Listening in ELT

David Mallows,
NRDC, Institute of Education
McKenzy brought me another
present today.
It was too late to save it so I
buried it in the garden.
I think I’m going to have to
put a bell round his neck

2
Top-down and Bottom-up
Top Down Skills
Top down processing refers to the attribution of meaning, drawn from one's
own world knowledge, to language input. It involves "the listener's ability to
bring prior information to bear on the task of understanding the "heard"
language". (Morley 2001)

Bottom Up Skills
Bottom up skills are skills which help in decoding. "Bottom-up refers to that
part of the aural comprehension process in which the understanding of the
‘heard’ language is worked out proceeding from sounds to words to
grammatical relationships in lexical meanings" (Morley 2001)

Morley, Joan, (2001), "Aural comprehension instruction: principles and practices", in Marianne Celce-Murcia (ed.), Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, 3rd
Edition, Boston: Heinle & Heinle 3
Top-down
• discriminating between emotions
• getting the gist
• recognizing the topic
• using discourse structure to enhance listening strategies
• identifying the speaker
• evaluating themes
• finding the main idea
• finding supporting details
• making inferences
• understanding organizing principals of extended speech

4
Bottom-up
• discriminating between intonation contours in sentences
• discriminating between phonemes
• listening for word endings
• recognizing syllable patterns
• being aware of sentence fillers in informal speech
• recognizing words, discriminate between word boundaries
• picking out details
• differentiating between content and function words by stress pattern
• finding the stressed syllable
• recognizing words with weak or central vowels
• recognizing when syllables or words are dropped
• recognizing words when they are linked together in streams of speech
• using features of stress, intonation and prominence to help identify important
information

5
Intrusion and linking
When two vowel sounds meet, we tend to insert an extra sound which resembles either a
/j/, /w/ or /r/ , to mark the transition sound between the two vowels, a device referred
to as intrusion.

Intruding /r/ Word boundaries involving a consonant

• The media / r /are to blame and a vowel are also linked, as we tend
• Law(r)and order to drag final consonants to initial vowels
Intruding /j/ or vice versa.
• I /j/ agree
• They /j/are here! • Get on (geton)
Intruding /w/ • Not at all (notatall)
• I want to/w/eat • It´s no joke (snow joke)
• Please do/w/it

6
Elision
Syllables containing the unstressed "schwa” /ə/
• int(e)rest
• sim(i)lar
• lib(a)ry
• diff(e)rent

/t / and /d/in a consonant cluster or across word boundaries

• chris(t)mas
• san(d)wich
• mus(t) be
• the firs(t) three
• you an(d) me

7
 Rhythm
• The rhythm of a language refers to the pattern of alternation between stressed and
unstressed syllables.
• There are two main types:
•syllable-timed language
•stress-timed language,
• In a syllable-timed language (e.g. French or Spanish) every syllable is perceived as
taking up roughly the same amount of time. Syllable-timed languages tend to give
syllables approximately equal stress, and do not generally have reduced vowels.
• English is a stress-timed language - stressed syllables occur at regular intervals, with
the unstressed syllables being shortened to fit the time between stressed syllables.

8
You me him her

You and me and him and her

You and then me and then him and then her

You and then it’s me and then it’s him and then it’s her
They live in an old house

They live in a nice old house

They live in a lovely old house

They’ve been living in a delightful old house

They’ve been living in a delightful old cottage

They’ve been living in a delightful Victorian cottage

ESOL National Curriculum

http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/node/1516

11
Lr/E3.7c: Follow and participate in a discussion

Sd/E3.1a:Take part in social interaction

Sd/E3.1b:Take part in more formal interaction

(Sd = engage in discussion)

http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/node/2525
12
Lr/E3.1a: Recognise context and predict meaning in a range of listening texts and oral interactions
Lr/E3.1b: Listen for the gist of information or narrative on radio, TV and video
Lr/E3.1c: Listen for the gist of explanations, instructions or narrative in face-to-face interaction or
on the phone
Lr/E3.2a: Listen for detail in narratives and explanations
Lr/E3.2b: Listen for detail in a face-to-face situation or on the phone
Lr/E3.2c: Listen for detailed instructions
Lr/E3.2d: Listen for grammatical detail
Lr/E3.2e: Listen for phonological detail
Lr/E3.3a: Listen for relevant and new information on radio, TV, video, in face-to-face situations,
and over the phone
Lr/E3.3b: Listen for relevant and new information in face-to-face situations or on the phone
Lr/E3.4a: Clarify and confirm understanding through verbal and non-verbal means
Lr/E3.5a: Respond to requests for action
Lr/E3.5b: Respond to requests for information
Lr/E3.6a: Recognise a variety of feelings expressed by another speaker
Lr/E3.6b: Listen to and respond appropriately to other points of view
Lr/E3.7a: Listen for the gist of a discussion
Lr/E3.7b: Follow a discussion without actively participating, e.g. on TV
Lr/E3.7c: Follow and participate in a discussion
Lr/E3.7d: Recognise features of spoken language

13
Dictation
Dictation is seen by many teachers as old-fashioned. For many
people it brings back unhappy memories of dull, uncommunicative
and often difficult lessons, where the focus was on accuracy of
language. However, it can be an extremely versatile activity. It
practises writing skills such as letter formation, spelling, punctuation
and lay-out, but more importantly listening – bottom-up as well as
top-down skills. It can also be argued that it practises vocabulary,
syntax, grammar and, when the writer reviews his or her work,
reading. Teachers can vary the way dictation is delivered to involve
learners.

http://www.cambridge.org/no/elt/catalogue/subject/project/item404666/Dictation/?site_locale=no_NO

14
Dictation
• Students may work in pairs with a short passage for each. They first read it and then take turns to
dictate the passages for each other. Before students see the original passage, they work in groups
to check for mistakes.
• Teachers need not prepare long passages. Separated sentences or words can be also used to carry
out a dictation.
• Teachers may prepare a short paragraph and dictates the sentences in the wrong order. Next,
students check for mistakes in pair work or group work. Later they are told to put the sentences
in the correct order to form a paragraph.
• Students may work in pairs. One students is a assigned the role of the writer and the other the
role of the “runner”. A short passage is stuck on the wall. The runners have to go to the text and
return to their partners having memorised the first line of the text, which they dictate. They keep
returning to the text until they have dictated the full text to their partner. The roles can be
swapped halfway through. Their text is then compared to a correct version and corrected.
• Teacher can play the role of a human tape recorder. As s/he reads the text, students call out
instructions such as ‘Stop’, ‘Rewind’, ‘Play’, ‘Decrease speed’ etc. ‘This gives the students the
opportunity to control the speed of the dictation and the amount of repetition.

15
Dictogloss
Dictogloss is a classroom dictation activity where learners listen to a text, usually a short
one, and then reconstruct it.

1. Students just listen to the text without taking notes.

2. They listen and note down key words or phrases.
3. In pairs or small groups they reconstruct the text and then report to the whole class.
4. The teacher elicits marker sentences and records them on the board to focus on
form.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DtEuf0wNck

16
Active listening
“Stop working. Stop watching TV. Stop reading. Look at the person.
Keep a good distance between you and the speaker. Don't turn away
from the speaker. Sit-up straight. Nod your head and make statements
such as "uh-uh," "I understand," and "I see what you mean”. If you
don't understand, let the person know that. Don't pretend! Repeat
back phrases to clarify what the person is saying. Act like you are
interested and ask questions to show that you are interested in what
the person is saying.”

17
Active listening
Listening text Purpose Possible task

A lecture

Plane announcement

The news

Fictional story
Directions

Gossip

An anecdote

Music

18
Active listening
Listening text Purpose Possible task

A lecture To gather information

Plane announcement To heck time and place of departure

To be keep up to date with current

The news
affairs
Fictional story For entertainment
Directions To find a destination

Gossip For entertainment

An anecdote Social

Music For entertainment

19
Active listening
Listening text Purpose Possible task for students
Take notes and produce an
A lecture To gather information
essay/summary

Plane announcement To heck time and place of departure Find correct place on airport map

To be keep up to date with current Express opinions on what you have

The news
affairs heard
Fictional story For entertainment Decide if you believe it
Directions To find a destination Draw/follow a map

Gossip For entertainment Pass the gossip onto someone else

An anecdote Social
Give advice
Music For entertainment Decide if you like it

20