TEACHING LISTENING COMPREHENSION:
PRINCIPLES, ACTIVITIES, AND RESOURCES

JOE MCVEIGH, Middlebury College

1) Why do people listen? (Underwood, Harmer, Morley, Richards)
· Content: interest/usefulness
· Transactional listening
· Interactional listening

2) How do people listen? (Harmer, Morley, Richards)
· Desire, purpose, expectation
· Bottom up models
· Top down models

3) Receptive & productive skills

4) Differences in oral and written language
· Static vs. speed
· Care, logic, grammatical correctness vs. spontaneity
· Hesitation, reformulation, redundancy, topic change

5) Potential problems in learning to listen in a second language (Underwood)
· Speed
· Repetition
· Vocabulary
· "Signals"
· Interpretation
· Concentration
· Perfectionism

6) Varieties of listening exercise and response types
· Minimal pairs
· Numbers
· Spatial directions
· Map exercises
· Dictations
· Total Physical Response
· Cloze Listening
· Matching or distinguishing
· Sequencing
· Note-taking


7) A basic methodological model for the teaching of receptive skills (Harmer)
· lead-in
· t directs comprehension task
· ss listen for task
· t directs feedback
· t directs text-related task

8) Simplifying/adjusting the level of listening activities (Rost)
· Simplify input
· Pre-listening activities
· Visual support
· Steps
· Decrease production required

9) Sample listening materials

10) Designing listening lessons

QUESTIONS ABOUT LISTENING

1. WHAT ARE SOME POSSIBLE SITUATIONS OR REASONS FOR LISTENING?
2. WHAT DO NATIVE SPEAKERS NEED TO DO IN ORDER TO LISTEN?
3. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN ENGLISH?
4. WHAT ARE SOME POTENTIAL PROBLEMS IN LEARNING TO LISTEN IN A SECOND LANGUAGE? (WHY IS LISTENING HARD FOR OUR STUDENTS?)
5. WHAT ARE SOME DIFFERENT POSSIBLE TYPES OF LISTENING EXERCISES OR ACTIVITIES?
6. HOW CAN WE SIMPLIFY OR ADJUST THE LEVEL OF LISTENING ACTIVITIES?

SOME POSSIBLE SITUATIONS/REASONS FOR LISTENING

UNDERWOOD, M. 1989. TEACHING LISTENING. LONDON: LONGMAN.

A) PARTICIPATING IN CONVERSATIONS
B) LISTENING TO CONVERSATIONS WITHOUT TAKING PART (EAVESDROPPING)
C) LISTENING TO NEWS, WEATHER, ETC. ON RADIO OR TV
D) LISTENING TO RADIO OR TV FOR ENTERTAINMENT
E) VIEWING A FILM OR PLAY
F) FOLLOWING A LESSON IN A CLASS
G) LISTENING TO A LECTURE OR A PUBLIC ADDRESS
H) TALKING ON THE TELEPHONE
I) FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS IN LEARNING TO LISTEN IN A SECOND LANGUAGE

UNDERWOOD, M. 1989. TEACHING LISTENING. LONDON: LONGMAN.

A) LACK OF CONTROL OVER THE SPEED AT WHICH SPEAKERS SPEAK
B) NOT BEING ABLE TO GET THINGS REPEATED
C) THE LISTENER'S LIMITED VOCABULARY
D) FAILURE TO RECOGNIZE THE "SIGNALS"
E) PROBLEMS OF INTERPRETATION
F) INABILITY TO CONCENTRATE ( TOPIC, EFFORT, TECHNICAL PROBLEMS)
G) ESTABLISHED LEARNING HABITS -- LISTENING PERFECTIONISM

VARIETIES OF LISTENING EXERCISE & RESPONSE TYPES

MINIMAL PAIRS: SIMILAR SOUNDS
NUMBERS: PAGES, MATH, PHONE #'S, ADDRESSES
SPATIAL DIRECTIONS: USING A PLAIN PIECE OF PAPER . . .
MAP EXERCISES: STREETS/CITIES, SUPERMARKETS, ZOO'S
DICTATIONS: SENTENCES, PARAGRAPHS, SPEED, COMPLEXITY/PAUSES, REPETITION
TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE: SEQUENCES OF ACTIVITIES
CLOZE LISTENING -- DELETE SELECTED WORDS
MATCHING OR DISTINGUISHING
SEQUENCING -- PICTURES, TEXT
NOTE-TAKING

SIMPLIFYING / ADJUSTING THE LEVEL OF LISTENING ACTIVITIES

ROST, M. 1991. LISTENING IN ACTION. NEW YORK: PRENTICE HALL.

A) MAKE THE "INPUT" LANGUAGE OF THE ACTIVITY SIMPLER OR LESS COMPLEX
· SLOW YOUR SPEECH
· USE LONGER PAUSES
· REPEAT FAMILIAR INFORMATION
· CLEARLY SIGNAL SHIFTS IN THE TEXT (INTONATION, DISCOURSE MARKERS)
· PARAPHRASE UNFAMILIAR VOCABULARY

B) CREATE PRE-LISTENING ACTIVITIES THAT GIVE A USEFUL PREVIEW OF THE CONTENT AND PROCEDURES IN THE ACTIVITY
· INTRODUCE DIFFICULT/NEW VOCABULARY, STRUCTURES IN ADVANCE
· STATE THE PURPOSE CLEARLY
· PROVIDE SOME QUESTIONS IN ADVANCE
· HAVE A WARM-UP DISCUSSION THAT RELATES TO THE TOPIC

C) GIVE VISUAL SUPPORT FOR THE LISTENING ACTIVITY
· MAPS
· GRAPHS
· ILLUSTRATIONS
· PHOTOGRAPHS
· CHARTS
· NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

D) BREAK DOWN THE STEPS OF THE ACTIVITY IN ORDER TO PROVIDE SUB-GOALS
· LISTEN SEVERAL TIMES, EACH TIME WITH A DIFFERENT GOAL

E) DECREASE THE AMOUNT OF ORAL OR WRITTEN PRODUCTION REQUIRED
· USE NON-VERBAL RESPONSES
· LIMIT WRITTEN RESPONSES:
· YES/NO
· TRUE/FALSE
· CHECK BOXES

REASONS FOR USING DICTATION

DAVIS, P. & RINVOLUCRI, M. 1988. DICTATION: NEW METHODS, NEW POSSIBILITIES.
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

A) THE STUDENTS ARE ACTIVE DURING THE EXERCISE

B) THE STUDENTS ARE ACTIVE AFTER THE EXERCISE

C) DICTATION LEADS TO ORAL COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES

D) DICTATION COPES WITH MIXED-ABILITY GROUPS

E) DICTATION DEALS WITH LARGE GROUPS

F) DICTATION WILL OFTEN CALM GROUPS

G) DICTATION IS SAFE FOR THE NON-NATIVE TEACHER

BIBLIOGRAPHY

USEFUL ARTICLES AND BOOKS ABOUT LISTENING
Anderson, A. & Lynch, T. (1988) Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brown, G. (1977) Listening to spoken English. London: Longman
Davis, P. & Rinvolucri, M. (1988) Dictation: New methods, new possibilities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dunkel, P. (1991) Listening in the native and second/foreign language: Toward an integration of research and practice. TESOL Quarterly, 25(3), 431-457.
Harmer, J. (1991) The practice of English language teaching (New edition). London: Longman.
Morley, J. (1984) Listening and language learning in ESL. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich (ERIC, Center for Applied Linguistics)
Morley, J. (1991) Listening comprehension in second/foreign language instruction in Celce-Murcia, M. (Ed.) Teaching English as a second or foreign language (2nd ed.) Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Nunan, D. & Miller, L. (1995) New ways in teaching listening. Alexandria, VA: TESOL.
Prator, C. & Robinett, B. (1985) Manual of American English Pronunciation (4th ed.) New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Richards, J.C. (1983) Listening comprehension: Approach, design, and procedure. TESOL Quarterly, 17(2), 219-240.
Rost, M. (1991) Listening in Action. Hemel Hempstead, Herts, UK: Prentice-Hall.
Rost, M. (1990) Listening in language learning. London: Longman.
Underwood, M. (1989) Teaching listening. London: Longman.
Ur, P. (1984) Teaching listening comprehension. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

SELECTED LISTENING COMPREHENSION TEXTBOOKS
Dunkel, P. & Lim, P. (1986) Intermediate listening comprehension. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Huizenga, J. (1987) From the start: Beginning listening. White Plains, NY: Longman.
Morley, J. (1976) Improving aural comprehension. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michgan Press.
Morley, J. (1976) Listening dictation. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Richards, J., Gordon, D. & Harper, A. (1987) Listen for it. New York: Oxford University Press.
Schecter, S. (1984) Listening tasks. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Weinstein, N. (1982) Whadday say? Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.