LISTENING

PRINCIPLES1.) Short dialoguesImplement more listening drills such as in the warm ups or application drills where Ss can be exposed to the target language on class topics, such as meeting and introducing a friend, job interview, asking and giving directions. Help Ss not feel stressed they don’t understand every part of the dialogue but understand the global concept. Here Ss can also apply the top to bottom process of the schema theory. 2.) Comprehension activitiesSs feel more confident when they are given the instructions or the questions to what they will listen to. Test simple data that was said, and that could increase in higher levels. Beginners will need to hear more than twice the audio. Try if Ss feel more comfortable working on small groups or individually as they do these listening comprehension activities.SELF-ACCESSEncourage Ss to access listening material outside classroom, even beyond the material provided by the school. Tutorials or podcasts or videos that are appealing to their interests even if it may be beyond their current level. LIMITATIONSProvide variety of listenings, in which Ss can hear different accents (from British to southern English) so they can get used to understanding different accents and rhythms. Also encourage Ss to take notes to what they might consider relevant information for further intake. They need to practice taking quick notes and decrypt them.

Schema theory

A theory about knowledge
Rumelhart (1980)

what we understand of something

how it’s represented

how it facilitates the use
of the knowledge in a
particular way

it’s a function of our
past experiences &
backgrounds

Two processes
ocurring:

1. Bottom up processing

involves the movement of data
from the page to the brain

2. Top down processing

represents an attempt by the
brain to fine an existíng
knowledge

What are Schema’s and
Schema theory?

Background

Listening comprehension in
learning English language

Involves individual units,
linguistic & cognitive skills,
strategies & expectations
that the listener uses to decide
what is presented

Role

Listening

in building language competence

should be focused on
strategies & techniques

to promote language
learning & comprehension

Listener

should not only understand
what is being said but also select
important & relevant info

reduce it so it can be
taken down quickly
in writing

Subtopic

remain understandable
for later intake

Process

Aural reception
of an utterance

stages:

1. the sounds

go into a sensory store
called “echonic” memory

are organized into meaningful units
according to the knowledge of the
language listener already has

2. processing info
by the short-term
memory

words or groups of
words are checked
and compared to info
already held in the long
term memory

and the meaning extracted
from them

3. construct meaning
from the utterance
if not fully

info may be transfer
to the long term memory
for later use

Self-access

provide learners with variety
of listening material to use
outside the classroom

Apps
Videos
links

They can self-access
& select according to
interest & level

enlarge Ss’ exposure
to target language

radio broadcast,
simplified English
stories

create more opportunities
to enjoy listening for
pleasure

watch conversation shows,
films, videos

Teacher

Principles that can
help Ss develop
listening skills
(Rost, 1991)

- focus on meaning
& try to learn new &
important content

by focusing on meaning
learners can mobilize both
their linguistic & non-lingustic
abilities to understand

- work on comprehension
activities

by focusing on specific goals
for listening, learners can
evaluate their efforts and abilities

- attention to accuracy
& analysis of form

by learning to hear sounds
& words more accurately,
learners gain more confidence

Limitations

Criticism
(Richards, 1992)

traditional approaches
to language teaching

tend to underemphasize
the importante of teaching
EFL listening comprehension

Difficulties
(Rixon, 1986)

Sound problems
including pronunciation

Lacking hability
to skim what is
heard

lacking exposure
& practice with diff
accents & colloquial
vocabulary

inhability to link words
to the context & unskillful
in using strategies to
summarize heard info
at the macro & micro level