Re-examining listening comprehension
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Transcript of Re-examining listening comprehension
Re-examining Listening Comprehension
JoAnn Miller, Editorial Macmillan
Getting recordings◦ What to look for in a recording◦ Where to find recordings◦ The Internet◦ Recording original material
Using recordings
Our plan for today
ESL/EFL materials and authentic recordings
Clear presentation
Correct level for your students
Different dialects
Native / Non-native speakers
Different age groups (children, “older people”)
What to look for in a recording…
Textbooks Record from radio Record your own Use live from Internet Download from Internet (podcasts) and play
as mp3
Where to find recordings…
Live from the Internet:
ESL Sites with and without Exercises
Listen:
“First Date
”
“Santa
”
RANDALL’S ESL CYBER
LISTENING LAB
Downloadable ESL sites
English Listening Room
Note:
Only play on computer (RealPlayer)
Non-ESL Sites
Live
How to record original materials
Listen
Now what do I do with my recordings?
Listening is..◦ an interpretive process, creative listening
◦ an active process
◦ often interactive
◦ based on spoken English (purpose, syntax, organization, speed, less formal, paralinguistic features)
Essential Features
David J. Mendlesohn. Learning to listen. Dominie Press, Inc. 1994. pp. 9-21.
process the linguistic forms, hear words
decipher the intention of the speaker, process, judge
cope with listening in an interaction
understand the whole message◦ The smoke thickened. John collapsed.
comprehend the message without understanding every work
recognize different genres, set formulas
Students must be able to…
David J. Mendlesohn. Learning to listen. Dominie Press, Inc. 1994. pp. 9-21.
Listening Discrimination
Schemata building
Top-down or Bottom-up
Listening strategies
Critical Thinking
Multi-skilled activities
Aspects of Listening Comprehension
Discriminate sounds and intonation patterns
Minimal Pairs: ship / sheep (/I/~/iy/)
Example:
◦ That ship is big.
◦ That sheep is big.
Listening discrimination
“Past experiences lead to the creation of mental frameworks that help us make sense of new experiences”
A student’s schemata has to be activated so that he/she can understand the conversation
Example: My son’s thesis ◦Listen
Problems: cultural, educational, etc.
Schemata Building
David Nunan, Second Language Teaching & Learning, Newbury House, 1999. p. 201.
“…listening is a process of decoding the sounds that one hears in a linear fashion, from the …phonemes…to complete texts.”
“…meaning itself is the last step in the process.”
Includes: listening to identify familiar lexical items
segmenting the stream of speech into constituents, 'abookofmine' = four words
using graphic clues to identify the information focus of the word
using grammatical cues to organize the input into constituents
Bottom-up Processing
David Nunan, Second Language Teaching & Learning, Newbury House, 1999. p. 200-201.
Top-down Processing“…listening actively…reconstructs…the original meaning of
the speaker using incoming sounds as clues.”
“In the reconstruction process, the listener uses prior knowledge about the context and situation…” (schemata)
Includes: Recognizing genre, situation, background Inferring relationships, topic of the discourse,
sequence Adding missing details Anticipating outcomes
David Nunan, Second Language Teaching & Learning, Newburt House, 1999. p. 200-201.
Top-down processing
Conscious use of strategies by the students
Can be trained
Listening Strategies
David J. Mendlesohn. Learning to listen. Dominie Press, Inc. 1994. pp. 36-37.
Strategies can be taught
Academic language learning is more effective with learning strategies
Mentally active learners are better learners
Learning strategies transfer to new tasks
Strategies facilitate “information management”.
Strategy training teaches learners how to learn.
Listening Strategies: Justification
David J. Mendlesohn. Learning to listen. Dominie Press, Inc. 1994. pp. 38-39.
Setting (where and when)
Interpersonal relationships (who)
Mood, atmosphere, tone (how)
Topic (what)
Strategies
David J. Mendlesohn. Learning to listen. Dominie Press, Inc. 1994. Chapter 6.
Predicting: Use schemata to guess what will happen.
Inferencing: Build on what students hear to guess what will happen or what is really happening.
Strategies 2: Guessing Strategies
Critical thinking is the examination and test of propositions of any kind which are offered for acceptance, in order to find out whether they correspond to reality or not.
The critical faculty is a product of education and training. It is a mental habit …
Critical Thinking?
William Graham Sumner, Sociologist, cited in Wikipedia (June 2006)
Critical thinking :◦ a set of cognitive skills◦ the ability and intellectual commitment to
use those skills to guide behavior.
Critical thinking does not include just:◦ the acquisition and retention of information◦ or the possession of a skill-set which one
does not use regularly◦ nor does critical thinking merely exercise
skills without consideration of the results.
Wikipedia, June 2006.
In groups look at the picture. What is happening? Which do you think the story will describe? Why?
Example
New American Inside Out, Elementary, Workbook, Unit 7, p. 30.
a. Listen to the story. Which picture illustrates it?
Example, continued
b. Listen again and answer the questions:--Where did the story take place?--Who was the boy?--What happened to him?--How did he feel?
c. Discuss in groups:What would you do in the boy’s situation?Have you ever been in a life and death situation?
Example, continued
Pre-listening◦ Builds schemata
Listening◦ Strategy Building
Post-listening◦ Critical thinking
Listening Activity Organization
a. Listen to the story. Which picture illustrates it?
Listen again and answer the questions:
--Where did the story take place?--Who was the boy?--What happened to him?--How did he feel?
Discuss in groups:What would you do in the boy’s situation?Have you ever been in a life and death situation? Tell your partner about it.
Listen to a story and then retell it (gossip) (listening / speaking)
Listen to a radio show and then write an email to a friend about the ideas (listening / writing)
Talk to a friend about a TV program, watch it and then call your friend and comment on it (listening / speaking)
Read an article in a magazine and then listen to a radio program about the same topic (reading / listening)
Multi-skill Activities
Practice
What kind of activities would you devise for this recording.◦ Pre-listening, listening, post-listening◦ Schemata, strategies, critical thinking, multiskill
New American Inside Out, Pre-Intermediate, Unit 11
What kind of activities would you devise for this recording.◦ Pre-listening, listening, post-listening◦ Schemata, strategies, critical thinking, multi-skill
Handout available at: www.efltasks.net
Take time to look around….there are a number of downloadable and online activities for all levels
JoAnn [email protected] [email protected]
Copies of the handout are available at: http://www.efltasks.net (Presentations)
Links at Delicious: Jabbusch
Thank you very much