re-examining listening comprehension

Re-examining Listening Comprehension

JoAnn Miller, Editorial Macmillan

Getting recordings◦ What to look for in a recording◦ Where to find recordings◦ The Internet◦ Recording original material

Using recordings

Our plan for today

ESL/EFL materials and authentic recordings

Clear presentation

Correct level for your students

Different dialects

Native / Non-native speakers

Different age groups (children, “older people”)

What to look for in a recording…

Textbooks Record from radio Record your own Use live from Internet Download from Internet (podcasts) and play

as mp3

Where to find recordings…

Live from the Internet:

ESL Sites with and without Exercises

Listen:

“First Date

”

“Santa

”

RANDALL’S ESL CYBER

LISTENING LAB

Downloadable ESL sites

English Listening Room

Note:

Only play on computer (RealPlayer)

Non-ESL Sites

Live

How to record original materials

Listen

Now what do I do with my recordings?

Listening is..◦ an interpretive process, creative listening

◦ an active process

◦ often interactive

◦ based on spoken English (purpose, syntax, organization, speed, less formal, paralinguistic features)

Essential Features

David J. Mendlesohn. Learning to listen. Dominie Press, Inc. 1994. pp. 9-21.

process the linguistic forms, hear words

decipher the intention of the speaker, process, judge

cope with listening in an interaction

understand the whole message◦ The smoke thickened. John collapsed.

comprehend the message without understanding every work

recognize different genres, set formulas

Students must be able to…

David J. Mendlesohn. Learning to listen. Dominie Press, Inc. 1994. pp. 9-21.

Listening Discrimination

Schemata building

Top-down or Bottom-up

Listening strategies

Critical Thinking

Multi-skilled activities

Aspects of Listening Comprehension

Discriminate sounds and intonation patterns

Minimal Pairs: ship / sheep (/I/~/iy/)

Example:

◦ That ship is big.

◦ That sheep is big.

Listening discrimination

“Past experiences lead to the creation of mental frameworks that help us make sense of new experiences”

A student’s schemata has to be activated so that he/she can understand the conversation

Example: My son’s thesis ◦Listen

Problems: cultural, educational, etc.

Schemata Building

David Nunan, Second Language Teaching & Learning, Newbury House, 1999. p. 201.

“…listening is a process of decoding the sounds that one hears in a linear fashion, from the …phonemes…to complete texts.”

“…meaning itself is the last step in the process.”

Includes: listening to identify familiar lexical items

segmenting the stream of speech into constituents, 'abookofmine' = four words

using graphic clues to identify the information focus of the word

using grammatical cues to organize the input into constituents

Bottom-up Processing

David Nunan, Second Language Teaching & Learning, Newbury House, 1999. p. 200-201.

Top-down Processing“…listening actively…reconstructs…the original meaning of

the speaker using incoming sounds as clues.”

“In the reconstruction process, the listener uses prior knowledge about the context and situation…” (schemata)

Includes: Recognizing genre, situation, background Inferring relationships, topic of the discourse,

sequence Adding missing details Anticipating outcomes

David Nunan, Second Language Teaching & Learning, Newburt House, 1999. p. 200-201.

Top-down processing

Conscious use of strategies by the students

Can be trained

Listening Strategies

David J. Mendlesohn. Learning to listen. Dominie Press, Inc. 1994. pp. 36-37.

Strategies can be taught

Academic language learning is more effective with learning strategies

Mentally active learners are better learners

Learning strategies transfer to new tasks

Strategies facilitate “information management”.

Strategy training teaches learners how to learn.

Listening Strategies: Justification

David J. Mendlesohn. Learning to listen. Dominie Press, Inc. 1994. pp. 38-39.

Setting (where and when)

Interpersonal relationships (who)

Mood, atmosphere, tone (how)

Topic (what)

Strategies

David J. Mendlesohn. Learning to listen. Dominie Press, Inc. 1994. Chapter 6.

Predicting: Use schemata to guess what will happen.

Inferencing: Build on what students hear to guess what will happen or what is really happening.

Strategies 2: Guessing Strategies

Critical thinking is the examination and test of propositions of any kind which are offered for acceptance, in order to find out whether they correspond to reality or not.

The critical faculty is a product of education and training. It is a mental habit …

Critical Thinking?

William Graham Sumner, Sociologist, cited in Wikipedia (June 2006)

Critical thinking :◦ a set of cognitive skills◦ the ability and intellectual commitment to

use those skills to guide behavior.

Critical thinking does not include just:◦ the acquisition and retention of information◦ or the possession of a skill-set which one

does not use regularly◦ nor does critical thinking merely exercise

skills without consideration of the results.

Wikipedia, June 2006.

In groups look at the picture. What is happening? Which do you think the story will describe? Why?

Example

New American Inside Out, Elementary, Workbook, Unit 7, p. 30.

a. Listen to the story. Which picture illustrates it?

Example, continued

b. Listen again and answer the questions:--Where did the story take place?--Who was the boy?--What happened to him?--How did he feel?

c. Discuss in groups:What would you do in the boy’s situation?Have you ever been in a life and death situation?

Example, continued

Pre-listening◦ Builds schemata

Listening◦ Strategy Building

Post-listening◦ Critical thinking

Listening Activity Organization

a. Listen to the story. Which picture illustrates it?

Listen again and answer the questions:

--Where did the story take place?--Who was the boy?--What happened to him?--How did he feel?

Discuss in groups:What would you do in the boy’s situation?Have you ever been in a life and death situation? Tell your partner about it.

Listen to a story and then retell it (gossip) (listening / speaking)

Listen to a radio show and then write an email to a friend about the ideas (listening / writing)

Talk to a friend about a TV program, watch it and then call your friend and comment on it (listening / speaking)

Read an article in a magazine and then listen to a radio program about the same topic (reading / listening)

Multi-skill Activities

Practice

What kind of activities would you devise for this recording.◦ Pre-listening, listening, post-listening◦ Schemata, strategies, critical thinking, multiskill

New American Inside Out, Pre-Intermediate, Unit 11

What kind of activities would you devise for this recording.◦ Pre-listening, listening, post-listening◦ Schemata, strategies, critical thinking, multi-skill

Handout available at: www.efltasks.net

Take time to look around….there are a number of downloadable and online activities for all levels

JoAnn Millermiller@room20.org joannmillerj@gmail.com

Copies of the handout are available at: http://www.efltasks.net (Presentations)

Links at Delicious: Jabbusch

Thank you very much