Advance Organizers

In top-down processing, learners use their background knowledge to predict

the content of a listening. As we have discussed, predicting activates student’s
prior knowledge and engages them with the text even before listening. In a
prediction activity, you can have learners look at a title, headline, or picture
and make predictions about the content of the listening text. After the learners
have listened to the text, they can then compare what they have learned with
what they had previously predicted, thus connecting their ideas with those of
the text.
A tool to help learners with predicting is the advance organizer. As the name
indicates, advance organizers are given prior to the listening text and help
learners to understand the organization of and relationship between ideas in
the text. Some examples of advance organizers are an outline, a graphic
organizer, or a KWL chart. In an outline, details are intentionally excluded so
that learners have to predict what is missing. The outline will also guide
leaners to better understanding the structure of the listening text. A graphic
organizer, such as a Venn diagram, a T-chart or a tree diagram, visually
represents information. For example, if learners are going to listen to a talk
about two different types of penguins, they could be given a Venn diagram
(see below) prior to listening and asked to note down, individually or in pairs,
any similarities or differences. During and after the listening, learners can
check and revise their predictions. Through this activity, they also better
understand the relationship between ideas.

Emperor Penguins African Penguins

The KWL chart (see below) is often used in the classroom. Through the chart,
learners brainstorm what they know about the topic and what they want to
learn about it. After the lesson, they write down what they have learned. This
is a particularly effective tool in permitting both learners and teachers to see if
the objectives of the class were accomplished.

Topic______________________________
K W L
What I KNOW What I WANT to know What I LEARNED

All of these organizers may be used with readings as well.

No matter which advance organizer is chosen, the use of them is important for
helping learners to activate prior knowledge, understand the organization of
and relationship between ideas, and connect their ideas with those of the
listening text. The result? Learners are more engaged while listening and
more engaged in the classroom.
Reading created by Alissa Nostas

References and Additional Readings

East Carolina University (2014). Organizers, graphic organizers, advance organizers.
Retrieved fromhttps://www.ecu.edu/cs-educ/TQP/upload/ISLES-S-Organizers-
Procedural-Aug2014.pdf

Learning Theory Project Team of HKU (2016). What teachers should know about learning:
Advance organizers. Retrieved from http://kb.edu.hku.hk/advance_organizers.html
Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository (2016). Advance organizer. Retrieved from
https://topr.online.ucf.edu/index.php/Advance_Organizer
Public Domain Images
Emperor Penguin: https://pixabay.com/en/penguins-emperor-antarctic-life-429134/
African Penguin: https://pixabay.com/en/african-penguin-aves-221556/