Chapter 3
Listening for intermediate level learners
Helgesen, M. & Brown, S. (2007). Listening [w/CD]. McGraw-Hill: New
York.
ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines
• Summaries of all ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines
• This book discusses listening for novice,
intermediate, and advanced proficiency
language learners.
• This chapter focuses on intermediate learners.
Intermediate Learners
• Able to understand:
– Content about personal background and needs.
– Sentences that are combinations of phrases
already learned.
– Everyday situations.
– Short telephone conversations, simple
announcements, and some news reports.
Gauging Difficulty
•
•
•
•
Text
Task
Speaker
Listener
Text
•
Parts of Language
–
•
Usage of Language
–
•
Familiar content and vocabulary is easier.
Amount of Context
–
•
Learners may have difficulties if the text is organized in unfamiliar ways or uses flashbacks, extra
comments not related t the main idea, etc…
Content
–
•
Too little or too much information in the text. Redundancy can make understanding easier, but can
also put an additional load on the listener.
Organization
–
•
Lack of familiarity with the way language is used. Problems with functional language like apologizing
or requesting. Lack of familiarity with conventions of direct and indirect speech.
Amount of Language
–
•
Speech rate, pausing, unfamiliar words, unfamiliar pronunciation of known words, unfamiliar
intonation of sentences, unfamiliar grammatical structures.
Knowing the context surrounding the text makes it easier (what preceded it, relationship of speakers,
culture, etc.)
Kind of Text
–
Stories (linear texts) are easier than debates or other non-linear texts.
Text Planning
• Preteach key vocabulary.
• Modify the script to make the language easier
or more difficult.
• Preview the content before the listening.
• Give additional information after the listening.
• Group discussion on the topic at hand.
Task
• Complexity of the task
– Fewer demands on knowledge and memory. Breaking large tasks into
smaller, more manageable tasks.
• Level of response required
– Checklist is easier than a written response. Summary is easier than
providing details.
• Level of participation
– Interactive/on line or non-participant listener/recording.
• Knowledge of the content and procedure of the task
– Familiar topics and tasks are easier.
• Level of support/context
– Scaffolding can make tasks easier.
• Response time
– Time between listening and response/activity.
Task Planning
•
•
•
•
Write a list of key words on the board
Use pictures
Add TPR or other not vocal action.
Provide the script
Speaker
• Style
– Unique/unfamiliar style of speech
• Accent
– Unfamiliar accent
• Number of Speakers
– Multiple speakers are often more difficult than a
single speaker.
• Recorded or Not
– Benefits and drawbacks of using recording vs. real
speakers and vice versa.
Speaker Planning
•
•
•
•
Add or remove speakers from the listening.
Pause to allow for reflection.
Read the script (familiar teacher voice)
Replay the recording as much as needed.
Listener
• Proficiency level
– Advance understand better than beginners.
• Interest and motivation
– The more interesting, the more/better one is likely
to listen.
• Confidence
– Confidence high = better performance than
confidence low.
Listener Planning
• Provide multiple venues for responses:
speaking, acting out, drawing, writing, etc.
• Share the task with group work.
• Do a “microtask” before the main task.
Something that can prepare learners for the
main task.
Listening Strategies
• Predicting: try to predict what will happen before listening
and during listening
• Inferencing: try to think about what the speaker means
beyond the literal meaning of the text.
• Monitoring: think about what you do and do not
understand while listening.
• Clarifying: Ask questions when you don’t fully understand.
• Responding: React to what the speaker is saying.
• Evaluating: Think about how successful you were in the
completed listening task.
• P. 70-84 for examples of these strategies in classroom practice
Acquisition vs. Learning
• Acquisition is the unconscious ability to
understand and use the language. (first language)
• Learning is the conscious attempt to understand
and use the language
• Focus on Form is the use of activities to implicitly
highlight language forms.
– Particularly important at the intermediate level when
learners have enough understanding of the language
for meaning, but can benefit from noticing the
difference between what they hear and what was
actually said.
Where to Put Listening in a
Lesson
• Beginning of the lesson
• Middle of the lesson
• End of the lesson
Listening at the beginning of the
lesson
• Provides input needed for language learning.
– Background information
– Topic introduction
– Motivation
• Practice hearing the language before requiring
students to produce it.
– PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production)
• Not a great approach, but popular
Listening in the middle of the
lesson
• Beginning is a good time to build a need for
input provided by listening.
• First communication, then a focus on form
• Task-based learning
Listening at the end of the lesson
• Review
• Task recycling
– Repeat the same task to increase practice,
retention, and performance
Assessing intermediate learners
• In addition to those discussed in chapter 2
• Self-assessment
– Assessment in terms of what one can do (functional language)
– Surveys, journals, journals, learning logs
• Communicative tests
– Authentic interactions
– Jigsaw listening, group-work,
• Performance-based testing
– Very similar to communicative tests
– Performance-based testing is direct, whereas communicative tests are
indirect.
• Difference between evaluation and assessment
– Evaluation is broad array of measures
– Assessment is a single on of the measures