The document provides strategies and considerations for teaching listening skills to language learners. It discusses using a variety of activities at different proficiency levels, from beginner to advanced. These include dictation, information transfer activities, and extensive listening approaches using authentic materials like songs and podcasts. It also addresses developing metacognitive awareness of listening strategies and the teacher's role in providing input and guidance to develop students' listening abilities.

2. Ten Commandments
1. Stop talking. Obvious, but not easy.
2. Put the speaker at ease.
3. Show a desire to listen. Act interested & mean it
4. Remove distractions.
5. Empathize.
6. Be patient. Give the speaker time to finish; don’t
interrupt.
7. Hold your temper. Don’t let your emotions obstruct your
thoughts.
8. Go easy on argument & criticism. Suspend Judgment.
9. Ask questions.
10. Stop talking. In case you missed the first commandment.

3. To teach strategies or
delve right in?
Features of Speech
Speech is fast
Critical level: the level of speech rate above which
comprehension becomes impossible.
Speech is variable. When words are woven
together, they often take on different forms.
Word boundaries are blurry (creates comprehension
breakdown).
Speech has to be processed in real time.
(Renandya, W. & Farrell, T, 2011)

4. To consider…
Students’ proficiency levels
Assessment

5. Proficiency Levels
Beginner
Memorizing useful phrases and sentences
French
Substitution tables (see board)
Guided listening
“What is it?”
Listen and do (TPR-Bingo, Simon Says, People
Sculpture, etc.)
And choose
And draw

6. Cont.
Picture Ordering
Same or different
Listening to stories
Listen and finish/retell/correct
Intermediate
Adapt
Information Transfer
Advanced
Note-taking
Predicting (Fluency)
Interviews

7. Listening Assessment
Dictation
Text w/questions
Responding to statements
MC, T/F/O, Short Answer
Recorded Cloze
Information Transfer
Activities

8. Different types of listening
Active and Passive listening
Meaning-focused v. language focused listening
Listening for:
Comprehension
Vocabulary
Content
Theme/Meaning
Sounds

9. Hot Topics
Extensive Listening (Renandya, W. & Farrell, T., 2011)
“Strategy training places a heavy burden on
teachers, an extensive listening approach in the same
vein as an extensive reading approach should be
adopted.” (p. 52).
Podcasts: Consult handout resources
Videos: Consult handout resources
Songs/Music: “Last One Standing” and “Catch It!”

10. Hot topics cont.
Metacognitive Awareness
Quantitative (Form) and Qualitative (Meaning/Use)
Awareness (Kennedy &Trofimovich, 2010)
Different strategies (Kemp, 2010; Kennedy
&Trofimovich, 2010)
Listening Log
Written comments
Journals

11. Pronunciation
Stress & Intonation
Learning a new sound
Key questions
Hearing
Distinguishing
Same or different?
Identifying
Pictures
Activities

12. Teacher’s role
EFL Context
Teacher may be the sole source of “Input” (Teacher-
centered)
Encourage Ss to use outside sources
e.g., TV, movies, music, and so on
ESL Context
Teacher is mainly a resource/guide (Student-centered)
Ss are constantly exposed to Native English speakers

13. Non-Conversation Based
Activities
Difficulties
No opportunities to interact with speakers and no
opportunities to pick up on non-verbal cues.
Unable to catch the sounds or the words but also
missing the gist or important details of the spoken
text.
(Renandya, W. & Farrell, T, 2011)

14. Catch It!
Ss listen to a song, write down the words and phrases they
hear, and compare their lists with a partner.
Some results included “increased interest in using music
to study English outside of class…students became more
aware of how to take more active approach to language
learning outside of class.” (Lieske, p. 91).
Ideas
Use Pre-activity Questionnaire to gauge music interest and
use for English language learning.
Use a Post-activity Questionnaire to find out more about
music used to learn English

15. Last One Standing
http://community.eflclassroom.com/video/video/listTa
gged?tag=lastonestanding

16. Conclusion
Listening may be the hardest of the 4 skills
because one cannot control how others speak.
It is important to foster awareness of listening
strategies (metacognitive)
Use authentic materials
(tv, movies, songs, podcasts, radio, etc.)