Presentation on interpersonal and task-based listening

1. Interpersonal and task-based
listening
Language World
March 2019
Steve Smith #LW2019 @spsmith45

2. Context
•Listening: the Cinderella skill?
•Growing interest in how we “teach
listening”
•Difficulty of new GCSEs

3. Putting listening in focus
“… the listening lesson has been little discussed,
researched or challenged, and there is a tendency
to work through well-worn routines without
entire conviction” (Field, 2008).

4. How do we listen?
Process level Processes involved
Phonemic level  Identifying consonants and vowels
 Adjusting to speakers’ voices
Syllable level  Recognising syllable structure
 Matching weak syllables and function words
Word level  Working out where words begin and end in
connected speech
 Matching sequences of sounds to words
 Identifying words which are not in their standard
forms
 Dealing with unknown words
Syntax level  Recognising where clauses and phrases end
 Anticipating syntactic patterns
 Checking hypotheses
Intonation group level  Making use of sentence stress
 Recognising chunks of language
 Using intonation to support syntax
 Reviewing decoding at intonation group level

5. Matching listening activities to the sub-skills
Focus on PROCESS of listening:
• Phonology
• Phonics
• Lexical retrieval
• Grammatical parsing
Importance of bottom-up decoding.
You can’t teach listening in isolation.

6. Two key principles of acquisition
• Comprehensible input
• Interaction
We acquire language best when we focus on and engage with
meaningful input, e.g. Krashen, VanPatten, Long, Ellis, Lightbown,
Spada.
Ellis, Long, VanPatten all argue for TASKS

7. What is a task?
1. The primary focus is on meaning, not linguistic form.
2. An information gap is needed, creating a need to communicate.
3. Students mainly rely on their existing linguistic knowledge, although
they may get input from the task materials.
4. There is a clearly defined outcome to the task, a goal to be achieved.
(Adapted from Ellis, 2017)

8. The Price is Right

9. Le prix correct
215 627 €
Paruvendu.fr

10. Lisle sur Tarn, magnifique terrain de 680m².
Idéalement situé dans un environnement calme à la
campagne, près du centre ville, et à 10 minutes de l’autoroute
A68.
Une villa de 108m² habitable, avec salon/séjour très lumineux,
cuisine, 4 chambres dont une avec dressing, 1 salle de bain
moderne avec douche.
Piscine.

11. Easy beginner tasks
Opinion surveys
Favourite
• Subjects
• Foods
• Pastimes
• Weekend activities

12. Find out about your teacher
• Level: intermediate (Higher GCSE). Time: 40 minutes.
• Language focus: personal identity, present and past tenses
• Preparation: think through or write down your talk. If you write it you
are more likely to be thorough in recycling your chosen structures and
phrases.

13. 1. Introduce the task and dictate some key language which the
students can transcribe. This might include (depending on the level of
the class):
favourite pastimes in the past when I was young my favourite
holiday I go to the cinema
my job our house I love my job I got married I went to
university my best friend
Then reveal the language on the board and (optionally) get students
to repeat chorally and individually.

14. 2. Talk for 2-3 minutes about yourself. Include the language prepared
earlier. You can display photos as you talk. Build in repetition of frequent
words and phrases, use paraphrase, gesture and facial expression.
One twist is to warn the class they have to find two deliberate factual errors.
These can be as obvious or as subtle as you want, depending on the class.
As you talk students take notes in L1 or L2. Note-taking in L1 has the
advantage that the task is strongly focused on meaning while using L2
encourages transcription and a greater focus on written accuracy.
Give the talk a second or even third time.

15. 3. In pairs students compare the notes they’ve taken and begin to
plan how they’re going to report back in L2. Tell them they have to use
the second person of the verb when reporting (You…).
This is a rare opportunity to use this part of the verb. They may have
questions for you at this stage.
Help them with language and factual details.

16. 4. A spokesperson from a pair reports back orally. Note their
information on the board. Now students start to see a written version
of your talk and they can adjust or add to their own notes. Elicit further
information from other students and add to the board. Summarise it
again, then tell students they should read off information, putting it
this time into the third person.
At this stage students should be ready to produce their final end task, a
written article about you. Share a photo with the class digitally for
them to use? Alternative: students record from their notes a spoken
report about you. This could be uploaded to a digital platform.

17. Complete a plan of the school
• Level: intermediate. Time: 40 minutes.
• Language focus: school vocabulary, prepositions and prepositional
phrases.
• Preparation: This is would work well in the context of a unit of work
about school. Provide students with a partially completed or empty
overhead plan of a school. Include corridors, classrooms (with
subject names), computer rooms, a gym, offices, cloakrooms, a dining
hall, wash rooms, play area, sports field and swimming pool.
Students could transcribe the limited information you give them.

18. 1. Tell students you’re going to describe the school to them as if they
were a stranger. Have them transcribe some key words and chunks,
with a focus, in this case, on prepositions.
opposite the maths classroom next to the gym
near the cloakroom in the playground behind the car park
in front of the dining hall at the other end of the building
Then display this language and provide some repetition practice.

19. 2. Describe the school to the class including the key language you
prepared. Use it repeatedly, using gesture where it might help (e.g. to
denote classroom subjects). Students fill in their plans.
Pupils compare their grids in pairs and prepare how they’re going to
describe where each room or area is.
Display key language on the board to scaffold the task.

20. 3. Elicit oral descriptions of the school with true/false, correcting
false statements or QA work. This allows students to hear yet again
examples of the language.
As a final product students have their completed plans, but you could
extend the task by having them record or write a description.

21. Extensions for advanced students
Hand out both a completed plan and an empty one. Explain that the school is going
to be reorganised because of a number of problems. Dictate them to the class:
• The English teacher is complaining that there is too much noise coming
from the languages classroom.
• The PE staff say the gym is too small.
• The ICT staff say they need an extra room.
• The school has decided to stop teaching Latin.
• The smell from the toilets is coming through the head teacher’s window.
• Fewer students are choosing to do history.
• The school has decided to introduce Chinese lessons.
Pairs or groups redesign the school with the aid of language chunks you have
primed them with, e.g. we could, we ought to, it would be great idea if, what if…

22. Planning a holiday
• Level: intermediate (Higher GCSE). Time: 30 minutes
• Language focus: describing places and giving opinions
• Preparation: this is an example of a jigsaw listening task. In small groups each
person listens to a different source before combining their information to achieve
a task. The task is to decide which destination to choose for a holiday together.
Prepare three or four separate recordings of holiday destinations. Each recording
should last about a minute and be made available digitally for use on devices or in a
computer room, for example. Information about the holiday destinations can be
made up or adapted from an authentic reading source such as Tripadvisor.
Each group member should be given an identity and a list of things they’re looking
for when they go on holiday, e.g. name, age, preferred activities, previous holiday
experiences. Could be a little unusual and amusing. Each group member keeps this
to themselves. This will be needed for the discussion following the listening.

23. Example listening text
We spent two weeks on a campsite near the Tarn gorges in the south
of France. The campsite was amazing. It had a huge heated pool with
slides, a games area for children, a takeaway pizza restaurant and a
shop where you could get pretty much everything you need. The
mobile homes are a bit old and could do with air conditioning as the
weather gets hot in this area. I’d also say that it’s a bit noisy for
families, so may suit families with older children. It’s definitely not a
place for those who like peace and quiet. Also, there’s loads to do in
the area: canoeing, rafting, walking and sightseeing. There are quite a
few castles not far away.

24. 1. Explain the task. Display and run through some key language if
necessary.
Students listen to their recording and make notes in L2. Allow about 15
minutes. In their small groups each student reads out, using their
notes, what they learned about each destination. There then follows a
short discussion following which the group agrees on a favourite
destination. Each group member bears in mind their own character’s
notes. You can scaffold this part by displaying possible discussion
questions or opinion phrases on the board.

25. 2. Elicit feedback from the class and find out which destination was
most popular. Recycle common language chunks as far as possible.
3. A follow-up task could be to provide a set of written user
comments about holiday destinations, in which you recycle language
from the listening task. These could be accompanied by various
exercises, including matching, true/false, translation and gap-fill.
Note how many listening tasks are really multi-modal, each skill
reinforcing the others.

26. Interpersonal listening
The bread and butter of developing listening
Research: role of input (e.g. Krashen) and argued that comprehensible
output Swain (1985) enabling students to recognise where there are gaps in
their knowledge and to modify their speech.
Language learning enhanced when students take part in dialogues in which
they try understand and be understood. The theory of modified interaction:
speakers modify their L2 to make it more comprehensible. Teachers do the
same. Donato (1994) and Swain (2000) take this further by referring to
collaborative interactions. As students interact with their peers or teachers
they often talk about the language, question their own language use, ask for
help or correct themselves or each other (Glisan and Donato, 2017).

27. QA and other interactions
Question type Example Commentary
Yes/no or
true/false
question.
Paul’s an actor? Students just say yes or no or true/false. There is no
question form to decode. The intonation of the voice
shows it’s a question.
Yes/no
question with
word order
change.
Is Paul an actor? Students have to do a little more decoding here, but
still only have to say yes or no.
Either/or
question.
Is Paul an actor or a
journalist?
A little more decoding is required, but students only
have to choose between the two options they are
given.
Multiple-
choice
question.
Is Paul a journalist, an actor,
a teacher or a doctor?
Slightly harder than the above because of the added
options.
Question word
question.
What does Paul do for a
living?
A harder question type since the students can’t use
much in the input to help them produce their answer.
Opinion
question
What do you think of Paul? The most-open ended question.

28. False statements
• Provide false statements to be corrected, e.g.
• Teacher/student: Amelia often goes to the swimming pool.
• Student(s): No, she goes to the cinema.
Note: this can involve reading aloud, adapting or even paraphrasing of
L2 items.

29. Answer-question
Give answers to which students must supply the questions.
• Teacher/student: She prefers action movies..
• Student(s): What type of film does she prefer?
Note: this activity is useful if you have been previously been focusing
on question use or simply wish to review it from earlier in the year.

30. Aural gap-fill
Give starts of sentences which students complete. You can pause at a key point in
the utterance to make students aware of a particular grammatical or lexical issue.
Hide the source text. This activity can be extended to the whole text.
• Teacher/student: Her favourite Avenger…
• Student(s): … is Iron Man.
Note: tailor your gaps to the class depending on their capabilities; choose gaps to
elicit targeted words or chunks. Some students will be able to recite longer chunks
of language, providing more input to the class. This type of task helps students
develop their skill at dividing the sound stream into meaningful words and chunks.

31. Start the sentence
Provide the end of a sentence to which students suggest possible
beginnings.
• Teacher/student: … to the Odeon.
• Student(s): I went with my friend…
Note: with some classes you could let them invent their own starts,
some of which might even be absurd or amusing in some way. Again,
however, the main aim would be for students to hear chosen phrases
reused.

32. Repeat the last few words
Warn students that every now and again you’ll ask someone to repeat
the previous few words you uttered. This encourages the class to
maintain full attention.
With all the above activities mini-whiteboards can be used to ensure
that you get clear feedback from the class.

33. Example
Peppa Pig est le personnage principal de la série. C’est une cochonne.
Elle habite une petite maison avec son frère Georges et ses parents.
C’est la fille de la famille. Elle a beaucoup d’amis. Elle porte une robe
rouge et des chaussures noires. Elle a sept ans. Elle adore sauter dans
des flaques d’eau.
Papa Pig est le père de Peppa. Il est content et il aime jouer avec Peppa
et Georges. Il adore les cookies et le gâteau au chocolat. Il aime danser
et jouer de l’accordéon, mais il n’aime pas l’exercice physique. Il
travaille dans un bureau.

34. Paired listening gap-fill
Partner A is given a gapped text at the right level (about their current
level of competence with little or no new vocabulary). There should not
be many gaps, say about one missing word every sentence or two.
Partner B has a list of words which can fill the gaps, but the words are
not listed in the same sequence the gaps will be heard. You could add
distractor words to the list (words which will not be used). See the
examples to come.

35. • Partner A reads aloud at a slowish pace the text, pausing when there
is a gap. Partner B then chooses a word from their list which could
plausibly fill the gap. Partner A then re-reads the sentence to include
the new word supplied by Partner B. Then partner A reads on to the
next gap, and so on.
• If the text is relatively short, when Partner A re-reads, they go back to
the start of the text. In this way Partner B gets to hear the input
several times, and partner A gets several opportunities to read aloud.
You may need to insist on this point to avoid students rushing.

36. When the text is finished and all the gaps filled, the pair can discuss the
answers briefly together. Or you can display a correct version on the
board. The whole task may take no more than five minutes, so you
could supply a couple more examples.
The partners can then swap roles.

37. So this is effectively a simple oral/aural gap-fill task with options which
could be used as a starter, filler or plenary. Gaps could be chosen on
the basis of key vocabulary content words (focus on lexical retrieval) or,
say, grammatical features such as verb tense (focus on grammatical
parsing).
We know lexical retrieval and parsing are important elements in the
listening process. If gaps are placed near or at the end of sentences,
students can also bring their predictive skills into play, anticipating
what word is likely to come next.

38. • Partner A's text
Pendant mes vacances l'année dernière à Barcelone j'ai fait beaucoup
de _______. Par exemple, je me suis baigné dans la piscine, j'ai fait les
magasins et j'ai visité des ________ avec mes parents. Un jour il y
avait un grand marché dans la ville et j'ai acheté un T-shirt et des
sandales pour la _______. Il a fait beau presque tous les jours, sauf un
jour jour où il y a eu beaucoup de _______. Ce jour-là on n'a pas pu
aller sur la plage. Pour moi le meilleur moment était quand on a visité
le parc aquatique. Je suis allé au moins vingt fois sur le ________.
L'année prochaine je voudrais bien retourner en _______, parce que
les gens sont sympa et il y a du soleil tous les jours.

39. • Partner B's word list
monuments
soleil (distractor)
Espagne
toboggan
plage
hôtel (distractor)
vent
France (distractor)
choses

40. Liar, liar (pants on fire?)
• Level: beginner/intermediate (Foundation GCSE). Time: 30 minutes.
• Language focus: personal identity, common verbs, likes and dislikes
• Preparation: none.
1. Pre-listening: tell pairs of students they have 10 minutes to write
down in note form up to 15 things about themselves without telling
their partner. Within the 15 statements there must be at least five lies.
Discuss with the class and write up some language on the board to help
them.

41. 2. Task: partner A reads statements about him or herself, e.g. I play tennis
with my mum at the weekend; I love chicken, but I hate fish. Every time
partner B thinks they have heard a lie they must interrupt and say Liar! in the
L2. Partner A either confirms it’s a lie or not. After all 15 statements have
been made, partner B begins. A variation on this task would be to have
students talk in different time frames, e.g. about last weekend or their last
holiday.
3. Post-listening: individual students report what they found out either to
the teacher or to a third student. Correction could be given at this stage.

42. Making it comprehensible
● In general pitch your language at or fractionally above the current level of
the students’ comprehension. Avoid using too many new words or
phrases. Go for 90-95% plus comprehensibility.
● Modify the input to make accessible by simplifying the syntax, e.g. by
using simple sentences and avoiding subordinate clauses.
● Select vocabulary students are more likely to recognise, e.g. cognates or
vocabulary they have encountered before.
● Don’t speak at native speaker speed; use repetition, rephrasing and
pausing.
● Allow students to ask questions or seek clarification, including by gesture.
Teach them simple phrases such as Can you repeat, please?

43. ● Maintain eye contact with as many students as possible, using facial
expression to enhance meaning. ‘Teach to the eyes.’
● Use generic teacher skills to hold attention, such as varying your
physical position in the class, scanning left to right and front to back.
● Use humour to reduce anxiety and produce more engagement.
Research suggests that students echo their teacher’s behaviour
and are more likely to use language spontaneously when relaxed
(R. Hawkes, unpublished PhD thesis). Put another way, students
learn better when their ‘affective filter’ is lowered (Krashen, 1982).
● Make judicious use of translation into L1 when there’s no efficient
alternative. Don’t feel obliged to use 100% L2.

44. ● Use gesture, pictures and classroom objects. You can spot a language teacher
by the number of gestures they use when making everyday conversation!
● Be predictable in your routines, including questioning style, use of choral and
individual repetition; students become familiar with what’s expected of them.
● Reinforce listening by using the written word, e.g. writing words and chunks on
the board or providing transcripts of dialogues.
● Use formative assessment techniques (“responsive teaching”) such mini-
whiteboard responses to check for meaning. Or check for understanding by
asking individual students to translate back what you have said.
● Avoid talking for too long; observe when a class may be losing enthusiasm for
an activity. Make use of your emotional and cognitive empathy skills.

45. In sum…
• No quick fixes
• 4-5 years of comprehensible input and interaction
• Focus on PROCESS, not just PRODUCT
• Focus on meaning, use and task
45 % of communication is through the aural medium and only 25 %
through reading and writing. We acquire our first language largely by
listening, so it’s logical to prioritise it when helping students learn a
new language. All scholars agree that large amounts of understandable
listening input are vital if you are to become a successful language user.