listening for specific information

Listening for specific information – students listen for particular information at word level.

Listening for detailed understanding

To listen to or read a text in order to understand most of what it says or particular details.

Listening for detailed understanding: you want to understand all the information the text provides.

5) listening strategy
Listening strategies are techniques or activities that contribute directly to the comprehension and recall of listening input. Listening strategies can be classified by how the listener processes the input.
Top-down strategies are listener based; the listener taps into background knowledge of the topic, the situation or context, the type of text, and the language. This background knowledge activates a set of expectations that help the listener to interpret what is heard and anticipate what will come next. Top-down strategies include

• listening for the main idea
• predicting
• drawing inferences
• summarizing

Extensive listening

Listening to or reading long pieces of text, such as stories or newspapers.

7) pre-listening
Pre-listening activities are things learners do before a listening activity in order to prepare for listening. These activities have various purposes, including pre-teaching or activating vocabulary, predicting content, generating interest and checking understanding of task.Example
The learners are going to listen to a radio programme about sharks. First, they work in groups to pool their knowledge of sharks and then tell the rest of the class.
In the classroom Pre-listening tasks include discussion questions, true or false statements, vocabulary work, prediction tasks and brainstorming the topic.

While-listening

While-listening activities are what students are asked to do during the time that they arelistening to the text.As far as listening comprehension (i.e.listening for meaning)is concerned,the purpose of while-listening activities is to help learners develop the skill of eliciting messages from spoken languge.

Students tend to listen carefully if they have a purpose or a task to perform based on the listening. A thorough procedure could be like the following. Students should:

 Listen to the entire passage (maximum 2 minutes in length). [Don’t let students do anything. Their job is to just listen.]

 Ask for clarification if something is unclear. [If at all possible, give clarification in English.]

 Complete the task; use the notes if necessary.

 Listen again and check answers, fill in missing parts.

 Compare work with a classmate(s) before teacher checks student work.

 Go over answers or responses as a whole class.

Remember: While-Listening Activities answer the question: “What are we listening to?”

Three Choices for While-Listening (you should only do one)

• Listen to Main Idea: This listening is for understanding the general picture.

• Listen to Specific Events: Good for making timelines and categorizing.

• Listen to Details: close activity, multiple choice questions, etc.

Post-listening

The post-listening stage is where the teacher can determine how well the students have understood what they listened to, but it is important to design the tasks well.

A post-listening activity represents a follow up to the listening activity and aims to utilize the knowledge gained from listening for the development of other skills such as speaking or writing. If we have listened to a TV program presenting a certain point of view regarding health care, for example, we can ask the students to do some research and identify some opposing views to present them in class. Alternatively, we may want to engage the students in a discussion of the merits of the views that were expressed in the listening segment.

Like post-reading activities, post-listening activities allow for recycling and further activation of vocabulary and structures as long as they are interesting and engaging and are carefully thought out.

Tapescript

The written version of the words learners hear when doing a listening activity. These can often be found in a

teacher’s book or at the back of the learner’s book.

 

Teaching reading 1

Key terminology

receptive skills When learners do not have to produce language; listening and reading are

reading for gist To read or listen to a text and understand the general meaning of it, without paying attention to specific details.

reading for specific information To read a text quickly to pick out specific information, e.g. finding a phone number in a phone book.

reading for detailed understanding(intensive reading) to read and be able to understand the topic and theme and details.

Reading stratedgy

extensive reading When learners are reading extensively, they are primarily focused on the message of the text and what it is saying.

Skimming To read a text quickly to get a general idea of what it is about.

Scanning To read a text quickly to pick out specific information, e.g. finding a phone number in a phone book.

pre-reading is an activity used by teachers to ensure their students are prepared to read a specific text and understand the reasons they are reading the text.

while-reading can require the students to draw inferences from the events or the spoken words in the text

post-reading tasks are intended to verify and expand the knowledge acquired in the reading