Gloria Luque Agulló Listening 1

2. Listening: Outline

2.1. Introductory questions to reflect

2.2. The role of listening in (SLA) theories: a historical view
2.3. Psycholinguistic processes: what is listening? Speech recognition, discourse comprehension
and memory
2.4. Factors influencing listening
2.5. Elements that contribute to successful oral comprehension.
2.6. Different types of oral comprehension.
2.6.1. Reciprocal vs non-reciprocal
2.6.2. Conversational vs academic
2.6.3. Inductive vs deductive
2.6.4. According to the purpose
2.7. Methodological principles for listening comprehension
2.7.1. Listening as a receptive-interpretative skill
2.7.2. Basic stages
2.7.3. Integration with speaking
2.7.4. Integration with reading
2.8. Main problems for the foreign learner and remedial strategies
2.8.1. Panic
2.8.2. Difficulty
2.8.3. Background knowledge
2.8.4. Linguistic problems
2.8.5. Problems inherent to listening comprehension itself
2.8.6. Suggested remedies
2.9. Resources and material
2.9.1. How to select the material
2.9.2. Edited material
2.9.2.1. Specific
2.9.2.2. Taken from the textbook
2.9.3. Authentic / simulated-authentic / non-authentic
2.9.4. Your own material
2.9.5. The audiotape-and the videotape-recorder
2.9.6. Useful bibliographical references
2.10. Suggested listening activities. Examples
2.11. Criteria for evaluating listening activities and exercises in textbooks

References
SET READINGS
Bueno González, A. 1999. "El registro oral: comprensión y expresión" in Salaberri Ramiro, S. (ed.).
Lingüística Aplicada a la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras. Almería: Servicio de Publicaciones
de la Universidad. pp. 334-356.
Harmer, J. 1998. How to Teach English. Harlow: Longman. Chapter 10 ("How to teach listening").
McLaren, N. 1996. "Listening comprehension" in Mclaren, N. & D. Madrid (eds.) A Handbook for TEFL.
Alcoy: Marfil. Chapter 8.

COMPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ur, P. 1996. A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chap. 8: 105-118.

SPECIFIC BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anderson, A. & T. Lynch. 1988. Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brown, G. 19902 . Listening to Spoken English. London: Longman.
Doff, A. 1988. Teach English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chap. 17: 198-207.
Hubbard, P., H. Jones, B., Thornton & P. Wheeler. 1983. A Training Course for TEFL. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Gloria Luque Agulló Listening 2

Larsen-Freeman, D. & M. Long, 1991. An Introduction to Second Language Acquisition Research.

London: Longman. Chap. 5: 114-152.
Lynch, T. 1998. “Theoretical perspectives on listening” Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 18: 3-19.
Matthews, A. 1985a. “Listening skills”. In A. Matthews, M. Spratt & L. Dangerfield (eds.) At the Chalkface.
Bath: Edward Arnold. 60-63.
McLaren, N. 1996. “Listening comprehension”. In N. McLaren & D. Madrid (eds.) A Handbook for TEFL.
Alcoy: Marfil. 209-237.
Mendelson, D. 1998. “Teaching listening” Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 18: 81-101.
Nunan, D. 1990. Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. 18-21.
Porter, D. & J. Roberts. 1981. “Authentic listening activities” ELT Journal, 36: 37-47
Richards, J. 1990. The Language Teaching Matrix. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rost, M. 2001. “Listening”. In R. Carter & D. Nunan (eds.) The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to
Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 7-13.
Scarcella, R. & R. Oxford. 1992. The Tapestry of Language Learning. Massachusetts: Heinle Publishers.
138-152.
Ur, P. 1984. Teaching Listening Comprehension. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Vandergrift, L. 1999. “Facilitating second language listening comprehension: Acquiring successful
strategies” ELT Journal, 53/3:168-176.

PRACTICE
Ellis, G. & J. Brewster. 1991. The Story-telling Handbook. London: Penguin English.
Madrid, D. & N. McLaren. 1995. Didactic Procedures for TEFL. Valladolid: La Calesa. Chap. 2: 38-59.
Milne, B. 1990. Heinemann Integrated Skills. Intermediate. London: Heinemann.

http://www.oscar.com (official site of Oscars)

http://www.bbc.co.uk (BBC: News channel site, with video, real audio and tips for teachers)
http://www.cnn.com (CNN: News channel site. Same features as previous one)
http://lyrics.com (index of lyrics)
http://englishlistening.com (The English Listening Lounge Language Resources on the Web)
Gloria Luque Agulló Listening 3

2.1. Introductory question to reflect

Is listening an anxiety-provoking experience?

2.2. The role of listening in (SLA) theories: a historical view

2.2.1. Listening for behaviourist/ structuralist accounts: hearing habits
2.2.2. Listening for mentalist accounts: input and hypothesis testing
2.2.2.1. Comprehensible input and Krashen’s (1985) Monitor Model: the silent period and Total
Physical Response (T.P.R.)
2.2.2.2. Advantages of “listening-first” approaches
2.2.2.2.1. Cognitive
2.2.2.2.2. Affective
2.2.2.2.3. Communicative
2.2.2.2.4. Modern technology resources
2.2.2.2.5. Possibilities outside the classroom
2.2.3. Interactional theories: the role of frequency and interaction (Larsen-Freeman and Long,
1991)
2.2.3.1. Foreign speech: linguistic and conversational input modifications
2.2.4. Strategic based accounts of listening
3.2.4.1. Metacognitive strategies
3.2.4.2. Cognitive strategies
3.2.4.3. Social strategies

2.3. Psycholinguistic processes: what is listening? Speech recognition, discourse comprehension and
memory
2.3.1. Bottom-up phenomena for listening. Speech recognition
2.3.1.1. Speech segmentation
2.3.1.1.1. The problem of the absence of invariant phonetic features
2.3.1.1.2. The sounds that cue identification
2.3.1.2. The problem of having L1 metrical expectations: “bounded” versus “unbounded”
languages
2.3.1.3. The passive versus receptive consideration of listening: the listener active role in
decoding noises and silences
2.3.2. Top-down phenomena. Discourse comprehension and memory
2.3.2.1. Phonological and working memory
2.3.2.2. Processing and time constraints: the cognitive load
2.3.2.3. Activation of schemas as anticipation and recall cues
2.3.2.4. The role of context for listening
2.3.2.4.1. Visual and kinetic cues
2.3.2.4.2. Interaction cues: negotiation of meaning

2.4. Factors influencing listening

2.4.1. Type of texts and features
2.4.1.1. Number of people involved: monologues versus dialogues
Difficulties involved in each type
2.4.1.2. Degree of planning: planned versus unplanned texts
Features involved in spontaneous speech
2.4.1.3. Type of information conveyed: interpersonal versus transactional
implications for listening
2.4.1.4. The accessibility of the topic spoken about: familiar versus unfamiliar texts
2.4.1.5. The configuration of space and time elements: here-and-now versus then-and-
there references
2.4.1.6. The degree of inference the text requires: causal and discourse connections
within the text
2.4.1.7. The social and cultural meanings the text conveys: pragmatic aspects and
speech act theory
Gloria Luque Agulló Listening 4

2.4.2. Listener factors

2.4.2.1. Phonetic abilities: understanding sounds
2.4.2.2. Memory capacity, recall and established learning habits
2.4.2.3. Attention resources
2.4.2.4. Tolerating ambiguity: trying to understand every word vs important information
2.4.2.5. The question of L1 transfer of aural abilities: the Threshold versus the
Interdependence hypotheses
2.4.2.6. Awareness of strategies and effectiveness in use
2.4.2.7. The listeners’ gender
2.4.3. Interlocutor characteristics
2.4.3.1. Stress, accent and dialect
2.4.3.2. Speaker’s intent
2.4.3.3. Authenticity, redundancy and speech error phenomena
2.4.3.4. Degree of participation accepted
2.4.3.5. Disembodied voice phenomena –the voice range- versus visibility of speaker
2.4.4. Task features
2.4.4.1. Indirect involvement of other skills (reading, writing and speaking)
2.4.4.2. Type and amount of information asked (about the text)
2.4.4.3. Task design: pre-listening, while listening and after-listening activities
2.4.5. Language features
2.4.5.1. Phonological processing: pacing and pausing
2.4.5.2. Grammatical parsing
2.4.5.3. Word recognition
2.4.5.4. Conceptual representation of content
2.4.5.5. Ellipsis
2.4.6. Development of particular skills
2.4.6.1. Ear-training skills: the mechanics of listening?
Discrimination of isolated sounds, discrimination of sounds in connected
speech, discrimination of stress patterns and identification and understanding
intonation patterns
2.4.6.2. Comprehension skills: a top-down approach
Understanding general and specific meanings, making inferences, predictions,
making connections within the text, summarising, rejecting redundant
information, turning input into intake and relating information to own experience
Gloria Luque Agulló Listening 5

2.5. Elements that contribute to successful oral comprehension

For listening comprehension to be effective, the following conditions must be met:

- The message has to be perceived adequately and clearly.
- The message has to be syntactically and semantically comprehensible.
- It is necessary for the listener not to have "switched off" and for him/her to be willing to listen.
- We have to provide them with a concrete aim, a reason to listen. This purpose can be either
interactional or transactional or both.

This is closely connected to the principles Harmer (1998: 99-100) mentions:

1. The tape recorder is just as important as the tape.
2. Preparation is vital.
3. Once will not be enough.
4. Students should be encouraged to respond to the content of the listening, not just the
language.
5. Different listening stages demand different listening tasks.
6. Good teachers exploit listening texts to the full.

2.6. Different types of oral comprehension.

2.6.1. Reciprocal vs non-reciprocal
2.6.2. Conversational vs academic (see Nunan, 24-25)
2.6.3. Inductive vs deductive (see Nunan, 25-26)
2.6.4. According to the purpose (see Harmer, 215-230)
- To confirm expectations.
- To extract specific information (scanning).
- For communicative tasks.
- For general understanding (skimming).
- For detail.
- For deducing meaning.
- For inferring opinion and attitude.
- For performing.
- To carry out a related activity involving either speaking or writing .

2.7. Methodological principles for listening comprehension

2.7.1. Listening as a receptive-interpretative skill
2.7.2. Basic stages (see Mathews, 1985)
2.7.3. Integration with speaking
2.7.4. Integration with reading

2.8. Main problems for the foreign learner and remedial strategies
2.8.1. Panic
2.8.2. Difficulty
2.8.3. Background knowledge
2.8.4. Linguistic problems
2.8.5. Problems inherent to listening comprehension itself
2.8.6. Suggested remedies (see harmer, 1991; McLaren, 1995: 217)
Gloria Luque Agulló Listening 6

2.9. Resources and material

2.9.1. How to select the material
2.9.2. Edited material
2.9.2.1. Specific
2.9.2.2. Taken from the textbook
2.9.3. Authentic / simulated-authentic / non-authentic

Fortunately, in modern languages it is not difficult to expose the student to authentic material for
listening comprehension, such as songs and radio or TV extracts. The problem lies in the difficulty of this
kind of material, which makes it almost impossible for some students. We can solve this problem by
adapting the speed, suppressing possible interferences, but keeping an authentic format. This is what we
understand as "simulated-authentic". Non-authentic material is on most occasions simply not valid. If the
material is difficult tasks should be easier and viceversa.

2.9.4. Your own material

2.9.5. The audiotape-and the videotape-recorder

They are, undoubtedly, useful teaching aids, but some cautions are recommended. If you use a
tape-recorder you should be aware of the advantages and the disadvantages it presents. A good machine is
needed, headphones (if possible) or good loudspeakers; it is essential for the machine to have a "counter"
(Remember "The tape recorder is just as important as the tape" -J. Harmer). The video-tape recorder has an
added advantage: image. You should be familiar with the kind of video material suitable for your students
and some video techniques, such as silent viewing, freeze frame, sound only or jigsaw viewing. (Please
complete with Harmer 1998: 108-109 and 183-184).

2.9.6. Useful bibliographical references

2.10. Suggested listening activities. Examples

2.10.1 Listening for perception (top-down approaches): ear-training activities
Word and sentence level: discrimination of sounds and noises, identification of stress
patterns, clapping rhythms, discriminations of phonemes, words, clauses, identification
and pointing to pictures or objects, moving along with rhythms or stress patterns and
moving or stopping following the music.
Gloria Luque Agulló Listening 7

The train

(Phillips, 1993: 110)

Gloria Luque Agulló Listening 8

2.10.2. Listening for comprehension (pre, while and post-listening activities): tasks
2.10.2.1. Listen and do activities (do: paint; choose; pick; guess; say; put; find; identify;
mime; draw)
1. Listen and find mistakes
2. Listen and fill in gaps, grids, maps, charts, trees, graphs,
3. Listen and read pictures or texts
4. Listen for true/false visual or textual answers
5. Listen to familiar texts
6. Picture dictations
7. TPR activities
8. Comprehension questions of different types
9. Questions to confirm expectations
10. Skimming
11. Scanning
12. Oral comprehension followed by communicative tasks:
. Filling-in forms
. Telling a story
. Giving directions
. Jigsaw listening
13. Activities involving detailed comprehension
14. Deducing meaning
15. Deducing tone of the passage and attitude of speakers
16. Listening and note-taking
17. Listening and unscrambling pictures, sentences, paragraphs
18. Gap-filling
19. Cloze procedure
20. Identifying pictures
21. Spotting differences after listening
22. Listening and taking part in a dialogue.

More listening suggestions are offered by Harmer (1998: 109-110).

Gloria Luque Agulló Listening 9

2.10.2.2. More examples. Speaking and pronunciation through:

songs, rhymes, poetry, chants, question-answer strings, tongue
twisters, picture naming and story-telling

The Pied Piper

Once upon a time there was a town called Hamelin.

The people in the town had a problem: the town was full of rats!
There were rats in the street, in the houses, in the schools, in the shops, even in their beds!
“We must get rid of the rats!” The people said. But how?
Then, one day, a strange man came to the town. He wore a tall hat and had a flute. “I can get rid
of the rats”, he said. “What will you give me if I take them all away?”
“Lots of money!” said the people.
So the Pied Piper started to play his flute. Strange music came out of the flute, and soon rats
came out of all the shops, houses and schools. The road was full of rats! They all followed
the Pied Piper.
The Pied Piper led the rats:
Over the bridge
Up the hill
Down the hill
Round the castle
Along the road
Past the little house
Through the garden of the big house
Into the wood
Out of the wood
And into the river

(Phillips, 1993: 29)

Gloria Luque Agulló Listening 10

Predicting your character

(Milne, 1990: 30)

More activities: those at the end of Chapter 8 by McLaren. Also see Bueno (1999: 354-355)
Gloria Luque Agulló Listening 11

2.11. Criteria for evaluating listening activities and exercises in textbooks

1. Does it practice listening comprehension or something else?
1.1. Memory
1.2. General intelligence
1.3. Knowledge of the topic
1.4. Practice versus testing
2. Does it introduce pre-listening skills for activating schemata?
i.e. Does it foster predictions?
3. Does it combine top-down and bottom-up processes?
4. Does it introduce the mechanics of listening?
5. Does it teach listening strategies?
6. Does it introduce different speech types?
7. Does it include visual and environmental support?
8. Does it involve other skills? How?
9. Do the tasks follow the sequence of presentation of information in the text?
10. Must students understand every word?
11. Is the text meaningful for them? Does it allow for meaningful practice?
12. Does the text allow working from the familiar?
13. Is the text content too authentic/artificial? And its format?
14. Does the text allow working with formulaic language?
15. Is the text too long?
16. Does the task ask for long answers?
17. Does the task demand too much –or a too long stretch of – attention?
Gloria Luque Agulló Listening 12