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PKB 3053 ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

METHODOLOGY

2#1 Listening S!i""s

,istening is among one of the important sills in learning a language. or

the acquisition of a language/ listening plays a pivotal role. The process of

acquiring a language starts with listening and ends up in the production of

writing.

After birth/ a child hears a variety of sounds and can distinguish

among them. 0very language has a common and a natural sequence forthe development of the language sills. 1imilarly 0nglish language has the

natural sequence of listening/ speaing/ reading/ and writing. ,istening sill

is raned first of all the four. This highlights the importance of listening sill

in the life of human beings.

2irsch 3"45)6 stated/ 7,istening as an aspect of sills8 involves

neurological response and interpretations of sounds to understand and to

give meaning by reacting/ selecting meaning/ remembering/ attending/

analy9ing and including previous experience.:

,undsteen 3"4+46 stated/ 7,istening is a highly complex/ interactive

process that has been defined as ;the process by which spoen language

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. ,istening comprehensionproblems.." actors affecting

listening problems// ,istening

comprehensionproblems

.& Techniques of Teaching ,istening

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is converted to meaning in the mind=. As this definition suggests/ listening

is more than $ust hearing.:

>olvin and

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A good listener does not merely remain silent. 2e ass questions.

2owever/ these questions must avoid all implications 3whether in tone of

voice or in wording6 of septicism or challenge or hostility. They must

clearly be motivated by curiosity about the speaer@s views.

1teinberg + said/ 7Listening is more complex than merely hearing. It is

a process that consists of four stages8 sensing and attending/

understanding and interpreting/ remembering/ and responding . . .. The

stages occur in sequence but we are generally unaware of them.B

(Sheila Steinbe!" An Introduction to Communication Studies# $%ta an& C')an*

Lt" +00,-

There are four elements of good "istening8

". attention--the focused perception of both visual and verbal stimuli

. hearing --the physiological act of @opening the gates to your ears@

!. understanding --assigning meaning to the messages received

&. remembering --the storing of meaningful information

In addition to the four elements/ there are also four levels of listening/

namely acnowledging/ sympathi9ing/ paraphrasing/ and empathi9ing. The

four levels of listening range from passive to interactive when considered

separately. 2owever/ the most effective listeners are able to pro$ect all four

levels at the same time. That is/ they demonstrate that they are paying

attention and maing an effort to understand and evaluate what it is they

are hearing/ and they complete the process by demonstrating through their

responses their level of comprehension and interest in what the speaer is

saying.

Active "istening involves six sills/ that is/ paying attention/ holding

$udgment/ reflecting/ clarifying/ summari9ing/ and sharing. 0ach sill

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METHODOLOGY

contributes to the active listening mind-set/ and each sill includes various

techniques or behaviors. These sills are not mutually exclusive. or

example/ paying attention isn@t something you stop doing when you start

holding $udgment. #or are the sills consistently weighed in importance. In

one conversation/ clarifying may tae much effort and timeC in another

conversation/ gaining clarity and understanding may be quic and easy.B

2#2 Listening compre&ension pro*"ems

efore we begin/ let=s tae a minute to discuss the term listening

comprehension. This sill can be observed when you read to the children.

,istening comprehension can be defined as 7the ability to recall

and understand information which is presented orally.: This information

might be presented through a boo/ filmstrip/ video/ or felt board set.

,istening comprehension is a very important sill for a number of reasons.

irstly/ being able to recall and understand information is an

important prereading sill. In order to be a strong reader later on/ a childmust be able to recall information when it is presented orally.

1econdly/ children who have strong listening comprehension sills

also tend to be good listeners overall. As adults we often spend too much

of our time taling and not enough time listening. ,istening is a sill that a

child will use throughout hisEher entire life. Developing strong listening

comprehension sills early on will help each child become a better listener

for life.

And finally/ strong listening comprehension sills also promote

thining and problem-solving sills. >hen listening to a story/ the children

begin to develop their own thoughts and ideas about the situations

presented in the story.

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2#2#1 Factors a((ecting "istening pro*"ems

There are a number of factors that affect listening and the ability of

the speaer to spea and the listener to listen. In particular/ in more

sensitive situations when attention and privacy are important/ then external

elements that distract or interrupt become increasingly significant.

Sensory factors

Any factors which affect the senses can either support or hinder listening.

In particular/ sudden changes in sensory factors create a contrasting effect

that can be very distracting.

Sig&ts

>hat you can see can be very distracting or otherwise. Anything moving

and people in particular are distracting/ even when we do not now them.

1itting by a window can be both relaxing and also distracting when

interesting events are unfolding outside. Thus pupils who sit by the window

may be distracted enough not to listen to their teachers.

Soun)

A noisy room provides much distraction/ as sound is an important element

of listening. 'eople interrupting and asing questions or even taling

nearby are a particular distraction and can put talers off.

Sme""

The human nose is a very sensitive instrument and smells can be very

evocative and distracting. or this reason/ listening in a cafeteria or

restaurant may or may not be a good idea. A good chat over dinner can be

very helpful/ but sitting in the school cafeteria whilst luncheon smells waft

past may be less desirable.

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Temperature an) &umi)ity

It is difficult to tal comfortably if it is too hot/ too cold or too humid. If you

are sweating profusely it is not easy to tal or listen.

'ecor

The decoration of a room can be relaxing/ with pastel shades and subdued

lighting/ or it can be fussy/ loud and generally distracting.

P&ysica" com(ort

The comfort of seating/ carpeting and other elements also helps with

encouraging tal. This is particularly so if you are going to be taling for a

while. Therefore in this case a comfortable environment can be important.

Physiological factors

'iscom(ort

If the listener is uncomfortable in any way then their discomfort acts as a

distraction and reduces their ability to tal or listen. 'ain is an even more

extreme version of this/ and if somebody is hurting they will not be able to

tal or listen for long.

I""ness

Felated to distraction is illness. 1omeone who is ill in some way may first

be more interested in getting better than taling or listening. Illness also

may affect the mind and the ability to focus.

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Fatigue

>hen somebody is tired/ either after physical exercise or perhaps a hard

day@s wor/ they will liely lac the ability to concentrate on listening or be

less ready to tal/ particularly about important topics.

Stress

Any form of stress is liely to put the person into a state where they are

less comfortable and are unwilling or unable to tal or listen. 1tress should

thus be treated either by an initial winding down to reduce it or by putting

off the discussion until a place and time can be found that is less stressful.

2#2#2 Listening compre&ension pro*"ems

+&y some "earners (in) "istening )i((icu"t

1# T&ey are trying to un)erstan) e,ery or)

Despite the fact that we can cope with missing whole chuns of speech

while having a conversation on a noisy street in our own language/ many

people don@t seem to be able to transfer that sill easily to a second

language. Gne method of tacling this is to show them how to identify the

important words that they need to listen out for. In 0nglish this is shown in

an easy-to-spot way by which words in the sentence are stressed 3spoen

louder and longer6. Another is to give them one very easy tas that you

now they can do even if they do not get 4H of what is being said to build

up their confidence/ such as identifying the name of a famous person or

spotting something that is mentioned many times.

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ritish/ American and Australian accents/ but might also have Indian or

rench thrown in. >hilst this is theoretically useful if or when they get a $ob

in a multinational company/ it might not be the additional challenge they

need right now- especially if they studied 0nglish as a second language at

school. In such cases/ it is better for teachers to record the conversation

before class/ reading all or part of the tapescript out in your 3hopefully

more familiar and therefore easier6 accent/ and giving them a listening tas

where the written questions help out lie gap fills.

# T&ey "ac! "istening stamina t&ey get tire)

This is a problem with a second or foreign language. ou can listen for

sometime until your brain seems to reach saturation point and from then

on nothing goes in until you escape to the toilet for " minutes. The first

thing you@ll need to bear in mind is to build up the length of the texts you

use 3or the lengths between pauses6 over the course in exactly the same

way as you build up the difficulty of the texts and tass. ou can mae the

first time they listen to a longer text a success and therefore a confidence

booster by doing it in a part of the lesson and part of the day when they aremost alert. Teachers should not overload their brains with new language

beforehand. Instead teachers should give them a brea or easy activity

before they start. ou can build up their stamina by also maing the

speaing tass longer. They can practice the same thing outside class by

watching an 0nglish movie with subtitles and taing the subtitles off for

longer and longer periods each time.

3# T&ey &a,e a menta" *"oc!

1ometimes a learner has to struggle with badly graded listening texts in

school/ examinations or self-study materials. This experience mae them

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METHODOLOGY

feel that they are not able and will not be able to learn the language.

>hatever the reason/ before you can build up their sills they need their

confidence bac. The easiest solution is $ust to use much easier texts/

perhaps using them mainly as a prompt for discussion or grammar

presentations to stop them feeling patroni9ed. ou can disguise other easy

listening comprehension tass as pronunciation wor on lined speech and

so on.

4# T&ey are )istracte) *y *ac!groun) noise

eing able to cope with bacground noise is another sill that does not

easily transfer from the first language. This has to be built up along with

learners@ listening and general language sills. 'lan listenings for when you

now it will be quiet outside/ not during recess time or when the class next

door is also doing a listening session.

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16# T&ey &a,e &earing pro*"ems

ou might also have learners who have problems hearing particular

frequencies or who have particular problems with bacground noise. In this

case teachers could try setting most listening tass as homewor andE or

letting one or more learners read from the tapescript as they listen.

11# T&ey can.t te"" t&e )i((erence *eteen t&e )i((erent ,oices

%oices that are clearly distinct to a native speaer can be completely

confusing for a non-native speaer. Teachers can avoid these problems by

using texts with one woman and one man/ or you can practice them with

tass where the students only have to count how many times the speaer

changes.

2#$ %ssessing Listening Compre&ension

There are two inds of listening tests 8 tests that assess specific

aspects of listening/ lie sound discrimination and tas based tests

which test sills in accomplishing different types of listening tass

considered important for the learners being tested. >hen testing/ textselection has to be carried out carefully.

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A tal or story which is read aloud is easier to understand than a

conversation or story that is told. This is because of the false starts and

irrelevant materials or interruptions that occur in conversations and

stories that are told.

The test can be presented live J that is the test administrators could

either read it aloud in front of the class or it can be taped. or greater

reliability/ taping is recommended. This is particularly important if the

same test is to be administered several times to different classes.

Different people may read the text differently and even the same

person may not read the text in exactly the same way each time the

test is administered. This reduces test reliability. The best would be to

use a clear tape in a room with good acoustics. %ideo tapes are better

at the early stages than audio tapes. They are more lie a live

presentation. They allow the listener to use facial expressions as clues

to meaning. Tapes also have the advantage in that they mae it

possible for the pupils to hear a variety of voices and ways of speaing.

Ideally/ a teacher should use real language/ real conversations/ tapes

or stories and so on. In practice/ this is not always suitable. Feal

conversations often tae place in noisy surroundings. This maes cleartaping very difficult. 1ometimes it is difficult to get the right length of

tape for a test. And most commercially produced tapes / except story

tapes/ are unsuitable for small children. This often means that a teacher

should mae his orf her own tapes. Usually/ a teacher does this by

reading aloud a written text. This is not a very good practice. >ritten

language is very different in the way it wors. It has to be edited to

mae it more lie a spoen text.

1ome listening comprehension tests are quitely easy to carry ou. As a

teacher you can hold these tests to determine what your pupils=

listening problem is thus enabling you to plan your teaching ob$ectives

and strategies accordingly.

2#$#1 Nouns

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To determine if the pupil nows the meaning of the word used

to label things. The easiest way to do this is for the teacher to

say the word and have the pupil point to a picture or ob$ect in

question. As an example/ to assess if a pupil has understood

the names of local fruits/ teacher place a few pictures of the

fruits/ then say mango. 2ave the pupil point to the correct

picture. The teacher can substitute pictures of fruits with

pictures of furniture/ vehicles/ buildings/ parts of the body and

so on. It will be good if the teacher can as the pupils to point

to real ob$ects.

2#$#2 %)-ecti,es

To test for listening comprehension of ad$ectives/ the teacher

can show a picture of two similar ob$ects but with different

characteristics/ and as the pupil to point to the ob$ect with

the named characteristics. or example/ to find out whether

the pupil has understood the word =thic=/ the teacher can

show a picture of two or more boos/ one of which is thicer

than the other. The teacher then says/ ='oint to the thic

boo=. If the pupil understands/ he will point to the correctpicture.

2#$#$ 7er*s

To test a pupil=s comprehension of action words/ the teacher

can as the pupil to either perform the action named/ or to

point to a picture showing the action.

or example/ the teacher can say=Kump= and as the pupil to

show the $umping action.

2#$#/ Preposition

To test the student=s understanding of words used to indicate

position/ the teacher can show pictures of similar ob$ects in

different positions. or example/ the teacher can show three

pictures/ one of a boo under the des/ another of a boo on

the des and the third of a boo beside the des. The teacher

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then says/ ='oint to the boo which is under the des=. And if

the pupil can do so/ it shows heEshe has understood the

preposition used.

2#$#0 Tenses

To test whether the pupil understands present action/

completed action and future action/ the teacher can again

use pictures. or example/ the teacher can show three

pictures/ one of a boy icing a ball/ another of a boy waling

towards the ball and the third of a boy about to ic the ball.

The teacher then says/ =1how me :The picture of a boy who

has iced the ball.:.If the pupil point to the correct picture/ it

shows heEshe has understood the tense used.

2#$# 8n)erstan)ing )irection an) instruction

To test whether a pupil can understand instructions given by

the teacher/ the teacher concerned gives the instructions for

the pupil to perform the tas given to carry out the

instructions. or instance/ the teacher can say/ =>ipe your

mouth.= .If the pupil can carry out as instructed it shows

heEshe has understood the instruction.2#$#3 8n)erstan)ing )iscourse

To test whether the pupil can understand connected text/ the

teacher can read from a text and then as questions based

on the text.

2#/ Tec&ni9ues o( Teac&ing Listening Compre&ension in 'i((erent

Communicationa" Conte:ts

,istening is a difficult sill. ou need to mae sure that pupils are

always motivated and one of the best ways of maintaining

motivation is to ensure a high degree of success. uild up your

pupils= sills and self confidence by maing sure pupils understand

clearly what they are expected to do before they start on any

activity. ou should provide a context for listening. Tell them what

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ind of text they are going to listen to/ either a tal or a story and

where it taes place/ for example/ in a small town in 1abah. our

pupils can listen to the same listening input many times/ each time

for a different purpose. ?ae sure that pupils now what they are

listening each time. >hen pupils listen to the input for the first

time/set them some straightforward questions which will help them

get a grasp of the overall text. ou can as questions about the

main information content/ for example/ who the speaers are/ what

they are taling about and so on.

'repare your pupils for the main listening tas by doing

plenty of pre-listening tass which will help them succeed in

whatever ind of listening tas they are required to do. As

questions or set tass that are appropriate for the level of

proficiency of the student and type of test. ,istening and writing at

the same time is difficult. Use formats that require minimun writing/

for example/ filling in gaps/ completing statements/ ?

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phrase begins and where it ends. They have no idea of the rules of

0nglish pronunciation or grammar.

Intermediate learners have a fairly good grasp of the

phonemic system of 0nglish but as most of the listening they did

at the beginners level comprised fully scripted texts/ they would

still have difficulty with authentic texts. They would not be able to

handle well such features as hesitations/ false starts/ bacground

noise/ and so on. ut they would be able to remember longer

phrases and sentences.

Gn the other hand/ advanced pupils are very proficient in the

language. The pupil can process the language almost

automatically without paying conscious attention to it. 2is attention

can almost entirely be on the message content/ the interpersonal

relations between the speaers/his own emotional and intellectual

response to what he hears and so on. >hen the text is incomplete

or there is a lot of bacground noise/ the advanced learner is not

frustrated. 2e learns to use compensatory strategies. If he fails to

hear something/ he tries to infer what it could have been/ using

information in the rest of the tal that he manage to hear.

The following are aspects of listening which you can teach and

some suggested activities8

8

2#/#1 8n)erstan)ing or)s an) concepts

". #ames of ob$ects J As far as possible/ use actual ob$ects

to teach the names.

. %erb meanings J perform the actions

!. 'ictures J mae use of pictures

&.

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help pupils understand that there could be many different

types of chair.

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teacher could also as the learner to choose the main idea

from three choices.

(. ?aing inferences and drawing conclusions J Fead part of

a story that the learner does not now. 1top at an exciting

point and as the pupil to guess what will happen next. The

teacher could also read a story and as the learner to provide

different endings to the story.

2#/#/ Critica" "istening

". Fecogni9ing absurdities J Tell a short story using a word

or phrase that does not fit the story. As the pupil to find out

what is funny or absurd about the story. An example of such

a sentence is/ = I could not lift the toy car because it was too

heavy.=

. ,istening to advertisements J As the pupil to listen to

advertisements and determine how the advertiser is trying to

persuade people to buy the products.

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d. should reread favourite stories

e. should provide follow-up activities

E:ercise 2#

1# Pro)uce some tapes to teac& "istening (or un)erstan)ing or)s

an) concepts;un)erstan)ing sentences; "istening compre&ension;

critica" "istening an) story rea)ing#

2#

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08 Topic 2

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