Oral Comprehension (listening) in the SL Classroom

What is overlooked when we ask ‘do you speak such and such a language?’ Communication implies interacting with others which involves not only speaking, but listening too. That is why listening, or oral comprehension, is included as one of the branches of the Tree. Language teachers often experience difficulty in trying to improve their students’ listening skills, especially in a ‘Foreign Language’ context since learners are not exposed to the language outside of the classroom. We address this topic in this section of the web-site.

What role does listening comprehension play in communication?

Listening comprehension is a key initial step in communication. The better a student can understand what is being said, the better will be their ability to communicate. In addition, they will be better able to notice the characteristics of the target language which will help improve their language development in all four key skill areas.

Students may feel a great deal of pride when they are able to comprehend something in the target language. This can be a great motivating factor in continuing to learn the language, and teachers should do whatever possible to promote this sense of accomplishment. Consequently, teachers need to construct learning activities which will enhance learners' oral comprehension (listening skills) and motivate them, as well.

The work of Nunan and Lamb (1996) is a great help in this area. They outline a series of questions which teachers need to consider when preparing listening activities:

What is the context for listening?
Should one or two items from the listening exercises be modeled for the whole class so that learners know what to do?
How many times should the item be heard by students?
How will learners check the accuracy of their listening? (that is, the students’ answers?)
Is it possible to check listening accuracy to be done independently or collaboratively?

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What are some tips to help teachers develop students’ listening skills?

An effective teacher is aware that students are not always able to develop oral comprehension skills on their own; without additional supports listening, by itself, is not enough to develop better listening skills. Here are several activities a teacher can employ to facilitate the development of listening skills.

Promote active listening: Giving the students something to listen for ensures that they are involved in the task. Exercise sheets are another tool that promote active listening;
Identify listening strategies: Give the students tools to guide their listening; such as, looking for specific information, identifying predictable words or phrases, or discussing what they expect in certain forms of speech; such as, newscasts or advertisements.;
Selecting the most appropriate strategy for presenting the lesson; for example, using a top down (general meaning, summarizing) or bottom up (cognates, specific words, word order patterns) approach;
Allow the students to hear as much of the target language as possible while using a variety of teaching methods; for example, sometimes using visual cues, at other times not;
Use authentic materials; for example, a lecture or a radio announcement in the target language, to help students become accustomed to different accents and to a realistic pace of speech;
Ensure the students know the goals of the listening task: is the goal to understand what’s being said, to decide whether to keep listening or to obtain specific information?
Provide opportunities for reflection and discussion so the students can share what was heard, what was learned and methods they employed to better understand what was said;
Organize pre-listening activities, such as providing students with relevant vocabulary, reading a related text, looking at a related image or clarifying necessary cultural information etc.;
Be sure to check level of the listening exercise beforehand to ensure it is an appropriate level for the students.

Information taken from Goals and Techniques for Teaching Listening, Strategies for Developing Listening Skills and Developing Listening Activities

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What are some examples of listening activities to use in the SL classroom?

Here are some listening activities to use with students; they range from semi-guided tasks to unstructured tasks.

Semi-Guided Tasks (teacher may prompt with questions)

listen to a paragraph as it is read aloud and summarize it in your own words;
listen to a favorite song and summarize its contents;
listen to a dialogue, cartoon, or skit and edit where necessary;
listen to a joke or riddle which reveals something about the culture being studied;
listen to a children's story or rhyme, a fable or proverb.

Unstructured Tasks
Describe one of the following and record it onto a cassette, computer program, etc. (students may be permitted to make some brief notes to prepare)

a process such as cooking rice or riding a bike;
a familiar person;
a landmark in your locale;
conduct a survey of native speakers regarding views on a controversial issue; present and discuss the summary.

There are several advantages to this activity. The recordings allow participants to hear themselves speak in the target language, which can be very helpful for shy learners. Students view this as an easier form of homework than a written assignment which will motivate the student to complete the task.

Pre-Listening and While-Listening Activities
It is often stated that spoken and written language differ. Some reasons for this include, the following: spoken language is often used for social interaction rather than simply presenting information; it takes place in a context which provides visual and oral cues which assist comprehension; and, often we listen with a particular purpose in mind, sifting through what we hear in order to meet that purpose. Furthermore, native speakers have unstated preconceived ideas as to how a conversation should proceed, and interpret the conversation on the basis of their contextual knowledge about the speaker and the situation. All of these factors demand well-developed listening skills. A teacher can assist their students to hone their listening skills through pre-listening and while-listening activities.

Example:
Ask the class questions about a topic, but do NOT record their responses. Then read a passage which relates to the same topic. Ask them the same questions again. Afterward, initiate a discussion as to the effectiveness of the pre-listening questions: did they help the listener focus more quickly? Why or why not?

Selective Listening
Selective listening skills can be developed by giving students things to listen for. The objective would be to increase the students’ awareness of what they hear and understand without metalinguistic input. A relevant exercise would be to have the students to listen to any number of the following oral activities, and respond to a series of prepared questions. The students might need to do some of these listening activities before class.

engage in conversation with someone
listen to ad on TV or radio
listen to folktales
listen to directions
understand radio news
teach and encourage prediction
use advertisement materials

Other Listening Activities
a. Simon Says

b. True-False: each student has a card – on one side of the card the word ‘yes’ is written, on the flip side ‘no’ (in the target language, of course); students hold up the appropriate card in response to the teacher's questions. This exercise can also be done using hand signals instead: thumbs up or down, or using one’s left or right hand to indicate yes or no.

c. Sound identification game: students make a consonant or vowel fan, which is a series of paper strips with one letter or combination of letters at the end of each paper. The teacher points to a picture of a word and the students use the fan to indicate which letter the word begins with.

d. Three Card game: Each student receives three cards with words or pictures written/drawn on them; for example, card #1 may say south, card #2 may say Friday, and #3 may say Spring. The teacher asks oral questions and the students hold up the appropriate card in response. For example, the teacher says ‘I want the card that is the name of a season’.