Developing Listening Skills With Authentic Materials

A subscriber, desiring to report on a particular upcoming event in his community, dialled Information to get Theatre Arts magazine’s telephone number.

Operator: Sorry, but there is nobody listed by the name of Theodore Arts.

Subscriber: It’s not a person; it’s a publication. I want Theatre Arts.

Operator: I told you, we have no listing for Theodore Arts in this city. Perhaps he lives in another city.

Subscriber: Confound it, the word is Theatre: T-H-E-A-T-R-E!

Operator: That—is not the way to spell Theodore.

Developing Listening Skills with Authentic

MaterialsLindsay Miller

2003

Listening as a Neglected Skill

• Speaking: more “valuable” as a skill to focus on in the classroom

• Listening: something that could just be “picked up”

• Researchers and teachers themselves not taught listening during their schooling years

Rise of Attention Given to Listening

• More publications and research studies dealing with listening skills

• Greater awareness among teacher to help develop listening skills

Concept of Authenticity

• Aim of listening lesson: “To allow learners a greater degree of independence when confronted with listening to the foreign language in a real world context”

• Authentic texts – spoken texts not specifically prepared for language learners

The Listening Lesson Format

• Pre-Listening Task (activating schema)

• While-Listening Task (gathering information from the text)

• Post-Listening Task (extended discussion on the text)

Technological Media That Provide Authentic Texts

Question of Authenticity

Academic listening textbook

1) complete clauses; fewer pauses

2) no false starts, redundancies, repetitions

3) no extra linguistic features

4) impersonal

5) no narrative thread

6) stand-alone lectures

7) no visual aids

Actual lecture discourse

1) micro-level of discourse

2) false starts, redundancies, repetitions

3) extra linguistic features

4) rapport established

5) narrative thread

6) macro-markers

7) visual aids

Question of Authenticity

Academic listening textbook

IT’S NOT THE REAL THING!

Learners may miss important features of spoken academic discourse and develop listening skills which will be of little use in the real lecture context.

Actual lecture discourse

IT’S THE REAL THING!

Learners know exactly what takes place in a lecture and are more aware of what listening skills ought to be developed.

Radio

• Easily accessible

• Perhaps the most difficult for language learners

• Absence of non-verbal information

• Selection of programs based on suitable time for class

Television/Video

• Non-verbal behavior or paralinguistic features present

• Learners see in addition to hearing

• “Entertainment” factor may diminishes the learning experience

Internet/CD-ROM

• Greater access to listening texts

• Access to online help

• Attractiveness of the technology

• Learning the computer in addition to learning language