Teaching Listening &

Speaking

Prepared by Dr Sabariah Md Rashid

Is listening a component of
speaking?
 Key Questions about Listening
• What are listeners doing when they listen?
• What factors affect good listening?
• What are characteristics of “real life” listening?
• What are the many things listeners listen for?
• What are some principles for designing listening
techniques?
• How can listening techniques be interactive?
• What are some common techniques for teaching
listening?
 What makes listening difficult?
• Clustering
• Redundancy
• Reduced forms
• Performance variables
• Colloquial language
• Rate of delivery
• Stress, rhythm, and intonation
• Interaction
 What types of listening skills are
developed?

• Microskills
- attending to smaller bits of language; involving
bottom-up approach to listening comprehension

- is achieved by dividing and decoding the sound

signal bit by bit.; the ability to separate the stream of
speech into individual words
 What types of listening skills are
developed? (cont’d)

• Macroskills
- focusing on larger elements; involving top-
down approach to listening (listening for
general idea; use of background knowledge)
 What kinds of listening skills are
taught?
• Reactive (listen and repeat)
• Intensive (listen on a focused sound)
• Responsive (listen and respond – briefly)
• Selective (listen for particular items in a longer
passage)
• Extensive (listen for interactive/responsive
purposes)
• Interactive (listen to discuss, respond, debate)
 Principles for teaching listening
• Integrate listening into the course
• Appeal to students’ personal goals
• Use authentic language and contexts
• Consider how students will respond
• Teach listening strategies
• Include both bottom-up & top-down
listening
 Common listening strategies
• Looking for key words
• Looking for nonverbal cues to meaning
• Predicting a speaker’s purpose by the context
• Activating background knowledge
• Guessing at meanings
• Seeking clarification
• Listening for the gist
• Developing test-taking strategies for listening
 Activity
(Take a break!)

• With a partner/group, consider some

listening strategies. Briefly plan how you
might teach these strategies to students.

• Report back to the whole group on at least

two of the activities.
Current issues in teaching oral skills

• Conversational discourse
• Teaching pronunciation
• Accuracy and fluency
• Affective factors
• Interaction effect
• Questions about intelligibility
• Questions about what is “correct” speech
 What makes speaking difficult?
The same things that make listening difficult:
• Clustering
• Redundancy
• Reduced forms
• Performance variables
• Colloquial language
• Rate of delivery
• Stress, rhythm, and intonation
• Interaction
 Types of classroom performance
• Imitative (this should be limited)–repetition
drill
• Intensive – practise a grammatical/
phonological feature
• Responsive – to respond to a question
• Transactional (dialogue) – to convey
information
• Interpersonal (dialogue) – to interact socially
• Extensive – monologue
(intermediate/advanced)
Do drills have a place?

• Yes, BUT….
 Guidelines for Drills
• Keep them short
• Keep them simple
• Keep them snappy
• Ensure that students know WHY they are doing
the drill
• Limit the drill to phonological/grammatical points
• Ensure that they lead to a communicative goal
• DON’T OVERUSE THEM
(Excessive use becomes poisonous)
 Principles for Teaching Speaking

• Focus on fluency and accuracy (depending on

objective)
• Use intrinsically motivating techniques
• Use authentic language in meaningful contexts
• Provide appropriate feedback and correction
• Optimize the natural link between listening and
speaking (and other skills)
• Give students the opportunity to initiate oral
communication.
• Develop speaking strategies.
Sample activities for teaching conversation

• Interviews
• Guessing games
• Jigsaw tasks
• Ranking exercises
• Discussions
• Values clarification
• Problem-solving activities
• Role plays
• Simulations
Should we teach pronunciation?
• According to Wong (1987), “sounds are less
crucial for understanding than the way they
are organized” (as cited in Brown, 2008, p.
339).

• Native speakers rely more on stress and

intonation than accurate articulation of a
particular sound.
Factors that affect pronunciation
• Native language
• Age
• Exposure
• Innate phonetic ability
• Identity and language ego
• Motivation/concern for good pronunciation
When and how should I correct errors?

• Global errors
- affect meaning; hinder communication
- prevent listeners to comprehend some/all aspects of
the conveyed message
• Local errors
- do not prevent message from being understood
- minor violation of a segment of a sentence
• Performance slip or competence error
- e.g. slip of the tongue, spoonerisms
 Question to ponder on!
• What is your attitude towards
errors/mistakes (in speech/writing)?

• To what extent has your teaching or

learning been characterised by a
progression of noticing and repairing?

• How does your approach affect your pupils?

 Common speaking strategies
• Asking for clarification (what?)
• Asking someone to repeat something
• Using fillers
• Using conversation maintenance cues (uh-huh, right,
yeah, okay, hm)
• Getting someone’s attention
• Using paraphrases for structures one cannot produce
• Appealing for assistance from the interlocutor
• Using formulaic expressions
• Using mime and nonverbal expressions
 References
• Brown, H.D. (2007). Teaching by principles: An
interactive approach to language pedagogy (3rd
ed). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.

• Richard-Amato, P.A. (2003). Making it happen:

From interactive to participatory language
teaching theory and practice (3rd ed.). White
Plains, NY: Pearson Education.