Increasing Listening Practice Scott Chiverton Regional English
Language Officer Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Slide 3
Most activities we do in the course of a listening class are
actually not listening K. McCaughey
Slide 4
What constitutes Listening Teacher telling a story sort of(what
are students doing during the story?) Answering comprehension
questions after listening to an audio No-more of a memory test
Vocabulary matching of words heard in an audio text No- they are
working on vocabulary Teacher describing a scene and students
drawing it Yes, Its a picture dictation useful comprehension task
they listen, understand and immediately draw Adapted From
McCaughey, K. 2015. Practical Tips for Increasing Listening
Practice Time English Teaching Forum 53 (1) 2-13
Slide 5
What listening Isnt Pre-Listening Focusing on vocabulary that
students will encounter in the listening While Listening Hearing a
clip once maybe twice with the intention to answer questions or do
a task Post-Listening Answering comprehension questions about the
listening
Slide 6
What Listeners Need To do something Short listening clips
Repetition See comprehension Variety Adapted From McCaughey, K.
2015. Practical Tips for Increasing Listening Practice Time English
Teaching Forum 53 (1) 2-13
Slide 7
Activities that promote Listening Drawing dictation Teachers or
students draw geometric shapes similar to the one below
Slide 8
Activities that promote Listening Locating places on a map
using directions Main Street Mwynilane Long Road Petit Street
Slide 9
Activities that promote Listening Movie sound bites and clips
Short, repetitive and attainable And then they made me their chief
Pirates of the Caribbean- The Curse of the Black Pearl
Slide 10
Activities that promote Listening Seeing Answers Questions
Students signal answers with movement They can be Yes/No questions
You can test understand of grammar structures Simple past vs.
present perfect Also for How often questions: Always- Stand up
Often- Hold a pen in the air Sometimes- put two hands in the air
Never- put your hands over your eyes
Slide 11
Overcoming Obstacles Little time to add anything to the
curriculum Remember keep it short and small Audio text can be three
seconds Dictate a sentence from time to time No equipment or class
is too large & noisy to hear the audio Use your voice as the
source Use your phone and bring Students to audio source
Slide 12
Final thoughts Avoid doing non listening during listening
activities Keep audio clips short Have learners respond immediately
Make responses visible Vary the types of listening Allow the
students to do nothing but listen
Slide 13
Resources McCaughey, K. 2015 Practical tips for Increasing
Listening Practice Time., English Teaching Forum V. 53 (1) 2-13
Zhang Wen-Sheng. 2007 Teach more strategies in EFL college
listening classroom US-China Education Review V. 4 (3) 71-76