TSL3053

Teaching Listening and Speaking Skills

in the Primary ESL Classroom
TOPIC 1
PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING LISTENING AND
SPEAKING SKILLS

SYNOPSIS
Introduction to principles of teaching Listening &
Speaking skills
Overview-important principles a teacher has to
bear in mind when teaching listening & speaking
skills
Aims-to develop a better and deeper
understanding of the communication process
which includes listening process, the
conventions of spoken language and the factors
that affect listening and speaking skills

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of Topic 1(Week 1), you will be able to:
Differentiate between listening and spoken
language
Identify the components of the listening process
Develop a clearer understanding of the
conventions of spoken language

THE IMPORTANCE OF LISTENING

Listening-the most important skill required for
obtaining comprehensible input in ones first and
any subsequent languages.
We listen more than we read, write, or speak.
Therefore, listening skills are actively taught to
second (L2) language learners.
(Decker, 2004)

THE IMPORTANCE OF LISTENING

Researchers began to recognise the importance
of listening and its role in comprehensible input
(Krashen, 1982), and attention to and adoption
of newer comprehension-based methodologies
brought the issue to the fore.
Listening is a skill to be taught, with concomitant
strategies to help L2 learners be successful.
(Berne, 2004)

IS LISTENING SKILL NEGLECTED?

Speaking and writing (productive skills) are
highly visible, and are more easily assessed
than listening and reading (receptive skills). And
reading behaviour is assessed much more
frequently than listening behaviour.
Many of us are not willing to improve our
listening skills. Much of this unwillingness results
from our incomplete understanding of the
process.

(http://www.vawnet.org)

WHAT IS LISTENING?
The process of receiving, attending, and
understanding auditory messages; that is,
messages transmitted through the medium of
sound.
The process moves through the first three
stepsreceiving, attending, understandingin
sequence. Responding and/or remembering
may or may not follow.
Analogy between the listening process and the
e-mail. You-sender, I-recipient
(http://www.vawnet.org)

LISTENING PROCESS-COMPONENTS
Receiving:
You may send a message to me by e-mail. I want
to receive the message. But if I dont turn on my
computer, I wont receive it. The message remains
somewhere between your computer and mine
between sender and receiver.
Much human listening fails for the same reason.
Receivers simply are not connected or tuned in to
the senders.
(http://www.vawnet.org)

POINTS TO REMEMBER
Remember that hearing and listening are not the
same.
Hearing is the reception of sound; listening is the
attachment of meaning.
Hearing is, however, a necessary prerequisite
for listening and an important component of the
listening process.

(http://www.vawnet.org)

LISTENING PROCESS-COMPONENTS
Attending:
When I turn my computer on, it will receive the
message that you sent. But, if I do not attend to
the message, the process will not continue.
Human listening is often ineffectiveor does not
occurfor similar reasons.
Receiving occurs, but attending does not.

(http://www.vawnet.org)

LISTENING PROCESS-COMPONENTS
Attending:
We choose, whether consciously or
unconsciously, to attend to some stimuli and reject
others.
There are 3 factors determine how these choices
are made:
Selectivity of attention
Strength of attention
Sustainment of attention

(http://www.vawnet.org)

LISTENING PROCESS-COMPONENTS
Selectivity of attention:
You may have been listening intently to a
conversation when someone in a different
conversation mentions your name.
Immediately, the focus of your attention shifts to
the conversation in which your name was
mentioned.

(http://www.vawnet.org)

LISTENING PROCESS-COMPONENTS
Strength of attention:
Attention possesses energy, or strength.
Attention requires effort and desire.
We can be so attentive to a newspaper, a TV
programme, a personal computer, a sports event,
or another individual that we are oblivious to things
around us.
(http://www.vawnet.org)

LISTENING PROCESS-COMPONENTS
Sustainment of attention:
Our attention wanes, and this fact is important to
an understanding of listening.
The mind can only pay attention for as long as the
body can sit still.

(http://www.vawnet.org)

LISTENING PROCESS-COMPONENTS
Understanding:
Effective communication does not take place until
the receiver understands the message.
Possible reasons for the misunderstanding-We
hear or read what we expect rather than what was
actually said or written.

(http://www.vawnet.org)

LISTENING PROCESS-COMPONENTS
Understanding: Verbal Symbols:
Verbal communication means communicating
through the use of words, whether spoken or
written.
Two barriers obstruct our understanding of verbal
communication:
Same words mean different things to different
people.
Different words sometimes mean the same thing.
(http://www.vawnet.org)

LISTENING PROCESS-COMPONENTS
Example: Same words mean different things to
different people.
A friend tells me he will be over in five minutes.
To him, five minutes means soonperhaps
any time in the next half hour. I, on the other
hand, attach a literal meaning: Five minutes
means five minutes.

(http://www.vawnet.org)

LISTENING PROCESS-COMPONENTS
Example: Same words mean different things to
different people.
Fred has been crestfallen since he fell out of
favor with the Fall Festival Committee last fall
after he had a falling out with Joe because Joe
had fallen in with a new crowd of people rather
than falling in love with Freds sister, Fallina.
(http://www.vawnet.org)

LISTENING PROCESS-COMPONENTS
Example: Different words sometimes mean the
same thing
Soft drink, soda, and pop all mean the same
thing when used in the same context.

(http://www.vawnet.org)

POINTS TO REMEMBER
Meanings are not in words, meanings are in
people.
We listen more effectively when we consider the
message in relation to its source.
Good listeners always consider who the sender
of the message is.
Knowing something about the sender pays big
dividends when it comes to understanding the
message.
(http://www.vawnet.org)

LISTENING PROCESS-COMPONENTS
Understanding: Nonverbal Symbols:
We use nonverbal symbols to transmit many
times more information than our verbal symbols
carry.
We communicate nonverbally through action
factors, non-action factors, and vocal factors.
Misunderstanding happens when:
Misinterpretation of the action
Misinterpretation of non-action symbols
Misinterpretation of the voice
(http://www.vawnet.org)

LISTENING PROCESS-COMPONENTS
Example: Misinterpretation of the action
When someone walks quickly away from a
conversation or taps a pencil on the desk during a
conversation, we may conclude that the person is
in a hurry or is bored. Our conclusions may or may
not be correct, however.

(http://www.vawnet.org)

LISTENING PROCESS-COMPONENTS
Example: Misinterpretation of the non-action symbol
For example, if I am to see you at noon but arrive
15 minutes late, my tardiness may affect how you
interpret what I say to you.

Or if I crowd youget too close to you

emotionallywhen speaking, you may tune me
out; that is, you may hear but not listen to my
message.
(http://www.vawnet.org)

LISTENING PROCESS-COMPONENTS
Example: Misinterpretation of the voice
The quality (overall impression the voice),
intelligibility (articulation, pronunciation, and
grammatical correctness), and variety of the voice
(rate, volume, force, pitch, and emphasis) affect
the listeners understanding.

(http://www.vawnet.org)

LISTENING PROCESS-COMPONENTS
Responding:
The listening process may end with understanding,
since effective communication and effective listening
may be defined as the accurate sharing or
understanding of meaning.
But a response may be needed in listening.
Types of responses:
Direct verbal responses
Responses that seek clarification
Responses that paraphrase
Nonverbal responses
(http://www.vawnet.org)

LISTENING PROCESS-COMPONENTS
Remembering:
Memorization of facts is not the key to good
listening. Yet memory is often a necessary and
integral part of the listening process.
2 types of memory:
Short term memory
Long term memory

(http://www.vawnet.org)

CONVENTIONS OF SPOKEN LANGUAGE

Putting words, phrases and sentences together
Vocalising what they want to say pronunciation
and intonation
Possessing the ability to be reasonably fluent
Stretching the language they know to cope with
new situations
Interaction is more than just putting a message
together, responding to what other people say
Choosing language that is appropriate for the
person you are talking to

CONVENTIONS OF SPOKEN LANGUAGE

Taking turns in a conversation

Knowing how to interrupt
Knowing how to disagree politely
Encouraging others to speak
Expressing interest
Changing the topic
Asking one to repeat or explain what they are
saying

WRITTEN VS SPOKEN LANGUAGE

Spoken language is generally less formal than
written language.
Spoken language tends to be less precise than
written language.
Written language is often more articulate and
sophisticated than spoken language.
Spoken language can be more communicative
than written language due to extra cues such as
body language and tone.
Spoken language is generally less formal than
written language.
http://www.differencebetween.net

THE END