Listening strategies

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

Essential listening skills

Which five skills do we need to develop to become good listeners?

1. Predicting content
   
2. Listening for gist
   
3. Listening for details
4. Inferring meaning
5. Detecting sign posts
   

1. Predicting content

Depending on the context you can often predict the kind of words and style of language the speaker will use. 

• Our knowledge of the world helps us anticipate the kind of information we are likely to hear. 
• Vocabulary stored in our brains is 'activated' to help us better understand what we're listening to. 

Imagine you've just turned on your TV. You see a man in a suit standing in front of a large map with the symbols of a sun, clouds and thunder. What do you imagine he is about to tell you? 

NEWS ITEM:
'Coronavirus cases: what do the numbers mean?'
Let’s predict what we expect to hear.

https:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/54069217

Coronavirus cases: what do the numbers mean?

An increase in positive test results

More tests are being carried out

Ease of lockdown - effect

Younger people

Good practise measures

Tougher rules

2. Listening for gist

Understand what is happening even if you can’t understand every phrase or sentence.

When listening, it is possible to get the ‘whole picture’: information comes in a sequence. And in that sequence of information, there are content words (the nouns, adjectives and verbs) that can help you form that picture.

For example, the words 'food', 'friends', 'fun', 'park' and 'sunny day' have their own meanings, but when you hear the words in sequence, they help form the context of a picnic.

 

3. Listening for details

When listening for details, you are interested in a specific kind of information. You can ignore anything that does not sound relevant. In this way, you are able to narrow down your search and get the detail you need.

For example, if you are asked to write down the age of a person, listen for the words related to age ('old', 'young', 'years', 'date of birth', etc.) or a number that could represent that person's age. 

Let's practise listening for details and listening for gist:

Pay attention to any vocabulary about 'feelings'.

01:00

How did the presenter feel about Solomon's email?

04:32

How did Solomon feel about the presenter's replies?

09:41

What was the gist of the presentation?

4. Inferring meaning

Deduce or conclude (something) from evidence and reasoning rather than from explicit statements.

For example, someone has a diaper in their hand, spit-up on their shirt, and a bottle warming on the counter. You can infer that this character is the parent of a newborn baby.

Practice

After playing a short clip of a commercial 

you have to answer what it was about.

BUT!

Half the class turns around or covers their eyes 

and the other half looks at the screen.

Students who were listening but not watching:
what was this commercial about?

Students who were listening and watching:
what was this commercial about?

01:01

Now the other half of the class...

Students who were listening but not watching:
what gift did the graduate receive?

Students who were listening and watching:
what gift did the graduate receive?

5. Detecting sign posts

Just like the traffic lights on roads, there are signposts in language that help us follow what we're listening to. These words, which link ideas, help us to understand what the speaker is talking about and where they are taking us. 

For example, if a university lecturer says: 'I am going to talk about three factors affecting global warming…' then later on you might hear the phrases 'first of all', 'moving on to' and 'in summary' to indicate the next part of the talk. 

Why do so many incompetent men become leaders?

We’re going to watch a TedEd video called: 

‘Why do so many incompetent men become leaders?’

Take 2 minutes to discuss with your classmate the following:

• How do you expect it to be organised, in other words:                                  what is the structure of the talk going to be like?
  
• Examples of signpost language that you expect to hear.

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