This document discusses listening as an important skill in language learning. It defines listening as an interactive process using prior knowledge and linguistic knowledge to understand messages. The acquisition of listening requires sufficient language exposure where meaning can be inferred. Various types of listening tasks and performances are described, as well as the listening process involving top-down and bottom-up approaches. The teaching of listening is outlined as involving pre, during and post listening activities. Nation's four strands of balancing input, output, language focus and fluency in teaching are also summarized. The document concludes that listening is a complex skill that requires practice and evaluation to develop consciously.

1. LISTENING
SKILL
”Every good conversation starts with good
listening”
(Anonymous quote)
Learning and Acquisition of English as Foreign Language.
Mg. Roxana Correa.
By: Ma. De los Angeles Betancur
Cynthia Troncoso.
Concepción, 2015, May 27.

2. INDEX
• What is listening?
• Acquisition of Listening
• Types of Listening Tasks
• Listening Process
• Listening in Language
Teaching and Learning
• Types of Listening
Performances
• Teaching of Listening
• Nation’s Four Strands
• Conclusions
• References

3. What is listening?
Vandergrift (n.d.):
• “(…) An interactive, interpretive process where listeners use both prior
knowledge and linguistic knowledge in understanding messages”.
Roost (2002, as cited by Vandergrift, n.d.):
• A process of receiving a series of orientations:
Wipf (1984, taken from Vandergrift, n.d.):
• ”An invisible mental process, making it difficult to describe”.
RECEPTIVE CONSTRUCTIVE COLLABORATIVE TRANSFORMATIVE

4. ACQUISITION OF listening
Sufficient
Language
instances
Whose
meaning
can be
inferred
by
students
Who are
paying
attention
Nation & Newton
(2009, pp. 38)

5. TYPES OF listening TASKS
NON-LINGUISTIC
RESPONSES
MINIMAL RESPONSES LONGER RESPONSES
• Picture drawing
• Ticking items in a list
• Numbering a drawing
• Matching
• Putting jumbled
paragraphs in order
• Completing a chart
• Yes/No responses
• True/False responses
• Multiple-choice
• Answering
comprehension
questions
• Making predictions
• Taking notes
• Giving affective
responses
• Dictation
Correa, R. (2012)

6. Listening Process
• Regarding to Vandergrift (n.d.) and Nunan (n.d. 238-242):
• The option of using these strategies depends on: “the knowledge of the
language, familiarity with the topic or the purpose for listening”
(Vandergrift, n.d.).
TOP-DOWN
Ss use prior
knowledge to
understand the
meaning of a
message
BUTTON-UP
Ss use linguistic
knowledge to
understand the
meaning of a
message
RECIPROCAL LISTENING
(Process of Interaction)
Nunan (n.d., pp. 242)

7. LISTENING IN LANGUAGE
TEACHING AND LEARNING
• All listeners USE:
• However, studies of O'Malley & Chamot (1990) and Vandergrift (1997a)
(taken from Vandergrift, n.d.) have shown that “skilled listeners use more
metacognitive strategies than their less-skilled counterparts”. Because
they are capable of:
STRATEGIES
SOCIO-AFFECTIVE
COGNITIVE
METACOGNITIVE
Analyse the requirements of
a listening task
Activate the
appropriate
listening processes
required
Make appropriate
predictions
Monitor their
comprehension
Evaluate the
success of their
approach
Vandergrift
(n.d.)

8. TYPES OF listening
PERFORMANCES
REACTIVE
INTENSIVE
RESPONSIVE
SELECTIVE
EXTENSIVE
INTERACTIVE
• According to Brown
(2007, pp. 255-258),
there are six main
types of listening
performances:

9. TYPES OF listening
PERFORMANCES
1) One-way listening
2) Two-way listening
According to Nation and Newman (2009, p. 40)

10. TEACHING OF listening
Stages Purpose Example activities
Pre-listening activity  To get Ss interested in the
topic
 To find out what Ss already
know about the topic/share
this knowledge
 To activate topic vocabulary
 Looking at pictures and
talking about them.
 Brainstorming a list of
items, thoughts, etc.
 Predicting from words
taken from the text.
While-listening activity  To develop particular skills
and strategies.
 Marking items in pictures.
 Matching pictures with
what is heard.
 Labelling.
 Ticking lists.
 Following
Post-listening  To confirm that students
acquired the contents
 Speaking activity using the
listening context
(Vocabulary, tenses)
Correa (2012)

11. NATION’S FOUR STRANDS
Balancing the four strands
(Nation and Newman, 2009, pp. 10)
Output
Fluency
Language
focus
learning
Input

12. CONCLUSIONS
Teacher’s work: to guide Ss
through the process of
listening, providing the
required tools and
motivating the Ss to learn
and to use their self-control
in terms of knowledge.
Listening is a
complex skill to
be developed
consciously.
Practice without
constant
evaluations,
avoiding anxiety
and debilitation of
learning strategies.
LISTENING
SKILL

13. REFERENCES
• Brown, H. (2007). Teaching Listening. In Teaching by Principles: An Interactive
Approach to Language Pedagogy (pp. 255-258). White Plans: Pearson
Longman.
• Correa, R. (2012). Listening at issue [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved in 2015, May
22 from https://uvirtual2.ucsc.cl/mod/resource/view.php?id=129286
• Nation, P.; Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking (pp. 10-
11, 30-40). London: Routledge.
• Nunan, D. (n.d.). Listening in Language Learning. (pp. 238-242). Retrieved in
2015, May 22 from
https://uvirtual2.ucsc.cl/pluginfile.php/218609/mod_resource/content/1/TEA
CHING%20LISTENING%20BROWN.pdf
• Vandergrift, L. (n.d.). Listening: theory and practice in modern foreign language
competence. Centre for Languages Linguistics & Area Studies. Retrieved in
2015, May 25 from https://www.llas.ac.uk/resources/gpg/67