Mubark Al Kabeer Educational Zone
Ministry of Education
State of Kuwait
Listening
Comprehension
E.L.T senior supervisor
E.L.T Supervisor
Presented by
H.O.D
Headmistress
Listening is the ability to identify and
understand what others are saying. This
involves understanding a speaker's
accent or pronunciation, his grammar
and his vocabulary, and grasping his
meaning. An able listener is capable of
doing these four things simultaneously.
Unfamiliar vocabulary
Grammar Text too long Several people
talking Unfamiliar Context Lots of details Topic not
interesting Theme not clear
Accent Speed Idiomatic speech Task too difficult Unprepared for
the discussion Not prepared for
the format A lack of
background information
The process of listening
Nature of listening texts
1. Students have no control over
the speed of the text.
2. Speakers in listening texts often
have different accents that may
not be familiar to students.
3. Students have no time to pause
and think about the content of the
text.
4. There is often background noise
in the recordings that is a
distraction from the voices of the
speakers.
6. Listening happens in real time.
5. Sometimes the speakers in a
dialogue speak very quickly.
Listening strategies are techniques or
that contribute directly to the
comprehension and recall of listening
input. Listening strategies can be
classified by how the listener processes
the input.
Top-down strategies are listener based; the listener taps into background knowledge of the topic, the situation or context, the type of text, and the language. This background knowledge activates a set of expectations that help the listener to interpret what is heard and anticipate what will come next. Top-down strategies include
listening for the
main idea predicting
drawing inferences
summarizing
Bottom-up strategies are text based; the
listener relies on the language in the
message, that is, the combination of
sounds, words, and grammar that creates
meaning. Bottom-up strategies include
listening for specific details
recognizing cognates
recognizing word-order patterns
Top-down processing
Bottom-up processing
c. Predicting the content of a lecture
or short talk on a subject that the
listener knows something about.
a. Listening carefully to football
results.
e. Listening to get the general idea of
the topic of a conversation.
b. Listening to flight departure
announcements in order to hear the
departure gate.
f. Listening to a series of short
conversations in order to understand
where the conversation is taking
place.
d. Listening attentively to try and
understand (or infer) a speaker’s
attitude to something because the
speaker has not stated their opinion
clearly.
g. Listening in order to do a dictation
activity.
Buy using the following technique we
can help our students to improve their
listening in two important areas gist and
details. Gist to make our pupils know the
main idea, and details because we not
only want them to know the main idea
but also to catch the small details
WHY DO WE USE PRE-
LISTENING ACTIVITIES?
assess students' background
knowledge of the topic and linguistic content of the text
provide students with the background knowledge
necessary for their comprehension of the listening passage or activate the existing knowledge that the
students possess
clarify any cultural information which may be necessary to comprehend the
passage
make students aware of the type of text they will be
listening to, the role they will play, and the purpose(s) for which they will be listening
provide opportunities for group or collaborative work
and for background reading or class discussion
activities
Vocabulary selection
In this activity the students are given a group of words Some of which are from the listening and others which are not. The students decide which ones are from the listening.
sentence selection This is the same as vocabulary selection but students sort sentences
instead.
Get students read the text first This is very good for the students who have a big problem with listening.
They can read at home before the class.
looking at pictures, maps, diagrams, or graphs
reviewing vocabulary or grammatical structures reading something relevant
Print out the main events and cut into stripes
Pupils listen to recording and put the events in order
If necessary pupils listen more than once
Ask follow up questions for incorrect answers
Students answer
true /false questions
Gap -fill exercises
Put pictures or sentences in sequence
Multiple-choice work sheet
Open-ended questions
Re-tell or summarize listening