This document provides an overview of developing listening and speaking skills in the primary ESL classroom. It begins by comparing the KBSR and KSSR syllabi in Malaysia and identifying listening and speaking as core skills. Various techniques for teaching listening and speaking are then discussed, including identifying the top-down and bottom-up processes in listening, selecting appropriate activities based on student level, and designing principles for listening techniques. A range of activity types are suggested, from interactive to those focusing more on bottom-up or top-down skills. The document emphasizes the importance of authentic materials, motivating students, and explicitly teaching listening strategies.

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TOPIC 2
DEVELOPING LISTENING & SPEAKING
SKILLS
2.1 SYNOPSIS
This topic aims to help course participants to identify and relate listening
and speaking skillls in the Malaysian primary school syllabus, enhance
their knowledge on developing listening and speaking skills and explore
the techniques in the teaching of listening and speaking skills. It consists
of information on listening and speaking skills and some ‘reflect and
review’ sections. Some exercises are included for further reinforcement on
the topic. Some suggested useful websites addresses are provided at the
end of the module to give additional support to course participants.
2.2 LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of Topic 2, you will be able to:
 A. Identify and interpret listening and speaking skills in the primary
school syllabus
 B. Integrate and develop listening and speaking skills
 C. Engage the techniques for teaching listening and speaking skills
2.3 CONTENT
A. IDENTIFYING AND INTERPRETING LISTENING AND SPEAKING
SKILLS IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL SYLLABUS
Introduction
Learning to speak is the first form of language most of us learn, but we
are probably unaware of how we learnt it, or the level and types of skills
we possess. When we speak, our mind would be processing lots of
information, and this happens in great speed and agility. The processes
are dynamic and constantly change as new meanings arise in a
conversation. This is largely unconscious and we rarely reflect on what it
involves.

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This process is the main challenge in teaching speaking and listening.
However, we can all improve our speaking and listening, and developing
greater self-awareness is the key to improving our ability in this area.
Explicit teaching of speaking and listening provides an opportunity to use
interesting and innovative approaches that learners will enjoy.
Let us look at a comparison between the KBSR and KSSR to identify and
understand the role of Listening and Speaking in our Primary school syllabus.
A comparison of KBSR and KSSR
KBSR KSSR
Aims The syllabus for primary
school aims to equip
learners with basic skills and
knowledge of the subjects
so as to enable them to
communicate, both orally
and in writing, in and out of
school.
The English Language
Curriculum for Primary
Schools aims to equip
pupils with basic language
skills to enable them to
communicate effectively in
a variety of contexts that is
appropriate to the pupils’
level of development.
Main focus  3M : Reading,
Writing, Counting
 Skills : speak, listen,
read, write & basic
numerical skills (add,
subtract, multiply,
divide)
 Values : Islamic
Studies & Moral
Education
 The new curriculum
emphasises on
holistic development
of the students
which encompasses
new elements such
as grooming of
creativity and
innovation,
entrepreneurship,
and integration of
Information and
Communication
Technology (ICT).
Objectives By the end of the
primary school,
learners should be
able to
 i. listen to and
understand simple
spoken English in
certain given
contexts;
By the end of the
primary school,
learners should be
able to
 i. communicate with
peers and adults
confidently and
appropriately in
formal and informal

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 ii. ask and answer
questions, speak and
express themselves
clearly to others using
simple language;
 iii. acquire good
reading habits to
understand, enjoy
and extract
information from a
variety of texts;
 iv. write legibly and
express ideas in
simple language;
 v. show an
awareness and
appreciation of moral
values as well as love
for the nation.
situations;
 ii. Read and
comprehend a
range of English
texts for information
and enjoyment;
 iii. Write a range of
texts using
appropriate
language, style and
form through a
variety of media;
 iv. Appreciate and
demonstrate
understanding of
English language
literary or creative
works for
enjoyment; and
 v. use correct and
appropriate rules of
grammar in speech
and writing.
Principles of
KBSR
 Overall
development(JERIS)
 Acquiring basic skills
 Inculcation of good
moral values
 Student-centred
teaching and learning
 Flexible principle
 General education
 Lifelong education
The new curriculum
emphasises on holistic
development of the
students which
encompasses new
elements such as
grooming of creativity and
innovation,
entrepreneurship, and
integration of Information
and Communication
Technology (ICT).
KSSR: Curriculum content for Year 1,2 and 3
Presently, the Standard Documents by CDC unit of KPM (Kementerian
Pelajaran Malaysia) lays out the English language curriculum for Year 1,2 and
3. The curriculum content is organized in terms of Content Standards and
Learning Standards.
Content Standards specify the essential knowledge, skills, understandings
and strategies that pupils need to learn.

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Learning Standards describe in detail the degree or quality of proficiency
that pupils need to display in relation to the Content Standard for a particular
year.
In the initial stages of learning English, pupils will have the opportunity to
listen to meaningful English input, in the form of stories or oral descriptions by
teachers based on graphic texts. Through listening, pupils become familiar
with words that willl be introduced in their early reading and writing lessons.
The emphasis in the initial stages willl be on vocabulary acquisition.
Listening and Speaking Component
The curriculum content for Year 1,2 and 3 encompasses listening and
speaking, reading, writing, language arts, grammar and word list. In KSSR,
the listening and speaking component is taught simultaneously as one
component. Let us look into the details of this content in the listening and
speaking component.
By end of Year 2, the component on listening and speaking aims at
developing pupils’ ability to listen and respond to stimulus with guidance,
participate in daily conversations, listen and demonstrate understanding of
text, talk about stories heard; and listen and follow simple instructions. The
learning standards for listening and speaking range from the discrete sound,
word and phrase recognition to an understading of chunks of heard texts.
Listening and speaking are seen as core skills of early literacy. Pupils should
be taught how to listen carefully as well as feel encouraged to speak from the
basic level of sound, word, phrase and move on to structural sentences in
various situational contexts. At every stage, the stress, rhythm and intonation
patterns need to be used correctly. In addition pupils are also encouraged to
recognize, understand and use verbal and non-verbal communication. Oral
communication practice by means of repeating, responding, understanding
and applying what pupils have heard sensitizes their senses to be ready for
communication.
Relationship are established through the ability to communicate by listening
first then speaking thoughts, ideas an feelings. It is hoped by the end of
primary school, pupils should become confident speakers who can
communicate clearly, appropriately and coherently in any given context.
Pupils need to listen carefully and respond to what others say and think about
the needs of their listeners. Social conventions in listening and speaking such
as turn taking, politeness and courtesy need to be observed. These are
crucial especially in group discussions where viewpoints and opinions are
exchanged. The use of various text types is recommended; ranging from
teacher stimulated texts to media broadcasts and authentic dialogues.

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Exercise 1
Analyse both the KBSR & KSSR syllabus items for
LISTENING & SPEAKING Skills.
 Present your analysis in the form of a chart/ table.
 Compare the syllabus items from Year 1- Year 6 to
locate common traits pertaining to the KSSR
English Syllabus
Reflect & Review
Look through the KBSR and the KSSR English language Syllabus for Year
1 and Year 2.
Give your review based on the following questions:
a. What are the skills focused in the syllabus?
b. What do you think of the syllabus?
c. What method/approach is emphasized/ preferred? (look at the topic,
activity, and objectives)
d. If you are given a choice, which of the syllabus would you choose?
Compare your views and opinions with your coursemates.
B. INTEGRATE AND DEVELOP LISTENING AND SPEAKING SKILLS
Before we learn how to integrate listening and speaking skills in our teaching
and learning process in a Primary ESL classroom, it is essential to understand
how listening and speaking are developed in a child.
 Reflect & Review
a. How are listening skills acquired in childhood?
b. How do babies participate in ‘conversations’ with parents?
c. How do they learn to listen to their own class discussion?

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Exercise 2
Read the narrative below carefully and identify the top-down and
bottom-up processes in listening. Refer to Brown (2001) for more
exercises.
 Sally first tried setting loose a team of gophers. The plan
backfired when a dog chased them away. She then entertained
a group of teenagers and was delighted when they brought their
motorcycles. Unfortunately, she failed to find a Peeping Tom
listed in the Yellow Pages. Furthermore, stereo system was not
loud enough. The crabgrass might have worked but she didn’t
have a fan that was sufficiently powerful.
The obscene phone calls gave her hope until the number
was changed. She thought about calling a door-to-door
salesman but decided to hang up a clothesline instead. It was
the installation of blinking neon lights across the street that did
the trick. She eventually framed the ad from the classified
section.
Questions to ponder:
 Was the narrative comprehensible? What happens when the
topic is given?
“Getting rid of a troublesome neighbour”.
 What process do you think is involved when you read the above
passage? When do you use the top-down processing? When
do you use the bottom-up processing?
Read the definition of the top-down and bottom-up processing below.
Definition of Top-down and Bottom-up Process
What is meant by ...
 Top-down processing ?

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Refers to the use of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of
a message.
 Bottom-up processing ?
Refers to the use of incoming data as a source of information about the
meaning of a message (decode)
(Richards, 1990)
Micro-skills of Listening Comprehension
 Listening Strategies
 Looking for key words
 Looking for non-verbal cues to meaning
 Predicting a speaker’s purpose by the context of the spoken discourse
 Associating information with one’s existing cognitive structure
(activating background knowledge)
 Guessing at meanings
 Seeking clarification
 Listening for the general list
 Various test-taking strategies for listening comprehension
C. TECHNIQUES FOR TEACHING LISTENING AND SPEAKING SKILLS
TEACHING OF LISTENING
Types of Listening Activities
Reference: Penny Ur (1996: p112-114)
i. No overt response: Students do not need to do anything in response to
the listening, however, facial expression and body language often show
if they are following or not.
- Stories
- Songs
- Entertainment: films, theatre, video
ii. Short responses
-Obeying instructions
-Ticking off items
-True/ False

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-Detecting mistakes
-Cloze
-Guessing information
-Skimming and scanning
iii. Longer responses
-Answering questions
-Note-taking
-Paraphrasing and translating
-Summarizing
iv. Extended responses
-Problem-solving
-Interpretation
Criteria for selection of activities
 Nature of listening task requirement
- Response- no overt response, short, long or extended response
- Blank interval in the case of cloze
- Difficulty level of task
- Vocabulary level
 Nature of the recorded material
- Students’ proficiency level
- Students’ interest
- Authentic/ non-authentic
- Number of speakers
- Speed of delivery
- Content of reference
- Complexity of thought and ideas
- Style of utterance- formal, colloquial
- Accent and degree of disturbance
- Complexity of communication situation

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Selection of teaching techniques
The selection of teaching techniques and strategies in the classroom
used for beginners, intermediate and advanced students will highly
depend on the characteristics of the students. Teachers should be
aware of the employment of different teaching strategies for students of
different level, who differ in many aspects of learning. To enable
teachers to make the right decision in choosing the most appropriate
techniques in the teaching of listening and speaking skills, it is
essential to do a need analysis of pupils.
Let us look at the characteristics of the pupils in your class! Are they
beginners, intermediate or advance learners?
a. Beginners
Characteristics of pupils: They cannot distinguish English speech
sounds from noises in the environment or sounds of other languages.
Pupils have no idea of the rules of English pronunciation or grammar.
b. Intermediate
• Characteristics of pupils: They have fairly good grasp of the phonemic
system but have difficulty with authentic texts. Pupils cannot handle
features eg hesitations,, false starts, noise etc. However, they can
remember longer phrases & sentences.
c. Advanced
• Characteristics of pupils: They are very proficient in the language and
can process language. Pupils can pay attention to language content.
They have interpersonal relations with speakers and can engage in
intellectual discussion. They are also capable of using compensatory
strategies eg infer,predict etc.
Suggested teaching-learning strategies
Before you prepare either a listening lesson or a listening and speaking
lesson, you will need to consider the four main aspects as follows:
• A. Length of input-( 1- 3 minutes maximum) for listening texts
• B. Type of input- (use educated/ acceptable Malaysian variety)
• C. Speed of delivery
• D. Outcome of listening / listening and speaking

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What kinds of listening tasks are appropriate?
There are numerous activities to choose from for developing listening skills.
Lund (1990) has categorised them according to nine responses that can be
observed as comprehension checks:
 Doing: the listener responds physically such as in Total
PhysicalResponse (TPR);
 Choosing: the listener selects from alternatives such as pictures,
objects, texts, or actions;
 Transferring: the listener transforms the message such as drawing a
route on map, or filling in a chart;
 Answering: the listener answers questions about the text;
 Condensing: the listener takes notes or makes an outline;
 Extending: the listener goes beyond the text by continuing the story or
solving a problem;
 Duplicating: the listener simply repeats or translates the message;
 Modeling: the listener performs a similar task, e.g. gives instructions to
a coworker after listening to a model or;
 Conversing: the listener is an active participant in a face-to-face
conversation.
(Carol Van Dozer, Center for Applied Linguistics)
Reflect and Review
Read the following activities and decide which of the following activities
are most suitable for beginners, intermediate and advanced students?
a. Interactive Activities
• listening to a word and brainstorming related words, listening to a list
and categorizing the words, following directions

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b. Top-down Activities
• identifying emotions, understanding meaning of sentences, recognizing
the topic
c. Bottom-up Activities
• discriminating between intonation contours, phonemes, or selective
listening for different morphological endings, word or sentence
recognition, listening for word order
Principles for Designing Listening techniques
• Use techniques that are intrinsically motivating
• Use authentic language and contexts
• Carefully consider the form of listeners’ responses
• Encourage the development of listening strategies
• Include bottom-up and top-down listening techniques
Successful Listening Activities
• Purpose for Listening
– A form of response (doing, choosing, answering, transferring,
condensing, duplicating, extending, conversing)
• Repetition depends on objectives and students’ level
• A motivating listening text is authentic and relates to students’ interests
and needs
• Have the skills integrated at the different stages of the lesson : Pre-task
While-task, Post-task
Listening Strategies
• Teach student how to listen
– Looking for keywords

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– Looking for nonverbal cues to meaning
– Predicting a speaker’s purpose by the context of the spoken
discourse
– Associating information with one’s existing background
knowledge (activating schema)
– Guessing meanings
– Seeking clarification
– Listening for the general gist
– For tests of listening comprehension, various test-taking
strategies
a. Easy to plan Pre Listening Activity
• Brainstorming
• Think-Pair-Share
• Mind Mapping
• Team Interview
b. Easy to plan Listening Task
• Agree or disagree (with explanation)
• Create Venn diagrams
• List characteristics, qualities, or features
• Strip story (sequencing game)
• Match speech to visuals
• Compare and contrast to another speech or text
• Give advice
• Compare and contrast to your own experience
• Create your own version of the missing section
• Plan a solution to the problem
• Share reactions

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• Create a visual
• Reenact your own version
c. Easy to plan Post Listening Activity
• Guess the meaning of unknown vocabulary
• Analyze the speaker’s intentions
• List the number of people involved and their function in the script
• Analyze the success of communication in the script
• Brainstorm alternative ways of expression
TEACHING OF SPEAKING
a. What make speaking difficult?
• Clustering
• Redundancy
• Reduced forms
• Performance variables
• Colloquial language
• Rate of delivery
• Stress, rhythm & intonation
• Interaction
b. Tips for Teaching Speaking
• Use a range of techniques
• Capitalize on intrinsic motivation
• Use authentic language in meaningful contexts
• Give feedback and be careful with corrections

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• Teach it in conjunction with listening
• Allow students to initiate communication
• Encourage speaking strategies
c. Principles of Teaching Speaking to
- Beginners:
• Provide something for the learners to talk about
• Create opportunities for students to interact by using groupwork or
pairwork
• Manipulate physical arrangements to promote speaking practice
- intermediate / advanced:
• Plan speaking tasks that involve negotiation for meaning
• Design both transactional and interpersonal speaking activities
• Personalize the speaking activities whenever possible
d. Some examples of Tasks and Materials:
 Conversations, guided conversations & interviews
 Information gap & jigsaw activities
 Scripted dialogues, drama, & role-play
 Logic puzzles
 Picture-based activities
 Physical actions in speaking lessons
 Extemporaneous speaking

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e. Communicative Tasks
 Motivation is to achieve some outcome using the language
 Activity takes place in real time
 Achieving the outcome requires participants to interact
 No restriction on language used
Some examples of communicative tasks are :
• Information gaps
• Jigsaw activities
• Info gap race
• Surveys
• Guessing games
References
Brown, G., & Yule, G. (1983). Teaching the spoken language. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Brown, H.D. (1994). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to
language pedagogy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.
Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching english as a second or foreign language (2nd
ed.) (pp. 81-106). Boston: Heinle and Heinle.
Nunan, D., & Miller, L. (Eds.). (1995). New Ways in Teaching Listening.
Alexandria, VA:
Penny Ur. (1996) Teaching Listening Comprehension. Cambridge University
Press.
Further Readings

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Websites
Click on the links below for more information:
Teaching of Speaking :
http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/speaking/developspeak.htm
Teaching of Listening: http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/listening/liindex.htm
Teaching of Listening and Speaking :
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk
http://skstt.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/02-year-1-guide-book.pdf