Is receiving language/input through the ears

• Involves identifying the sounds of speech and processing them into words and sentences.

• Background knowledge and linguistic one.

Teaching Listening

Receive individual sounds (letters, stress, rhythm and pauses) and we use our brain to convert these into messages that mean something to us.

Strategies for identifying sounds

GOALS FOR TEACHING LISTENING

Create estrategies for the comprehension of aural imput iside and outside the classroom.

Identify relevant and non-relevant information.

Tolerate less than word-by-word comprehention.

Develop Ss’ awareness of the listening process.

Allow Ss to practice authentic listening tasks.

METACOGNITIVE ESTRATEGIES

Before listenignDecide in advance what to listen for.

Decide if more linguistic or background knowledge is needed.

Decide whether to enter the text from the top down or from the bottom up.

Assess Ss’ background knowledge of the topic and linguistic content of the text.

PLAN

Activate Ss’ previous knowledge.

Clarify any cultural information which may be necesary to comprehend the passage.

Make Ss aware of the purpose(s) of the listening activity.

Provide opportunities for collaborative work and discussion activities.

PRE-LISTENING ACTIVITIESLooking at pictures, maps, diagrams or graphs

Reviewing vocabulary or grammatical structures

Reading something relevantPredicting the content of the listening text

Going over the directions for the activity

Doing guided practice

During listening Verify predictions and check for inaccurate guesses

Decide what is and is not important to undertand

Listen again to check comprehention

If the Ss are to complete a written task during or inmediately after listening, allow the to read trough it before listening.

“Monitor”

Keep writing to a minimum during listening.

Organize activities so that they guide listeners trough the text.

Use questions to comprehention.

Use predicting for monitoring Ss’ comprehention as they listen.

Give immediate feedback whenever possible.

WHILE-LISTENING ACTIVITIES Listening with visuals.

Filling in the graphs and charts

Following a route on a map

Checking off items in a list

Listening for the gist

Searching for specific clues to meaning

After listening “Evaluate”Evaluate comprehention

Evaluate overall progress

Decide if the strategies used were appropiate

Modify strategies if necessary

AUTHENTIC MATERIAL AND SITUATIONS

“Using the language outside the classroom”

One-way communication

Radio and TV programsPublic address announcements Speeches and lectures Telephone customers service recorddings

Two way communication

The listener focuses on the speaker’s meaning rather than the speaker’s language.

Strategies for Developing Listening Skills

“Language learning depends on listening. Listening provides the aural input that serves as the basis for language acquisition and enables learners to interact in spoken communication”.

1.Top-down stratrategies.- listening for the main idea, predicting, drawing inferences, summarizing.

2.Bottom-up strategies.- listening for specific deatils, recognizing cognates, recoganizing word-order patterns

3.Metacognitive strategies.- planning, monitoring and evaluating.

Difficulty of the listening text

How is the information organized.- main ideas first, details and examples second.

How familiar are the Ss with the topic.- background knowledge.

The text involve multiple individuals and objects; Are they clearly differenciated? More marked differences make comprehention esaier.

The text offers visual support.- maps, diagrames, pictures or images in a video.

LISTENING STRATEGIES (textbook audio and video)

1.Plan for listening/viewing Review the vocabularyReview the worksheetReview any information

2.Preview the videoView the video without soundIdentify the kind of programMake a list of predictions about the content Develope intensive and extensive listening/viewing

1.Listen/view intensively section by sectionJot down key words you understand Answer the worksheet questions pertaining to the

section Write a summary of the section

2.Monitor comprehention Does it fit with the predictions you made?Does your summary for each section make sense in

relation to the other sections.

3.Evaluate the listening comprehention progress.

ASSESSING LISTENING (post-listening activities)

Evaluate listening skills Extend the knowledge gained to other contexts

Bear in Mind Post-listening activities must reflect the real-life uses

It must have a purpose other than assessment

It must require Ss to demostrate their level of listening comprehention

Bibliography National Capital Language Resource Center

(NCLRC). (n.d.). The essentials of language teaching. Retrieved April 23, 2007 from http://nclrc.org/essentials.

“Listening in a foreign language” by Ana Maria Schwartz, in Modules for the professional preparation of teaching assistants in foreign languages (Grace Stovall Burkart, ed.; Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics, 1998) recuperado de http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/listening/liindex.htm