32124132 teaching listening (1)

8/13/2019 32124132 Teaching Listening (1)

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Introduction:

Language skills are fundamental to literacy development they are the foundation

that underpins understanding, speaking and listening, communication of ideas,

reading and writing (Thompson & Evans, !!"#$%ince language skills are the asis of

learning any language, there is no dout that there are different arguments aout the

reasons ehind teaching them and the ways to teach them too$ 'owdays, a ody of

research eists aout the teaching of skills which indicates the paramount

importance attriuted to the four language skills$

)n this paper, the focus is going to e on the listening skill as it is the first and most

fre*uent skill to appear in oth language learning and language ac*uisition contets$

+hat makes the teaching of listening an interesting issue is the fact that listening to

an L not only allows learners to understand spoken messages in the L, ut also

eposes them to a more authentic oral input$

ost (!!!# define listening as a comple process that allows us to understand

spoken language (p$-#$ )n another detailed definition, .owatt and /akin (01-2#

descrie listening as an aility that involves understanding a speaker3s accent or

pronunciation, his grammar and his vocaulary, and grasping his meaning$

4rown (!!5# advocates that Listening is perhaps one of the most important skills

we have, yet it is one of the least recogni6ed$ Listening as other aspects of language

teaching and learning underwent various important influences$ )n the eginning,

listening was neglected since the written form of language occupied the central role$

/uring the late nineteenth century, the elaoration of a psychological theory of child

acquisition made listening part and parcel component in language learning$

(ost$ !!!#

)n the 2!s, pioneers of audio7lingualism highlighted the importance of oral skills

with a great emphasis on intensive oral-aural drills and etensive use of language

laboratory. 4ased on the ehaviorist approach which states that learners can e

trained to change their learning haits, the audio7lingual method stressed the

importance of the listening skill as a tool to enhance language mastery for learners

can e trained to e good listeners$

The notion of communicative competence proposed y .ymes (01-0# made thelistening skill more important$ ost (!!!# comment on .ymes (01-0# stating that


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what is crucial is not so much etter understanding of how language is structured

internally, ut a etter understanding of how language is used (p$8#$ +riting and

reading provide learners with knowledge aout how language is structured9 on the

other hand, listening and speaking give learners the opportunity to eperience the L$

:lso some second language ac*uisition (SLA) theorists have emphasi6ed the

importance of listening in facilitating second language ac*uisition$

Perspective s in teaching listening:

Listening is a comple activity ecause it encompasses a numer of processes and

proceedings$ ichards in this area eamines listening from two perspectives;

0# Listening as comprehension

# Listening as ac*uisition

Listening as comprehension:

Listening as an oral skill is comple to teach$ 4rown (!!!# eplains this compleity

stating that activation of prior knowledge is essential for the improvement of learners3

comprehension$ )n other words, listening comprehension is composed of three maincomponents;

< Schemata; defined as mental representations of our eperience that are

availale to help us understand new eperiences$

< Scripts; that is, learners3 aility to contetuali6e their guesses$

< Listening comprehension processes: this includes two dimensions of

processing listening comprehension which are bottom-up (in 4rown (!!!#terms it means using the information we have aout sounds, word meanings,

and discourse markers like first, then and after that to assemle our

understanding of what we read or hear one step at a time, and top-down

process through which learners make use of their knowledge aout language

and the world$

Listening in general terms is not a simple activity that is carried out in one step$

.owever, in a typical listening activity there are three stages$ (0# Pre-listeningstageis usually in the form of a warm7up where learners make use of their prior7knowledge


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to make the task easier$ (# While-listeningstageis where learners eploit listening

strategies (listening for the gist and listening =# to understand the task and perform

well$ Lastly, (># post-listening stageduring which learners demonstrate their level

of listening comprehension y completing some tasks (4rown$ !!5#

Listening as acquisition:

The teaching of listening occupies a central role in the ac*uisition of L$

%L: research considers listening activities a ?linguistic environment? which

provides learners with a comprehensile oral input (@rachen =$#$ Aurthermore,

advocates of %L: see that the ac*uisition of L takes place through listening$ )n the

mid7-!s, modified input or accentuated input in %L: were introduced as

strategies used y L teachers to motivate learners ac*uire the L in a non7

threatening atmosphere$ Cf. Parer and Chaudron! "#$%& Long and Larsen-'reean!

"##"highlight the usefulness of Linguistic adBustments or sometimes referred to as

child-directed speech or foreigner talk wherey L learners are offered a

learning eperience that is similar to their ac*uisition of L0$

T ypes of listening and tips to develop them :

Listening is an activity that we do on a daily asis$ )n fact, there is not one way of

listening to people$ Listening for gist, listening for details, and listening between

the lines are the main types of listening activities via which learners can develop

their listening strategies$

Listening for gist is when the purpose of the listener resides in identifying themessage without paying much attention to the words$ %imply put, it is an opportunity

for learners to go eyond simple language drills$

Listening for details or listening for specific information is a listening activity where

learners are supposed to detect and recall key words and ideas in a listening

passage$ Listening for details to some etent is a critical listening in a way that

learners retain relevant points and reBect irrelevant information$


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Listening etween the lines or active listening re*uires an advanced level in L

ecause the listener is supposed to identify the speaker3s intended meanings$ )n

other words, the listener constructs meanings according to the levels of discourse

(e$ Emotional overtones; anger, ecitement, and happiness, etc#$

The variety of types of listening makes it difficult for L teachers to decide aout

which listening activity to integrate in their teaching$ :ccording to (Aield 0118# (+hite

0118# (Cauldwell !!!# +e spend so much time preparing learners for listening,

Dut we donFt have time to do much more than see if the students got the answers

right or wrong and no time is spent on finding out why and where they went wrong

(%mith$!0!#$ )n order to help learners develop their listening ailities, it is advisale

to teach them teach micro-skillsor sub-skills

:s there are various types of listening, each type encompasses a numer of su7

skills9 thus, it is not an easy task for teachers of the L to incorporate all the su7skills

while teaching listening (see the appendi for su7skills and tips to develop the

listening skill#$

The teacher as a listener:

Throughout this paper we understand that learners need to e good listeners to

ease the learning task for themselves$ )n their turn, teachers are also re*uired to e

careful listeners in the classroom$ %chult6$ @ (!!># puts it forward that teachers can

sustain a good rapport with their learners through listening9 put differently, learners

tend to imitate their teachers in doing things with the language9 conse*uently,

learners3 active listening haits are ac*uired not only from the listening courses, ut

all over the learning period$Teachers as educators are thought to e good listeners$ Aor this to happen they

need to have enough knowledge of listening strategies and use them to respond to

their students$ The underlying assumption here is that listening is to e considered as

a means to teach language and not only a skill that is taught in language classes9

Guan & Alor (!!5# raise awareness to the fact that the teaching of listening seems

to ecome a means to an end rather than an end itself (p$0# (a sillon its on

right#$ This implies that teachers share responsiilities in developing learners3

listening performance$


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%chult6 (!!># depicts language classrooms as the teacher3s territory where

teacher talking ratio (TT# dominates$ Hn the other hand, in real life situations

listeners are invited to e active listeners y reflecting on what they hear which in the

classroom is affect y TT$ :ccording to %chult6 (!!>#, ?many classrooms are

dominated y teacher talk9 few are the democratic spaces filed with dialogues?$ Guan

& Alor (!!5# argue that when teachers create an environment that supports oth

listening and speaking in the classroom$ Language learning ecomes an easy task

for learners are eposed to a comprehensile input and given the opportunity to

demonstrate their understanding of what they are taught$

!onclusion s :

The ultimate goal of this paper is to emphasi6e the importance of listening as a

generator of L ac*uisition$ The different types and processes in teaching listening

reflect the etent to which it is not an easy task for teachers to teach listening9 added

to this, learners find a numer of difficulties in listening to an L$ )n a different way,

anyone who has learnt a foreign language knows how tiring it is listening to and

interpreting unfamiliar sounds, leis and synta for long stretches of time (Ir$ 0182,

p$ 01#$ 4y the end, it is up to teachers to accustom their learners to a more authenticinput9 that is, a language they hear outside the classroom$


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"eferences:

.owatt$ : & /akin$ G$ (01-2#$ Language laoratory materials$ Techni*ues in :pplied

Linguistics$ Edinurgh Course in :pplied Linguistics$ Jol$ >$ London; Hford

Iniversity Kress$

Guan,E$ Is, Alor, :$ MartNne6$ (!!5#$ Current trends in the development and

teaching of the four language skills$ %tudies on language ac*uisition, Jol$1$

+alter de Oruyter$

Carter, onald & 'unan, /avid$ eds$ (!!0#$ The Camridge guide to teaching

English to speakers of other languages$ Camridge Iniversity Kress$

%chult6, @atherine$ (!!>#$ Listening; a framework for teaching across differences$

Teachers College Kress$

Ir, Kenny$ (0182#$ Teaching listening comprehension$ Camridge Iniversity Kress$

L :c*uisition; The role of listening$ etrieved on "P!"P!0!;

http;PPwww$latcomm$comParticlesPllisteningac*uisition$html

32124132 teaching listening (1)

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