This document discusses key aspects of teaching listening skills to language learners. It defines listening as an active process where learners try to understand spoken words and attach meaning. While listening was once seen as a passive skill, it is actually an active process of constructing meaning from sounds. Effective listening requires language knowledge as well as socio-cultural and strategic competence. Studies show that both first language listening ability and second language proficiency contribute to comprehension, with proficiency being a stronger predictor. The document also discusses using top-down and bottom-up skills in listening, and outlines the stages of pre-listening, while-listening, and post-listening activities.

1. TeachingListening1

2. Sources Berne, J. (1995). How Does Varying Pre-listening Activities Affect Second Language Listening Comprehension? Hispania, Vol. 78, No. 2Popieszynska, M. (2000). Listening in FL Classrooms: A few recipes. International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language . Saricoban, A. (1999). The teaching of listening. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. V, No. 12Thanajaro, M. (2000). Using authentic materials to develop listening comprehension in the ESL classroom. Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Vandergrift, L. (2006). Second language listening: Listening ability or language proficiency? The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 90, No. 12

3. DefinitionListeningisanactive and interactionalprocessin which a listenerreceivesspeechsounds and tries toattachmeaningtothespokenwords.Thelistenerattemptstounderstandtheintendedmessage of the oral text so that he/she can respondeffectivelyto oral communication.3

4. BackgroundListening has been the forgotten language skill for generationsIt has received little attention in language teaching and learningListening comprehension was usually characterized as a passive activity4

5. Theorists realized that listening is not a passive but an active process of constructing meaning from a stream of soundsListeners actively attempt to grasp the facts and feelings in what they hear by attending to:what the speaker sayshow the speaker says it the context 5

6. Knowledge required for listening process Listening requires comprehension of the speaker's intended message.Command over major components of the language: phonology, lexicon, syntax, semantics, and text structureSocio-cultural competenceStrategic competenceDiscourse competence6

7. Study: Listening comprehension abilityBoth L2 proficiency and LI listening ability contribute substantially to L2 listening comprehension abilityL2 proficiency appears to be a much better predictor than LI listening comprehension ability7

8. Study: Listening comprehension abilityLimitation:Most of the questions on the tests required students to read and choose from a list of potential choices. Because of this test structure, the students' ability to read and understand was tested along with their ability to listen and understand.8

9. Study: Listening comprehension abilityImplications for Pedagogy:Vocabulary developmentMatch aural form of a word with that of mental lexiconTop-down skills/bottom-up skills9

10. Top-down vs. Bottom-up listeningImagine the following situations:Over lunch, your friend tells you a story about a recent holiday, which was a disaster. You listen with interest and interject at appropriate moments, maybe to express surprise or sympathy.That evening, another friend calls to invite you to a party at her house the following Saturday. As you’ve never been to her house before, she gives you directions. You listen carefully and make notes.How do you listen in each case? Are there any differences?10

11. Top-down vs. Bottom-up listening11Directions to a partyHoliday anecdotehttp://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/listening-top-down-bottom

12. Study: Listening comprehension abilityImplications for Pedagogy:2. Reduce the gap in transfer of L1 inferencing skills to L2 inferencing taskshow to use world knowledge in L2 listening how to use context to infer logical outcomenonthreatening environment12

13. Listening Process - StagesPre - listeningWhile – listening Post - listening13

14. Pre - ListeningPurpose of listening Necessary background informationActivities:14

15. Pre - ListeningStudying a vocabulary list may not be an effective way of improving listening comprehensionSuggestion: provide learners with some type of brief summary before listening 15

16. While - ListeningThe aim is to help learners listen for meaning Attention on listening itselfMarking/checking the items in pictures16

17. Post - ListeningAllow learners to reflect on the language from the passage17

18. PerformingtoindicateunderstandingMore effective if they are constructed around a taskDependent upon students' skills in listeningDrawing a pictureMatchingexercisesPhysicalmovement18

19. TeachingratherthantestingThe emphasis should be more on functional listening toward the development of listening process, and less on memory and recall of details heard19

20. Real-life situationsUse materials cast in real-life situations for listening comprehension exercisesAs close as possible to a "slice of life"20

21. Aural authenticmaterialsDefinition: Unaltered texts that are generated by native speakers and for native speakersPositive results when given opportunities to interact with authentic oral textsListening-comprehension improves with increased exposure to authentic speech21

22. Aural authenticmaterialsBlend with instructional materialsImportance of authentic oral texts very early in the language experience.22

23. Aural authenticmaterialsProper instructional planning by the teacherStudents experience the rewards of learning a languagePositive effect on both comprehension and motivation23

24. Aural authenticmaterialsChallenge for the second-language teacher:To identify authentic materials of potential interest to students To prepare the students for dealing with these texts in a meaningful way24

25. Thank you!25