Thinking about

ListeningPrepared by:

Ruel L. Montefolkaa.k.a Zen089

ENG. 43

Lesson Objectives:

At the end of this presentation, we should be able to;

A. identify the different aspects of listening skills,

B. describe the different purposes and processes of listening and its significance for the 21st century learners,

C. solicit ideas about the importance of the different factors that influences learners listening.

1. Listening as a skill

2. Listening as a product

3. Listening as a process

4. Factors that influence learners

listening

FOLLOWING ASPECTS OF LISTENING

Listening as a skillPURPOSEFUL LISTENING

5 Important Factors to be considered.

1. Discriminative – Basic to all listening purposes and a listening to distinguish

auditory and/visual stimuli.

2. Comprehensive - Listening to understand the message.

3. Therapeutic – Listening to provide someone the opportunity to talk through a

problem.

4. Critical – Listening to evaluate the messages.

5. Appreciative – Listening to obtain enjoyment through the works and experiences

of others.

(Andrew Wolvin and Carolyn Coakely, 1996)

Listening as a skill

Listening Comprehension skills – the key listening comprehension skills are;

a. Listening for detailsb. Listening for gistc. Drawing inferencesd. Listening selectivelye. Making predictionsThe term ‘enabling skills’ is sometimes used to

refer to these skills.

Listening as a product

Examples of Listening Outcomes

Follow instructions Transfer information into graphic form

Organize and classify information Identify information in pictures

Take effective notes Reconstruct original text

Take dictation Make appropriate oral responses

Listening as a processCognitive model of listening comprehension.

1. Attention2. Perception3. MemoryHow our brain processes linguistic information.Attend signals (sound or print) and identify them as

words. Process information in the most efficient way. Draw on knowledge stored in the long term memory to act on the new information.

(Eysenck,1993)

3-Phase Comprehension Model

Perception – (also called perceptual processing) is the encoding of sound signals. Listeners hear and recognize sounds as words that they know. The aural information is stored for very short in the working memory. If it is not process further, it will be permanently displaced by other incoming sounds.

Parsing – is the process by which an utterance is segmented according to syntactic structures or semantic (meaning) cues to create a mental representation of the combined meaning of the words.

Utilization – occurs when listeners relate mental representations of the input to existing knowledge stored in the long term memory. They also make inferences or use the mental representation to respond to the speaker.

Two views of listening:1. Bottom-up – listening refers to a process by

which sounds are used to build up increasingly larger units of information, such as words, phrases, clauses and sentences before the aural input is understood.

2. Top-down –processing is used to refer to this application of background knowledge for facilitating and enhancing comprehension.

Several Strategies for Listening

Inference Comprehension monitoring

Prediction Cooperation

Elaboration Visualizing

Confidence building Selective Attention

Attention monitoring Comprehension evaluation

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE LEARNERS LISTENING

TEXTFeatures can affect listening:

1. Acoustic Feature – such as phonological modification and speech rate.

2. Discourse Feature – macro- and micro-markers, linear and non-linear organization of information, difficult vocabulary, colloquialism, sentence length and complexity, visual support, and explicitness of information.

3. Clear Influence – news broadcasts, lecturers and conversations, abstract versus non-abstract topics, static versus dynamic relationships.

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE LEARNERS LISTENING

TASKComplexities of listening tasks are influenced by

types of question,e.g.LiteralInferentialThe amount of time available for processing

information, and whether or not the listener can get the information repeated.

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE LEARNERS LISTENING

INTERLOCUTOR (Speaker)

It can affect the degree and quantity of comprehension. Speaker characteristics that have been known to play a part include accent, fluency, standard or non-standard usage, and gender.

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE LEARNERS LISTENING

LISTENERListeners characteristics that can influence

comprehension include language proficiency, gender, memory, interest, purpose, prior knowledge, attention, concentration, accuracy of pronunciation, physical and psychological states, knowledge of context, topic familiarity, and established learning habits.

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE LEARNERS LISTENING

PROCESSThe types of processing that listeners engage in

directly affect listening comprehension. These refer to whether the process have been predominantly top down or bottom up, or an effective combination of both. The types of listening strategy and the individual tactics for releasing each strategy can also play significant part.

It has been found that learners experience specific problems in each phase of comprehension (Goh, 2000)

Learners’ problems at different phases of listening

Perception Parsing Utilization

Do not recognize words they know

Quickly forget what is heard Understand words but not the intended message

Neglect the next part when thinking about meaning

Unable to form a mental representation from words heard

Confused about key ideas in the message

Cannot chunk streams of speech

Do not understand subsequent parts of input because of earlier problems

Miss the beginning of texts

Concentrate too hard or unable to concentrate

Cognitive perspective on Learners Listening

3 sources of information that is crucial to listening:1. Schematic (background knowledge)2. Contextual (knowledge of situation and co-text)3. Systemic ( knowledge of the language system)

(Anderson & Lynch, 1988)Views learners as a ‘model builder’ who uses

background knowledge as well as the text to build up a mental model or an overall interpretation.

Listening strategies and their functions

1. Cognitive – process, interpret, store and recall

information.

2. Metacognitive – manage and facilitate mental

process; cope with difficulties during listening.

3. Social-affective – enlist the help of others to

facilitate comprehension; manage one’s

emotions when listening.

References

Christine C. M. Goh (2008)Teaching Listening in the Language Classroom, RELC Portfolio

Series 4. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Center