TOPIC 2

Introduction to Listening and

Speaking
Objectives

• To identify the relationship between Listening and Speaking

and the importance of developing these skills in the classroom

• To identify features of spoken and written language

• To listen and comprehend oral input with a variety of accents

 Features of Real Life Listening

• listen for a purpose and expectations (authenticity,

relevance and interest)
• immediate responses to what is heard
• short chunks, ellipsis
• Informal language – fillers, redundancy, colloquialism,
noise, etc.
• paralinguistic features help make meaning of what is
spoken.
• Stress and intonation
• visual or environmental clues to help make meaning
• Predicting and guessing
 Implications

• Select / design listening tasks or materials that are authentic,

relevant and interesting to learners.

• Provide a purpose for listening

• Listening is not an easy task in the classroom especially when

we cannot see the speaker as there are no paralinguistic
features to provide clues to what is being said nor the speaker
is there for clarification.
 Implications…con’t

• Spoken language is different from the written form. Hence

some of the features of the spoken form need to be taught e.g.
ellipsis, short form, tone and stress, etc.

• Learners should be taught to listen to the gist of spoken

language.

• Listening strategies e.g. predicting, guessing, use of

redundancy etc. should be taught to help learners learn to
listen.
 Written vs Spoken
Written

•Static form of transfer

•More precise – words can be chosen with greater deliberation and
thought
•Can be sophisticated, intricate and lengthy – pace of involvement
is controlled by writer and reader
•Can write and rewrite at greater length and span of time
•Option of rereading is available
•Appeals more to a contemplative, deliberate style
 Written vs Spoken
Spoken

•Dynamic transfer of information

•Higher level of immediacy and lower level of retention
•Engages audience psychologically
•Uses complex forms of non-verbal communication
•Can be precise – good preparation and compression
•Cannot be retracted
•More effective in expressing meaning to an audience – signals
(gestures, intonation, inflection, volume, pitch, pauses, movement,
visual cues)
 Written vs Spoken
Spoken…con’t

•Has more control over what listener will hear

•Immediate response from audience – visual cues (facial
expressions, gestures, eye contact, etc)
•Cannot go back and correct errors or omissions
•Uses words with fewer syllables
•Sentences are shorter
•Use of self-referencing pronouns – ‘I’ are common
•Allows incomplete sentences.
•Sentences begin with ‘and’, ‘but’ and ‘except’.