Teaching listening and speaking

Listening for comprehension = traditional
Listening for language acquisition = modern

spoken discourse ...

• uses different rates of speech
• is unplanned
• is different from written language
• includes hesitations, fillers, and shortened forms of words
• has linear structure (one clause at a time)

Bottom-up processing

• Comprehension is a process of decoding (p. 4)
• Basis for learning is lexical and grammatical competence
• Chunking of information is used
• Large vocabulary and knowledge of sentence structure is necessary
• Examples:  dictation, cloze listening, multiple choice comprehension questi

top-down processing

• goes from meaning to language
• is based on previous knowledge, context, schemata
• Students generate lists of questions and anticipate topic
• Students hear a one-sided conversation and try to fill in the missing part
• Students complete a story and compare 

Combine bottom-up and top-down processing in listening lessons. Include pre-listening, while-listening, and post-listening activities.

listening strategies

• Cognitive: Comprehend - store- retrieve
• Metacognitive: assess situation - monitor - self-evaluate - self-test
• Metacognitive yields positive results (Goh and Yusnita, p. 13)
• Pre-listen, 1st listen, pair discussion, 2nd listen, class discussion

"We won't learn anything from input we hear and understand unless we notice something about the input." (Schmidt, p. 15)

listening for acquisition

• Students notice features of the input
• Students try to incorporate new items in their own speech
• Builds on listening for comprehension 
• Include noticing activities as well as restructuring activities

"In speaking and listening we tend to be getting something done, exploring ideas, working out some aspect of the world, or simply being together." -Jones, p. 15

teaching speaking

• Conversational routines (fixed expressions, functions of speech)
• Styles of speaking (reflect roles, age, sex, status, politeness)
• Functions of speaking (interaction, transaction, performance)

talk as interaction

• Primarily a social function
• Teach a wide range of real-life topics
• Provide examples of natural dialogs
• Practice giving feedback to speaker
• Teach how to express agreement

Talk as transaction

• Focus is on understanding and accuracy
• Practice giving and receiving information
• Focus on obtaining goods or services
• Group activities, info-gap, role plays
• Review thematic vocabulary, model, practice and review

talk as performance

• Transmit information to audience
• Meaning is important, as well as accuracy and form
• Provide examples of speeches and presentations
• Use video, audio, and written forms for models

As with all lesson preparation, consider the needs of students along with the purpose and goals for student learning.