3. Session objectives
• Discuss and analyse different purposes
and ways of listening
• Explain how top down & bottom up
processing influence comprehension
• Apply understanding to task design for
listening skill
4. Which ‘listening experiences’
involved:
1. Involved speaking & listening?
2. Speaker physically present?
3. Listening for specific info?
4. For pleasure or entertainment?
5. Necessary to listen closely?
6. Allowed less attentive listening
6. Potential difficulties for
additional language learners
1. Watching news on TV
2. Listening to news on radio
3. Talking about news with a friend – face to
face
4. Talking about news with a friend – on the
phone
5. Listening to a recording of news in the
classroom
6. Listening to a song
7. Potential difficulties for
additional language learners
•
•
•
•
•
•
Lack of visual reinforcement
Inability to interact
Inability to control rate on input
Pressure to speak
Poor acoustics
The topic: density of information, lack of
repetition
9. Listen to the texts
• Did you understand all the words in the
text?
• Did you understand the overall meaning of
the text?
10. Listen again…
• What was different about each text the
second time you heard it? Were the texts
easier to understand?
• What factors make comprehension easier
of more difficult?
• What are the implications of this activity on
listening and reading in the classroom?
• What can the teacher do to make
comprehension easier?
12. Top Down
General knowledge of the
world
Who is who, where things are, etc.
Knowledge of a particular
event
For example, a story you are following
as it affects you, or something you
overheard on the bus and want to
know more, or just a general
awareness of a particular event.
Listening to the news
Knowledge of vocabulary
Knowledge of grammar
How words sound and what they
mean. If “Brad has left Angelina” we
know that they are no longer a
couple.
If “Brad has left Angelina” we can
generally assume that Angelina is
now alone in the house, not Brad,
and that it happened recently.
Bottom Up
