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EDUC 1723: Teaching
Speaking & Listening
American Culture & Language Institute, TESOL Certificate Program
Northern Virginia Community College

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Overview
• Theories of Listening
– Difficulties in Listening
– Teaching Listening
• Theories of Speaking
– Difficulties in Speaking
– Teaching Speaking

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Reflection
Think about your experience in
learning a second language.
• How much time was spent on
listening and speaking?
• What kinds of activities taught
listening and speaking?
• Were these activities effective?

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Teaching Listening Back Then
• Mastery in listening was the ability to:
– Identify key words or reduced words
– Identify individual sounds
– Complete fill in the blank (cloze) activities
or dictation
– Follow a teacher’s instructions

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Teaching Listening Today
• Mastery in listening is the ability to:
– Use top down and bottom up processing
– Use prior knowledge, evaluation, and
monitoring strategies
– Identify different speech acts (questions,
statements, sarcasm, etc.)
– Complete authentic tasks (note taking)

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What’s Difficult About Listening?
• Natural speech is:
– Fast, unplanned, and spontaneous
– Contains pauses, reduced forms, fillers,
and repetition
– Not always linear
– Differs by dialect (colloquial speech)

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Functions of Listening
• Comprehension
– Input = What the learner hears
– Used to facilitate comprehension
• Acquisition
– Intake = What the learner notices
– Extract meaning from speech

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Comprehension
• Process of decoding from the bottom
up:
– Recognize word and clause divisions
– Recognize key words and transitions
– Use stress and intonation to identify word
function (noun vs verb)

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Comprehension
• Process of understanding from the top
down:
– Use prior knowledge
– Use situational/contextual knowledge
– Use stress and intonation to identify
speech acts (question vs. statement)

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Acquisition
• Extract meaning from speech
– Monitoring
– Assessing
– Hypothesis Testing
– Predicting

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Pre-Listening Activities
• KWL Charts
• Brainstorming/Word Webbing
• Think-Pair-Share
• Realia (photographs)

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Listening Activities
• Identify nonverbal cues to meaning
• Distinguish between:
– Nouns and verbs
– Positive and negative statements
– Questions and statements
• Identify main ideas and details or
sequence

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Listening Assessments
• Match speech to visuals
• Story strip organization
• Venn diagram or other graphic
organizers
• Note taking
• TPR

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Teaching Speaking Back Then
• Mastery in speaking was the ability to:
– Correctly pronounce individual sounds,
words, and phrases
– Answer teacher’s questions
– Participate in drills
– Complete scripted role plays

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Teaching Speaking Today
• Mastery in speaking is the ability to:
– Produce English rhythm, stress, and
intonation
– Produce English vowel, consonant, and
cluster sounds as repair strategies
– Complete authentic tasks where
information is shared orally

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What’s Difficult About Speaking?
• Natural speech is:
– Unplanned and spontaneous
– Contains pauses, reduced forms, fillers,
and repetition
– Uses different grammar than written
English
– Uses different registers (formal vs.
informal)

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Functions of Speaking
• Interaction
– Small talk
– Introductions
• Transaction/Negotiation
– Problem solving
– Asking for directions
• Performance
– Public speaking

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Pre-Speaking Activities
• KWL Charts
• Brainstorming/Word Webbing
• Listening to podcasts, watching TV, or
looking at photos
• Reading or writing (planning)

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Tasks for Teaching Speaking
• Introductions
• Solving a problem
• Responding to a statement
• Extending (new ending or solution)
• Jigsaw activities or Information Gap
activities

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Tasks for Assessing Speaking
• Debates
• Extending
• Reenactments
• Giving advice
• Presentations

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Design a Task
• In pairs, choose a speaking task or a
listening task
• Identify how you will assess students’
speaking or listening
• Create a 10 minute mini lesson
• Teach us!

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Reflection
• What worked/didn’t work during your
speaking or listening task?
• What would you do differently next
time?

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Useful Links
• Advanced Listening
– www.thisamericanlife.org/podcast
• Intermediate Listening
– www.cdlponline.org
• Easier Listening
– www.cdlponline.org (basic stories)