12 Nov, 2024

LESSON 8.

ASSESSING
LISTENING
SKILLS
Prepared by Group 2
 Pham Tu Uyen
Leader
Nguyen An
Dang Thi Ha Anh Member
Nguyen
Member
MEMBERS

Le Thi Thu Trang

Nguyen Thi Thao Member
GROUP

VyMember

To Quynh Phuong
Luong Thu Hang Member
Member
 The importance of
listening

Table of Basic types of

listening
contents
Micro-skills, macro-
skills, and strategies
for listening

Designing
assessment tasks
 INTRODUCTIO
N

Listening skills: essential -> effective

communication, academic success, and
personal growth

=> Understand the importance of

listening: Empower students -> more
effective communicators and lifelong
 1. THE
IMPORTANCE OF
LISTENING SKILLS
 1.1. LISTENING AS A
FOUNDATION FOR
SPEAKING
• Effective oral communication
relies heavily on strong listening
skills

• Understand spoken language:

crucial for responding
appropriately and engaging in
meaningful conversations
 1.2. LISTENING AS A
GATEWAY TO
LANGUAGE
• A ACQUISITION
significant portion of language
learning comes from listening to
authentic language input

• Listen to native speakers: develop

pronunciation, vocabulary, and
grammar
 1.3. LISTENING AS A
PRACTICAL SKILL
• In real-world situations: listening -
a fundamental skill for various
tasks
(Understanding instructions,
following directions, and participating
in meetings)

• Strong listening skills

-> Enhance academic performance,
 1.4. CHALLENGES IN
ASSESSING
LISTENING
• Unlike speaking/writing: listening
- an internal process
-> Difficult to directly observe

• Assessments: rely on indirect

measures
(Written responses or oral tasks)
-> Infer listening comprehension
 1.4. CHALLENGES IN
ASSESSING
LISTENING
Language teachers and assessment
designers should:

• Create diverse listening tasks: Listen for

specific information, understand main ideas,
and follow detailed instructions

• Provide authentic listening materials:

Expose learners to real-world language
(News broadcasts, podcasts, and movies)
 1.4. CHALLENGES IN
ASSESSING LISTENING
Language teachers and assessment designers
should:

• Consider the different modes: Assess intensive listening

(specific details) + extensive listening (general
understanding)

• Use assessment techniques:

- Formal assessments (e.g., tests)
- Informal assessments (e.g., classroom observations, peer
feedback)
 BASIC
TYPES OF
LISTENING
 LISTENING
P R O C E SS E S

Recognition: Context & Interpretation Retention of

Identifying Content: : Using Meaning:
sounds and Determining the linguistic and Retaining
holding a type and background important
"temporary purpose of the knowledge to information for
imprint" in speech event interpret long-term use,
short-term and meaning. focusing on key
memory. understanding points.
its context.
ASSESSMENT
OBJECTIVES
• Recognizing specific
sounds, words, or
intonation.
• Understanding the
context or purpose.
• Interpreting meaning
beyond surface-level.
• Grasping the gist for
global comprehension.
 BASIC TYPES OF
LISTENING

1. Intensive listening: Focuses on

specific details within language (e.g.,
phonemes or intonation).

• Example: Listening exercises that

focus on specific sounds (like /b/
versus /p/ sounds) to help students
differentiate between similar
phonemes.
 BASIC TYPES OF
LISTENING

2. Responsive listening: Involves

short exchanges, requiring brief,
quick responses.

• Example: A teacher asks a

question like, “What did you have
for breakfast?” and students
respond with a short answer.
 BASIC TYPES OF
LISTENING

3. Selective listening: Listening to

longer segments to "scan" for
specific information.

• Example: Students listen to an

airport announcement and pick
out specific information, like the
flight number or departure gate.
 BASIC TYPES OF
LISTENING
4. Extensive listening: Aims for
overall comprehension, like
understanding the main idea.
• Example: Students listen to a
short story and then summarize
the main points in their own
words, focusing on the overall
plot and themes rather than
specific details.
 MICRO
LISTENING
 1.Discriminate among the distinctive sounds of
DEFINITION
English

Attending to the smaller bits or

chunks of language, in more of a
bottom - up process.
 1.Discriminate among the distinctive sounds of
MICRO English
• The ability to differentiate between individual
LISTENING sounds (phonemes) in the English language.
• Example: Distinguishing between the sounds
/ʃ/ in "ship" and /s/ in "sip," or between /ɪ/ in
"bit" and /i:/ in "beat."
 2. Retain chunks of language of different
MICRO lengths in short-term memory:

LISTENING
• The capacity to temporarily
remember short phrases,
sentences, or even paragraphs to
process information.
• Example: Remembering a phone
number, a question during a
conversation, or a short paragraph
to answer a question.
 3. Recognize English stress patterns, words in
MICRO stressed and unstressed positions, rhythmic
structure, intonation contours, and their roles in
LISTENING signaling information
• Understanding how stress is
placed on words in a sentence,
how pitch changes to convey
different meanings.
• Example:
• RE-cord (N) - the stress falls on the
first syllable
• re-CORD (V) - the stress falls on the
second syllable
 4. Recognize reduced forms of words
MICRO • Identifying words that are pronounced more
LISTENING casually in everyday speech.
• Example: Recognizing "want to" when
it is pronounced as "wanna."
 5. Distinguish word boundaries, recognize a core
of words, and interpret word order patterns and
MICRO
their significance
LISTENING • Understanding how words combine to form sentences
and how word order affects meaning.
• Example: Differentiating between "I like apples" and
"Apples like me."

6. Process speech at different rates of delivery

• The ability to comprehend speech spoken at various
speeds.
• Example: Understanding a native speaker who talks
quickly or someone who speaks slowly.
MICRO
LISTENING 7. Process speech containing pauses,
errors, corrections, and other
performance variables
• The ability to understand natural, imperfect speech.
• Example: Understanding a casual conversation with
interruptions, corrections, and hesitations.
 8. Recognize grammatical word classes
MICRO (e.g., nouns, verbs), systems (e.g.,
tense, agreement, pluralization),
LISTENING
•patterns, rules,
Understanding andgrammar.
English elliptical forms
• Example: Differentiating between nouns and verbs,
using the correct verb tense.
 9. Detect sentence constituents and
MICRO distinguish between major and minor
LISTENING •constituents
Understanding sentence structure.
• Example: IIdentify the sentence components in the
sentence"He quickly finished his homework."
 10.Recognize that a particular meaning
MICRO may be expressed in different
•grammatical forms
Understanding that there are multiple ways to convey the
LISTENING same meaning.
• Example: "Dad washed the car " and "The car was washed by
Dad" have the same meaning but different grammatical
structures.
 11. Recognize cohesive devices in spoken
MICRO discourse
• Understanding how words and phrases connect ideas within

LISTENING a paragraph or speech.

• Example: Recognizing conjunctions like "and," "but," and "so
to understand the relationship between sentences.
 MACRO
LISTENING
MACRO *Recognize the communicative functions
of utterances according to situations,
LISTENING participants, and goals
This awareness lets us tailor our responses to suit the
situation.
MACRO * Infer situations, participants, and goals
using real-world knowledge
LISTENING

ex: If you see a doctor talking to

a patient in a clinic, you can infer
that the conversations goal is
likely about health, even without
hearing the details.
 * From events and ideas described,
MACRO
predict outcomes, infer links and
LISTENING connections
ex: If a weather forecaster says, "A strong storm
is coming," you can predict that there will be
strong winds and heavy rain. This is inferring the
outcome based on prior information.
MACRO
* Distinguish between literal and implied
LISTENING
meanings

ex: If someone says,

"Great job!" but their tone
is sarcastic, the implied
meaning is that they’re not
happy with the job, even
though the words are
positive.
 *Use facial, kinesics, and body language,
MACRO and other nonverbal clues, to decipher
LISTENING meanings

ex: If someone crosses their arms

and looks away while speaking,
they may feel uncomfortable or
defensive, even if their words say
otherwise.
MACRO
LISTENING
* Develop and use a battery of listening
strategies, such as detecting key words,
guessing the meaning of words from
context, appealing for help, and
signaling comprehension or lack thereof
WHAT MAKES
LISTENING
DIFFICULT
• Colloquial language
• Clustering
• Discourse markers
• Redundancy
• Rate of delivery
• Reduced forms
• Stress, rhythm, and
• Performance
intonation
variable
• Interaction
Reduced forms
 Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs)
STRATEGIES
OF • After listening to an audio clip,
students answer multiple-choice
ASSESSING questions that assess specific
details, main ideas, or inferences.
LISTENING
SKILLS
 True/False Statements
STRATEGIES
• Students listen to a passage and
OF determine whether statements about the
content are true or false, testing
ASSESSING
comprehension and attention to detail.
listening
SKILLs
 Fill-in-the-Blanks
STRATEGIES
• Provide a transcript or summary of the
OF audio with some words blanked out.
ASSESSING Students listen and fill in the missing
words.
LISTENING
SKILLS
 Short Answer Questions
STRATEGIES
• Students answer open-ended questions
OF that require brief, focused answers, often
ASSESSING to test deeper comprehension and
inferencing
LISTENING
SKILLS
 Note-Taking and Summarization
STRATEGIES • After listening, students take notes and
OF summarize the main ideas, assessing their
ability to identify key information and
ASSESSING structure it logically
• Example: After a lecture on climate change,
LISTENING students summarize the main causes and
SKILLS effects mentioned
 Sequencing Events
STRATEGIES • Students are given a series of events in
OF random order and must sequence them
according to the audio, testing
ASSESSING comprehension of the narrative structure.
LISTENING • Example: Listen to a series of instructions on
cooking a recipe and arrange the steps in the
SKILLS correct order.
 Dictation
STRATEGIES • Students write down exact words or sentences
OF from a short audio segment, testing precision
in listening and spelling
ASSESSING • Example: Listen to a few sentences from a
conversation and transcribe them word-for-word.
LISTENING
SKILLS
 Listening Journals
STRATEGIES
• After regular listening sessions, students record
OF their reactions, main points, or personal
ASSESSING connections, encouraging reflection and deeper
engagement.
LISTENING
SKILLS

• Example: Listen to a short talk about a

historical event, then write a brief summary
and reaction in a journal.
D E S I G N I N G TA S K S F O R
INTENSIVE LISTENING
A S S E S S M E N T.
 WHAT IS INTENSIVE
LISTENING?

Intensive listening
focuses on specific
details like phonemic
distinctions and
morphemes.
 Phonological Recognition
Key Identifying subtle sound differences
(e.g., minimal pairs).

Microskills
in Morphological
Recognition
Recognizing changes in form, like

Intensive
verb tenses or word endings.

Listening
Stress and Intonation
Recognizing stress patterns in spoken
language.
Example 1: Phonemic Pair Recognition

Task: Test-takers hear: "He's from California."

Choices:
A. He's from California.
B. She's from California.
Focus: Discerning the difference between "he's" and "she's."

Example 2: Morphological Pair Recognition

Task: Test-takers hear: "I missed you very much."

Choices:
A. I missed you very much.
B. I miss you very much.

Example 3: Stress Pattern Recognition

Task: Test-takers hear: "My girlfriend can't go to the party."

Choices:
A. My girlfriend can’t go to the party.
B. My girlfriend can go to the party.
PARAPHRASE RECOGNITIO
• After phonological and morphological
tasks, test-takers can move to
paraphrase recognition, where they must
identify meaning from context.

• Example:
• Test-takers hear: "Hello, my name's Keiko.
I come from Japan."
• Choices:
• A. Keiko is comfortable in Japan.
• B. Keiko wants to come to Japan.
• C. Keiko is Japanese.
• D. Keiko likes Japan.
 Task: Test-takers hear:
EXAMPLE OF Man: "Hi, Maria, my
name’s George."
DIALOGUE Woman: "Nice to meet
you, George. Are you
PARAPHRAS American?"
Man: "No, I’m Canadian."
E Choices:
A. George lives in the
United States.
B. George is American.
C. George comes from
Canada.
 Summary: Intensive
CONCLUSIO listening tasks assess
small language features
N like phonological
differences, morphology,
and paraphrasing skills.
DESIGNING ASSESSMENT
TASKS: RESPONSIVE
LISTENING
• A question-and-answer format can provide some interactivity in
these lower-end listening tasks.

Test-takers hear: How much time did you

a multiple-choice take to do your homework?
format
Test-takers read:
A. In about an hour.
• Format B. About an hour.
C. About $10.
D. Yes, I did.

a more open-ended Test-takers hear: How much time did

framework you take to do your homework?

Test-takers write or speak:______

DESIGNING ASSESSMENT
TASKS: SELECTIVE
 • the test- taker listens to a limited quantity of aural input and must discern
some specific information within it.

Listening Cloze

A number of
techniques require Information
selective listening Transfer

Sentence Repetition
Listening Cloze (cloze dictations or partial
dictations)

+ The test-takers listen to a story, monologue, or conversation and

simultaneously read the written text in which selected words or phrases
have been deleted.

+ Cloze procedure is most commonly associated with reading only

+ The test consists of a passage in which every nth word is deleted and
the test-taker is asked to supply an appropriate word.

+ Test-takers see a transcript of the passage they are listening to and fill in
the blanks with the words or phrases they hear.
 Listening Cloze (cloze dictations or partial
dictations)

+ Weakness: they may simply become reading comprehension tasks.

-->Solution: Design the blanks that are items with high information load that
cannot be easily predicted simply by reading the passage.

+Listening cloze focus on

• criterion of numbers.
• grammatical category (verb tenses, articles, two-word verbs, prepositions, or
transition words/phrases)
 Listening Cloze (cloze dictations or partial
dictations)
Examp
le
Information
Transfer
• Information must be transferred to a visual representation, such as labeling a
diagram, identifying an element in a picture, completing a form, or showing
routes on a map
• At the lower end of the scale of linguistic complexity, simple picture-cued
items are sometimes efficient rubrics for assessing certain selected
information
 Information
Transfer
Example 1: Information transfer: multiple-picture-
cued selection

Test-takers hear: Test-takers

see:
Choose the correct picture. In my
backyard, I have a bird feeder.
Yesterday, two birds and a squirrel
were fighting for the last few seeds
in the bird feeder. The squirrel was
on top of the bird feeder while the
larger bird sat at the bottom of the
feeder screeching at the squirrel.
The smaller bird was flying around
the squirrel, trying to scare it away.
 Information
Transfer
Example 2: Information transfer: multiple-
picture-cued tasks
Assessment may take the form of: Test-takers
see:
+ questions: "Is the tall man near the
door talking to a woman?"

+ true/false: "The woman holding a cup

of coffee is watching TV."

+ identification: "Point to the person

who is standing behind the lamp."
"Draw a circle around the clock that's
above the couch."
Information
Transfer
Example 3: Information transfer: single-picture-cued
verbal multiple-choice
Test-takers
see:
Test-takers hear:

A. He's speaking into a microphone.

B. He's putting on his glasses.

C. He has both eyes closed.

D. He's using a microscope.

 Information
Transfer
Example 4: Information transfer:
chart-filling
Test-takers hear:
Now you will hear information about Lucy's daily schedule. The information will be
given twice. The first time just listen carefully. The second time, there will be a
pause after each sentence. Fill in Lucy's blank daily schedule with the correct
information. The example has already been filled in.

Now listen to the information about Lucy's schedule. Remember, you will first hear
all the sentences, then you will hear each sentence separately with time to fill in
your chart.

Lucy gets up at eight o'clock every morning except on weekends. She has English on
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at ten o'clock. She has history on Tuesdays and
Thursdays at two o'clock. She takes chemistry on Monday from two o'clock to six
o'clock. She plays tennis on weekends at four o'clock. She eats lunch at twelve
 Information
Transfer
Example 4: Information transfer:
chart-filling
Now listen a second time. There will be a pause after each sentence to give you time to
fill in the chart.
Lucy's schedule is
repeated with a
pause after each
sentence.

Test-takers see the

following weekly
calendar:
 Information
Transfer
Example 4: Information transfer:
chart-filling
Chart-filling tasks increase in
difficulty as the linguistic stimuli
become more complex.

EX1: test-takers listen to a very long

description of animals in various
cages at a zoo. While they listen, they
can look at a map of the layout of the
zoo with unlabeled cages.
Their task is to fill in the correct
animal in each cage, but the
complexity of the language used to
describe the positions of cages and
 Information
Transfer
Example 4: Information transfer:
chart-filling

EX2: a map-marking task in which test-

takers must process around 250 words
of colloquial language in order to
complete the tasks of identifying names,
positions, and directions in a car
accident scenario on a city street.
Sentence
Repetition
- the task of simply repeating a sentence or a partial sentence, or sentence
repetition

- the test-taker must retain a stretch of language long enough to reproduce

it and then must respond with an oral repetition of that stimulus.

- Sentence repetition is far from a flawless listening assessment task.

Sentence
Repetition
-- such tasks are not just tests of listening, but tests of general oral skills

-the teacher may never be able to distinguish a listening comprehension error from an
oral production error.

->sentence repetition tasks should be used with caution.

EXTENSIVE LISTENING
 ￭ Involves listening to longer
EXTENSIVE passages
￭ Focus on overall meaning,
LISTENING not specific details
￭ Aims to assess broader
listening skills
 DESIGNING LISTENING
TASKS
2. Are tasks authentic and
1.Can listening reflective of real-world
performance be language?
separated from
memory and
cognitive skills? 3. What distinguishes teaching
tasks from assessment tasks?
 Dictation

Methods Communicative Stimulus-

Response Tasks

Authentic Listening
Tasks
 Dictation

• Dictation involves listening and

writing down what is heard
• Three stages: Listening for general
idea, writing with pauses, and
proofreading
• Integrates listening and writing
skills
 DICTATION PROCESS

• First reading: Normal speed, listen for

general idea
• Second reading: Slowed speed with
pauses, write down what is heard
• Third reading: Normal speed, check
answers and make corrections
Advantages:
+ Easy to administer
+ Integrates listening
and writing skills
+ Provides reliable
results with clear scoring
Advantages: • Limitations:
+ Easy to administer + Heavy load on memory
+ Integrates listening with longer passages
and writing skills + May not fully assess deep
comprehension
+ Provides reliable
+ Limited real-world
results with clear scoring
application
Communicative Stimulus-Respons

• Involves listening to monologues,

conversations, or lectures
• Followed by comprehension
questions
• Commonly used in standardized
proficiency tests
DOCTOR-PATIENT CONVERSATION
CONTENT:
• Test-takers hear a conversation between a
patient and a doctor
• After listening twice, they answer multiple-
choice questions
• Sample question: "What is Lynn's problem?"
A. She feels horrible
B. She ran too fast at the lake
C. She’s been drinking too many hot beverages
 Advantages:

IS THIS • Reflects real-life scenarios (e.g., doctor-

patient conversations)
TASK • Engages listening and comprehension skills

AUTHENTIC
Limitations:
?
• Responding to questions is not typical in
real-life conversations
• The multiple-choice format may lack
communicative authenticity
Strategies for Improving Auth

• Use more realistic dialogue

scenarios (e.g., interviews,
debates)
• Include open-ended questions to
allow for deeper responses
• Incorporate visual aids or follow-up
tasks for context
 Authentic Listening Tasks

• Aim to replicate real-world listening

experiences
• Communicative, cognitively
demanding, and interactive
• Enhanced by recent technological
advancements (e.g., video
listening)
 NOTETAKING
• Involves listening to a lecture and taking notes
• Notes are evaluated on clarity, accuracy, and
use of symbols
• Scoring system:
+ 0-15 points: Visual representation
+ 0-10 points: Accuracy
+ 0-5 points: Use of symbols
 EDITING
• Involves comparing a written and spoken
stimulus
• Test-takers mark discrepancies between the
two versions
• Enhances critical listening and highlights
bias in sources
 INTERPRETIVE LISTENING
• Involves interpreting stimuli like song lyrics,
poetry, or news reports
• Requires inference and understanding of
deeper meanings
• Example questions:
+ "Why was the singer feeling sad?"
+ "What might have led to the poem’s
recitation?"
 RETELLING

• Test-takers summarize or retell a story or

news event
• Focuses on identifying the main idea,
supporting details, and conclusion
• Scoring is based on the presence of key
elements
 • Benefits:
+ Provides a realistic
measure of listening
skills
+ Engages higher-order
cognitive processing
+ Promotes real-world
language use and
communicative
competence
 • Benefits: • Lack and challenges:
+ Provides a realistic + Time-consuming and
measure of listening challenging to score
skills + Subjectivity may affect
+ Engages higher-order reliability
cognitive processing + Difficult to create fully
+ Promotes real-world authentic scenarios
language use and
communicative
competence
 Improving Task Authentic

• Use multimedia and real-life

contexts (e.g., videos, podcasts)
• Include interactive elements (e.g.,
follow-up discussions)
• Provide open-ended, inference-
based questions
THANK
YOU