Listening: Processes and Factors in Considering Listening Activities - Coursework Example

and Section # of LISTENING – PROCESSES AND FACTORS IN CONSIDERING LISTENING ACTIVITIES Listening is one of the four major activities in the communication process, out of listening, speaking, reading and writing. To ensure that the process of transferring a message has been completely fulfilled, the receiver needs to be an effective listener and must be not just able to listen, but interpret and decode what the message means. Many people often engage in learning languages other than and in addition to the native language they speak. This second language acquisition is difficult to learn because it starts after childhood and requires conscious effort of the learner. Now lets discuss the processes that take place when a student is engaged in listening as well as the factors that will affect the teachers decision in terms of listening activities when she is endeavouring to transmit the learning of a second language to a class of students. THE PROCESSES OF LISTENING: Listening As A Complex Of Processes: Listening is a very complex process. Until recently, the impact of listening was thought to be limited to understanding and repetition of what was being listened. Only then can the material be truly incorporated into the minds of the students. But recent study shows that listening is a complicated process which can greatly increase comprehension if considered an active exercise. In other words, listening is no longer a passive skill. The listener has to be actively listening as well as comprehending the speakers message at the same time. Moreover, the listener should be interactive so as to clear confusions. Linguists have come up with two cognitive processes that take place during listening. They are bottom up and top down. In bottom up, you start comprehending the meaning while understanding its individual components and then seeing the whole picture. It is associated with incoming data, where you use the linguistic knowledge that you are gaining. Furthermore, the listener has to use the knowledge of the second languages syntax and the real world knowledge that he already possesses. But another viewpoint on this is that a young child who learns two languages in his early childhood has no knowledge of syntaxes of grammar. But still he manages to learn two languages. There are different viewpoints on this but the basis is that the listener comprehends in chunks. Therefore, incoming individual components should be combined together in a "form" in the mind of the listener. This leads to a disadvantage that if a person is not good in segmenting and joining things into one big piece, they would have difficulty comprehending. In top down processing, you see the whole picture first i.e. the sum of its parts and then give attention to the single parts that make it up. Top down processing involves the use of our long term memory and its concern is with meaning. The three subsequent levels of intentional and discourse processing is the identification, interpretation and activation. The listener identifies the propositional meaning attached to the message, he identifies the forces that are illocutionary and he then activates his real world knowledge which is related to the message he is listening. The listening process has become of significant interest for researchers as well as teachers. Therefore, viewpoints are bound to differ. Still, a common ground is often found in opinions. In works of Richards and Van Duzer, the basic processes at work are the same. Teaching Listening Skills: Choosing Materials: The purpose of the listener while he is listening plays a pivotal role in the processes that goes in his mind. He has a purpose to learn the second language, in listening and then collectively on the whole task. There is a different type of listening required for varying purposes. And the subsequent approach that should be used for this task also differs accordingly. The student should be given practice to employ giving purposes to each of these. Listening skills can be literally taught by the teacher. They need to be incorporated as processes that are thoughtful, creative and interactive. It is definitely an active process. The speaker needs to be active while teaching. The way in which the teacher will choose and present material will have a lot of affect in either helping the learner or hindering his learning process. The identification of the specific listening skills that they wish to teach is important and should be done by the teacher through numerous resources that are available for instance the lists and taxonomies of listening skills. The teacher needs to incorporate the student and make him a part of the process. TEACHING DESIGN: Approach: The teacher should be thoroughly prepared with a framework for a strategic approach to teaching. He should be ready with the six listener functions and nine listener responses. The teacher should keep in mind the various emotions that the learner goes through when learning an absolutely different language. It can be a language which might not belong to his country. He might be anxious to use it in front of the target language community and might not know the right attitude to possess while speaking it. It should be noted that the affective side of the learner is the most sensitive and the most important part in determining the success and the failure of this venture that the listener and his teacher have started. Theoretical Assumptions: The assumption that past research and theory has put on us is that the teacher/student model is that of an interactive process. Moreover, second language learning requires the input of knowledge that is logically comprehendible. It should be clear and precise, facilitating the intake process of the listener. Theoretical assumptions have placed listening as the most vital component in learning a second language. METHOD: The overall method that every teacher of second language should ensure is the task based teaching method. In this you divide the overall job of teaching a second language into small tasks. This will ease comprehension and will not put pressure on the minds of the learner to learn everything at once. This method is also known as content teaching method. Teaching Context: The context in which the teaching is being conducted should be given consideration as well. A good environment where learners will have greatly enhancements to acquire the second language is a different context than a shabby environment and a less ventilated room. Good teaching conditions versus bad teaching conditions are also a factor. Factors like lightning and background noise will also come under this heading. Moreover, the intellectual level of the students should be calculated. What is the assessment level at which they will be evaluated later as opposed to the manner in which they are being taught should be the matter of concern. Are teachers teaching up to the standard on which they will assess the learners? Teaching Goals: Formulating teaching goals serves a wide purpose as it keeps the teacher on track and they can even convey these goals to their students so that the student has a certain aim clear in front of him. Goals like the fostering of cultural knowledge within the individual while he is being taught should be pursued. Another goal can be to polish and further enhance the note taking skills of the learner. His use of the different processes like top down and bottom up should be tried to improve. The incorporation of various other skills also can be one of the major goals that the teacher has. Teaching Objectives: Objectives and goals might overlap at times. The teachers objectives can be to develop, following a test of the note taking and inference abilities of the student. They should endeavour to build the confidence of the learner in using this language as well as ensure a healthy, enjoyment-filled environment of the class while teaching. Cultural knowledge should also be increased. Learning Outcomes: The outcomes that the teachers of second language learners want to achieve is the ability of the student to be able to demonstrate his learning through the use of note taking and inference making that has been taught to him. He should be able to guess correctly the meaning of various idioms used in the second language. PROCEDURE: Pre-Listening Activity: The listeners should be given a pre-listening session in which the goals and objectives of the teacher should be conveyed to the students and the outcomes desired should be communicated. The teachers should engage in a continuing discussion of cultural knowledge and should introduce key ideas. Pre-Listening Reading: They should be given time to review notes taken during the pre-listening session. Every student should be now handed over the student response sheet so that they can read each others responses. This will prepare the student mentally for the strategic listening that he will go through now. LISTENING ACTIVITY: This is the most important part of the whole process. In order to enhance the effect of this process, the teacher should engage in selective listening exercises. They are made to listen to passages and identify key words. Selective listening exercises demand the picking out of a certain point from the paragraph being read. Making a T-list is taught where students right the main ideas on the left and the details on the right. Recordings are presented to the students for comprehension. Inferencing is incorporated so that they know what the sections that would follow are about. Global listening activites are conducted to enhance the perception area of the listener. Information gap is filled with further knowledge. Real life events are related in the second language. Games are played in the second language to ensure enjoyment. POST LISTENING ACTIVITY: The listener should be examined and tested on what he/she was taught in class. Different assessment methods can be used, either verbal or written. The most impact providing will be the verbal form of assessment. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Cohen, Andrew. Strategies in Learning and Using a Second Language. 1998. 2. Austin, Theresa, and Marjorie Hall. Content - Based Second Language Teaching and Learning. 2005. 3. Bygate, Martin, Peter Skehan, and Merill Swain. Researching Pedagogic Tasks. 2001. 4. Byrd , David, and Burden, Paul. Methods for Effective Teaching. 2006. 5. Gerald, Hanna, and Dettemer, Peggy. Assessment for Effective Teaching. 2004. 6. Rost, Michael. Teaching and Researching: Listening. 2001. Read More