Effective Listening Strategies with Tactics for Listening

Rob Peacock Oxford University Press Oxford and Suken Seminar for Secondary Teachers 2015

Session Aims

• Challenges of Teaching Listening

• Understanding the Listening Process

• Classroom Activities

• Links to Testing

• Tactics for Listening

• Questions

Today’s Presenter

• Rob Peacock

• From Hereford, England

Hereford

*

Today’s Presenter

• Rob Peacock

• From Hereford, England

• 15 years in Japan

• Oxford University Press Teacher Trainer

• 10 years teaching

How not to teach listening

How Not to Teach Listening

• What problems would your students have?

• What can the teacher do to help?

Some common listening

challenges

• Lack of motivation

• Students listen word for word

• New vocabulary

• Students cannot recognize words they know

• Sounds of English hard to recognize

• Students cannot produce language

Stages of listening

1. Pre-listening

2. While-listening

3. Post-listening

Top-down and bottom-up

processing

Bottom-up processes

Understanding the message piece-by-piece from the

speech stream

Top-down processes

Drawing on the listener's own prior knowledge to

help decode the message

Nation, I.S.P., and Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL listening and

speaking. New York and London: Routledge.

Pre-listening

a d v e n t u r e

Half a crossword – student A

p a i n t i n g

g a r d e n i n g

c o l l e c

o u

t

t d o o r s

a

e

h

e

n

t

u

r

e

Half a crossword – student B

p

a

i

e

t

i

m

c s

r

e

n

i

f

r o m e

c

o

y

t

t

t

r

s

a d v e n t u r e

Half a crossword – student A

p a i n t i n g

g a r d e n i n g

c o l l e c

o u

t

t d o o r s

a

e

h

e

n

t

u

r

e

Half a crossword – student B

p

a

i

e

t

i

m

c s

r

e

n

i

f

r o m e

c

o

y

t

t

t

r

s

Pre-listening For each photo, write 3 nouns and 3 verbs

Pre-listening Write as many questions as you can.

What… Why…

When… Where…

How… Does/ Is he/she…

Zach

Erica

Which activity does each person enjoy doing now?

Enjoy -

Now -

Past -

like, love, my favorite, I’m happy …(ing)

these days, nowadays, now

when I was younger, a child/kid, used to

Pre-listening

• Set context

• Make predictions

• Create motivation, interest and purpose

• Top-down processes

a? e? f?

a? e? f?

a? b? f?

a? c? e? f?

b? e? f?

a

f

b

c

e

Listening for details

Which phrase gave you the answer?

That’s what I like best about it.

That’s what I like best about it.

The best thing is that...

What I like best is...

What I enjoy most is...

What I love best is...

Zach:

Erica:

Brian:

Evan:

Danielle:

Marcus:

While-listening

• Confirm predictions

• Top-down and bottom-up processes

• Specific listening tasks

• Listening strategies

• From gist to detailed understanding

Post listening: pronunciation

1. He collects comic books.

2. They love playing golf.

3. She enjoys watching videos.

Listen and mark the stressed syllable in

the underlined word.

/

/

/

Post listening: dictation Listen to the conversation. Write

the missing words.

A: What do you do in your free time, Lara?

B: I used to enjoy __________, but now I like _______ and

_________ .

A: Oh, not me! I enjoy collecting things. I collect _________

cards.

B: Do you do anything else?

A: Yes, I really enjoy __________ the internet and listening to

_________ .

Post listening: dictation Listen to the conversation.

Write the missing words.

B: Do you play any sports?

A: I go ________ and _______________ in the winter. How

about you?

B: I like summer sports. I enjoy ___________ and ________ .

Post listening: dictation Listen to the conversation. Write

the missing words.

A: What do you do in your free time, Lara?

B: I used to enjoy __________, but now I like _______ and

_________ .

A: Oh, not me! I enjoy collecting things. I collect _________

cards.

B: Do you do anything else?

A: Yes, I really enjoy __________ the internet and listening to

_________ .

painting cooking gardening

baseball

surfing music

Post listening: dictation Listen to the conversation. Write

the missing words.

B: Do you play any sports?

A: I go ________ and _______________ in the winter. How

about you?

B: I like summer sports. I enjoy ___________ and ________ . swimming

skiing snowboarding

hiking

Work in pairs. Think about your own

hobbies and pastimes. Ask and answer

questions about them with a partner.

Post listening: speaking

Post-listening

• Expand on theme

• From receptive to productive skills

• Pronunciation practice

• Dictation

• Conversation practice

Stages of listening

1. Pre-listening

2. While-listening

3. Post-listening

TOEIC Listening Test Part 1:

Photographs

Pre-listening For each photo, write 3 nouns and 3 verbs

TOEIC Listening Test Part 3:

Conversations

Which activity does each person enjoy doing now?

a? e? f?

a? e? f?

a? b? f?

Tactics for Listening

Teach off the page

Everyday language

High interest topics

Supplement main text

Test preparation

Unit Walkthrough

4 pages per unit

▪ Getting Ready

▪ Listening 1

▪ Listening 2 ▪ Listening 3 ▪ Conversation

Corner

▪ Pronunciation

▪ Dictation

▪ Conversation

TACTICS FOR TESTING

VOCABULARY

INDEX Clearly shows that TFL

helps build students’ vocab.

Teachers can conveniently

assign vocabulary learning

for homework.

Teaching Resources

▪ Unit tests (with MP3 audio tracks)

▪ Midterm and final tests in the style of standardized tests (with MP3 audio

tracks)

▪ Vocabulary and Conversation Worksheets providing unit-preview and

expansion activities

Teacher’s Book with Testing Program & Resource CD-ROM

Student Resources

Audio Download Center

▪ More listening practice

ANY TIME

ANYWHERE

▪ MP3 files available: ▪ Listening 3 activities

▪ Pronunciation & Dictation activities

▪ Tactics for Testing section

Tactics for Listening

Teach off the page

Everyday language

High interest topics

Supplement main text

Test preparation

Some common listening

challenges

• Lack of motivation

• Students listen word for word

• New vocabulary

• Students cannot recognize words they know

• Sounds of English hard to recognize

• Students cannot produce language

Students engaged and motivated

New vocabulary understood

Students focused on tasks

Known vocabulary recognized

Students understand natural English

From receptive to productive skills

Some common listening

successes