Listening for young learners
Submitted by TE Editor on 12 July, 2005 - 13:00
In this article I will briefly focus on how I try to develop listening skills with our young learners who are learning English as an additional language. I will identify a number of learning theories, together with a list of considerations and cautions with some insights that I have gained from trying to make listening in my classroom more comprehensible.
- The nature of listening
- Why we need to develop listening skills
- Theories I consider when I develop listening skills
- Some considerations for classroom listening
- What I do to be more comprehensible
- Conclusion
The nature of listening
'Listening is an active not a passive operation.' Garvie. With this in mind I would like to emphasise three things:
- The importance of understanding this concept of listening being an active engagement. That is, as a listener, the mind is actively searching for meaning.
- The importance of what Krashen calls 'comprehensible input' (CI) or that 'we acquire when we understand what people tell us or what we read, when we are absorbed in the message.' Individual progress is dependent on the input containing aspects of the target language that 'the acquirer has not yet acquired, but is developmentally ready to acquire.'
This seems to imply the importance of ensuring that the language level is matched to the learners, which means teachers must understand their learners' abilities.
- Krashen advises that acquisition proceeds best when 'the acquirer's level of anxiety is low and self-confidence is high.'
This seems to enforce the importance of making the learning environment in our classrooms non-threatening.
Why we need to develop listening skills
'If someone is giving you a message or opinion, then of course you have to be able to understand it in order to respond.' (Brewster, Ellis, Girard).
Listening skills need to have a 'real-life' meaning, Donaldson says that children need 'purposes and intentions' which they can recognise and respond to in others 'these human intentions are the matrix in which the child's thinking is embedded.'
This implies that we need to carefully select materials and purposes for practising listening skills and that they need to have an authentic meaning to young learners
Source : http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk
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