Course Title: English Listening Practice II(II) (Spring Semester, 2024)

Tutor: Prof. Ming-Yu Tseng (曾銘裕)

Objectives
This course is designed to help students
(1) develop listening and speaking skills and bridge the gap between social and academic or
professional uses of these skills.
(2) explore different types of listening.
(3) acquire effective listening strategies (getting the main idea, drawing inferences, identifying
phonological clues, and recognizing sound reduction).
(4) learn the skills to cope with different types of listening.

Contents
Students are required to repeatedly practice the listening skills learned throughout the semester.
Supplementary listening materials will be drawn from various sources, for example, BBC, CNN,
YouTube clips, etc. Students will be exposed to as much authentic spoken English as possible.
Although the focus is on listening, various speaking activities will be used.

2/13 Course Requirements; What Makes Listening Difficult; Metacognitive Awareness &
Strategies; Points for Presentations
2/20 HM (Ch. 5); Video (Steven Jobs on a Successful Product); Video (Foldable Bikes)
2/27 HM (Ch. 5); Video (Hyperloop); Presentation 1
3/6 HM (Ch. 6); Video (Virtual & Augmented Realities); Presentation 2
3/13 HM (Ch. 6); IELTS Practice; Presentation 3
3/20 HM (Ch. 6); Listening: Emotional Intelligence; Presentation 4
3/27 IA (Ch. 6); IELTS Practice; Presentation 5
4/3 IELTS Practice; Video (TechShop); Presentation 6
4/10 Mid-term Exam
4/17 Review of Mid-term Exam Questions; Conferences with Students
4/24 HM (Ch. 8); Video (Google Interns); Presentation 7
5/1 HM (Ch. 8); Video (A People Walker); Presentation 8
5/8 HM (Ch. 8); Video (Metaverse); Presentation 9
5/15 HM (Ch. 9); TOEFL-ibt Practice; Presentation 10
5/22 IA (Ch. 7); TED Talk (What Makes a Happy Life); Presentation 11
5/29 Final
6/4 Self-Practice
6/11 Self-Practice

Assessment
Class participation (i.e. willingness to discuss, attendance) 10%
Presentation 30%
Mid-term Exam 30%
Final Exam 30%
Note:
1. Extra listening assignment (optional; up to 5 extra points to be added to the final grade
received)
Students are encouraged to do extra listening work and will gain up to extra 5 points based on the
quality demonstrated in the submitted assignment and the amount of work done.
2. Students are expected to attend class regularly. Absences of more than 3 hours will begin to
affect your grade: For each additional hour of absence you lose one point unless the proof of
an excused absence is presented (e.g. 公假單 or 看診證明;請假但無證明者若缺席已累積超
過 3hrs，仍算缺席)
3. High-level concentration is a key to improving listening comprehension.

Textbook: A dossier of handouts compiled by the teacher and a selection of teaching materials from
The Heart of the Matter (HM) and The Idiom Advantage (IA) will be used.
Office Hours & Office: Monday 10:00-12:00, Tuesday 10:00-12:00; Liberal Arts Building 6024

Points for in-class presentations: Exploring Listening Strategies and Types of Listening
1. Use a website or a video that features a listening skill or self-training method that you find
useful in improving English listening comprehension
- Avoid describing the pros and cons of a site
- Demonstrate how to use the site or, even better, prepare a listening exercise and give your
fellow students at least 3-5 minutes to practice it.
- Supply keys to the exercise
2. Use another video that you find useful in demonstrating not only a particular type of listening
but also relate your interest, e.g. about food, music, TOEFL, IELTS etc.
- Explain the background of the video
- If necessary, also list in the handout the expressions unfamiliar to your fellow students
- Put the transcript of the used part in the handout
- Prepare questions for active listening practice after playing the video for the first time
- When playing it the second time, you can ask everyone to do fill-in-the-blank exercise and
then check if everyone understands it well
- Have at least a follow-up question that demonstrate your purpose of using the listening
episode, e.g. by stating your reflection and inviting your fellow students to share their views.
- Choose one or two must-know sentences from the video transcript and paraphrase it in
English and translate it into Chinese
3. When doing your presentation, try to engage your fellow students by designing some activity
for them to do, at the same time, to demonstrate your own participation in your listening project
(e.g. by doing the task you want to demonstrate).
4. Types of presentation
- A listening project matching your interest
o Listen for ways to describe and comment on a topic of your interest
- An academic listening project
o Prepare for an IELTS or TOEFL test or
o Listen to a formal or an academic talk
- An interpreter project or about interpreter training
o Showcase an interpreter’s job and demonstrate it
- Any other type of project approved by the teacher
5. All the students in each group should do a job for your presentation and should talk when doing
your presentation.

Extra Listening Assignment (optional)

For the extra listening assignment, please state what you have done this semester in order to
improve your English listening in some of the above respects. Please note the following:
1. Specify
- when you do it and how long each listening session lasts.
- what sources your extra listening exercises come from (e.g. which website, which book or
software)
- what you have learned (e.g. your notes taken)
2. Reflect on your overall progress made due to the extra work you have done.