Techniques of Teaching

Listening Comprehension
in Different
Communicational Contexts

N THIS TOPIC..
2.4 Techniques of Teaching
Listening Comprehension in
Different Comunicational
Contexts
2.4.1 Understanding words and
concepts
2.4.2 Understanding sentences
2.4.3 Listening comprehension
2.4.4 Critical listening
2.4.5 Story reading

Listening is a difficult skill

need to make sure that pupils are always motivated

should provide a context for listening. Tell them what kind

of text they are going to listen to

When pupils listen to the input for the first time,set them
some straightforward questions which will help them get a
grasp of the overall text

Prepare your pupils for the main listening task by doing plenty of prelistening tasks which will help them succeed in whatever kind of
listening task they are required to do

Ask questions
or set tasks

Listening and writing at the same time

is difficult. Use formats that require
minimun writing

Arrange the questions in the

order in which the answer appear
on the tape

Listening is a difficult skill and grading input and activities

to the ability level of pupils is very important.
Generally we can grade the inputs to match three groups
of pipils namely, the beginners, imtermediate and
advanced learners

Beginners

Groups
Advanced
Learners

Intermediat
en

Beginners

Intermediat
en
Advanced
Learner

cannot distinguish an English speech

sound from the noises in the
environment or the sounds of other
languages they do not know

a fairly good grasp of the phonemic

system of English but as most of the
listening they did at the beginners level
comprised fully scripted texts

very proficient in the language

can process the language almost
automatically without paying conscious
attention to it

ASPECTS OF
LISTENING

Understanding words and concepts

As far as possible, use actual objects

. Names of
objects

Verb
meanings

Pictures

to teach the names.

perform the actions

make use of pictures

. Concepts of
attributes
Development
of concepts
Classes of
objects

use contrasting attributes, such as roughsmooth, pretty-ugly, long-short, big-small

teach concepts beyond the object itself. For

example, when teaching the word chair,
help pupils understand that there could be
many different types of chair.

The teacher should also think of ways to

teach superordinates or category words like
vehicle, animals and fruits. These words are
easy to teach but not as easy to understand.

Understanding sentences

Directions

Identifying the correct picture

Function words

simple directions in sentences to provide the pupil

with experience in understanding sentences.

line up several pictures. Then

the teacher say a sentence and ask the pupil to
point to the correct picture.

are words like the, an, behind, and, but and

so forth.
These words cannot be taught in isolation but should
be taught in the context of a situation

Listening comprehension
teacher can read a set of directions on making something. Have
the materials ready and ask the pupils to follow the directions
step by step.
Following
directions

Sequence of
events

Provide the pupils with a series of pictures that can be arranged

in sequence to tell a story.
Read the story and ask the pupil to arrange the pictures
according to the story.

Listening to detail

Getting the main idea

Making inferences and

drawing conclusions

Read a story to the learner and ask detailed

questions about the story
Phrase your question as true or false statements
and questions. Use the who, what, where and how
questions.

Read a short story to the student and then ask

him to make up a good title for the story.
The teacher could also ask the learner to choose
the main idea from three choices.

Read part of a story that the learner does not

know.
Stop at an exciting point and ask the pupil to
guess what will happen next
The teacher could also ask the learner to choose
the main idea from three choices..

Critical listening

Recognizing absurdities

Listening to advertisements

Tell a short story using a word or

phrase that does not fit the story.
Ask the pupil to find out what is funny
or absurd about the story.

Ask the pupil to listen to

advertisements and determine how the
advertiser is trying to persuade people
to buy the products.

Story reading
Listening to stories read by the
teachers will help pupils to develop
their understanding of language,
improve their grammar and learn the
structure of stories. Teachers should
have frequent reading sessions with
their pupils.

For these reading sessions, the

teacher:
a. should involve all the children in the story by
asking appropriate questions
b. could make use of predictable books
c. should use well-illustrated books
d. should reread favourite stories
e. should provide follow-up activities

THE END