A Few Tips for ESL Listening Activities



Posted: Tuesday, April 05, 2011

by Chris Cotter
http://www.betterlanguageteaching.com

Most ESL students will say that listening is difficult, if not actually admit that this is their weakest skill. The difficulty comes down to two main points. The first stems from the fact that the pace, choice of vocabulary, phrases, and grammar, and the inflection or intonation is completely determined by the speaker. The listener has only one chance to catch the meaning of a word or phrase. Comparisons can be made with reading, because the writer similarly determines the language. But ESL students can easily work at their own speed, reading passages several times and consulting dictionaries, for example. There aren't any (or at least, many) re-dos when listening.

The second problem students usually have is related with how teachers use listening exercises. Most listening-focused activities use a scripted monologue or dialogue. The students begin with some preparation. They listen several times to the audio, then answer comprehension questions. Because this approach feels very much like a test, with right and wrong answers, all the baggage normally associated with tests - the negativity, fear, and sense that "I'm being graded!" - gets carried along to the skill as a whole.

So what should a teacher do? What should students do?

Let's start with some preparation. You should set aside some discussion time, with several questions that deal with the topic. If the listening activity focuses on likes and dislikes, give the students a set of questions to quickly discuss their likes and dislikes. This gives them some background ideas, thereby gearing up their thoughts towards the upcoming content. With higher-level students, use more difficult questions.

Next, establish the subject and purpose of the ESL conversation or monologue. The students can quickly begin the activity once they have a general description and the purpose of the conversation. In other words, they won't lose any time orienting themselves with the speakers and the purpose of the discussion. The teacher should also explain exactly what the activity requires. For example, will they need to follow a set of directions? If necessary, explain the instructions step-by-step and check comprehension with a demonstration. This will prevent any false mis-steps during the listening activity.

Now you want to do the task. Listen to the dialogue, and have students use that information to answer questions. With more difficult passages, it's okay to let the students listen once, but not take any action apart from becoming familiar with the accent and intonation, and to just catch the gist of it. On subsequent listening, they complete the activity.

For the final step of ESL listening activities, confirm and discuss the listening task. Was it easy, or difficult? What did the class miss? Why? This gives everyone the chance to talk about the listening exercise in a positive environment. You should then follow this with a chance to check the answers, which can be done in pairs to maximize talk time. Then wrap up the exercise with an opportunity to reuse the information that they just heard in combination with other language skills. Discuss specific questions in pairs or groups, for example, or debate the information. Lower-level students should reuse vocabulary or grammar with partners.

Although there are more ESL Listening activities, some of the problems of traditional listening exercises will disappear with this method. Students will not only more quickly improve their listening abilities, but they will feel more positive and productive too.

For more listening ideas, take a look at: http://www.betterlanguageteaching.com/esl-articles/58-listening-aspects
Chris Cotter has been teacher ESL for fourteen years, developing both students' language skills and teachers' professional skills. He has written course materials and training programs through the years. You can find more ideas and information for fun, effective lessons at his site, Better Language Teaching.
This Article has been viewed 676 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.