Dimensions in teaching of listening comprehension,
Jack C. Richards
APPROACH
Tries to understand the nature of listening
comprehension and takes into account the
processes that the listeners make use of.
A related level of
discourse processing
1 prepositional identification:
prepositions are the basic units of
meaning involved.
2 Interpretation of illocutionary force.
3. An activation of real world knowledge
Central processes of listening
comprehension and ways in
which spoken discourse and
written text differ.
Clausal basis of speech:
several clauses coordinated
Reduced forms: speakers need
to express meanings efficiently
Ungrammatical forms:
ungrammatical forms and
constructions are frequent.
Pausing and speech errors:
pauses, hesitations, false starts,
and corrections in speech.
Rate of delivery: our perception
of the pace of speech is
affected by pausing.
Rhythm and stress:
Cohesive devices
Information content
Interactive: formal or informal
discourse.
DESIGN
The design component of methodology enables the
identification of component micro-skills which
provide the focus for instructional activities.
Design phase in curriculum
development
Diagnostic testing assessment
Assessment of learners needs
Diagnostic testing
Formulation of instructional objectives
Needs assessment
Taxonomy of listening skills
PROCEDURE
In teaching listening comprehension the objective
is to provide opportunities for the learner to
acquire particular microskills.
Two variables in teaching listening that can be be
manipulated and they serve to develop in particular
skills areas Input and tasks.
Criteria that can be applied to the
evaluation of exercises and classroom
procedures.
criteria for evaluating activities and exercises
content validity
purposefulness and transferability
testing or teaching
authenticity
Characteristics of spoken texts (aspects of
comprehension that are unique to listening)
Phonological modification
in rapid speech, adjacent sounds influence each
other. Such modifications take place according to
a set of a very complex rules, and these rules
vary from one language to another.
E.G. English language. * Assimilation, when sounds influence the
pronunciation of adjacent sounds. * Elision, when
sounds are dropped in rapid speech.. * Intrusion,
when a new sound is introduced between other
sounds.
Also, a little words with a grammatical function usually have
two pronunciations Strong and weak form.
Phonological modification and language
comprehension phonological system: real
speakers Vs classroom pronunciation
Accent
Prosodic features: stress
and intonation
Word stress / Sentence stress
Intonation
Prosody and comprehension
Hesitation and language comprehension
Discourse structure
Non-verbal signals
Factors influencing Engllish Liistening comprenhensionand possible
measures for improvement
In China the GTM has been found inadequate because
it was found that English must be taught as a tooll for
communication.
According to Asher, Postovsky, Winitz, Krashen the role of listening is a tool
for understanding and emhasized as key factor in facilitating language
learning.
Teachers must explore...
Nature and process of listening comprenhension
study the theory and methodology of LC
Listening strategies contribute to the
comprenhension and recall of listening
input.
Listening strategies are
classified according to the way
the listener processes the input.
Complex sentences are
different from one language to
another
Cultural knowledge and thinking differences
between languages affect listening
comprenhension
It is essential to encourage ss to be autonomous.
Discrimination in English
pronunciation, intonation and
language flow are the most
important fro beginners.
Predictive ability is an important micro skill.
The ability to guess the meaning is also an important lmicro skills.