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

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)

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

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.

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.

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

Sites Designed for ESL/EFL Students Some of the most popular sites: – Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab ( lab.com) 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 Another huge repository of listening dialogues with transcripts and activities. – English Central ( Amazing site that has videos with transcription, quizzes, and even pronunciation activities (speech analysis).

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 ( – Business English Pod (

Voice Chat Skype ( 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 ( – Babbel ( – italki (

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.

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.