6th Group Presentation
of Reading 5G (IAIN SURAKARTA)
1. Nur Insiyah
2. Nuril Latifah
Assa’adah
3. Nurul Munfaridah
4. Rizki Rakhmawati
5. Rizki Sabilla
Ramadhani
How to teach
Listening
Harmer (1983) states that listening as a different skill to
writing. In listening, the listener cannot see what he was listening, but could
only listen.
Listening ability is one of skill in English language lessons to
mater the skills of students with three others, namely reading, writing, and speaking.
From experience and discussion with several students, many students who find it
difficult to reach the expected competent in this skills. Often, in practice,
teachers are less able to teach listening that is easily understood by
students. This resulted in many students who failed the exam and had to repeat
listening.
Therefore, a teacher who is the facilitator
should have the skills to be able to make students feel easy in the study of
listening. Listening skills are best learned through simple, engaging
activities that focus more on the learning process than on the final product.
Whether you are working with a large group of students or a small one, you can
use any of the following examples to develop your own methods for teaching
students how to listen well
A.
Types of Listening
There are four types of listening skill:
1. Intensive :
Listening for perception of the components. Example: phonemes, words,
intonation
2. Responsive : Listening to a relalively short stretch of language. Example: a
greeting, command, question
3. Selective :
Processing stretches of discourse such as short monologues for several minutes
in order to “scan” for certain information. Example: TV , radio news items,
stories
4. Extensive :
To develop a top-down, global understanding of spoken language. Example:
listening for the gist, the main idea, making inference
B.
Listening Method and Activities
The listening
method divided into two parts, they are the listening method based on the
numbers of students and media that is used in the listening processes. The
first part is the method based on the number of students in the listening
learning, they are:
1. Interpersonal
Method
One
effective and nonthreatening way for students to develop stronger listening
skills is through interpersonal activities, such as mock interviews, and
storytelling. Assign the students to small groups of two or three, and then
give them a particular listening activity to accomplish. For example, you may
have one student interview another for a job with a company.
Even a storytelling activity, let students listen the story or
movie and ask them to tell what they listen about to their friends. Give students the opportunity to ask one
another about the storytelling. The interpersonal method can be more effective
by improving student’s listening ability to listen carefully about the material
that given. They will practice active listening skills.
2. Group Method
Larger
group activities also serve as a helpful method for teaching listening skills
to students. You can begin with a simple group activity. For the first part,
divide students into groups of five or larger and instruct them to listen
several questions based on their material of grade. Give them the paper of the
material, which is used for stimulating their listening skill. Encourage them
to ask clarifying questions during the activity, and you may allow them to take
notes if helpful. However, as time passes and their skills grow, you should
limit students to only writing notes after the completion of the first part of
the group activity.
For the second part, have the students discuss about the answer of
the questions, and then have each individual student share their opinion and
the reason of taking answer. This second part of the group activity can also
lend itself to additional listening exercises. For example, the students can
ask one to others in the target language about the material in the listening
exercise during the sharing session.
The
second part is the method based on the media that is used in the listening
learning, they are:
1.
Audio Segments Method
You can
also teach listening skills through audio segments of radio programs, online
podcasts, instructional lectures and other audio messages. You should model
this interactive listening process in class with your students, and then instruct
them to repeat the exercise on their own. First, instruct students to prepare
for listening by considering anything that they will want to learn from the
content of the audio segment.
Once they have written down or shared these ideas, then play the
audio segment, allowing the students to take notes if helpful. Once they have
gained confidence and experience, repeat this activity but instruct students to
not take notes until the completion of the audio segment. You can use shorter
or longer audio segments, and you can choose more accessible or more
challenging material for this type of exercise.
2. Video
Segments Method
Another
helpful resource for teaching listening skills are video segments, including
short sketches, news programs, documentary films, interview segments, dramatic
and comedic material. As with audio segments, select the portion and length of
the video segment based on the skill level of your students. With your
students, first watch the segment without any sound and discuss it together.
Encourage the students to identify what they think will be the
content of the segment. Then, watch the segment again, this time with sound,
allowing students to take notes if helpful for their skill level. After the
completion of the video segment, you can have students write a brief summary of
the segment, or you can take time to discuss as a group how the segment
compares with the students' expectations.
C. Indicators of
Teaching Listening
There are several
indicators for each listening activities as below:
1. Listening for the Main Idea
The purpose of this type of listening is to
train students to grasp the main points or general information presented in the
audio. Students often get stuck on a detail, a word or phrase they don’t
understand and fail to see the bigger picture. So, this is a great exercise for
this type of student.
Listening Exercise: Choose a short audio track that presents information
that may be easily summarized, like a news report. Breaking News in English offers some excellent audio tracks for different levels,
like this one for example on bilingualism. Have students
summarize the main points in one or two sentences. It is important to clarify
that students aren’t expected to deliver details, like numbers, names or
statistics but rather express the main point in a concise manner.
2. Listening for
detail
Here, the purpose is to train students to
grasp specific information, details that are relevant, important or necessary.
The goal is to help students obtain the detailed information they may need like
hours, dates, names, etcetera.
Listening Exercise: Biographies tend to have lots of great details. Choose
an interesting one from the source that has several in their people page. Prepare a short
list of questions they must read before listening, of the what, when, where, how type. Students listen for
these details, and then report their answers after the listening.
3. Listening for a Sequence
Quite often, students receive instructions
in English, information they will need to act on or orders they will need to
follow. It is vital that they get the order right, that they understand the
sequence correctly and what each step entails.
Listening Exercise: Many ources of video website has great how to videos,
like “How to
Clean Your Microwave” with a Lemon or this interesting
one on “How to Stop Being Lazy”. Have students
listen as they write the series of steps, or give them the steps and have them
put them in the right order.
4.
Listening for
Specific Vocabulary
Listening activities offer great
opportunities to teach new words or review vocabulary previously taught. Here,
the purpose is to identify and remember a series of words, which are usually
easily categorized, like types of food, sports, animals, etc…
Listening Exercise: Choose an audio track or song that lists words that may
be included in a category, like part of body (great song for young learners and teens) You can ask
students to listen and write down all of the parts of body they hear mentioned,
as well as the sounds they make or create a matching exercise.
5.
Listening for
Cultural Interest
With a carefully selected listening
activity, you also have the opportunity to teach students about a special
holiday or tradition that is popular with another culture. The purpose is to
expose the class to this cultural aspect through a listening activity.
Listening Exercise: Choose an audio track that speaks about a popular
holiday like Going to The Beach. Have students listen and answer some
comprehension questions. Then ask them, Is this holiday celebrated in their
country of origin? If not, is there a festivity that is similar in their
country?
6.
Listening for
Attitude and Opinions
Sometimes students have to listen for what
someone is really saying, not what they’re literally saying, but what they
actually mean. Attitudes, opinions and feelings can all be conveyed in varying
degrees from strong disagreement to mild criticism. Advanced students should be
able to discern different attitudes and positions, as well as identify how the
speaker feels.
Listening Exercise: Listen to this conversation regarding a man’s personal problem. Apart from the actual loss of hair,
what else concerns him? (Enduring ridicule, not being accepted as he his, being
made fun of, etcetera) How does his friend react to this problem? (She’s not
concerned, doesn’t think it’s a big deal, etcetera)
7. Listening for Functional Language
Very often, we teach functional language in
the ESL classroom, expressions students can use to accept/decline invitations,
give suggestions, give advice, etcetera. The purpose is to show students how
these expressions are used in a conversation.
Listening Exercise: Listen to this conversation between a man whose father has passed away and a friend. What words/expressions
does the woman use to express her condolences? (I’m
really sorry to hear about your dad…) What else does she say? (My heart really goes out to her.) After the listening,
students can practice these expressions in similar conversations.
D.
Listening learning strategies
There are two strategies for listening learning:
1. Top - Down
Listening Strategies
They are listener-based. The listener taps into background
knowledge of the topic, the situation or context, the type of text, and the
language. This background knowledge activates a set of expectations that help
the listener interpret what is heard and anticipate what comes next.
The specific items for this strategy are: predictingà listening for the main ideasà shadow the speakerà taking notes
2.
Bottom- Up Listening Strategies
They are text based. The listener
relies on the language in the message (sounds, words, and grammar that creates
meaning). The specific items for this strategy are: listening for specific
detailsà recognizing word sounds.
E. Classroom
Technique(Mechanism) of Teaching Listening
There are three steps for teaching listening as below:
1.
Pre-listening:
a.
Choosing
material. Five things to
consider when choosing listening material:
1)
Number of Speakers
2)
Distinctness of Voices
3)
Order of Events
4)
Inference’s Needed
5)
Listener’s Subject Knowledge
b. Tell
your students “ DON’T WORRY”
c.
Make sure students know what they are listening for
before you start listening
d. Give questions
to check students comprehension
e. Check for any
words that your students may not know
f.
Short listening
2.
While Listening
a.
Try to play the recording once for overall
comprehension and then for specific details.
b.
Take notes ( dates, places, people)
c.
Repeat the recording especially in the difficult parts
3.
Post-Listening
a.
Compare their notes in small groups.
b.
Encourage debates and answer questions.
c.
Write a summary of the main points and then compare.
d.
Make a list of any new vocabulary.
In the teaching listening, the
teacher also should attend to several tips below:
1. Try to use as
many different sources of listening material as you can such as: advertisements,
news programs, poetry, songs, extracts from plays, speeches, lectures,
telephone conversations, informal dialogues.
2. Reduce
distractions and noise during the listening segment.
3. Make sure the
equipment produces acceptable sound quality.
4. Read or play the
text a total of 2-3 times.
5. Play a video
clip with the sound off and ask students to make predictions about it.
6. Give students a
listening task to do between classes.
7. Motivate and
give the students positive suggestion to make the interesting listening
learning in the classroom.
F. Testing and Asessement
After the learning process, the
teacher should develop their student’s understanding by implementing testing and assessment. The test for listening may include several factors below:
1.
Intensive Listening
a.
Recognizing Phonological & Morphological Elements.
1)
Phonemics pair, consonants
Test-takers hear : He’s from California
Test-takers read :
a.
He’s
from California
b.
She’s
from California
2)
Phonemics pair, vowels
Test-takers hear : Is he living?
Test-takers read:
a.
Is he leaving ?
b.
Is he living?
3)
Morphological pair, -ed ending
Test-takers hear : I missed You very much.
Test-takers read :
a.
I missed you very much
b.
I miss you very much
4)
Stress Pattern in “can’t”
Test-takers hear : My girlfriend can’t go to the party.
Test-takers read :
a.
My girlfriend can’t go to the party
b.
My girlfriend can go to the party
5)
One-word stimulus
Test-takers hear : Vine
Test-takers hear :
a.
vine
b.
wine
b.
Paraphrase Recognition
1)
Sentence paraphrase
Test-takers hear : Hello, my name’s Keiko.
I come from Japan
Test-takers read :
a.
Keiko is comfortable in Japan
b.
Keiko wants to come to Japan
c.
Keiko is Japanese
d.
Keiko likes Japan
2)
Dialogue paraphrase
Test-takers hear :
Man : “Hi Maria, my name’s George.”
Woman : “Nice to meet you, George. Are you
American?”
Man : “No, I’m Canadian”
Test-takers read :
a.
George lives in the United States
b.
George is American
c.
George comes from Canada
d.
Maria is Canadian
2.
Responsive Listening
a.
Appropriate response to a question
Test-takers hear :
How much time did you take to do your homework?
Test-takers read :
a.
In about an hour.
b.
About an hour
c.
About $10
d.
Yes, I did
b.
Open-ended response to a question
Test-takers hear :
How much time did you take to do your homework?
Test-takers
read, write, or speak :
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
3.
Selective Listening
a.
Listening Cloze
1) cloze dictations
or partial dictations
Cloze : Listen, and fill the blanks. In a listening cloze
task, test-takers see a transcript of the passage that they are listening to
and fill in the blanks with the words or phrases that they hear. Example : Song lyrics, etc.
b.
Information Transfer
1)
Multiple-picture-cued-selection
Choosing the correct picture by looking at the verbal
instruction.
2)
Single-picture-cued-verbal-multiple-choice
Choosing the correct statement by looking at the picture and
the verbal instruction.
3)
Chart-filling
Filling the chart that was provided by listening the verbal
instruction.
4.
Extensive Listening
a.
Dictation
1) >50 – 100
words
2) recited 3 times:
normal speed, long pauses between phrases, normal speed
b. Communicative
stimulus-response tasks
Dialogue and multiple-choice comprehension items
Dialogue and authentic questions on details
c.
Authentic listening tasks
1) Note –taking :
Listening to a lecturer and write down the important ideas
2) Editing
3) Retelling :
Listen to a story or news event and simply retell it either orally or written
In listening testing,
teacher should attend several factors below:
1. Accuracy : The
exactness answer that relate to the questions.
2. Spelling :
The exactness letter in student’s writing.
3. Validity : The correct answer while student
fill in the blank or match the vocabulary.
REFERENCES
Madelyn Burley-Allen. (1995). Listening: The Forgotten Skill,
A Self-Teaching Guide.
Berne, J. (1995). How
Does Varying Pre-listening Activities Affect Second
Language Listening Comprehension? Hispania, Vol. 78, No. 2
Popieszynska, M.
(2000). Listening in FL Classrooms: A few recipes. International
Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language .
Saricoban, A. (1999). The
teaching of listening. The Internet TESL Journal.
Thanajaro, M.
(2000). Using authentic materials to
develop listening comprehension in the ESL classroom. Dissertation
submitted to the Faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University
Brown, H. Douglas.
(2003). Language Assessment Principles and Classroom Practice.
California
