The document discusses the importance of listening as a crucial skill in second language acquisition, highlighting the shift from an emphasis on speaking to listening in educational contexts. It classifies types of listening practice, such as intensive, selective, interactive, extensive, and responsive listening, and underscores the challenges learners face in developing their listening skills. Additionally, it explores tools and resources available for enhancing listening skills and the criteria for selecting appropriate listening materials for effective language learning.

1. Teaching Materials For Developing Listening Skill
Guidelines for Developing Listening Materials
Listening as a receptive skill is considered the oral skill which is the primary ability developed in first
language acquisition. However, until recently listening was ignored in the second language context.
Moreover, Nunan (2002) adds that EFL students spend a lot of class time for listening, but it is the most
unnoticed of the four skills in EFL contexts. Traditionally, speaking was emphasized more than listening.
However, with the emergence of Comprehension Approach and Natural Approach more attention was paid to
listening. These approaches put their emphasis on oral perception than production; in this way, listening
acquired its deserved significance.
Krashen (1985) stresses the importance of comprehensible input before language production. This view bolds
the role of listening in second and foreign language situations. Nord (1980) claims that some people believe
language learning is not just learning to speak, but it is learning to build a mental map of meaning. Cognitive
maps, built through listening but not speaking.
Like listening practice, developing listening materials has been marginally dealt with in instructional
materials. Until recently, little attention was paid to develop appropriate listening materials. Most listening
materials were based on audio files used for developing oral production.

2. • Types of Listening Practice
Different classifications have been developed for listening practice.
Rost’s (2011) classification, very similar to that proposed by Brown
(2001), consists of:
• Intensive listening
• Selective listening
• Interactive listening
• Extensive listening
• Responsive listening
• Autonomous listening

3. • 1. Intensive listening focuses on such elements as phonology, syntax, and
lexis. Rost goes on to define intensive listening as “listening to a text closely,
with the intention to decode the input for purposes of analysis” (p.184). This
analysis may happen at the level of sounds, words, and grammatical, as well
as pragmatic, units. Nation and Newton (2009) propose four strands of
language acquisition including meaning-focused input, meaning- focused
output, language focused learning and becoming fluent in four
skills. Intensive listening is considered as a good vehicle to practice
language-focused learning. It involves deliberate learning of pronunciation,
vocabulary, grammar and discourse. Rost (2011) further suggests different
activities for intensive listening, such as dictation, elicited repetition, error
spotting, and simultaneous interpretation. Brown (2001) considers all these
techniques as bottom-up skills that play an important role at all language
proficiency levels.

4. • 2. Selective listening, as Brown asserts refers to scanning the audio
materials selectively to gather cetain information. Rost (2011) onsiders
selective listening as listening with a planned purpose in mind. That is,
selective “listening is used to refer to attending to only what you want
to hear and turning out everything else” (p.187). Morley (1972) states
that selective listening is a sin qua non for more extended and more
complex listening activities that learners come across in academic
contexts. Brown (2001) believes one major difference between
selective listening and intensive listening is that the discourse used in
selective listening is relatively lengthier than that used in intensive
listening. It is more based on “the discourse used in speeches, media
broadcast, stories and anecdotes” (p.257).

5. • 3. Interactive listening refers to conversational interactions between
listeners and speakers. The listener receives the message and provides
the speaker with feedback. Collaborative conversation is considered
vital for interactive listening. Rost (2011) mentions that collaborative
conversation forces both comprehensible output and negotiation. Such
conversations improve interactions among learners.
• To promote interaction, according to Rost, learners should be involved
in collaborative tasks because such tasks require negotiation and
meaning clarification in order to arrive at an outcome. Lynch (1996)
claims that communicative tasks promote such skills as regulating
turn- taking and seeking feedback through clarification and
confirmation checks.

6. 4. Extensive listening aims to develop global understanding of spoken language (Brown, 2001). However,
Rost (2011) refers to extensive listening as meaning-focused listening activities for an extended period of
time. Learners are expected to reach full
comprehension during extensive listening by listening to lengthy lecture, conversations, and broadcasts.
Waring (2010) claims that extensive listening is appropriate for all learners at intermediate and advanced
levels of language proficiency. Some extensive listening activities include:
•  Watching movies
•  Listening to radio programs
•  Watching vodcasts (video on demand multicasting technology)
•  Listening to podcasts (digital audio files
•  Listening to songs
•  Listening to interviews and lectures
•  Responsive listening is a classroom listening activity used to elicit immediate response.
• As a result, the goal of this activity is the listener’s response. Some examples include:
•  Asking questions
•  Giving commands
•  Seeking clarification
•  Checking comprehension (Brown, 2001)

7. Tools for Developing Students’ Listening Skills
• For many students improving their listening skills is the hardest of the four skills
to master. Unlike reading, listening happens in real time and it can be hard to
control the speed of the information coming at them. They may also have to deal
with a range of unfamiliar accents, noise interference from background
environment and the pressure to respond to the person they are listening to.
• Traditionally, listening skills have been developed in the classroom by the
teacher using audio files and graded listening activities. The audio file is usually
played by the teacher and the students work through the activities in lock-step
together. Although this model may be easy to manage for the teacher it doesn’t
allow much differentiation for the students or give them much choice or
autonomy regarding what they listen to or how many times they listen.
• This, however, is an area of language learning where digital technology and
mobile devices can have a significant impact. There are now a great many
websites and apps that students can use to develop their listening skills
independently and which teachers can use to create interesting learning and
support materials for their students.

8. • Lyrics Training
• Listen Notes
• Accent Rosie
• TeachVid
• Read Aloud
• Synth
• Fluid Data
• Listen and Write
• SpeakPipe
• Video Converter

9. Different types of Listening Materials
• Abstract Listening texts can be classified according to the contents, complexity, authenticity, sphere, theme,
quantity, etc. The linguistic and thematic level of listening input and its adequacy to general teaching purposes
or concrete goals of each lesson are defined by a sort of criteria. The main language and content elements of
the particular listening text mostly provide the style and type of working on it, though this does not exclude the
general approach.
• Listening texts can be classified according to the contents, complexity, authenticity, sphere, theme, quantity, etc.
The linguistic and thematic level of listening input and its adequacy to general teaching purposes or concrete
goals of each lesson are defined by a sort of criteria. The main language and content elements of the particular
listening text mostly provide the style and type of working on it, though this does not exclude the general
approach. Thus, for example language work takes much more time and place at pre-listening level than at while
or post- listening stage as the attention here is essentially focused on the gist of the listening material.
• According to A. Anderson a recent survey of the preferences for particular published listening materials among
EFL teachers working in Britain, Europe, and Japan suggests that the following are among the reasons for
teachers' satisfaction with particular listening materials:
• a. good for starting discussions
• b. can be used for self- access learning
• c. contains a variety of tasks
• d. entertaining and amusing
• e. easy to use
• f. practices guessing from context
• g. uses authentic material
• h. Integrates different skills

10. • The selection of listening activities (making a list of the participants or giving their description) is
affected not only by the level of the material itself, but by the language level of learners as well. Quite
often it is necessary to pre-teach lexical and grammatical units owing to the linguistic difficulties,
sphere and topic of the text. Sometimes it is better to explain the meaning of new language elements
at while listening level. Some of the texts demand working on their stylistic peculiarities beforehand
especially if learners are quite ignorant to them. Dialogue and monologue are universally
acknowledged to be the main types of oral comprehension. Most of the listening text should contain
dialogues for general ELT course, as they are the significant part of authentic.
•
But at high level of ELT and ESL the role of monologue (presentation, report, and lecture) is
enormously increased. Thus, the great consideration should be conveyed to the use of these listening
texts. Spoken texts are categorized into three broad types: static, dynamic and abstract. The structure
of static text (such as one describing an object or giving someone instructions on how to assemble a
model) is rather complicated and the comprehension of such listening input is practically unpredictable
without visual support. To the contrary, it is much easier to percept and understand a dynamic text
(involving shifts of scene and time, drifting the people or characters of the text in and out of the story)
even when visual clues are not available.
• But if the details are demanded to be memorized it is useful for learners to make up a plan by putting
down key words (in this case learners create visual support themselves). As for abstract texts (focusing
on someone's ideas, beliefs, theories, problems, opinions), they are pretty difficult to be responded
even in native language without visual aids (picture, scheme, table, chart etc.).