2. Bottom-Up
Approach
When using the term
‘bottom-up,’ the idea is
building meaning
based on words,
sounds, and
structures—from the
ground up, sometimes
without context.
The bottom-up
approach is more of a
traditional method of
teaching listening. This
is what you observe in
classes where there
are missing words in
sentences and fill-in-
the-blank exercises.
One simple example
might be using the
sentence, “What did
you ___”? The teacher
would ask learners to
listen for the missing
word.
3. Merits
A bottom-up approach to
teaching listening lessons has its
place with lower-level learners. A
bottom-up approach can help
them be more capable of listening
for specific elements or words in
statements.
In turn, it can help them break
down messages to understand
them better. This approach can
also be used with higher-level
learners to challenge them to pick
out keywords when vital
information is being conveyed.
4. Demerits
The downside of the bottom-up
approach is that it is not always
practical. When engaged in real-
time oral communication, learners
may not have the luxury of
decoding.
They may only have a matter of
seconds or less to understand
(comprehend) a message.
Therefore, it doesn’t prepare class
members for real-world
communications.
5. Top-Down
When we say ‘top-
down,’ we mean in
essence, that the
meaning is caught
rather than decoded.
Listeners gather the
overall meaning of
what they hear based
on context and
respond appropriately.
This can take various
forms such as
responding to a
weather report,
answering questions,
and appropriate
responses to oral
communications.
Let’s use our simple
example from the
bottom-up approach
above: “What did you
buy?” In this case,
there are no missing
words. But learners are
aware of the context (a
woman returning
home from a shopping
spree talking to her
husband).
6. Merits
The top-down approach offers
learners the opportunity to listen
for meaning. This takes the
pressure off of listening for
specific words. In that way, it is a
more natural way of listening.
Unless we are receiving detailed
information or instructions, we
won’t always need to worry about
specific words. The overall
meaning works fine in everyday
conversations.
7. Demerits
The top-down approach does not
always work well with lower-level
learners. One reason is that they
haven’t yet built up a workable
vocabulary. My suggestion is not to
use it until they’ve gained skill with
some form of bottom-up approach.
