Listening Strategies
Topic 2: Purposes and Stragegies
Listen to the excerpt from a conversation. Think about the relationship of the speakers.
Listening Strategies
What is important in the conversation you heard—the actual words or the relationship between the speakers? How could you use this conversation in a classroom?
The purpose for listening also affects the listening strategies the listener uses. Strategies are ways to manage the process of listening. Strategies also help students deal with problems. This leads to better communication.
When students listen intensively, they are likely to use bottom-up processing skills. The following are strategies that can help them. Teaching students how to use these strategies will strengthen their listening skills:
listening for specific details
recognizing word-order patterns
recognizing language chunks
listening for stress and intonation (such as rising intonation at the end of questions)
Extensive listening often requires top-down processing skills. Teaching students to use these strategies will help them become better listeners.
Predicting
Using background knowledge
Making inferences
Guessing meaning from context
Listening for the main idea
Many of these strategies will help students with both one-way and two-way listening. When students are able to interact with the speaker as they do in two-way listening, there are additional strategies that can help them. These include:
asking the speaker to repeat key information
asking for clarification
restating information to confirm understanding
noticing the other speaker's emotions
paying attention to visual cues (when available)
Students need to learn and practice strategies to become better listeners. Listen to the audio again. Then answer the questions below. Think about the processing you use to answer each question.
Are the speakers friends?
Do the speakers see or talk to each other often?
What is one of the speakers going to do tonight?
This is a common type of listening activity. Students practice top-down listening to answer questions 1 and 2. They predict or infer the answers. Then they use bottom-up listening to answer question 3. They have to listen for specific details (about the basketball game) to get the answer.
[17/05, 00:45] Ms. Ema: Topic 2: Supplementing Materials
Listen to the audio. Think about how you could use it as a listening activity in your class. Then read the text.
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Realia and Authentic Materials in the Classroom
In addition to the textbook, you can bring in realia and authentic materials to practice listening. The weather report you just listened to is a good example of a kind of authentic material for listening. You can find recordings of weather reports easily on the Internet. You can also record one from the radio or TV. Provide students with a weather map from a newspaper or a map without symbols. Then you can have them listen and draw the correct symbols in the correct locations as they listen.
Some realia and authentic materials may have important but unfamiliar vocabulary. You can put these words on the board with definitions or drawings to help students understand the material. If there are too many new words in an authentic listening, it is probably best not to use it.
[17/05, 00:45] Ms. Ema: Topic 2: Supplementing Materials
Read the text. Refer to screens 4-9as you read.
Expanding Textbook Activities
It is easy to supplement the textbook with activities that give your students added practice. The following are a few ideas. Refer to screens 4-9 (from Topic 1) as you read.
Dialogs For listen-and-repeat conversations, as in Activity 1 on screen 4, lead students in choral repetition. Divide the class in half. One side repeats Speaker A’s lines. The other half repeats Speaker B’s lines. Then they can practice in pairs.
Retelling/rewriting Have students retell or rewrite a story from their textbook. They can do it from memory, or use a graphic organizer such as the one in Activity 8 on screen 8.
Manipulatives In Activity 5 on screen 6, students put details in order. One way to supplement this kind of activity is to use manipulatives, such as sentence strips. You can photocopy the audioscript, or type out sentences. Then cut the script into strips with one line of dialogue per strip. Mix up the strips. Students can work in pairs or groups to reorder the strips.
Critical thinking Add challenge by asking students to make inferences or think critically. For example, in Activity 6 on screen 6, ask: What is an advantage of the winter “sleep”? What is a disadvantage? Thinking critically about the ideas can help students understand and remember more. In the weather report example, you could provide students with a list of words to help them develop an emergency plan for bad weather.
[17/05, 00:45] Ms. Ema: Topic 2: Supplementing Materials
Read the text. When you are finished, click Submit.
More Techniques and Activities to Improve Listening Skills
There are a variety of techniques to practice listening skills in and outside of the classroom.
Listen and draw Students can work in pairs to listen to one another and complete a task. For example, have students draw people that their partner describes (including details about clothing, hair length, glasses, height, and more). Or one partner can describe the location of furniture in a room or buildings on a street as the other listens and draws on picture or map.
Songs Bring in age-appropriate recordings of songs. Provide students with cloze worksheets so they can listen and fill in the blanks. Then have students sing along. Also, there are many music videos with lyrics (in karaoke format) on the Internet. Students can listen and read once and then listen again and sing along.
Games Divide students into two groups and have them listen to different parts of a story. Then put them together in pairs to tell each other the parts of the story, to answer comprehension questions, or to solve a riddle.
Go online There are many sites online with listening activities for EFL students. In a search engine, type something like EFL listening activities plus a topic. You can find videos that tell viewers how to do things such as tie a tie, bake a cake, or write a poem. Have students watch and write the down the steps.
Extensive listening Remember that students often enjoy doing extensive listening outside the classroom. Suggest they keep a listening log about their listening. They can include one or two things that they liked (or did not like) about the songs, podcasts, audio books, movies, or television shows they listened to. They can recommend extensive listening texts or activities to their classmates.
[17/05, 00:46] Ms. Ema: Topic 1: Learning Aims and Outcomes
Look at the textbook activities. Think about the purpose of each. Then read the text.
Planning to Teach and Assess Reading
The first step in planning your course is to understand the learning outcomes. Sometimes the learning outcomes are identified in your textbook or in your school or country curriculum. They will often be in the form of can-do statements. An example for reading might be: Students can read a text and find information about weekend events in their town. When students know the learning outcomes, the activities have more meaning. The learning outcomes provide a purpose for the activities used in class.
To achieve a particular learning outcome, a lesson will usually have a sequence of activities. Each activity will have a specific learning aim.
Look again at the sequence of textbook activities. They are for secondary school students. Think about the learning outcome that these activities support. In this case, the learning outcome is Students can read and understand information about future goals.
Activity A
Look at Activity A again. The learning aim of this activity is to teach or review new vocabulary so students will recognize the words in the text. It also prompts students to begin thinking about the topic. In this case, they start thinking about their own future dreams or plans.
Activity B
Look at Activity B again. Students do Activity B while they are reading. The learning aim is to help them understand the meaning of the text. Students read about three students and their goals for the future. They answer questions after each section. This will help them understand and remember what they read.
Each activity has a different learning aim. Together the activities help students achieve the learning outcome. When students know the learning outcome and how each activity will help them achieve it, they may be more motivated to participate in the activities.
[17/05, 00:47] Ms. Ema: Topic 1: Learning Aims and Outcomes
Look at the next activities in the sequence. Think about the purpose of these activities. Then read the text.
Activity C
In Activity C, students complete a graphic organizer after they read. This is a reading strategy they can use to help them organize the information from the text.
Activity D
In Activity D, students apply the information. The learning aim of this activity is to help students use the information in a different way. In this case, the students are using the information to help them talk about their own goals and interests. Reading and listening (receptive skills) lessons often include speaking or writing (productive skills) practice.
At the end of this sequence of activities, students can:
recognize key vocabulary
understand meaning
apply or use information
Students can read and understand information about future goals. This is the learning outcome.
[17/05, 00:47] Ms. Ema: Topic 1: Learning Aims and Outcomes
Read the text. When you are finished, click Submit.
Linking Assessment to Learning Outcomes
Throughout the course, you can assess how well students are meeting the learning outcomes. Ongoing assessment that helps guide your instruction is formative assessment. For example, if students are unable to answer comprehension questions after a reading, this is a good sign that the reading was too difficult. You can go back to the text and reteach it. To do this, you can choose key words and have students work with them first, or you can decide that the level of the text is too high and find another text. Formative assessment will keep your teaching on track.
At different points in the course, you will also give some kind of summative assessment in order to keep a record of each student's performance. Summative assessments of reading often involve reading and answering comprehension questions, or writing a response to a reading (to show understanding). There are various ways you can assess your students' reading. See the chart below for two examples of learning outcomes, activities that support the learning outcomes, and possible ways to do formative and summative assessments.
Learning Outcome Classroom Activity Assessment Examples
Students can read information about future goals 1. Match vocabulary to pictures or definitions.
2. Read online posts about student's future goals.
3. Complete a graphic organizer about one student's future goals.
Formative
1. Observe students as they ask and answer questions. Address misunderstandings as a class.
2. Have students create a poster of their graphic organizer. Hang it in the class and discuss it.
Summative
1. Give students multiple choice test items using the vocabulary and structure of the unit.
2. Have students read the same kind of text about different people. Use similar comprehension activities.
Students can read and understand postcards about vacations.
1. Match a photo of an activity to the text on a postcard.
2. Answer questions about the details on the postcards.
3. Write a postcard about a vacation.
Formative 1. Teach more activities if photo matching is too easy (or fewer if too challenging).
2. Students exchange postcards. They must read and respond, giving each other feedback about what they understood.
Summative
1. Read and reply to a postcard.
2. Read postcards. Then answer comprehension test items.
[17/05, 00:47] Ms. Ema: Topic 2: Assessing Reading
Look at the sample textbook activities. Think about how they can be used to assess students. Then read the text.
What to Assess
You want to assess the skills and abilities required to meet the learning outcome. There are several skills and abilities required of proficient readers.
Decoding skills
Understanding structure
Understanding meaning
Application
Extensive reading
Improving reading rate
1. Decoding skills involve students actually reading words. First, students learn that letters, or groups of letters, represent sounds. They can put the letters/sounds together to read words. There are a number of ways to assess the ability to decode. Look at the example activities on the left. Activity A is a recognition activity. Students cross out the letter that is different. This type of assessment activity is appropriate for beginning readers. Another way to assess letters and sounds is to have students match pictures with letters, or have students read aloud.
2. Understanding structure is another part of reading. Students need to understand both grammatical and text structure to read effectively. In Activity B, students use their understanding of grammar to complete the cloze activity. Text structure can be different in different languages. It is important to help students recognize different aspects of text structure. For example, in English, paragraphs usually have a topic sentence that tells the reader the main idea of the paragraph. When students can identify the topic sentence, it is easier to understand the paragraph. You can assess understanding of grammatical or text structure with activities, such as:
matching two parts of a sentence
determining the correct word forms
choosing appropriate topic sentences for paragraphs
[17/05, 00:47] Ms. Ema: Topic 2: Assessing Reading
Look at the sample textbook activities. Think about the type of processing students need to use for each. Then read the text.
3. Understanding meaning is also known as comprehension. Students use their decoding skills and their understanding of structure to make meaning out of an entire text. Students use interactive processing to understand meaning. They switch between top-down and bottom-up processing to show they understand both the gist and the supporting details. Look again at the example activity. Students first skim (top-down processing strategy) to answer an open-ended question about the main ideas. Then they read the email again and scan (bottom-up processing strategy) for the details in the text.
4. Application is using information to do something. Students show they can apply information by labeling diagrams or completing graphic organizers. Look at the example in Topic 1, screens 1 and 2. The students read about three different students (Inna from Russia, Nora from Mexico, and Wenyi from China). Then they completed a chart using information from what they read. This activity assesses application.
[17/05, 00:48] Ms. Ema: Topic 2: Assessing Reading
Look at the reading log. Think about how you can use this in your classroom. Then read the text. When you are finished, click Submit.
5. Extensive reading can help students with their reading fluency. Reading longer texts and learning to enjoy reading develops general language skills. Students often do extensive reading outside of class. They may read stories or articles. You can assess them with different tools, such as with a reading log.
Look at the reading log again. Reading logs give students a place to record information about their reading. Reading logs often contain some of the following information:
the date
the type of text (magazine, book, newspaper, website, etc.)
the topic or main idea of the text
how long the student read
new vocabulary words the student would like to review
You can also ask students to write a summary of what they read. When students write summaries, they give a shorter version of the text, including the main ideas. This helps them remember the text. It also shows they understand the text.
6. Improving reading rate is a challenge for many students. Reading rate is a measure of how fast they read. Many students are slow readers of English. However, the more they read, the faster they will become.
One way to assess their reading rate is with a timed reading log. This log can be similar to the one on the screen, but you can add a column for time/rate. Students record the time it takes to read a text. Then they can count the words. This will give them their reading rate. When students record their rate, they often improve. They are motivated to improve their rates.
[17/05, 00:49] Ms. Ema: Topic 1: Techniques and Activities
Read the text. Refer to screens 4-7 as you read.
Sample Student Book Activities for Teaching Reading
The activities on screens 4-7 are common activities for teaching reading. They are organized into three groups according to their skill focus. The three groups are: decoding, understanding meaning, and application of information. Navigate to screens 4-7 to view activites. Refer to them as you read.
Decoding
Students need to be able to decode. This means they have to recognize letters and know their sounds. Minimal pair activities ask students to discriminate between letters that have similar shapes or sounds. Look at Activity 1 on screen 4. In this activity, students review pairs of letters that can be confusing. For example, they have to remember the shape and sound of b vs. p and l vs. r.
Other activities focus on recognizing words. In Activity 2 on screen 4, a word search activity, students review the names of colors. They need to remember the words and the way they are spelled to find them in the grid.
Readers decode throughout the reading process. Often textbooks have activities in the pre- and post-reading parts of the lesson that focus on decoding. The textbook pulls out letter pairs, words, or sentences for intensive practice.
[17/05, 00:49] Ms. Ema: Topic 1: Techniques and Activities
Read the text. Refer to screens 5-6 as you read.
Understanding Meaning
Students need to understand the meaning of what they read. Activities at each stage of a PDP lesson can help them with meaning. Sometimes they match a picture or summary to a reading passage. Sometimes a matching or checking exercise is a pre-reading activity. In Activity 3 on screen 5, upper primary school students look at, or preview, a text. They look at the picture and predict content. In this way, they activate background knowledge. Checking the type of text shows they understand the text structure. They also understand the text type or genre. Identifying the genre uses top-down processing.
In Activity 4 on screen 5, students read a text and then they scan for specific information. They underline the sentences that give them the answers while they are scanning. Scanning uses bottom-up processing. This is a post-reading activity that shows they understand the meaning of what they read. Underlining or circling makes the activity more kinesthetic. Textbooks often ask comprehension questions after students read. In Activity 5 on screen 6, students read a letter and answer questions. You can have students work in pairs to make these activities more interactive. Other common textbook activities used to check understanding include:
true/false statements
cloze activities
multiple choice questions
[17/05, 00:49] Ms. Ema: Topic 1: Techniques and Activities
Read the text. Refer to screens 6-7 as you read. When you are finished, click Submit.
Application of Information
Students need to apply, or use, the information they get from reading. Some textbooks provide graphic organizers for this purpose. Graphic organizers can be a during- or post-reading activity. They help students to process and organize the information they are reading. It is similar to taking notes, and can help students learn how to take notes. Graphic organizers also appeal to visual and kinesthetic learners. In Activity 6 on screen 6, students read the text and write details in the chart.
In Activity 7 on screen 7, students read a text and then complete a brochure for a club. This is another way of using the information in a practical way. Students often complete a form or other type of document during reading, but they may also do it after they read.
Another way to use information is to have students apply it to their own lives. This is personalization. In Activity 8 on screen 7, students read about three interesting places to stay. Then they discuss where they want to stay and why.
[17/05, 00:50] Ms. Ema: Topic 2: Supplementing Materials
Look at the picture of microwave popcorn. Think about ways you can use this in your classroom. Then read the text.
Realia and Authentic Materials in the Classroom
In addition to the textbook, you can bring in various types of authentic materials or print-based realia. These can provide more reading practice on similar topics to your textbook topics.
Magazines and newspapers are very useful. Often there are photos with the stories or advertisements. You can cut out the photos and the articles and have students match the photos to the articles. In addition, you can remove the headlines from short articles or stories and have students match the headlines to them. You can also ask students to read about a famous person in a magazine or online and then fill out a timeline or some other form or diagram.
Many objects, especially products, have text on them. Look again at the picture. It shows the directions for making microwave popcorn. You can cut up directions like these and have students put them in order. Forms, instructions, and signs also use language in a natural context. Using this sort of realia with level-appropriate text can be fun. It can also motivate your students.
When using text-based realia or authentic material, it is important to choose texts that students will be able to read easily. They should not contain too many unknown words. If the material is too difficult, students may become frustrated.
[17/05, 00:50] Ms. Ema: Topic 2: Supplementing Materials
Read the text. Refer to screens 4-7 as you read.
Expanding Textbook Activities
The PDP lesson sequence is commonly used to teach reading. During the pre- and post- stages of a reading lesson students often use productive skills (speaking and writing) to preview the content, practice vocabulary, or activate background knowledge. Listening, another receptive skill, can also be used to help students read. Navigate to screens 4-7 to view the activities. Refer to them as you read about ways to expand the activities in the textbook.
Dictation To help students with decoding skills, you can dictate words as a review. You say the words and students write them. You may want to focus on words that help them discriminate between confusing letters (m/n, p/b). This is a good supplement to activities using word discrimination such as Activities 1 and 2 on screen 4.
Read aloud Many students will benefit from hearing the text read aloud. This can help them decode and understand meaning. It can also help them to improve their own reading rate.
Personalize Have students use the text as the beginning of a discussion about themselves. For example, in Activity 3 on screen 5, students read a postcard about a vacation. Have students write their own postcards about a vacation, then exchange them with a partner to discuss or answer. In Activity 8 on screen 7, students read about interesting hotels and choose the hotel they like the best.
Go online Get additional materials from online sources. Your students can read stories online at sites that are written for younger readers or for readers who are learning English. Often the stories can supplement your classroom topics.
Games After students have read a text, divide them into teams. Have the teams write comprehension questions or true/false statements. Then each team quizzes the other. You can also have students role-play situations in the readings and have other students guess who they are.
[17/05, 00:50] Ms. Ema: Topic 2: Supplementing Materials
Read the text. When you are finished, click Submit.
More Techniques and Activities to Improve Reading Skills
Reading is a complex process with many sub-skills. You can help students improve their skills and use reading strategies more effectively with the following ideas.
Timed readings Many students read very slowly in a second language. One way to help them increase their reading rate is to give timed readings. Students mark what they have completed in a set time period. They try to increase this amount with each timed exercise.
Reading in sections Students often worry about the meaning of each word or structure when they read. They do not always pay attention to the content. You can help them better understand by asking them to read in sections. After each section, ask students to write the topic of the paragraph, write questions, or talk to a partner.
Reading logs Students become better readers when they read more. Encourage extensive reading, or outside reading for pleasure. Have students keep a log of their reading. They can record what they read, how long they read, and new vocabulary.
Manipulatives Manipulatives such as picture cards or sentence strips can help students with decoding and with making connections between ideas. Write lines of dialog or a story on separate sentence strips or provide picture cards representing a story. Have students put them in order.
Dialog journals. Writing can help students become better readers. Students can exchange dialog journals with a partner. Each student writes in a journal, perhaps using a question prompt from the teacher. They exchange journals, read what their partner wrote, and write a response. Because students have written about the same prompt, they will recognize the topic.
