X Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2018

What is Listening?

Listening is the ability to identify and understand what others are saying. This involves understanding a speaker's accent or pronunciation, his/her grammar and vocabulary, and grasping the meaning. An able listener is capable of doing these four things simultaneously. There is a list of a series of micro-skills of listening, which are called enabling skills. They are:

predicting what people are going to talk about

guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic

using one's own knowledge of the subject to help one understand

identifying relevant points;

rejecting irrelevant information

retaining relevant points (note-taking, summarizing)

recognizing discourse markers, e. g. , Well; Oh, another thing is; Now, finally; etc.

recognizing cohesive devices, e. g. , such as and which, including linking words, pronouns, references, etc.

understanding different intonation patterns and uses of word and sentence stress, etc., which give clues to meaning and social setting

understanding inferred information, e. g. , speakers' attitude or intentions.

Differences between written and spoken languages

Written language	Spoken language
Does not disappear	Disappear as soon as it is spoken. Sometimes it is very fast and sometimes slowly, with or without pauses
Uses punctuation and capital letters to identify sentences	Indicates the beginning of sentence and meaningful words with the help of word and sentence stress and intonation
Consists of letters, written words and sentences, punctuation is also within the text	Consists of sounds, single words, sentences and incomplete sentences joined together in connected speech
Often does not have visual support	The speaker usually uses body language to support his/her speech. For example, gestures, facial expressions
It is well organized, sentences are complete, follows one specific structure, logical sequence exists	Not so well organized, contains pauses, interruptions, hesitations, repetitions and frequent change of topic exists
Usually uses exact vocabulary and more complex grammar	Uses more general vocabulary and simple grammar rather than written language

Principles for good listening

Following are a number of listening skills, most of which not only benefit the ESL student but also the native speaker

Basics: Pay Attention

Even native speakers need help with this. Focus on the speaker. Look at him or her because facial expressions and body language can communicate as much as language. For instance, there will usually be more engagement with the listener in making eye contact and use of hand gestures if what the speaker is saying is of importance to him or her. In addition, it’s easy to mistake what someone actually said if you are not focusing on him or her and are engaged in some other task, such as reading or texting.

Practice Active Listening

Ask the speaker to slow down or repeat when you don’t understand or just want to be certain about what you heard. Repeat back what you think you heard him or her say, as there can often be a gap between what we thought we heard and what the speaker intended. This gap can be addressed by letting the speaker know what you heard: for example, “So what I’m hearing from you is that you would like quieter and fewer distractions after 9 p.m. so that you can study.” This is called “active listening,” in which the listening portion of a conversation becomes as active as the speaking part in communicating a message, and not only helps the listener in understanding what the speaker is saying, but also can help the speaker in organizing his thoughts and clarify what he wants to communicate: e.g., the speaker may be spluttering something about the late hour and her test tomorrow, and may not consciously know what she is trying to ask for—or is too reticent—until the listener clarifies.

Pay Attention to Structure

In a formal lecture or speech, the speaker will usually let you know ahead of time the organization of the discourse: “Today we will discuss the two types of diabetes, Type One and Type Two, although as we will see, there is some overlap—” and then what will follow is a description of Types One and Two, with the overlap probably addressed at the end. These devices, called “discourse markers,” actually help the listener in organizing and understanding the lecture. Even in less formal conversation, speakers will often structure their discourse, especially if they want to make certain they are understood: “Okay, there are a few issues I need to raise with you….” With this informal marker of “there are a few—” and the use of the word “issues,” the speaker signals the importance of what follows. “A few,” it may be noted, is a vague expression, and what follows may be anywhere from two to five or six issues. The listener may clarify when the “issues” are covered by asking “Is there anything else?” when the speaker pauses.

Listen for Key Words

What words does the speaker emphasize? Usually the speaker will let you know by stressing the main point: “Let’s talk about the TIME we will meet tomorrow….” The stressed word “time” signals that the time of tomorrow’s appointment is the main point, as does the marker “Let’s talk about—”

In addition, certain words signal importance by themselves, such as “issues,” as seen above: whatever follows “issues” is of importance. Other key words signaling importance are “concerns” and “points.”

Key Phrases or Markers

In formal lectures the speaker usually also “marks” main points with key phrases: “The main point is…” or “On the other hand, some people take an opposing viewpoint….” But even in everyday conversation the speaker often uses less formal markers: for example, “I guess what I’m trying to say is—” is often used before a main point.

Teaching Principles of Listening

Make the learners listen to many sources of spoken language: the teacher, other learners, visitors, CDs and DVDs. It exposes learners to a range of accents, speeds of delivery and text types.

Help students listen to recordings by pre-teaching key words, setting pre-listening tasks, focusing on gist listening in order to establish context, playing a recording the second or even third time.

Listening texts in course book are authentic material, which allow learners to develop the strategies for dealing with the challenge of real language, while simplified texts allow them to build up their confidence.

Giving them tasks such as completing tables, true/false, ticking correct answers in a list, putting in a correct order, etc. develops skills of attention.

Conclusion

So, from this article we have known what is listening and what skills it has. Moreover, this article involves principles of listening not only for students, but also for teachers in order to improve their teaching skills. And I am sure that these principles will be helpful for both of students and teachers.

References

http://www.academia.edu/7071182/TOPIC_1_PRINCIPLES_OF_TEACHING_LISTENING_AND_SPEAKING_SKILLS

http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/supergoal/Chapter2%20Section3.pdf

http://englishstudyhelp.blogspot.com/2012/06/principles-of-teaching-listening-in-l2.html

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