Assessing Listening

Hanan Alqarni &Yuanyuan Sun

Introduction
Research
Approaches to Listening Assessment
Assessment Task Types
Assessment Task Demonstration
Scoring
References
Research
Why is listening important to assess?

- Listening is important for in-person communication with estimates that it

accounts for more than 45% time spent communicating (Ockey, 2012)
- Over 50 percent of the time that students spend functioning in a foreign language
will be devoted to listening (Nation, 2009)

Listening is arguably the least understood and most overlooked of the four skills (L, S,
R and W) in the language classroom (Nation, 2009)
 Listening
Comprehension: A
complex listening
process
Comprehension, the final product of
listening, can be assessed by a variety of
methods (Vandergrift & Goh, 2012)

Interaction of different sources of

information: the acoustic input
(such as stress and intonation),
linguistic and non linguistic
knowledge
A dynamic, ongoing process
A multidimentional process
A very individual, personal
process (Buck, 2001)
(Buck, 2001)
Models of Listening (Nation & Newton, 2009)
Types of Listening
One-way listeningtypically associated with
the transfer of information (transactional
listening)
Two-way listeningtypically associated with
maintaining social relations (interactional
listening)
Listening Processes
Bottom-up Processes
Discriminating similar sounds; speech
phonomena such as reduced forms and
resyllabification
Top-down Processes
Meaning-focused listening such as picture
ordering
When we put these two types of processing
together we see listening not as a single skill, but as
a variety of sub-skills.
 Listening Sub-skills
(Buck, 2001)
Theorists have
attempted to describe
listening
comprehension in
terms of taxonomies
of sub-skills that
underlie the process.
All the taxonomies
should be treated with
caution.

(Buck, P. 56, 57, 2001)

Factors Affecting Listening (Ockey, Level of Difficulty
2012)
Rate of Speech Length text/ words / pauses
Background knowledge about the topic
Speed
Accent
Complicity (syntax/ discourse)
Prosody: Stress and intonation
Vocabulary
Types of interaction and relationships among
speakers Scoring (grammar, spelling)
Approaches to Assessing Listening (Buck, 2001)
The discrete-point approach:
-Testing ability to recognise
elements of the language in their
oral form.
-Discrete-points tests generally use
selected responses (True/False,
multiple choice)
-The most common tasks: phonemic
discrimination tasks, paraphrase
recognition and response evaluation.
Integrative testing: Communicative Testing:
-Emphasis on assessing the - Emphasis on
processing of language (not only communicative
know about language but use it) competence
- Tests of reduced redundancy, in
which elements are removed thus
reducing the redundancy of the text, - Characteristics of test
are widely used items: Authentic texts;
providing a
- e.g. Listening cloze, dictation communicative
purpose; authentic
tasks
Future Developments in Assessing Listening (Buck, 2001)
Providing suitable texts: genuine vs authentic
Visuals: video etc.
Collaborative listening:

Requiring skills in terms of listener roles in interactive situations : the addressee,

participants who are not being directly addressed, over-hearers

Computer-based testing
Assessment Task Types
Types of listening:

1- Intensive: phonemes, words, intonation.

2- Responsive: command question.

3- Selective: TV, news, stories.

4- Extensive: listening for the gist, the main idea, making

references.
 Designing Assessment Tasks: Intensive listening
Recognizing phonological and Paraphrase Recognition:
morphological elements: Sentence paraphrase
Phonemic pairs. e.g. (is he leaving? Dialogue paraphrase
VS is he living)

Morphological pairs. e.g. (I missed

you VS I miss you)

Stress pattern. e.g. (can VS cant)

Designing Assessment Tasks: Responsive listening
Appropriate response to a Open-ended response to a
question question (writing/
Multiple choice questions speaking)
e.g. What is one example that the lecturer gives
of a product that women pay more for? e.g. Critical thinking (3pts)
A. Shampoo / conditioner Based on the listening, what does pink
B. Shaving cream tax mean? Why do you think its called
C. Razor blades pink tax?
Designing Assessment Tasks: Selective listening
Listening Cloze (Fill in the blanks)
 Information Transfer (Chart filling)
Note-Taking
Various University Spoken Registers
Designing Assessment Tasks: Extensive listening
Top-down
Improve listening fluency
Example: Listen to a TedTalk Video and write a listening Log.
Targeting particular constructs
(Buck, 2001, P. 133-136)
Assessing Listening for Learning (Vandergrift & Goh, 2012)
Learner checklists, teacher checklists,
Formative Assessment questionnaires, listening diaries, interviews
(think-loud, stimulated recall), portfolios,
dynamic listening assessment, quizzes

Quizzes
Summative Assessment Portfolios
Achievement tests
Proficiency tests
Large-scale standard tests

Choosing formative and summative assessment tool for L2 listening must consider
FIVE CRITERIA.
(Vandergrift & Goh,
2012, P. 257)
Assessment Task Demonstration

Video Carol Dweck - A Study on Praise and Mindset by Trevor Ragan (trainer,
coach, teacher of trainers)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWv1VdDeoRY
Scoring
TOFEL Listening
Selected response tasks: Tasks (Buck,
2001)
widely used in achievement tests and large scale standard test, easy to score

Limited response tasks: possible partial credit

e.g. Gap-filling tests are usually scored by counting the number of gaps that are
correctly filled, and using the sum as the total test score. In tests where test-taker has to
replace deleted words (listening recall tests), there are two ways of methods of
scoring: to score the item as correct only when the actual deleted word is replaced, or
to count any acceptable alternative (Buck, 2001)

Extended production tasks: criterion referenced, rubrics

Scoring extended production tasks: Examples

Critical thinking (3pts)

Based on the listening, what does pink tax mean? Why do you think its called pink
tax?

1 pt logical response which is related directly to question ex: pink is for girls, pink tax
= higher cost for wom prod.

2pts support
References
Buck, G. (2001). Assessing listening. Cambridge University Press.

Cheng, L., Rogers, T., & Hu, H. (2004). ESL/EFL instructors classroom assessment practices: purposes, methods, and procedures.
Language Testing, 21(3), 360-389.

Kang, T., Arvizu, M. N. G., Chaipuapae, P., & Lesnov, R. O. (2016). Reviews of Academic English Listening Tests for Non-Native
Speakers. International Journal of Listening, 1-38.

Nation, I. S. P., & Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL listening and speaking. New York, NY: Routledge.

Ockey, G. (2012), Assessment of listening, from the EAL.

Root, T. L. (2007, Spring). Listening scoring guides. Retrieved May 10, 2007, from Valdosta State University, Department of Early
Childhood and Special Education, Dr. Tonja Roots Web site:
http://coefaculty.valdosta.edu/troot/eced4300/comprehensive_listening_strategies.htm

Vandergrift, L., & Goh, C. (2012). Chapter 12: Assessing listening for learning (pp. 239-268). New York, NY: Routledge.