Examining the usefulness to learners of processes taught in L2 English listening courses
-
Michael Yeldham
Abstract
Scholars have recommended various listening processes to help develop second language listeners’ abilities, processes that have been largely included in current listening course materials. However, there has been little research examining the usefulness of these various processes for the listeners, and therefore knowledge is lacking into which of these processes may be worth foregrounding in such courses and why. This study provides initial insights into these areas. Lower-intermediate level learners are taught in two listening courses, and then provide accounts of which strategies and skills benefitted them the most (and also the least, in some instances), and also reasons why. Learners’ views are supported by their accompanying growth in listening proficiency, and where possible, in the relevant strategy or skill they are evaluating. The study also provides information regarding the possible sequencing of some processes in a listening course.
References
Afflerbach, Peter, P. David Pearson & Scott G. Paris. 2008. Clarifying differences between reading skills and reading strategies. The Reading Teacher 61(5). 364–373.10.1598/RT.61.5.1Suche in Google Scholar
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. 1986. ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. Hastings-on-Hudson, New York: ACTFL.Suche in Google Scholar
Beeman, Mark J., Edward M. Bowden & Morton A. Gernsbacher. 2000. Right and left hemisphere cooperation for drawing predictive and coherence Inferences during normal story comprehension. Brain and Language 71. 310–336.10.1006/brln.1999.2268Suche in Google Scholar
Brown, Gillian. 1990. Listening to spoken English, 2nd edn. London: Longman.Suche in Google Scholar
Brown, Steven & Dorolyn Smith. 2007. Active listening, 2nd edn. vols. 1–3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Buck, Gary. 1995. How to become a good listening teacher. In David J. Mendelsohn & Joan Rubin (eds.), A guide for the teaching of second language listening, 113–128. San Diego: Dominie Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Buck, Gary. 2001. Assessing listening. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511732959Suche in Google Scholar
Celce-Murcia, Marianne, Donna M. Brinton & Janet M. Goodwin. 1996. Teaching pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Cutler, Anne & Wilma van Donselaar. 2001. Voornam is not (really) a homophone: Lexical prosody and lexical access in Dutch. Language and Speech 44(2). 171–195.10.1177/00238309010440020301Suche in Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. Anders & Herbert A. Simon. 1993. Protocol analysis: Verbal reports as data, Revised edn. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/5657.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar
Field, John. 1998. Skills and strategies: Towards a new methodology for listening. ELT Journal 52(2). 110–118.10.1093/elt/52.2.110Suche in Google Scholar
Field, John. 2003. Promoting perception: Lexical segmentation in L2 listening. ELT Journal 57(4). 325–334.10.1093/elt/57.4.325Suche in Google Scholar
Field, John. 2008. Listening in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Gilbert, Judy. 2005. Clear speech: Pronunciation and listening comprehension in American English, 3rd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Gilbert, Judy. 2012. Clear speech: Pronunciation and listening comprehension in American English, 4th edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Graesser, Arthur C. & Leslie F. Clark. 1985. Structures and procedures of implicit knowledge. Norwood, NJ: AblexSuche in Google Scholar
Graesser, Arthur C., Keith K. Millis & Rolf A. Zwaan. 1997. Discourse comprehension. Annual Review of Psychology 48(1). 163–189.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195376746.013.0030Suche in Google Scholar
Graham, Suzanne. 1997. Effective language learning: Positive strategies for advanced level language learning. Clevedon Avon, England: Multilingual Matters Ltd.Suche in Google Scholar
Graham, Suzanne & Ernesto Macaro. 2008. Strategy instruction in listening for lower-intermediate learners of French. Language Learning 58(4). 747–783.10.1111/j.1467-9922.2008.00478.xSuche in Google Scholar
Harris, David P. & Leslie A. Palmer. 1986. Comprehensive English language test (CELT). New York: McGraw-Hill.Suche in Google Scholar
Hulstijn, Jan H. 2003. Connectionist models of language processing and the training of listening skills with the aid of multimedia software. Computer Assisted Language Learning 16(5). 413–425.10.1076/call.16.5.413.29488Suche in Google Scholar
Lynch, Tony. 2009. Teaching second language listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Macaro, Ernesto. 2001. Learning strategies in foreign and second language classroom. London: Continuum.Suche in Google Scholar
Mendelsohn, David J. 1994. Learning to listen: A strategy-based approach for the second-language learner. San Diego, CA: Dominie Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Mendelsohn, David J. 2006. Learning how to listen using learning strategies. In Esther Usó-Juan & Alice Martínez-Flor (eds.), Current trends in the development and teaching of the four language skills, 75–90. Berlin: M. de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110197778.2.75Suche in Google Scholar
Oxford, Rebecca L. 1990. Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know. New York: Newbury House Publishers.Suche in Google Scholar
Peterson, Pat W. 2001. Skills and strategies for proficient listening. In Marianne Celce-Murcia(ed.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language, 3rd edn., 87–100. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.Suche in Google Scholar
Renshaw, Jason. 2007. Boost! listening, vols. 1–4. Hong Kong: Longman Asia.Suche in Google Scholar
Richards, Jack C. 1983. Listening comprehension: Approach, design, procedure. TESOL Quarterly 17(2). 219–240.10.2307/3586651Suche in Google Scholar
Richards, Jack C. 2001. Curriculum development in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511667220Suche in Google Scholar
Richards, Jack C. 2003. Current trends in teaching listening and speaking. The Language Teacher Online 27(7). http://jalt-publications.org/old_tlt/articles/2003/07/richards (accessed 14 January 2008).Suche in Google Scholar
Ridgway, Tony. 2000. Listening strategies – I beg your pardon? ELT Journal 54(2). 179–185.10.1093/elt/54.2.179Suche in Google Scholar
Roach, Peter J. 2000. English phonetics and phonology: A practical course, 3rd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Rost, Michael. 2002. Teaching and researching listening. Harlow: Longman.Suche in Google Scholar
Schmitt, Norbert, Diane Schmitt & Caroline Clapham. 2001. Developing and exploring the behaviour of two new versions of the Vocabulary Levels Test. Language Testing 18(1). 55–88.10.1177/026553220101800103Suche in Google Scholar
Trabasso, Tom & Joseph P. Magliano. 1996. Conscious understanding during comprehension. Discourse Processes 21. 255–287.10.1080/01638539609544959Suche in Google Scholar
Tsui, Amy. B. M. & John Fullilove. 1998. Bottom-up or top-down processing as a discriminator of L2 listening performance. Applied Linguistics 19(4). 432–451.10.1093/applin/19.4.432Suche in Google Scholar
Vandergrift, Larry. 1998. Successful and less successful listeners in French: What are the strategy differences? The French Review 71(3). 370–395.Suche in Google Scholar
Vandergrift, Larry. 2003. Orchestrating strategy use: Toward a model of the skilled second language listener. Language Learning 53(3). 463–496.10.1111/1467-9922.00232Suche in Google Scholar
Vandergrift, Larry. 2007. Recent developments in second and foreign language listening comprehension research. Language Teaching 40(3). 191–210.10.1017/S0261444807004338Suche in Google Scholar
Yeldham, Michael. 2009. Approaches to second language listening instruction: Investigating the ‘top-down/ bottom-up’ debate. Melbourne: University of Melbourne dissertation.Suche in Google Scholar
©2016 by De Gruyter Mouton
