Teaching Listening in EFL

Exposure to Authentic Language: Listening to various materials can expose learners to authentic language use in different situations and contexts. This can help them develop their listening comprehension and language awareness.

Enjoyment and Motivation: Listening to various materials can also provide learners with enjoyment and motivation to learn the language. They can choose materials that interest them and suit their preferences, such as stories, songs, podcasts, or videos

Feedback and Self-assessment: Listening to various materials can also give learners feedback and opportunities for self-assessment. They can check their understanding of the materials by answering questions, taking quizzes, or summarizing the main points. They can also compare their answers with the correct ones or with their peers

Sure, here are some strategies that can help students improve their listening skills outside the classroom:Videos/TV Shows: Videos and TV shows are great sources of ‘real-life’ English language, and the pictures will help students to understand what is being said.Audiobooks: Listening to English-language audiobooks related to a theme that interests the student can be very beneficial. For example, if a student is interested in dinosaurs, they could listen to an audiobook about dinosaurs.Free Online Learning Activities: Encourage students to try some fun learning activities, which are available for using on a computer or on a tablet.Regular Practice: Regular practice really helps students to learn a language. Even just 1 minute of regular practice will build confidence.Narrow Listening: This involves listening to a number of texts that have the same topic. The repetition of the same vocabulary and structures in a slightly different context each time can help students to understand and then produce these phrases.Repeated Listening: This involves listening to the same text a number of times. Each time students listen, they can understand more and more details.Simultaneous Reading and Listening: This involves reading a text while listening to it at the same time. This can help students to understand how the written forms and spoken forms of words match.

Videos/TV Shows: Videos and TV shows are great sources of ‘real-life’ English language, and the pictures will help students to understand what is being said.

Audiobooks: Listening to English-language audiobooks related to a theme that interests the student can be very beneficial. For example, if a student is interested in dinosaurs, they could listen to an audiobook about dinosaurs.

Free Online Learning Activities: Encourage students to try some fun learning activities, which are available for using on a computer or on a tablet.

Regular Practice: Regular practice really helps students to learn a language. Even just 1 minute of

Narrow Listening: This involves listening to a number of texts that have the same topic. The repetition of the same vocabulary and structures in a slightly different context each time can help students to understand and then produce these phrases.

Repeated Listening: This involves listening to the same text a number of times. Each time students listen, they can understand more and more details.

Simultaneous Reading and Listening: This involves reading a text while listening to it at the same time. This can help students to understand how the written forms and spoken forms of words match.

Here’s a summary of the main points we’ve covered in this Mindomo:We discussed the background of teaching listening in EFL classrooms, including the need, the definition, and the role of listening comprehension.We explored the listening process, including the three stages of aural reception, the schema theory, the difficulties, and the suggestions for developing listening skills.We emphasized self-access outside the classroom, including the importance and the benefits of providing opportunities for learners to listen to various materials.We summarized the conclusion, including the main points, the implications, and the recommendations for EFL teachers and learners.

Use a systematic approach to teaching listening, which includes identifying learning objectives, selecting appropriate materials and tasks, implementing effective procedures and techniques, assessing and evaluating learners’ progress, and providing feedback and guidance.

Activate learners’ background knowledge before listening, using pre-listening activities such as predicting, guessing, or vocabulary preparation. This can help learners activate their schema and make connections with the listening text.

Use various materials to expose learners to authentic language use in different situations and contexts. Such as videos, podcasts, news, songs, or other sources that interest and motivate learners.

Develop learners’ listening strategies such as bottom-up and top-down processing, metacognitive awareness, and self-regulation. Model, explain, and practice these strategies with learners and help them apply them in different listening tasks.

Integrate listening with other skills and content areas, such as speaking, reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, or culture. This can help learners develop their overall language competence and communicative abilities.

A systematic approach to teaching listening is based on current theory and research, and aims to improve the quality and effectiveness of listening instruction.

Advantages: A systematic approach can help teachers to:

A systematic approach also faces some challenges, such as:

Listening is the first step in acquiring a new language and the basis for developing other language skills. It also helps learners understand and use the language in different contexts.

Listening is an active process that involves attending to the speech input, constructing meaning from it, and relating it to existing knowledge.

Listening prepares learners for speaking by providing exposure to native speakers and various contexts, which can improve their pronunciation, vocabulary, and syntax.

Listening helps learners internalize the rules of the language, making it easier for them to comprehend and produce the language.

Effective listening requires focusing on the right information, which can enhance comprehension and learning.

Regular listening practice can lead to continuous improvement in listening abilities, contributing to overall language proficiency.

Schema theory suggests that comprehension is the result of an interactive process between the learner’s background knowledge and the text. New information is connected with previously saved information in long-term memory

Listening comprehension is treated as an active process. It’s an interactive process of two-way communication, during which listeners’ background knowledge plays an important role

Based on schema theory, a teaching mode of English listening can be designed, which includes pre-listening, during-listening and post-listening activities for classroom listening teaching

This mode aims to improve reasonably and effectively college English listening teaching and the students’ listening competence

Different accents and dialects can make it difficult for students to understand spoken English. You could suggest strategies such as exposing students to a variety of accents through different audio and video materials.

Native speakers often speak at a pace that’s difficult for EFL students to follow. Suggesting activities that focus on improving listening speed could be beneficial.

Lack of vocabulary can hinder comprehension. Encourage students to expand their vocabulary and to use context clues to understand new words.

These can be confusing for EFL students. Providing some background on common cultural references can be helpful.

Active Listening Activities: Encourage students to engage in active listening activities, such as summarizing what they’ve heard, asking questions, or participating in discussions.

Use of Authentic Materials: Using real-world materials (like news broadcasts, podcasts, or interviews) can help students get used to listening to English as it’s naturally spoken.

Listening for Gist and Details: Teach students to listen for the main idea (gist) first, and then for specific details. This can make listening tasks feel more manageable.

Note-Taking Skills: Teach students how to take effective notes while listening. This can help them better understand and remember the information.