University of Bielefeld
Department of English and American Studies
Winter Semester 2006/07
Teaching Specific Domains of ELC
Instructor: Ms. Brüning
Presentation by Urs Zingeler & Antonia Zacharias
Email:
urs.zingeler@uni-bielefeld.de,
toni.zacharias@web.de
Listening
1. Listening in General
1.1 The Complexity of Listening
- short definition of (to) listen:
1) “To make an effort to hear something.” […]
2) “To pay attention.”1
- listening is much more than just comprehension, it includes a certain form of response
by the listener (active listening process)
- example for the active response by a listener (in face-to-face encounters, there is
always a certain amount of the listener`s evaluation and negotiation of the situation
involved):
speaker: a friend is describing his distressing financial situation with some degree of
emotion
listener: will need
 intelligence to follow the information
 prior knowledge to understand financial implications in general
 empathy to appreciate and feel the speaker`s difficult situation
 cultural knowledge to be aware of the limits on appropriate questions and
suggestions
 personal knowledge to assess whether the friend is overreacting
 the judgement to know whether the speaker`s purpose is to elicit only sympathy or
a personal loan as well
- listening is a complex process
1
http://www.answers.com/topic/listen (last visited on 12/12/2006).
1.2 The Role of Listening
- English Language Teaching (ELT) literature often describes listening as the neglected
and taken for granted skill of the four abilities
- many ELT methods assume that listening skill does not have to be practiced
- this neglect is inappropriate:
1) Rivers and Temperley have found out that of the time an individual is dealing with
communication, about 45 % is devoted to listening (9 % to writing, 16 % to reading
and 30 % to speaking)
2) a significant shift from printed media (newspapers) towards sound (radio, TV) in
today`s society
 members of this society (dealing with English) need to develop a high level of
proficiency in listening
 teachers have to ask themselves the question, “What kind of classroom procedures
will develop listening ability/proficiency?”
1.3 The Listening Process
- distinction between bottom-up and top-down processes in listening:
1) “In the bottom-up part of the listening process, we use our knowledge of language
and our ability to process acoustic signals to make sense of the sounds that speech
presents to us. In other words, we use information in the speech itself to try to
comprehend the meaning.”2 (use of lexical, syntactical and phonological
knowledge)
2) “Top-down comprehension strategies involve knowledge that a listener brings to a
text, sometimes called `inside the head´ information. […] Top down listening infers
meaning from contextual clues and from making links between the spoken message
and various types of prior knowledge which listeners hold inside their heads.”3
(prior knowledge: general world/sociocultural/topic/local knowledge etc.)
- bottom-up and top-down strategies in listening function simultaneously and are
mutually dependent
- during the act of listening, listeners try to match their perception of meaning with the
speaker`s intended meaning
- but: listening comprehension (either in L1 or L2) is always only selective and partial!
 uncertainties that exist for foreign language listeners (Cherry)
1.4 Uncertainties for Foreign Language Listeners
- 1) uncertainties of confidence:
unrealistic expectations in language classes, a lot of classes do not contextualize
texts  learners, who cannot tackle these tasks, develop negative perceptions of
their listening ability
- 2) uncertainties of language / uncertainties deriving from the presentation of
language:
usually, spoken language is very different form written language because it is
unplanned (repetitions, pauses, false starts, incomplete sentences and
restructurings; random order of information; higher proportion of colloquial
language and contracted forms; variety of accents; rate of delivery can vary greatly)
- 3) uncertainties because of gaps in the message4:
environmental noise, poorly articulated speech, poor attention by the listener
2
Hedge, T. 2000. Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 230.
Ibid. 232.
4
Anderson, A. & Lynch, T. 1988. Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 5.
3
-
-
-
4) uncertainties of content:
difficulty in inferring and interpreting the meaning of a spoken message because of
a lack of background/schematic knowledge
5) uncertain strategies:
teachers must teach their students the exact use of listening strategies in the target
language, otherwise the students might be perceived as rude and strange by native
speakers (of the target language)
6) visual uncertainties:
there are situations in real life when listening is made more difficult for L2 learners
because visual aids are missing (telephone conversations or radio programs)
2. Implications for the English Language Classroom
2.1 Creating Reasons for Listening
- listening is relevant for many different reasons
- distinction between:
1) participatory listening (to engage in social rituals, to exchange information, to
exert control, to share feelings, to enjoy yourself)
2) non-participatory listening (curious eavesdropping, to extract information e.g.
from announcements or news items, to listen to mass media such as radio, TV etc.
for enjoyment, to follow instructions, to understand concepts e.g. in a lecture, to
infer views and attitudes)
- it is important that learners experience a variety of those listening reasons or purposes
- ask yourself as a teacher:
 Is it profitable for the learners to listen to a particular text?
 Is the purpose related to situations that the listener will face in real life (→ target
group)?
 Does the listening task encourage that listening purpose?
2.2 Selecting Texts and Sources for Listening
- different text forms require different levels of knowledge and concentration
- for example:
1) scripted monologues (written talks, stories read to children etc.) are usually fairly
slow and formal, bear little repetition, rephrasing or other performance features
2) unscripted dialogues (e.g. spontaneous conversations) often include repetitions,
rephrasing, reformulations, hesitations, natural rhythm, incomplete sentences, fast
pace, variety of accents, colloquialisms
- therefore, certain texts can be almost incomprehensible to unadvanced learners
- possible solutions:
 choice of conversations with clear settings, role relationships, topics and structures
 “flexible approach”: use of semi-authentic texts which are produced for a
pedagogical purpose but still exhibit genuine acts of communication
 appreciation of (dis-)advantages of different sources:
audio cassette (wide range of listening situations, speakers, voices, speeds,
variable for replay);
video (provides a visual element, contextualization activities become less
necessary);
teacher (can be seen, check for comprehension, repeat, modify language)
2.3 Designing Listening Activities
- 1) preparation for the listening: acquaintance with the topic, structure, vocabulary;
create interest and confidence to listen
- 2) make sure that the students have all understood the while-listening task
- 3) students carry out their task independently
- 4) feedback session; check and discuss the while-listening task
- 5) closer focus on the text, bottom-up processes
- this procedure, which has become has become standard practice, obviously includes
three stages:
- pre-listening stage:
 decision which kind of listening purpose is appropriate to the text must be made
 testing existent knowledge on the topic
 prepare students for the overall organization of the text
 main objective: contextualization of the text and providing any information that
helps the listeners to appreciate it
- while-listening activity:
 defines the specific aim of the task (gist vs. specific information)
 in early stages, the task of listening and writing at the same time may cause anxiety.
Therefore, simple activities (e.g. numbering pictures in the right order) will help to
improve that skill.
 try a while-listening task beforehand in order to check how manageable the task is!
- post-listening activity:
 bottom-up listening skills are practised in a more intensive phase
 might include intensive listening and note-taking
 can prelude other skills through development of the topics into reading, speaking or
writing activities
2.4 Building Confidence in Listening
- four basic groups of factors to follow (Brown and Yule, 1983):
1) speaker (number of speakers, speed, degree of overlapping speech, variation of
accent)
2) content (language factors, structure of the text, required prior knowledge)
3) listener (degree of motivation, degree of response required)
4) support (for example visual material)
- in order to grade a listening task efficiently, the teacher should find a suitable balance
of these factors
- confidence through exposure to English:
 if available, it might motivate students to make use of their competences by
listening to native speakers
 radio, TV programmes and films bear not only an enjoyable change, but can evoke
a positive attitude towards the language
Bibliography:
Anderson, A. & Lynch, T. 1988. Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hedge, T. 2000. Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Answer.com: Listen. http://www.answers.com/topic/listen (last visited on 12/12/2006).