Listening: a learner-centred approach

Listening - A learner centred approach

‘Receptive skills are key in the acquisition of a second language. The better learners are at listening in particular, the more they are able to notice language and learn from input.’

The two important areas discussed in this session given by Vaila Goodrige were; Task authenticity and difficulty.

According to Vaila ‘Task authenticity determines the success of the listening’. Basically when setting a listening task, ask yourself ‘Why would I listen to this?’

Pre-listening discussions can dramatically improve comprehension as well as providing a reason to listen.

Predicting answers to comprehension questions confirms or revises students’ ideas.

Different learning styles can be catered for by asking students to carry out practical tasks whilst listening. For example, labelling a diagram.

Most students love to hear about their teacher’s experiences, and this can provide a rich source of listening input. Students remember far more effectively stories or input when it is personal and authentic.


Setting the appropriate level of difficulty for students is important both for language development and student motivation.

It is the effort (or work) required that takes the student from their present cognitive level to the internalization of the new target language.

However, it has been shown that success in a task improves motivation and hence learning. So teacher mediation in the listening is vital to ensure student success.

Some practical activities from the session;

Awareness raising – Students underline all the instances of a particular language feature that has been predetermined by the teacher.

Gap fill or cloze – You can choose to give the students the words or not depending on your aims, the students’ level and the difficulty of the listening material.

Dictogloss – This is a progressive exercise where students listen to a short extract several times without writing anything down. As individuals they then write down what they believe they heard, they then compare in pairs and finally in larger groups before checking the group text against the original.

Dictation – Play a sentence several times while students write the sentences. Students compare their sentences with their partners and then read them back to the teacher, who boards their answers. Leave spaces for words that have not been understood and play the recording until the students can fill in all the gaps.

Reading aloud – After a pronunciation focus it can be very useful to have students read the text aloud to their partner in order to practise the relevant features of pronunciation.