Chapter 5

1. Chapter 5 Key issues in teaching listening Helgesen, M. & Brown, S. (2007). Listening [w/CD]. McGraw-Hill: New York.

2. Listening as a Social Activity • Listening is not done in isolation. It is part of a social practice. • How to listen “socially” • Put Ss in social situations • Teach active listening. Interactive listening. Both listening and responding. • Teach culturally appropriate listening. Appropriate feedback, body language, touch, distance, eye gaze. • Practice how to engage with different types of people (shy vs. outgoing)

3. Listening Technology • Analog • Tapes, video cassettes, … • Somewhat uncommon these days, but still used in some schools (public & private) • Distinct methods for using these tools • Digital • CD/DVDs, • portable audio/video digital files (mp3, mp4, avi, etc), • streaming audio/video, and • listening software

4. Video • Video can be motivating, entertaining, and easier to understand. • Video can distract from the audio and impair listening. • If the images don’t match the audio this can be confusing. • Watching the visuals can take attention away from the audio. • Video can replace, to an extent, the need to listen in order to comprehend. • However, this may be more realistic than audio alone. • Benefits of video • Gestures, facial expressions, body language, physical proximity of speakers, cultural imagery, etc.

5. Video Activities • Strip stories • Put screen shots in the proper order. • Dialogue differences • Have students guess what the dialog in a scene is (given options) without playing the audio, then run it again with the audio to check. • Silent viewing • Watch a video without sound and guess what it is about. • Predict the action • Stop a video at a critical time and ask learners what will happen next. • What do you want to know? • Show a clip from an unknown movie. Student then must come up with questions to ask about the scene. • Five Ws and H • Have students watch a clip and create questions with who, what, where, when, why, and how. Then get into groups and ask those questions to partners.

6. Subtitles • Should we use subtitles? • L1 subtitles • Not usually advisable. Learners are less likely to process English (particularly older learners) • Could be useful for motivation purposes, used in multiple instances, comprehension check, etc. • L2 subtitles • Good for reading, less so listening. • Used in multiple instances, comprehension check, etc. • None • Best for focus on the listening • Difficult texts can be split into shorter segments

7. Sites Designed for ESL/EFL Students • Some of the most popular sites: • Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab (http://www.esl-lab.com) • This is the oldest listening site on the Web. There is an incredible amount of material with audio and other learning materials. • English Listening Lesson Library Online (ELLLO - http://www.elllo.org) • Another huge repository of listening dialogues with transcripts and activities. • English Central (http://www.englishcentral.com) • Amazing site that has videos with transcription, quizzes, and even pronunciation activities (speech analysis).

8. Podcasts • Internet audio episodes (primarily mp3 format) are referred to as podcasts. • Most listening sites can be considered podcasts. • I prefer to think of podcasts as mp3 files that can be downloaded and automatically updated through RSS and podcast software (like iTunes) • Examples: • ESL Podcast (http://www.eslpod.com) • Business English Pod (http://www.businessenglishpod.com)

9. Voice Chat • Skype (http://www.skype.com) is a great VoIP software that can be used to speak to anyone in the world. It is currently the world’s largest phone company. • Many social networks for language learning have chat built-in. • Livemocha (http://www.livemocha.com) • Babbel (http://www.babbel.com) • italki (http://www.italki.com)

10. Self-study & Learner Autonomy • It is important to provide both encouragement and resources for self-study. • Learner autonomy is more than just self-study. It is the desire and action to learn on one’s own. • What to use: • Many websites are available (some noted in this presentation. • Many books come with software and/or listening DVDs/CDs • Authentic listening: TV, movies, music, etc.

11. Extensive Listening • Useful for increasing vocabulary, motivation, grammar skills, cultural knowledge, and more. • May provide graded materials for students or authentic materials of a student’s choosing. • The vast amount of material on the Internet can fuel both your classroom as well as the interests of the learners.