Teaching Listening and Speaking skills

Le, V. C. (2016). Teaching Listening in

mixed-ability classes.
Group presentation
1. Nguyen Thanh Tam (M1620043)
2. Huynh Truong Sang (M1620041)
3. Nguyen Trung Kien (M1620020)
4. Do Nguyen Dat (M1620008)
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

01 03
INTRODUCTION STRATEGIES 3-4
Thanh Tam Trung Kien

02 04
STRATEGIES 1-2 STRATEGIES 5-6 – Conclusion
Truong Sang Do Dat
 0
1
Introduction
 Teaching and
Learning L2 Listening
Listening is a crucial skill as “it enables language learners to receive and interact with language input
and facilitates the emergence of other language skills” (Vandergrift & Goh, 2012, p. 4)

Listening is a challenging skill to acquire because learners cannot take control of what they hear, the
speed and accent of the speakers, the familiarity of topics as well as the listener’s relevant
vocabulary and content schema.
Bottom-up listening

Bottom-up skills include the ability to recognize the words L2 learners

hear and identify how the function words perform in the target listening
text, both in terms of grammar and discourse (Richards, 2015).
→ Understand language sound by sound, word by word, less
background knowledge
Top-down listening

Top-down processing skills enable learners to “bring background

knowledge and situational knowledge to comprehension” (Richards,
2015, pp. 379–380), as well as to compensate for their lexical deficiency.
→ use background knowledge to make sense of what learners are
listening to → part of the knowledge, stories or information being shared
seem to fit into the learners' established schema
Mixed-ability class

Heterogeneous class: age, native language, learning style preferences

Mixed-ability class: a mix of proficiency in the target language,

differences in knowledge of English, language learning abilities, prior
language learning experiences, levels of motivation and interest, etc
 Teaching listening
in mixed-ability classes

Teachers need to assign tasks that are of suitable difficulty to their

students’ varied proficiency levels to make the listening lessons beneficial
in different ways to different learners.
 02
STRATEGIES 1-
2
 STRATEGY 1.
PLANNING DIFFERENTIATED
LISTENING OUTCOMES
Fisher (2001, p.1) has claimed, “All children are born with potential and we cannot be sure
of the learning limits of any child”.

 Depending on learners’ knowledge, teachers may plan a variety of learning outcomes

LISTENING OUTCOMES – Tactics for Basic Listening
 STRATEGY 2.
COMPULSORY PLUS OPTIONAL TASKS
According to Ur (2012, p. 279), this strategy is “to have a compulsory ‘core’ task which is
easy enough to be successfully completed by all members of the class, and also an extra
component which is longer and more challenging, but clearly defined as optional”
How to use this strategy?
- Activate students’ topic-related vocabulary before listening: introduce the topic → write down or
say at least 5 words → read individually and explain why?
- Or, answer three questions according to what they hear: high-achievers > low-achievers →
adaptation of listening questions to ensure the weaker ones’ engagement
- Two sets of comprehension questions: set A - factual questions for low-proficiency >< set B -
inference questions for high-proficiency ones
 03
STRATEGIES 3-
4
 STRATEGY 3.
COLLABORATIVE
LISTENING
In doing collaborative tasks, the students can exchange they thoughts, discuss together, share the
information or idea with each other, and then give the evaluation to what they have made.
Ur (2012) notes that collaboration encourages students to learn from one another, which enables them
to perform the task better as a result. The students who have low ability, will be helped by the students
who have higher ability.
 Recommended collaborative
listening activities
- Pair a stronger student with a weaker one.
- Give the students a transcript of the listening text
with key words deleted.
1. Gap-fill - Have the students guess the missing words before
listening to the text and checking their guesses.
exercises ➜ implicitly trains both high-achievers and low-
achievers how to identify key words while
listening.
 - after doing a listening activity, the teacher hands out the transcript, with chunks
of 2-3 words deleted.
- students have to listen and complete the gaps, then compare their answers in
pairs or groups before listening again to check.
2. Dictation - the teacher gives the students a chance to discuss and agree on their answers
before feeding back to the class.
➜ raise the students’ phonological awareness, develop their decoding skills and
encourage peer-teaching
 STRATEGY 4. VARIATION
In teaching a mixed-ability class, it is essential that teachers design activities that require different
levels of response and different levels of participation.
➜ design multilevel worksheets that contain different versions of the same task that differ in terms of
task complexity.
Example: listening and checking a box may be easier than listening and writing a word; giving a
summary is more difficult than giving details (Helgesen & Brown, 2007)
 Recommended listening tasks

- ask students to give reasons for their answers

either in English or in their first language.
1. True/false - the level of task challenge and the pace should
also be varied.
activity
➜ help students to avoid feeling bored.
2. Comprehension - the teacher gives students enough time and space to answer
questions and nominates, by asking a question one by one before
questions nominating a student.
- the teacher needs to consider how easy the question should be
and to choose students who are able to answer.
- start with easier questions for weaker students, alternating with
harder questions for stronger ones.
3. Multiple choice - The teacher can go through the questions with the whole class
questions first, asking the class to guess the answers before listening.
➜ motivate high-proficiency listeners while low-proficiency
listeners may have a try having listened to their peers’ information.
➜ the teacher should nominate both those who volunteer, and
those who do not.
 04
STRATEGIES 5 - 6 - Conclusion
 STRATEGY 5.
PERSONALISATION

● A basic aspect of task design and a way to arouse interest. (Ur, 2012)
● Give students an opportunity to “personalise” their understanding.
For example: ask questions as a post-listening activity
● To encourage students to raise their problems.
● Most problems related to phonological awareness and not knowing the meaning => replay a
specific part of the text.
 STRATEGY 6. LISTENING
ASSESSMENT
● Students competing in grades => increase anxiety and lower self-esteem (Vandergrift & Goh,
2012).
● A connection between listening practice that focuses on process and formative assessment =>
Formative assessment over summative assessment.
● Formative assessment provides students’ progress and areas for improvement.
● Useful formative instrument: learner checklists; questionnaires; listening diaries
● Teachers can respond periodically or during teacher-student conferences.
 04
CONCLUSION
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DISCUSSION

How could we adapt/design

this sample listening activity
for a mixed ability class?
Saturdays, Mondays, zebras, lion, giraffes, monkey

➜ Suggested design