OBSERVING THE PERFORMANCE OF THE

FOUR SKILLS

• Things that we can observe during listening

as the receptive skills are process and
product (invisible, audible)
• Listening is arguably the least understood
and most overlooked of the four skills (L, S,
R and W) in the language classroom (Nation,
2009)
 THE IMPORTANCE OF LISTENING

• Listening is often implied as a component of

speaking
• Listening is important for in-person communication
with estimates that it accounts for more than
45% time spent communicating (Ockey, 2012)
• Over 50 percent of the time that students spend
functioning in a foreign language will be devoted
to listening (Nation, 2009)
 TYPES OF LISTENING

• Intensive: phonemes, words, intonation

• Responsive: a greeting, command, question
• Selective: TV , radio news items, stories
• Extensive: listening for the gist, the main idea, making
inference
WHAT MAKES LISTENING DIFFICULT

1. Clustering
Chunking-phrases, clauses, constituents

2. Redundancy
Repetitions, Rephrasing, Elaborations and
Insertions
3. Reduced Forms
Understanding the reduced forms that may
not have been a part of English learner’s past
experiences in classes where only formal
”textbook” language has been presented

4. Performance variables
Hesitations, False starts, Corrections, Diversion
DESIGNING ASSESSMENT TASKS : INTENSIVE
LISTENING

1. Recognizing Phonological & Morphological Elements

a. Phonemics pair, consonants

Test-takers read : a. He’s from California

b. She’s from California
 Test-takers write the missing words or phrases in the blanks

• Flight to Portland will depart from gate at

P.M

• Flight to Reno will depart at

P.M from gate seventeen
 Test-takers write the missing words or phrases in the blanks

• Flight to Portland will depart from gate at

P.M

• Flight to Reno will depart at

P.M from gate seventeen