3. Models for Listening
We, as teachers, need to know what processes learners
are going through while listening.
So, some models are suggested...Now, we will see these
models.
4. The bottom-up model
• Learners first understand the sounds and proceed to
words and clauses.
Example: Listen to a series of sentences. Circle ‘yes’
if the verb has –ed ending and circle ‘no’ if it does not.
In the example above, the listener will listen to the sentences
and focus on the ‘morphological ending’.
5. Bottom-up model (cont’d)
Example: Listen to a weather report. Look at the list of
words and circle the words that you hear.
In the example above, the listeners recognize the
specific words (rainy,cloudy etc.)
6. Top-down model
• This model relies on background knowledge of the listeners
for understanding the listening text.
• Example: Listen to a sentence describing a picture and select
the correct picture.
• In this example, listeners try to get the gist of the sentence
by using their world knowledge (prior knowledge). They do
not focus on individual sounds or words at all as in the
bottom-up model.
7. Top-down model (cont’d)
Example: Listen to a series of radio commercials. On your
answer sheet, choose among four types of sponsors or
products identify the picture that goes with the commercial.
Here, listeners listen for identification. They do not look for
sounds or words but they listen for making sense through
interpretation.
8. Interactive model
• This model combines bottom-up model & top-down model.
Example 1: Listen to words from a shopping list and match
each word to the store that sells it.
Example 2: Listen to a series of sentences. On your answer
sheet, mark whether the sentence is polite or impolite.
9. Interactive model (cont’d)
When those examples are considered, it is seen
they both focus on words and sentences and a
general understanding. In order to complete these
activities, listeners need to understand the
utterances (words or sentences) and use their
world knowledge. That is, for the first example, in
order to find out which store sells which kind of
food, the learner needs to use their
background/prior knowledge/experience.
10. REFERENCES
Brown, D. (2000). Teaching by principles. An interactive approach to
language pedagogy. Longman.
ÖABT İngilizce öğretmenliği konu anlatımlı (2015). Ankara: Pegem
Yayıncılık
