ASSESSMENT OF LISTENING

Helen Huntley
Senior English Language Fellow
MOET, Hanoi, Vietnam
 The Reading/Listening
Connection

• How is the assessment of listening

different from the assessment of
reading??
• How is it similar??
 Micro-skills for Listening

• discriminate among the distinctive sounds of English

• retain chunks of language in short-term memory
• recognize English stress patterns, rhythm, intonation
• recognize reduced forms of words
• distinguish word boundaries
• interpret word order patterns
• process speech at different rates of delivery
• process speech containing pauses, errors, corrections
• recognize grammatical word forms, patterns, rules
• recognize cohesive devices
• recognize meaning expressed through different
grammatical patterns
 Macro-skills for Listening

• recognize the communicative function of

utterances
• identify main ideas from supporting details
• make inferences using real-world knowledge
• predict outcomes and infer connections
• distinguish between literal and implied
meanings
• use non-verbal clues to assist comprehension
• use listening strategies (guessing vocabulary,
signaling comprehension etc.)
 Listening Assessment Tips
• Make sure students have enough contextualization to
understand the listening text
• Provide a communicative purpose for the listening
• Focus on assessing the listening skills, not spelling,
grammar etc.
• Include both detail questions and meaning questions
• Don’t expect full comprehension
• Consider integrating skills in the types of questions:
discrimination of phonemes, paraphrase recognition, short
answers, cloze, dictation, information transfer tasks, note-taking
 Test Content
Test specifications for Listening might include
the following:
• Text types (narrative, descriptive etc.)

• Speech types (dialogues, monologues)

• Mode of listening: audio, video, reader

• Varieties of English

• Scripted or unscripted

• Length of listening, number of exchanges in

dialogues
 Paraphrase Recognition

Steven nailed his presentation this

morning.

a. Steven used nails at work today.

b. Steven’s presentation was very
successful.
c. Steven injured himself after his
presentation today.
 Objective Format #1

The newly-weds took a much-needed

break at a resort last weekend.

True/False
The couple got married last weekend.
 Objective Format #2

What would you like to do next weekend?

A. Yes, I would.
B. B. Just relax.
C. About two days.
D. In five minutes.
 Short-Answer Questions
Two years ago I spent a week hiking in
Colorado. It was one of the most energetic
vacations I’ve ever had. Every day, we
walked for five hours, then we set up camp.
At the campsite, we read for a few hours,
then made dinner over a campfire.

How many hours a day did he walk? _________

What did he do before dinner? _____________
 Listening Cloze

Two years ago I _____ a week hiking in

Colorado. It was _____ of the most
energetic _____ I’ve ever had. Every
day, we walked for _____ hours, then
we set _____ camp. At the campsite,
we read for a _____ hours, then _____
dinner over a campfire.
 Dictation

First reading: natural speed, no pauses

Second reading: breaks after chunks of
4/5 connected words; read at a slower
speed
Third reading: normal speed, no pauses
 Information Transfer

Flight # Leaves Arrives in Flight # Leaves Arrives in

Hanoi Bangkok Hanoi Bangkok

590 6:19 p.m. 590 1:50 p.m.

180 6:13 a.m. 180 11:30 a.m.
918 2:50 p.m. 918 9:40 a.m.
713 10:14 a.m. 713 4:40 pm
 Listening Tasks for Testing
Understanding
Read through the different types of
activities for Listening assessment in
your handout. Discuss with a partner.

Which activities have you used in your

classes or for tests?
Which activities do you want to try out?
 ASSESS THE LISTENING TEST

Assess the Listening test in your handout.

• What are the strengths of this test?

• What are the weaknesses?

• How would you design a test using this

listening script?