance, students work together to write and edit
a class newspaper, develop a television commercial, enact scenes from a play, or take part in other
joint tasks. More structured cooperative learning formats can also be used in task-based instruction.
Task-based instruction is relevant to all levels of language proficiency, but the nature of the task
varies from one level to the other. Tasks become increasingly complex at higher proficiency levels.
For instance, beginners might be asked to introduce each other and share one item of information
about each other. More advanced students might do more intricate and demanding tasks, such as
taking a public opinion poll at school, the university, or a shopping mall.
ADVANTAGES OF THE INTEGRATED-SKILL APPROACH
The integrated-skill approach, as contrasted with the purely segregated approach, exposes English
language learners to authentic language and challenges them to interact naturally in the language.
Learners rapidly gain a true picture of the richness and complexity of the English language as
employed for communication. Moreover, this approach stresses that English is not just an object of
academic interest nor merely a key to passing an examination; instead, English becomes a real
means of interaction and sharing among people. This approach allows teachers to track students'
progress in multiple skills at the same time. Integrating the language skills also promotes the
learning of real content, not just the dissection of language forms. Finally, the integrated-skill
approach, whether found in content-based or task-based language instruction or some hybrid form,
can be highly motivating to students of all ages and backgrounds.
INTEGRATING THE LANGUAGE SKILLS
In order to integrate the language skills in ESL/EFL instruction,teachers should consider taking
these steps:
* Learn more about the various ways to integrate language skills in theclassroom (e.g., content-
based, task-based, or a combination).
* Reflect on their current approach and evaluate the extent to which theskills are integrated.
* Choose instructional materials, textbooks, and technologies that promotethe integration of
listening, reading, speaking, and writing, as well as theassociated skills of syntax, vocabulary, and so
on.
* Even if a given course is labeled according to just one skill, rememberthat it is possible to integrate
the other language skills throughappropriate tasks.
* Teach language learning strategies and emphasize that a given strategycan often enhance
performance in multiple skills.
CONCLUSION
With careful reflection and planning, any teacher can integrate the language skills and strengthen the
tapestry of language teaching and learning. When the tapestry is woven well, learners can use
English effectively for communication.
<REFS>REFERENCES
Chamot, A. U., & O'Malley, J.M. (1994). "The CALLA handbook: Implementing the cognitive-
academic language learning approach." Reading: MA: Addison Wesley.
O'Malley, J.M., & Valdez Pierce, L. (1996)."Authentic assessment for English language learners:
Practical approaches for teachers." New York: Addison Wesley.
Mohan, B. (1986). "Language and content." Reading, MA: Addison Wesley.
Nunan , D. (1989). "Designing tasks for the communicative classroom." Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press.
Oxford, R. (1990). "Language learning strategies. What every teacher should know." Boston, MA:
Heinle & Heinle.
Oxford, R. (1996). "Language learning strategies around the world. Cross-cultural perspectives."
Manoa: University of Hawaii Press.
Peregoy, S.F., & Boyle, O.F. (2001). "Reading, writing, and learning in ESL." New York: Addison
Wesley Longman.
Scarcella, R., & Oxford, R. (1992). "The tapestry of language learning: The individual in the
communicative classroom." Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Lic. Evelio Elías Orellana Orellana
orellana[arroba]suss.co.cu

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Home > Think > Articles > Pre-listening activities

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articles
Pre-listening activities
Submitted by admin on 21 November, 2002 - 12:00
Listening skills are hard to develop. Students can do a variety
of work before listening to help them understand the listening.

Why do pre-listening tasks?

Aims and types of pre-listening tasks

Selection criteria

Why do pre-listening tasks?

In real life it is unusual for people to listen to something
without having some idea of what they are going to hear.
When listening to a radio phone-in show, they will probably
know which topic is being discussed. When listening to an
interview with a famous person, they probably know
something about that person already. A waiter knows the
menu from which the diner is choosing their food.

In our first language we rarely have trouble understanding

listening. But, in a second language, it is one of the harder
skills to develop - dealing at speed with unfamiliar sounds,
words and structures. This is even more difficult if we do not
know the topic under discussion, or who is speaking to whom.
So, simply asking the students to listen to something and
answer some questions is a little unfair, and makes developing
listening skills much harder.

Many students are fearful of listening, and can be

disheartened when they listen to something but feel they
understand very little. It is also harder to concentrate on
listening if you have little interest in a topic or situation.

Pre-listening tasks aim to deal with all of these issues: to

generate interest, build confidence and to facilitate
comprehension.

Aims and types of pre-listening tasks

Setting the context

This is perhaps the most important thing to do - even
most exams give an idea about who is speaking, where
and why. In normal life we normally have some idea of
the context of something we are listening to.

Generating interest
Motivating our students is a key task for us. If they are to
do a listening about sports, looking at some dramatic
pictures of sports players or events will raise their
interest or remind them of why they (hopefully) like
sports. Personalisation activities are very important here.
A pair-work discussion about the sports they play or
watch, and why, will bring them into the topic, and make
them more willing to listen.
Activating current knowledge - what do you know
about…?
'You are going to listen to an ecological campaigner talk
about the destruction of the rainforest'. This sets the
context, but if you go straight in to the listening, the
students have had no time to transfer or activate their
knowledge (which may have been learnt in their first
language) in the second language. What do they know
about rainforests? - Where are they? What are they?
What problems do they face? Why are they important?
What might an ecological campaigner do? What
organisations campaign for ecological issues?

Acquiring knowledge
Students may have limited general knowledge about a
topic. Providing knowledge input will build their
confidence for dealing with a listening. This could be done
by giving a related text to read, or, a little more fun, a
quiz.

Activating vocabulary / language

Just as activating topic knowledge is important, so is
activating the language that may be used in the listening.
Knowledge-based activities can serve this purpose, but
there are other things that can be done. If students are
going to listen to a dialogue between a parent and a
teenager who wants to stay overnight at a friend's, why
not get your students to role play the situation before
listening. They can brainstorm language before hand, and
then perform the scene. By having the time to think
about the language needs of a situation, they will be
excellently prepared to cope with the listening.

Predicting content
Once we know the context for something, we are able to
predict possible content. Try giving students a choice of
things that they may or may not expect to hear, and ask
them to choose those they think will be mentioned.

Pre-learning vocabulary
When we listen in our first language we can usually
concentrate on the overall meaning because we know the
meaning of the vocabulary. For students, large numbers
of unknown words will often hinder listening, and
certainly lower confidence. Select some vocabulary for
the students to study before listening, perhaps matching
words to definitions, followed by a simple practice activity
such as filling the gaps in sentences.

Checking / understanding the listening tasks

By giving your students plenty of time to read and
understand the main listening comprehension tasks, you
allow them to get some idea of the content of the
listening. They may even try to predict answers before
listening.
Selection criteria
When planning your lesson you should take the following
factors into account when preparing the pre-listening tasks.

The time available

The material available

The ability of the class

The interests of the class

The nature and content of the listening text

The choice of pre-listening task also gives you a chance to

grade the listening lesson for different abilities. If you have a
class who are generally struggling with listening work, then
the more extensive that the pre-listening work is the better.
If, however, you wish to make the work very demanding, you
could simply do work on the context of the listening. Thus, the
same listening text can provide work for different abilities.

Personally, I feel it is important to devote a fair proportion of a

lesson to the pre-listening task, should the listening warrant it.
For example, the listening about an ecological campaigner
lends itself well to extended knowledge and vocabulary
activation. However, a listening involving airport
announcements may only need a shorter lead-in, as the topic
is somewhat narrower.
Overall, training your students to bring their own knowledge
and their skills of prediction to their listening work can only
help them when listening to the language outside the
classroom. These skills are as much a part of listening as
understanding pronunciation or listening for details.

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Home > Think > Articles > Listening: Top down and bottom up

THINK
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Listening: Top down and bottom up

Submitted by admin on 5 September, 2007 - 12:00
In 'real-life' listening, our students will have to use a combination of the two processes, with
more emphasis on 'top-down' or 'bottom-up' listening depending on their reasons for listening.

1. Top-down vs. bottom-up listening

1. In the classroom

1. Top-down listening activities

1. Bottom-up listening activities

1. Conclusion

Top-down vs. bottom-up listening

Imagine the following situations:

Over lunch, your friend tells you a story about a recent holiday, which was a disaster. You
listen with interest and interject at appropriate moments, maybe to express surprise or
sympathy.

That evening, another friend calls to invite you to a party at her house the following Saturday.
As you’ve never been to her house before, she gives you directions. You listen carefully and
make notes.

How do you listen in each case? Are there any differences?

With the holiday anecdote, your main concern was probably understanding the general idea
and knowing when some response was expected. In contrast, when listening to the directions
to a party, understanding the exact words is likely to be more important – if you want to get
there without incident, that is!

The way you listened to the holiday anecdote could be characterised as top-down listening.
This refers to the use of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of the message.
Background knowledge consists of context, that is, the situation and topic, and co-text, in
other words, what came before and after. The context of chatting to a friend in a casual
environment itself narrows down the range of possible topics. Once the topic of a holiday has
been established, our knowledge of the kind of things that can happen on holiday comes into
play and helps us to ‘match’ the incoming sound signal against our expectations of what we
might hear and to fill out specific details.

In contrast, when listening to directions to a friend’s house, comprehension is achieved by

dividing and decoding the sound signal bit by bit. The ability to separate the stream of speech
into individual words becomes more important here, if we are to recognise, for example, the
name of a street or an instruction to take a particular bus.

In reality, fluent listening normally depends on the use of both processes operating
simultaneously. Think about talking to your friends (in your first language) in a noisy bar. It is
likely that you ‘guess’ the content of large sections of the conversation, based on your
knowledge of the topic and what has already been said. In this way, you rely more on top-
down processing to make up for unreliability in the sound signal, which forms an obstacle to
bottom-up processing. Similarly, second-language listeners often revert to their knowledge of
the topic and situation when faced with unfamiliar vocabulary or structures, so using top-down
processing to compensate for difficulties in bottom-up processing. On the other hand, if a
listener is unable to understand anything of what she hears, she will not even be able to
establish the topic of conversation, so top-down processing will also be very limited.

In the classroom
In real-life listening, our students will have to use a combination of the two processes, with
more emphasis on top-down or bottom-up listening depending on their reasons for listening.
However, the two types of listening can also be practiced separately, as the skills involved are
quite different.

Top-down listening activities

Do you ever get your students to predict the content of a listening activity beforehand, maybe
using information about the topic or situation, pictures, or key words? If so, you are already
helping them to develop their top-down processing skills, by encouraging them to use their
knowledge of the topic to help them understand the content. This is an essential skill given
that, in a real-life listening situation, even advanced learners are likely to come across some
unknown vocabulary. By using their knowledge of context and co-text, they should either be
able to guess the meaning of the unknown word, or understand the general idea without
getting distracted by it.
Other examples of common top-down listening activities include putting a series of pictures or
sequence of events in order, listening to conversations and identifying where they take place,
reading information about a topic then listening to find whether or not the same points are
mentioned, or inferring the relationships between the people involved.

Bottom-up listening activities

The emphasis in EFL listening materials in recent years has been on developing top-down
listening processes. There are good reasons for this given that learners need to be able to
listen effectively even when faced with unfamiliar vocabulary or structures. However, if the
learner understands very few words from the incoming signal, even knowledge about the
context may not be sufficient for her to understand what is happening, and she can easily get
lost. Of course, low-level learners may simply not have enough vocabulary or knowledge of the
language yet, but most teachers will be familiar with the situation in which higher-level
students fail to recognise known words in the stream of fast connected speech. Bottom-up
listening activities can help learners to understand enough linguistic elements of what they
hear to then be able to use their top-down skills to fill in the gaps.

The following procedure for developing bottom-up listening skills draws on dictogloss, and is
designed to help learners recognise the divisions between words, an important bottom-up
listening skill. The teacher reads out a number of sentences, and asks learners to write down
how many words there would be in the written form. While the task might sound easy, for
learners the weak forms in normal connected speech can make it problematic, so it is very
important for the teacher to say the sentences in a very natural way, rather than dictating
them word-by-word.

Some suitable sentences are:

1. I’m going to the shop.

1. Do you want some chocolate?

1. Let’s have a party!

1. I’d better go soon.

1. You shouldn’t have told him.

1. What are you doing?

1. There isn’t any coffee.

1. What have you got?

1. He doesn’t like it.

1. It’s quite a long way.

1. Why did you think you’d be able to?

1. Can you tell him I called?

Learners can be asked to compare their answers in pairs, before listening again to check. While
listening a third time, they could write what they hear, before reconstructing the complete
sentences in pairs or groups. By comparing their version with the correct sentences, learners
will become more aware of the sounds of normal spoken English, and how this is different from
the written or carefully spoken form. This will help them to develop the skill of recognising
known words and identifying word divisions in fast connected speech.

Conclusion
Successful listening depends on the ability to combine these two types of processing. Activities
which work on each strategy separately should help students to combine top-down and
bottom-up processes to become more effective listeners in real-life situations or longer
classroom listenings.

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Skills and strategies: towards a ger
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John Field Art
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Currently doing PhD research on listening at the University of arc
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experience in Europe, the Middle East, the Far East, and Africa. He
Rel
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jcf1000@cam.ac.uk rki
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This article calls for a rethinking of the purposes of the
listening lesson, and examines ways in which we can
teach the skill rather than simply practise it. The
Wh
at's
this
?
approaches proposed are based on micro-listening exercises which practise individual subskills
of listening. The implications of using authentic materials are then examined, and a case is made
for teaching recognition of the features of spontaneous speech. Finally, a strategic view of
listening is presented, and it is argued that classroom activities need to take account of the true
nature of real-life L2 listening, where understanding is partial, and inferencing is crucial.

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Effects of listening strategy instruction on news videotext
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Language Teaching Research, April 1, 2009; 13(2): 151 - 176.
[Abstract] [PDF]

C. Goh
Metacognitive Instruction for Second Language Listening
Development: Theory, Practice and Research Implications
RELC Journal, August 1, 2008; 39(2): 188 - 213.
[Abstract] [PDF]

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Teaching Listening Skills Via Interactive Videodisc

Journal article by Michael W. Cronin; T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In

Education), Vol. 21, 1993

Journal Article Excerpt

Teaching listening skills via interactive videodisc

by Michael W. Cronin

Most people spend more time listening than they spend on speaking, reading and
writing combined. Yet most people know less about listening than they do about the
other forms of communication. Further, most people have taken extensive
instruction in writing and reading, but have never received any listening instruction.
In short, people get the least amount of instruction in the form of communication
that they do the most. As a result, there are a lot of poor listeners. In fact, two days
after listening to a ten-minute presentation, most people retain only 25% of what
they heard.

Listening Competence

Ten recent national reports have called for an increased emphasis on listening
instruction. Numerous studies conducted over the past 15 years document the need
for listening instruction in both education and business.

* Listening competence results in higher college grades.

* Listening competence is more significant than reading skills or academic aptitude

in college students' achievement and retention.

* Listening competence is the form of communication that is most important in

entrylevel positions, most critical in distinguishing effective from ineffective
subordinates, most critical for managerial competence, most important for career
competence and most important for organizational success. A majority of
businesses and postsecondary educational institutions are responding to this need
to provide listening instruction. Approximately 60% of Fortune 500 industry and
service companies and most colleges and universities provide listening instruction.
Studies at the University of Minnesota revealed that instruction in listening
improved listening skills significantly.

The Technological Challenge

Although many businesses and educational institutions offer some instruction in

listening, the need for additional training cannot be met by traditional methods
alone. Most institutions can offer only one or two courses per year, falling far short
of the goal of providing instruction to all (or most) students or employees.

Educators are calling for the application of new technologies to enhance teaching
and learning. Interactive multimedia instruction (IMI)--defined here as the use of a
Level--Ill interactive videodisc--often produces greater gains in knowledge and
performance than does linear videotape or conventional instruction. Plus, the use of
IMI often means more learning in less instructional time. However, almost no
affordable IMI software is available in the field of oral communication. Further, even
if it were, some educators question its effectiveness in teaching oral communication
skills.

Is it possible to teach oral communication skills, such as listening, with IMI? Can
affordable IMI software be made available to enable corporations and educational
institutions to expand their instruction in listening skills? Yes.

This article focuses on the development, implementation and assessment of an IMI

program in listening developed at Radford University. Called Mission Possible:
Listening Skills for Better Communication, it was an award winner in the higher
education category of the 1993 "Innovations in Multimedia" contest, co-sponsored
by Sony Educational Systems and T.H.E. Journal. This article concludes with a brief
description of other IMI programs in oral communication developed at the university
and a discussion of our plans for future applications.

The Program in Detail

Mission Possible is a Level III interactive videodisc providing instruction in :

* Identifying bad listening habits;

* Overcoming these bad habits;

* Assessing personal listening behavior; and

* Enhancing active listening. Several unique learning issues presented themselves

when designing Mission Possible. For example, this program might frequently be
used to supplement courses or learning situations that involve listening but might
not be about listening. Also, those who need listening-skills training the most might
be least motivated to learn from this program. In response to these issues,
conscious efforts were made to focus on basic instruction in listening and to
enhance motivation to learn.

For example, the opening segment enhances initial interest in learning to improve
listening. The disc begins with an attention step (the need for more effective
listening) by "the Chief," which motivates some users to work to learn effective
listening skills. If users do not attend to the Chief, a surprise posttest identifies their
ineffective listening. Incorrect answers on the posttest may motivate them to seek
more effective listening skills. The attention step and surprise posttest combine to
provide users with a high need-to-know factor about basic instruction in effective
listening. While this opening segment is designed to generate initial interest, the
use of a Super Spy game aims to maintain interest (and is also how the name,
"Mission Possible," was derived). For each activity within a mission, points can be
earned through accuracy, and occasionally, speed. High scorers ...
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 Business Communication Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 2, 45-46 (1989)
DOI: 10.1177/108056998905200216

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Developing Listening Skills with Authentic Materials

by Lindsay Miller
For too long listening has been relegated to a secondary position in the English
language teaching classroom. This stems, in part, from the fact that whereas a
considerable amount of research has been conducted into reading, writing and
speaking--research which has influenced our approaches to teaching language and
has also influenced how textbooks have been written (see sidebar)--there has been
a lack of research interest into listening. Some of the reasons for this lack of
research interest come from the fact that speaking was always considered a more
"valuable" skill to focus on in the classroom; that researchers and teachers have
often considered that listening was something which could just be "picked up"; and
as researchers and teachers had not been taught listening themselves, they saw
little need for developing a specific research agenda or approaches to teaching
listening.

It is indeed interesting that listening has not received wider attention in the past
given that it is the language skill most often used in everyday life. More than forty
percent of our daily communication time is spent on listening, thirty-five percent on
speaking, sixteen percent on reading, and only nine percent on writing (Burely-Allen
1995).
Although listening has been a relatively neglected skill in terms of research and
how it is introduced to language learners, it is now beginning to receive more
attention. In the past few years we have seen the publication of several major texts,
both practical and theoretical, specifically dealing with listening skills: Mendelson
and Rubin 1995; Nunan and Miller 1995; Buck 2000; Rost 2002; Flowerdew and
Miller, in press. In conjunction with these books, there is now a greater awareness
among teachers that we have to help learners develop their listening skills, rather
than rely on the skill developing itself.
The question of how to help learners develop effective listening skills brings
attention to the methods we use and the type of materials we introduce our
learners to. The aim of all listening lessons should be to allow learners a greater
degree of independence when confronted with listening to the foreign language in a
real world context, and that means using authentic texts. Authentic texts are any
spoken texts which have not been specially prepared for language learners, and
they are often delivered via technologies like radio, television/video, and the
Internet or CD-ROM.
In the rest of this article I would like to suggest a process for helping learners
develop their listening skills, and make suggestions as how this might be achieved
with authentic materials.
Pre-, While-, and Post-Listening
One of the main advancements to come out of research into listening strategies
was the understanding that listening exercises could be divided into three main
parts: Pre-listening, While-listening, Post-listening activities. This format has proved
useful in taking the attention off continually testing listening and has allowed
learners to do other things with the information that they listen to. For instance, a
teacher can initiate a short discussion with the learners in the pre-listening stage as
to what they think of the topic before they listen to the text (activating world and
personal knowledge). Then the learners can be asked to use whatever information
they gathered from a text to have an extended discussion in a post-listening stage
(allowing for more individualization and critical comments to be developed). In
between these two stages, learners can be helped to focus on their listening by
careful selection of tasks that are meaningful and that cater to developing specific
listening skills rather than on constantly measuring performance through test-like
exercises.
I will use this established format of pre-, while-, and post-listening activities and
make some suggestions as to how they can be used with authentic materials
delivered through technological media.
Radio
Using real-time radio in class is one of the more easily accessible forms of authentic
listening practice we can give our learners. The airwaves are filled with programs
twenty-four hours per day, and the low cost of radios means that most language
teachers can obtain a radio and take it to class. Radio stations such as BBC World
Service (BBC) and Voice of America (VOA) are constantly on-air. Meanwhile, many
non-English speaking countries also broadcast some programs, or even have
dedicated stations, in English. Although radios are easy to access, they are perhaps
the most difficult of aural text for language learners to listen to. The reason for this
is that all non-verbal information is missing, information which can aid in helping
understand the message, and the learner has to focus on the skill which is most
difficult for him or her--listening.
In order to use radio programs with learners teachers need to select a program
at a suitable time for their class and decide on some global listening tasks for the
learners. For instance, with an intermediate group of learners about to listen to a
radio program on travel we might adopt the following procedure:
Stage 1: Pre-Listening Task Today we are going to listen to a travel program
on the radio for ten minutes. Before we listen, who has made a trip recently? Where
did you go? What did you see?
The radio guide tells us in that this program is about Egypt. What do you know
about Egypt? What would you like to know about Egypt? What kind of information
do you think the presenter will give us?
Stage 2: While-Listening Task While you listen to the program, try to listen
for the main things the presenter recommends doing while in Egypt. Don¹t try to
write anything down, only listen to the program and see how much you can
understand.
Stage 3: Post-Listening Task In groups of three have a short discussion about
what you heard from the program. Would you like to go to Egypt based on what you
just heard? Why or why not?
In using the radio in the way suggested here we allow learners access to native
speaker models, something which might be missing from their normal classroom
experiences. Also, we place the focus on extensive listening for pleasure and take
the emphasis off testing what the learners hear (that is why we ask the learners not
to write while they listen).
TV/Video
Using television or videos in the classroom allows the learners access to more
information when listening. That is, the learners can now see what is happening as
well as listen to the text. Non-verbal behavior or paralinguistic features of the
spoken text are now available to the learners (compared with radio, that is), so
learners can develop their listening skills in a richer language context.
Many language learners watch movies outside of class time, but few of them
consider this as an opportunity to develop their listening skills (perhaps because
they become used to reading the sub-titles of English movies). Going to a movie is
considered as entertainment and often "doesn¹t count" in terms of learning. We
can, however, in the language classroom, sensitize our learners to how they can
make use of movies to help them develop their second language listening skills.
With an elementary-level class of learners we might consider the following out-of-
class activity:
Stage 1: Pre-Viewing Task This weekend there is an English movie on TV.
Does anyone know what it is? What time is it on? Which channel is it on? Please
write the name, time and channel down as this is your homework task.
Stage 2: While-Viewing Task I would like you to watch the movie this
weekend, or try to watch as much as you can. Focus on listening to the movie
instead of reading the subtitles. Try to collect the following information: kind of
movie (comedy, romance, action, horror), names of the main characters (male,
female, animal), where does the movie take place (inside, outside, on land, at sea,
country), what is the main idea in the movie?
Stage 3: Post-Viewing Task (the next lesson) Who watched the movie last
weekend? What can you tell us about it? This generic format can be repeated as
many times as you like, and once learners have developed the habit of watching
and listening to English language movies with some kind of focus, they will get used
to this type of exposure to listening for pleasure, and you may then move on to
more critical post-viewing tasks--e.g., Do you think we should go to war with each
other (after viewing a war movie).
The Internet/CD-ROM
There has been a rapid increase in the development of Internet facilities and CD-
ROMs. This has been prompted, partly, by the more powerful computers we have
these days and has been partly driven by the users' demands for more interesting
and innovative applications of the technology. We are able to direct our learners to
sites on the Internet where they can practice their listening as long as they have
access to the appropriate computer hardware.
There are several benefits computer software has over radio or television. For
instance, many CD-ROMs now have glossaries and online scripts, so that when
problems are encountered, the learners can get online help. In addition to this,
many younger learners wish to learn or use their computer skills nowadays, so the
prospect of developing computer skills along with developing their language skills
may seem attractive to these learners. With an advanced group of learners we
might consider having extended critical and creative discussion about the news:
Stage 1: Pre-Listening Task Tomorrow in class we will have some discussion
about what¹s in the news. In order to do this I would like you do access at least two
of the following websites: http://www.bbc.co.uk, http://www.avoa. gov or
http://npr.org (National Public Radio) and listen to different versions of the main
stories.
Once you are in the website you can choose audio or video presentations. You
can also look for related items. Just surf around until you feel you have collected
enough information for our discussion in class.
Stage 2: While-Listening Task Students may either work at home or in a
computer lab at school to collect the information they require.
Stage 3: Post-Listening Task (the next class) First I would like you to sit in
groups according to one of the websites you visited. So lets have a group of BBC
listeners/viewers, one of VOA, and one of NPR to begin with. In your groups discuss
what the main news stories were. Only exchange information at this stage. Now
change groups and have one person for each website in groups of three. Explain to
the other members in your group the main stories in the order they were presented
on the Web. Then discuss your reaction to these stories. Consider how important
you think the item is, what angle the broadcast company took when presenting the
stories, and what this story means to you personally. This use of the Internet and
computer technology integrates several authentic activities for the learners and
widens the scope of developing listening skills. In addition to this, learners are now
given more autonomy over their language learning and the links between
classroom and real-world learning becomes more obvious to them.
Richer Learning Experiences
With the increased awareness of the need to help second-language learners
develop effective listening skills and with the greater availability of technology
nowadays, teachers are able to explore more creative ways of teaching listening in
and out of the class using authentic materials. Once we begin to explore the
possibilities, a few of which are outlined here, we offer a richer language learning
experience for our learners and create good listeners into the bargain.
SIDEBAR
The Question of Authenticity
When preparing learners for academic listening, English language teachers often
choose to use a textbook with a title like Academic listening: preparing students for
lectures. Such textbooks are widely used on pre-sessional courses, and many
students and their teachers diligently work their way through the textbook in the
belief that they are preparing for the real thing. However, my colleague John
Flowerdew and I conducted an investigation of an authentic economics and finance
lecture (Flowerdew and Miller, 1997). We found that what academic listening
textbooks prepared learners for was very different from the "real thing." We
transcribed and analyzed a lecture discourse and then compared it to a selection of
academic listening textbooks, this is what we found:
1. The authentic lecture was structured at the micro-level of discourse. There were
lots of uses of "and," "so," "but," many pauses, and filled pauses with the use of
"ah" and "er." On the other hand, textbook lectures had complete clauses and fewer
pauses.
2. The authentic lecture discourse contained many false starts, redundancies and
repetitions. None of these show up in English language teaching (ELT) textbooks.
3. The lecturer made use of a variety of extra linguistic features such as body
movements and kinesics. Textbook texts are usually only audio recorded so such
cues are missing.
4. In the real lecture the lecturer made an attempt to establish a rapport with the
students; he a) tried to make the lecture non-threatening and empathized with the
students, b) personalized many of his references, and c) checked that the students
were following the lecture as he delivered it. The impersonal nature of an audio text
cannot simulate any of these features.
5. As the authentic lecture lasted for two hours, the lecturer made use of a
narrative thread to hold his talk together, that is, he told a story and continually
returned to the theme of the story. ELT textbooks, on the other hand, rarely have
recordings of more than a few minutes and cannot sustain any narrative thread.
6. The lecturer made use of macro-markers to signpost his way through the talk and
to refer to future lectures, e.g., "Last week we saw howŠ.." "In next week's lecture I
am going to move on toŠ..". In this way he structured the lecture around the series
of talks he was going to give to the students. Textbooks cannot do this as most of
their texts are stand-alone lectures.
7. The lecturer made use of a variety of visual aids during his talk including the
white board, overhead transparencies and pre-lecture reading text. None of these
were used in the textbooks analyzed. This detailed lecture analysis illustrates that
authentic texts should also be used when helping learners prepare for listening to
lectures. By only using specially scripted text, learners may miss important features
of spoken academic discourse and develop listening skills which will be of little use
to them in the real lecture context.
-----------------------------------
Lindsay Miller is an associate professor of language education in the Department of
English and Communication at the City University of Hong Kong.
References
Buck, G. 2000. Assessing Listening. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Burely-Allen, M. 1995. Listening: The forgotten skill. New York: John Wily & Sons,
Inc.
Flowerdew, J. and L. Miller. 1997. The teaching of academic listening
comprehension and the question of authenticity. English for Specific Purposes, 16
(1):27-46.
Flowerdew, J. and Miller, L. In press. Second Language Listening Comprehension:
Theory to practice. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mendelson, D., and J. Rubin. 1995. A Guide for the Teaching of Second Language
Listening. San Diego, CA: Dominic Press.
Nunan, D., and L. Miller, eds. 1995. New Ways in Teaching Listening: Alexandria,
VA: TESOL.
Rost, M. 2002. Teaching and Researching Listening. London: Pearson.

This article first appeared in the March/April 2003 issue of ESL Magazine.

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 Business Communication Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 2, 45-46 (1989)
DOI: 10.1177/108056998905200216

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Current Issue - Activities for ESL Students - Things for ESL

Teachers - TESL/TEFL Links - Search - Copyright

The Internet TESL Journal

Listening Activities for Effective Top-down Processing

Ji Lingzhu
margie_ji [at] yahoo.com
Taiyuan Normal University (China)

Introduction
Once I played the recording of a hundred word passage on how to advertise for a
kind of very expensive perfume to my students in the listening class. Before they
listened, all the necessary new words like tuxedo, Leonardo da Vinci etc, were given
and explained carefully. The tape was played three times before I asked them to
retell the main idea of the passage. Half of them failed to give the correct answer.
Even some of the strong learners failed. My students told me they did not know
what the writer was talking about, although they knew all the words and the
grammatical rules. Suddenly one lady student who seldom opened her mouth in the
listening class stood up, telling me that the writer was talking about how to make an
advertisement for a kind of perfume. She further explained that she was interested
in reading fashion magazines in her spare time, and people always tried many ways
to advertise their products. That was really out of my expectation because she was
not very strong in listening comprehension.

The text itself was not very difficult linguistically and the students were capable of
understanding it. What caused the comprehension failure?
Just like reading, in listening, there are also two simultaneous and complementary ways of
processing a text. In top-down processing, learners use their prior knowledge to make predictions
about the text. In bottom-up processing, learners rely on their linguistic knowledge to recognize
linguistic elements -- vowels, consonants, words, sentences to do the construction of meaning.
Teachers often think that the learners hear every sound, word or sentences before they
understand the general meaning of the passage. However, in practice, they often adopt a top-
down approach to predict the probable theme and then move to the bottom-up approach to check
their understanding.rAccording to the schema theory, the process of comprehension is guided by
the idea that input is overlaid by the pre-existing knowledge in an attempt to find a match. The
readers must relate textual materials to their background knowledge, so that the new input from a
reading passage is mapped against some prior schema. All aspects of the previously existing
schema must be compatible with the new input from the text. In a commercial society like ours,
my students do not lack the schema for advertising. However the passage is not about the
advertisement for the perfume, but about his thoughts on the ways to advertise. The students
reported that they did not think about the advertisement planning process while they listened to
the passage. The lady student who did well reported that she had read an article on how to
advertise for a famous brand of shirt. Most of the students actually failed because they were not
very familiar with the topic.
In English listening, the content schema must be activated in order for the learners to access their
prior knowledge. Consequently it is our job to use some classroom activities to help them. First
of all, we must assess the students' level of background knowledge on a particular topic before
the students listen to the text. If the students lack specific content schema, we should provide a
remedial lesson on the topic to bring their level of content schema up to the level where they can
better comprehend the text. Or we revise the teaching materials so that they will not be too
demanding for the students. Furthermore, the teachers can use the information gained at this time
to make specific lesson plans for the remainder of the listening lesson on that particular topic.

Activities to Activate Students' Prior Knowledge

To effectively activate the students' prior knowledge, I often use activities in my
listening class and will introduce some of them here in this article.

Word Association Tasks

This method helps to determine what prior knowledge students bring to the new
topic before they listen to the passage. They will respond to a key word or phrase
such as "Crimes are harmful to the society." They can write down as many words
and phrases as possible in five minutes' time related to this topic, or they may write
freely on this topic. While they write, they should not worry about the words and
sentences they write, just pay attention to the content. The whole process takes
about ten minutes. The teacher can write down the main ideas on the board. Then
according to the information, the teacher should adjust his/her teaching plan. The
free association method of assessing background knowledge was originally
developed as part of a pre-reading plan. Later it was further developed as a
measure of prior knowledge. The learners are usually given three content words or
phrases related to a topic and asked to write anything that comes to mind when
they hear each word or phrase. We can also use the semantic webbing method. In
this approach, teachers graphically connect the various concepts and key words
surrounding a particular topic on the blackboard, helping students to see the
possible relationship between ideas discussed. Here we are not creating new
knowledge, but making students aware of the knowledge they already have by
giving structure to the content information. This process will enable them to
connect what they are going to learn with what they have already know.

This teaching process can be done as group work. Students can be divided into several groups to
discuss the topic. Usually each group will come up with different ideas. After a few minutes, the
instructor can ask the group leader to report their discussion results, and help them to put their
ideas into appropriate groups and label them properly. The students are encouraged to refer to a
dictionary as they generate their ideas.
Another Type of Pre-listening Activity Is Questioning.
Usually teachers ask students questions after they finish listening. Here my
suggestion is giving them the questions before they listen to the target text. This
task more closely relates to what happens in the real world. We most often listen to
the speaker to find answers to the questions in our minds, relating to a certain
topic, or to confirm what we already thought to be true. Pre-passage questions
induce a selective attention strategy. If we use a certain textbook, in which
questions always follow a passage, we may ask the students to read the questions
first. By reading the questions, students may build up their own expectations about
the coming information, and also by trying to find answers to these questions, their
prior knowledge on the topic can be activated. They can even have a framework of
the organization of the passage to be read if the questions are arranged in a well-
arranged order.

For instance, students are expected to answer the following questions after they listen to a
passage.
• What are the benefits of the social recognition of marriage for children?
• What are the three areas the speaker will deal with in this lecture?
• What are the three possibilities for the number of mates?
• What are the possibilities for the locality of the marriage?
• What are the possibilities for the transfer of wealth?
Ask the students to read the questions carefully, they will know the main idea of the
passage is marriage customs, and the speaker will mainly talk about the benefits of
social recognition of marriage for the children, the number of mates, the locality of
marriage, and the transfer of wealth after the marriage.
We can also use the student-generated questions by giving them a topic, letting them ask
questions about what kind of information they would like to know, and then asking their
classmates to give answers to the questions. Before they listen to a dialogue between a policeman
and a thief, tell them who the two speakers are, then ask what they may talk about. You may also
ask the learners to role play the dialogue.
However, this method may not be very appropriate for opinion-giving text or fiction. It is best
used for passages that provide factual information. If the passage is too long, one possible
solution for the teacher is divide the text into sections and implement the approach section by
section.
Making List of Possibilities / Ideas / Suggestions
When the text contains lists, even short lists of possibilities /ideas /suggestions or
whatever, it is often a good idea to use list making as the pre-listening activity. This
way the students can use their lists during the listening stage. While the students
make the list, they can use the words and phrases they have already known, or
they can ask their partners to help. Any checking type activity carried out while
listening can then be limited to matching with known language. This can increase
the likelihood of students succeeding with the task. So it is a very motivating
activity, especially for the lower level students.

The list making activity is very good for pair or group work. Students can work it in a relaxed
atmosphere because there is no right answer as to what should be on the list. In the beginning of
the course, when the students are not very familiar with the activity, we may use list-making for
the subjects about which people are very familiar since they are likely to have a lot of ideas. For
instance, "the food people like to eat", "things children are afraid of", etc.
Looking at Pictures Before Listening
I have used this many times with younger learners because they are good at
reading pictures. If you want to check whether the students can name some of the
items in the listening text, pre-listening "looking and talking about" is an effective
way of reminding the students of lexis which they may have forgotten or never
known. It will also help them to focus their attention on the coming topic. This is
very good for narrative or descriptive passages.

Why Are These Activities Important?

Listeners do make use of background knowledge for comprehension. Therefore it
seems logical to teach background knowledge in the second language program. In
China, the textbooks for listening are chosen by the department leaders and
teachers are required to follow the book closely. The texts are taken from various
resources from English speaking countries, which put emphasis on authenticity.
These materials cover a wide range of fields in the target language culture.
However, our students are not culturally ready for these kind of materials. They are
forced to listen to the unknown, the remote and the bizarre, so that they cannot use
the top-down processing strategies very effectively.Therefore they are forced to
listen word by word or even sound by sound. Several scholars recommended the
use of narrowed materials, possibly with the local materials, such as school
newspapers, local novels etc (Carrell& Eisterhold, 1983). They are right to a certain
extent. However as foreign language learners, they cannot always stick to narrow
materials, we may start from narrow materials and gradually move to authentic
materials. So at the beginning of the course, students should be given a pre-test on
their background knowledge. Then we may present listening passages in a graded
order to ensure that for every topic the students have some prior knowledge. The
passages that are learned first would provide background for later passages.

Pre-listening activities usually have two primary goals: a. to bring to consciousness the tools and
strategies that good listeners use when listening, and b. to provide the necessary context for that
specific listening task. Studies show that learners comprehend more of a text if they are familiar
with the text from experience or they have known something about the topic before or they know
in advance what the listening passage concerns. The four kinds of pre-listening activities help to
activate students' prior knowledge, build up their expectations for the coming information and
sometimes even give them a framework of the coming passage. In this way we can help our
students to comprehend better.

What Influences Our Choice of Top-down Activities?

The choice of the activities will depend on a number of factors, such as:

• the time available;

• the material available;
• the ability of the class;
• the nature and content of the listening text itself.
The last item on the list " the nature of the listening text itself" is very important
when choosing activities. Some kind of activities are simply not appropriate to some
types of text, and in other instances, the text itself very naturally makes one type of
activity especially appropriate.
Listening texts which naturally rise to certain kind of top-down activities are particularly useful
and generally quite motivating for the students.
When the instructor designs these kind of activities, they should also take the time element into
consideration. You cannot have a fifteen- minute activity for a passage which will last only three
minutes. Remember the pre-listening process should not last longer than the actual listening
activity. The learners' proficiency is also a factor to consider. The activities should not be too
demanding, otherwise the students will lose their interests.

Conclusion
Top-down processing is very important in listening comprehension. In our native
language, we do not listen to the speaker word by word, and we are sometimes one
step ahead of the speaker. Our students' cognitive level is quite high, and they are
quite strong in comprehension. The only problem is that their English is not very
good. Using top-down activities can quickly help them to transfer their mother
tongue listening strategies into English listening. Activating prior knowledge is
crucial in top-down processing.

References
• Carrell, P. L.& Eisterhold,J. (1983). Schema Theory and ESL Reading
Pedagogy. TESOL Quarterly, 23 (4), 647-678.
 • He, Q. etc (1992) Listen to This -- 2. Beijing -- Foreign Language Teaching
and Research Publishing House.
• Kitao, S.K.C. (1989). Reading, Schema Theory and Second Language learners.
Tokyo; Eichosha Sininsha Co., LTD.
• Chia,H (2001),Reading Activities for Effective top-down Processing. English
Teaching Forum, Vol 39 No 1.
• Underwood, M ( 1989). Teaching listening. New York: Longman Inc.

The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. IX, No. 11, November 2003
http://iteslj.org/

http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Lingzhu-Listening.html

Current Issue - Activities for ESL Students - Things for ESL Teachers - TESL/TEFL Links - Search - Copyright

The Internet TESL Journal

Listening Activities for Effective Top-down Processing

Ji Lingzhu
margie_ji [at] yahoo.com
Taiyuan Normal University (China)

Introduction
Once I played the recording of a hundred word passage on how to advertise for a
kind of very expensive perfume to my students in the listening class. Before they
listened, all the necessary new words like tuxedo, Leonardo da Vinci etc, were given
and explained carefully. The tape was played three times before I asked them to
retell the main idea of the passage. Half of them failed to give the correct answer.
Even some of the strong learners failed. My students told me they did not know
what the writer was talking about, although they knew all the words and the
grammatical rules. Suddenly one lady student who seldom opened her mouth in the
listening class stood up, telling me that the writer was talking about how to make an
advertisement for a kind of perfume. She further explained that she was interested
in reading fashion magazines in her spare time, and people always tried many ways
to advertise their products. That was really out of my expectation because she was
not very strong in listening comprehension.

The text itself was not very difficult linguistically and the students were capable of
understanding it. What caused the comprehension failure?
Just like reading, in listening, there are also two simultaneous and complementary ways of
processing a text. In top-down processing, learners use their prior knowledge to make predictions
about the text. In bottom-up processing, learners rely on their linguistic knowledge to recognize
linguistic elements -- vowels, consonants, words, sentences to do the construction of meaning.
Teachers often think that the learners hear every sound, word or sentences before they
understand the general meaning of the passage. However, in practice, they often adopt a top-
down approach to predict the probable theme and then move to the bottom-up approach to check
their understanding.rAccording to the schema theory, the process of comprehension is guided by
the idea that input is overlaid by the pre-existing knowledge in an attempt to find a match. The
readers must relate textual materials to their background knowledge, so that the new input from a
reading passage is mapped against some prior schema. All aspects of the previously existing
schema must be compatible with the new input from the text. In a commercial society like ours,
my students do not lack the schema for advertising. However the passage is not about the
advertisement for the perfume, but about his thoughts on the ways to advertise. The students
reported that they did not think about the advertisement planning process while they listened to
the passage. The lady student who did well reported that she had read an article on how to
advertise for a famous brand of shirt. Most of the students actually failed because they were not
very familiar with the topic.
In English listening, the content schema must be activated in order for the learners to access their
prior knowledge. Consequently it is our job to use some classroom activities to help them. First
of all, we must assess the students' level of background knowledge on a particular topic before
the students listen to the text. If the students lack specific content schema, we should provide a
remedial lesson on the topic to bring their level of content schema up to the level where they can
better comprehend the text. Or we revise the teaching materials so that they will not be too
demanding for the students. Furthermore, the teachers can use the information gained at this time
to make specific lesson plans for the remainder of the listening lesson on that particular topic.

Activities to Activate Students' Prior Knowledge

To effectively activate the students' prior knowledge, I often use activities in my
listening class and will introduce some of them here in this article.

Word Association Tasks

This method helps to determine what prior knowledge students bring to the new
topic before they listen to the passage. They will respond to a key word or phrase
such as "Crimes are harmful to the society." They can write down as many words
and phrases as possible in five minutes' time related to this topic, or they may write
freely on this topic. While they write, they should not worry about the words and
sentences they write, just pay attention to the content. The whole process takes
about ten minutes. The teacher can write down the main ideas on the board. Then
according to the information, the teacher should adjust his/her teaching plan. The
free association method of assessing background knowledge was originally
developed as part of a pre-reading plan. Later it was further developed as a
measure of prior knowledge. The learners are usually given three content words or
phrases related to a topic and asked to write anything that comes to mind when
they hear each word or phrase. We can also use the semantic webbing method. In
this approach, teachers graphically connect the various concepts and key words
surrounding a particular topic on the blackboard, helping students to see the
possible relationship between ideas discussed. Here we are not creating new
knowledge, but making students aware of the knowledge they already have by
giving structure to the content information. This process will enable them to
connect what they are going to learn with what they have already know.

This teaching process can be done as group work. Students can be divided into several groups to
discuss the topic. Usually each group will come up with different ideas. After a few minutes, the
instructor can ask the group leader to report their discussion results, and help them to put their
ideas into appropriate groups and label them properly. The students are encouraged to refer to a
dictionary as they generate their ideas.
Another Type of Pre-listening Activity Is Questioning.
Usually teachers ask students questions after they finish listening. Here my
suggestion is giving them the questions before they listen to the target text. This
task more closely relates to what happens in the real world. We most often listen to
the speaker to find answers to the questions in our minds, relating to a certain
topic, or to confirm what we already thought to be true. Pre-passage questions
induce a selective attention strategy. If we use a certain textbook, in which
questions always follow a passage, we may ask the students to read the questions
first. By reading the questions, students may build up their own expectations about
the coming information, and also by trying to find answers to these questions, their
prior knowledge on the topic can be activated. They can even have a framework of
the organization of the passage to be read if the questions are arranged in a well-
arranged order.

For instance, students are expected to answer the following questions after they listen to a
passage.
• What are the benefits of the social recognition of marriage for children?
• What are the three areas the speaker will deal with in this lecture?
• What are the three possibilities for the number of mates?
• What are the possibilities for the locality of the marriage?
• What are the possibilities for the transfer of wealth?
Ask the students to read the questions carefully, they will know the main idea of the
passage is marriage customs, and the speaker will mainly talk about the benefits of
social recognition of marriage for the children, the number of mates, the locality of
marriage, and the transfer of wealth after the marriage.
We can also use the student-generated questions by giving them a topic, letting them ask
questions about what kind of information they would like to know, and then asking their
classmates to give answers to the questions. Before they listen to a dialogue between a policeman
and a thief, tell them who the two speakers are, then ask what they may talk about. You may also
ask the learners to role play the dialogue.
However, this method may not be very appropriate for opinion-giving text or fiction. It is best
used for passages that provide factual information. If the passage is too long, one possible
solution for the teacher is divide the text into sections and implement the approach section by
section.
Making List of Possibilities / Ideas / Suggestions
When the text contains lists, even short lists of possibilities /ideas /suggestions or
whatever, it is often a good idea to use list making as the pre-listening activity. This
way the students can use their lists during the listening stage. While the students
make the list, they can use the words and phrases they have already known, or
they can ask their partners to help. Any checking type activity carried out while
listening can then be limited to matching with known language. This can increase
the likelihood of students succeeding with the task. So it is a very motivating
activity, especially for the lower level students.

The list making activity is very good for pair or group work. Students can work it in a relaxed
atmosphere because there is no right answer as to what should be on the list. In the beginning of
the course, when the students are not very familiar with the activity, we may use list-making for
the subjects about which people are very familiar since they are likely to have a lot of ideas. For
instance, "the food people like to eat", "things children are afraid of", etc.
Looking at Pictures Before Listening
I have used this many times with younger learners because they are good at
reading pictures. If you want to check whether the students can name some of the
items in the listening text, pre-listening "looking and talking about" is an effective
way of reminding the students of lexis which they may have forgotten or never
known. It will also help them to focus their attention on the coming topic. This is
very good for narrative or descriptive passages.

Why Are These Activities Important?

Listeners do make use of background knowledge for comprehension. Therefore it
seems logical to teach background knowledge in the second language program. In
China, the textbooks for listening are chosen by the department leaders and
teachers are required to follow the book closely. The texts are taken from various
resources from English speaking countries, which put emphasis on authenticity.
These materials cover a wide range of fields in the target language culture.
However, our students are not culturally ready for these kind of materials. They are
forced to listen to the unknown, the remote and the bizarre, so that they cannot use
the top-down processing strategies very effectively.Therefore they are forced to
listen word by word or even sound by sound. Several scholars recommended the
use of narrowed materials, possibly with the local materials, such as school
newspapers, local novels etc (Carrell& Eisterhold, 1983). They are right to a certain
extent. However as foreign language learners, they cannot always stick to narrow
materials, we may start from narrow materials and gradually move to authentic
materials. So at the beginning of the course, students should be given a pre-test on
their background knowledge. Then we may present listening passages in a graded
order to ensure that for every topic the students have some prior knowledge. The
passages that are learned first would provide background for later passages.
Pre-listening activities usually have two primary goals: a. to bring to consciousness the tools and
strategies that good listeners use when listening, and b. to provide the necessary context for that
specific listening task. Studies show that learners comprehend more of a text if they are familiar
with the text from experience or they have known something about the topic before or they know
in advance what the listening passage concerns. The four kinds of pre-listening activities help to
activate students' prior knowledge, build up their expectations for the coming information and
sometimes even give them a framework of the coming passage. In this way we can help our
students to comprehend better.

What Influences Our Choice of Top-down Activities?

The choice of the activities will depend on a number of factors, such as:

• the time available;

• the material available;
• the ability of the class;
• the nature and content of the listening text itself.
The last item on the list " the nature of the listening text itself" is very important
when choosing activities. Some kind of activities are simply not appropriate to some
types of text, and in other instances, the text itself very naturally makes one type of
activity especially appropriate.
Listening texts which naturally rise to certain kind of top-down activities are particularly useful
and generally quite motivating for the students.
When the instructor designs these kind of activities, they should also take the time element into
consideration. You cannot have a fifteen- minute activity for a passage which will last only three
minutes. Remember the pre-listening process should not last longer than the actual listening
activity. The learners' proficiency is also a factor to consider. The activities should not be too
demanding, otherwise the students will lose their interests.

Conclusion
Top-down processing is very important in listening comprehension. In our native
language, we do not listen to the speaker word by word, and we are sometimes one
step ahead of the speaker. Our students' cognitive level is quite high, and they are
quite strong in comprehension. The only problem is that their English is not very
good. Using top-down activities can quickly help them to transfer their mother
tongue listening strategies into English listening. Activating prior knowledge is
crucial in top-down processing.

References
• Carrell, P. L.& Eisterhold,J. (1983). Schema Theory and ESL Reading
Pedagogy. TESOL Quarterly, 23 (4), 647-678.
• He, Q. etc (1992) Listen to This -- 2. Beijing -- Foreign Language Teaching
and Research Publishing House.
 • Kitao, S.K.C. (1989). Reading, Schema Theory and Second Language learners.
Tokyo; Eichosha Sininsha Co., LTD.
• Chia,H (2001),Reading Activities for Effective top-down Processing. English
Teaching Forum, Vol 39 No 1.
• Underwood, M ( 1989). Teaching listening. New York: Longman Inc.

The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. IX, No. 11, November 2003
http://iteslj.org/

http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Lingzhu-Listening.html

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A cognitive perspective on language learners' listening comprehension problems

References and further reading may be available for this article. To view references
and further reading you must purchase this article.

Christine C. M. Goh,

English Language and Applied Linguistics Division, National Institute of Education,

Nanyang Technological University, 469 Bukit Timah Road, S 259756, Singapore

Received 7 January 1999; revised 9 April 1999; accepted 19 April 1999. Available
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second language listeners. I do this by identifying real-time listening difficulties
faced by a group of English as a second language (ESL) learners and examining
these difficulties within the three-phase model of language comprehension
proposed by Anderson (1995, Cognitive Psychology and its Implications, 4th Edition.
Freeman, New York). Data were elicited from learners' self-reports through the
procedures of learner diaries, small group interviews and immediate retrospective
verbalisations. My analysis showed 10 problems which occurred during the
cognitive processing phases of perception, parsing and utilisation. Five problems
were linked to word recognition and attention failure during perceptual processing.
There were also problems related to inefficient parsing and failure to utilise the
mental representations of parsed input. A comparison of two groups of learners with
different listening abilities showed some similarities in the difficulties experienced,
but low ability listeners had more problems with low-level processing. In the last
part of the article, I highlight the benefits of researching real-time cognitive
constraints during listening and obtaining data through learners' introspection, and
offer some practical suggestions for helping learners become better listeners.

Author Keywords: Listening comprehension problems; Language learning; Cognitive

framework

Article Outline

1. Introduction

2. Understanding learners' listening problems

2.1. Using learners' self-reports

2.2. Adopting a cognitive framework

3. The study

3.1. Informants and methods

3.2. Data analysis

4. Results

4.1. Problems related to perception, parsing and utilisation

4.1.1. Quickly forget what is heard

4.1.2. Do not recognise words they know

4.1.3. Understand words but not the intended message

4.1.4. Neglect the next part when thinking about meaning

4.1.5. Unable to form a mental representation from words heard

4.1.6. Other listening problems

4.2. A comparison of learners with different listening abilities

4.3. Summary of findings

5. Helping learners become better listeners

5.1. Direct strategy: perception and strategy practice

5.2. Indirect strategy: metacognitive awareness raising activities

6. Conclusion

References

Bottom of Form

TEACHING LISTENING PRACTICATILITIES

ABSTRACT
Thispaperdescribes
procedures to be followed by the
teacher when teaching the
listening ability in classroom.
These procedures are based on
recent research in foreign
language learning. The ways
video, music poems and aural
material can be used are
described and various activities
are presented.
Key words:
listening-pre-post-whilelistening-
language-task.
One of the most difficult
ability to be mastered in the
process of acquiring/learning a foreign language is
aural
comprehension. The most frequent complaints
heard from
students is that they do not understand what is
said on
tapes, videos, and any kind ofmedia in general or
even in real
life situations. Students aretrained all their lives to
understand each word of the oraldiscourse and
teachers in generaldo not perceive that most of
thetimes this is not necessary, that sometimes
understanding the
gist already ensures enough
comprehension to respond to a
situation either in real life or in
the classroom answering
questions.
The main purpose of teaching
listening is to expose students to
and allow them to hear different
types of accents, such as British
or American English, Australian,
Indian, French, Swiss and of
many other nationalities in order
to expose them not only to
44 Caminhos
grammar and vocabulary, but
also to rhythm, intonation,
pronunciation and stress of the
world language of English.
Pronunciation is often
different from the phonological
representation found in the
dictionaries; vocabulary is
coloquial and most of the times
the presence of noise hinders
understanding of 100%. Besides
these features of real life
listening, the listener knows in
advance who is speaking, what is
going to be said and the purpose
of listening, that is, the listener
knows the context and has a
reason to listen.
According to Ur (1996), in
real life, in our first language, we
listen to interviews, instructionsloudspeaker
announcements
radio news - television programs
shopping - telephone and on line
chats - lectures - gossip - story
telling - on line productions -
music, among others. We
understand that a teacher has to
expose students to the kind of
discourse above and also call
attention to the following
features present in it. First of all,
the kind of language we hear in
the above situations is informal
ungrammatical, and redundant.
We understand that a teacher
has to expose students to the
kinds of discourse above and call
attention to the following
features present in it:
• the kind of language we hear in
the above situations is
informal, slightly ungrammatical
and redundant. The
language is spoken in short
chunks; the pronunciation is
slurred and noise can prevent
understanding of the whole
text.
• In real situation, the listener
knows in advance the context
(reason to listen and content).
• Listeners can often see the
environment. It is blind when
we listen to a radio or
telephone.
• The time of exposure to speech
is usually not long due to turn
taking
• The speaker may adapt the
discourse depending on the
listener's reactions regarding
understanding (p.105) .
Even though, according to Ur
(1996, pp. 111-112) learners in
general often complain about
the listening class by saying that
they are not able to:
• distinguish the sounds of the
foreign language
• understand every word (it is
difficult for them to accept that
theydonothaveto
understand every word)
• understand people when they
speak fast
• understand when hearing the
text only once
• follow the text when it is too
long
UNIDAVI 45
HOW TO SOLVE THESE
DIFFICULTIES
First of all, students should
have an idea of what they are
going to hear in order to activate
their schemata (background
knowledge) and anticipate what
is going to be said. This will help
students to succeed in the task
which will motivate them. Thus,
teachers can use a picture, a
map, a diagram a written text,
pre teach unknown vocabulary
(when absolutely necessary). It is
essential that curiosity is
awakened by giving some hints
to special messages hidden in the
context. For example, the teacher
could use a little bit of discourse
analysis on the passage to be
heard by calling their attention
to irony traces, power relations,
genre, and conclusions drawn
from inferences in order to
motivate students to listen.
Second, students should have
a reason to listen because the
purpose guides the listener to
listen selectively for specific
information to fulfill their
curiosity. Thus, the teacher
should give the task first, that is,
set the question or explain what
piece of information they have to
find out. For example, the
teacher asks the students:
“What did Sally choose to eat?”
and then plays the part that
contains this answer. He stops
and checks the answer. In case
students are not able to provide
the answer, the teacher repeats
Figura 1 - The task text/ tape/ video/ feedback
circle
Source: Scrivener,1994, p. 150.
46 Caminhos
the same passage. The teacher
again asks the next question and
plays the part of the corresponding
answer. He checks it with
the students and continues to
the other questions till the end of
the listening passage. The
students should not listen to the
entire passage twice, for
example, and then answer
comprehension questions;
instead, teacher and student
should interact all the time and
students should answer questions
while listening.
This procedure is shown in
figure 1
Furthermore, the listening
class can be more enjoyable if :
• the texts are not too long
• there is a maximum of three
speakers whose voice can be
easily distinguished
• the speakers speak at normal
speed using simple grammar
and vocabulary
• there are no background noises
• there is image (video or live),
not just audio
• the students have knowledge
about the topic
• there is repetition (redundancies)
and pauses in the text
• the text is of the students'
interest.
LISTENING STRATEGIES
Some actions can be taken by
the learners which seem to lead
to a more successful mastering
of language skills. Thus, to
enhance listening comprehension
the following steps can be
undertaken by the learners
(Oxford, 1990).
• Watch TV shows or movies or
listen to the radio in the new
language.
• Attend and participate in outof-
class events where the new
language is spoken.
• Try to understand what has
been heard or read without
translating it word-for-word
into one´s language.
• When not understanding all
the words read or heard, guess
the general meaning by using
any clue found, for example,
clues from the context or
situation.
• In a conversation anticipate
what the other person is going
to say based on what has been
said before.
• When someone is speaking in
the new language try to concentrate
on what the person is
saying and put unrelated topics
out of mind.
• Take responsibility for finding
opportunities to practise the
new language.
• Look actively for people with
whom it is possible to speak
UNIDAVI 47
the new language.
• If not understanding, ask the
speaker to slow down, repeat,
or clarify what was said
• Ask other people to verify if
what has been said or understood
is correct.
• In conversation with other in
the new language, ask questions
in order to be as involved
as possible and to show
interest.
By keeping in mind the above
hints, the teacher will be
exposing the students to real life
listening since its characterists
mentioned before will be
present. The above hints can
also be solutions for the
problems presented by Ur (1996,
p. 111-112).
Moreover, there are some
techniques that help soften the
process:
• Keep the recording short not
more than 2 minutes or so.
• Play the tape a sufficient
number of times (the teacher
often finds material easy and
does not play the tape enought
times).
• Let students discuss answers
together - pairs/small groups.
• Don´t immediately acknowledge
correct answers with
words or facial expressions -
throw answers back to the
class: What do you think of X´s
answer - do you agree?
• Don´t be led by one strong
student. Have they all got it?
• Aim to get the students to
agree together without your
help. Until they agree, play the
tape again whenever they need
to hear it, to confirm or refute
their ideas.
• Play little bits of the tape (a
word, a phrase, a sentence)
again and again until it is clear.
• Give help if they are completely
stuck - but with the aim of
getting them to work it out if
at all possible (eg “There are
three words in this sentence”
or “Listen to what she says
here”) rather than giving them
the answers.
• Give them control of the tape
recorder - to listen as and when
and to what they wish.
• Don´t cheat them by changing
your requirements halfway - ie
don´t set one task but then
afterwards ask for answers to
something completely different!
• Try to make sure the task is
within their abilities. It should
be difficult, but achievable.
The sense of achievement in
finishing a task should be
great: “It was difficult - but we
did it!”
(SCRIVENER, 1994, p. 149)
Gower et al (1995, p. 88) add
to the above by stating that a
teacher can make a listening task
48 Caminhos
easy when:
• The texts are fairly short.
• They have only one speaker, or two speakers
who are easy to tell apart.
• The speaker(s) speak slowly
(though naturally), in a standard
accent, and use simple grammar and vocabulary.
• The speakers can be heard
clearly - there is no distracting background noise.
• The speakers can be heard and
are `live´or on video rather than recorded solely on
audio.
• The topic is familiar.
• The structure of the text is
simple and straightforward butnot too dense -
there is repetition, pausing, etc.
• The students are interested in and prepared for
what they will hear.
TYPES OF LISTENING
ACTIVITIES
According to Ur (1998, p.
113-114) listening activities can
be classified in four categories
which will be addressed below.
01. No overt response - facial
expression and body language
signal understanding or not
when the student is not required
to verbalize the response. This is
the case of story telling, jokes,
songs and sometimes video.
02. Short responses
• Obeying instructions=
learners perform what they
are told to ( physical exercises, drawings, general
instructions).
• Ticking off items in a list
according to what they hear.
• Detecting mistakes True
or false - the teacher hands
out a series of statements about a video or aural
recorded text which the students are going to
watch
or listen to and the teacher reads these statements
together with the students in order to prepare
them for the
activity. Then the students watch or listen to the
recorded text and decide
which statements are true and which are false.
Remember to work with the hand out first in order
to
prepare the students for the activity. Always set
the task first.
• Cloze - students receive a hand out of a text with
gaps
to be filled in. After listening to the complete text,
they
should write in the missing words. The procedure
should
be like this: (a) the teacher goes through the
worksheet
with the students; (b) teacher plays the whole
recorded text
to show context; (c) teacher plays the recorded
text stopping after each one or
UNIDAVI 49
two gaps according to the
level of difficulty of the material; (d) teacher plays
the
recorded text as many times as necessary to the
full
comprehension; (e) students listen to the whole
text again as a follow up.
• Guessing definitions - the
teacher reads a short text which describes a
person,
thing or place and the students have to find out
what this is. This activity is suitable for all levels;
can be
the teacher´s own production and uses very short
classtime.
• Skimming and scanning -
students listen to a fairly short text and have to
identify the
general idea/gist (skimming) or else to a specific
information
(scanning). The teacher should remember to set
the questions first before students listen to the
passage.
03. Longer responses - depending
on the proficiency level of the group the teacher
can ask the
students to provide longer responses such as
answering
questions which demand long answers, note-
taking, paraphrasing
a listening text,
summarizing a listening text,
filling in more than one word in a
gap, discussion of a problem that
was heard. The teacher may
bring to the class a recorded
literary passage and students just
listen to it, comment, identify the
tone (dramatic, ironic, sarcastic,
comic, happy, etc) of a passage
read aloud. The internet is a
good source for this type of free
material.
04. Extended responses - the
listening activity is seen as a
means of introducing another
ability like writing or speaking to
build an integrated skills lesson.
Thus students may hear a
passage which will serve as a
bridge to foster a discussion to
write an essay or a short
composition.
According to Nunan (in
RICHARDS and RENANDYA, 2002,
p. 242247) the teaching of
listening nowadays is not
focusing on form, instead itfocuses on meaning.
The
teaching of listening shouldinvolve three stages in
a listeningclass:
Pre-listening = preparing
students to listen
As a general principle, try toplay the recording
once for
overall comprehension
• Tell your students they shouldn’t worry that they
have to
understand every word they hear.Not every word is
important!
• Where possible, make surestudents know what
they are
Listening for before you startlistening. Explain they
should50 Caminhos
focus only on the informationthey need.
• Give two or three general
questions to check students comprehension of the
basicdetails.
• If possible, check for any words
that your students may notknow. Pre-teach these
so they
do not interfere with understanding.
• Brainstorm students' ideas onthe topic they are
going to
listen to. This will help focus them.
• Don't choose a listening that istoo long. If
necessary, stop the
recording at certain points andreview what
students have
understood so far.
While listening = listening
to carry out tasks
• Play the recording again for
specific details.
• Tell students to note any dates,
people or places they hear.
• Divide students into groups
and give each group a different
listening task (e.g. different
questions). Then swap their
answers and have students
listen again and check their
classmates' answers.
• Don't be afraid to repeat the
recording… especially the parts
students have most trouble
understanding.
Post-listening = follow up
• Tell students to compare their
notes and discuss what they
understood in pairs or small
groups.
• Encourage students to respond
to what they heard. For
example, where possible ask
questions like Do you agree?
and encourage debate.
• Tell pairs to write a summary of
the main points. Then have
them compare their summaries
and check if they covered all
the main points.
• Play the recording again and
tell students to call out 'Stop!'
when they hear the answers
they were listening for.
• Put students into groups and
tell them to make a list of
comprehension questions to
ask each other.
• Tell students to make a list in
their notebooks of any new
vocabulary they feel is useful.
In sum, according to Goh
(2003,pp3-5),aural
comprehension involves more
than one ability when listening
and that is why students should
be exposed to various kinds of
tasks which practise the
following:
• Comprehension of details
UNIDAVI 51
which calls for specific
information such as numbers
and key words.
• Comprehension of main ideas
or listening for gist
• Comprehension to infer, that is,
the speaker may omit certain
information and the hearer
should be able to bridge the
gap by using inference.
• Comprehension to select
information, that is, depending
on the goal of the hearer,
attention will be concentrated
on the parts that are of
interest.
• Comprehension to predict, that
is, the hearer tries to predict
what is going to be said, what
should be said and tries to
confirm these predictions.
USING SONGS IN THE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
CLASSROOM
The acquisition of vocabulary
is enhanced when there is a
combination of music and
pedagogically-sound techniques;
thus,foreignlanguage
acquisition is more successful
when combined with music
(www.geocities.com/ESLmusic/ar
ticles/articles03.html.).
Music has shown to be a very
important factor of motivation in
the EFL classroom. Whenever you
tell your students that they are
going to listen to music, they
immediately respond with
eagerness, curiosity and
attentiveness to the proposed
activity. Music creates a relaxing
and enjoyable atmosphere
resulting in a successful learning
environment. Thus, music can be
an effective teaching tool since
students who are usually quiet
engage in the class activity.
Besides being fun and enhance
learning, music is generally a
good reference in terms of
culture because it brings
information about human
relations, ethics, customs,
history, humor and regional and
cultural differences.
Below several steps and tips
are presented:
• Songs, rhymes and chants are
good means of teaching stress
and intonation patterns of
English.
• Songs constitute a context for
language use for children.
They become more outgoing
when they play or sing.
• Music becomes easier to
imitate and remember language
because it ´sticks.´
• Songs have high frequency
vocabulary and facilitate
memorizing when associated
with a linguistic item.
• Like poetry music develops
students´creativity and interpretation
skills because it
allows for different kinds of
interpretations and meanings.
52 Caminhos
• Teachers should plan a class
with music very carefully and
not just using it as a means of
killing time with almost always
the same type of activity, i.e.,
gap filling.
• Gap filling exercises should
deal with very easy vocabulary.
In case the song chosen
presents too many unknown
words, these should be pretaught.
Another variation
could be the listing of the new
words which are to be filled in
so that the students use them
as hints.
• The title of the song should be
given after the activity so that
students do not have in mind
a pre-determined interpretation
of it.
• It is essential to have a good
sound equipment.
• Students at the elementary
level should not be corrected in
order not to discourage them
to participate, while students
beyond this level should be
corrected regarding grammar
and accuracy (in case the
activity allows it).
• A class with music can also be
productive with blind and
partially deaf students since
they can feel the rhythm better
and use their creativity to
visualize the content.
• While preparing the activities
with songs, the teacher should
not forget to listen to the
whole song thoroughly and
pay attention to whether there
areunaudiblewords.
Moreover, having a colleague
doing the activity as a way of
pre-testing it will ensure a
successful lesson; thus,
avoiding embarassing situations
which indicate an
unprepared teacher.
• Depending on the type of
activity it is useful to number
the verses in order to make
correction easier specially
when the exercise deals with
gap filling, synonyms, verb
tenses, etc.
(Adapted from Malgorzata, 2000
“Using Music in the Classroom” ).
Selecting music:
• The lyrics should be clear and
loud.
• The vocabulary should be
appropriate to the level.
• Short and slow songs are
suggested for beginning-level
students while songs that tell
stories can be used with higher
level students.
• Exercises on vocabulary and
tenses are good to begin with.
The lyrics of some songs can
bring up interesting discussions
(debate) on a certain topic or to
different interpretations. Ex.
• Simon and Garfunkel - El
Condor Pasa
UNIDAVI 53
• Pink Floyd - The Wall
• Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge
over Troubled Water - compared
to James Taylor - You´ve got a
friend
• John Lennon's Working Class
hero (work)
• Bruce Springsteen - The River
(work)
• Cat Stevens - New York times
(city life)
(http://www.esl-lounge.com
/songsab.html ).
Suggestions of activities:
01. Filling in gaps for: rhyming
words; grammatical words; verb
tenses; synonyms and antonyms.
02. Match
• columns of English words from
the song with their native
language equivalents;
• English words (ex: synonyms or
antonyms with a given list in
the mother tongue)
• The mother tongue and the
English verses, but do not
separate the verses into
stanzas
03. Find a synonym or antonym
of an English word in a verse or a
stanza that means the same as a
given word in the mother
tongue.
04. Comprehension questions
after other exercises to work on
more detailed vocabulary and
grammar.
05. Transformation exercises. Ex:
change sentences from active to
passive; from direct into indirect
speech; from masculine to
feminine point of view (the
students change all the personal
pronouns and possessives).
06. Separate the verses on a
continuous paragraph with
dashes;
(http://usuarios.lycos.es/jcac0012
/lyrics/ideaslyrics.html )
07. Put the stanzas into the correct
order;
08. Messenger and scribe = the
teacher sticks on the wall outside
the classroom chunks of the
lyrics. Students work in pairs
(one is the messenger and the
other is the scribe) . The scribe
goes out, reads the chunks, tries
to memorize as much as possible
and returns to the classroom and
dictates the text to the scribe
who writes the message down.
At the end they listen to the song
and put the chunks in order.
09. Multiple choice lyrics = the
teacher prepares different
versions of some of the lyrics.
Students listen to the song and
underline the correct ones (Ex:
'we both love our freedom / we'll
always be/ we´ll never be
together …..' ).
10. Extra words the teacher adds
some extra words to the lyrics
and the students listen to identify
54 Caminhos
and correct them.
Poems, like songs, contextualize
a grammar lesson
effectively. Since poetry is often
spoken, repeated, dealt with,
and considered, it acts as an
effective tool for practicing a
specific grammatical structure.
Throughrepeatingand
considering the poem, the
grammatical structures become
more deeply internalized. Thus,
poetry not only provides a
rewardingresourcefor
structured practice of grammar,
but also a proper basis for
review. If a poem that exemplifies
a particular structure is also a
good poem, it engages the eye,
the ear and the tongue
simultaneously while also
stimulating and moving us; this
polymorphic effect makes poetry
easier to memorize than other
things for many students (Celce-
Murcia and Hills, 1988, p.123).
An interesting idea would be
to compare a poem to a song.
Ask the students to read the
poem, explain the vocabulary, if
necessary, and then play the
song. Students then write or
discuss the differences between
them. For example:
The road not taken
Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow
wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I
could
To where it bent in the
undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as
fair,
And having perhaps the better
claim,
Because it was grassy and
wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing
there
Had worn them really about the
same,
And both that morning equally
lay
In leaves no step had trodden
black.
Oh, I kept the first for another
day!
Yet knowing how way leads on
to way,
I doubted if I should ever come
back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages
hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the
difference.
(http://www.tnellen.com/cyberen
g/road_not.html)
My Way
Frank Sinatra
And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
UNIDAVI 55
My friend, I'll say it clear,
I'll state my case, of which I'm
certain.
I've lived a life that's full.
I've traveled each and ev'ry
highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.
Regrets, I've had a few;
But then again, too few to
mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without
exemption.
I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the
byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.
Yes, there were times, I'm sure
you knew
When I bit off more than I could
chew.
But through it all, when there
was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And did it my way.
I've loved, I've laughed and cried.
I've had my fill; my share of
losing.
And now, as tears subside,
I find it all so amusing.
To think I did all that;
And may I say - not in a shy way,
"no, oh no not me,
I did it my way".
For what is a man, what has he
got?
If not himself, then he has
naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who
kneels.
The record shows I took the
blows -
And did it my way!
(http://www.lyricsfreak.com/f/fra
nk-sinatra/56378.html)
The selection of the activities
songs or poems should depend
on the temperament of the class.
Music can also be used in order
to just create a relaxing and
creative atmosphere leading
students to mental fantasies
which can be associated to
moving image such as videos.
According to Maley ( in
Stempleski & Tomalin, 2001,
p.ix), “film attracts students
through the power in has to tell a
story. ”
USING VIDEO IN THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE CLASSROOM
Among the four abilities
listening comprehension is
generally considered the most
difficult to be mastered. With
theimplementationof
technology, however, listening in
the classroom has become more
enjoyable and less pressing with
56 Caminhos
the use of VCR, DVD, cable TV,
and the Internet since students
can see what is happening, that
is, they have a context while they
hear what is being said. Besides
context, the image allows
students to observe facial
expressions, body language and
cultural aspects. It can even be
used with adults and also with
children who cannot read and
write well yet.
There are two kinds of video
material:
• Instructional videos are
specially devised to be used in
classrooms and the language
content and length are tailored
to teach the form of the
language. They can be presented
in single episodes or in the form
of a soap opera. Single episodes
tend to be more interesting since
they are usually humorous while
soap operas tend to make
students impatient since they
want to know the end of the
story and do not want to wait for
a next class. Examples:
ON TRACK - Oxford
HEADWAY (which accompanies
the Headway series - Oxford)
ONLY IN AMERICA - Oxford
GRAPEVINE - Oxford
ENGLISH CHANNEL - Oxford
• Authentic videos include
movies, television programs,
news broadcasts which present
real-language spoken at a normal
speed not controlled or adjusted
as the instructional videos which
present real-language, but as
said above, are tailored to
present specific language items.
Examples of movies appreciated
by students are: Shrek, Monsters
Inc., Toy Story,A Bug´s Life, The
Simpsons; Finding Nemo; Ice
Age.
Stages of a video lesson
As already explained in figure
1, the video lesson follows the
same guidelines as a listening
lesson. Before presenting the
video (pre-viewing), teachers
have to prepare students for the
viewing by discussing vocabulary,
discussing aspects of culture and
predicting content, for example.
While viewing, the teacher
should pay attention to
students´ reactions to check
whether they are understanding
or not. At this stage, the teacher
should use the pause, rewind,
and play buttons whenever
needed. After viewing, the
teacher should prepare follow up
activities and discussions.
Below are some tips to ensure
a successful video class:
• Be fully conversant with the
tape (contents, length, order,
etc.).
• Always check the tape
beforehand: quality, format
(PAL, SECAM, long play/ short
play, etc.).
• Always check the VCR/DVD/TV
beforehand: power supply,
connections, remote control,
channel, etc.
• Always try to work with a
remote control.
• Make sure you are familiar with
the VCR/DVD and its controls
(play, pause, rewind, volume,
channels, etc.).
• Before the lesson insert the
tape, cue it and zero de
VCR/DVD.
• Check the volume, tone and
angle of view from different
parts of the room.
• Make sure you rewind to the
right place. Take your time.
Nothing is worse than losing
your place.
• Try creating your own
worksheets tailored to an
authentic sequence.
• Give students something to
watch or listen while the tape
is playing. This can get
increasingly difficult or detailed
with each repetition.
• Don´t play a tape without
giving an introduction or
setting the context (unless
there is a good reason for not
doing so).
• Let the tape do the work.
Don´t say yourself what the
tape says.
• Don´t play a tape for too long
without stopping.
• Be sensitive and realistic as to
what students can be expected
to memorize.
(http://usuarios.lycos.es/jcac0012
/lyrics/ideaslyrics.html )
VIDEO ACTIVITIES
01. “In the news”
• Tell the students they are going
to see a film clip showing an
event that might be reported in
a newspaper. Explain that you
will play the film clip twice.
Their task is to watch to get the
general idea, and then to
watch again and make notes to
answer the questions on the
worksheet.
• Introduce the activity by
discussing news reporting with
the class. Explain the difference
between:
Reporter = It's a person who
finds out and reports about facts
(or events) in the media(
newspaper, magazines, radio, TV,
etc)
Journalist = It's the person
who writes about news, makes
(writes)commentsfor
newspapers and magazines or
texts for TV and radio, editing
and preparing the material.
Then the teacher asks:
How many different kinds of
reporters can you name? ( Sports
reporter, news reporter, crime
reporter, etc.)
UNIDAVI 57
Do you think that being a
reporter is a good profession?
Why? (The advantages and
disadvantages of being a
reporter)
• Explain that the factual content
of a news story usually answers
questions based on the “five
Ws and an H” of an event.
• Students watch the sequence .
After watching, teacher writes
the “Wh” questions on the
board. Go over the items to
make sure the students
understand what they should
do.
• Students answer the questions
or write about the event based
on the questions.
- Who is the story about?
- What happened? List the
important events and facts of
the story
- When did it happen? Be as
specific as you can about the
date and time
- Where did the event take
place?
- Why and how did it happen?
What reasons or causes were
given for what happened?
• When they have completed
their questions, divide the class
into small groups and get
students to compare and
discuss the items on the
worksheet.
• Finally, in the lesson or as
homework, students work
individually or in pairs and
write up a short news based on
the film clip.
(Stempleski, Susan and Barry
Tomalin, 2001, p.69).
02 Video Bingo.
This is something that can be
done using video in the class,
specifically to practice functional
or situational English.
Choose a video or video clip in
which you know there will be a
lot of functional language e.g.
inviting, accepting, offering,
requesting, etc. Thus, for
example, you could show a clip
of people in a bar or restaurant
making their orders.
Elicit and practice the relevant
language beforehand and then
give the students a simple 3 by 3
tic-tac-toe grid, as follows:
Then, getting the students to
work in pairs or small groups, the
58 Caminhos
teacher asks them to predict the
language they are going to hear.
It is vital for the teacher to set the
scene accurately of the video the
students are about to see. In this
way, the students will not be
guessing blindly. The teacher tells
the students that there must be
at least three words in their
predictions, so they can't just
guess 'Yes please' , but 'No thank
you' is fine.
Here is an example of a
student's prediction grid to give
you an idea of the sort of
functional language you could
target and the amount of clues
you should give beforehand.
The example situation, as
described by the teacher, was 'a
couple ordering a meal in a
restaurant and the woman is
vegetarian.'
If you want, you can employ a
simple scoring system whereby
the groups get a point for every
word in a correct prediction - this
would be an incentive for them
to guess, for instance, 'can we
have the…' and not just 'can we
have…'. Or you can stick to
classic bingo rules and have wins
awarded for lines and full house.
(http://www.esl-
lounge.com/level2/lev2videobing
o.html)
03. Pink Panther Cartoon
The Pink Panther shows
without telling, leaving it to your
students to do the telling, with
your help. They're wonderful
stories that allow you to use
language of whatever level of
difficulty matches your students
ability.
(http://www.eslcafe.com/ideas/se
fer.cgi?display:918180788-
14980.txt)
No, thank you. I'll have the... Can we have the...
I don't eat meat Asd for dessert? Yes, of course
What would you like... How would you like... No, that's all.
UNIDAVI 59
CONCLUSION
With the current changes in
teaching English as a foreign
language the listening classes
nowadays are not used anymore
as a means of teaching grammar,
but they can become an
enjoyable time for students to
learn to hear the language in
real-life situations and learn how
to interact with one another,
besides becoming culturally
aware. This is possible due to
another development in English
language methodology which
has recently seen authentic
materials as sources of input that
contribute to the process of
becoming competent in listening
. Listening is not just testing,
that is, getting answers right. On
the other hand, to have a
successful listening class in which
students are able to comprehend
at least the gist, the teacher
should have in mind the need of
teaching strategies, that is,
hints to prepare students to
achieve better listening skills.
Also, rather than grading the
texts, the tasks should be graded.
The process is more important
than the product. Success in a
listening class can also be
achieved if the class follows the
steps of pre-listening, while
listening and post-listening. Most
important it is for students to
have clearly in their minds that
the process is more important
than answering correctly and this
means that sometimes not every
word has to be understood.
Finally, frequent exposure to well
planned listening classes, which
take into account students´
motivation and feelings, will
certainly result in students with a
good competence in the listening
skill.
60 Caminhos
REFERENCES
CELCE-MURCIA, M. & Hilles, S. . Techniques and resources in
teaching grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press,1988.
GOH, C.M. Ensino da Compreensão Oral em Aulas de Idiomas. São
Paulo: SBS- Special Books Services, 2003.
GOWER, R.; PHILLIPS, D. and WALTERS, S. Teaching Practice
Handbook. London. Heinemann Educational Books, 1995.
MALEY, A . (ed) Film. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
MALGORZATA, J. “Using Music in the classroom.” Forum, 38(4), 30,
2000.
MURPHEY, T. Music and Song. Oxford: OUP, 2000.
NUNAN, David. “The changing face of listening” in RICHARDS, J.C. and
RENANDYA, W.A. (eds). Methodology in Language Teaching An
Anthology of Current Practice.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2001.
OXFORD, R.L. Language learning strategies what every teacher
should know. New York: Newbury House Publishers, 1990.
SCRIVENER, J. Learning Teaching. London. Macmillan Heinemann
Educational Books, 1994.
STEMPLESKI, Susan and Barry Tomalin. Film. Oxford: OUP, 2001.
TANNER, R. and GREEN, C. Tasks for teacher Education
coursebook. Addison Wesley Longman Limited, 1998.
______Tasks for teacher Education trainer´s book. Addison Wesley
Longman Limited, 1998.
TOMALIN, B. Teaching English with Technology. Chelmsford, Esses:
IBI Multimedia, 2001.
UR, P. A Course in English Language Teaching. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Internet resources for poems:
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Saricoban-Songs.html
UNIDAVI 61
Internet resources for songs:
www.geocities.com/ESLmusic/articles/articles03.html
http://www.esl-lounge.com/songsab.html
http://usuarios.lycos.es/jcac0012/lyrics/ideaslyrics.html
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/f/frank-sinatra/56378.html
http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/road_not.html
Internet resources for videos:
http://usuarios.lycos.es/jcac0012/lyrics/ideaslyrics.html
http://www.esl-lounge.com/level2/lev2videobingo.html
http://www.eslcafe.com/ideas/sefer.cgi?display:918180788-14980.txt
62 Caminhos

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Developing Listening Skills with Authentic Materials

by Lindsay Miller
For too long listening has been relegated to a secondary position in the English
language teaching classroom. This stems, in part, from the fact that whereas a
considerable amount of research has been conducted into reading, writing and
speaking--research which has influenced our approaches to teaching language and
has also influenced how textbooks have been written (see sidebar)--there has been
a lack of research interest into listening. Some of the reasons for this lack of
research interest come from the fact that speaking was always considered a more
"valuable" skill to focus on in the classroom; that researchers and teachers have
often considered that listening was something which could just be "picked up"; and
as researchers and teachers had not been taught listening themselves, they saw
little need for developing a specific research agenda or approaches to teaching
listening.

It is indeed interesting that listening has not received wider attention in the past
given that it is the language skill most often used in everyday life. More than forty
percent of our daily communication time is spent on listening, thirty-five percent on
speaking, sixteen percent on reading, and only nine percent on writing (Burely-Allen
1995).
Although listening has been a relatively neglected skill in terms of research and
how it is introduced to language learners, it is now beginning to receive more
attention. In the past few years we have seen the publication of several major texts,
both practical and theoretical, specifically dealing with listening skills: Mendelson
and Rubin 1995; Nunan and Miller 1995; Buck 2000; Rost 2002; Flowerdew and
Miller, in press. In conjunction with these books, there is now a greater awareness
among teachers that we have to help learners develop their listening skills, rather
than rely on the skill developing itself.
The question of how to help learners develop effective listening skills brings
attention to the methods we use and the type of materials we introduce our
learners to. The aim of all listening lessons should be to allow learners a greater
degree of independence when confronted with listening to the foreign language in a
real world context, and that means using authentic texts. Authentic texts are any
spoken texts which have not been specially prepared for language learners, and
they are often delivered via technologies like radio, television/video, and the
Internet or CD-ROM.
In the rest of this article I would like to suggest a process for helping learners
develop their listening skills, and make suggestions as how this might be achieved
with authentic materials.
Pre-, While-, and Post-Listening
One of the main advancements to come out of research into listening strategies was
the understanding that listening exercises could be divided into three main parts:
Pre-listening, While-listening, Post-listening activities. This format has proved useful
in taking the attention off continually testing listening and has allowed learners to
do other things with the information that they listen to. For instance, a teacher can
initiate a short discussion with the learners in the pre-listening stage as to what
they think of the topic before they listen to the text (activating world and personal
knowledge). Then the learners can be asked to use whatever information they
gathered from a text to have an extended discussion in a post-listening stage
(allowing for more individualization and critical comments to be developed). In
between these two stages, learners can be helped to focus on their listening by
careful selection of tasks that are meaningful and that cater to developing specific
listening skills rather than on constantly measuring performance through test-like
exercises.
I will use this established format of pre-, while-, and post-listening activities and
make some suggestions as to how they can be used with authentic materials
delivered through technological media.
Radio
Using real-time radio in class is one of the more easily accessible forms of authentic
listening practice we can give our learners. The airwaves are filled with programs
twenty-four hours per day, and the low cost of radios means that most language
teachers can obtain a radio and take it to class. Radio stations such as BBC World
Service (BBC) and Voice of America (VOA) are constantly on-air. Meanwhile, many
non-English speaking countries also broadcast some programs, or even have
dedicated stations, in English. Although radios are easy to access, they are perhaps
the most difficult of aural text for language learners to listen to. The reason for this
is that all non-verbal information is missing, information which can aid in helping
understand the message, and the learner has to focus on the skill which is most
difficult for him or her--listening.
In order to use radio programs with learners teachers need to select a program
at a suitable time for their class and decide on some global listening tasks for the
learners. For instance, with an intermediate group of learners about to listen to a
radio program on travel we might adopt the following procedure:
Stage 1: Pre-Listening Task Today we are going to listen to a travel program
on the radio for ten minutes. Before we listen, who has made a trip recently? Where
did you go? What did you see?
The radio guide tells us in that this program is about Egypt. What do you know
about Egypt? What would you like to know about Egypt? What kind of information
do you think the presenter will give us?
Stage 2: While-Listening Task While you listen to the program, try to listen
for the main things the presenter recommends doing while in Egypt. Don¹t try to
write anything down, only listen to the program and see how much you can
understand.
Stage 3: Post-Listening Task In groups of three have a short discussion about
what you heard from the program. Would you like to go to Egypt based on what you
just heard? Why or why not?
In using the radio in the way suggested here we allow learners access to native
speaker models, something which might be missing from their normal classroom
experiences. Also, we place the focus on extensive listening for pleasure and take
the emphasis off testing what the learners hear (that is why we ask the learners not
to write while they listen).
TV/Video
Using television or videos in the classroom allows the learners access to more
information when listening. That is, the learners can now see what is happening as
well as listen to the text. Non-verbal behavior or paralinguistic features of the
spoken text are now available to the learners (compared with radio, that is), so
learners can develop their listening skills in a richer language context.
Many language learners watch movies outside of class time, but few of them
consider this as an opportunity to develop their listening skills (perhaps because
they become used to reading the sub-titles of English movies). Going to a movie is
considered as entertainment and often "doesn¹t count" in terms of learning. We
can, however, in the language classroom, sensitize our learners to how they can
make use of movies to help them develop their second language listening skills.
With an elementary-level class of learners we might consider the following out-of-
class activity:
Stage 1: Pre-Viewing Task This weekend there is an English movie on TV.
Does anyone know what it is? What time is it on? Which channel is it on? Please
write the name, time and channel down as this is your homework task.
Stage 2: While-Viewing Task I would like you to watch the movie this
weekend, or try to watch as much as you can. Focus on listening to the movie
instead of reading the subtitles. Try to collect the following information: kind of
movie (comedy, romance, action, horror), names of the main characters (male,
female, animal), where does the movie take place (inside, outside, on land, at sea,
country), what is the main idea in the movie?
Stage 3: Post-Viewing Task (the next lesson) Who watched the movie last
weekend? What can you tell us about it? This generic format can be repeated as
many times as you like, and once learners have developed the habit of watching
and listening to English language movies with some kind of focus, they will get used
to this type of exposure to listening for pleasure, and you may then move on to
more critical post-viewing tasks--e.g., Do you think we should go to war with each
other (after viewing a war movie).
The Internet/CD-ROM
There has been a rapid increase in the development of Internet facilities and CD-
ROMs. This has been prompted, partly, by the more powerful computers we have
these days and has been partly driven by the users' demands for more interesting
and innovative applications of the technology. We are able to direct our learners to
sites on the Internet where they can practice their listening as long as they have
access to the appropriate computer hardware.
There are several benefits computer software has over radio or television. For
instance, many CD-ROMs now have glossaries and online scripts, so that when
problems are encountered, the learners can get online help. In addition to this,
many younger learners wish to learn or use their computer skills nowadays, so the
prospect of developing computer skills along with developing their language skills
may seem attractive to these learners. With an advanced group of learners we
might consider having extended critical and creative discussion about the news:
Stage 1: Pre-Listening Task Tomorrow in class we will have some discussion
about what¹s in the news. In order to do this I would like you do access at least two
of the following websites: http://www.bbc.co.uk, http://www.avoa. gov or
http://npr.org (National Public Radio) and listen to different versions of the main
stories.
Once you are in the website you can choose audio or video presentations. You
can also look for related items. Just surf around until you feel you have collected
enough information for our discussion in class.
Stage 2: While-Listening Task Students may either work at home or in a
computer lab at school to collect the information they require.
Stage 3: Post-Listening Task (the next class) First I would like you to sit in
groups according to one of the websites you visited. So lets have a group of BBC
listeners/viewers, one of VOA, and one of NPR to begin with. In your groups discuss
what the main news stories were. Only exchange information at this stage. Now
change groups and have one person for each website in groups of three. Explain to
the other members in your group the main stories in the order they were presented
on the Web. Then discuss your reaction to these stories. Consider how important
you think the item is, what angle the broadcast company took when presenting the
stories, and what this story means to you personally. This use of the Internet and
computer technology integrates several authentic activities for the learners and
widens the scope of developing listening skills. In addition to this, learners are now
given more autonomy over their language learning and the links between classroom
and real-world learning becomes more obvious to them.
Richer Learning Experiences
With the increased awareness of the need to help second-language learners
develop effective listening skills and with the greater availability of technology
nowadays, teachers are able to explore more creative ways of teaching listening in
and out of the class using authentic materials. Once we begin to explore the
possibilities, a few of which are outlined here, we offer a richer language learning
experience for our learners and create good listeners into the bargain.
SIDEBAR
The Question of Authenticity
When preparing learners for academic listening, English language teachers often
choose to use a textbook with a title like Academic listening: preparing students for
lectures. Such textbooks are widely used on pre-sessional courses, and many
students and their teachers diligently work their way through the textbook in the
belief that they are preparing for the real thing. However, my colleague John
Flowerdew and I conducted an investigation of an authentic economics and finance
lecture (Flowerdew and Miller, 1997). We found that what academic listening
textbooks prepared learners for was very different from the "real thing." We
transcribed and analyzed a lecture discourse and then compared it to a selection of
academic listening textbooks, this is what we found:
1. The authentic lecture was structured at the micro-level of discourse. There were
lots of uses of "and," "so," "but," many pauses, and filled pauses with the use of
"ah" and "er." On the other hand, textbook lectures had complete clauses and fewer
pauses.
2. The authentic lecture discourse contained many false starts, redundancies and
repetitions. None of these show up in English language teaching (ELT) textbooks.
3. The lecturer made use of a variety of extra linguistic features such as body
movements and kinesics. Textbook texts are usually only audio recorded so such
cues are missing.
4. In the real lecture the lecturer made an attempt to establish a rapport with the
students; he a) tried to make the lecture non-threatening and empathized with the
students, b) personalized many of his references, and c) checked that the students
were following the lecture as he delivered it. The impersonal nature of an audio text
cannot simulate any of these features.
5. As the authentic lecture lasted for two hours, the lecturer made use of a narrative
thread to hold his talk together, that is, he told a story and continually returned to
the theme of the story. ELT textbooks, on the other hand, rarely have recordings of
more than a few minutes and cannot sustain any narrative thread.
6. The lecturer made use of macro-markers to signpost his way through the talk and
to refer to future lectures, e.g., "Last week we saw howŠ.." "In next week's lecture I
am going to move on toŠ..". In this way he structured the lecture around the series
of talks he was going to give to the students. Textbooks cannot do this as most of
their texts are stand-alone lectures.
7. The lecturer made use of a variety of visual aids during his talk including the
white board, overhead transparencies and pre-lecture reading text. None of these
were used in the textbooks analyzed. This detailed lecture analysis illustrates that
authentic texts should also be used when helping learners prepare for listening to
lectures. By only using specially scripted text, learners may miss important features
of spoken academic discourse and develop listening skills which will be of little use
to them in the real lecture context.
-----------------------------------
Lindsay Miller is an associate professor of language education in the Department of
English and Communication at the City University of Hong Kong.
References
Buck, G. 2000. Assessing Listening. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Burely-Allen, M. 1995. Listening: The forgotten skill. New York: John Wily & Sons,
Inc.
Flowerdew, J. and L. Miller. 1997. The teaching of academic listening comprehension
and the question of authenticity. English for Specific Purposes, 16 (1):27-46.
Flowerdew, J. and Miller, L. In press. Second Language Listening Comprehension:
Theory to practice. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mendelson, D., and J. Rubin. 1995. A Guide for the Teaching of Second Language
Listening. San Diego, CA: Dominic Press.
Nunan, D., and L. Miller, eds. 1995. New Ways in Teaching Listening: Alexandria, VA:
TESOL.
Rost, M. 2002. Teaching and Researching Listening. London: Pearson.

This article first appeared in the March/April 2003 issue of ESL Magazine.
Developing Listening Skills with Authentic
Materials

by Lindsay Miller
For too long listening has been relegated to a secondary position in the English
language teaching classroom. This stems, in part, from the fact that whereas a
considerable amount of research has been conducted into reading, writing and
speaking--research which has influenced our approaches to teaching language and
has also influenced how textbooks have been written (see sidebar)--there has been
a lack of research interest into listening. Some of the reasons for this lack of
research interest come from the fact that speaking was always considered a more
"valuable" skill to focus on in the classroom; that researchers and teachers have
often considered that listening was something which could just be "picked up"; and
as researchers and teachers had not been taught listening themselves, they saw
little need for developing a specific research agenda or approaches to teaching
listening.

It is indeed interesting that listening has not received wider attention in the past
given that it is the language skill most often used in everyday life. More than forty
percent of our daily communication time is spent on listening, thirty-five percent on
speaking, sixteen percent on reading, and only nine percent on writing (Burely-Allen
1995).
Although listening has been a relatively neglected skill in terms of research and
how it is introduced to language learners, it is now beginning to receive more
attention. In the past few years we have seen the publication of several major texts,
both practical and theoretical, specifically dealing with listening skills: Mendelson
and Rubin 1995; Nunan and Miller 1995; Buck 2000; Rost 2002; Flowerdew and
Miller, in press. In conjunction with these books, there is now a greater awareness
among teachers that we have to help learners develop their listening skills, rather
than rely on the skill developing itself.
The question of how to help learners develop effective listening skills brings
attention to the methods we use and the type of materials we introduce our
learners to. The aim of all listening lessons should be to allow learners a greater
degree of independence when confronted with listening to the foreign language in a
real world context, and that means using authentic texts. Authentic texts are any
spoken texts which have not been specially prepared for language learners, and
they are often delivered via technologies like radio, television/video, and the
Internet or CD-ROM.
In the rest of this article I would like to suggest a process for helping learners
develop their listening skills, and make suggestions as how this might be achieved
with authentic materials.
Pre-, While-, and Post-Listening
One of the main advancements to come out of research into listening strategies was
the understanding that listening exercises could be divided into three main parts:
Pre-listening, While-listening, Post-listening activities. This format has proved useful
in taking the attention off continually testing listening and has allowed learners to
do other things with the information that they listen to. For instance, a teacher can
initiate a short discussion with the learners in the pre-listening stage as to what
they think of the topic before they listen to the text (activating world and personal
knowledge). Then the learners can be asked to use whatever information they
gathered from a text to have an extended discussion in a post-listening stage
(allowing for more individualization and critical comments to be developed). In
between these two stages, learners can be helped to focus on their listening by
careful selection of tasks that are meaningful and that cater to developing specific
listening skills rather than on constantly measuring performance through test-like
exercises.
I will use this established format of pre-, while-, and post-listening activities and
make some suggestions as to how they can be used with authentic materials
delivered through technological media.
Radio
Using real-time radio in class is one of the more easily accessible forms of authentic
listening practice we can give our learners. The airwaves are filled with programs
twenty-four hours per day, and the low cost of radios means that most language
teachers can obtain a radio and take it to class. Radio stations such as BBC World
Service (BBC) and Voice of America (VOA) are constantly on-air. Meanwhile, many
non-English speaking countries also broadcast some programs, or even have
dedicated stations, in English. Although radios are easy to access, they are perhaps
the most difficult of aural text for language learners to listen to. The reason for this
is that all non-verbal information is missing, information which can aid in helping
understand the message, and the learner has to focus on the skill which is most
difficult for him or her--listening.
In order to use radio programs with learners teachers need to select a program
at a suitable time for their class and decide on some global listening tasks for the
learners. For instance, with an intermediate group of learners about to listen to a
radio program on travel we might adopt the following procedure:
Stage 1: Pre-Listening Task Today we are going to listen to a travel program
on the radio for ten minutes. Before we listen, who has made a trip recently? Where
did you go? What did you see?
The radio guide tells us in that this program is about Egypt. What do you know
about Egypt? What would you like to know about Egypt? What kind of information
do you think the presenter will give us?
Stage 2: While-Listening Task While you listen to the program, try to listen
for the main things the presenter recommends doing while in Egypt. Don¹t try to
write anything down, only listen to the program and see how much you can
understand.
Stage 3: Post-Listening Task In groups of three have a short discussion about
what you heard from the program. Would you like to go to Egypt based on what you
just heard? Why or why not?
In using the radio in the way suggested here we allow learners access to native
speaker models, something which might be missing from their normal classroom
experiences. Also, we place the focus on extensive listening for pleasure and take
the emphasis off testing what the learners hear (that is why we ask the learners not
to write while they listen).
TV/Video
Using television or videos in the classroom allows the learners access to more
information when listening. That is, the learners can now see what is happening as
well as listen to the text. Non-verbal behavior or paralinguistic features of the
spoken text are now available to the learners (compared with radio, that is), so
learners can develop their listening skills in a richer language context.
Many language learners watch movies outside of class time, but few of them
consider this as an opportunity to develop their listening skills (perhaps because
they become used to reading the sub-titles of English movies). Going to a movie is
considered as entertainment and often "doesn¹t count" in terms of learning. We
can, however, in the language classroom, sensitize our learners to how they can
make use of movies to help them develop their second language listening skills.
With an elementary-level class of learners we might consider the following out-of-
class activity:
Stage 1: Pre-Viewing Task This weekend there is an English movie on TV.
Does anyone know what it is? What time is it on? Which channel is it on? Please
write the name, time and channel down as this is your homework task.
Stage 2: While-Viewing Task I would like you to watch the movie this
weekend, or try to watch as much as you can. Focus on listening to the movie
instead of reading the subtitles. Try to collect the following information: kind of
movie (comedy, romance, action, horror), names of the main characters (male,
female, animal), where does the movie take place (inside, outside, on land, at sea,
country), what is the main idea in the movie?
Stage 3: Post-Viewing Task (the next lesson) Who watched the movie last
weekend? What can you tell us about it? This generic format can be repeated as
many times as you like, and once learners have developed the habit of watching
and listening to English language movies with some kind of focus, they will get used
to this type of exposure to listening for pleasure, and you may then move on to
more critical post-viewing tasks--e.g., Do you think we should go to war with each
other (after viewing a war movie).
The Internet/CD-ROM
There has been a rapid increase in the development of Internet facilities and CD-
ROMs. This has been prompted, partly, by the more powerful computers we have
these days and has been partly driven by the users' demands for more interesting
and innovative applications of the technology. We are able to direct our learners to
sites on the Internet where they can practice their listening as long as they have
access to the appropriate computer hardware.
There are several benefits computer software has over radio or television. For
instance, many CD-ROMs now have glossaries and online scripts, so that when
problems are encountered, the learners can get online help. In addition to this,
many younger learners wish to learn or use their computer skills nowadays, so the
prospect of developing computer skills along with developing their language skills
may seem attractive to these learners. With an advanced group of learners we
might consider having extended critical and creative discussion about the news:
Stage 1: Pre-Listening Task Tomorrow in class we will have some discussion
about what¹s in the news. In order to do this I would like you do access at least two
of the following websites: http://www.bbc.co.uk, http://www.avoa. gov or
http://npr.org (National Public Radio) and listen to different versions of the main
stories.
Once you are in the website you can choose audio or video presentations. You
can also look for related items. Just surf around until you feel you have collected
enough information for our discussion in class.
Stage 2: While-Listening Task Students may either work at home or in a
computer lab at school to collect the information they require.
Stage 3: Post-Listening Task (the next class) First I would like you to sit in
groups according to one of the websites you visited. So lets have a group of BBC
listeners/viewers, one of VOA, and one of NPR to begin with. In your groups discuss
what the main news stories were. Only exchange information at this stage. Now
change groups and have one person for each website in groups of three. Explain to
the other members in your group the main stories in the order they were presented
on the Web. Then discuss your reaction to these stories. Consider how important
you think the item is, what angle the broadcast company took when presenting the
stories, and what this story means to you personally. This use of the Internet and
computer technology integrates several authentic activities for the learners and
widens the scope of developing listening skills. In addition to this, learners are now
given more autonomy over their language learning and the links between classroom
and real-world learning becomes more obvious to them.
Richer Learning Experiences
With the increased awareness of the need to help second-language learners
develop effective listening skills and with the greater availability of technology
nowadays, teachers are able to explore more creative ways of teaching listening in
and out of the class using authentic materials. Once we begin to explore the
possibilities, a few of which are outlined here, we offer a richer language learning
experience for our learners and create good listeners into the bargain.
SIDEBAR
The Question of Authenticity
When preparing learners for academic listening, English language teachers often
choose to use a textbook with a title like Academic listening: preparing students for
lectures. Such textbooks are widely used on pre-sessional courses, and many
students and their teachers diligently work their way through the textbook in the
belief that they are preparing for the real thing. However, my colleague John
Flowerdew and I conducted an investigation of an authentic economics and finance
lecture (Flowerdew and Miller, 1997). We found that what academic listening
textbooks prepared learners for was very different from the "real thing." We
transcribed and analyzed a lecture discourse and then compared it to a selection of
academic listening textbooks, this is what we found:
1. The authentic lecture was structured at the micro-level of discourse. There were
lots of uses of "and," "so," "but," many pauses, and filled pauses with the use of
"ah" and "er." On the other hand, textbook lectures had complete clauses and fewer
pauses.
2. The authentic lecture discourse contained many false starts, redundancies and
repetitions. None of these show up in English language teaching (ELT) textbooks.
3. The lecturer made use of a variety of extra linguistic features such as body
movements and kinesics. Textbook texts are usually only audio recorded so such
cues are missing.
4. In the real lecture the lecturer made an attempt to establish a rapport with the
students; he a) tried to make the lecture non-threatening and empathized with the
students, b) personalized many of his references, and c) checked that the students
were following the lecture as he delivered it. The impersonal nature of an audio text
cannot simulate any of these features.
5. As the authentic lecture lasted for two hours, the lecturer made use of a narrative
thread to hold his talk together, that is, he told a story and continually returned to
the theme of the story. ELT textbooks, on the other hand, rarely have recordings of
more than a few minutes and cannot sustain any narrative thread.
6. The lecturer made use of macro-markers to signpost his way through the talk and
to refer to future lectures, e.g., "Last week we saw howŠ.." "In next week's lecture I
am going to move on toŠ..". In this way he structured the lecture around the series
of talks he was going to give to the students. Textbooks cannot do this as most of
their texts are stand-alone lectures.
7. The lecturer made use of a variety of visual aids during his talk including the
white board, overhead transparencies and pre-lecture reading text. None of these
were used in the textbooks analyzed. This detailed lecture analysis illustrates that
authentic texts should also be used when helping learners prepare for listening to
lectures. By only using specially scripted text, learners may miss important features
of spoken academic discourse and develop listening skills which will be of little use
to them in the real lecture context.
-----------------------------------
Lindsay Miller is an associate professor of language education in the Department of
English and Communication at the City University of Hong Kong.
References
Buck, G. 2000. Assessing Listening. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Burely-Allen, M. 1995. Listening: The forgotten skill. New York: John Wily & Sons,
Inc.
Flowerdew, J. and L. Miller. 1997. The teaching of academic listening comprehension
and the question of authenticity. English for Specific Purposes, 16 (1):27-46.
Flowerdew, J. and Miller, L. In press. Second Language Listening Comprehension:
Theory to practice. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mendelson, D., and J. Rubin. 1995. A Guide for the Teaching of Second Language
Listening. San Diego, CA: Dominic Press.
Nunan, D., and L. Miller, eds. 1995. New Ways in Teaching Listening: Alexandria, VA:
TESOL.
Rost, M. 2002. Teaching and Researching Listening. London: Pearson.

This article first appeared in the March/April 2003 issue of ESL Magazine.