NEXT STEPS

Next Steps

After you finished this lesson, test your knowledge by taking a short, multiple-choice quiz

Quiz

1.    According to this lesson, what is the best way to approach listening in the classroom?

2.   With focused listening, students...

3.   In a listening for comprehension task, learners... 

4.  Listening excerpts used in the classroom (for example, recordings, video, etc.) should be... 

5.   What should listening activities always include? 

After the quiz and having planned your listening technique for secondary school students, complete the short assignment that follows. This will allow you to practice what you have just learned.

Assignment

Look at a listening activity you've developed for a class or select one from a textbook. As you review the activity, refer to the checklist below and think about these questions:

1. What learner level is the activity designed for (beginner, low-intermediate, etc.)?
2. Is the listening material itself authentic? Why or why not?
3. Are there clear pre-, while-, and post-listening tasks? Are the tasks level appropriate?
4. Are students encouraged to use any listening strategies (predicting, focused listening, listening for the main idea)?
5. What is your overall impression of the activity?

 

Glossary

authentic listening: listening that is intended for native speakers and not for second or foreign language learners. Authentic listenings are often characterized by natural repetition, unplanned background noises, starts and stops, incomplete sentences, fast as well as slow speech in the same utterances, possibly ungrammatical phrases, etc.
focused listening: a listening technique in which one listens for specific information (for example, to find out what the weather is going to be like)
listening for comprehension: a listening technique in which one listens for the main idea, key details, etc. Listening for comprehension is different than focused listening in that students are not told what they are listening for first, other than in general terms.
schema: background knowledge and experience that individuals have about a given topic which influences how they understand that topic

Bibliography
Jenkins, R. and Sabbagh, S. L. (2002). Stand out: Standards based English Book 1. Boston: Thomson/Heinle.
Jenkins, R. and Sabbagh, S. L. (2002). Stand out: Standards based English Book 2. Boston: Thomson/Heinle.
Jenkins, R. and Sabbagh, S. L. (2002). Stand out: Standards based English Book 3. Boston: Thomson/Heinle.
Jenkins, R. and Sabbagh, S. L. (2002). Stand out: Standards based English Book 4. Boston: Thomson/Heinle.
Noblitt, J. S. "Cognitive Approaches to Listening Comprehension." The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. http://www.unc.edu/cit/iat-archive/publications/noblitt/noblitt3.html. (accessed November 29, 2005).
Porter, D. & Roberts, J. (1987). Authentic listening activities. In M. Long & J. Richards (Eds.), Methodology in TESOL: A book of readings. Boston: Thomson/Heinle.
Richards, J. (1987). Listening comprehension: Approach, design, procedure. In M. Long & J. Richards (Eds.), Methodology in TESOL: A book of readings. Boston: Thomson/Heinle.


Supplementary Material

The Teaching of Listening http://www2.cstudies.ubc.ca/~smithmit/webfolio/Teaching_Listening.pdf

The site above offers you the opportunity to explore in more detail some of the ideas related to teaching listening discussed in this lesson.

   
Source: http://eltmedia.thomsonlearning.com