Teaching Listening Skills Seminar by Jeremy D Slagoski

Teaching Listening Skills Seminar by Jeremy D. Slagoski, Senior English Language Fellow

Standard Format 1. Pre-listening 2. Listening 3. Post-listening

#1 Pre-listening • Do NOT pre-teach ALL important new vocabulary in the passage • Instead set the context and create motivation • Do this by activating students’ prior knowledge through a cooperative learning activity

#2 Listening • Extensive listening - students listen for the main idea then answer the general questions to establish the context • Intensive listening - students listen again to answer detailed comprehension questions • This is too simple and perhaps dull

#2 Listening • Starting with extensive listening is a good technique, but add focus to the attitude of the speaker • Instead of detailed comprehension questions for intensive listening, involve students in a listening task • Upon completion of the listening task have students check each other’s answers

Listening Tasks • • • Listing Ordering and sorting Comparing Problem solving Sharing personal experiences Creative tasks

#3 Post-listening • Do NOT analyze the linguistic elements through discussing grammar and repetition exercises. • Instead examine the functional language and infer the meaning of vocabulary. • Allow students to negotiate the meaning rather than telling them the correct interpretation.

Easy to plan pre-listening activities • • • Brainstorming Think-Pair-Share Word Webbing/Mind Mapping Team Interview Round Robin

Easy to plan listening tasks • Agree or disagree (with explanation) • Create Venn diagrams • List characteristics, qualities, or features • Strip story (sequencing game) • Match speech to visuals • Compare and contrast to another speech or text • Give advice

More listening tasks • Compare and contrast to your own experience • Create your own version of the missing section • Plan a solution to the problem • Share reactions • Create a visual • Reenact your own version

Easy to plan post-listening examinations • Guess the meaning of unknown vocabulary • Analyze the speaker’s intentions • List the number of people involved and their function in the script • Analyze the success of communication in the script • Brainstorm alternative ways of expression

Summarize the Negative • Don’t pre-teach all important new vocabulary in the listening. • Don’t give students irrelevant detailed comprehension questions. • Don’t spend too much time on grammar analysis. • Don’t listen-and-repeat everything.

Summarize the Positive • Set the context through interactions. • Create motivation. • Make the listening tasks authentic and central to the listening lesson. • Involve students in the listening through negotiation of meaning. • Examine functional language. • Help students learn vocabulary autonomously.

References • Kagan, S. (1994). Cooperative Learning. San Clemente, CA: Kagan. • Richards, J. C. & Renandya, W. A. (eds. ) (2002). Methodology in language teaching: an anthology of current practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Willis, J. (1996). A framework for taskbased learning. Essex: Longman.