Principles behind the teaching of listening

Teach listening in Tieng Anh1Principles behind the teaching of listeningPrinciple 1: The tape recorder is just as important as the tapePrinciple 2: Preparation is vitalPrinciple 3: Once will not be enough2Principle 4: Students should be encouraged to respond to the content of a listening, not just to the language Principle 5: Different listening stages demand different listening tasksPrinciple 6: Good teachers exploit listening texts to the full.3Features of a good listening taskGets students to think before they listen.Helps them link what they expect to hear with what they know about the subject. Helps them predict and therefore understand more quickly.Provides them with a purpose for listening.Exploits differences in answers through pairwork share/compare activities.4Stages in a listening lessonBefore-you-listen stage While-you-listen stageAfter-you-listen stage5Before you listenIntroducing general content of the listening passagePractising designed warming-up activities in the textbookMaking use of pictures (if any) to present new vocabularyPre-listening activity starts before Ss listen to the text but is completed after they have listened to the text in order to check their answers.6Presenting more words/phrases from tapescripts Getting students to pronounce words/phrases carefullyReviewing already-presented grammatical patternsPresenting new grammatical patterns (if any)Asking students to predict content of the listening 7Some examples of pre-listening activitiesT/F statements PredictionOpen PredictionOrdering (jumbled statements or pictures)Pre-questionsBrainstorming8While you listenGiving clear instructions for the listening task (rephrasing textbook instructions if necessary)Playing the tape once (non-stop) for students to get general content of the listeningProviding other activities from textbook for slower classesWhen Ss do the main listening activity, getting Ss to focus on the facts or the details9Moving from simpler tasks to more complicated onesPlaying the tape several times (non-stop or with pauses if students need help)Breaking long tapescripts into sections to facilitate the listening10SelectingDeliberate mistakesGridsListen and drawGap-fillingMCQsAnswering information questionsMatchingT/F informationNumbering pictures...Some examples of while-listening activities11After you listenPractising designed post-listening activities in textbook.Summarising listening passages in spoken or written formRelating to students’ own experienceExtending the topic to oral or written presentationsThis activity intergrates other skills like speaking and writting12Some examples of post-listening activitiesRecall the storyWrite it upRoleplayFurther practiceDiscussion13What if students do NOT understand the listening tape?Introduce interview questions: Questions can be given first and students are encouraged to role-play the interview before listening. This will increase their predictive power.14What if students do NOT understand the listening tape?Use ‘jigsaw listening’: Different groups are given different bits of the tapescript. When the groups hear about each other’s pieces of tapescript, they can get the whole picture.15What if students do NOT understand the listening tape?One task only: Non-demanding tasks can be assigned such as listening and deciding on the sex, age, status of the speaker or the setting of the listening.16What if students do NOT understand the listening tape?Use the tapescript (1): It can be cut into bits for students to put in the right order as they listen.17What if students do NOT understand the listening tape?Use the tapescript (2): Students can look at the tapescript to gain more confidence and ensure what the tape is about.18What if students do NOT understand the listening tape?Use the tapescript (3): Students can look at the tapescript before, during, or after they listen. The tapescript can also have words or phrases blanked out.19Designing a listening testSome reminders on the listening passageLengthLexical densityUse of wordsGrammatical patterns20Designing a listening testSome reminders on the listening tasksGraded tasksCueing tasksSingle purpose tasksOver-demanding tasks21Designing a listening testSome common types of listening tasksMatchingGap-fillingTrue/False statementsShort answersMultiple choice questionsOpen-ended questionsTable/graph completing22Designing a listening testSome common types of MCQ listening tasksMain idea questionsRephrasing questionsReference questionsVocabulary questionsInference questions23Designing a listening testSome common types of MCQ listening tasks6. Negative questions7. Attitudinal questions8. Organisational questions9. Topic-adjacency questions10. Analogy questions24