ELI 80 (1) Advanced Listening and Speaking
Fall, 2001
M,W,F 8:30-9:20
Moore 102
Instructor: Yasuko Ito
Office: Moore 586
Office Hours: M, W, 9:40am-10:40am, or by appointment
Telephone (office): 956-2789
E-mail: yasukoi@hawaii.edu
COURSE GOALS
This course is designed to improve your listening and speaking skills to enable you to
follow lectures and participate fully in discussions in an American university setting. We
will focus on listening comprehension skills, note-taking strategies, pronunciation skills,
discussion skills, and preparation and successful delivery of presentations.
COURSE MATERIALS:
Required Textbooks (available at the Bookstore):
• Templeton, M. & S.S. Fitzgerald. (1999) Great Presentation Skills. New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill Publishers.
• English Language Institute, University of Hawai'i at Manoa. ELI 80: Listening
Comprehension II. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Primis.
Required Materials:
• One blank videotape
• An e-mail account ― it is essential that you have an e-mail account which you regularly
check. (If you change your e-mail address, you must inform me.)
COURSE REQUIREMENTS: Details will be given later.
• In-class listening and speaking activities: These include small group/whole class
discussions, individual/group presentations, listening to audio tapes and watching video
clips. [We used videotapes of Insight and 60 Minutes, and DVD of Ally McBeal for
listening, and had discussions on related topics following the listening. This semester, I
had Brian Lin as my co-teacher, and I let him take care of the listening part while I took
care of the discussion and presentation elements of the entire course. Since he also wanted
to spend a couple of classes working on pronunciation, we couldn’t spend much time on
listening (videotapes). But it seems that students appreciated Brian’s pronunciation
teaching.]
• Regular textbook reading: You will be required to read the assigned chapters from the
textbook before class and prepare for in-class discussions. [Reading assignments were
from both textbooks (GPS, Primis).]
• Listening/Speaking Log: You will keep a listening/speaking log to reflect upon your
listening/speaking problems. This will be assigned early in the semester. [I gave this
assignment during the first 4 weeks of the semester. I prepared a log form which had
questions asking any listening/speaking problems students encountered in the particular
week. Students had to describe a particular problem they encountered (rather than a general
problem). Then, I collected and gave them feedback (Sometimes Brian gave feedback).
Many students actually wrote similar problems every week.]
• GPS summary: You will summarize several chapters of the GPS textbook with other
classmates and present individually to small groups. [Students got into groups of 2 or 3 and
each group covered a chapter or two related chapters from GPS to give a presentation on it.
Although they worked as a group during preparation, I had each individual member give a
presentation to a small group of students in class, instead of having the group give a
presentation in front of the entire class. I also required presenters to prepare a handout.
There was some misunderstanding on this procedure at the beginning of the semester, so I
had to explain it again to clarify how this activity works.]
• Discussion Leader: You will be leading a small-group discussion on a topic you choose.
[A leader chooses a topic and gets approval from me first. Then in class on Monday of the
week of Discussion Leader, the leader introduces a topic to his/her group members,
explains what the group members have to do to prepare for the discussion (e.g., collecting
information to support their opinions), and leads a discussion on Friday. That way, the
group members can spend Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday collecting necessary
information. Having information with themselves, students were engaged in each
discussion, and this activity was very successful. As a follow-up, leaders had to write a 1page report after leading a discussion. Some students said that they needed more time on
preparation as well as during discussion. Since a couple of groups had only 3 members in
each, they said that they wanted a larger group.]
• Expert Interview Project: You will interview experts in your field based on
questionnaire you create, and you will write a paper. [This assignment was given early in
the semester, and students chose a variety of “experts” ranging from academic advisors and
other professionals on campus to surfers and priests off campus! That was really creative
and amazing, and they seemed to have enjoyed this project. The student who chose a priest
to interview was majoring in religion, and that made him choose the priest as an
interviewee. Overall, students did a wonderful job.]
• Individual Presentation: You will give an individual presentation on a topic you choose.
The individual presentation will be videotaped and followed by individual consultations
with me. [Although students were embarrassed being videotaped, some said that it was a
good chance to see themselves objectively because they could point out their own problems
in speaking/giving a presentation. Each student was given only 10 minutes for their
presentation due to time constraint, and they said that they needed more time. They also
said that they learned various things from this activity (e.g., building up self-confidence,
getting used to speaking in front of people, how to summarize information, how to use
Powerpoint, how to manage time). Having an individual consultation following his/her
presentation was beneficial.]
• Video Group: You will work in small groups and each group will choose one topic.
Each member of the group watches at least one different videotape (e.g. movies,
documentaries) on the selected topic and presents its content and your opinions to the group
members. To complete this project, each group will give a group presentation on the topic
based upon the videotapes and group discussions. [This project incorporated all the skills
we covered during the semester: listening (while watching videotapes), discussion, and
presentation. Some groups had difficulties in choosing a topic or choosing relevant
videotapes, but they all eventually did an excellent work. According to students, what they
learned from this activity includes, how to organize a group work, how to manage time,
new knowledge on a certain topic by watching a relevant videotape, etc. However, some
students said that it was difficult to divide the work equally among group members.]
ATTENDANCE
Regular and punctual attendance and active participation are crucial to your success in this
course. If you miss more than 8 classes, you will automatically fail the course. Coming
late three times counts as one absence. If you are absent from class, it is your
responsibility to contact your classmates or the instructor to find out what was missed.
GRADING
This is a Credit/No Credit course. In order to pass this course, you must receive 80% (√+ or
√) of the points given for the assignments.
√+ = excellent work
√ = good work
√- = need more work
• Listening/Speaking Log: 10%
• GPS summary: 10%
• Discussion Leader: 10%
• Expert Interview Project: 15%
• Individual Presentation: 20%
• Video Group: 20%
• Attendance & Participation: 15%
(All assignments should be submitted in class! If you submit them late, scores will be
deducted.)