Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the

communication process. It is a key to all effective communication. Without the

ability to listen effectively, messages are easily misunderstood. Hence, as listening
comprehension is the basis for your speaking, writing and reading skills it is
important to listen actively, which means to fully pay attention to what you are
listening to in order to train your listening skills.

Below are the following purposes of listening:

• Listening for gist. You listen to understand the main idea of the text.
• Listening for specific information. You want to find out specific details, or
example key words.
• Listening for detailed understanding. You want to understand all the
information the text provides.
Listening Strategies
▪ Top-Down Listening Strategy
Top down listening happens when we use background knowledge to make sense of
what we are listening to. We already know a fair amount about the topic, and the
story or information we are getting fits into a previously established schema (the
knowledge the listener already has about the world and about certain types of
discourse (Anderson & Lynch 1988:13). It focuses on the ‘big’ picture and general
meaning of a listening text. Often the starting point is to discuss the topic and then
to use a ‘gist’ or ‘extensive’ task to listen for the overall meaning.
Top-down listening strategies include listening for main idea, predicting,
drawing inferences and summarizing
▪ Bottom-Up Listening Strategy
Bottom-up listening happens when we understand language sound by sound or word
by word, with less use of background knowledge. It focuses on listening for details
and involve tasks that focus on understanding at a sound or word level. Tasks are
‘intensive’, as they focus on looking for details.
Bottom-up strategies include listening for specific details, recognizing
cognates and recognizing word-order patterns.