Listening
Are you Teaching or Testing?
Hearing vs. Listening
Combine Top-down and Bottom-up Processing Tasks - Top-down processing is utilizing what is already
known about the context of a situation from life experiences while bottom-up is the process of decoding
individual words, phrases and structures of grammar. A balance using both types of processing is
necessary for effective understanding.
Three Parts of a Listening Lesson
1. Pre-listening: Task is explained, context is given, and unfamiliar phrases or vocabulary are
covered. A purpose is given for listening and the learner is better prepared for
understanding. Makes actual listening easier.
2. Listening: Actual listening occurs.
3. Post-listening: Helps learners put to use what was heard. Review the purpose and how it
benefits the student. Teacher assesses if the meaning was understood and if the level of
difficulty should be adjusted.
Teach Listening Strategies
Predicting
Inferencing
Monitoring
Clarifying
Evaluating
Note taking
Memory exercises
Use Authentic Listening Tasks
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Airport, train station, mall, subway announcements
Voicemail, phone, directions, maps, making reservations
Fast food drive-through, restaurant ordering, Subway , Build a Burger, ordering cooked meat
Consider the Differences between Spoken and Written Language
Find What Motivates the Learners at Their Level
Listening Tasks:
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Raise hands or cards to indicate answers to verbal questions
Listen to a newscast, then watch and listen at the same time, or watch without the sound first
and predict what is being said. This can be done with any video segment.
The Voice of America offers simple, highly articulated broadcasts (BBC, NPR)
Transcribe what was heard
Listen and then point to the picture that corresponds to the word
Describe a word to your partner or the class
Verbal Flashcards
Guess the correct object by feel as the teacher describes it
Report on a word to the class (definition, collocates, parts of speech, etc.)
Extensive listening to stories (high interest, known words, increase speed w/ each repetition)
Students interview each other about various words or texts, then write or give report
Finish the sentence based on what you heard
Predict the next line in a dialogue
Identify a sequence of events or steps
Identify how many speakers (male/female, context, etc.)
Infer speaker’s emotion, opinion, subject, etc.
 Stop 3-4 times during a lecture to let students discuss
 Buzz groups make sure no student is left behind
 Listening w/support (teacher gives students a written handout to follow along or stops
frequently to assess)
 Watching video with subtitles gives support before removing subtitles to increase difficulty
 True/False in spoken form
 Fill in the gap while listening to a passage
 Multiple Choice in spoken form
 Use maps, graphs or charts to follow a route, identify locations, directions, label, fill-in, etc.
 Draw based on a description, instructions or impressions of a story
 After listening to a problem, give an opinion on how to solve it
 Give review of a story, music or advertisement
 Physically follow verbal instructions (Simon Says)
 Answer informal questions directed to the listener
 Write opposite of what you hear
 Use a divider so that you can hear your partner but not see them
 Describe to your partner what was heard
 Matching tasks that focus on meaning & form
 Listen to a song (with or without seeing words) that tells a story and explain or draw a picture
 Listen to a variety of podcast episodes online
 Voice chat sites to practice speaking/listening www.mylanguageexchange.com/voicechat.asp
Ideas from Paul Nation, Marc Helgesen, Steven Brown, Averil Coxhead, and Paige Nemrow.