Development of Listening Skills

DEVELOPMENT OF LISTENING SKILLS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Diploma paper
FOREWORD
The teaching of English as a second language (ESL) or as a foreign language (EFL) has
become a major educational priority in many countries around the world due to the status of
English as a global language of science, technology and international relations. Teaching of
English language is especially important in secondary education since secondary school
students need to be proficient in English in order to enroll universities or function in English
speaking communities. However, secondary school students ESL/EFL performance has often
been rated as poor and this is mostly due to practicing traditional sentence translations,
learning grammar rules, and memorizing vocabulary items. The four language skills,
listening, reading, speaking, and writing are generally given less priority. Listening skills are
almost totally neglected, especially in secondary schools, yet they are considered by many
linguists as the basics for the other three language skills. For example, Nation and Newton
(2009) consider listening as a natural pre-cursor to speaking (p.37).1
The author of this paper has, therefore, chosen to conduct a research on the ways of
developing listening skills in secondary school students for it is her own belief that listening is
the most important skill in language acquisition. This belief has come out of her own
experience in learning English as a foreign language simply by listening to it by means of
listening to music and watching movies with English subtitles.
The first part of the paper gives an overview on listening in an ESL/EFL environment. The
second part points to the problems with ESL/EFL listening in secondary schools and tries to
explain what factors cause the difficulties in students listening skills. The third part gives
suggestions on how to develop and improve secondary school students listening skills,
explores listening sources and materials, and emphasizes the importance of creating an
anxiety-free EFL environment. The fourth - and the concluding part - points to the overall
importance of listening skills in secondary school language acquisition.
This paper will, hopefully, contribute to the development of listening skills in secondary
school EFL/ESL classrooms, and help enthusiastic teachers to improve their students
listening skills and enable them to become competent English speakers.
1
Nation, I.S.P. and Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. New York: Routledge, Taylor
and Francis. (p.37)
1. LISTENING
1.1. The Concept of Listening
Listening, as one of the means of language communication, is used most widely in peoples
everyday lives.2 However, listening is not the same thing as hearing. Hearing refers to the
sounds that one hears, while listening requires more than that: it requires focus. 3 Listening is
receiving language through the ears. It involves identifying the sounds of speech and
processing them into words and sentences. When we listen, we use our ears to receive
individual sounds (letters, stress, rhythm and pauses) and we use our brain to convert these
into messages that mean something to us.4 In other words, listening is the ability to accurately
receive messages in the communication process. Listening is key to all effective
communication. Without the ability to listen effectively messages are easily misunderstood
which leads to communication break-down and frustration on the part of the sender of the
message.5 According to psychologist Burcley-Allen, listening takes the most time in the
communication process.6
Figure 1. Various Aspects of Communication: The picture represents the time given for various
Four Skills of Language Learning: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. (2006). In WriteWork.com.
Listening Skills. (n.d.). In SkillsYouNeed.co.uk.
4
What Is Listening? (n.d.). In EnglishClub.com
5
What Is Listening? (n.d.). In EnglishClub.com
6
Real BioChemistry. (2012, April 4). The cycle of effective listening. [Blog post].
3
aspects of communication: 40 percent - for listening, 35 percent - for talking, 16 percent - for
reading, 9 percent - for writing (Burcley-Allen).7
Therefore listening is an essential skill without which communication would be impossible as

it requires one to listen actively, to understand what is being said, and then to provide
feedback.
1.2. Listening in ESL and EFL Environment
According to Nunan (1998, as cited in Nation and Newton, 2009) it has been claimed that
over 50 percent of the time that students spend functioning in a foreign language will be
devoted to listening.8 Listening is essential for obtaining comprehensible input that is
substantial for language development. Gomwalk (2007) states that listening is a natural prerequisite for language development. One must first listen and then comprehend what has been
spoken in order to communicate. Therefore, listening is the skill that every user of a language
needs to master.9 Indeed, the early stages of language development in a persons first language
(and in naturalistic acquisition of other languages) are dependent on listening. This is because
listening is the natural pre-cursor to speaking (Nation and Newton, 2009). 10 In the early 1980s
several writers and researchers suggested the importance of listening over speaking in the
early stages of second language learning. For example Nord (as cited in Nation and Newton,
2009) argues that language learning is building a cognitive map in the mind and that the best
way to do this is to practice meaningful listening. 11 Viewing language learning in this way,
one can say that listening is the way of learning the language. It provides the learner with
information from which to build up the knowledge necessary for using the language. The
listening-only period is a time of observation and learning which provides the basis for other
http://real-biochemistry.blogspot.com/2012/04/cycle-of-effective-listening.html
and Francis. (p.37)
9
Gomwalk , S. H. (2007). The Effect of Listening Comprehension Skills on Students' Performance in Oral
English Language Test, Lwati: A Journal of Contemporary Research, 4, (p.110)
10
and Francis. (p.37)
11
and Francis. (p.38)
language skills (Nation and Newton, 2009).12 This concentrating on listening and delaying
speaking, called the comprehension approach, had many benefits on language learning.
Gary and Gary (1981, as cited in Nation and Newton, 2009) described some of them:
1. The learner is not overloaded by having to focus on two or more skills at the same
time a cognitive benefit.
2. It is possible to experience and learn much more of the language by just concentrating
on listening. If learners had to be able to say all the material in the lessons, progress
would be very slow.
3. It is easy to move very quickly to realistic communicative listening. This will have a
strong effect on motivation.
4. Learners will not feel shy or worried about their language classes. Having to speak a
foreign language, especially when you know very little, can be a frightening
experience. Listening activities reduce the stress involved in language learning a
psychological benefit.
5. Listening activities are well suited to independent learning through listening to
recording.13
Many writers criticized this comprehension approach suggesting that this receptive activity
alone is not sufficient for language learning, though they do agree that language courses
should contain substantial quantities of receptive activity (Gregg, 1984; Swain, 1985, as
caited in nation and Newton, 2009, p.39).14 The effect of the comprehension approach has
been to emphasize the importance of listening and to direct attention to the development of
techniques for providing interesting, successful, and sustained opportunities for listening early
in a learners language learning (Nation and Newton, 2009, p.39).15 Throughout the 1990s,
attention to listening in language teaching increased dramatically. Aural comprehension in
second or foreign language acquisition became an important area of study. Listening is now
considered as an active skill that involves many processes (Osada, 2004).16 Celce-Murcia (as
12
and Francis. (p.38)
13
and Francis. (pp.38-39)
14
and Francis. (p.39)
15
and Francis. (p.39)
16
Osada, N. (2004). Listening Comprehension Research: A Brief Review of the Past Thirty Years. Dialogue, 3,
(p.55)
cited in Osada, 2004) states that, in order to comprehend spoken messages, listeners may need
to integrate information from various sources: phonetic, phonological, lexical, semantic and
syntactic. The fact that we achieve all this in real time as the message unfolds makes listening
a complex and dynamic process.17 Brown and Yule (1983, as cited in Van Duzer, 1997)
consider listening a demanding process, not only because of its complexity but also due to the
factors that characterize the listener, the speaker, the content of the message, and any visual
support that accompanies the message:
The Listener - Interest in a topic increases the listener's comprehension; the listener may tune
out topics that are not of interest. A listener who actively participates in a conversation
generally has more background knowledge to facilitate understanding of the topic than a
listener who listens to a conversation between two people whose communication has been
recorded on an audiotape. Further, the ability to use negotiation skills, such as asking for
clarification, repetition, or definition of points not understood, enable a listener to make sense
of the incoming information.
The Speaker - Colloquial language and reduced forms make comprehension more difficult.
The extent to which the speaker uses these language forms impacts comprehension. The more
exposure the listener has to them, the greater the ability to comprehend. A speaker's rate of
delivery may be too fast, too slow, or have too many hesitations for a listener to follow.
Awareness of a speaker's corrections and use of rephrasing ("er. . . I mean . . .That is . . .") can
assist the listener. Learners need practice in recognizing these speech habits as clues to
deciphering meaning.
Content - Content that is familiar is easier to comprehend than content with unfamiliar
vocabulary or for which the listener has insufficient background knowledge.
Visual Support - Visual support, such as video, pictures, diagrams, gestures, facial
expressions, and body language, can increase comprehension if the learner is able to correctly
interpret it.18
Therefore, listening can no longer be regarded as a passive skill, but as a very much active
and complex process of selecting and interpreting information from auditory and visual clues
((Richards, 1983; Rubin, 1995, as cited in Van Duzer, 1997, para.8).19
17
Osada, N. (2004). Listening Comprehension Research: A Brief Review of the Past Thirty Years. Dialogue, 3,
(pp. 55-56)
18
Van Duzer, Carol. (1997, February). Project in Adult Immigrant Education (PAIE): Improving ESL Learners'
Listening Skills: At the Workplace and Beyond. In Center For Adult English Language Acquisition. (para.6-7)
19
Van Duzer, Carol. (1997, February). Project in Adult Immigrant Education (PAIE): Improving ESL Learners'
Listening Skills: At the Workplace and Beyond. In Center For Adult English Language Acquisition. (para.8)
1.3. Types of Listening

According to Nation and Newton (2009) there are two broad types of listening:
1. One-way listening this type of listening is typically associated with the transfer of
information
2. Two-way listening this type of listening is typically associated with maintaining
social relations.20
Richards (as cited in Gomwalk, 2007) also distinguishes two types of listening: interactional
and transactional. According to Richards, interactional listening is related to the use of
language, which is the social need of the participants in communication, for example, small
talk and casual conversation. It is highly contextualized and involves interaction with more
than one speaker. This is the type of listening that Nation and Newton (2009) call two-way
listening. On the other hand, transactional listening is more message-oriented. It is used
primarily to communicate information, for example, news broadcast and lectures.
Transactional listening requires accurate comprehension of a message without the opportunity
for clarification with the speaker. This is the type of listening that Nation and Newton (2009)
call one-way listening.21
Listeners listen selectively, according to the purpose of the task. Knowing the purpose or the
context of listening determines the type of listening required and the way listeners approach
certain task.22 With respect to this, Kline (as cited in Gomwalk, 2007) identifies five types of
listening:
Informative listening this type of listening is concerned with understanding the

message and it is found in all areas of our lives, for example, listening to lectures or
20
and Francis. (p.40)
21
English Language Test, Lwati: A Journal of Contemporary Research, 4, (pp. 111-112)
22
instructions from teachers. Informative listening depends on vocabulary, concentration

and memory of an individual.
Appreciative listening this type of listening is defined by the response of the

listener, and not the source of the message. The quality of appreciative listening in
large part depends on presentation, perception and previous experience. It includes, for
example, listening to music for enjoyment.
Relationship listening is based on the reason, either to help a person or to improve

the relationsip between people.
Critical listening is essential in all areas of our lives, for example, in the family, on
the job, at the service clubs, in places of worship etc. Critical listening is very
important as well as the thinking that accompanies it.
Discriminative listening provides the basis to the other four types, as Kline
explains. In discriminative listening one has to be sensitive to the speakers rate,
volume, force, pitch, impact of certain responses, pauses etc. There are three main
issues to consider about discriminative listening: hearing ability, awareness of sound
structure and integration of non-verbal cues.23
1.4. Listening Processes / Strategies

There are two distinct processes or strategies involved in listening comprehension: bottom-up
and top-down processes.
Bottom-up processes Field (as cited in Nation and Newton, 2009) states that these are the
processes the listener uses to assemble the message piece-by-piece from the speech stream,
going from the parts to the whole.24 According to Vandergift (as cited in Gomwalk, 2007),
listeners use bottom-up processes when they use linguistic knowledge to understand the
meaning of the message. In order to get to the final message listeners build meaning from
lower level sounds, to words, to grammatical relationships, and then to lexical meaning.25
According to the National Capital Language Resource Center (NCLRC), bottom-up
strategies are text based; the listener relies on the language in the message, that is, the
23
24
and Francis. (p.40)
25
combination of sounds, words, and grammar that creates meaning. Bottom-up strategies
include:
listening for specific details
recognizing cognates
recognizing word-order patterns (http://nclrc.org/)26
Top-down processes here, the listener goes from the whole to the parts. In other words,
listeners use what they know of the context of communication to predict what the message
will contain, and use parts of the message to confirm, correct or add to this (Nation and
Newton, 2009).27 In addition, Vandergift (as cited in Gomwalk) states that listeners use topdown processes when they use prior knowledge of the topic, the listening context, the text
type, the culture or other information stored in long term memory as schemata (common
situations around which world knowledge is organized).28 National Capital Language
Resource Center (NCLRC) states that top-down strategies are listener based; the listener taps
into background knowledge of the topic, the situation or context, the type of text, and the
language. This background knowledge activates a set of expectations that help the listener to
interpret what is heard and anticipate what will come next. Top-down strategies include:
listening for the main idea
predicting
drawing inferences
summarizing (http://nclrc.org/)29
26
National Capital Language Resource Center (NCLRC). (n.d.). The essentials of language teaching. Retrieved
from http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/listening/stratlisten.htm
27
and Francis. (p.40)
28
29
Figure 2. Bottom-up and top-down processing30

Figure 2 shows the distinction between the two processes: with bottom-up processing,
listeners start with the component parts: sounds, words, grammar, and the like; with top-down
processing listeners start from their background knowledge, either content schema (general
knowledge/life experience) or textual schema (awareness of the kinds of information used in a
given situation). The idea shown in Figure 2 is, perhaps, better understood by a metaphor.
Imagine a brick wall. If you are standing at the bottom studying the wall brick by brick, you
can easily see the details. It is difficult, however, to get an overall view of the wall. If, on the
other hand, youre sitting on the top of the wall, you can easily see the landscape. However,
because of distance, you will miss some details. And, of course, the view is very different.31
This means that one should select both top-down and bottom-up strategies that are appropriate
to the listening task and use them flexibly. Students' comprehension improves and their
confidence increases when they use top-down and bottom-up strategies simultaneously to
construct meaning.32
1.5. Listening and the Input Hypothesis
Listening is closely related to second or foreign language acquisition. This is evident in the
theory of second language acquisition developed by Steven Krashen in the early 1980s.
Krashen believes that there is no fundamental difference between the way we acquire our first
30
http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/supergoal/Chapter2%20Section3.pdf
32
31
language and our subsequent languages. He claims that humans have an innate ability that
guides the language learning process. Infants learn their mother tongue simply by listening
attentively to spoken language that is (made) meaningful to them. Foreign languages are
acquired in the same way. Krashens theory of second language acquisition consists of five
main hypotheses: the Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis, the Natural Order Hypothesis, the
Monitor Hypothesis, the Input Hypothesis, and the Affective Filter Hypothesis.
The Input Hypothesis is in focus here since it states that we acquire language in one way only:
when we are exposed to input (written or spoken language) that is comprehensible to us, i.e.
when we listen to it. Comprehensible input is the necessary but also sufficient condition for
language acquisition to take place. It requires no effort on the part of the learner. The
Hypothesis further states that learners acquire language when they are exposed to input at i+1,
where i is the current state or stage of language proficiency. Learners use their existing
acquired linguistic competence together with their general world knowledge to make sense of
the messages they receive in language just beyond where they currently are (the +1). Given
comprehensible input at i+1, acquisition will take place effortlessly and involuntarily.33
Harmer (2007) summarizes Krashens hypotheses and states that teachers should provide the
right kind of language exposure, namely comprehensible input (i.e. language that students
understand more or less, even if it is a bit above their own level of production). Provided that
students experience such language in an anxiety-free atmosphere, they will acquire it just as
children do. However, Harmer argues that this approach exposing students to
comprehensible input without asking them to think about how the language works could
cause some problems with older students, namely that of teenagers and adults. Both teenagers
and adults, Harmer further states, have perfectly good reasoning powers and may want to
think consciously about how language works. Therefore, as Harmer suggests, we should
provide students (teenagers and adults) with lots of comprehensible input, but we should also
give them opportunities to study the language and the way it works, and to give them chances
to activate their language knowledge.34
2. LISTENING IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

33
34
An introduction to the work of Stephen Krashen. (n.d.) In Esl.Fis.edu.

Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (pp. 47-48)
10
The essential point for ESL/EFL teachers is to make the input comprehensible for their
students while choosing the optimum mode of non-verbal response according to the age and
learning styles of students (Taeko, 1989, para.16).35 However, it seems that this input is often
made incomprehensible to the students as many of them often leave the course without the
competence to communicate in English. Gomwalk (2007) states that proficiency in English
language is essential for all second/foreign language users, especially secondary school
students who need to master it for entry into the university and/or to function in an English
speaking community.36
2.1. Problems with ESL/EFL Listening in Secondary Schools
Secondary school students ESL/EFL performance has often been rated as poor. Robert W.
Norris, a university and secondary school professor in Japan, states that this is because of the
traditional way of ESL/EFL teaching that mostly relies on word-for-word translation of
sentences, and memorizing long lists of vocabulary items and grammar rules. Norris further
states that speaking and listening skills have often been neglected and that the students often
have great problems in comprehending the simplest of conversations with native speakers. He
lists several reasons for this: first, the students do not perceive certain English sounds with
any accuracy because those sounds do not exist in their first language; second, the students
are not familiar with the stress and intonation patterns of English and the way these influence
the pronunciation of certain phonemes and the meaning of an utterance; third, students often
have a need to perceive and comprehend everything they hear and they often find it difficult
to get used to the idea that they can be competent listeners with less than 100% perception
and/or understanding; the fourth would be "reduced forms" that occur in informal speech, for
example, "wanna" for "want to" or "gonna" for "going to". These are usually an
incomprehensible stream of sounds to the students, who are unable to distinguish where word
boundaries lie within the stream of sounds (Norris, 1993, para.1-2)37
Similar problems occur in secondary schools in China, where students are often expected to
understand, speak, read and write English, as they are often being taught to it previously, in
35
Taeko, T. (1989). The Silent Period Hypothesis. Sanno Junior College Bulletin, (pp.150-162).
37
Norris, W.R. (1993). Teaching Reduced Forms: An Aid for Improving Lower-Level Students' Listening Skills.
Fukuoka Women's Junior College Studies, 46, (pp.49-56).
36
11
elementary school. The priority is given to productive skills, speaking and writing, while the
receptive skills, listening and reading are neglected. What teachers seem to forget very often
is that students cannot acquire speaking ability without listening ability, or writing ability
without reading ability, because both productive skills depend entirely on the two receptive
skills. Moreover, secondary school teachers in China very often seem not to have enough
enthusiasm for devoting enough time to listening comprehension, as they do for the other
three major skills. They often seem unable to carry out a listening class, hurrying through it
without any activity. They often find unacceptable to devote some time to the cultivation of
listening skills in secondary schools for various reasons: sometimes they complain that there
is no time to spare in doing listening practice, and sometimes teachers themselves lack the
listening ability. The latter represents a real problem for a teacher because if the teacher
himself has problems with listening skills, he will have hard times to train his students
listening skills efficiently (Qi, n.d.).38
In addition, secondary school students in Bosnia and Herzegovina also lack the competence in
English to a great extent and many of them finish their EFL courses without being able to
communicate basic English. This is mostly because of the traditional way of teaching EFL
which is focused on learning grammar rules and translating sentences, and neglects other
language skills. Listening skills are almost totally neglected, students barely go through
listening activities, yet they are expected to both understand and speak English. This is mostly
the case with secondary school students who attend schools located in smaller towns or rural
areas, where schools do not have appropriate EFL classrooms and usually very little
enthusiastic EFL teachers. Secondary schools in bigger towns, on the other hand, do have
better learning conditions: EFL classrooms are well-equipped or at least satisfy the EFL
learning conditions and the teachers are more motivated and opened to new learning
methodologies, especially in private schools. However, there is still a problem because the
curriculum for secondary schools allows EFL classes only two or three hours a week. This
leaves no room for enthusiastic teachers to maneuver with all aspects of EFL teaching and
since they all want their students to be able to speak English fluently, they focus on teaching
speaking and writing skills, rather than reading and listening skills. In fact, a lot of teachers
almost totally neglects listening skills, forgetting that, in order to know how to speak English,
they should first teach their students how to listen to it, since listening is the natural precursor to speaking(Nation and Newton, 2009, p.37).39
38
Qi, Y. (n.d.). My Ideas of an Effective Listening Class. In Fjsdfz.org.

and Francis. (p.37)
39
12
With major advance in technology and media today, especially the Internet, it is a lot easier
for both teachers to teach and students to learn a language. Yet, teachers dont seem to explore
all the possibilities that both technology and media offer for language learning, especially
when it comes to listening skills. Students, on the other hand, could improve their listening
skills by themselves, but they are neither motivated enough nor they are given instructions
how to do it. Also a lot of research conducted on developing listening skills has shown that
many students learn English language simply by listening to music or watching movies. Still,
teachers seem not to be aware of this fact, and they persistently hold to the traditional
grammar and translation method of teaching EFL.
It is, indeed, an embarrassing fact that with almost twelve years40 of EFL classes behind them,
a lot of secondary schools students in Bosnia and Herzegovina (and in many countries around
the world) leave secondary schools without the ability to communicate in English.
Therefore, EFL teachers need to be more engaged in searching for the new methods of EFL
teaching, explore all the possibilities that modern technology and media offer, and use them in
their classes to improve students language skills, especially listening skills. They also need to
be more engaged in motivating their students to improve their listening skills by themselves,
giving them instructions how to do it. Teachers also need to work on improving their own
listening skills, because when they know how to listen, they will be able to train their students
listening skills effectively.
2.2. Factors That Cause Difficulties in EFL Listening Comprehension
According to the study of Goh (1997, as cited in Kijpoonphol, n.d.), factors or obstacles that
can cause difficulties in listening comprehension can be divided into person knowledge and
task knowledge. Person knowledge obstacles include: (1) limited vocabulary; (2)
phonological modification; (3) particular types of accent; (4) idiomatic expressions; (5) types
of input with an unfamiliar structure; (6) inefficient memory; and (7) fast speech. Task
knowledge obstacles include: (1) phonological modifications or prosodic features; (2)
unfamiliar vocabulary; (3) different varieties and local accents; (4) speech rate; (5) types of
input; (6) interest in topic and purpose of listening; (7) existing knowledge and experience;
40
EFL classes in Bosnia and Herzegovina start around 4th grade, but in some schools and in private schools EFL
teaching starts in the 1st grade.
13
(8) physical factors; (9) emotional states; and (10) length and structure of sentences
(Kijpoonphol, n.d., p.38).41
Furthermore, Brown (1994, as cited in Kijpoonphol, n.d.) lists eight characteristics of spoken
language (i.e. listening text) which make the L2 listening process difficult:
1. Clustering Due to memory limitations and predisposition for chunking or clustering,
listeners break down speech into smaller groups of words. L2 listeners have to pick out
manageable clusters of words.
2. Redundancy In real life situations, speakers do often use sufficient redundancy which
could help L2 listeners to process meaning easier
3. Reduced forms Spoken language also has many reduced forms. These can be
phonological, morphological, syntactic, or pragmatic.
4. Performance variables The distracting performance variables such as hesitations, false
starts, pauses, and corrections of L2 may cause difficulties.
5. Colloquial language Listeners may find it difficult to deal with colloquial language such
as idioms, slang, reduced forms, and shared cultural knowledge. The extent to which speakers
use these language forms impacts comprehension (Brown and Yule, 1983)
6. Rate of delivery Most L2 listeners perceive that native speakers speak too fast for them
and this makes it difficult for L2 listeners to follow (Brown and Yule, 1983)
7. Stress, rhythm, and intonation The prosodic features of L2 may cause difficulties. If L2
listeners feel familiar with these prosodic features, they may have less difficulty in L2
listening.
8. Interaction Interaction plays a major role in listening comprehension. If L2 listeners
cannot communicate with speakers, they cannot elicit more information from them
(Kijpoonphol, n.d., pp.36-37).42
The most common factors that cause difficulties in EFL/ESL listening comprehension (based
on those mentioned above) are: limited or unfamiliar vocabulary, types of input, colloquial
language, reduced forms, rate of delivery, unfamiliar prosodic features, clustering, and
interaction.
2.2.1. Listening Anxiety
41
Kijpoonphol, W. (n.d.). An Investigation of Difficulties Related To Listening Comprehension: A Case of

University Students. Nida Language And Communication Journal. (pp.30-51)
42
Kijpoonphol, W. (n.d.). An Investigation of Difficulties Related To Listening Comprehension: A Case of
University Students. Nida Language And Communication Journal. (pp.30-51)
14
According to the study conducted by Wang (2010), a university professor from China, there
are certain negative correlations both between English listening classroom anxiety and
listening achievement. Wang (2010) states that the anticipation of foreign language use in
receiving information can provoke anxiety and this makes anxiety an affective factor in
listening comprehension (p.562). The study examined three points that caused students
anxiety: tension and worry over English listening, lack of confidence in English listening, and
concern about the insufficient prior knowledge. The results of the study show that students:
1. get nervous if a listening passage is read only once during the English listening exams
2. find difficult to understand English with an accent
3. worry that they might not understand a person if that person speaks English very fast
4. feel more relaxed if some visual clues (e.g. pictures, TV programs, speakers with facial
expressions) accompany listening to English (p. 564)
Therefore, as Wang (2010) suggests, EFL teachers need to pay attention to the affective state
of the learners, especially the listening anxiety experienced in listening so as to help improve
the listening proficiency of the students and also create an anxiety-free classroom atmosphere
(p.566).43
3. HOW TO DEVELOP LISTENING SKILLS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS?

43
Wang, S. (September, 2010). An Experimental Study of Chinese English Major Students Listening Anxiety of
Classroom Learning Activity at the University Level. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 1, (5),
(pp. 562-568)
15
It has been argued so far that listening skills have been found the most important in ESL/EFL
acquisition by many researchers and linguists, since they have major influence on the other
language skills in language acquisition. The other fact about listening skills is that they have
been quite neglected in ESL/EFL classrooms, and that the priority is often given to other
language skills, especially speaking. This is particularly the case in secondary schools, where
students are often expected to be fluent in English, as they have been taught to it previously,
in elementary schools. The result of this negligence for listening skills and also holding to the
traditional methods of teaching ESL/EFL has lead to the students incompetence in English
upon graduation from secondary schools, which is both a disturbing and embarrassing fact. In
order to develop and improve students listening skills, and accordingly, students language
acquisition, secondary school teachers need to:(1) consider the age of students; (2) consider
teachers role in EFL teaching and his/her own teaching skills (3) explore listening sources
and use appropriate listening materials; (4) use the benefits of technology and media in their
EFL classrooms; (5) study and apply techniques that have proven to be efficient in teaching
listening skills; (6) use appropriate listening assessment.; (7) create an anxiety-free
atmosphere
Students themselves can do a lot to improve their listening skills too, but they need proper
instructions and motivation, because without these two their language learning will have
negative outcomes.
3.1. The Age of Students
Secondary school students are usually referred to as adolescents, which is a specific group
when it comes to both language learning and the age group in general. Their understanding of
language learning differs from that of the other learning groups and this is something that
secondary school teachers need to consider in order to improve their students language
acquisition. In his book How to Teach English, Harmer (2007) describes three categories of
language learners in terms of their age: children, adolescents and adults (pp.14-15).44
According to Harmer (2007) children (learners between the ages of about 2 to about 14) learn
by taking information from various sources around them and have the ability to become
competent speakers of a new language with an ease provided they get enough exposure to it.
However, they do not have the capacity to understand abstractions such as, for example,
44
Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (pp.14-15)
16
grammar rules, and they tend to forget language as easy as they acquire it. Adults (learners
from about 16 onwards) are usually disciplined, they have clear understanding of why they
are learning things, they are able to sustain their motivation, and perceive long-term learning
goals. Adolescent students are usually learners between the ages of about 12 to 17 and this is
just a generalization since it is often uncertain at what age it is safe to call students
adolescents. The onset of adolescence is bound up with physical and emotional changes rather
than chronological age. Adolescents have a great capacity for learning, enormous potential for
creative thought, and a passionate commitment to things which interest them. They have
developed a great capacity for abstract thought as they have grown up and they are usually
able to perceive their learning goals (pp.14-15).45 However, Harmer (2007) further states that
adolescents are often seen as problem students, prone to disruptive behaviour, despite their
relative success as language learners. This is mostly because the period of adolescence is
bound up with a pronounced search for identity and a need for self-esteem. Adolescents are
extremely vulnerable to the negative judgments of their own age group and they have a need
for peer-approval. They need to feel good about themselves and valued, especially by their
teachers. All of this is reflected in the secondary student who argued that a good teacher is
someone who knows our names(p.83).46
Because students characteristics differ according to their age, the way we teach them will be
different too. Therefore we will not use the same activities and teaching techniques (in this
case the activities and teaching techniques that are related to improving listening skills) with
adolescents as we do with young children or adults. Harmer (2007) states that we need to
keep in mind the importance of a students place within his or her peer group and take special
care when correcting or assigning roles within an activity, etc. Our choice of topic should
reflect students own interest (p.15).47 As adolescents tend to manifest disruptive behaviour,
teachers should work both to prevent it, and to respond to it appropriately if it occurs. There
are many ways to respond to problem behaviour effectively48, but the most important thing
that teachers should bear in mind is that it is the behaviour that they deal with, and not the
student (Harmer, 2007, p.181).49 However, Harmer (2207) also states that we should not
become too preoccupied with problem behaviour, but try to engage students with relevant and
45
Harmer, J. (20079. The Practice of English Languge Teaching. (4 th Edition). Cambridge: Longman ELT.
(p.83)
47
Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (p.15)
48
More on this issue in Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (pp.180182)
49
Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. (p.16; p. 181)
46
17
interesting material instead, so as to provoke our students motivation and enthusiasm for
learning. We also need to do whatever we can to bolster students self-esteem and always be
conscious of their need for identity (p.84).50
3.2. The Role of the Teacher
The teacher is the key figure in EFL classroom. His professionalism, teaching skills and
knowledge about the subject he teaches will all affect students language acquisition. Harmer
(2007) states that a good teacher is flexible and able to adapt to a number of different roles in
the class, depending on what the students are doing: he is the controller, prompter, agent, tutor
and resource for students language information. He is also able to establish a good rapport
between him and his students in the classroom. Rapport, in its essence, is the relationship that
students have with the teacher and vice versa. It is established, in part, when students become
aware of the teachers professionalism, but it also occurs as a result of the way the teacher
listens to and treat his students. In order to establish a good rapport, teacher needs to
recognize students (i.e. know their names and certain things about them); listen to students
(i.e. listen to their comments on lessons, suggestions, and even to their individual problems);
respect students (in terms of correcting students and dealing with problem behaviour); and be
even-handed, i.e. treat all students equally and in the same manner. A good teacher is also well
prepared for lessons, he keeps record of what is going on in the classroom, and is reliable in
terms of timekeeping and homework, i.e. hes never late for his lessons and corrects
homework on time and on regular basis. Furthermore, effective teachers know how to vary
activities and topics over a period of time, because they know that even the best activity may
become boring and demotivating if it is overused. Good teachers know how the language
works: they have knowledge of the grammar system and understand the lexical system; they
are aware of pronunciation features; they know the difference between the colloquial and
formal language; and they are able to demonstrate and help students to pronounce words
correctly and with appropriate intonation.
Good teachers also know what equipment is available in their school and how to use it. They
do their best to keep abreast of new developments in teaching approaches and techniques by
consulting a range of print material, online resources, and by attending, whenever possible,
development sessions and teacher seminars (pp.25-30).51
50
51
18
3.2.1. The Teacher as Provider of Comprehensible Input

Listening is a skill that affects the other skills in EFL classrooms. In order to acquire a
language, students need first to be exposed to it, i.e. they need to listen to the language.
However, it is not just important to listen to a language, it is also very important to understand
it. Secondary school students, as it has been argued in this paper, often have problems with
communication in English. This is because they have problems with understanding English
which is a consequence of students not being exposed to a comprehensible input. Providing
students with a comprehensible input is the most important task of the teacher. One could say
that it is the teacher that represents the main source of comprehensible input for students.
Students, of course, can search for language input outside the classroom because they mostly
have access to it due to the enormous advance in technology and media today. However, as
Harmer (2007) states, this "outside" language input very often appears incomprehensible to
students, especially to those who are at lower level. Students need their language input to be
roughly-tuned in order to be comprehensible to them, which is what EFL teachers do
(p.118).52
Roughly-tuned input, as Harmer (2007) explains, is a simplified language which teachers
make in order to be understood by their students. Basically, teachers adjust their language use
in terms of grammatical complexity, vocabulary use and voice tone when listeners, i.e.
their students, show signs of incomprehension. In order to rough-tune their language, teachers
need to be aware of three things: (1) they should consider the kind of language students are
likely to understand, (2) they need to think about what they want to say to students and how
best to do it, and (3) they need to consider the manner in which they speak - in terms of
intonation, voice, etc (p.37).53 Though it may seem that secondary school students do not need
their language input roughly-tuned considering their previous language knowledge, teachers
should still bear in mind the level of English language taught in secondary schools, and
therefore not use an advanced, college-level vocabulary when talking to their students.
Harmer (2007) further states that teachers, knowing the students they teach, can react
appropriately to them in terms of providing appropriate input in a way that a coursebook
or an audio track, for example, cannot. Teachers should know how to talk at just the right
level so that even if their students dont understand every word teachers say, they do
52
(p.118)
53
19
understand the meaning of what is being said (p.118).54 This is the point where teachers
should consider the amount of time they spend talking to their students (TTT Teacher
Talking Time) and the quality of their talking (TTQ Teacher Talking Quality). Harmer
(2007) argues that sometimes TTT is overused and that there is not enough Student Talking
Time STT. The more teacher talks, the less chance students get to practice their own
speaking. Therefore, good teacher maximizes STT and minimizes TTT. For this reason,
teachers should consider TTQ, because it is the quality of what teachers say that really counts,
and not the amount of talking. Teachers who engage students with their stories and
interaction, using appropriate comprehensible input will help students to understand and
acquire language (p.38).55
Apart from rough-tuning the language, teachers can also facilitate students understanding of
language by using gestures, facial expressions, or some visual clues. A study has shown that
some students feel more relaxed and understand a listening activity better if it is accompanied
with some visual clues or facial expressions.56 Therefore, gestures, expressions, visual clues
and mime should become a natural adjunct to the language teachers use, especially with
students at lower levels (Harmer, 2007, p.37).57
3.2.1.1. Instructing Students
The most important thing when engaging students with an activity is giving them proper
instructions, i.e. the ones that students will understand. Harmer (2007) states that even when
students listen carefully to instructions, they sometimes dont understand what they are
supposed to do, unless teachers make those instructions as simple as possible and logical. It is
also very important, after giving instructions, to check that students have understood what
they are being asked to do. Teachers can do this either by asking a student to explain the
activity after he has given the instruction or by getting someone to show the rest of the class
how the exercise works. Instructions could be also translated into L1 by a member of the
class, but only if all the students in the class (including the teacher) share the same L1 (pp.3738).58
54
(p.118)
55
56
See 2.2.1. Listening Anxiety, p.15
57
58
20
3.2.1.2. The Use of L1

The main object of an EFL classroom is learning English language. In order for students to
learn English, they need to be exposed to it in any possible way. Therefore, teachers need to
create an English-language environment in the classroom, where English is heard and used as
much as possible. For this reason, teachers should use English as often as possible, and not
spend too much time talking in the students L1 (Harmer, 2007). However, the use of L1 may
sometimes have beneficial effects, and this is mostly the case when teachers are giving
instructions for an activity. If the instructions are too complicated, teachers may use the L1 to
explain students what they are supposed to do or they may simply ask students to repeat the
instructions in the L1 after the instructions are given to students. In this way teachers can
check whether students have understood what they are asked to do (Harmer, 2007).59
However, secondary school students often try to avoid the use of L2 even in a simple
conversation with their teacher. We, as their teachers, should talk to students and explain them
that using the L2 in EFL classroom works good for them since for many of them EFL
classroom and their teacher are the only sources of language input. They should also discuss
with their students when it is appropriate to use their L1 in the classroom, and when not.
When both the teacher and the students establish mutual agreement on when to use the L1 in
the classroom, everyone needs to behave according to it. Harmer (2007) also gives some
suggestions about how to have students use English in the classroom. For example, teachers
should make it clear that there is not a total ban on the students L1, which means that L1
could be used when giving task instructions or when they working on some reading text.
However, we also need to make it clear by our behaviour that we want to hear English, and
we can simply ignore what students have to say in their L1 when it comes to simple
conversation in the classroom. Above all, teachers should speak in English for the most of
time, so that , together with the use of listening material and video, the students are constantly
exposed to how English sounds and what it feels like (p.179).60 In this way, by listening to
their teacher and to various listening material, and even by listening to their classmates talk,
students will gradually change their behaviour, and use L1 only when both students and their
teacher agreed is appropriate.
3.3. Listening Sources and Materials
59
60
21
Apart from the teacher who represents the main source of language input in an EFL
classroom, there are also other sources that can help teachers to develop and improve the
students listening skills. According to Harmer (2007) listening sources usually fall into two
categories: recorded listening and live listening.
Recorded listening represents recorded extracts on CD, tape or MP3 player of some kind.
These are produced either as a part of coursebook or as supplementary material. Teachers can
also record their own listening materials, using themselves or their friends or colleagues. This
is especially suitable to those students who find it difficult to understand Standard English
listening material. Teachers can vary their voice tone and speech rate since they know their
students and their language abilities. A lot of listening material that can be downloaded from
the Internet also falls into the category of recorded listening.
Live listening, on the other hand, represents real-life face-to-face encounters in the
classroom. It is used to refer to situations in which the teacher brings visitors to the class. If
this is not possible, the teacher role-plays different characters for the students to talk and
listen to. Teacher talk also represents live listening, to some extent. The main advantage of
live listening over recorded listening is that the students can interact with the speaker on the
basis of what they are saying, making the whole listening experience more dynamic and
exciting (p.134).61 Live listening can take the following forms:
- Reading aloud: here the teacher reads aloud to the class. This can be a very enjoyable
activity if the teacher reads with expression and conviction, or acts out dialogues. It allows
students to hear a clear spoken version of a written text.
- Story-telling: stories provide excellent listening material and students generally enjoy it.
Story-telling can be made more interesting by asking students to predict what is coming next
at any stage of the story, or by asking them to describe the story characters.
- Interviews: one of the most motivating listening activities is the live interview where
teachers can have strangers come to the classroom to be interviewed, or let teachers
themselves to be interviewed. Live interview is especially interesting when students are
allowed to think up their own questions for the interview. In such cases, students really listen
for answers they themselves have asked for rather than adopting other peoples questions.
61
22
- Conversations: here teachers can have a colleague come to the class and hold conversations
with them about English or any other subject. In this way, students get the chance to both
watch the interaction and listen to it (Harmer, 2007).62
3.3.1. Different Kinds of Listening (Materials)
Recorded listening and live listening are usually related to the two kinds of listening material:
extensive and intensive listening material (Harmer, 2007). Harmer further states that
through the combination of extensive and intensive material students can both improve their
listening skills and gain valuable language input. Listening of both kinds provide students
with opportunities to hear voices other than the teachers, enables students to acquire good
speaking habits as a result of the spoken language they absorb and helps to improve their
pronunciation (p.303).63
3.3.1.1. Extensive Listening (Materials)
Extensive listening is a kind of listening where a teacher encourages students to choose for
themselves what they listen to and do so for pleasure and general language improvement. It
dramatically increases students motivation since they make their own choices about what
they are going to listen to. Extensive listening usually takes place outside the classroom: in
the students home, car or on personal MP3 player as they travel from one place to another.
There is a number of sources to obtain extensive listening material: for example, many
simplified readers are now published with an audio version on CD so students can enjoy both
listening and reading at the same time. Students can also have copies of coursebook CDs, or
tapes, or recordings which accompany other books. They can download podcasts from a range
of sources or they can listen to English language broadcast online on websites such as
www.bbc.co.uk/radio.
In order to encourage extensive listening teachers can have students
perform various tasks. For example, students can fill in report forms which teachers have
prepared asking them to list the topic, asses the level of difficulty and summarize the contents
of a recording. They can write their responses and add them to a large class listening poster or
write comments on a student website if they have one. When students share their
62
(p.307)
63
(p.303)
23
information with their colleagues they feel they have contributed to the progress of the whole
group. Such feelings increase students motivation and they have more enthusiasm for
extensive listening (Harmer, 2007).64
3.3.1.2. Intensive Listening (Materials)
Intensive listening is a kind of listening where students listen specifically in order to work on
listening skills, and in order to study the way in which English is spoken. Intensive listening
usually takes place in the classroom or in a language laboratory - if the school has one - and it
typically occurs when teachers are present to guide students through any listening difficulties,
and point them to areas of interest (Harmer, 2007).65 For intensive listening, we can use either
recorded extracts on CDs or on tapes, or some form of live listening, depending on the
listening task. Before we set the task for intensive listening, we need to consider the
following:
- We need to explain the students the exact purpose of their listening and give them clear
instructions how to achieve it.
- We need to be efficient with the equipment if intensive listening task involves the use of a
CD player or some other audio device. This means that we need to test the recording before
we take it into the class so that we know what segments of the recording to use and where to
find them on a CD, DVD, or tape. Also, we should be prepared where to stop the recording
for particular questions or simply to stop it when students show signs of incomprehension.
- We need to organize feedback after the task is completed in order to check whether it is
completed successfully. Here it is important to be supportive after a listening task if we are to
encounter negative expectations that students might have, and if we wish to sustain their
motivation.
-When students have listened to a recording for a comprehension purposes, we can replay the
recording so that the students can notice a variety of language and spoken features.
- If the listening task involves a form of live listening, we need to observe the students with
extreme care so that we can see how easily they understand us. We can then adjust the way we
speak accordingly (Harmer, 2007).66
64
(pp.303-304)
65
66
Harmer, J. (20079. The Practice of English Languge Teaching. (4 thEdition). Cambridge: Longman ELT.
(pp.307- 308)
24
3.3.2. Film and Video

Apart from CDs, tapes, and MP3s, students can also practice their listening skills while
watching film clips on DVD or online. Just like an audio extract, a filmed extract can also be
used as a main focus of a lesson sequence. Thus, students can sometimes watch a whole film,
or they can only watch a short two- or three-minute sequence. Students are used to watching
film at home, and of course, they usually associate it with relaxation. Because of this, we need
to make sure that we give them interesting listening tasks so that they can give their full
attention to what they are seeing and hearing. Watching films while listening has many
benefits for students: they can see language in use for example, they can see how intonation
matches facial expressions, or what gestures accompany certain phrases; they can enter into a
whole range of different communication worlds: they can see how different people stand
when talking to each other, for example, how close they are. So, the film can easily show
some unspoken rules of behavour in social and business situations than a book or a voice on
an audio track can describe. Harmer (2007) lists several listening techniques especially
designed to provoke students engagement and expectations when watching a film:
- Pictureless listening (language): here, the teacher covers the screen and turns the monitor
away from the students. The students then listen to a dialogue and have to guess, for example,
where the dialogue is taking place and who the speakers are.
- Pictureless listening (music): where an excerpt has a prominent music track, students can
listen to it and then, for example, they can say what kind of scene they think it accompanies
(based on the mood the music appears to convey) and where it is taking place.
- Subtitles: John Field (2000, as cited in Harmer, 2007) suggests that subtitles help students to
listen to authentic material. There are many ways to use subtitled films: for example, students
can watch a film extract with subtitles, but with the sound turned down, so they have to say
what they think the characters are saying in English. We can also turn off the subtitles, and ask
students what they would write for subtitles based on what they hear. Then students can
compare their subtitles with the actual ones. Subtitles are very useful when students share the
same L1 because the connections they make between English and their language is extremely
useful (Harmer, 2007).67
67
(pp.309- 310)
25
3.3.3. Music
Music has a very important role in EFL classroom since it can have a strong influence on
language acquisition. Everyone likes music, but this is especially the case with adolescent
people since they often try to identify themselves with certain music genre, band, or singer.
Since adolescents are known for the search of identity, music is often their refuge from
everyday frustrations of trying to realize who they are and what is their purpose. Music gives
them comfort and relaxation and they often behave or act according to the lyrics of their
favourite songs. Because music plays an important role in the life of an adolescent too,
teachers can turn that role into the benefit when it comes to language learning.
According to Harmer (2007) a piece of music can change the atmosphere in the classroom or
prepare students for a new activity. It can amuse and entertain and it connects the world of
leisure and the world of learning in the classroom in a satisfying way. Music playing in the
background when students are working on some kind of reading or language task can make
the atmosphere in the classroom much warmer. However, we must take into consideration that
not all students like to work with the music playing in the background, or they may simply
dislike the teachers choice of music. Therefore, we should let students to decide whether they
like to listen to the music while working on an activity, or if they do like it, have them decide
what sort of music should be played. The whole point of playing music in the first place is to
make students happy and relaxed.
Furthermore, we can get students to respond to music in many ways. For example, we can
play film music and ask students what kind of film they think it comes from, or we can have
them listen to music which describes people and say what kind of people they are. They can
also write about what kind of emotions they get from a certain piece of music, and so on
(pp.319-320). 68
Music can be of great help when teaching students grammar points such as tenses, modal
verbs, etc. Students often find learning grammar points difficult and boring, but combining
grammar with music can surely stimulate students engagement for learning. We can, for
example, search for the songs whose lyrics contain the grammar point in question and bring it
to the class. It would be more engaging and amusing for students if we find songs that are
popular and that students like to listen to.
68
(pp.319- 320)
26
Music is, without a doubt, a powerful and motivating source for both improving students
listening skills and acquiring new language; it makes the teaching process easier for teachers
and facilitates the learning process for students since they learn the language through
enjoyable activities and a pleasant classroom atmosphere.
3.3.4. Internet /TV
The use of technology and media has always been a necessity in the EFL classrooms since it
facilitates both teaching and learning of English language, and makes the classroom
atmosphere pleasant and enjoyable. Since both technology and media has changed and
advanced enormously in the past 15 years their presence in the EFL classrooms has become
indispensable for enhancing students language acquisition. Another reason for this is that the
language itself is constantly changing as well as the teaching methods and techniques and we
need to keep up-to-date in order to get the best out of language teaching. Today, the Internet,
as a large source of information of any kind, has become one of the most important tools in
EFL teaching. It provides both the teacher and the student with a lot of valuable ideas of how
to make language learning easier and enjoyable for students. Internet also offers various
sources for improving students language skills, especially listening skills. Students of all
ages, especially adolescents like to spend a lot of time on the Internet, watching videos or
chatting with their friends. The latter can be very beneficial for students communication
skills, especially if they have a chat in English language with a native speaker friend. We need
to take the advantage of this and make our students more interested in visiting websites that
offer tips for language learning, and downloading material for improving language skills. But
we also need to give them clear instructions of how to find certain material on the Internet,
since searching the Internet can be often very frustrating, especially for students. We can
direct them to websites such as www.youtube.com, when we want them to do some task
related to improving listening skills, but we need to give them the exact link to the desired
video, so that students wont end up watching something else that has nothing to do with the
task. We can also direct students to websites offering radio broadcasts, such as
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/ where they can hear clear British English accent or
http://learningenglish.voanews.com/ where they can listen to a simple American English, so
that they can practice their listening skills by listening to authentic material. They can also
watch documentaries on various topics on websites such as
http://www.snagfilms.com/films/browse/category/national_geographic
and later
27
have discussions in class on what they have seen. The latest ELT (English Language
Teaching) hit on the Internet is podcasting, a new technology for broadcasting audio
programmes on the Internet, which is especially good for enhancing students listening skills.
Television has also many benefits for students language acquisition. A range of channels such
as National Geographic, Discovery Channel, or Viasat History offer a lot of interesting shows
and documentaries in English, and often with subtitles, so that students can both practice
listening and pronunciation skills, and understand what they hear. Local TV stations often
offer interesting tv shows in English such as Only Fools and Horses or Black Adder which
many students find very interesting. Another benefit of TV shows such as the above said is
that they offer a range of accents and colloquial language for students to hear, beside the
Standard English they encounter in EFL classroom.
Both the Internet and television have many benefits for students language acquisition apart
from being source of fun and relaxation. Therefore teachers need to show to students how to
use both media to make their language learning interesting and enjoyable.
3.3.4.1. Podcasts
Podcasts or podcasting, as mentioned above, is a new technology for broadcasting audio
programmes on the Internet and it has rapidly advanced since 2005 (Selingo 2006, as cited in
Sze, 2006). Podcasting was originally designed for conveying information and entertainment,
but soon educators recognized the huge potential it has for teaching, especially ESL/EFL
teaching. ELT educators joined podcasting movement in 2005 and since then there has been
an upsurge in the number of ELT podcasts on the Web.
Podcasts are audio (sometimes video) programs on the Web which are usually updated at
regular intervals. New episodes can be listened to on the computer, or downloaded to an MP3
player or iPod for later listening. What makes podcasting unique unlike other audio
programmes on the Web is its capacity for subscription: listeners can subscribe to their
favourite podcasts and receive alerts on their computers when new episodes have been posted.
There are two types of podcasts on the Web:
- Radio podcasts: these are the existing radio programmes turned into podcasts such as those
produced by BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)
- Independent podcasts: these are Web-based podcasts produced by individuals and
organizations.
28
The second type is suitable for ELT because these can be tailor-made to suit the needs of
different learners. They can be created by learners themselves with utmost ease, thanks to
the advent in recent years of the MP3 sound file format, and of free and user-friendly sound
recording and editing software such as Audacity, and to MP3 players and increasingly the
iPod becoming an electronic gadget owned by every teenager.
ELT podcasts can be used for intensive and extensive listening activities. However, ELT
podcasts are particularly suited for extensive listening, for the purpose of motivating student
interest in listening to English, and providing them with exposure to native speakers speech
(Rost, 1991, as cited in Sze,2006).
Stanley (2006, as cited in Sze, 2006) points out that podcasts offer students a wide range of
possibilities for extra listening both inside and outside of the classroom. ELT podcasts cover a
wide range of subject matter. For example, comprehensive podcast type covers a wide range
of content types, such as traditional listening comprehension activities, interviews, and
vocabulary (e.g. http://www.englishteacherjohn.com/podcast/) ; Listening comprehension
podcast (e.g., http://mylcpodcasts.blogspot.com/) provides conventional listening
comprehension practice, etc.
Teachers have three ways to look for suitable ELT podcasts for their students. They can start
with general podcast directories. A podcast directory is a searchable database which is
linked to sites that house podcasts. Teachers can type in a search term like English, ELT,
ESL, and TESOL, and they will be given a list of ELT podcasts. An example of a general
podcast directory is http://www.podcastalley.com/.
To narrow down their search, teachers may go directly to directories of educational podcasts.
One well-known educational podcast directory is the Education Podcast
Network:http://epnweb.org/. Another directory is http://recap.ltd.uk/podcasting/, which claims
to be the first U.K. directory of educational podcasts. There are also directories which cover
ELT podcasts only. One example is http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/Podcasts/ maintained
by the Internet TESL Journal.
Podcasting as a new technology has huge potential in enhancing EFL learners listening skills
since its easy to download to any electronic device (MP3 player, iPod) thus providing
students with a lot of listening practice wherever they go (Sze, 2006).69
3.4. Listening Assessment
69
Sze, P. (2006). Developing StudentsListening and Speaking Skills Through ELT Podcasts. Educational Journal. Vol..34, (2). (pp.115134)
29
The assessment of listening, as any other language skill, is usually done through a range of
tests. According to Harmer (2007), a satisfactory test of listening skills has to fulfill two
criteria validity and reliability.
A test is valid if it satisfies the following conditions: if it tests what it is supposed to test; if it
produces similar results to some other measures; if there is validity in the way it is marked
(e.g. if we score written answers to a listening test for spelling and grammar, then this test of
listening is not necessarily valid since we score the wrong thing); it needs to have the face
validity, i.e. the test should look valid, on the face of it.
A test is reliable if it gives consistent results: for example, if two groups of students who were
demonstrably alike took the test, the marking range would be the same, or if they took another
similar test the results should be consistent. Test reliability also depends on the scorers, i.e. the
people who mark the test. Surely, a test is not reliable if the result depends to any large extent
on the person marking it. So its always better to have more than one person to mark the test
in order to enhance the reliability of it (p.381).70
Nation and Newton (2009) agree that good tests should be reliable and valid, but they also
state that tests should be practical. This means that tests should be used in the real world
where there are limitations of time, money, facilities and equipment, and willing helpers. A
practical test is short, does not require lots of paper and equipment, does not require many
people to administer it, it is easy to understand, it is easy to mark, has scores or results which
are easy to interpret, and can be used many times without upsetting its validity (pp.168-169).
Harmer (2007) further states that tests of listening should: a) replicate real-life situations
which means that tests should be as realistic as possible, even when they are not authentic;
and b) create a level playing field which means that listening test should avoid making
excessive demands on students general or specialist knowledge. For example, a listening test
can be undermined if the means of testing requires students to perform well in writin or
speaking. In order to ensure reliability of the test, listening tests are most often supplied on
tape or CD. In this way all students will have the same opportunities, irrespective of the
speakers voice, speed, or expressions (pp.384-385).71
Nation and Newton (2009) describe several listening test procedures:
70
(p.381)
71
(pp.384-385)
30
- Dictation: here, the teacher reads aloud a text of approximately 150 words phrase by phrase.
The students write each phrase as they hear it.
- Partial dictation: the students have an incomplete written text in front of them. As they
listen to a spoken version of the text, they fill in the missing parts on the written text.
- Text with questions: the students have a list of multiple-choice questions in front of them
while they listen to a text being read or a recorded dialogue. As they listen they answer the
questions.
- Responding to statements: the students listen to statements or questions and respond to
them by choosing from multiple-choice items of words or pictures, by indicating true or false,
or by giving a short answer.
- Three choice true-false: instead of responding to statements with just true or false, three
categories of response are allowed: true, false, opinion (Emery, 1980, as cited in Nation and
Newton, 209) or true, false, not stated.
- Recorded close: the students listen to a tape recording where every 15th word has been
replaced by a bleep sound and with pauses at the end of each sentence. As they listen the
students write the missing words (Templeton, 1977, as cited in Nation and Newton, 2009).
- Information transfer: the students listen to a description or dialogue and label a diagram or
fill in a chart or table while they listen.
3.5. Creating an Anxiety-free Atmosphere
It has been discussed so far how the anticipation of foreign language use in receiving
information can provoke anxiety and how anxiety has a negative effect on students listening
comprehension.72 In order for our students to experience success in EFL listening
comprehension teachers need to create a positive anxiety-free atmosphere within the
classroom. Much research has been done on discovering the factors that provoke students
listening activity, and these factors mostly include unfamiliarity with the listening content, the
lack of visual support, the lack of repetition, the lack of motivation, and even fear of the
language itself (Sharif and Ferdous, 2012, p.94).73 These and similar factors can be found to
affect students listening skills in EFL classrooms all around the world and therefore we as
72
See 2.2.1. Listening Anxiety, p.15

Sharif, Y. and Ferdous, F. (2012). Sources and Suggestions to Lower Listening Comprehension Anxiety in the
EFL Classroom: A Case Study. English Language Teaching; Vol. 5, (10). (pp.92-104)
73
31
teachers should study various research on this issue so that we can find solutions and apply
them to our own EFL classroom. The first step in lowering students anxiety is talking to
students about what they dread the most when it comes to listening tasks and language
learning in general. In this way we will be able to have a clear view of our students
anticipations and find proper ways to eliminate negative feelings from our classroom.
Sharif and Ferdous (2012), who conducted research on listening anxiety in the EFL
classroom, suggest several ways of lowering students listening anxiety and creating a
positive, anxiety-free classroom atmosphere. Here is the list of some of these suggestions:
- Make input or materials comprehensible with familiar, meaningful topics and vocabulary.
- For lessening listening comprehension anxiety, repeat the passage if possible.
- Give learners a summary of the listening material with the new words, as a pre-listening
activity in order to speed up understanding.
- Use students background knowledge. According to Ausbel (1968, as cited in Sharif and
Ferdous, 2012), the most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner
already knows. Ascertain this and teach him accordingly
- Vary the types of tasks. Do not over use any type of exercise.
- Make the listening lesson a training session: let the students hear a passage several times in
small sections with pauses or any other way that is helpful to them.
- Use variety of materials or input incorporating games and other fun activities in the EFL
classroom as the vehicle for listening activities.
- Encourage students to watch English-speaking channels.
- Increase class time for listening comprehension practice. There must be more class activities
that focus specially on the listening comprehension skill.
- Receive regular feedback. Most agreed that the more immediate the feedback, the better.
- Experience small success.
- Leave the learners with a sense of achieving during and after the listening lesson. Do not
leave them with a sense of failure or anxiety that will incapacitate them.
- Try to create a comfortable physical environment.
- Make the learners confident in the target language through small successes and through the
use of anxiety-reducing techniques (Sharif and Ferdous., 2012).74
74
Sharif, Y. and Ferdous, F. (2012). Sources and Suggestions to Lower Listening Comprehension Anxiety in the
EFL Classroom: A Case Study. English Language Teaching; Vol. 5, (10). (pp.92-104)
32
These suggestions can surely help teachers to create positive and anxiety-free classroom
environment in which students will improve their listening and other language skills with an
ease and joy.
3. 6. More Suggestions on How to Accelerate Listening Skills in Secondary Schools
Teaching ESL/EFL listening skills successfully requires using a combination of different
resources mentioned so far (CDs, tapes, music, films, radio broadcasts) to expose the students
to a sufficient language input. Performing tasks and exercises involving the use of the above
resources can really help students to understand better the input they are exposed to and can
make the classroom atmosphere relaxed and enjoyable. This will especially work with
secondary school students who are often regarded as being prone to disruptive behaviour and
not having a clear understanding of their identity due to their adolescent age. Teachers need to
consider their age, as it has been discussed above, in order to find appropriate ways to help
students improve their language skills, especially listening skills as they are considered to be
the most important ones in language acquisition.
There is a whole range of listening genres and activities that can both improve students
listening skills and fit students age and interests. Some of these are, for example, jigsaw
listening, story-telling, poetry, songs, and alike.
In jigsaw listening, students are divided into three groups. Each group listens to a different
CD, but all three CDs are about the same thing, for example, different news stories which
explain a strange effect. Students take notes while listening to the CD and then they compare
their notes to assemble all the facts about the event. This listening activity gives students a
purpose for listening and a goal to aim, i.e. find out what the event was about. However, the
realization of this listening activity will depend on whether students have access to three
different CD players, or computer delivered listening material (Harmer, 2007).75
Story-telling is an excellent teaching technique for improving students listening skills
because it evokes students' interest, helps students create vivid mental images, and activates
the thinking process (Abo Skhela, 2010).76 Before a story is told or listen to on a CD it is
important that teachers set the scene for the story first rather than just dive right into it. The
75
76
Abo Skhela, K. (2010). The Effectiveness of Using Storytelling Technique in Enhancing 11th Graders'
Listening Comprehension Sub-Skills in Middle Gaza Governorate. Masters Thesis, The Islamic University of
Gaza, Gaza. (p.134)
33
background of the story, the time and place it takes are very important because it will help
students to concentrate while listening to it (pp.137-138). There are a number of things
teachers can have students do while listening to a story: students can put pictures in the order
in which the story is told; students can listen to the story but they will not be told the end of it,
so they have to predict what happens in the end. We can also stop the story at various stages
of it and ask students what they think happens next. We can also let students listen to an
extract of a story and get them say which book they think the extract comes from, or decide
what kind of book it is, e.g. horror, romance, etc (Harmer, 2007).77
Story-telling is a useful technique to improve students listening skills since it can be used
even in a less-equipped EFL classroom, because if there is no a CD player to play a recorded
story, teachers themselves can read the story and make the story characterization alive by
varying their voices when role-playing different characters.
Poetry can be used in a number of ways. For example, they can listen to poems being read
aloud and say what kind of mood they convey. We can have students listen to a poem and then
try to come up with an appropriate title. Students can also predict what they are going to hear:
we can give them the title of the song and they try to guess what words the poem will contain.
In this way, students will be eager to listen to the poem to see if they were right.78
We can also encourage students to write their own poems in English and bring them to the
class. Other students will be extremely engaged in listening to their classmates poetic
expressions.
Teachers can use English songs in class as a dictation exercise where students listen to the
song and write down the lyrics. The procedure should be done the following way: first,
students listen to the song without writing down the lyrics just to get the meaning of the song;
second, students listen to the song again and write down the lyrics; and third, the song is
replayed once again so that students can check out their writing and fill in the words they
didnt hear in the previous listening. After the listening is done, the teacher can provide the
students with the song lyrics so that they can check how well they have done. This can be an
extremely interesting activity for students as they enjoy listening to music, and in this way
they are improving both their listening and writing skills. Sometimes, students may dislike the
teachers choice of songs, so teachers should let students to come up with songs they like and
use them in the class as a listening material. Furthermore, we can ask students to listen to their
favourite song and try to find certain language aspects in it, such as grammar points or idioms
77
78
34
and phrases. Students come to the class with what they have found and discuss those aspects
with the rest of the class. In this way students will find learning grammar points or vocabulary
items much more interesting and will be more engaged in doing it at their homes. We can also
suggest students to write down new vocabulary or unfamiliar phrases as they listen to music
on their MP3 players or iPods, as this will help them in many ways: they will improve their
listening skills, theyll be able to understand better the music they are listening to, and they
will acquire new language items.
Apart from the listening suggestions mentioned above, teachers should also talk to students
about their own ideas for listening practice, i.e. what they find easy and interesting when it
comes to understanding listening material. Students should be also encouraged to come up
with their own ideas when it comes to planning a listening task, i.e. how the listening task
should be realized, as this will boost their motivation and make them enthusiastic about the
listening activity. It is also important that teachers talk to students about what they find
difficult when listening to recorded or spoken material and try to adapt the listening material
to suit the students level. For example, if students dont understand the audio track, we
should repeat the track a few times for better understanding, or have students do a prelistening exercise where we can explain the content, the vocabulary, and even the cultural
context of the recorded material. Some students are reluctant to talk about their difficulties
with listening in front of their classmates as there are afraid of losing face. Its important to
encourage those students to talk to us, as their teachers, in private or via e-mail about their
listening problems so that we can find the way to help those students to improve their
listening skills without addressing them in the classroom. In this way students will get
confidence in their listening skills and will be more engaged during listening activities.
In the end, students need always be told that it is perfectly fine if they dont understand all the
words in a listening material and that is more important for them to try to get the meaning of
that material. They should be also constantly encouraged to listen to English language music,
movies, radio broadcasts and live TV conversations, as in this way they will be exposed to the
language input they need in order to develop and improve their listening skills, and
accordingly their language acquisition.
3. CONCLUSION
Language acquisition is a complex process that requires the use of all four skills listening,
speaking, reading, and writing in a balanced manner. However, as we have seen so far,
listening skills are the most important ones as they provide the basis for the other three
35
language skills. Many researchers and linguists have confirmed that the development of
listening skills in ESL/EFL classrooms is especially important as listening provides students
with a lot of comprehensible input needed for language acquisition. Exposure to a
comprehensible input is very important as it is the only way for students to learn and acquire
English language. Students need to hear the language first, understand it and then respond, i.e.
communicate. Therefore, the teachers job is to provide the students with enough
comprehensible input in order to enable them to become competent speakers of English
language. However, as it has been argued, secondary school students often have difficulties in
comprehending English and even participating in simple conversations. The reason for this, as
it has been found out, is that listening skills have been neglected in secondary school
ESL/EFL classrooms to a great extent as a consequence of relying on traditional teaching of
grammar rules, translation patterns, and vocabulary items. It has been also found out that
students often feel anxious in the EFL classroom as a consequence of their lack of
understanding English, which has a direct influence on their motivation and engagement.
For the purpose of developing and improving students listening skills in secondary schools,
the author has emphasized several points, especially the role of the teacher as the main
provider of comprehensible input and the age of students. Secondary school students, as
adolescents, are an extremely vulnerable and delicate age group whose features such as
tendency to problem behaviour and search for identity teachers need to take into consideration
when choosing methods and materials for listening improvement. The author has also
suggested various listening sources and materials that can be used in the EFL classrooms such
as recorded materials on CDs and DVDs, film and video, the Internet and television, podcasts
and music. Listening to music is underlined as it represents an extremely interesting way of
acquiring the language and it also makes the classroom atmosphere relaxed and enjoyable.
The author has also given several examples of listening assessment procedures as both easy
and interesting ways of assessing students understanding of listening material. Teachers have
been urged to encourage students to listen to English language as much as possible whether
on CDs or MP3 players, through English language news and broadcasts, or while watching
English language movies. This will give them enough listening practice needed for
understanding and acquiring the language.
The authors belief is that this paper will serve as a guideline for all EFL teachers willing to
give their best to improve their students language acquisition and language skills, especially
listening skills and enable their students to become competent speakers of English language.
36
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DEVELOPMENT OF LISTENING SKILLS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Therefore listening is an essential skill without which communication would be impossible as

1.3. Types of Listening

Informative listening this type of listening is concerned with understanding the

instructions from teachers. Informative listening depends on vocabulary, concentration

Appreciative listening this type of listening is defined by the response of the

Relationship listening is based on the reason, either to help a person or to improve

1.4. Listening Processes / Strategies

listening for specific details

recognizing word-order patterns (http://nclrc.org/)26

listening for the main idea

Figure 2. Bottom-up and top-down processing30

2. LISTENING IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

An introduction to the work of Stephen Krashen. (n.d.) In Esl.Fis.edu.

Qi, Y. (n.d.). My Ideas of an Effective Listening Class. In Fjsdfz.org.

Kijpoonphol, W. (n.d.). An Investigation of Difficulties Related To Listening Comprehension: A Case of

3. HOW TO DEVELOP LISTENING SKILLS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS?

3.2.1. The Teacher as Provider of Comprehensible Input

3.2.1.2. The Use of L1

In order to encourage extensive listening teachers can have students

3.3.2. Film and Video

See 2.2.1. Listening Anxiety, p.15

2012 from http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/support/krashen.htm

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