listening

TEACHING LISTENING

A.    Types of Spoken Language
Before planning the lessons for listening classroom instruction, it is important to discuss several types of spoken language. Nunan (1991) suggested a diagram to differenciate types of oral language as follows;

 1.    Monologue
In monologue the listener does not require to respond to  message. It is also called an informational listening. This is where information is communicated to the listener. Monologue can be planned such as speech, news report, weather forecast or other prewritten material or unplanned such as description of something, emergency announcement etc. Monologues are example of one way communication. The speaker usually uses spoken language for any length of time, as in speeches, lectures, news etc. The stream of the speech will go on whether or not the listeners comprehend.
2.    Dialogue
Dialogue involves two or more speakers and can be subdivided into those which exchange expressions that promote social relationship (interpersonal) and those which purpose is to convey propositional or factual information (transactional). Both types of dialogues can be between or among familiar people or unfamiliar.

Dialogue requires listeners to respond to what is being communicated. The goal of dialogue is to develop interaction between people. The listener communicates something back to the speaker. For example, greetings between friends, a discussion at a business meeting, and giving or receiving instructions at work. 


B.    Why Teach Listening
Everyone knows that there are four skills in learning a language, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing. They are always related in terms of usage, and speaking is viewed by learners as the most desirable skill in face-to- face communication in the globalization era. However, what is the answer to the following questions?
•    What do you have to do before you can speak?
•    What does a child learn before he talks?
•    What do we do before chatting?
Listen, of course!
Naturally, children begin listening to their parents when they are babies. They are often greeted, spoken to and admired without any response expected. Though nobody knows if the baby understands the spoken words, the process continues. Children automatically acquire such language over some time, and later on gradually produce it through actual experience. The production maybe incomplete at first, but successful at last. That leads to speaking skill which is quite applicable to daily conversation.

In learning English, listening can help improve speaking considerably. Although it is the first of all skills, it is neither the easiest nor the most meaningless. We need to hear various types of English repeatedly and continuously if we want to communicate properly, meaningfully and naturally.

1.    Why is listening good?
a.    When listening, we are reviewing a lot of English usage such as vocabulary, grammatical structures, intonation, accent and our own interpretation.
b.    We can learn new words and expressions by hearing them frequently.
c.    Besides the English revision, general knowledge from news, features, or even advertising spots is certainly beneficial for regular listeners.
d.    We can imitate what we hear and apply it with great confidence.
e.    Listening can be a good ‘hobby’ while we do other things such as cooking, ironing, exercising, relaxing etc. In other words, we have no wasted time at all.
f.    Listening is also a great way to train our attention

2.    How can we listen to English?
Nowadays, radio cassette recorders are household, but we often overlook the radio function. We can experience English language radio programmes almost anywhere in the world. They are usually picked up on FM bands and aired particularly for foreigners. Short wave radio programmes are another option. Two of the most easily found English language broadcasters are the BBC and Voice of America.

C.    Problems Faced by Learners Dealing with Listening Tasks
Here we are going to discus some problems from the point of view of the learner.  What aspects of listening to a foreign language are particularly difficult for learners to cope with, and what can we, as teachers, do about them?
1.    Learner Problems
Stage 1: Defining some problems
Read through the list given in Box 1 of some difficulties that learners have with listening to a foreign language.  Add more if you wish.

Stage 2: Interview
Interview some learners to find out which of these they consider particularly problematic, whether there are any others they can suggest, and what sort of practice they find helpful.

Stage 3: Summary
On your own or with colleagues, try to summarize the main problems and make some suggestions as to what the teacher can do to help solve them.