Teaching Listening and Speaking: From Theory to Practice

Teaching Listening and Speaking: From Theory to Practice

I ntroduction

Jack C. Richards

Courses in list ening and speaking skills have a prom inent place in language program s around t he world t oday. Ever- growing needs for fluency in English around t he world as a consequence of t he role of English as t he world's int ernat ional language have given priorit y t o finding m ore effect ive ways t o t each English and it is t herefore t im ely t o review what our current assum pt ions and pract ices are concerning t he t eaching of t hese crucial language skills. Our underst anding of t he nature of list ening and speaking have undergone considerable changes in recent years however, and in t his paper I will explore what som e of t hose changes are and what t heir im plicat ions are for classroom t eaching and m at erials design.

The teaching of list ening has at t ract ed a great er level of int erest in recent years t han it did in t he past . Universit y ent rance exam s, school leaving and ot her exam inat ions now oft en include a list ening com ponent , acknowledging t hat list ening skills are a core com ponent of second language proficiency , and also reflecting the assum ption t hat if list ening isn't test ed, t eachers won't t each it . Earlier views of list ening saw it as t he m ast ery of discret e skills or m icroskills, such as recognizing reduced form s of words, recognizing cohesive devices in t ext s, and ident ifying key words in a t ext , and t hat t hese skills should form t he focus of t eaching. Lat er views of list ening drew on the filed of cognitive psychology, which int roduced t he not ions of bot t om - up and t op- down processing and t o t he role of prior knowledge and schem a in com prehension. List ening cam e t o be seen as an int erpretive process. At t he sam e tim e t he field of discourse analysis and conversat ional analysis revealed a great deal about t he nat ure and organization of spoken discourse and lead t o a realization that writ t en text s read aloud could not provide a suit able basis for developing t he abilit ies needed t o process real- t im e aut hent ic discourse. Current views of list ening hence em phasize t he role of t he list ener, who is seen an act ive part icipant in list ening, em ploying st rat egies t o facilit at e, m onit or, and evaluat e his or her list ening.

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List ening has also been considered from a furt her perspect ive in recent years when it is exam ined in relat ion not only t o com prehension, but also t o language learning. Since list ening can provide m uch of t he input and dat a learners receive in language learning, an im port ant quest ion is, how can at t ent ion t o t he language t he list ener hears, facilit at e second language learning? This raises t he issue of t he role " not icing" and conscious awareness of language form , and how not icing can be part of t he process by which learners can incorporat e new words form s, and st ruct ures int o their developing com m unicative com pet ence. This role for list ening will also be exam ined here.

Approaches t o t he t eaching of speaking in EFL/ ESL have been m ore st rongly influenced by fads and fashions than t he t eaching of listening. " Speaking" in t radit ional m et hodologies usually m eant repeat ing aft er t he t eacher, m em orizing a dialog, or responding t o drills, reflect ing t he sent ence- based view of proficiency prevailing in t he audiolingual and other drill- based or repetition- based m et hodologies of t he 1970s. The em ergence of com m unicat ive language t eaching in t he 1980s lead t o changed views of syllabuses and m et hodology, which are cont inuing t o shape approaches t o t eaching speaking skills t oday. Gram m ar- based syllabuses were replaced by com m unicat ive syllabuses built around notion, functions, skills, t asks or ot her non- gram m atical unit s of organizat ion. Fluency becam e a goal for speaking courses and t his could be developed t hrough t he use of inform at ion- gap and ot her t asks t hat required learners t o at t em pt real com m unicat ion despit e lim it ed proficiency in English. I n so doing t hey would develop com m unication st rat egies and engage in negotiation of m eaning, bot h of which were considered essent ial t o t he developm ent of oral skills.

The not ion of English as an int ernat ional language has also prom pt ed a revision of t he not ion of com m unicat ive com pet ence t o include t he not ion of int ercult ural com pet ence. This shift s t he focus t o learning how t o com m unicat e in crosscult ural set tings, where native- speaker norm s of com m unication m ay not be a priorit y. At the sam e tim e it is now accept ed t hat m odels for oral int eraction in classroom m at erials cannot be sim ply based on t he int uit ions of t ext book writ ers but should be inform ed by t he findings of conversat ional analysis and t he analysis of real speech.

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Approaches t o t he t eaching of listening and speaking will be explored here in t he light of t he kinds of issues discussed above. My goal is t o exam ine what applied linguist ics research and t heory says about t he nat ure of list ening and speaking skills, and t hen t o explore what t he im plicat ions are for classroom t eaching. We will begin wit h exam ining t he t eaching of list ening

1 : The Teaching of Listening

I wish t o consider list ening from t wo different perspect ives, which I refer t o as list ening as com prehension, and t he second, list ening as acquisit ion.

List e n in g As Com pr e h e n sion

List ening as com prehension is t he t radit ional way of t hinking about t he nat ure of list ening. I ndeed, in m ost m ethodology m anuals listening, and list ening com prehension are synonym ous. This view of list ening is based on t he assum pt ion t hat t he m ain funct ion of list ening in second language learning is t o facilit at e underst anding of spoken discourse. We will exam ine t his view of list ening in som e det ail before considering a com plem ent ary view of list ening ? list ening as acquisit ion. This lat t er view of list ening considers how list ening can provide input which t riggers t he furt her developm ent of second language p r of i ci en cy .

Ch a r a ct e r ist ics of spok e n discou r se I n order t o underst and t he nat ure of list ening processes, we need t o consider som e of t he charact erist ics of spoken discourse and t he special problem s it poses for list eners. Spoken discourse has very different charact eristics from writ t en discourse and t hese differences can add a num ber of dim ensions t o our underst anding of how we process speech. For exam ple spoken discourse is usually inst ant aneous. The list ener m ust process it " on- line" and t here is oft en no chance t o list en t o it again. Spok en discourse also oft en st rikes t he second language list ener as being very fast , alt hough speech rat es vary considerably . Radio m onologs m ay cont ain 160 words per m inut e, while conversat ion can consist of up t o 220 words per m inut e. The im pression of fast er or slower speech generally result s from t he am ount of int ra clausal pausing t hat speakers m ake use of. Unlike writ t en discourse, spoken discourse is usually unplanned and often reflect s t he processes of const ruct ion such as hesit at ions, reduced form s, fillers, and repeat s. Spoken discourse has also been described as having a linear

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st ruct ure, com pared t o a hierarchical st ruct ure for writ t en discourse. Whereas t he unit of organizat ion of writ t en discourse is t he sent ence, spoken language is usually delivered one clause at a t im e and longer ut t erances in conv ersat ion generally consist of several clauses co- ordinat ed. Most of t he clauses used are sim ple conj unct s or adj unct s. Spoken t ext s t oo are oft en cont ext dependent and personal, oft en assum ing shared background knowledge. Last ly, spoke t ext s m ay be spoken wit h m any different accent s, from st andard t o non- st andard, t o regional, non-native, and so on.

Underst anding spok en discourse: bot t om - up and t op- dow n processing Two different kinds of processes are involved in underst anding spoken discourse. These are oft en referred t o as bot t om - up and t op- down processing. Bot t om - up processing refers t o using t he incom ing input as t he basis for underst anding t he m essage. Com prehension begins wit h t he dat a t hat has been received which is analysed as successive levels of organizat ion ? sounds, words, clauses, sent ences, t ext s ? unt il m eaning is arrived at . Com prehension is viewed as a process of decoding.

The list ener's lexical and gram m at ical com pet ence in a language provides t he basis for bot t om - up processing. The input is scanned for fam iliar words, and gram m atical knowledge is used t o work out t he relationship bet ween elem ent s of sent ences. Clark and Clark ( 1977: 49) sum m arize t his view of list ening in t he following way:

1. They [ list eners] t ake in raw speech and hold a phonological represent ation of it in working m em ory. 2. They im m ediat ely at t em pt t o organize t he phonological represent at ion int o const it uent s, identifying t heir cont ent and function. 3. They ident ify each const it uent and t hen const ruct underlying proposit ions, building continually ont o a hierarchical represent ation of propositions. 4. Once t hey have ident ified t he propositions for a constituent , t hey ret ain t hem in working m em ory and at som e point purge m em ory of the phonological represent ation. I n doing t his, t hey forget t he exact wording and ret ain t he m eaning.

We can illust rat e this wit h an exam ple. I m agine I said t he following t o you:

" The guy I sat next t o on t he bus t his m orning on the way t o work was t elling m e he runs a Thai rest aurant in Chinat own. Apparent ly it 's very popular at t he m om ent."

I n order t o underst and t his ut t erance using bot t om - up processing, we have t o m ent ally break the ut terance down int o it s com ponent s. This is referred t o as

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" chunking" and here are t he chunks t hat guide us t o t he underlying core m eaning of t he utt erances.

the guy I sat next t o on t he bus this m orning was telling m e he runs a Thai rest aurant in Chinat own apparently it's very popular at the m oment

The chunks help us identify t he underlying propositions t he utt erances expresses, nam ely;

I was on t he bus. There was a guy next t o m e. We talked. He said he runs a Thai rest aurant . I t 's in Chinat own. I t's very popular now.

I t is t hese unit s of m eaning which we rem em ber, and not t he form in which we init ially heard t hem . Our knowledge of gram m ar helps us find t he appropriat e chunk s, and t he speaker also assist s us in t his process t hrough int onat ion and pausing.

Teaching bot t om - up processing Learners need a large vocabulary and a good working knowledge of sent ence st ruct ure t o be able t o process t ext s bot t om - up. Exercises t hat develop bot t om up processing help t he learner t o do such t hings as t he following:

Ret ain input while it is being processes Recognize word and clause divisions Recognize key words Recognize key t ransit ions in a discourse Recognize gram m at ical relat ions bet ween key elem ent s in sent ences Use st ress and int onation t o identify word and sent ence functions

Many t radit ional classroom list ening act ivit ies focus prim ary on bot t om - up processing, exercises such as dict at ion, cloze list ening, t he use of m ult iple choice quest ions aft er a t ext and sim ilar act ivit ies which require close and det ailed recognition and processing of t he input and which assum e t hat everyt hing t he list ener needs t o underst and is cont ained in the input.

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