Chapter 1 What is listening? Helgesen, M. & Brown, S. (2007). Listening [w/CD]. McGraw-Hill: New York.

Daily Listening What have you listened to today? Alarm Radio/TV/MP3 player Bus/Subway announcements Overheard other’s conversation Participated in a conversation with peers, superiors, parents, brothers/sisters, workers… Other?

Definitions Which definition do you prefer (p.3) and why? Which characteristics are most important? Write your own definition of what listening is, but don’t copy any of the existing ones. Continue to refine this throughout the semester. It might be a question on the final.

Listening vs. Hearing What is the difference between listening and hearing? Is there one? Do the action activity on p. 4 The position of the authors is that listening is an active (rather than passive) skill. It is still considered a receptive skill (like reading). The reaction to and use of listening require active skills (writing or speaking)

Reciprocal Listening Talking at you or with you? Non-reciprocal listening is done when you (as the listener) are not responding to the input. Radio, TV, language cassettes, podcasts, lectures (in many cases) Reciprocal listening is interactive. You listen and respond, which alters the next stage. You shape the interaction and, thus, the listening required.

Processing Two general ways to consider the listening process: bottom-up and top-down. Bottom-up processing builds comprehension by processing the pieces of language: sounds, syllables, words, phrases, sentences, grammar, stress, and so forth. Top-down processing builds comprehension by comparing incoming signals to schema Content schema: Your general knowledge of the world. Textual schema: knowledge of language use and requirements in particular situations. A mix is always used by listeners, though the nature of the mix differs significantly based on proficiency.

Teaching Listening A typical lesson has three parts: pre-listening, listening, and post-listening Pre-Listening Motivation Schema activation Topics, vocabulary, structures, etc… Readings, pictures, discussions, performances…. What kind of pre-listening ideas can you think of for the following listening text?

Listening Task Listening Task Problems with the listen and report approach. Little resemblance to “real” listening tasks. The comprehension activities don’t inform the teacher or learner as to where success and failures are caused. Is the problem with listening comprehension or the inability to formulate a response? Tasks are listening for a purpose. Global Listening: listening for gist, for the overall main idea(s) Listening for specific information Making inferences What listening tasks can you think of for this listening?

Post-Listening Post-Listening Checking of answers Comparing answers with peers Further discussion of the topic of the listening Use the language involved Motivation What post-listening tasks can you think of for this listening?

Assessing Listening Assessment Formal assessment (testing) Action and feedback on that action Types: self, peer, teacher, automated Formal assessment (testing) These are assessments that are planned and attempt to measure classroom learning Four key concepts Validity Reliability Practicality Washback

Validity The test measures what it intends to measure. This concept has many components, including: face and content validity (as well as predictive, concurrent, convergent, and discriminant validity) The important thing to remember for your class is that your test should measure classroom learning, not writing, presentation skills, conversational skills, and so forth.

Reliability The test outcomes should be consistent Similar scores for similar performances. Example of scores from the first performances should be similarly scored as those from the last performances. What is important for your class is that you should design assessments that can be consistently scored. Some ways to help this are: Rubrics Benchmarks Training (practice doing it before you do it for the real class)

Practicality Another term for practical is realistic. The assessment should be something that can be done in your situation. Ex, It may not be realistic to assess each of your students’ communication skills by hiring a native speaking interviewer. You likely have too many students and too little funding and time to do this.

Washback What appears on the test is likely to appear in instruction. This is particularly important in the Korean context. If it’s not part of the college entrance exam, it is de-valued. Think about these issues when answering the Reflection questions on page 19

Testing Techniques Discrete-item Tests Multiple choice Integrative Tests Summarizing, fill-in-the-blank, dictation Communicative Tests Completion of a communicative task: writing, spoken, peformance Interview Tests Self-Assessment Scoring based on criteria or holistic score of performance Portfolio Assessment Ongoing assessment (including any of the above) that focuses on the entirety of the learning experience and the display of growth based on artifacts.

Assessment Wrap Up What kinds of assessment would you use to test student comprehension of this listening?