teaching listening skills

 

1. LEARNING OBJECTIVES 

On successful completion of this chapter, students will be able to: 

- Understand the key components of listening skill 

- Have an insight into the historical development of listening skill 

- Have a basic command on the stages of listening skill 

- Analyse source texts for a listening activity 

- Aware of the approaches to listening skill 

- Foresee the current trends in listening skill 

- Link the theory and practice in the teaching of listening skill

2. WHAT MAKES A GOOD LISTENING TEXT? 

Listening comprehension is an extremely important part of a language learning phenomenon. Second language acquisition (SLA) studies have illustrated that comprehensible output and input are crucial for the acquisition of a language (Swain, 1995). Therefore, we need to question the properties of a good listening text for language learning classes. There are various factors affecting a listening text’s quality but, in common, we can divide the quality of a text into two categories: “content” and “delivery”.

3. AUTHENTIC VERSUS NON-AUTHENTIC LISTENING MATERIALS 

In the selection of the right listening material for language classrooms, the distinction between authentic and pedagogic materials should be highlighted. They both have advantages and disadvantages depending on your target group and the aim of the activity. Authentic materials can be texts which are prepared by native speakers and are not originally intended as language learning materials (Bacon, 1992; Joiner, 1991; Joiner et al., 1989; Scarcella& Oxford, 1992). Authentic materials can often include more unfamiliar use of language, and mostly, it can be difficult for learners to cope with. If the teacher wants to use authentic material, he/she should write a lesson plan based on the material and find appropriate supporting materials. Richards (2006) also states three advantages of integrating authentic materials in a classroom environment: (i) the culture of the target language is introduced, (ii) the use of real language is shown, and (iii) a more creative way of teaching is achieved. 

4. LISTENING SUB-SKILLS 

There are various types of listening sub-skills to help listeners make sense of the listening text. Most commonly used listening sub-skills in language classrooms are: Listening for-gist: listening to get a general idea Listening for specific information: listening just to get a specific piece of information Listening in detail: listening to every detail, and try to understand as much as possible Listening to infer: listening to understand how listeners feel Listening to questions and responding: listening to answer questions Listening to descriptions: listening for a specific description.

5. LISTENING SOURCES 

Comparing listening in one’s native language, listening in a foreign language is a more challenging task: “How well L2 listeners cope with these limitations will depend on their ability to make use of all the available resources to interpret what they hear” (Vandergrift, 2007, p. 193). Therefore, in a listening phenomenon, the use of appropriate listening sources has a crucial effect in comprehension.

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