Language Skills: Listening

Students: Jasmine Pai & Candace Liu

Nov.2007

Introduction1969,AILA (International Association

of Applied Linguistics) have been

prophetic in pointing the way toward

trends in S/FL (second/foreign language)

education during the last middle of 20th.

century.

1.Self learner and the individuality of learning;2.Both listening and reading as active and mixed receptive processes; 3.Listening comprehension’s (LC) being recognized as a basic skill; 4.True language used for real communication as a achievable classroom model.

Four New Important of Views

Listening & Language Learning

- Multiple benefits accrue to the learner over the apparent improvements in listening skills.

- LC lessons are a vehicle for teaching elements of grammatical structure and allow new vocabulary items to be contextualized within a body of communicative discourse (essay; speech or conversation).

4 Perspectives of Listening and Language Instruction

Nowadays, the role of and the purpose

Of LC instruction in S/FL curriculum,

can be one of four different erspectives.

Each instructional model for each

perspective reflex basic view about

language learning theory and education.

Model 1： Listening ＆ Repeating

◎Learner Goals To pattern-match; listen and imitate and memorize

Instructional material - base on a listening-and question-answering model

Procedure - listen>repeat>memorize

Value - enables Ss to do pattern drills; repeat dialogues ;

memorize prefabricated patterns in conversation; imitate pronunciation patterns.

Model 2： Listening ＆ Answering Comprehension Questions◎Learner Goals To process discrete point information; listen＆

answer comprehension Qs.

Instructional material

- base on a hearing-and pattern matching model

Procedure

- listen>answer (quiz-show)

Value

- enables Ss to handle disjunctive pieces of information, also with increasing speed and accuracy of recall.

Model 3： Task Listening◎Learner Goals To process spoken discourse for functional pur

poses; carry out real tasks using the information received.

Instructional material

- base on a listening-and-using model

Procedure

- listen>use (the orally transmitted language input to complete a task)

Value

- enables Ss to engage learners in using the inforamitnal content presented in the spoken discourse. 2 types of task:1. language use tasks; 2. language analysis tasks

Model 4： Interactive Listening◎Learner Goals To develop aural/oral skills in semiformal interact

ive academic communication; develop critical thinking and listening; then effective speaking abilities

Instructional material - base on a real-time/ real-life give –and take of acade

mic communication

Procedure

- decoding>simultaneous＞ instant response

Value

- communicative/ competence-oriented as well as task oriented. 4 communicative competences: linguistic; discourse; sociolinguistic and strategic.

The Dynamic Process of Communicative Listening

1988, Anderson and Lynch specified the

listening as a “listener-as-tape-recorder

explanation. The interpretations listeners

make as they hear the spoken text

according to their own purposes for

listening and their own store of

background knowledge.

3 Communicative Listening Modes

• Mode 1

Bidirectional Listening ModeBidirectional Listening Mode

- 2 way communicative listening

(2 or more participants take turns exchanging speaker role and listener role as they engage in face-to-face or telephone verbal interaction).

• Mode 2

Unidirectional Listening ModeUnidirectional Listening Mode

- 1 way communicative listening

(A variety of auditory input sources surrounds us as we through the day. We hear speakers but unable to interact; we may do self-dialogue manner as we analyze what we hear.

• Mode 3

Autodirectional Listening ModeAutodirectional Listening Mode

- Self-dialogue communicative listening

(Both speaker and listener/reactor in our own thought process. All by talking and listening to ourselves.

Listening is not a passive experience.

Each listening mode is a

highly active,

clearly participatory,

verbal experience.

Brief of 3 Modes

2 Psychosocial Functions of Listening

1983, Brown and Yule suggested to

divide language function into 2 major

divisions.

They found the transactional language

matches to Halliday’s idea of

ideational, while interactional language

matches to his term interpersonal

(Halliday 1970, p.143).

1. Transactional Language FunctionTransactional Language Function - It is message oriented and view as

“business-type” talk. It focus on

content and conveying factual or

propositional information.

- Speakers often use confirmation

checks to make sure what they are

saying is clear; even contradict the

listener if they appear to have

misunderstood.

2. Interactional Language Function2. Interactional Language Function - It is person oriented and view as

“social-type” talk. Its objective is the

establishment and maintenance of cordial social relationships.

- Important features identify with other

person’s concerns, being nice,

maintaining and respecting “face”.

2 Psychosocial Processes of Listening

In accounting for the complex nature of

listening to understand spoken

language, it is hypothesized that 2

different modes work together in a

cooperative process.

1. Bottom-Up Processing1. Bottom-Up Processing - External process

- Make sure the listener totally understand the “heard” language is worked (input=output)

- Sounds＞Words＞ Grammatical relationship＞ Lexical meanings

2. Top-Down Processing2. Top-Down Processing - Internal process

- The listener’s ability to bring prior information to bear on the task of understanding the “heard” language.

- The internal resource include previous knowledge and global expectations about language and the world.

- Facts; propositions; expectations＞ Inference＆ Prediction

Implications for Instruction

Richards(1990) observes that the content

to which one or the other process

controlled is determined by :

a.) whether the purpose for listening is

transactional or interactional;

b.) what kind of background knowledge

can be applied to the task;

c.) what degree of familiarity listeners

have with the topic.

Conclusive Opinion of Richards

Ss should not be required to respond

to interactional discourse as if it were

being used for a transactional purpose,

nor should they be expected to use a

bottom-up approach to an aural (listen)

text if a top-down one is more

appropriate(p.83).

Richards’s Functions/Processes Chart

33 44

2211

TRANSACTIONALTRANSACTIONAL

TOP-DOWNTOP-DOWN

INTERACTIONALINTERACTIONAL

BOTTOM-UPBOTTOM-UP

Affect and Attitudes- In developing activities and materials

for listening instruction, we consider

the affective domain (include attitudes;

emotions; and feelings). - Later more consider and focus on： 1.) the ways attitudinal and emotional inf

ormation may be cover both linguistically and nonlinguistically,

2.) some of the attitudinal language functions that second language learners need to experience via instructional listening materials.

Linguistic and Nonlinguistic Cues to Affect

1. Linguistic Messages (the words)1. Linguistic Messages (the words) - Affective interpretation must be a part o

f listening comprehension activities.

- The instruction experiences must be contextualized and must reflect real-world situations and feelings.

2. Paralinguistic Messages (vocally 2. Paralinguistic Messages (vocally transmitted meaning)transmitted meaning)

- The speaker’s attitude toward what he or she is saying is transmitted by vocal features.

- The vocal elements shows affective information onto the linguistic message are those beyond the neutral patterns of basic stress, rhythm, and intonation

3. Extralingustic Messages (meaning 3. Extralingustic Messages (meaning transmitted through body languagtransmitted through body language)e)

- The simultaneous physical messages are being transmitted with the words and vocal information and must be interpreted by the listener.

- Ss could learn the meanings of specific features of body language in the second language; also to recognize the body language differs between language and between cultures.

Developing Listening Comprehension Activities and

Materials

◎ ◎ 3 important points about listening 3 important points about listening

as a language act:as a language act:• Information ProcessingInformation Processing

• Linguistic FunctionsLinguistic Functions

• Dimensions of Cognitive ProcessingDimensions of Cognitive Processing

◎ ◎ 3 important principles in making 3 important principles in making choices about both language choices about both language content and language outcomes:content and language outcomes:

• RelevanceRelevance

• Transferability/ApplicabilityTransferability/Applicability

• Task OrientationTask Orientation

Communicative Outcomes: An Organizing Framework

- It is by the Listen-and-Do format＞ Information gathering and information using＞ recommended for listening instructional activities in the ESL or EFL curriculum.

□ □ Outcome 1: Outcome 1: Listening and Performing Actions Listening and Performing Actions and Operationsand Operations - This category includes responses to things such as directions, instruction, and descriptions in a variety of contexts.

□ □ Outcome 2: Outcome 2: Listening and Transferring InformationListening and Transferring Information - 2 kinds of information transfer are featured: spoken-to-written (hearing information and writing it) and spoken- to-spoken (hearing information and transmitting it in speech)

□ □ Outcome 3: Outcome 3: Listening and Solving ProblemsListening and Solving Problems - Many kind of activities for either groups or individuals can be developed in this category (game and puzzle).

□ □ Outcome 4: Outcome 4: Listening, Evaluating, and Manipulating Listening, Evaluating, and Manipulating InformationInformation - This is intellectually challenging ones in which the listener evaluates and/or manipulates the information received in some manner..

□ □ Outcome 5: Outcome 5:

Interactive Listening-and-Speaking: Interactive Listening-and-Speaking:

Negotiating Meaing through Negotiating Meaing through

Questioning/Answering RoutinesQuestioning/Answering Routines

- Repetition

- Paraphrase

- Verification

- Clarification

- Elaboration

- Extension

- Challenge

□ □ Outcome 6: Outcome 6:

Listening for Enjoyment, Pleasure, Listening for Enjoyment, Pleasure,

and Sociability and Sociability - General interesting chat improvised by the T. - By using “teacher-talk” on personal topics and naturally lead to “student – talk” on similar subjects for loosely structured and comfortable communicative interludes. - Afford Ss “practice” chances in both listening and speaking.

Self-Access/Self-Study Listening ＆ Language Learning

- The purpose is to provide an inviting listening center within a conventional language laboratory or a broader language resource center.

- Facility needs to offer a wide choice of appealing audio ＆ video materials on a variety of topics and at a range of proficiency levels.

Conclusion

- Listening, the language skill used most in life.

- Listening instruction include both 2-way interactive listening activities and 1-way reactive listen-and-do activities and tasks.

DiscussingDiscussing

- Discuss why listening has been called the neglected skill of language teaching?

Introduction: The Importance of Listening in Language Learning

Proficiency Levels: beginning, intermediate, and, advanced (Peterson)

Listening Skills: 2 how (1) How do people learn to listen? (2) How does listening promote learning?

Theories of Language Comprehension

• The Primary Channel for Language IThe Primary Channel for Language Input and Acquisitionnput and Acquisition

Listening before speaking Two Approaches:

Total Physical Response (Asher 1969), Natural Approach (Krashen and Terrel 1983)

Listening Comprehension Is a Multilevel, Interactive Process of Meaning Creation

• Two Processes:Two Processes: (1) Higher Level Process Top-Down (2) Lower Level Process Bottom – Up• Phases:Phases: (1) Perceptual processing (Anderson 1985) (2) Parsing phase (3) Utilization stage

• Both top-down and bottom-up are used in different proficiency levels.

• SchemataSchemata (Rumelhart 1980): “ a data structure for representing generic concepts store in memory” (p.34)

• SchemataSchemata: background information (Carrell and Elisterhold 1983)

Content and Formal Schemata

Models of the Models of the Comprehension ProcessComprehension Process

• 2 processes of listening comprehension

information receiving

constructing

• Nagle and Sander (1986): Listening comprehension isn’t exactly learned.

Principles for Listening Principles for Listening Comprehension in ESL ClassroomComprehension in ESL Classroom

1. The time increasing of listening

2. Listening before other three skills (Speaking, Reading, and Writing)

3. Global & Selective Listening

4. Top- down

5. Bottom- up

6. Interactive (bottom-up & top- down)

Skills & StrategiesSkills & Strategies

• ProcessProcess

• SkillsSkills

• StrategiesStrategies: can be controlled

Metacognitive

Cognitive

Socioaffective

A Developmental View of Listening A Developmental View of Listening Skills On All Proficiency LevelsSkills On All Proficiency Levels

1.1. Proficiency LevelsProficiency Levels2.2. ProfileProfile3.3. Bottom- Up Processing Goals & Bottom- Up Processing Goals &

Exercise TypesExercise Types4.4. Top – Down Processing Goals & Top – Down Processing Goals &

Exercise TypesExercise Types5.5. Interactive Processing Goals & Interactive Processing Goals &

Exercise TypesExercise Types

Beginning-Level ListenersBeginning-Level Listeners

1. Profile:1. Profile: lack of phonological rules, uncomplicated structural competence

2. Listening Techniques: GlobalGlobal: introduction of new material &short texts

SelectiveSelective: Bottom-Up Exercise: form & structural systems

Top-down Exercise: meaning & global listening strategies

Bottom-Up Processing Exercises

1. Intonation contours in sentences

2. Phonemes

3. Morphological endings

4. Stressed syllable

5. Sentence fillers

6. Details from the text

Top-Down ExercisesTop-Down Exercises

1. Emotional reactions

2. The main idea of a passage

3. The topic

Interactive ExercisesInteractive Exercises

1.Formal or informal statement

2.Recognize a familiar word and relate it to a category

3.Compare information in memory with incoming information

4.Compare information with experience

Intermediate-Level LearnerIntermediate-Level Learner

1.1. ProfileProfile: Internalize the phonemics but

understand the phonological rules less Listen to longer dialogue & get the gist Predict what will happen next & explain

relationship between events and ideas

2. Global ListeningGlobal Listening: Authentic texts

3. Selective ListeningSelective Listening: Systematic feature

Bottom-Up ExercisesBottom-Up Exercises

1. Content & Function words2. Stressed syllable3. Reduced vowels or dropped

syllables4. Words linked5. Appreciate details

Top-Down ExercisesTop-Down Exercises1. The difference between registers of

speech & tones of voice

2. Identify the speaker or the topic

3. Main ideas & supporting details

4. Making inferences

Interactive ExercisesInteractive Exercises

1. The speaker’s intent from word stress

2. Missing grammar markers in colloquial speech

3. Use context to build listening expectations

4. Listen to confirm expectations

Advanced LearnerAdvanced Learner

ProfileProfile: Cummins (1981): use L2 skills completely

to acquire knowledge

ACTEL Proficiency Guidelines (1988)

listen to longer texts fill in gaps and make inferences miss jokes, slang, and cultural references

Bottom-Up ExercisesBottom-Up Exercises

1. Sentence stress and intonation to identify the importance

2. Reduced form in spoken English3. No fillers4. Organizational cues in lecture text5. Lexical & suprasegmental marker

s for definitions6. Specific points of information

Top-Down ExercisesTop-Down Exercises1. The content of the text from

knowledge of the topic2. The focus and direction from the

introduction to the lecture3. The content of the next section

from the lecture transcript 4. The main idea of a lecture5. Points of view

Interactive ExercisesInteractive Exercises

1. The content in the next segment

from phrases & discourse

2. Making inferences about the text

SummarySummary

• The role of listening on language learning process

• The listening process & different types of listening

• How listening skills help Ss learn L2

Extensive & Intensive Extensive & Intensive ListeningListening

1.1. Extensive ListeningExtensive Listening

• Take place outside the classroom. (home, car, personal stereos)

• Motivational power increases dramatically.

• Materials can be found from a lot of sources.

• Perform tasks. Task-based

Place

Extensive Listening

Intensive Listening

□Outside Classroom

-Home

-Car

-Personal stereo

□Inside Classroom

-Teacher

-Classmates

-Materials

MaterialExtensive Listening

Intensive Listening

□Tape

-Learners’ level

-Authentic material

-Task output

□Tape

-Get information Task

□Live

-Class talk

-Story-telling

-Reading aloud

-Interviews

-Conversation

Procedure of Using Tape Material

• Predict & Gist Task

• Listen to the tape

• Give a task

• Return the tape

• Play again

Intensive Listening

Advantage Disadvantage

□Tape

-Could listen to different characters

□Live

-Interaction

-Change the speed

□Tape

-Unsure hear equally well in big class

-Without interaction

□Live

-Too much time to do prepare

Extensive Listening

Advantage Disadvantage

-More chance to do listen

-More language obtain

-Lots listening activities

-Schematic knowledge

-Improve Vocabularies &Grammar

-Low motivation due to uncertain level

-Language use unnaturally

-Difficult to evaluate

Roles of TeachersIntensive Listening Extensive Listening

□Organizer

□Machine Operator

□Feedback

Organizer

□Prompter

□Introducer

□Director

□Supervisor

Listening Lesson Sequences

• Interview• Re-order• Telephone Message • Completing the Task • Sharing and Solving the

problem• Daily Spoken Drill • The Sound of Music

• T briefs Ss’ level to the visitor.• Ss guess and write down Qs about the

visitor.• Ss interview the visitor based on the Qs.• T prompt Ss to ask Follow-up Qs.• Ss make notes during the interview.• Ss write a short essay about the visitor.• Ss role-play after the interview.

Example 1: Interview

Listen and put pictures in the right order.• Ss see the pictures first & predict what

happens.• T won’t confirm and deny their predictions.• Ss listen & put pictures in correct order.• T should lead Ss to listen again to learn

some particular phrases.

Example 2:Re-Order

• T make three simple records of phone calls.

• Ss have to take messages.

• Ss compare their versions with each other to see they have written.

• Ss listen again and clear up any problems.

Message taking is a communicative act.

Example 3:Telephone Message

• Each group (GA &GB) listen to different tapes.

• They fill in the information what they heard.

• They share different information.

• They interview each other, make notes, and discuss the information.

Including listening & speaking

Example 4:Complete the taskComplete the task

• T leads a discussion about the topic, help Ss come up with sentence patterns.

• Ss look at the photos, predict and discuss them.

• Ss listen and fill in the chart.

• They discuss and think to solve problems.

From training in language skills to language analysis.

Example 5:Sharing & Solving the Problem

• Spoken language

studied for information about how the

text is constructed

in what orders certain functions can

occur within an exchange

• Both simplified and authentic text.

• A record of daily spoken reality.

Example 6:Daily Conversation

• A variety of songs (Ss’ or T’s favorites)

• Choose the song →

Worksheet (song lyrics) →

Compare and Check answers →

Listen again & Read the answer →

T asks Qs about the song →

T explains it. →

Listen again ~

Example 7:The Sound of Music

Thanks for Your

Attention!

~The End~