KAUELC Summer 2008 Teaching Listening in TEFL classes

KAU/ELC Summer 2008 Teaching Listening in TEFL classes Proposed by: Mrs. Neila Ben Rejeb

Plan Introduction: 1) What is listening ? 2) Why it is the hardest skill to master What are the possible solutions? 1) 2) 3) 4) Importance of warming up Tasks While listening Tasks Post listening Tasks Difficulties met by listening teachers and useful tips Workshops: Group work 1) Preparation of a listening lesson 2) presentation of the work by groups spokeswomen 3) Peer observation feedback and discussion Conclusion: To what extent can a teacher be successful in a listening class ?

How to transmit successfully information to learners is of a major importance to us as practitioners in the classroom not theorists n n n What is the main topic of the passage? How many types of health care systems are there in Britain? The general practitioner has many roles in Britain (True / false) “family medicine’’ is popular in: Britain / USA / both of them / all over the world

Introduction n Listening to any material requires some particular kind of preparation prior to the act of listening 1) What is listening in the first place? Listening is the ability to identify and understand a speaker’s accent or pronunciation , his vocabulary and his grammar, and grasping his meaning. An able listener is capable of doing these things Simultaneously (Howatt and Dakin)

2) Why is listening the hardest skill to develop? Wills lists a series of listening micro skills, she calls: Enabling skills: n n n n Predicting what people are going to talk about. Guessing at unknown words. Using one’s own knowledge of the subject that helps understand. Identifying relevant points (note – taking, summarizing) Recognizing cohesive devices Understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress that gives clues to meaning and social setting Understanding inferred information, speaker’s attitude or intention.

Listening is a challenging activity for students because: 1. They are trying to understand every word 2. They get left behind trying to work out what a previous word meant. 3. They just don’t know the most important words 4. They don’t recognize the words they know 5. They have problems with different accents 6. They lack listening Stamina , they get tired. 7. They have a mental block 8. They are distracted by background noise 9. They can’t cope with not having images 10. They have hearing problems 11. They can’t tell the difference between the different voices

What are The possible solutions? 1 - Importance of pre-listening tasks: n n n n In real life, it is unusual for people to listen to something. Without having some idea of what they are going to hear. To avoid boring students. To arouse interest among students, by using a picture or a Humor story. To make the students familiar with the context. Warm-up exercise step is an important preparation for the while listening stage. We can say how well students had done in class depends mostly on how well they had been warmed up.

Examples of warming -up tasks n n n n Setting the context Generating interest Activating current knowledge , what do you know about …? Acquiring knowledge Activating vocabulary Predicting context Pre-learning vocabulary Checking/ understanding the listening tasks

Selection Criteria Selecting the appropriate tasks depends on: n n The The time available material available ability of the class interests of the class

While-listening activities n n n “How to listen” Tasks: Listen for gist (general idea, skimming) Listen for specific detail ( scanning) Listen for implication (What a statement implies) Listen for speaker’s attitude

“Listen and …” Activities Listen and repeat n Listen and record n Listen and memorize n Listen and transcribe n Listen and take notes n Visual support: Pictures, maps, graphs, diagrams, supplying cultural notes n

Post-listening Activities n n n Role-plays Group discussion Making researches on the Net writing essays on the same topic Fill in the blanks, cloze test using the vocabulary acquired in the listening.

Difficulties met by listening teachers and useful tips n n Successful listening skills are acquired over time and with a lot of practice There are no rules in listening that can lead to improved skills as in grammar , writing or speaking Mental Block is a main inhibitor A large number of learners are unable to understand something unless they see it

Useful tips Ask questions about stressed words n Give them an easy task that you know they can do even if they don’t understand 90% of the words n Cut the listening into short segments and use pause button to give their brains a chance to catch up n

n n Make sure the quality of the tape CD, and the recording is fine Plan listening for when you know it will be quiet outside, e. g. not at a lunchtime or when the class next-door is also having listening Make students who have hearing problems sit in the front Convince students to listen to English as often as possible but for short periods

Conclusion The role of the listening teacher is: n A guide who is to give students help n A diagnoser who can identify listening problems and put them right. n A designer who is able of selecting the adequate techniques, suitable tasks for students

Reminder Do not over-stuff your students, n Remember they are a captive audience for a limited lapse of time , so you have to give them the fundamental knowledge that a student must walk away with n

To what extent are you able to make your students: enjoy the listening, acquire as much as they can the skill you’re teaching? That’s all what teaching is about.