- Knowledge on how we reach understanding
1. The ‘map’
below sketches the relationship between the various information
sources that we may need to refer to in order to understand a spoken
or written text.
C
O
M
P
R
E
H
E
N
S
I
O
N
background knowledge
schematic
-
factual knowledge
-
sociocultural
procedural
knowledge
- how
knowledge is used in discourse
knowledge of situation
- physical
setting, participants, etc .
context
knowledge
of co-text
-
what has been/will be said (written)
knowledge
of the language system
- semantic
-
syntactic
systemic
-
phonological
knowledge
Fig.1 from Anne Anderson and Tony Lynch,
Listening, OUP, 1988
2. There
are two distinct modes of listening:
integrated (i.e.
where the listener can become the speaker- in conversation) and
isolated (i.e.
where the listener cannot respond to the speaker)
3.1
‘Top-down’ processing (Fig.1) corresponds to encoding
(prediction)
3.2
‘Bottom-up’ processing (Fig.2) corresponds to decoding
(comprehension)
listener’s
long term memory
final text
semantic/pragmatic
analysis (meaning)
speaker’s
intention and required response
linguistic
analysis
(lexical,
grammatical and prosodic structure of the text)
auditory
analysis
(sounds, word
boundaries)
drop-out
noise
speaker’s
output text
Fig.2
‘Bottom-up’ Processing
NB Anderson
& Lynch (1988) contrast the Bottom-Up view
of ‘listener as taperecorder’ with Top-Down
view of ‘listener as active model builder’:
the listener constructs an interpretation of a message by utilizing
both bottom-up and
top-down knowledge.
4. Types of
aural texts:
Aural Texts
monologues
dialogues
planned
unplanned
interpersonal transactional
unfamiliar familiar
5. Text
vs. Non-Text: Halliday & Hasan (1976) consider that text
is defined in terms of the linguistic elements
which serve to bind the texts together i.e.
cohesive devices. Widdowson (1978, 1979) challenges the fact that
coherence of a text is created by cohesion by arguing that we can
create our own coherence by recognizing the function that each
utterance fulfils within a given context or situation.
e.g.
Edmonson(1981) proves that the example of non-text Van Dijk gives(‘We
will have guests for lunch.’ ‘Calderon was a great writer.’)
is, in fact, a perfectly coherent text.
Conclusion:
Successful listening involves the integration of information encoded
in the message itself with broader knowledge of the world viz.
successful listeners use both bottom-up and top-down strategies in
reconstructing messages.
- Knowledge about Teaching Listening
Aim: to
train Ss to understand and
respond quickly to:
(1) the sort of language they are likely to encounter in normal
use;(2) the sort of situations they are likely to find themselves in.
(both verbal behaviour and non-verbal behaviour should be encouraged)
1. A
checklist of listening sub-skills
1.1
Anticipation (develop
appropriate expectations; adjust listening strategy to listening
purpose; scan for ‘activated’ information)
1.2
Recognition (phonemic
contrasts; word stress pattern; key morpheme; stress as indicator of
information focus; intonation as cue to information structure;
(known) vocabulary; grammatical word class; syntactic structure;
ideas; reference markers; variation between form and meaning; main
discourse markers; fillers; attitude from intonation or word-choice)
‘What did you say?’
1.3
Inference (word
meaning from context; function of utterances; situations from
context; purpose of discourse; connection between events in the
discourse; relationship between topic and sub-topics; attitude from
context; meaning of non-verbal parts of the message such as
gesture)”What did you mean when you said?”
1.4
Construction (build up
a coherent picture on the basis of: Anticipation, Recognition,
Inference; distinguish literal from implied meaning; follow the main
‘thread’ of the discourse; predict next ‘move’ or eventual
outcome from ongoing discourse)”Why are you telling me this?”
2. Enabling
skills and enacting skills in listening from Rost, Listening
in Language Learning, Longman, 1990
What the
listening skill consists of: (A) Emphasizing
perception: Recognizing prominence within
utterances; (B) Emphasizing interpretation:
formulating propositional sense for a speaker’s utterance;
formulating a conceptual framework that links utterances together;
interpreting plausible intention(s) of the speaker in making the
utterance; (C) Enacting skills:
utilizing representation of discourse to make appropriate response.
3. Types of
listening tasks
4. Criteria
for evaluating activities and exercises:
4.1 Content
validity: Does the activity practice listening or something else?
4.2
Listening comprehension or memory?
4.3
Purposefulness and transferability: Does the activity reflect a
purpose for listening and approximates authentic real-life listening?
4.4 Testing
or teaching?
4.5
Authenticity: To what degree does the input resemble natural
discourse?
5. Four
clusters of factors which can affect the difficulty of oral language
tasks as discussed by Brown & Yule (1983): (1) related to the
speaker (2) related to the listener (3) related to the content (4)
related to the support
- CLASSROOM OBSERVATION: PRESENTATION OF LANGUAGE VIA LISTENING/READING
- Purpose of presentation
- Features of presentation
- Activities
- Type of interaction
- Role of teacher
- Degree of control
- Correction
- Length and pace of lesson
- Success of lesson – were students using language correctly by the end?
Reflection as Exercise:
- The ‘dictogloss’ approach encourages learners to use both bottom-up and top-down listening strategies. The 4 stages to go through are: (a) preparation; (b) dictation; (c) reconstruction; (d) analysis and correction. Hypothesize about advantages and disadvantages of such an approach. Mainly think about the importance of integrating background, ‘inside the head’ knowledge with the clues picked up during the dictation.
- Brown and Yule referred to 4 clusters of factors, which can become sources of difficulty of oral language tasks. Take them in turn and hypothesize about how they can hinder comprehension.
- Reflect upon your experience of listeners to news broadcasts, for instance. How can this help you improve the listening class?
- How far do you agree with the following statements?
- Listening is an active process.
- Classroom listening practice can be used to develop the listeners’ general linguistic resources.
- Authentic listening texts are essential.
- Learners should be exposed to as wide a range of listening rtexts as possible from a variety of sources.
- Which phases might you expect to find in a lesson devoted to listening practice?
- What are the features of real-life listening and how far do the listening texts in present textbooks reflect real-life listening?
- How can replaying a text at various stages of the lesson be rewarding for both teacher and students?
- What about the practicalities of a listening class? Are they important or not?
- Select one listening task from any textbook available to you and carefully plan the activity so as to make it most profitable for your students. Detail stages and state purposes. Refer to Teacher’s book for help. Mention level, age, number of students.
- List the listening tasks favoured by textbook writers.