Publication: Improving ESL Learners' Listening Skills: At the Workplace and Beyond

• Van Duzer, Carol

Listening is a critical element in the competent language
performance of adult second language learners. Listening is
a demanding process, because of both the process itself and
factors that characterize the listener, speaker, message
content, and any accompanying visual support. The speaker's
use of colloquial language and reduced forms, familiarity of
content, and ability to interpret visual supports also
affect comprehension. Although once labeled a passive
skill, listening is an active process of selecting and
interpreting information, with several basic processes at
work, each influencing teaching techniques and activities.
Two cognitive processes, bottom-up and top-down, are also
occurring. Research suggests a silent or pre-speaking
period is beneficial for beginning language learners,
allowing storage of information. Knowledge about the
listening process and factors that affect it can guide
listening skill development in English-as-a-Second-Language
classes. Listening lessons should guide the learner through
three stages: pre-listening; listening task; and post-
listening activity. Numerous activities can develop
listening skills: doing (physical); choosing; transferring;
answering; condensing; extending; duplicating; modeling; and
conversing. Teachers can incorporate activities in a way
that reflects real-world integration of listening,
speaking, reading, and writing.

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