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Lesson 3

Stages in Listening Lesson

The three phases of the listening process are: pre-listening, during

listening, and after listening.

3.1 Pre-listening
During the pre-listening phase, teachers need to recognize that all students
bring different backgrounds to the listening experience. Beliefs, attitudes, and biases
of the listeners will affect the understanding of the message. In addition to being
aware of these factors, teachers should show students how their backgrounds affect
the message they receive.

There are several strategies that students and their teachers can use to prepare
for a listening experience. They can:

1. Activate Existing Knowledge. Students should be encouraged to ask the

question: what do I already know about this topic? From these, teachers and
student can determine what information they need in order to get the most
from the message. Students can brainstorm, discuss, read, view films or
photos, and write and share journal entries.

2. Build Prior Knowledge (schema). Teachers can provide the appropriate

background information including information about the speaker, topic of the
presentation, purpose of the presentation, and the concepts and vocabulary
that are likely to be embedded in the presentation. Teachers may rely upon the
oral interpretation to convey the meanings of unfamiliar words, leaving the
discussion of these words until after the presentation. At this stage, teachers
need to point out the role that oral punctuation, body language, and tone play
in an oral presentation.

3. Review standards for listening. Teachers should stress the importance of

the audience’s role in a listening situation, there is an interactive relationship
between audience and speaker, each affecting the other. Teachers can outline
the following considerations to students:
o Students have to be physically prepared for listening
o Students need to be attentive
o “Listen to others as you would have them listen to you”

4. Establish Purpose. Teachers should encourage students to ask: “Why am I

listening?” “What is my purpose?” Students should be encouraged to
articulate their purpose.

Before a speaker’s presentation, teachers also can have students

formulate questions that they predict will be answered during the
presentation. If the questions are not answered, students may pose the
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questions to the speaker. Students should as well be encouraged to jot down

questions during listening.

An additional strategy is called TQLR. It consists of the following

steps:

T-Tune-in
(The listener must tune-in to the speaker and the subject, mentally calling up
everything known about the subject and shutting out all distractions.)
Q—Question
(The listener should mentally formulate questions. What will this speaker say
about this topic? What is the speaker’s background? I wonder if the speaker
will talk about…?)
L—Listen
(The listener should organize the information as it is received, anticipating
what the speaker will say next and reacting mentally to everything heard.)
R—Review
(The listener should go over what has been said, summarize, and evaluate
constantly. Main ideas should be separated from subordinate ones.)
5. Use a Listening Guide. A guide may provide an overview of the
presentation its main ideas,, questions to be answered while listening, a
summary of the presentation, or an outline.

Suggested Activities

1. Looking at pictures
In this activity, students are asked to look at a picture or a set of
pictures. In groups or in pairs, students discuss what they see in the picture/s.
this way they are given a chance to hear and use some of the language they will
meet in a subsequent activity.

2. Looking at a list of items before listening

Looking at a list of words before listening removes the stress of a
suddenly hearing a dialogue or a conversation. Presenting these words in the
order in which they occur in the text makes the while-listening activities a lot
easier.

3. Giving opinions on a topic before listening

In groups or in pairs, the students, may be asked to express their
opinions or views on a topic which they will hear about. This activity will
certainly prepare students for the main activity by activating their prior
knowledge.

4. Reading through questions

Certain listening activities require students to answer questions on
information they hear. It is good for the students to see the questions before
they begin to listen to the text. This will make them know what they have to
look for in the text and will give them an indication of the kind of thing that is
likely to be listened to.
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5. Labeling a picture
The pre-listening part in this activity consist of engaging students in
labeling a picture or a diagram. They may be able to complete all the labels
even before they hear the listening text because of their familiarity with or
knowledge of text content. Nevertheless, it is still a good activity as they can
listen in details and check/countercheck their answer and get the feeling of
satisfaction as they get immediate feedback.

Pre-listening activities should not be taken in isolation. They should be seen as

part of a continuum which flows naturally into the while-listening stage. It is best
therefore, that the pre-listening work precedes the main listening activity within a
lesson and not to be completed in a previous lesson. It should be used as something
that ‘builds-up’ to the actual listening and serves to motivate students especially at
the initial phase of a lesson.

3.2 While-Listening Stage

While-listening task are what students are asked to do during listening time.
The listening tasks should be enjoyable and meaningful to the students. It should be
simple and easy to handle. It should provide opportunities for students to succeed.

Students need to understand the implications of rate in the listening process.

Nichols (1948) found the people listen and think at four times the normal
conversation rate. Students have to be encouraged to use the “rate gap” to actively
process the message. In order to use that extra time wisely.

Effective listeners:
 Connect—make connections with people, places, situations and ideas they
know
 Find meaning—determine what the speakers is saying about people, places,
and ideas
 Question—pay attention to those words and ideas that are unclear
 Make and confirm predictions—try to determine what will be said next
 Make inferences—determine speaker’s intent by “listening between the lines”;
infer what the speaker does not actually say
 Reflect and evaluate—respond to what has been heard and pass judgement.

“Comprehension is enormously improved when the speaker’s schema or

organizational pattern is perceived by the listeners” (Devine, 1982). Teach students
the various structures (e.g., short story, essay, poetry, play), organizational patterns
(e.g., logical, chronological, spatial), and transitional devices. Effective listeners can
follow spoken discourse when they recognize key signal expression such as the
following:
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 Example words: for example, for instance, thus, in other words, as an

illustration usually found in: generalization plus example (but maybe found in
enumeration and argumentation)
 Time words: first, second, third, meanwhile, next, finally, at last, today,
tomorrow, soon
Usually found in: narration, chronological patterns, directions (and whenever
events or examples are presented in a time sequence)
 Addition words: in addition, also, furthermore, moreover, another example
usually found in: enumeration, description, and sometimes in generalization
plus example
 Result words: as a result, so, accordingly, therefore, thus usually found in:
Cause and Effect
 Contrast Words: however, but, in contrast, on the other hand, nevertheless
usually found in: comparison and contrast (and whenever speakers makes a
comparison or contrast in another pattern (Devine, 1982).

Most students need practice in making inferences while listening

Teachers can also encourage guided imagery when students are listening to
presentations that have many visual images, details, or descriptive words. Students
can form mental pictures to help them remember while listening.

Students sometimes need to focus on the message and need to record certain words
and phrases. Such note-making (“listening with one in hand”) forces students to
attend to the message. Devine (1982) suggests strategies such as the following:
 Give questions in advance and remind listeners to listen for possible answer.
 Provide a rough outline, chart, or graph for students to complete as they
follow the lecture.
 Have students jot down “new-to-me” items (simple list of facts or insights that
the listeners have not heard before).
 Use a formal note-taking system.

Transcribing or writing down line or recorded speech can sharpen students

listening, spelling, and punctuation skills. (for secondary and advanced level)
 Teacher selects an interesting piece of writing.
 The selection is read aloud to the class (and perhaps discussed).
 The teacher then dictates the passage slowly to the class. The students
transcribe the form and conventions (i.e., spelling, punctuation, and
capitalization) as accurately as possible.
 Students compare their transcription with distributed copies of the original.

Critical thinking plays a major role in effective listening. Listening in order to analyze
and evaluate requires students to evaluate a speaker’s arguments and the value of the
ideas, appropriateness of the evidence, and the persuasive techniques employed.
Effective listeners apply the principles of sound thinking and reasoning to the
message they hear at home, in school, in the workplace, on in the media.
 Analyze the message
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Critical listeners are concerned first with understanding accurately and

completely what they hear (Brownell, 1996). Students should identify the
speaker’s topic, purpose, intended audience, and context.

 Analyze the speaker

Critical listeners must understand the reliability of the speaker. Is the speaker
credible? Trustworthy? An Expert? Dynamic?
 Analyze the speaker’s evidence
Critical listeners must understand the nature and appropriateness of the
evidence and reasoning.
 Analyze the speaker’s reasoning
Critical listeners must understand the logic and reasoning of the speaker. Is
this evidence developed in logical arguments such as deductive, inductive,
causal, or analogous? Faulty reasoning might include hasty or over-inclusive
generalization, either-or argument, casual fallacy (therefore, because of this),
non sequitur (confusion of cause and effect), reasoning in a circle, begging or
ignoring the question, false analogy, attacking the person instead of the idea,
or guilt by association.
 Analyze the speaker’s emotional appeals
Critical listeners must understand that persuaders often rely on emotional
appeal as well as evidence and reasoning.

Problems that language learners face during listening

Text
Three types of text features can affect listening:
1. Phonology and speech rate
2. Discourse features
3. Text types

Task
They are influenced by the types of question, the amount of time and whether
or not the listener can get the information repeated.

Interlocutor (speaker)
This includes accent, fluency, gender, standard or nonstandard usage.

Listener
Listener’s characteristics include: language proficiency, gender, memory, interest,
purpose, prior knowledge, attention, accuracy of pronunciation, topic familiarity, and
established learning habits.

Process
This refers to type of processing that listener’s use, whether top-down or
bottom-up or both. The type of listening strategy used by the listener is an important
factor.

3.3 Post-Listening Stage

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This is usually at the end of a lesson. These are off-shoots or extension of the work
done at the pre- and while listening stage. At this stage the students have time to
think, reflect, discuss and to write. Students need to act upon what they have heard
to clarify meaning and extend their thinking. Well-planned post-listening activities
are just as important as those before and during. Some examples follow.
 To begin with, students can ask questions.
 Students can summarize a speaker’s presentation orally, in writing, or as an
outline.
 Students can review their notes.
 Students can analyze and evaluate critically what they have heard.

Listening Task for Communicative Outcomes

Communicative Outcomes Examples
Lists Similarities/difference/errors
Sequenced information Pictures sequenced, lyrics
Match items Pictures with texts, themes with texts
Restored texts Complete the gaps in a text
Diagrams or pictures Floor plans, sketches of people
Notes Short notes during presentations
* Most of these tasks are appropriate for elementary level

Some Practical Strategies and Activities

Comprehensive Listening Strategies (elementary)

 Forming a picture (draw an image, then write about it)
 Putting information into groups (categorizing, “chunking”)
 Asking questions (why am I listening to this message?; Do I know what___
means?; Does this information make sense to me?)
 Discovering the plan (description, sequence, comparison, cause and effect,
problem/solution)
 Note taking (demonstrate by taking notes with the children)
 Getting clues from the speaker (both visual and verbal cues)

Critical Listening (intermediate to high school)

 Help children to recognize: persuasion and propaganda, deceptive language,
loaded words, propaganda devices.
 Steps
1. Introduce the commercial(s)
2. Explain deceptive language
3. Analyze it
4. Review concepts
5. Provide practice
6. Create commercials
 The same procedure applies to advertisements.

Appreciative Listening (primary)

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 Enjoyment is reason enough to read-aloud to children.

 Appreciative listening is important for: reading aloud to students, repeated
readings, and oral presentations.
 Teaching Appreciative Listening:
1. Before reading-aloud: activate prior knowledge, background, set purpose
for reading
2. During reading-aloud: use directed reading thinking activity (DRTA)—
make predictions, reasoning and further predictions, prove if predictions
are true
3. After reading-aloud: share their log and relate to their lives.

Authentic Listening Activities (for different levels)

 Acting out a story from one that is read (or being read)
 Making or doing something by following oral directions
 Participating in class or group discussions
 Getting information by listening to an announcement
 Working on group projects
 Critiquing a peer’s draft of a story after listening to it.
 Enjoyable good literature that is well presented orally
 Evaluating an issue that is being debated
 Evaluating products advertised in commercials
 Evaluating candidates form their campaign speeches

Sample Activities with short-term retention (use of short- term memory)

1. Watching English language films
2. Listening to a student presentation of a mock program or talk show
3. Listening to an aural text and recording answers to questions on the text.

Sample activities with long-term retention (use of long-term memory)

1. Listening to recordings of plays, poems and speeches and discussing them
afterwards.
2. Activities at an English- language club or English-language camp
3. Discussions of newscast in English

Format for Exercises in Listening Comprehension

1. Identify the skills you want developed through the exercise (selection, improving
memory, drawing inference)
2. The selection should be clearly described or stated.
3. Prepare the students before listening to a taped material/conversation.
4. Extension activities should be provided.

Caveat:
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It should be remembered that the four skills of listening, speaking, reading

and writing are interwoven in every language activity. They are not taught in
isolation. However, depending on the objective of the teacher for that day, , more
time may be devoted to one skill than to another.