1 - Aural Comprehension Instruction

Aural Comprehension
Instruction: Principles
and Practices
Joan Morley
History of Listening and Language Learning
• Listening was not given much attention until the 70s.
• Among its proponents include Newmark and Diller who asserted that
listening should be taught both as a “foundation for speaking” and “ a
skill of its own.”
Importance of Learning and Teaching
Listening comprehension
• We listen twice as much as we speak, four times more than we read,

five times more than we write. ( Rivers, 198)
• it is possible to develop so-called 'speaking ability' and vet be so
virtually incompetent in understanding the spoken language. . . .
(Belasco, 1971)
Four Perspectives—Four Models of
Listening and Language Instruction
Listening and Repeating
Goals:
• to do pattern match
• Listen and imitate
• memorize
Listening and Answering Comprehension Questions
Learning Goals
- Process discrete information
- Listen and answer comprehension questions
Task Listening
Learning Goals
 To process spoken discourse for functional purposes;
 To listen and do something with the information, that is. carry out real
tasks using the information received.
Interactive Listening
Learning Goals
• To develop aural'oral skills in semiformal interactive academic

communication;
• to develop critical listening, critical thinking, and effective
speaking abilities.
SOME PSYCHOSOCIAL DIMENSIONS
OF LANGUAGE ANDTHE LISTENING
ACT
The Dynamics of Listening
Listening as an Active Process
• This implies that listening as a skill must be consciously developed and
honed.
• Gone are the days when speakers are told to imagine their audience as
walls or stumps.
Listening in Three Modes
• Bidirectional – listening as a two way process

• Unidirectional – listening from a source like public
announcement
• Autodirectional – listening to one’s inner thoughts, a self-
dialogue
Psychosocial Functions of Listening
• Interactional – a person-oriented function of listening done in
conversations; needs to develop in the learners the value of
empathic listening.
• Transactional – a message-oriented function usually taking place
in business transactions. This involves listening to explanations,
descriptions, directions, instructions etc.
Psychological
Processes
Involved in
Listening
Bottom Up Listening
• Focuses on the individual components of oral

discourse.
• Comprehension: a process of decoding messages,
processing from sounds to words, grammatical
relationships to lexical meaning.
Top-Down Processing
- Focuses on macro-features of discourse (e.g. speaker’s purpose and the
discourse topic)
- Comprehension: a process of activating the listener’s background
information and schemata for a global understanding of the message- top to
down
- “Involves prediction, and expectations and enables the listener of the reader
to bypass some aspects of bottom-up processing.” Richards. 1986)
Jack Richard on Listening Comprehension
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K21mag4VnDI
AFFECT AND ATTITUDE
Linguistic and Nonlinguistic Cues to Affect
• Linguistic messages – the exact message codes- choice of words
• Para-linguistic messages – vocally transmitted meaning (pitch, volume)
• Extra-linguistic messages – proxemics and body languages to convey
emotion.
Intellectual, Emotional, and Moral Attitudes
• Intellectual attitudes. Agreement/disagreement;

• Emotional attitudes. Pleasure/displeasure, interest, surprise, hope, fear,
worry
• Moral/ethical attitudes. Apologizing, indifference, regret etc.
DEVELOPING LISTENING
COMPREHENSION ACTIVITIES AND
MATERIALS
Principles
• Relevance. Use materials that are relatable to the context of the learners. This
implies teachers’ ingenuity and resourcefulness.
• Transferability/Applicability. Listening activities must use content that
students can use in real-life situations.
• Task Orientation. Listening activities must engage students to use the
language by exposing to content and operation experiences, and analyze the
language.
Communicative Outcomes: An
Organizing Framework
Outcome 1. Listening and Performing Actions
and Operations
• This could be done by asking the students to follow
instructions or directions.
Outcome 2: Listening and Transferring
Information
• They could be made to transfer information from spoken to spoken, like
a message relay; spoken to written for cloze test exercises or filling the
gap in a text based on an audio-recorded or read manuscript.
Outcome 3: Listening and Solving Problems
• This could be done by engaging the learners in activities like puzzle,
games, and other simulation activities requiring them to solve a
problem.
Outcome 4. Listening, Evaluating, and
Manipulating Information
• Some activities related to this would be engaging the students to an
argumentation activity where they deliberate, critique, and argue on
relevant issues.
Outcome 5. Interactive Listening- and-Speaking: Negotiating
Meaning through Questioning/Answering Routines
• To achieve this outcome, one can engage the students on activities that
require them to do ask questions, probe, negotiate, and clarify. Learners
are encouraged to ask questions that lead or elicit the following:
repetition, paraphrase, verification, clarification, elaboration, extension,
challenge.
Outcome 6. Listening for Enjoyment,
Pleasure, and Sociability
• This outcome is one of the easiest to achieve since learners often love
to be involved in listening activities that are closest to their interest.
They can listen to music, pep-talks, or video clips. However, one must
also be reminded that while it is for enjoyment, it still should adhere to
the previously stated principles in choosing materials for listening
activities.
“Active listening is being humble and hunting
and searching for the best idea possible.”
― Laurie Buchanan, PhD

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Aural Comprehension

• We listen twice as much as we speak, four times more than we read,

• To develop aural'oral skills in semiformal interactive academic

• Bidirectional – listening as a two way process

• Focuses on the individual components of oral

• Intellectual attitudes. Agreement/disagreement;

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