Listening and reading

Foreign language teaching

Amaia Aguirregoitia
Why listen ?
Participatory listening:

(1) to engage in social rituals;

(2) to exchange information;
(3) to exert control;
(4) to share feelings; and
(5) to enjoy yourself.

Underwood's (1989) list of listening situations, on the other hand, which

seems to fall into six majar categories, relates to non-participatory
listening. She includes:
(1) listening to live conversations in which one takes no part and where the
purpose is curious eavesdropping;
(2) listening to announcements, news items, and weather forecasts where the
purpose is to extract information;
(3) listening to or watching plays, radio, and TV entertainment, and listening
to songs where che purpose is enjoyment;
(4) following instructions in arder to carry out a task efficiendy;
(5) attending a lecture or following a lesson in arder to understand concepts
and information; and
(6) listening to someone give a public address in arder to infer views and
attitudes.
Why is listening difficult?

Go to:
Hedge. T. (2000). Teaching and Learning in the
Language Classroom. Oxford.
Listening: pages 236-255
Spontaneous vs Recordings
https://youtu.be/lm8DXZi20Ww?
https://youtu.be/8riCZq65f08?t=73 list=PL1VgFeDQB-
hDwHZfo_OcMhZLErp3hwb0A

Spontaneous informal talk Recordings for English

language learners
– variations in speed of delivery, often
fast – slow pace with little variation
– natural intonation – exaggerated intonation
– the natural features of connected patterns
speech, e.g. elision – carefully articulated
– variety of accents pronunciation
– any grammatical structures – Received Pronunciation
natural to the topic – regularly repeated structures
– colloquial language – more formal language
– incomplete utterances – complete utterances
– restructuring in longer, more – grammatically correct
complex sentences sentences
– speakers interrupt or speak at the – speakers take careful turns
same time – ellipsis infrequent (i.e.
– speakers use ellipsis (i.e. miss out sentences usually complete)
parts of sentences) – background noise absent
– background noise present
Planning lessons

• How do we teach a reading/listening

lesson?
– Steps and techniques to avoid frustration.
Beginning of a sequence example…
• What is the longest journey you have
taken? How did you travel? Where did you
go?

• How do you usually more around the

city/town? How do you come to
university?
BEFORE • Is traffic a problem for you?

& • What measures can be taken to

reduce traffic and avoid jams?

AFTER • Look at my town!

 Same case as in Carton!
Carton has big traffic issues. Recently, measures have been
taken to reduce traffic and avoid jams and bottlenecks.

Let’s listen to part of a radio discussion with

- Ellen Harrington of the Meadow Lane Residents Group, and
- Tim Barlow from Carton Town Planning Department.

• How do you think Ellen is going to feel about the issue?

Let’s listen to it!

 Answer the following questions

Now that you have listened to the radio discussion…

• How does Ellen feel about the new traffic

situation?
– Were you right?
• What does Tim think about it?
 Answer the following questions

Let’s listen to it again and prepare to answer the following questions

• What has been the result of closing the town

centre to traffic?
• What is Ellen’s group proposal?
• Why does Ellen think the protest will be
effective?
End of the sequence example.

-Post-reading activities :Discuss, Writing activity

- Critical reading , Who is the authir? Is the information real? accurate?
- Tell students to prepare questions, activities.
- Extensive private reading at home
Steps of a listening/reading lesson
1. Introduce the topic of the lesson
– Ask general-to-more-topic-specific questions to students
2. Introduce the specific topic discussed in the text
– Ask prediction questions to students
3. Start working with the text
– Ask some skimming questions (and listen/read the text)
– Ask some scanning questions (and listen/read the text again)
4. Continue with follow-up activities
– Focus on grammar
– Focus on vocabulary
– Activities to work on the other skills while practising
vocabulary or/and grammar
 Examples of pre-while- post- activities
PRE-LISTENING ACTIVITIES
Looking at pictures and talking about them.
Looking at a list of items/thoughts/etc.
Making lists of possibilities/ideas/suggestions, etc.
Reading a text.
Reading through questions (to be answered while listening).
Labelling. Completing part of a chart.
Predicting/speculating.
Pre-viewing language.
Informal teacher talk and class discussion.
WHILE-LISTENING ACTIVITIES
Marking/checking items in pictures.
Matching pictures with what is heard. Using lists.
Storyline picture sets. True/false.
Putting pictures in order. Multiple-choice questions.
Completing pictures. Text completion (gap-filling).
Picture drawing. Spotting mistakes.
Carrying out actions. Predicting.
Making models/arranging items in patterns. Seeking specific items of information
Following a route.
Completing grids.
Form/chart completion.
Labelling.
Examples of pre-while- post- activities

POST-LISTENING ACTIVITIES

Form/chart completion.
Extending lists.
Sequencing/grading.
Matching with a reading text.
Extending notes into written responses.
Summarising.
Using information for problem solving and decision
making ac·
Jigsaw listening.
ldentifying relationships between speakers.
Establishing mood/attitude/behaviour of the speaker.
Role play /simulation.
Dictation.
Types of questions…
• There are different types of questions that allow
teachers to help learners deal with input in the
(foreign) language:

– Introduction questions
– Prediction questions
– Fast reading questions
• Skimming questions
• Scanning questions
According to Widdowson:

a) Wh questions: Begin with a “wh” Word. What? Who? Why? Where? How often?..

b) Polar questions: The information required is not diretly present in the text itself
c) Truth assessment: Focus on whether a statement is true or not
d) Multiple choice: Allow students to choose from a number of posible answers.

A ) B)requiere skillsd that have no connection with the ability to unsderstand the passage
D) May be distracting , because of the attention to the complrehending skill as a separate
activity
Activities (General and Swan’s 1986):

a) Extracting main ideas (skimming)

b) Reading for specific information (scanning)
c) Understanding text organization: How sentences are linked, paragraphs organized and how
organization is signalled
d) Predicting: Connect to what you know to make it easier to see what information is new for
you.
e) Checking comprehension:
f) Inferring: When the writer suggests indirectly and the reader has to infer information.
g) Dealing with infamiliar words
h) Linking ideas: How different words link to the same idea
i) Understanding complex sentences: How long and complicated sentences could be
simplified?
Activities (General and Swan’s 1986) (II):

j) Understanding a writer’s style: Stylistic devices, why the writer chooses a certain word or
expression
k) Evaluating the text: To develop the reader’s critical faculties in evaluating why the passage
was written and the purpose of certain structures.
l) Reacting to the text: Separating what the writer says from what the reader thinks
m) Writing summaries: The ability to write accurate summaries requires accurate
comprehension of the passage.
Introduction
• Helps to introduce a topic and raise interest in it.
• Helps to activate background knowledge and the
language needed to respond to the topic and
communicative context.

 Try to relate the topic to the learners’ experiences,

ask them about their opinions…
Prediction
• Helps to prepare for the reading/listening
activity by anticipating and guessing the
information the learners may find in it.

 Ask students to take in information (a

headline or title, a picture, a summary, or a
chart) and make an informed guess as to the
ideas or concepts that might appear in a text.
 After making a prediction, students read or
listen to a text and either confirm or revise
their predictions.
Introduction and Prediction: example

 INTRODUCTION: What languages do you speak? Do people in Spain speak Spanish and
Basque? Do people in Spain speak other languages? How many people speak Basque?
Catalan? And Spanish? Are they similar?
16
 PREDICTION: Do people speak different languages in the UK?
Fast reading (also helpful for listening!)

• Skimming and scanning are quick reading techniques.

– Skimming: You might use skimming to look through a text

quickly to get the gist (the general idea). You would not get
much detail but you would find out the main points.
– Scanning: You might use scanning to look for specific
information quickly in a text. You will not know the general
idea of the text, but you will extract the specific piece of
information you are interested in.
 Skimming: example

• Do people speak different languages in the UK?

• Are the language that people speak originally from the UK? 18
 Scanning: example

 Which language is from Scotland? Wales? Northern Ireland?

19
 How many people speak Welsh? Scots? Irish?
READING:
• Extracts from
• Hedge. T. (2000). Teaching and Learning in the Language
Classroom. Oxford.
• Listening: pages 236-255
• Reading: pages 205-221
Activity: preparing the questions

• Read the text (excerpt from Heroes 4 - primary)

• In groups, think about
– Round 1: introduction
– Round 2: prediction questions
– Round 3: skimming questions
– Round 4: scanning questions

• Challenge: can you come up with more than

20 together?
If you want to practise more…
Prepare a grammar lesson based on a reading
Step 0 - Analyze the reading
• What topic does it involve?
• What communicative situation does it involve?
• What is the relevant language in this situation?
Step 1 - Prepare the sequencing required for a reading lesson:
• Introduction questions
• Prediction stage + question
• Skimming question(s)
• Scanning questions
Step 2 - Extend the sequencing to discover the grammar point:
• Prepare the 3D pie for yourself.
• Add/modify the introduction to include the grammar point.
• Add/modify scanning questions to include the grammar point.
• Consider how you will perform the “discovery” of the grammar through a “Focus
on form” session. Write down the information about (1) form, (2) meaning, and (3)
use you will elicit from your pupils (get your ideas from the 3D pie!). You can do
this by drawing how your board will look at the end of the “discovery”.
Step 3 - Prepare activities to work on the grammar point:
• Design at least two activities to work on the grammar point.
– Mechanical -> Meaningful -> Communicative