Listening Comprehension

Text type

Discourse markers

Visual support

Attentionmemory

Schemata

koryhubbell.blogspot.com/2008/07/big-ears.html

Listening

• Rubin’s review, 130 studies, wow!• Five factors that affect listening comprehension??• Text type • Interlocutor Characteristics• Task type • Listener Characteristics• Process characteristics• What stood out most to you?

Text type

• The LOST effect, p. 204• events described in chronological order easier

than narratives with flashbacks and interruptions.

• Visual support, what’s that?• Text supported with audio AND video?• Visuals consistent with speech?• Would this video be easy for students to

understand?

Shrum and Glisan

• Standards emphasize three modes of communication

• Briefly explain the three modes of communication to a partner in the class

• Which of these do you think is most important?• Why?

• Input Hypothesis• What is input?• Any example of the target language

that students come into contact with• Without input there is no output

- Rob A. Martinsen, ph.d.

LADInput output

Hola, ¿Cómo te llamas? No, preferiría que el presidente utilizara su poder de otro modo, por ejemplo

El País, BBC Mundo,La voz de tu maestra

Two types of processes

• Top down

• Bottom up

• Which of these is related to the text and which the reader?

• Reader/Listener/Viewer

• Text, includes written/audio/video

Text type

• Why is this video difficult to understand?• Speed• Hard to measure – p. 205 Secules et al.• Why is speed hard to measure?• Sandhi

Text type

• Why is this video difficult to understand?• Speed• Hard to measure – p. 205 Secules et al.• Sandhi

• Try to pronounce this out loud. What does it say?

Text type

• Why is this video difficult to understand?• Speed• Hard to measure – p. 205 Secules et al.• Sandhi

• Try to pronounce this out loud. What does it say?

Text type cont.

• Two videos• Which one is easier to understand?• Narration is generally easier than

newscasts.

Text types and learner background cont.

• Why difficult or not?• Topic • Schemata/Background• Baseball study, • Background knowledge trumps IQ• Word order, Grammatical difficulty

Selecting Texts

• Things to keep in mind…• Degree of contextual support• Organization• Story like and/or dialogue help• Level of interest and background knowledge• How challenging?• Keep in mind zpd.

Authentic texts = good

• Really?• But they can’t read Don Quijote yet.• What should they do?• Edit the Task,

not the Text• First year Spanish class

What kinds of taskscan you ask them to dowith this?

Listener Variables• Attention p. 207 – More is better • Effective listeners – aware when they stop listening, redirect

attention.• Less effective listeners – come to hard parts and stop, but

unaware they stop.

• Affect,• Aneiro Diss. – High Apprehension = Bad listening• Infer causality?