Second Language Listening Ability

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Second Language Listening Ability:
Research-Informed Teaching and Testing

Dr. Elvis Wagner
Teachers College, Columbia University
elviswagstc@yahoo.com

Presentation at the NYSTESOL AL Winter Conference
Image result for listening


Overview
      1.     What is Second Language (L2) listening ability?
      2.     Why is listening in an L2 so difficult?
      3.     What types of spoken texts should we use in teaching and testing listening?
      4.     What is the best way to present these texts?
      5.     Suggestions for teaching and testing L2 listening ability.

What is second language (l2) listening ability?
Buck defines L2 listening as the ability:
      ·  To process extended samples of realistic spoken language, automatically and in real time,
      ·   To understand the linguistic information that is unequivocally included in the text, and
      ·  To make whatever inferences are unambiguously implicated by the content of the passage. (Buck, 
         2001, p.114)

Why is listening in an L2 so difficult?
      ·      Authentic spoken language, including unplanned and unrehearsed discourse, is often VERY 
          different from the language that ESL or EFL learners experience.
      ·     Spoken texts are on-line and ephemeral
      ·    Spoken language is often different from written language
      ·      More variation in spoken language than written language
      ·      Phonological modification in speech
      ·      Prosodic components of spoken texts
      ·      Hesitation phenomena
      ·      No white space

What types of spoken texts should be used in teaching and testing listening?
There are a number of textual factors that can affect L2 listening comprehension, including:     
      · Degree of “Orality”
      · Speed of the input
      ·  Pauses
      ·  Repetition and redundancy
      ·  Syntactic complexity
      ·  Rhetorical organizers or macromarkers
      ·  Speakers’ accents and perceived status

What is the best way to present these texts?
Some factors related to how the text is presented that can affect L2 listening comprehension include:
      ·      Providing context before the text is presented
      ·      Repeated playing of the text
      ·      Asking listeners to attend to form and meaning
      ·      Question preview
      ·      Vocabulary preview
      ·      Using video

Research-informed suggestions for teaching and testing L2 listening ability:
      ·      Use a variety of texts, that are representative of the types of spoken texts your learners will experience in the real world
      ·    Use texts that include characteristics of unplanned, spontaneous discourse
      ·      Make learners aware of the characteristics of spoken language
      ·      Use texts with a variety of speaking styles, accents, dialects, etc. 
      ·      Provide a context before presenting the text
      ·      Don’t ask listeners to do too many things at once
      ·      Use video





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