Teaching Listening Skills in EFL classroom

Teaching Listening Skills in EFL classroom

Qi (1997) on the Importance of Listening.

Listening is the foundation for learning a language, providing essential comprehensible input.

Comprehensible input: Understandable language that helps build language skills.

Comprehensible input: Understandable language that helps build language skills.

REFLECTION AND IMPROVEMENT

When I was in middle and high school, I had problems, especially with understanding different accents. Most of the input I received came from my teacher and, occasionally, from movies, which were mostly American. I rarely heard different accents, and when I did, I really couldn’t understand them.

I also struggled with several unfamiliar words, as I didn't hear many native speakers and didn’t look for ways to expand my vocabulary. I only learned what was taught in school.

Based on what I learned in this unit, I think some of the things I could have done—and that I might implement in a classroom to prevent students from having similar difficulties—include exposing them to input from different sources, such as movies, videos, and podcasts. Additionally, it would be importante that these materials included various accents, so they don’t get used only to the American accent, which is usually the one we are most exposed to.

Another important point I should implement is to motivate and provide my students with resources so they can continue studying and learning independently, outside the classroom, and in ways and with materials they enjoy.

Self-access outside the Classroom

Encouraging Independent Practice

Learners should be provided with opportunities for students to use diverse audio visual materials as self-access study materials

such as

Tapes

Videos

DVD

Diverse Materials

Listening to English stories, watching conversation shows, films, and even radio broadcasts.

Promotes exposure to English in varied formats and for enjoyment.

What EFL teachers can do to assist learners develop their listening skills

Focus on Meaning

Listening improves when learners concentrate on the meaning and importance of content in English.

Set Comprehension Goals

Define specific objectives for listening activities, allowing learners to assess progress.

Accuracy and Form Analysis

Develop accuracy in perceiving sounds and words.

Listening Comprehension
(Richards’ (1992) View on Listening Comprehension)

Involves recognizing linguistic units and using skills and strategies

Linguistic Units

Phonemes

Words

Grammar

Background Knowledge

Skills

Linguistic Skills: Understanding sounds and words

Cognitive Skills: Processing meaning

Listening Process

Sensory Store (Echoic Memory)

Sounds enter sensory memory and are organized into meaningful units.

Relies on existing language knowledge

Short-Term Memory Processing

Words are matched with known information, meaning is extracted.

Requires comparing new data with stored knowledge in long-term memory.

Long-Term Memory

Constructing meaning and potentially transferring it to long-term memory for future use

Foreign language learners may struggle with all stages due to limited language knowledge

Schema Theory in Classroom

What is?

how knowledge is represented and how that representation facilitates the use of the knowledge.

2 important processes occur

Bottom-Up Processing

The movement of data from the page to the brain

Triggers past knowledge and experiences

Top-Down Processing

Brain attempts to superimpose existing knowledge on new information to assimilate it.

Works alongside bottom-up processing to enhance comprehension.

Listening Difficulties for EFL Learners

Difficulties with sounds, pronunciation, rhythm, intonation, and stress.

Lack of exposure and practice with different kinds of accents and colloquial vocabulary

Inability to skim and predict information due to limited practice.

Inability to link words to the context

Inability to use strategies to summarize heard information





VIDEO

VIDEO

AYAX A. LÓPEZ RODRÍGUEZ
TEACHING LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION
08/11/2024

TLC_301 Listening