Teaching Listening & Speaking

Latricia Trites, Ph.D.Academic Advisor

Fulbright Yilan Project2008-2009

Key Questions about Listening

• What are listeners doing when they listen?• What factors affect good listening?• What are characteristics of “real life” listening?• What are the many things listeners listen for?• What are some principles for designing listening

techniques?• How can listening techniques be interactive?• What are some common techniques for teaching

listening?

What makes listening difficult?

• Clustering• Redundancy• Reduced forms• Performance variables• Colloquial language• Rate of delivery• Stress, rhythm, and intonation• Interaction

What types of listening skills are developed?

• Microskills

• Macroskills

(see handout)

What kinds of listening skills are taught?

• Reactive (listen and repeat)• Intensive (listen on a focused sound)• Responsive (listen and respond – briefly)• Selective (listen for particular items in a

longer passage)• Extensive (listen for interactive/responsive

purposes)• Interactive (listen to discuss, respond,

debate)

Principles for teaching listening

• Integrate listening into the course

• Appeal to students’ personal goals

• Use authentic language and contexts

• Consider how students will respond

• Teach listening strategies

• Include both bottom-up AND top-down listening

Common listening strategies

• Looking for key words• Looking for nonverbal cues to meaning• Predicting a speaker’s purpose by the context• Activating background knowledge• Guessing at meanings• Seeking clarification• Listening for the gist• Developing test-taking strategies for listening

Break-out Activity

• With a partner/group, look at the strategies given on the handout to you. Briefly plan how you might teach these strategies to students.

• Report back to the whole group on at least two of the activities.

Current issues in teaching oral skills

• Conversational discourse

• Teaching pronunciation

• Accuracy and fluency

• Affective factors

• Interaction effect

• Questions about intelligibility

• Questions about what is “correct” speech

What makes speaking difficult?

The same things that make listening difficult:• Clustering• Redundancy• Reduced forms• Performance variables• Colloquial language• Rate of delivery• Stress, rhythm, and intonation• Interaction

Types of classroom performance

• Imitative (this should be limited) – repetition drill

• Intensive – practice a grammatical/phonological feature

• Responsive – to respond to a question• Transactional (dialogue) – to convey

information• Interpersonal (dialogue) – to interact

socially• Extensive – monologue

(intermediate/advanced)

Do drills have a place?

• Yes, BUT….

Guidelines for Drills

• Keep them short• Keep them simple• Keep them snappy• Ensure that students know WHY they are

doing the drill• Limit the drill to phonological/grammatical

points• Ensure that they lead to a communicative

goal• DON’T OVERUSE THEM

Principles for Teaching Speaking

• Focus on fluency and accuracy (depending on objective)

• Use intrinsically motivating techniques• Use authentic language in meaningful contexts• Provide appropriate feedback and correction• Optimize the natural link between listening and

speaking (and other skills)• Give students the opportunity to initiate oral

communication.• Develop speaking strategies.

Sample activities for teaching conversation

• See handouts• Interviews• Guessing games• Jigsaw tasks• Ranking exercises• Discussions• Values clarification• Problem-solving activities• Role plays• Simulations

Should we teach pronunciation?

• According to Wong (1987), “sounds are less crucial for understanding than the way they are organized” (as cited in Brown, 2008, p. 339).

• Native speakers rely more on stress and intonation than accurate articulation of a particular sound.

Factors that affect pronunciation

• Native language

• Age

• Exposure

• Innate phonetic ability

• Identity and language ego

• Motivation/concern for good pronunciation

When and how should I correct errors?

• Global and local errors

• Performance slip or competence error

Common speaking strategies

• Asking for clarification (what?)• Asking someone to repeat something• Using fillers• Using conversation maintenance cues (uh-huh,

right, yeah, okay, hm)• Getting someone’s attention• Using paraphrases for structures one can’t

produce• Appealing for assistance from the interlocutor• Using formulaic expressions• Using mime and nonverbal expressions

Break-out Activity

References

• Brown, H.D. (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (3rd ed). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.

• Richard-Amato, P.A. (2003). Making it happen: From interactive to participatory language teaching theory and practice (3rd ed.). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.