Reflective Methodology in Enhancing Listening Skills-A Case Study

1. Introduction

There are four language skills that are to be excelled in order to get command over

language and contribute to the main goal, communicative competence. Listening, the foremost

language skill has to be developed so as to learn to speak, to read and to write. It has been

observed that the students put lot of efforts to develop their listening ability as they had to

listen to receive the information conveyed through the lectures and instructions of their

teachers. More than half of their communication time is spent in listening.

The learners actively involve themselves in interpreting the aural input received either

from their teachers or recorded material by bringing their own background knowledge and

linguistic knowledge. Listening differs in different situations, i.e. they have to pay more

attention in listening to their academic lessons rather than a casual talk on a movie. Intentional

listening therefore employs strategies for identifying sounds in Language learning to make it

comprehensible.

Listening should be given importance in language learning and teaching. It is essential for

language teachers to help their students become effective listeners. In the communicative

approach to language teaching, this means modeling listening strategies and providing listening

practice in authentic situations encountered by the learners when they use the language in and

outside the classroom.

This paper deals with how these strategies can be learnt or taught. Teaching

listening strategies entails giving training to the learners in adopting different strategies

and helping the students to use them in their learning and making learning more easy and

effective. These in turn, help them to enhance their listening skills. The main purpose of

giving training in this area is to make the learners learn English as a language rather than

a subject and successfully live in communication situations of a new language.

2. Teaching Listening

Over the last 50 years there has been a great deal of research into the nature of

language, the components of various languages, their similarities and differences and the

methods of teaching them. A method generally includes what to teach and how to teach.

A method should serve the aims of teaching a language. It should also relate to the

conditions available in the educational institutions (teachers, pupils, equipments etc)”.

The Audio Lingual Method is one of the most preferred method in teaching English

and the Language Skills. This method is also known as Aural oral method and this aims at

developing listening and speaking skills first as the foundation, on which, to build the

skills of reading and writing.

According to William Moulton, this method has following advantages:

i).This method lays emphasis on the development of four language skills-LSRW as well

as it tries to develop understanding of the foreign culture and foreign people.

ii).The pupils are trained to understand and produce foreign language utterances with

recognizable and an acceptable sound patterns. Much practice is given in listening too.

iii).Student motivation is high in Audio Lingual classes and enjoys using the language for

communication.

iv).This method aims at increasing importance of listening, reading and writing,

comprehension and speech as well.

It has been found that irrespective of the method used the learners when asked to

solve few exercises on listening they tried to find out means and ways to complete the

given task within the given time successfully. These means and ways are called strategies.

According to Oxford. R.L., Learning strategies are the actions or behaviors which

learners use to make language learning more effective, efficient, and enjoyable. Though

language strategies are student's generated actions and unrelated to, and unaffected by,

language teaching strategies are instructional techniques or methods used by teacher.

Language teachers can use simulation and gaming to provide their students with overt,

explicit training in the appropriate language learning strategies.

The variables related to the learning environment are classroom climate, use of

space and time and participation interaction. Factors, which contribute to the effective

learning/teaching, include the cohesiveness or friction within the class groups, the degree

of student involvement in the learning process, teacher support, and clarity of class and

school rules, teacher control and innovation.

3. Strategies which Enhance the Listening Skills of the Students

Rebecca L. Oxford (1990) provides a detailed discussion of different languages

learning strategies and suggests how these strategies can be applied to the four basic

language skills (i.e., LSRW). Major varieties of Language learning strategies are

cognitive, mnemonic, metacognitive, compensatory, affective and social.

All language-learning strategies are related to the features of control, goal-

directedness, autonomy and self-efficacy. The type of strategy varies according to the

task the students are engaged in. A vocabulary task calls forth the metacognitive

strategies of self-monitoring and self-evaluation and the cognitive strategies of resourcing

and elaboration. A listening task leads to the metacognitive strategies of selective

attention and problem identification as well as self-monitoring and to the cognitive

strategies of note taking, inferring and summarizing as well as elaboration”.

3.1. Metacognitive Strategies:

These strategies help learners manage: i) themselves as learners, ii) the general learning

process and iii) specific learning tasks. One group of Metacognitive strategies helps

individuals know themselves better as language learners. “Self-knowledge strategies

include identifying one’s own interests, needs and learning style preferences. Learning

strategies are the broad approaches that each learner brings to language learning or to

solving any problem. Examples of learning styles include visual vs. auditory vs.

kinesthetic, global vs. analytic, concrete sequential vs. intuitive-random, and ambiguity-

tolerant vs. ambiguity-intolerant.”(Ely 1989;Oxford and Ehrman 1995; Reid

1995a;Dreyer and Oxford 1996).Knowledge of learning styles helps learners choose

strategies that comfortably fit with their learning styles, although using and learning

others is obviously useful.

Another set of Metacognitive strategies relates to managing the learning process in

general and includes identifying available resources deciding which sources are valuable

for a given task, setting a study schedule, finding or creating a good place to study, etc.

This set also includes establishing general goals for language learning. Language learning

may be hindered if goals are unclear and in conflict.

Other Metacognitive strategies also help learners deal effectively with a given

language task, not just with the overall process of language learning. This set of

Metacognitive strategies, among other techniques, deciding on task -related (as opposed

to general) goals for language learning, paying attention to the task at hand, planning for

steps within the language task, reviewing relevant vocabulary and grammar, finding task -

relevant materials and resource, deciding which other strategies might be useful and

applying them, choosing alternative strategies if those do not work and monitoring

language mistakes during the task.

The students should be directed to use these strategies while solving an activity by

following the below steps.

Before listening: Plan for the listening task

Purpose behind listening

Requirement of any background linguistic knowledge

Focus on the every word/phrase of listening input

During and after listening: Monitor comprehension

Decide what is relevant and what is not.

Check whether the predicted one is true and inaccurate guesses made are correct.

Listen or view again to check comprehension.

Any doubts then ask for help.

After listening: Evaluate comprehension and strategy use

Evaluate comprehension in a particular task or area

Evaluate overall progress in listening and in particular types of listening tasks

Decide if the strategies used were appropriate for the purpose and for the task

Modify strategies if necessary

4. Strategies used in Teaching Listening

At first the student should be motivated to the possible extent, so that he or she

shows eagerness and anxiety to learn the language. As a result they come to the

class regularly and can participate actively in the process of learning L2.

Casual strategies include being silent, concentrating etc. Never take notes when

the material is readout. This may cause confusion in understanding what is

readout and there will be a chance of missing some important information.

Empathetic strategies: As the material is readout, it would be better to close the

eyes for it helps to concentrate deeply on the theme of the material. There is no

need to worry about the meanings of the new or difficult words in the material.

Instead try to point out the topic that is discussed and answer the questions on

general understanding.

Intensive strategies: Once the idea of the general topic is known, then try to

listen for more details, such as, a specific name of a person or place and several

other activities that are discussed besides the definitions and examples

mentioned.

Selective strategies: In the initial stage of listening, if the learner finds it unclear,

there is a chance to get to the main idea or theme of the material by reading the

questions based on the material.

Body language cues and Visual cues: The theme and also the meaning of some

of the words and sentences can be predicted from the body and visual

movements.

Listening comprehension section is designed to test the learners’ listening ability

at first, and reading ability next. That is , after listening to the material, the

learner is supposed to answer the comprehension questions. In this context, he

or she, instead of reading the whole answer-choices, can skim through them and

whichever word appears more than once in the answer choices will give a cue

about the theme of the paragraph and will help the learner to answer the

questions easily, with the given time.

5. Goals and Techniques for Teaching Listening

The teachers expect the students to survive in communication situations irrespective of

their command over the grammar, vocabulary, etc. of the language. This would be the ultimate

goal of a sincere language teacher and they try to put in all their efforts in training the students

accordingly. In case of listening they train the students to understand/comprehend the given

aural input and analyze the same to identify the quintessential of the input. To achieve their

goal and to produce the above kind of students the teacher must give few thought cues and help

the students to generate strategies to be used in listening.

Students must be asked to compare and discuss about how they listen in their

native language. Eventually they become aware of the listening process and

listening strategies.

The teacher should administer various authentic listening tasks to the students to

practice listening strategies.

A teacher should be a mere facilitator so as to make the session a learner centered

one.

Students should be made aware of how and why to use strategies while working

on listening tasks and show them which strategies work best for the listening

purpose and the type of text.

Motivation of the students is must so that they can finish the given task in

listening.

After the completion of every task the students should be asked to discuss what

strategy they have used and evaluate their comprehension levels and and their

strategy use.

The students should be asked to take up listening tasks outside the class also to

get good practice in using particular strategies. This could be further encouraged

by assigning home work, describing the content and format of tests.

It should be observed that under their proper guidance only students learn to

transfer the strategy usage from one task to another. And they learn how a

particular strategy can be used in a different type of listening task or with another

skill.

6. Guidelines for Teachers Teaching Listening

Guided practice by a teacher is one of the best ways to improve the four language skills,

especially listening for the students. And a student with good listening comprehension skills

can participate in communication situations more effectively than a student with poor listening

skill. (Brown, 2001).

Teacher should focus on specific vocabulary acquisition, grammar practice,

listening for different purposes, etc. while explaining the learning objective of a

language class. So that the purpose is made clear to the students.

Teacher should conduct a warm up activity before the actual listening

comprehension activity and this should be in one way communication.

Students should be made to practice under controlled guidance of a teacher.

Students should be given freedom to practice listening comprehension and

speaking, such as interviewing other members in the class about the given task and

asking for further information.

Communication and listening comprehension should begin with what students

already know so that they can build on their existing knowledge and skills with

activities designed on the same principle.

The handouts or worksheets on listening tasks should be designed very carefully

with few activities so that the students may not get confused or frustrated. This

helps them to focus on one particular strategy to be used in one particular task at

one time.

There should be variations in the type of task activities. This helps the students to

solve each task with full excitement. For example there is a gap filling listening

exercise. This can be changed into a multiple choice question or can be changed

into a pair activity among the students.

In long listening activities the comprehension questions can be divided among the

students. After listening to the activity to the activity they try to answer

individually. In second hearing they try to answer few more questions. Now

students form groups to answer any remaining questions. They show more interest

in solving this way rather than getting answers directly from the teacher. These

techniques involve group work and problem solving. They also instigate further

communication and facilitate listening comprehension development.

If the authentic listening materials are used then the learner is given the chance to

develop the skills needed to comprehend and to use language that is commonly

found in real situations.

By exposing the students to examples of real language usage teachers are helping

them to become more communicatively competent. For they learn to comprehend

double meanings, predict meaning, make allowances for performance errors

committed by other speakers, deal with interruptions, etc.

Therefore an interactive and communicative approach for teaching English as a Foreign or

Second Language is preferred. However, it is also important to vary the students' learning

focus by concentrating on the LSRW skills needed to become proficient in a second language.

Listening skill is the basic skill to be excelled to master other three skills. The teaching

materials should be designed in a way to focus much on developing listening comprehension

skills. To achieve all this students should be motivated throughout the class.

7. Present Case Study: A Model Programme in Training Learner Strategies:

In teaching Listening strategies a teacher can adopt different methods. The

method, which is followed in this study, can be demonstrated as follows. Prepare a short-

term study programme for teaching or training in listening strategies in one or two

colleges.

The learners of second language (L2-English) are divided into two

homogenous groups. That is, the learners of both the groups are on par in every aspect

such as, age, class, medium of instruction, etc. They are

i) A controlled group ( ECE-B) and ii) An experimental group (ECE-A)

At first both these groups are tested. The results are to be compared. The

performance of both these groups is found to be more or less same. Later the

experimental group will be provided with training in learner strategies. After a short gap a

common test is administered to both the groups and their performances will be compared.

The hypothesis underlined this study is that learners trained in using learner strategies

will perform better in the examination than those learners (controlled group) who did not

receive any training in learner strategies.

Primary data will include the details of the proposed

experiment and results of the performance of the learners and related works, research

articles on learner strategies. Secondary data will be drawn from books, dissertations and

articles in journals in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT).

Interpretation

This study focuses upon the training that the learners had been given in

strategies and the related tests that were administered to them. Taking into consideration

all that has been discussed the learners were practically given an opportunity to make use

of the newly learnt as well as their previous strategies in the process of language learning

thus developing their language competence. The learners were given freedom in choosing

any type of strategy i.e. either cognitive or metacognitive or anything else. But it was

taken care that they arrive at an acceptable solution.

As a result ECE-A showed the score up to 42% before giving training. But

after receiving training in strategies they improved and showed a raised score of 40%.

Whereas ECE-B scored 42% in the first test and improved by only 8% in the second test.

This group did not receive any training in strategies. The statistical data is represented

through graphs. (Appendix-A)

8. Pedagogical Findings of the Study:

Teaching strategies entails giving training to the learners in adopting different

strategies and helping the students to use them in their learning and making learning more easy

and effective. These in turn, help them to develop their basic language skills viz. listening,

speaking, reading and writing. The main purpose of giving training in this area is to make the

learners learn English as a language rather than a subject.

For any task to be solved i.e. if a learner is to be tested in Listening skill, then it is

to see that the learner gets trained to make himself comfortable and relaxed and could

concentrate more if the eyes are closed. After the passage is readout, s/he has to answer the

questions followed. The cognitive strategies play a vital role here. Before answering the

questions the learner must analyze and reason out the correct answer.

After conducting tests with great care and on the basis of the learners’

performance, it can be concluded that those who received training in strategies can learn

the language quickly, easily and effectively. A student can think of using strategies only

when he or she is mentally prepared, that is, the student should be motivated first, so that

he or she can actively participate in the L2 classroom. It is also found that classroom

learning, which is only a part of the students’ education, is just the beginning. Learning

should always push the student beyond the classroom and stimulate him or her to explore

that which has yet to be revealed. And this can be achieved only by the successful use of

strategies in learning.

Strategies employed to improve the Listening skills of the students:

At first the class should maintain silence.

Everyone must make himself or herself feel comfortable and try to be

attentive.

While listening they should be careful in grasping some important words.

It may be impossible to write down the important words or phrases as they

are. Therefore, their own abbreviations and certain symbols can be used

some times.

They should listen to the passage carefully and decide the theme that is

being discussed in the passage.

It is important to remember all those points or words, which are concerned

with the main topic.

These strategies helped the experimental group in acquiring new

technology to be successful in the second language class compared to the controlled

group, which is unaware of these strategies.

9. Conclusion

It can be concluded that an awareness and use of the strategies would definitely

help the learners to be successful in the L2 class. Teaching listening strategies expand the

role of teachers to support teaching both directly and indirectly thus allowing the learners

to become more self-directed to achieve the main goal, communicative competence.

Language Strategies are teachable and positive effects of strategy instruction emerged for

proficiency in listening. But it was found that many language teachers feel ill-equipped to

conduct strategy instruction because they have not had the chance to see or participate in

such instruction themselves.

It was also found that the learners when worked in groups promoted the excessive

use of existing strategies and the invention of new strategies thus making L2 class very

interesting, enjoyable, encouraging and effective. The selection of tasks and activities

should be in a way to encourage learners and should be incorporated in the curriculum, as

these can help learners develop skills in self-checking, monitoring and evaluation skills.

In this situation students need to become strategic and independent learners.

The teacher must be equally active, motivated, and enthusiastic besides possessing

accurate knowledge of strategies as well as efficient enough to carry out the process of

imparting training in strategies successfully. The teacher would be successful to the utmost in a

teaching situation if there is a broad scope for the opportunities for the learners to learn L2 on

their own, using their own methods or strategies.

The hypothesis, which said that those who trained in strategies were more successful and

performed well in the tasks administered than those who did not receive any training in

strategies, it can be said that the hypothesis is valid. Through constant practice in using as well

as in acquiring knowledge of strategies, the L2 learners can refurbish their listening skills and

can excel themselves in this regard.

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Heinle.

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Quarterly, 17 , 219-240.

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151-165). San Diego, CA: Dominie Press.

Underwood, M. (1989). Teaching listening. London: Longman.

0%

50%

100%

Impr

ove

d sc

ore

I test II test

Graphical representation of Learner's performance in listening skill

ECE (A) II year (Trained group)

40% improved

Before training after training

42%

82%

0%

50%

100%

Impr

ove

d sc

ore

I test II test

Graphical representation of Learner's performance in listening skill

ECE (B) II year (Un trained group)

8% improved

Before training Before training

42%

50%

APPENDIX-A

Graphical Representation of Learners’ performance in Listening Skill Tasks:

APPENDIX-B

Materials used for Listening Skill Development

Test-1: (Administered before training)

Listen carefully to the passage that is readout and answer the comprehension questions?

(Time 3min)

It is a mechanical device. It can perform several human tasks. It is a boredom reliever. It

can perform efficiently and with minimum supervision, several boring and tiresome

physical tasks. Of course it works under a controlled system. It can see, hear and touch

with the help of the attached radar and microphones. It can also sense heat and cold. In

future it may be given an artificial intelligence. This will enable it to behave exactly like

a human-react to the situations, make decisions, play games, solve problems and even

speak.

(From a Textbook of English for Engineers and Technologists)

Comprehension questions:

1.Q The paragraph is describing

e. A human being

f. A celestial thing

g. A man made thing

h. None of the above

2.Q The paragraph talks about

d) A human body possessed with supernatural power

e) A human body possessed with a device

f) A CD player

g) The robot

3.Q Does it work on its own or under some controlled device?

4.Q Do you think it can replace human being completely?

5.Q Mention some of the functions performed by the thing that is

described in the Paragraph?

Test-2. (Administered after training)

Listen carefully to the passage that is readout and answer the comprehension questions?

(Time 5min)

Man-made ecosystems are articles ecosystem, which depend upon human efforts for

their sustenance unlike the natural ecosystems. Man-made ecosystems are villages,

orchards, parks, aquaria, agriculture, etc. Agriculture was the first man-made

modification of ecosystem.

The people raised crops and created an artificial agro ecosystem. In olden days agro

ecosystem were temporary as they were raised by cutting down forests and cultivating

the land for a couple of years and then abandoning the site. Now-a-day agro ecosystems

are of permanent nature though they cannot survive without human support. Pasture or

pastoral land is similarly prepared for feeding domestic animals. Both croplands and

pastoral lands are essentially grasslands with choice plants since they have been mostly

created by clearing grasslands.

Forests have also been removed for this purpose. The

study of relationships between agriculture crops and their surrounding animate as well as

inanimate environment is called agro ecology. The biotic community is the richest when

the crop is in the field. It consists of some weeds and pests like earthworms, nematodes,

insects, rodents, birds, pollinators, domestic animals and decomposers.

(From a Textbook of Environmental Sciences)

Comprehension questions:

1.Q Example for natural ecosystem ---------------------

-----------------------------------------.

2.Q Example for man-made ecosystem --------------------

----------------------------------------------.

3.Q In olden days------------------------ ecosystems were raised

temporarily.

4.Q They used the same land, every time for cultivation. Yes/No.

5.Q Now-a-day agro ecosystem are of ------------------------nature.

6.Q ----------------------- land is prepared for feeding domestic animals.

7.Q Both croplands and pastoral lands are -----------------------------------

---------------------- with choice plants.

8.Q ----------------------------------- is defined as the study of relationship between

agricultural crops animate/inanimate environment

9.Q The biotic community consists of -----------, ---------------, ------------,

----------------, -------------------, Etc.