DEVELOPMENT OF LISTENING SKILLS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Diploma paper

FOREWORD

The teaching of English as a second language (ESL) or as a foreign language (EFL) has

become a major educational priority in many countries around the world due to the status of

English as a global language of science, technology and international relations. Teaching of

English language is especially important in secondary education since secondary school

students need to be proficient in English in order to enroll universities or function in English

speaking communities. However, secondary school students’ ESL/EFL performance has often

been rated as poor and this is mostly due to practicing traditional sentence translations,

learning grammar rules, and memorizing vocabulary items. The four language skills,

listening, reading, speaking, and writing are generally given less priority. Listening skills are

almost totally neglected, especially in secondary schools, yet they are considered by many

linguists as the basics for the other three language skills. For example, Nation and Newton

(2009) consider listening as a natural pre-cursor to speaking (p.37).1

The author of this paper has, therefore, chosen to conduct a research on the ways of

developing listening skills in secondary school students for it is her own belief that listening is

the most important skill in language acquisition. This belief has come out of her own

experience in learning English as a foreign language simply by listening to it by means of

listening to music and watching movies with English subtitles.

The first part of the paper gives an overview on listening in an ESL/EFL environment. The

second part points to the problems with ESL/EFL listening in secondary schools and tries to

explain what factors cause the difficulties in students’ listening skills. The third part gives

suggestions on how to develop and improve secondary school students’ listening skills,

explores listening sources and materials, and emphasizes the importance of creating an

anxiety-free EFL environment. The fourth - and the concluding part - points to the overall

importance of listening skills in secondary school language acquisition.

This paper will, hopefully, contribute to the development of listening skills in secondary

school EFL/ESL classrooms, and help enthusiastic teachers to improve their students’

listening skills and enable them to become competent English speakers.

1 Nation, I.S.P. and Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis. (p.37)

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1. LISTENING

1.1. The Concept of Listening

Listening, as one of the means of language communication, is used most widely in people’s

everyday lives.2 However, listening is not the same thing as hearing. Hearing refers to the

sounds that one hears, while listening requires more than that: it requires focus.3 Listening is

receiving language through the ears. It involves identifying the sounds of speech and

processing them into words and sentences. When we listen, we use our ears to receive

individual sounds (letters, stress, rhythm and pauses) and we use our brain to convert these

into messages that mean something to us.4 In other words, listening is the ability to accurately

receive messages in the communication process. Listening is key to all effective

communication. Without the ability to listen effectively messages are easily misunderstood

which leads to communication break-down and frustration on the part of the sender of the

message.5 According to psychologist Burcley-Allen, listening takes the most time in the

communication process.6

Figure 1. Various Aspects of Communication: The picture represents the time given for various

aspects of communication: 40 percent - for listening, 35 percent - for talking, 16 percent - for

2 Four Skills of Language Learning: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. (2006). In WriteWork.com.3 Listening Skills. (n.d.). In SkillsYouNeed.co.uk.4 What Is Listening? (n.d.). In EnglishClub.com5 What Is Listening? (n.d.). In EnglishClub.com6 Real BioChemistry. (2012, April 4). The cycle of effective listening. [Blog post].

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reading, 9 percent - for writing (Burcley-Allen).7

Therefore listening is an essential skill without which communication would be impossible as

it requires one to listen actively, to understand what is being said, and then to provide

feedback.

1.2. Listening in ESL and EFL Environment

According to Nunan (1998, as cited in Nation and Newton, 2009) it has been claimed that

over 50 percent of the time that students spend functioning in a foreign language will be

devoted to listening.8 Listening is essential for obtaining comprehensible input that is

substantial for language development. Gomwalk (2007) states that listening is a natural pre-

requisite for language development. One must first listen and then comprehend what has been

spoken in order to communicate. Therefore, listening is the skill that every user of a language

needs to master.9 Indeed, the early stages of language development in a person’s first

language (and in naturalistic acquisition of other languages) are dependent on listening. This

is because listening is the natural pre-cursor to speaking (Nation and Newton, 2009).10 In the

early 1980s several writers and researchers suggested the importance of listening over

speaking in the early stages of second language learning. For example Nord (as cited in

Nation and Newton, 2009) argues that language learning is building a cognitive map in the

mind and that the best way to do this is to practice meaningful listening.11 Viewing language

learning in this way, one can say that listening is the way of learning the language. It provides

the learner with information from which to build up the knowledge necessary for using the

language. The listening-only period is a time of observation and learning which provides the

basis for other language skills (Nation and Newton, 2009).12 This concentrating on listening

and delaying speaking, called the comprehension approach, had many benefits on language 7 http://real-biochemistry.blogspot.com/2012/04/cycle-of-effective-listening.html

8 Nation, I.S.P. and Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis. (p.37)9 Gomwalk , S. H. (2007). The Effect of Listening Comprehension Skills on Students' Performance in Oral English Language Test, Lwati: A Journal of Contemporary Research, 4, (p.110)10 Nation, I.S.P. and Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis. (p.37)11 Nation, I.S.P. and Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis. (p.38)

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learning. Gary and Gary (1981, as cited in Nation and Newton, 2009) described some of

them:

1. The learner is not overloaded by having to focus on two or more skills at the same

time – a cognitive benefit.

2. It is possible to experience and learn much more of the language by just concentrating

on listening. If learners had to be able to say all the material in the lessons, progress

would be very slow.

3. It is easy to move very quickly to realistic communicative listening. This will have a

strong effect on motivation.

4. Learners will not feel shy or worried about their language classes. Having to speak a

foreign language, especially when you know very little, can be a frightening

experience. Listening activities reduce the stress involved in language learning – a

psychological benefit.

5. Listening activities are well suited to independent learning through listening to

recording.13

Many writers criticized this comprehension approach suggesting that this receptive activity

alone is not sufficient for language learning, though they do agree that language courses

should contain substantial quantities of receptive activity (Gregg, 1984; Swain, 1985, as

caited in nation and Newton, 2009, p.39).14 The effect of the comprehension approach has

been to emphasize the importance of listening and to direct attention to the development of

techniques for providing interesting, successful, and sustained opportunities for listening early

in a learner’s language learning (Nation and Newton, 2009, p.39).15 Throughout the 1990s,

attention to listening in language teaching increased dramatically. Aural comprehension in

second or foreign language acquisition became an important area of study. Listening is now

considered as an active skill that involves many processes (Osada, 2004).16 Celce-Murcia (as

cited in Osada, 2004) states that, in order to comprehend spoken messages, listeners may need

12 Nation, I.S.P. and Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis. (p.38)13 Nation, I.S.P. and Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis. (pp.38-39)14 Nation, I.S.P. and Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis. (p.39)15 Nation, I.S.P. and Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis. (p.39)16 Osada, N. (2004). Listening Comprehension Research: A Brief Review of the Past Thirty Years. Dialogue, 3, (p.55)

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to integrate information from various sources: phonetic, phonological, lexical, semantic and

syntactic. The fact that we achieve all this in real time as the message unfolds makes listening

a complex and dynamic process.17 Brown and Yule (1983, as cited in Van Duzer, 1997)

consider listening a demanding process, not only because of its complexity but also due to the

factors that characterize the listener, the speaker, the content of the message, and any visual

support that accompanies the message:

The Listener - Interest in a topic increases the listener's comprehension; the listener may tune

out topics that are not of interest. A listener who actively participates in a conversation

generally has more background knowledge to facilitate understanding of the topic than a

listener who listens to a conversation between two people whose communication has been

recorded on an audiotape. Further, the ability to use negotiation skills, such as asking for

clarification, repetition, or definition of points not understood, enable a listener to make sense

of the incoming information.

The Speaker - Colloquial language and reduced forms make comprehension more difficult.

The extent to which the speaker uses these language forms impacts comprehension. The more

exposure the listener has to them, the greater the ability to comprehend. A speaker's rate of

delivery may be too fast, too slow, or have too many hesitations for a listener to follow.

Awareness of a speaker's corrections and use of rephrasing ("er. . . I mean . . .That is . . .") can

assist the listener. Learners need practice in recognizing these speech habits as clues to

deciphering meaning.

Content - Content that is familiar is easier to comprehend than content with unfamiliar

vocabulary or for which the listener has insufficient background knowledge. 

Visual Support - Visual support, such as video, pictures, diagrams, gestures, facial

expressions, and body language, can increase comprehension if the learner is able to correctly

interpret it.18 

Therefore, listening can no longer be regarded as a passive skill, but as a very much active

and complex process of selecting and interpreting information from auditory and visual clues

((Richards, 1983; Rubin, 1995, as cited in Van Duzer, 1997, para.8).19

17 Osada, N. (2004). Listening Comprehension Research: A Brief Review of the Past Thirty Years. Dialogue, 3, (pp. 55-56)18 Van Duzer, Carol. (1997, February). Project in Adult Immigrant Education (PAIE): Improving ESL Learners' Listening Skills: At the Workplace and Beyond. In Center For Adult English Language Acquisition. (para.6-7)19 Van Duzer, Carol. (1997, February). Project in Adult Immigrant Education (PAIE): Improving ESL Learners' Listening Skills: At the Workplace and Beyond. In Center For Adult English Language Acquisition. (para.8)

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1.3. Types of Listening

According to Nation and Newton (2009) there are two broad types of listening:

1. One-way listening – this type of listening is typically associated with the transfer of

information

2. Two-way listening – this type of listening is typically associated with maintaining

social relations.20

Richards (as cited in Gomwalk, 2007) also distinguishes two types of listening: interactional

and transactional. According to Richards, interactional listening is related to the use of

language, which is the social need of the participants in communication, for example, small

talk and casual conversation. It is highly contextualized and involves interaction with more

than one speaker. This is the type of listening that Nation and Newton (2009) call two-way

listening. On the other hand, transactional listening is more message-oriented. It is used

primarily to communicate information, for example, news broadcast and lectures.

Transactional listening requires accurate comprehension of a message without the opportunity

for clarification with the speaker. This is the type of listening that Nation and Newton (2009)

call one-way listening.21

Listeners listen selectively, according to the purpose of the task. Knowing the purpose or the

context of listening determines the type of listening required and the way listeners approach

certain task.22 With respect to this, Kline (as cited in Gomwalk, 2007) identifies five types of

listening:

Informative listening – this type of listening is concerned with understanding the

message and it is found in all areas of our lives, for example, listening to lectures or

instructions from teachers. Informative listening depends on vocabulary, concentration

and memory of an individual.

20 Nation, I.S.P. and Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis. (p.40)21 Gomwalk , S. H. (2007). The Effect of Listening Comprehension Skills on Students' Performance in Oral English Language Test, Lwati: A Journal of Contemporary Research, 4, (pp. 111-112)22 Gomwalk , S. H. (2007). The Effect of Listening Comprehension Skills on Students' Performance in Oral English Language Test, Lwati: A Journal of Contemporary Research, 4, (p.112)

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Appreciative listening – this type of listening is defined by the response of the

listener, and not the source of the message. The quality of appreciative listening in

large part depends on presentation, perception and previous experience. It includes, for

example, listening to music for enjoyment.

Relationship listening – is based on the reason, either to help a person or to improve

the relationsip between people.

Critical listening – is essential in all areas of our lives, for example, in the family, on

the job, at the service clubs, in places of worship etc. Critical listening is very

important as well as the thinking that accompanies it.

Discriminative listening – provides the basis to the other four types, as Kline

explains. In discriminative listening one has to be sensitive to the speaker’s rate,

volume, force, pitch, impact of certain responses, pauses etc. There are three main

issues to consider about discriminative listening: hearing ability, awareness of sound

structure and integration of non-verbal cues.23

1.4. Listening Processes / Strategies

There are two distinct processes or strategies involved in listening comprehension: bottom-up

and top-down processes.

Bottom-up processes – Field (as cited in Nation and Newton, 2009) states that these are the

processes the listener uses to assemble the message piece-by-piece from the speech stream,

going from the parts to the whole.24 According to Vandergift (as cited in Gomwalk, 2007),

listeners use bottom-up processes when they use linguistic knowledge to understand the

meaning of the message. In order to get to the final message listeners build meaning from

lower level sounds, to words, to grammatical relationships, and then to lexical meaning.25

According to the National Capital Language Resource Center (NCLRC), bottom-up

strategies are text based; the listener relies on the language in the message, that is, the

combination of sounds, words, and grammar that creates meaning. Bottom-up strategies

include:

listening for specific details

23 Gomwalk , S. H. (2007). The Effect of Listening Comprehension Skills on Students' Performance in Oral English Language Test, Lwati: A Journal of Contemporary Research, 4, (p.112)24 Nation, I.S.P. and Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis. (p.40)25 Gomwalk , S. H. (2007). The Effect of Listening Comprehension Skills on Students' Performance in Oral English Language Test, Lwati: A Journal of Contemporary Research, 4, (p.111)

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recognizing cognates

recognizing word-order patterns (http://nclrc.org/)26

Top-down processes – here, the listener goes from the whole to the parts. In other words,

listeners use what they know of the context of communication to predict what the message

will contain, and use parts of the message to confirm, correct or add to this (Nation and

Newton, 2009).27 In addition, Vandergift (as cited in Gomwalk) states that listeners use top-

down processes when they use prior knowledge of the topic, the listening context, the text

type, the culture or other information stored in long term memory as schemata (common

situations around which world knowledge is organized).28 National Capital Language

Resource Center (NCLRC) states that top-down strategies are listener based; the listener taps

into background knowledge of the topic, the situation or context, the type of text, and the

language. This background knowledge activates a set of expectations that help the listener to

interpret what is heard and anticipate what will come next. Top-down strategies include:

listening for the main idea

predicting

drawing inferences

summarizing (http://nclrc.org/)29

26 National Capital Language Resource Center (NCLRC). (n.d.). The essentials of language teaching. Retrieved from http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/listening/stratlisten.htm

27 Nation, I.S.P. and Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis. (p.40)28Gomwalk , S. H. (2007). The Effect of Listening Comprehension Skills on Students' Performance in Oral English Language Test, Lwati: A Journal of Contemporary Research, 4, (p.111) 29 National Capital Language Resource Center (NCLRC). (n.d.). The essentials of language teaching. Retrieved from http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/listening/stratlisten.htm

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Figure 2. Bottom-up and top-down processing30

Figure 2 shows the distinction between the two processes: with bottom-up processing,

listeners start with the component parts: sounds, words, grammar, and the like; with top-down

processing listeners start from their background knowledge, either content schema (general

knowledge/life experience) or textual schema (awareness of the kinds of information used in a

given situation). The idea shown in Figure 2 is, perhaps, better understood by a metaphor.

Imagine a brick wall. If you are standing at the bottom studying the wall brick by brick, you

can easily see the details. It is difficult, however, to get an overall view of the wall. If, on the

other hand, you’re sitting on the top of the wall, you can easily see the landscape. However,

because of distance, you will miss some details. And, of course, the view is very different.31

This means that one should select both top-down and bottom-up strategies that are appropriate

to the listening task and use them flexibly. Students' comprehension improves and their

confidence increases when they use top-down and bottom-up strategies simultaneously to

construct meaning.32

1.5. Listening and the Input Hypothesis

Listening is closely related to second or foreign language acquisition. This is evident in the

theory of second language acquisition developed by Steven Krashen in the early 1980s.

Krashen believes that there is no fundamental difference between the way we acquire our first 30 http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/supergoal/Chapter2%20Section3.pdf31 http :// www . mhhe . com / socscience / supergoal / Chapter 2%20 Section 3. pdf 32 National Capital Language Resource Center (NCLRC). (n.d.). The essentials of language teaching. Retrieved from http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/listening/stratlisten.htm

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language and our subsequent languages. He claims that humans have an innate ability that

guides the language learning process. Infants learn their mother tongue simply by listening

attentively to spoken language that is (made) meaningful to them. Foreign languages are

acquired in the same way. Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition consists of five

main hypotheses: the Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis, the Natural Order Hypothesis, the

Monitor Hypothesis, the Input Hypothesis, and the Affective Filter Hypothesis.

The Input Hypothesis is in focus here since it states that we acquire language in one way only:

when we are exposed to input (written or spoken language) that is comprehensible to us, i.e.

when we listen to it. Comprehensible input is the necessary but also sufficient condition for

language acquisition to take place. It requires no effort on the part of the learner. The

Hypothesis further states that learners acquire language when they are exposed to input at i+1,

where i is the current state or stage of language proficiency. Learners use their existing

acquired linguistic competence together with their general world knowledge to make sense of

the messages they receive in language just beyond where they currently are (the +1). Given

comprehensible input at i+1, acquisition will take place effortlessly and involuntarily.33

Harmer (2007) summarizes Krashen’s hypotheses and states that teachers should provide the

right kind of language exposure, namely comprehensible input (i.e. language that students

understand more or less, even if it is a bit above their own level of production). Provided that

students experience such language in an anxiety-free atmosphere, they will acquire it just as

children do. However, Harmer argues that this approach – exposing students to

comprehensible input without asking them to think about how the language works – could

cause some problems with older students, namely that of teenagers and adults. Both teenagers

and adults, Harmer further states, have perfectly good reasoning powers and may want to

think consciously about how language works. Therefore, as Harmer suggests, we should

provide students (teenagers and adults) with lots of comprehensible input, but we should also

give them opportunities to study the language and the way it works, and to give them chances

to activate their language knowledge.34

33 An introduction to the work of Stephen Krashen. (n.d.) In Esl.Fis.edu.34 Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (pp. 47-48)

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2. LISTENING IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

The essential point for ESL/EFL teachers is to make the input comprehensible for their

students while choosing the optimum mode of non-verbal response according to the age and

learning styles of students (Taeko, 1989, para.16).35 However, it seems that this input is often

made incomprehensible to the students as many of them often leave the course without the

competence to communicate in English. Gomwalk (2007) states that proficiency in English

language is essential for all second/foreign language users, especially secondary school

students who need to master it for entry into the university and/or to function in an English

speaking community.36

2.1. Problems with ESL/EFL Listening in Secondary Schools

Secondary school students’ ESL/EFL performance has often been rated as poor. Robert W.

Norris, a university and secondary school professor in Japan, states that this is because of the

traditional way of ESL/EFL teaching that mostly relies on word-for-word translation of

sentences, and memorizing long lists of vocabulary items and grammar rules. Norris further

states that speaking and listening skills have often been neglected and that the students often

have great problems in comprehending the simplest of conversations with native speakers. He

lists several reasons for this: first, the students do not perceive certain English sounds with

any accuracy because those sounds do not exist in their first language; second, the students

are not familiar with the stress and intonation patterns of English and the way these influence

the pronunciation of certain phonemes and the meaning of an utterance; third, students often

have a need to perceive and comprehend everything they hear and they often find it difficult

to get used to the idea that they can be competent listeners with less than 100% perception

and/or understanding; the fourth would be "reduced forms" that occur in informal speech, for

example, "wanna" for "want to" or "gonna" for "going to". These are usually an

incomprehensible stream of sounds to the students, who are unable to distinguish where word

boundaries lie within the stream of sounds (Norris, 1993, para.1-2)37

35Taeko, T. (1989). The Silent Period Hypothesis. Sanno Junior College Bulletin, (pp.150-162). 36 Gomwalk , S. H. (2007). The Effect of Listening Comprehension Skills on Students' Performance in Oral English Language Test, Lwati: A Journal of Contemporary Research, 4, (p.110)37 Norris, W.R. (1993). Teaching Reduced Forms: An Aid for Improving Lower-Level Students' Listening Skills. Fukuoka Women's Junior College Studies, 46, (pp.49-56).

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Similar problems occur in secondary schools in China, where students are often expected to

understand, speak, read and write English, as they are often being taught to it previously, in

elementary school. The priority is given to productive skills, speaking and writing, while the

receptive skills, listening and reading are neglected. What teachers seem to forget very often

is that students cannot acquire speaking ability without listening ability, or writing ability

without reading ability, because both productive skills depend entirely on the two receptive

skills. Moreover, secondary school teachers in China very often seem not to have enough

enthusiasm for devoting enough time to listening comprehension, as they do for the other

three major skills. They often seem unable to carry out a listening class, hurrying through it

without any activity. They often find unacceptable to devote some time to the cultivation of

listening skills in secondary schools for various reasons: sometimes they complain that there

is no time to spare in doing listening practice, and sometimes teachers themselves lack the

listening ability. The latter represents a real problem for a teacher because if the teacher

himself has problems with listening skills, he will have hard times to train his students

listening skills efficiently (Qi, n.d.).38

In addition, secondary school students in Bosnia and Herzegovina also lack the competence in

English to a great extent and many of them finish their EFL courses without being able to

communicate basic English. This is mostly because of the traditional way of teaching EFL

which is focused on learning grammar rules and translating sentences, and neglects other

language skills. Listening skills are almost totally neglected, students barely go through

listening activities, yet they are expected to both understand and speak English. This is mostly

the case with secondary school students who attend schools located in smaller towns or rural

areas, where schools do not have appropriate EFL classrooms and usually very little

enthusiastic EFL teachers. Secondary schools in bigger towns, on the other hand, do have

better learning conditions: EFL classrooms are well-equipped or at least satisfy the EFL

learning conditions and the teachers are more motivated and opened to new learning

methodologies, especially in private schools. However, there is still a problem because the

curriculum for secondary schools allows EFL classes only two or three hours a week. This

leaves no room for enthusiastic teachers to maneuver with all aspects of EFL teaching and

since they all want their students to be able to speak English fluently, they focus on teaching

speaking and writing skills, rather than reading and listening skills. In fact, a lot of teachers

almost totally neglects listening skills, forgetting that, in order to know how to speak English,

38 Qi, Y. (n.d.). My Ideas of an Effective Listening Class. In Fjsdfz.org.

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they should first teach their students how to listen to it, since listening is ‘the natural pre-

cursor to speaking’(Nation and Newton, 2009, p.37).39

With major advance in technology and media today, especially the Internet, it is a lot easier

for both teachers to teach and students to learn a language. Yet, teachers don’t seem to

explore all the possibilities that both technology and media offer for language learning,

especially when it comes to listening skills. Students, on the other hand, could improve their

listening skills by themselves, but they are neither motivated enough nor they are given

instructions how to do it. Also a lot of research conducted on developing listening skills has

shown that many students learn English language simply by listening to music or watching

movies. Still, teachers seem not to be aware of this fact, and they persistently hold to the

traditional grammar and translation method of teaching EFL.

It is, indeed, an embarrassing fact that with almost twelve years40 of EFL classes behind them,

a lot of secondary schools students in Bosnia and Herzegovina (and in many countries around

the world) leave secondary schools without the ability to communicate in English.

Therefore, EFL teachers need to be more engaged in searching for the new methods of EFL

teaching, explore all the possibilities that modern technology and media offer, and use them in

their classes to improve students’ language skills, especially listening skills. They also need to

be more engaged in motivating their students to improve their listening skills by themselves,

giving them instructions how to do it. Teachers also need to work on improving their own

listening skills, because when they know how to listen, they will be able to train their students

listening skills effectively.

2.2. Factors That Cause Difficulties in EFL Listening Comprehension

According to the study of Goh (1997, as cited in Kijpoonphol, n.d.), factors or obstacles that

can cause difficulties in listening comprehension can be divided into person knowledge and

task knowledge. Person knowledge obstacles include: (1) limited vocabulary; (2)

phonological modification; (3) particular types of accent; (4) idiomatic expressions; (5) types

of input with an unfamiliar structure; (6) inefficient memory; and (7) fast speech. Task

knowledge obstacles include: (1) phonological modifications or prosodic features; (2)

unfamiliar vocabulary; (3) different varieties and local accents; (4) speech rate; (5) types of

39 Nation, I.S.P. and Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis. (p.37)40EFL classes in Bosnia and Herzegovina start around 4th grade, but in some schools and in private schools EFL teaching starts in the 1st grade.

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input; (6) interest in topic and purpose of listening; (7) existing knowledge and experience;

(8) physical factors; (9) emotional states; and (10) length and structure of sentences

(Kijpoonphol, n.d., p.38).41

Furthermore, Brown (1994, as cited in Kijpoonphol, n.d.) lists eight characteristics of spoken

language (i.e. listening text) which make the L2 listening process difficult:

1. Clustering – Due to memory limitations and predisposition for chunking or clustering,

listeners break down speech into smaller groups of words. L2 listeners have to pick out

manageable clusters of words.

2. Redundancy – In real life situations, speakers do often use sufficient redundancy which

could help L2 listeners to process meaning easier

3. Reduced forms – Spoken language also has many reduced forms. These can be

phonological, morphological, syntactic, or pragmatic.

4. Performance variables – The distracting performance variables such as hesitations, false

starts, pauses, and corrections of L2 may cause difficulties.

5. Colloquial language – Listeners may find it difficult to deal with colloquial language such

as idioms, slang, reduced forms, and shared cultural knowledge. The extent to which speakers

use these language forms impacts comprehension (Brown and Yule, 1983)

6. Rate of delivery – Most L2 listeners perceive that native speakers speak too fast for them

and this makes it difficult for L2 listeners to follow (Brown and Yule, 1983)

7. Stress, rhythm, and intonation – The prosodic features of L2 may cause difficulties. If L2

listeners feel familiar with these prosodic features, they may have less difficulty in L2

listening.

8. Interaction – Interaction plays a major role in listening comprehension. If L2 listeners

cannot communicate with speakers, they cannot elicit more information from them

(Kijpoonphol, n.d., pp.36-37).42

The most common factors that cause difficulties in EFL/ESL listening comprehension (based

on those mentioned above) are: limited or unfamiliar vocabulary, types of input, colloquial

language, reduced forms, rate of delivery, unfamiliar prosodic features, clustering, and

interaction.

41 Kijpoonphol, W. (n.d.). An Investigation of Difficulties Related To Listening Comprehension: A Case of University Students. Nida Language And Communication Journal. (pp.30-51)42 Kijpoonphol, W. (n.d.). An Investigation of Difficulties Related To Listening Comprehension: A Case of University Students. Nida Language And Communication Journal. (pp.30-51)

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2.2.1. Listening Anxiety

According to the study conducted by Wang (2010), a university professor from China, there

are certain negative correlations both between English listening classroom anxiety and

listening achievement. Wang (2010) states that the anticipation of foreign language use in

receiving information can provoke anxiety and this makes anxiety an affective factor in

listening comprehension (p.562). The study examined three points that caused students’

anxiety: tension and worry over English listening, lack of confidence in English listening, and

concern about the insufficient prior knowledge. The results of the study show that students:

1. get nervous if a listening passage is read only once during the English listening exams

2. find difficult to understand English with an accent

3. worry that they might not understand a person if that person speaks English very fast

4. feel more relaxed if some visual clues (e.g. pictures, TV programs, speakers with facial

expressions) accompany listening to English (p. 564)

Therefore, as Wang (2010) suggests, EFL teachers need to pay attention to the affective state

of the learners, especially the listening anxiety experienced in listening so as to help improve

the listening proficiency of the students and also create an anxiety-free classroom atmosphere

(p.566).43

43 Wang, S. (September, 2010). An Experimental Study of Chinese English Major Students’ Listening Anxiety of Classroom Learning Activity at the University Level. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 1, (5), (pp. 562-568)

15

3. HOW TO DEVELOP LISTENING SKILLS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS?

It has been argued so far that listening skills have been found the most important in ESL/EFL

acquisition by many researchers and linguists, since they have major influence on the other

language skills in language acquisition. The other fact about listening skills is that they have

been quite neglected in ESL/EFL classrooms, and that the priority is often given to other

language skills, especially speaking. This is particularly the case in secondary schools, where

students are often expected to be fluent in English, as they have been taught to it previously,

in elementary schools. The result of this negligence for listening skills and also holding to the

traditional methods of teaching ESL/EFL has lead to the students’ incompetence in English

upon graduation from secondary schools, which is both a disturbing and embarrassing fact. In

order to develop and improve students’ listening skills, and accordingly, students’ language

acquisition, secondary school teachers need to:(1) consider the age of students; (2) consider

teacher’s role in EFL teaching and his/her own teaching skills (3) explore listening sources

and use appropriate listening materials; (4) use the benefits of technology and media in their

EFL classrooms; (5) study and apply techniques that have proven to be efficient in teaching

listening skills; (6) use appropriate listening assessment.; (7) create an anxiety-free

atmosphere

Students themselves can do a lot to improve their listening skills too, but they need proper

instructions and motivation, because without these two their language learning will have

negative outcomes.

3.1. The Age of Students

Secondary school students are usually referred to as adolescents, which is a specific group

when it comes to both language learning and the age group in general. Their understanding of

language learning differs from that of the other learning groups and this is something that

secondary school teachers need to consider in order to improve their students’ language

acquisition. In his book How to Teach English, Harmer (2007) describes three categories of

language learners in terms of their age: children, adolescents and adults (pp.14-15).44

According to Harmer (2007) children (learners between the ages of about 2 to about 14) learn

by taking information from various sources around them and have the ability to become

competent speakers of a new language with an ease provided they get enough exposure to it.

44 Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (pp.14-15)

16

However, they do not have the capacity to understand abstractions such as, for example,

grammar rules, and they tend to forget language as easy as they acquire it. Adults (learners

from about 16 onwards) are usually disciplined, they have clear understanding of why they

are learning things, they are able to sustain their motivation, and perceive long-term learning

goals. Adolescent students are usually learners between the ages of about 12 to 17 and this is

just a generalization since it is often uncertain at what age it is safe to call students

adolescents. The onset of adolescence is bound up with physical and emotional changes rather

than chronological age. Adolescents have a great capacity for learning, enormous potential for

creative thought, and a passionate commitment to things which interest them. They have

developed a great capacity for abstract thought as they have grown up and they are usually

able to perceive their learning goals (pp.14-15).45 However, Harmer (2007) further states that

adolescents are often seen as problem students, prone to disruptive behaviour, despite their

relative success as language learners. This is mostly because the period of adolescence is

bound up with a pronounced search for identity and a need for self-esteem. Adolescents are

extremely vulnerable to the negative judgments of their own age group and they have a need

for peer-approval. They need to feel good about themselves and valued, especially by their

teachers. All of this is reflected in the secondary student who argued that a good teacher is

‘someone who knows our names’(p.83).46

Because students’ characteristics differ according to their age, the way we teach them will be

different too. Therefore we will not use the same activities and teaching techniques (in this

case the activities and teaching techniques that are related to improving listening skills) with

adolescents as we do with young children or adults. Harmer (2007) states that we need to

keep in mind the importance of a student’s place within his or her peer group and take special

care when correcting or assigning roles within an activity, etc. Our choice of topic should

reflect students’ own interest (p.15).47 As adolescents tend to manifest disruptive behaviour,

teachers should work both to prevent it, and to respond to it appropriately if it occurs. There

are many ways to respond to problem behaviour effectively48, but the most important thing

that teachers should bear in mind is that it is the behaviour that they deal with, and not the

student (Harmer, 2007, p.181).49 However, Harmer (2207) also states that we should not

45 Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (pp.14-15)46 Harmer, J. (20079. The Practice of English Languge Teaching. (4th Edition). Cambridge: Longman ELT. (p.83)47 Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (p.15)48 More on this issue in Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (pp.180-182)49 Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (p.16; p. 181)

17

become too preoccupied with problem behaviour, but try to engage students with relevant and

interesting material instead, so as to provoke our students’ motivation and enthusiasm for

learning. We also need to do whatever we can to bolster students’ self-esteem and always be

conscious of their need for identity (p.84).50

3.2. The Role of the Teacher

The teacher is the key figure in EFL classroom. His professionalism, teaching skills and

knowledge about the subject he teaches will all affect students’ language acquisition. Harmer

(2007) states that a good teacher is flexible and able to adapt to a number of different roles in

the class, depending on what the students are doing: he is the controller, prompter, agent, tutor

and resource for students’ language information. He is also able to establish a good rapport

between him and his students in the classroom. Rapport, in its essence, is the relationship that

students have with the teacher and vice versa. It is established, in part, when students become

aware of the teacher’s professionalism, but it also occurs as a result of the way the teacher

listens to and treat his students. In order to establish a good rapport, teacher needs to

recognize students (i.e. know their names and certain things about them); listen to students

(i.e. listen to their comments on lessons, suggestions, and even to their individual problems);

respect students (in terms of correcting students and dealing with problem behaviour); and be

even-handed, i.e. treat all students equally and in the same manner. A good teacher is also

well prepared for lessons, he keeps record of what is going on in the classroom, and is reliable

in terms of timekeeping and homework, i.e. he’s never late for his lessons and corrects

homework on time and on regular basis. Furthermore, effective teachers know how to vary

activities and topics over a period of time, because they know that even the best activity may

become boring and demotivating if it is overused. Good teachers know how the language

works: they have knowledge of the grammar system and understand the lexical system; they

are aware of pronunciation features; they know the difference between the colloquial and

formal language; and they are able to demonstrate and help students to pronounce words

correctly and with appropriate intonation.

Good teachers also know what equipment is available in their school and how to use it. They

do their best to keep abreast of new developments in teaching approaches and techniques by

consulting a range of print material, online resources, and by attending, whenever possible,

development sessions and teacher seminars (pp.25-30).51

50

51 Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (pp.25-30)

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3.2.1. The Teacher as Provider of Comprehensible Input

Listening is a skill that affects the other skills in EFL classrooms. In order to acquire a

language, students need first to be exposed to it, i.e. they need to listen to the language.

However, it is not just important to listen to a language, it is also very important to understand

it. Secondary school students, as it has been argued in this paper, often have problems with

communication in English. This is because they have problems with understanding English

which is a consequence of students not being exposed to a comprehensible input. Providing

students with a comprehensible input is the most important task of the teacher. One could say

that it is the teacher that represents the main source of comprehensible input for students.

Students, of course, can search for language input outside the classroom because they mostly

have access to it due to the enormous advance in technology and media today. However, as

Harmer (2007) states, this "outside" language input very often appears incomprehensible to

students, especially to those who are at lower level. Students need their language input to be

roughly-tuned in order to be comprehensible to them, which is what EFL teachers do

(p.118).52

Roughly-tuned input, as Harmer (2007) explains, is a simplified language which teachers

make in order to be understood by their students. Basically, teachers adjust their language use

– in terms of grammatical complexity, vocabulary use and voice tone – when listeners, i.e.

their students, show signs of incomprehension. In order to rough-tune their language, teachers

need to be aware of three things: (1) they should consider the kind of language students are

likely to understand, (2) they need to think about what they want to say to students and how

best to do it, and (3) they need to consider the manner in which they speak - in terms of

intonation, voice, etc (p.37).53 Though it may seem that secondary school students do not need

their language input roughly-tuned considering their previous language knowledge, teachers

should still bear in mind the level of English language taught in secondary schools, and

therefore not use an advanced, college-level vocabulary when talking to their students.

Harmer (2007) further states that teachers, knowing the students they teach, can react

appropriately to them – in terms of providing appropriate input – in a way that a coursebook

or an audio track, for example, cannot. Teachers should know how to talk at just the right

level so that even if their students don’t understand every word teachers say, they do

52 Harmer, J. (20079. The Practice of English Languge Teaching. (4th Edition). Cambridge: Longman ELT. (p.118)53 Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (p.37)

19

understand the meaning of what is being said (p.118).54 This is the point where teachers

should consider the amount of time they spend talking to their students (TTT – Teacher

Talking Time) and the quality of their talking (TTQ – Teacher Talking Quality). Harmer

(2007) argues that sometimes TTT is overused and that there is not enough Student Talking

Time – STT. The more teacher talks, the less chance students get to practice their own

speaking. Therefore, good teacher maximizes STT and minimizes TTT. For this reason,

teachers should consider TTQ, because it is the quality of what teachers say that really counts,

and not the amount of talking. Teachers who engage students with their stories and

interaction, using appropriate comprehensible input will help students to understand and

acquire language (p.38).55

Apart from rough-tuning the language, teachers can also facilitate students’ understanding of

language by using gestures, facial expressions, or some visual clues. A study has shown that

some students feel more relaxed and understand a listening activity better if it is accompanied

with some visual clues or facial expressions.56 Therefore, gestures, expressions, visual clues

and mime should become a natural adjunct to the language teachers use, especially with

students at lower levels (Harmer, 2007, p.37).57

3.2.1.1. Instructing Students

The most important thing when engaging students with an activity is giving them proper

instructions, i.e. the ones that students will understand. Harmer (2007) states that even when

students listen carefully to instructions, they sometimes don’t understand what they are

supposed to do, unless teachers make those instructions as simple as possible and logical. It is

also very important, after giving instructions, to check that students have understood what

they are being asked to do. Teachers can do this either by asking a student to explain the

activity after he has given the instruction or by getting someone to show the rest of the class

how the exercise works. Instructions could be also translated into L1 by a member of the

class, but only if all the students in the class (including the teacher) share the same L1 (pp.37-

38).58

54 Harmer, J. (20079. The Practice of English Languge Teaching. (4th Edition). Cambridge: Longman ELT. (p.118)55 Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (p.38)56 See 2.2.1. Listening Anxiety, p.1557 Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (p.37)58 Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (pp.37-38)

20

3.2.1.2. The Use of L1

The main object of an EFL classroom is learning English language. In order for students to

learn English, they need to be exposed to it in any possible way. Therefore, teachers need to

create an English-language environment in the classroom, where English is heard and used as

much as possible. For this reason, teachers should use English as often as possible, and not

spend too much time talking in the students’ L1 (Harmer, 2007). However, the use of L1 may

sometimes have beneficial effects, and this is mostly the case when teachers are giving

instructions for an activity. If the instructions are too complicated, teachers may use the L1 to

explain students what they are supposed to do or they may simply ask students to repeat the

instructions in the L1 after the instructions are given to students. In this way teachers can

check whether students have understood what they are asked to do (Harmer, 2007).59

However, secondary school students often try to avoid the use of L2 even in a simple

conversation with their teacher. We, as their teachers, should talk to students and explain them

that using the L2 in EFL classroom works good for them since for many of them EFL

classroom and their teacher are the only sources of language input. They should also discuss

with their students when it is appropriate to use their L1 in the classroom, and when not.

When both the teacher and the students establish mutual agreement on when to use the L1 in

the classroom, everyone needs to behave according to it. Harmer (2007) also gives some

suggestions about how to have students use English in the classroom. For example, teachers

should make it clear that there is not a total ban on the students’ L1, which means that L1

could be used when giving task instructions or when they working on some reading text.

However, we also need to make it clear by our behaviour that we want to hear English, and

we can simply ignore what students have to say in their L1 when it comes to simple

conversation in the classroom. Above all, teachers should speak in English for the most of

time, so that , together with the use of listening material and video, the students are constantly

exposed to how English sounds and what it feels like (p.179).60 In this way, by listening to

their teacher and to various listening material, and even by listening to their classmates’ talk,

students will gradually change their behaviour, and use L1 only when both students and their

teacher agreed is appropriate.

3.3. Listening Sources and Materials

59 Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (pp.38-39)60 Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (p.179)

21

Apart from the teacher who represents the main source of language input in an EFL

classroom, there are also other sources that can help teachers to develop and improve the

students’ listening skills. According to Harmer (2007) listening sources usually fall into two

categories: recorded listening and live listening.

Recorded listening represents recorded extracts on CD, tape or MP3 player of some kind.

These are produced either as a part of coursebook or as supplementary material. Teachers can

also record their own listening materials, using themselves or their friends or colleagues. This

is especially suitable to those students who find it difficult to understand Standard English

listening material. Teacher’s can vary their voice tone and speech rate since they know their

students and their language abilities. A lot of listening material that can be downloaded from

the Internet also falls into the category of recorded listening.

Live listening, on the other hand, represents real-life face-to-face encounters in the

classroom. It is used to refer to situations in which the teacher brings visitors to the class. If

this is not possible, the teacher role-plays different characters for the students to talk and

listen to. Teacher talk also represents live listening, to some extent. The main advantage of

live listening over recorded listening is that the students can interact with the speaker on the

basis of what they are saying, making the whole listening experience more dynamic and

exciting (p.134).61 Live listening can take the following forms:

- Reading aloud: here the teacher reads aloud to the class. This can be a very enjoyable

activity if the teacher reads with expression and conviction, or acts out dialogues. It allows

students to hear a clear spoken version of a written text.

- Story-telling: stories provide excellent listening material and students generally enjoy it.

Story-telling can be made more interesting by asking students to predict what is coming next

at any stage of the story, or by asking them to describe the story characters.

- Interviews: one of the most motivating listening activities is the live interview where

teachers can have strangers come to the classroom to be interviewed, or let teachers

themselves to be interviewed. Live interview is especially interesting when students are

allowed to think up their own questions for the interview. In such cases, students really listen

for answers they themselves have asked for rather than adopting other people’s questions.

61 Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (p.134)

22

- Conversations: here teachers can have a colleague come to the class and hold conversations

with them about English or any other subject. In this way, students get the chance to both

watch the interaction and listen to it (Harmer, 2007).62

3.3.1. Different Kinds of Listening (Materials)

Recorded listening and live listening are usually related to the two kinds of listening material:

extensive and intensive listening material (Harmer, 2007). Harmer further states that

through the combination of extensive and intensive material students can both improve their

listening skills and gain valuable language input. Listening of both kinds provide students

with opportunities to hear voices other than the teacher’s, enables students to acquire good

speaking habits – as a result of the spoken language they absorb – and helps to improve their

pronunciation (p.303).63

3.3.1.1. Extensive Listening (Materials)

Extensive listening is a kind of listening where a teacher encourages students to choose for

themselves what they listen to and do so for pleasure and general language improvement. It

dramatically increases students’ motivation since they make their own choices about what

they are going to listen to. Extensive listening usually takes place outside the classroom: in

the student’s home, car or on personal MP3 player as they travel from one place to another.

There is a number of sources to obtain extensive listening material: for example, many

simplified readers are now published with an audio version on CD so students can enjoy both

listening and reading at the same time. Students can also have copies of coursebook CDs, or

tapes, or recordings which accompany other books. They can download podcasts from a range

of sources or they can listen to English language broadcast online on websites such as

www.bbc.co.uk/radio. In order to encourage extensive listening teachers can have students

perform various tasks. For example, students can fill in report forms which teachers have

prepared asking them to list the topic, asses the level of difficulty and summarize the contents

of a recording. They can write their responses and add them to a large class listening poster or

write comments on a student website – if they have one. When students share their

62 Harmer, J. (20079. The Practice of English Languge Teaching. (4th Edition). Cambridge: Longman ELT. (p.307)63 Harmer, J. (20079. The Practice of English Languge Teaching. (4th Edition). Cambridge: Longman ELT. (p.303)

23

information with their colleagues they feel they have contributed to the progress of the whole

group. Such feelings increase students’ motivation and they have more enthusiasm for

extensive listening (Harmer, 2007).64

3.3.1.2. Intensive Listening (Materials)

Intensive listening is a kind of listening where students listen specifically in order to work on

listening skills, and in order to study the way in which English is spoken. Intensive listening

usually takes place in the classroom or in a language laboratory - if the school has one - and it

typically occurs when teachers are present to guide students through any listening difficulties,

and point them to areas of interest (Harmer, 2007).65 For intensive listening, we can use either

recorded extracts on CDs or on tapes, or some form of live listening, depending on the

listening task. Before we set the task for intensive listening, we need to consider the

following:

- We need to explain the students the exact purpose of their listening and give them clear

instructions how to achieve it.

- We need to be efficient with the equipment if intensive listening task involves the use of a

CD player or some other audio device. This means that we need to test the recording before

we take it into the class so that we know what segments of the recording to use and where to

find them on a CD, DVD, or tape. Also, we should be prepared where to stop the recording

for particular questions or simply to stop it when students show signs of incomprehension.

- We need to organize feedback after the task is completed in order to check whether it is

completed successfully. Here it is important to be supportive after a listening task if we are to

encounter negative expectations that students might have, and if we wish to sustain their

motivation.

-When students have listened to a recording for a comprehension purposes, we can replay the

recording so that the students can notice a variety of language and spoken features.

- If the listening task involves a form of live listening, we need to observe the students with

extreme care so that we can see how easily they understand us. We can then adjust the way

we speak accordingly (Harmer, 2007).66

64 Harmer, J. (20079. The Practice of English Languge Teaching. (4th Edition). Cambridge: Longman ELT. (pp.303-304)65 Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (p.134)

66 Harmer, J. (20079. The Practice of English Languge Teaching. (4thEdition). Cambridge: Longman ELT. (pp.307- 308)

24

3.3.2. Film and Video

Apart from CDs, tapes, and MP3s, students can also practice their listening skills while

watching film clips on DVD or online. Just like an audio extract, a filmed extract can also be

used as a main focus of a lesson sequence. Thus, students can sometimes watch a whole film,

or they can only watch a short two- or three-minute sequence. Students are used to watching

film at home, and of course, they usually associate it with relaxation. Because of this, we need

to make sure that we give them interesting listening tasks so that they can give their full

attention to what they are seeing and hearing. Watching films while listening has many

benefits for students: they can see language in use – for example, they can see how intonation

matches facial expressions, or what gestures accompany certain phrases; they can enter into a

whole range of different communication worlds: they can see how different people stand

when talking to each other, for example, how close they are. So, the film can easily show

some unspoken rules of behavour in social and business situations than a book or a voice on

an audio track can describe. Harmer (2007) lists several listening techniques especially

designed to provoke students’ engagement and expectations when watching a film:

- Pictureless listening (language): here, the teacher covers the screen and turns the monitor

away from the students. The students then listen to a dialogue and have to guess, for example,

where the dialogue is taking place and who the speakers are.

- Pictureless listening (music): where an excerpt has a prominent music track, students can

listen to it and then, for example, they can say what kind of scene they think it accompanies

(based on the mood the music appears to convey) and where it is taking place.

- Subtitles: John Field (2000, as cited in Harmer, 2007) suggests that subtitles help students to

listen to authentic material. There are many ways to use subtitled films: for example, students

can watch a film extract with subtitles, but with the sound turned down, so they have to say

what they think the characters are saying in English. We can also turn off the subtitles, and

ask students what they would write for subtitles based on what they hear. Then students can

compare their subtitles with the actual ones. Subtitles are very useful when students share the

same L1 because the connections they make between English and their language is extremely

useful (Harmer, 2007).67

67 Harmer, J. (20079. The Practice of English Languge Teaching. (4th Edition). Cambridge: Longman ELT. (pp.309- 310)

25

3.3.3. Music

Music has a very important role in EFL classroom since it can have a strong influence on

language acquisition. Everyone likes music, but this is especially the case with adolescent

people since they often try to identify themselves with certain music genre, band, or singer.

Since adolescents are known for the search of identity, music is often their refuge from

everyday frustrations of trying to realize who they are and what is their purpose. Music gives

them comfort and relaxation and they often behave or act according to the lyrics of their

favourite songs. Because music plays an important role in the life of an adolescent too,

teachers can turn that role into the benefit when it comes to language learning.

According to Harmer (2007) a piece of music can change the atmosphere in the classroom or

prepare students for a new activity. It can amuse and entertain and it connects the world of

leisure and the world of learning in the classroom in a satisfying way. Music playing in the

background when students are working on some kind of reading or language task can make

the atmosphere in the classroom much warmer. However, we must take into consideration

that not all students like to work with the music playing in the background, or they may

simply dislike the teacher’s choice of music. Therefore, we should let students to decide

whether they like to listen to the music while working on an activity, or if they do like it, have

them decide what sort of music should be played. The whole point of playing music in the

first place is to make students happy and relaxed.

Furthermore, we can get students to respond to music in many ways. For example, we can

play film music and ask students what kind of film they think it comes from, or we can have

them listen to music which describes people and say what kind of people they are. They can

also write about what kind of emotions they get from a certain piece of music, and so on

(pp.319-320). 68

Music can be of great help when teaching students grammar points such as tenses, modal

verbs, etc. Students often find learning grammar points difficult and boring, but combining

grammar with music can surely stimulate students’ engagement for learning. We can, for

example, search for the songs whose lyrics contain the grammar point in question and bring it

to the class. It would be more engaging and amusing for students if we find songs that are

popular and that students like to listen to.

68 Harmer, J. (20079. The Practice of English Languge Teaching. (4th Edition). Cambridge: Longman ELT. (pp.319- 320)

26

Music is, without a doubt, a powerful and motivating source for both improving students’

listening skills and acquiring new language; it makes the teaching process easier for teachers

and facilitates the learning process for students since they learn the language through

enjoyable activities and a pleasant classroom atmosphere.

3.3.4. Internet /TV

The use of technology and media has always been a necessity in the EFL classrooms since it

facilitates both teaching and learning of English language, and makes the classroom

atmosphere pleasant and enjoyable. Since both technology and media has changed and

advanced enormously in the past 15 years their presence in the EFL classrooms has become

indispensable for enhancing students’ language acquisition. Another reason for this is that the

language itself is constantly changing as well as the teaching methods and techniques and we

need to keep up-to-date in order to get the best out of language teaching. Today, the Internet,

as a large source of information of any kind, has become one of the most important tools in

EFL teaching. It provides both the teacher and the student with a lot of valuable ideas of how

to make language learning easier and enjoyable for students. Internet also offers various

sources for improving students’ language skills, especially listening skills. Students of all

ages, especially adolescents like to spend a lot of time on the Internet, watching videos or

chatting with their friends. The latter can be very beneficial for students’ communication

skills, especially if they have a chat in English language with a native speaker friend. We need

to take the advantage of this and make our students more interested in visiting websites that

offer tips for language learning, and downloading material for improving language skills. But

we also need to give them clear instructions of how to find certain material on the Internet,

since searching the Internet can be often very frustrating, especially for students. We can

direct them to websites such as www.youtube.com, when we want them to do some task

related to improving listening skills, but we need to give them the exact link to the desired

video, so that students won’t end up watching something else that has nothing to do with the

task. We can also direct students to websites offering radio broadcasts, such as

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/ where they can hear clear British English accent or

http://learningenglish.voanews.com/ where they can listen to a simple American English, so

that they can practice their listening skills by listening to authentic material. They can also

watch documentaries on various topics on websites such as

http://www.snagfilms.com/films/browse/category/national_geographic and later

27

have discussions in class on what they have seen. The latest ELT (English Language

Teaching) hit on the Internet is podcasting, a new technology for broadcasting audio

programmes on the Internet, which is especially good for enhancing students’ listening skills.

Television has also many benefits for students’ language acquisition. A range of channels

such as National Geographic, Discovery Channel, or Viasat History offer a lot of interesting

shows and documentaries in English, and often with subtitles, so that students can both

practice listening and pronunciation skills, and understand what they hear. Local TV stations

often offer interesting tv shows in English such as Only Fools and Horses or Black Adder

which many students find very interesting. Another benefit of TV shows such as the above

said is that they offer a range of accents and colloquial language for students to hear, beside

the Standard English they encounter in EFL classroom.

Both the Internet and television have many benefits for students’ language acquisition apart

from being source of fun and relaxation. Therefore teachers need to show to students how to

use both media to make their language learning interesting and enjoyable.

3.3.4.1. Podcasts

Podcasts or podcasting, as mentioned above, is a new technology for broadcasting audio

programmes on the Internet and it has rapidly advanced since 2005 (Selingo 2006, as cited in

Sze, 2006). Podcasting was originally designed for conveying information and entertainment,

but soon educators recognized the huge potential it has for teaching, especially ESL/EFL

teaching. ELT educators joined podcasting movement in 2005 and since then there has been

an upsurge in the number of ELT podcasts on the Web.

Podcasts are audio (sometimes video) programs on the Web which are usually updated at

regular intervals. New episodes can be listened to on the computer, or downloaded to an MP3

player or iPod for later listening. What makes podcasting unique unlike other audio

programmes on the Web is its capacity for subscription: listeners can subscribe to their

favourite podcasts and receive alerts on their computers when new episodes have been posted.

There are two types of podcasts on the Web:

- Radio podcasts: these are the existing radio programmes turned into podcasts such as those

produced by BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)

- Independent podcasts: these are Web-based podcasts produced by individuals and

organizations.

28

The second type is suitable for ELT because these can be tailor-made to suit the needs of

different learners. They can be created by learners themselves with utmost ease, thanks to

the advent in recent years of the MP3 sound file format, and of free and user-friendly sound

recording and editing software such as Audacity, and to MP3 players and increasingly the

iPod becoming an electronic gadget owned by every teenager.

ELT podcasts can be used for intensive and extensive listening activities. However, ELT

podcasts are particularly suited for extensive listening, for the purpose of motivating student

interest in listening to English, and providing them with exposure to native speakers’ speech

(Rost, 1991, as cited in Sze,2006).

Stanley (2006, as cited in Sze, 2006) points out that podcasts offer students a wide range of

possibilities for extra listening both inside and outside of the classroom. ELT podcasts cover a

wide range of subject matter. For example, comprehensive podcast type covers a wide range

of content types, such as traditional listening comprehension activities, interviews, and

vocabulary (e.g. http://www.englishteacherjohn.com/podcast/) ; Listening comprehension

podcast (e.g., http://mylcpodcasts.blogspot.com/) provides conventional listening

comprehension practice, etc.

Teachers have three ways to look for suitable ELT podcasts for their students. They can start

with “general” podcast directories. A podcast directory is a searchable database which is

linked to sites that house podcasts. Teachers can type in a search term like “English,” “ELT,”

“ESL,” and “TESOL,” and they will be given a list of ELT podcasts. An example of a general

podcast directory is http://www.podcastalley.com/.

To narrow down their search, teachers may go directly to directories of educational podcasts.

One well-known educational podcast directory is the Education Podcast

Network:http://epnweb.org/. Another directory is http://recap.ltd.uk/podcasting/, which

claims to be the first U.K. directory of educational podcasts. There are also directories which

cover ELT podcasts only. One example is http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/Podcasts/

maintained by the Internet TESL Journal.

Podcasting as a new technology has huge potential in enhancing EFL learners’ listening skills

since it’s easy to download to any electronic device (MP3 player, iPod) thus providing

students with a lot of listening practice wherever they go (Sze, 2006).69

3.4. Listening Assessment

69 Sze, P. (2006). Developing Students’ Listening and Speaking Skills Through ELT Podcasts. Educational Journal. Vol..34, (2). (pp.115-134)

29

The assessment of listening, as any other language skill, is usually done through a range of

tests. According to Harmer (2007), a satisfactory test of listening skills has to fulfill two

criteria – validity and reliability.

A test is valid if it satisfies the following conditions: if it tests what it is supposed to test; if it

produces similar results to some other measures; if there is validity in the way it is marked

(e.g. if we score written answers to a listening test for spelling and grammar, then this test of

listening is not necessarily valid since we score the wrong thing); it needs to have the face

validity, i.e. the test should look valid, on the face of it.

A test is reliable if it gives consistent results: for example, if two groups of students who were

demonstrably alike took the test, the marking range would be the same, or if they took another

similar test the results should be consistent. Test reliability also depends on the scorers, i.e.

the people who mark the test. Surely, a test is not reliable if the result depends to any large

extent on the person marking it. So it’s always better to have more than one person to mark

the test in order to enhance the reliability of it (p.381).70

Nation and Newton (2009) agree that good tests should be reliable and valid, but they also

state that tests should be practical. This means that tests should be used in the real world

where there are limitations of time, money, facilities and equipment, and willing helpers. A

practical test is short, does not require lots of paper and equipment, does not require many

people to administer it, it is easy to understand, it is easy to mark, has scores or results which

are easy to interpret, and can be used many times without upsetting its validity (pp.168-169).

Harmer (2007) further states that tests of listening should: a) replicate real-life situations

which means that tests should be as realistic as possible, even when they are not authentic;

and b) create a ‘level playing field’ which means that listening test should avoid making

excessive demands on students’ general or specialist knowledge. For example, a listening test

can be undermined if the means of testing requires students to perform well in writin or

speaking. In order to ensure reliability of the test, listening tests are most often supplied on

tape or CD. In this way all students will have the same opportunities, irrespective of the

speaker’s voice, speed, or expressions (pp.384-385).71

Nation and Newton (2009) describe several listening test procedures:

70 Harmer, J. (20079. The Practice of English Languge Teaching. (4th Edition). Cambridge: Longman ELT. (p.381)71 Harmer, J. (20079. The Practice of English Languge Teaching. (4th Edition). Cambridge: Longman ELT. (pp.384-385)

30

- Dictation: here, the teacher reads aloud a text of approximately 150 words phrase by phrase.

The students write each phrase as they hear it.

- Partial dictation: the students have an incomplete written text in front of them. As they

listen to a spoken version of the text, they fill in the missing parts on the written text.

- Text with questions: the students have a list of multiple-choice questions in front of them

while they listen to a text being read or a recorded dialogue. As they listen they answer the

questions.

- Responding to statements: the students listen to statements or questions and respond to

them by choosing from multiple-choice items of words or pictures, by indicating true or false,

or by giving a short answer.

- Three choice true-false: instead of responding to statements with just true or false, three

categories of response are allowed: true, false, opinion (Emery, 1980, as cited in Nation and

Newton, 209) or true, false, not stated.

- Recorded close: the students listen to a tape recording where every 15th word has been

replaced by a ‘bleep’ sound and with pauses at the end of each sentence. As they listen the

students write the missing words (Templeton, 1977, as cited in Nation and Newton, 2009).

- Information transfer: the students listen to a description or dialogue and label a diagram or

fill in a chart or table while they listen.

3.5. Creating an Anxiety-free Atmosphere

It has been discussed so far how the anticipation of foreign language use in receiving

information can provoke anxiety and how anxiety has a negative effect on students’ listening

comprehension.72 In order for our students to experience success in EFL listening

comprehension teachers need to create a positive anxiety-free atmosphere within the

classroom. Much research has been done on discovering the factors that provoke students’

listening activity, and these factors mostly include unfamiliarity with the listening content, the

lack of visual support, the lack of repetition, the lack of motivation, and even fear of the

language itself (Sharif and Ferdous, 2012, p.94).73 These and similar factors can be found to

affect students’ listening skills in EFL classrooms all around the world and therefore we as

72 See 2.2.1. Listening Anxiety, p.1573 Sharif, Y. and Ferdous, F. (2012). Sources and Suggestions to Lower Listening Comprehension Anxiety in the EFL Classroom: A Case Study. English Language Teaching; Vol. 5, (10). (pp.92-104)

31

teachers should study various research on this issue so that we can find solutions and apply

them to our own EFL classroom. The first step in lowering students’ anxiety is talking to

students about what they dread the most when it comes to listening tasks and language

learning in general. In this way we will be able to have a clear view of our students’

anticipations and find proper ways to eliminate negative feelings from our classroom.

Sharif and Ferdous (2012), who conducted research on listening anxiety in the EFL

classroom, suggest several ways of lowering students’ listening anxiety and creating a

positive, anxiety-free classroom atmosphere. Here is the list of some of these suggestions:

- Make input or materials comprehensible with familiar, meaningful topics and vocabulary.

- For lessening listening comprehension anxiety, repeat the passage if possible.

- Give learners a summary of the listening material with the new words, as a pre-listening

activity in order to speed up understanding.

- Use students background knowledge. According to Ausbel (1968, as cited in Sharif and

Ferdous, 2012), “the most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner

already knows. Ascertain this and teach him accordingly”

- Vary the types of tasks. Do not over use any type of exercise.

- Make the listening lesson a training session: let the students hear a passage several times in

small sections with pauses or any other way that is helpful to them.

- Use variety of materials or input incorporating games and other fun activities in the EFL

classroom as the vehicle for listening activities.

- Encourage students to watch English-speaking channels.

- Increase class time for listening comprehension practice. There must be more class activities

that focus specially on the listening comprehension skill.

- Receive regular feedback. Most agreed that the more immediate the feedback, the better.

- Experience small success.

- Leave the learners with a sense of achieving during and after the listening lesson. Do not

leave them with a sense of failure or anxiety that will incapacitate them.

- Try to create a comfortable physical environment.

- Make the learners confident in the target language through small successes and through the

use of anxiety-reducing techniques (Sharif and Ferdous., 2012).74

74 Sharif, Y. and Ferdous, F. (2012). Sources and Suggestions to Lower Listening Comprehension Anxiety in the EFL Classroom: A Case Study. English Language Teaching; Vol. 5, (10). (pp.92-104)

32

These suggestions can surely help teachers to create positive and anxiety-free classroom

environment in which students will improve their listening and other language skills with an

ease and joy.

3. 6. More Suggestions on How to Accelerate Listening Skills in Secondary Schools

Teaching ESL/EFL listening skills successfully requires using a combination of different

resources mentioned so far (CDs, tapes, music, films, radio broadcasts) to expose the students

to a sufficient language input. Performing tasks and exercises involving the use of the above

resources can really help students to understand better the input they are exposed to and can

make the classroom atmosphere relaxed and enjoyable. This will especially work with

secondary school students who are often regarded as being prone to disruptive behaviour and

not having a clear understanding of their identity due to their adolescent age. Teachers need to

consider their age, as it has been discussed above, in order to find appropriate ways to help

students improve their language skills, especially listening skills as they are considered to be

the most important ones in language acquisition.

There is a whole range of listening genres and activities that can both improve students’

listening skills and fit students’ age and interests. Some of these are, for example, jigsaw

listening, story-telling, poetry, songs, and alike.

In jigsaw listening, students are divided into three groups. Each group listens to a different

CD, but all three CDs are about the same thing, for example, different news stories which

explain a strange effect. Students take notes while listening to the CD and then they compare

their notes to assemble all the facts about the event. This listening activity gives students a

purpose for listening and a goal to aim, i.e. find out what the event was about. However, the

realization of this listening activity will depend on whether students have access to three

different CD players, or computer delivered listening material (Harmer, 2007).75

Story-telling is an excellent teaching technique for improving students’ listening skills

because it evokes students' interest, helps students create vivid mental images, and activates

the thinking process (Abo Skhela, 2010).76 Before a story is told or listen to on a CD it is

important that teachers set the scene for the story first rather than just dive right into it. The

75 Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (p.142)

76 Abo Skhela, K. (2010). The Effectiveness of Using Storytelling Technique in Enhancing 11th Graders' Listening Comprehension Sub-Skills in Middle Gaza Governorate. Masters Thesis, The Islamic University of Gaza, Gaza. (p.134)

33

background of the story, the time and place it takes are very important because it will help

students to concentrate while listening to it (pp.137-138). There are a number of things

teachers can have students do while listening to a story: students can put pictures in the order

in which the story is told; students can listen to the story but they will not be told the end of it,

so they have to predict what happens in the end. We can also stop the story at various stages

of it and ask students what they think happens next. We can also let students listen to an

extract of a story and get them say which book they think the extract comes from, or decide

what kind of book it is, e.g. horror, romance, etc (Harmer, 2007).77

Story-telling is a useful technique to improve students’ listening skills since it can be used

even in a less-equipped EFL classroom, because if there is no a CD player to play a recorded

story, teachers themselves can read the story and make the story characterization alive by

varying their voices when role-playing different characters.

Poetry can be used in a number of ways. For example, they can listen to poems being read

aloud and say what kind of mood they convey. We can have students listen to a poem and

then try to come up with an appropriate title. Students can also predict what they are going to

hear: we can give them the title of the song and they try to guess what words the poem will

contain. In this way, students will be eager to listen to the poem to see if they were right.78

We can also encourage students to write their own poems in English and bring them to the

class. Other students will be extremely engaged in listening to their classmates’ poetic

expressions.

Teachers can use English songs in class as a dictation exercise where students listen to the

song and write down the lyrics. The procedure should be done the following way: first,

students listen to the song without writing down the lyrics just to get the meaning of the song;

second, students listen to the song again and write down the lyrics; and third, the song is

replayed once again so that students can check out their writing and fill in the words they

didn’t hear in the previous listening. After the listening is done, the teacher can provide the

students with the song lyrics so that they can check how well they have done. This can be an

extremely interesting activity for students as they enjoy listening to music, and in this way

they are improving both their listening and writing skills. Sometimes, students may dislike the

teacher’s choice of songs, so teachers should let students to come up with songs they like and

use them in the class as a listening material. Furthermore, we can ask students to listen to their

favourite song and try to find certain language aspects in it, such as grammar points or idioms

77 Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (p.143)78 Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (p.143)

34

and phrases. Students come to the class with what they have found and discuss those aspects

with the rest of the class. In this way students will find learning grammar points or vocabulary

items much more interesting and will be more engaged in doing it at their homes. We can also

suggest students to write down new vocabulary or unfamiliar phrases as they listen to music

on their MP3 players or iPods, as this will help them in many ways: they will improve their

listening skills, they’ll be able to understand better the music they are listening to, and they

will acquire new language items.

Apart from the listening suggestions mentioned above, teachers should also talk to students

about their own ideas for listening practice, i.e. what they find easy and interesting when it

comes to understanding listening material. Students should be also encouraged to come up

with their own ideas when it comes to planning a listening task, i.e. how the listening task

should be realized, as this will boost their motivation and make them enthusiastic about the

listening activity. It is also important that teachers talk to students about what they find

difficult when listening to recorded or spoken material and try to adapt the listening material

to suit the students’ level. For example, if students don’t understand the audio track, we

should repeat the track a few times for better understanding, or have students do a pre-

listening exercise where we can explain the content, the vocabulary, and even the cultural

context of the recorded material. Some students are reluctant to talk about their difficulties

with listening in front of their classmates as there are afraid of losing face. It’s important to

encourage those students to talk to us, as their teachers, in private or via e-mail about their

listening problems so that we can find the way to help those students to improve their

listening skills without addressing them in the classroom. In this way students will get

confidence in their listening skills and will be more engaged during listening activities.

In the end, students need always be told that it is perfectly fine if they don’t understand all the

words in a listening material and that is more important for them to try to get the meaning of

that material. They should be also constantly encouraged to listen to English language music,

movies, radio broadcasts and live TV conversations, as in this way they will be exposed to the

language input they need in order to develop and improve their listening skills, and

accordingly their language acquisition.

3. CONCLUSION

Language acquisition is a complex process that requires the use of all four skills – listening,

speaking, reading, and writing – in a balanced manner. However, as we have seen so far,

listening skills are the most important ones as they provide the basis for the other three

35

language skills. Many researchers and linguists have confirmed that the development of

listening skills in ESL/EFL classrooms is especially important as listening provides students

with a lot of comprehensible input needed for language acquisition. Exposure to a

comprehensible input is very important as it is the only way for students to learn and acquire

English language. Students need to hear the language first, understand it and then respond, i.e.

communicate. Therefore, the teacher’s job is to provide the students with enough

comprehensible input in order to enable them to become competent speakers of English

language. However, as it has been argued, secondary school students often have difficulties in

comprehending English and even participating in simple conversations. The reason for this, as

it has been found out, is that listening skills have been neglected in secondary school

ESL/EFL classrooms to a great extent as a consequence of relying on traditional teaching of

grammar rules, translation patterns, and vocabulary items. It has been also found out that

students often feel anxious in the EFL classroom as a consequence of their lack of

understanding English, which has a direct influence on their motivation and engagement.

For the purpose of developing and improving students’ listening skills in secondary schools,

the author has emphasized several points, especially the role of the teacher as the main

provider of comprehensible input and the age of students. Secondary school students, as

adolescents, are an extremely vulnerable and delicate age group whose features such as

tendency to problem behaviour and search for identity teachers need to take into consideration

when choosing methods and materials for listening improvement. The author has also

suggested various listening sources and materials that can be used in the EFL classrooms such

as recorded materials on CDs and DVDs, film and video, the Internet and television, podcasts

and music. Listening to music is underlined as it represents an extremely interesting way of

acquiring the language and it also makes the classroom atmosphere relaxed and enjoyable.

The author has also given several examples of listening assessment procedures as both easy

and interesting ways of assessing students’ understanding of listening material. Teachers have

been urged to encourage students to listen to English language as much as possible whether

on CDs or MP3 players, through English language news and broadcasts, or while watching

English language movies. This will give them enough listening practice needed for

understanding and acquiring the language.

The author’s belief is that this paper will serve as a guideline for all EFL teachers willing to

give their best to improve their students’ language acquisition and language skills, especially

listening skills and enable their students to become competent speakers of English language.

36

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