This document discusses improving listening comprehension skills for better English language learning. It defines listening as a process involving receiving, constructing meaning, negotiating meaning with speakers, and creating meaning through empathy. Listening comprehension involves understanding accents, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and meaning. The document recommends using good ear positioning, listening strategies like bottom-up and top-down approaches, and regular practice with pre, during and post listening activities to improve skills.

1. IMPROVING LISTENING
COMPREHENSION FOR BETTER
ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING
By : Syahrul

2. Philosophically, Why does the God Give Us Two Ears
and one tongue ?

3. “The God gives us two ears and only one
tongue in order that we may hear more and
speak less.” (Diogenes Laertius)
“we can expect to listen twice as much as
we speak, four times more than we read,
and five times more than we write."
(Morley, 1991: 82)
Listening is the first language skills that
human get and master after coming to the
world ( George Martin, 2004)

4. What is listening ?
M. Rost (2002: 43) defines as the process of:
1. receiving what the speaker actually says
(receptive orientation);
2. constructing and representing meaning
(constructive orientation);
3. negotiating meaning with the speaker and responding
(collaborative orientation);
4. creating meaning through involvement, imagination
and empathy (transformative orientation).

5. Howatt and Dakin (1995) describes Listening
comprehension as:
“how well one understands what is being
conveyed orally. It involves the understanding
of a speaker’s accent and pronunciation,
grammar and vocabulary and meaning “

6. Used interchangably
Listening Hearing
Intentional Incidental
Conscious Unconscious

7. The Objective of Listening
• To communicate
• To enjoy
• To learn
• To obtain information
• To understand

8. interferes with listening
comprehension
• Unfamiliar vocabulary
• Grammar
• Text too long
• Several people talking
• Unfamiliar Context
• Topic not interesting
• Theme not clear
• Accent
• Speed
• Idiomatic speech
• A lack of background
information

9. How you improve your listening skill
• Do you clean your ear with cotton bud?
• Do you rely on your two ears and take position as
close as the source of the sound?
• Do you often try to understand every word in
listening activity?

11. Good ear
Strategy
Practice
Good Ear Strategy Practice

12. 1. Types of Listening
• Listening for gist: you listen in order to
understand the main idea of the text.
• Listening for specific information: you want to
find out specific details, for example key
words.
• Listening for detailed understanding: you
want to understand all the information the
text provides

13. 2. Strategies in Listening
Comprehension
Bottom-up Strategies
Top-down Strategies

14. Bottom-up Strategies

15. Top-Down Strategy

16. 3. Practice
There are 3 steps
• Pre Listening
• While Listening
• Post Listening

17. 1. Sample pre-listening activities:
♠ Looking at pictures, maps, diagrams, or graphs
♠ Reviewing vocabulary or grammatical structures
♠ Reading something relevant
♠ Predicting the content of the listening text
♠ Going over the directions or instructions for the activity
♠ Doing guided practice

18. 2. Sample while-listening activities
♠ Listening with visuals
♠ Filling in graphs and charts
♠ Following a route on a map
♠ Checking off items in a list
♠ Searching for specific clues to meaning
♠ Completing cloze (fill-in) exercises
♠ Note taking

19. 3. Sample post-listening activities
♠ Problem-solving and decision-making:
♠ Interpreting
♠ Role-play
♠ Form/ chart completion
♠ Extending lists
♠ Sequencing/ grading
♠ Matching with a reading text

20. Some Ideas
• Listening should receive attention in the early stage
of instruction
• Maximize the use of authentic language.
• Vary the materials

21. Some sites for Listening Materials
• www.manythings.org www.BBC.com
• www.ebookee.com www.voa.com
• www.Ebook3000.com www.eslfast.com
• www.soehaarrr.com. www.talkenglish.com
• http://www.dailyesl.com and so on