1) Listening is an important language skill that represents a significant amount of time spent communicating and serves as input in the target language.
2) There are challenges to incorporating listening in language courses, such as a lack of engagement in listening activities and homework assignments. Authentic listening materials can help develop listening strategies.
3) When planning listening activities, teachers should consider principles like using simplified vs authentic texts, engaging students in discussions of strategies, and dealing with lower proficiency levels. Regular listening practice and training in strategies is important.
The best kind of listening
According to Mcburney and Wrage, the best kind of listening has the
following characteristics
Voluntary-
Good listening begins with a willingness to participate completely in a communicative situation
Purposeful-
You choose to listen because of some very good reason /reasons.
3. Motivate -
when you have a good reason for listening , you are all keyed up for activity and nothing can stop you.
4. Cooperative –
you keep quit and give your wholehearted cooperation When you listen because you hope for nothing but only the best from the speaker.
5. Critical –
you follow the speaker’s ideas carefully and get Things clear so that in the end you may be able to make intellectual Judgements when you evaluate his ideas before responding.
The best kind of listening
According to Mcburney and Wrage, the best kind of listening has the
following characteristics
Voluntary-
Good listening begins with a willingness to participate completely in a communicative situation
Purposeful-
You choose to listen because of some very good reason /reasons.
3. Motivate -
when you have a good reason for listening , you are all keyed up for activity and nothing can stop you.
4. Cooperative –
you keep quit and give your wholehearted cooperation When you listen because you hope for nothing but only the best from the speaker.
5. Critical –
you follow the speaker’s ideas carefully and get Things clear so that in the end you may be able to make intellectual Judgements when you evaluate his ideas before responding.
Listening Skills is one of the most essential skills needed by all of us. Unfortunately, we all love only to talk and hate listening.
But, developing this vital skill can help us in our society, profession or even in our domestic field. So, why not practice it and change our life?
Activities grouped by type. Perfect for teacher training or ideas for the classroom. Get here - http://eflclassroom.com/store/products/listening-activities/
The role of written dialogue in advising (Talk T1)
Presenters: Jo Mynard and Katherine Thornton, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan
In this session, the presenters explore the nature of the written dialogue between learning advisors and language learners and discuss the importance of this kind of dialogue for the development of learner autonomy. By analysing comments written by learning advisors on students’ work in two different self-directed learning modules over a one-semester period, the researchers identify patterns of written advising which they will share during the presentation. The different approaches that advisors take and specific strategies that they use in written format to interact with students will be presented and discussed.
Meeting about teaching listening.
The meeting &workshop points were:
Quick review about the last meeting.
Reading Vs Listening.
Listening as teaching skill.
Importance of listening.
Activities in teaching listening (communicative & information gap)
How to teach listening accroding to CBA?
Stages of teaching listeniing (PDP) frame work
Type of tasks and activities in teaching listening
Assessing listening
Workshop
Language courses often (try to) prohibit the use of digital translators, fearing that they hinder learning. In this session we ask if a categorical ban on their use the most effective option. We propose that instructors teach their students to use these as one of many tools, and to gauge their strengths and weaknesses in the acquisition process.
The World Is Not Flat (Rossomondo & Lord, ACTFL2015)Gillian Lord
Language educators are eager to transform their teaching by embracing new technologies, be they digital tools, Web-based resources, or ancillaries that accompany textbook packages. While there is no doubt that digital materials facilitate opportunities for exposing learners to authentic language and structuring interaction at a distance, many wonder when and how these technologies will cease to be add-ons begin to serve a more integrative function in transforming language teaching and learning.
In this session we propose that the paper-based textbook has outlived its usefulness in today’s world, logistically and pedagogically. We focus on two aspects of the future paperless classroom: what students do on their own time and how; and what can be done during class time and how. Specific examples are provided from an existing digital learning environment and a project in development in Spanish, but the theoretical and practical principles are applicable to any language and level.
Is Rosetta Stone the future of language learning?Gillian Lord
The present study is among the first to empirically examine the learning outcomes associated with the Rosetta Stone program as a textbook in a class or instead of altogether. Although initial results of basic proficiency and fluency revealed no significant difference between groups, continued linguistic analysis of individual oral and written data has revealed differences in terms of basic lexical and morphosyntactic knowledge as well as proficiency. This session presents the analysis of individual and group data in order to make the case for why programs such as Rosetta Stone cannot replace language classes.
2. Listening - introduction Dr. Mahmoud al-Batal, Listening module instructor Why is listening absent from many language programs? What place does listening play in your course? Why is listening an important skill?
3. Why is listening important? Represents a significant part of time we spend communicating Serves as input in the target language Promotes non-linear processing of language and encourages learners to develop "holistic" strategies to texts.
4. What are the challenges to listening? Think of your own experience as a language learner. To what extent were you engaged in listening activities inside class? In homework assignments? To what extent were you asked to do extensive listening the same way you were asked to do extensive reading? As a teacher what do you perceive as the biggest challenges to incorporating listening in your class?
5. What do you think? Is listening a passive skill? Explain…. How does our schema help form expectations when listening to something? How does listening involve top-down and bottom-up processes? What is the importance of input? To what extent should listening be based on authentic texts?
6. Your turn….. Based on the videos you watched in the first segment of the listening module, can you suggest five guiding principles that teachers should bear in mind when thinking of the listening skill?
7. What do you think? Simplified vs. authentic texts? Group work during listening activities? Engage students in discussion of strategies? How many times to listen? Dealing with students with lower proficiency levels?
8. reflect In your experience as a language learner, to what extent were you exposed to authentic listening materials? In what way have such materials affected the development of your own listening strategies? In what way will your experience as a learner shape your own approach as a teacher to authentic listening materials?
12. Post listening What is post-listening? What kind of post-listening activities do you think would be most beneficial to your students?
13. Thoughts? Lesson 3 includes a listening activity in the AswaatArabiyyaArabic for the Advanced level. Are the different stages clear? What were the strengths of the lesson? Any challenges?
14. Conclusion Importance of input Importance of training / strategies Time/regularity of listening in the classroom
15. See you next week! For next class: Read “reading” module Reflection #5 By October 5 (UF) or 7 (SC) - Portfolio 1 due!
Editor's Notes
- maintained a marginal place for some time, anxiety, stressListening involves multiple modes: Listening involves the interpersonal and interpretive modes of communication. It requires the listener to assume either a participative role in face-to-face conversations, or a non-participative role in listening to other people speak or present.Listening involves all varieties of language: In addition to listening to lectures and presentations in academic and formal settings, learners have also to partake or listen to exchanges that involve various levels of colloquialism. Listening involves "altered" and "reduced" language forms: In addition to dealing with the vocabulary and structures of the language, listeners have to learn to comprehend reduced forms of the language (e.g., I wanna go, Just a sec).Listening involves variable rates of delivery: Unlike a reading text that is at the learner's control, a listening text is constantly moving and at variable speeds that often cannot be controlled by the listener.
Listening is not passive but highly interactive….Prepare students through pre-listening activities top-down - starting from listener’s background knowledge; bottom-up –what did you do when you listened? Start from sounds, words and make sense of segmentInput – large amount necessary; how can we make listening an integral part of the curriculum?Authentic texts should be accessible yet challenging
If time permits….
PhasesActivate background knowledge and language components needed to comprehend the textMake assumptions about textStrategies (title, subtitles, …)No info unless they know nothing about topic!No vocab or lists before or after listening – do you agree?
Multiple layers of listening!First –global listening : get general gist of passage = "Holistic listening" means listening to the "whole" text "segmental listening" involves listening to specific "segments" of the textAllow students to listen to the text two or three times as a whole before going to intensive listening.Encourage student to focus on global meaning first and don't pose questions that ask them for details after the first listen.Encourage students to make assumptions after the first listen and verify them after the second listen.Focus your questions and attention at this stage on the segments of the texts that are accessible to the students in terms of vocabulary and structures. Always remember that students don't need to "get" everything in the text.
Intensive listening may target different goals such asgetting more detailed understanding of some segments of the text,transcribing certain segments in the text,guessing the meaning of a word or phrase from context,looking at certain grammatical structures in the text to see how they can aid comprehension, etc. - take place – anywhere!
a follow up to the listening activity and aims to utilize the knowledge gained from listening for the development of other skills such as speaking or writing. post-listening activities allow for recycling and further activation of vocabulary and structures as long as they are interesting and engaging and are carefully thought out.