LISTENING AND SPEAKING SKILLS

DAD 10502

AFFAH BINTI MOHD APANDI

LISTENING SKILLS

HEAR VS LISTEN
The

verb to hear means to be aware of sounds in your ears. Hearing is something that happens without any intentional effort. You can hear something even when you don't want to hear it and don't try to hear it. The verb to listen (to) means to pay attention to somebody/something that you can hear. Listening describes an intentional activity. When you are listening, you are actively trying to hear something.

THE SENTENCES BELOW CONTAIN BOTH LISTEN AND HEAR AND SHOW THE CONTRAST:
I

listened outside the door, but I couldn't hear what they were saying inside. [Note that even if you listen, you don't always hear what you are trying to hear.] His story was so long and boring that I stopped listening, until suddenly I heard my name. [Note that even if you are not listening, you might hear something.]

Real listening is an active process that has three basic steps.

1. Hearing

2. Understanding

3. Judging

HEARING
Hearing

just means listening enough to catch what the speaker is saying. For example, say you were listening to a report on zebras, and the speaker mentioned that no two are alike. If you can repeat the fact, then you have heard what has been said.

UNDERSTANDING
The

next part of listening happens when you take what you have heard and understand it in your own way. Let's go back to that report on zebras. When you hear that no two are alike, think about what that might mean. You might think, "Maybe this means that the pattern of stripes is different for each zebra.

JUDGING
After

you are sure you understand what the speaker has said, think about whether it makes sense. Do you believe what you have heard? You might think, "How could the stripes to be different for every zebra? But then again, the fingerprints are different for every person. I think this seems believable.

TYPES OF LISTENING

    

The purposes for listening relate to "types" of listening: Are you listening to receive information? Are you listening to follow instructions? Are you listening to evaluate information? Are you listening for pleasure? Are you listening to empathize?

LISTENING FOR MAIN IDEAS

-

Conversations: What are they talking about? What is the conversation about? What is the purpose of the conversation? Lectures: What is the topic of this lecture? What is the purpose of this lecture? What are the students and lecturer discussing?

LISTENING FOR SPECIFIC INFORMATION

Listening for specific information means narrowing down the passage to get certain details. For example, listen to something to get dates, or reasons for a certain event, or maybe even nouns in a passage. It's really a beginning of note taking exercise. Will have to disregard some information in order to get what youve been asked for.

NOTE TAKING


What is note taking? Note taking involves recording ideas and facts that you heard to help you remember and use them later. The five Rs of note taking are as follows: Record, Reduce, Recite, Reflect, and Review. Why is note taking important? You become an active part of the listening and learning process. You create a history of your course content. You have a written record to view or study later. You reinforce what is communicated verbally.

  

PARAPHRASING

To paraphrase is to say the same thing in another way, using your own words. We can successfully paraphrase by using a combination of techniques.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Change from a Clause to a Phrase (or vice versa) Change from Quoted Speech to Indirect Speech (or vice versa) Change from Active Voice to Passive Voice (or vice versa) Change to Synonyms Change Word Forms

CHANGE FORM A CLAUSE TO A PHRASE

o o

After he studied, John took a nap. After studying, John took a nap. The house across the street is new. The house that is across the street is new.

o o

CHANGE FROM QUOTED SPEECH TO INDIRECT SPEECH

Mr. Lee said, I am ready for lunch. Mr. Lee said he was ready for lunch.

I am ready I for lunch.

CHANGE FROM ACTIVE VOICE TO PASSIVE VOICE

A hotel employee will carry your bags. Your bags will be carried by a hotel employee.

AND REPLACE WORDS WITH SYNONYMS.

A hotel employee will carry your bags. Your bags will be carried by a hotel employee. Your luggage will be picked up by a bell boy.

CHANGE TO SYNONYMS
Replace the original words with words that mean the same. The stallion was content with the mare. The stallion was happy with the mare.

WHEN YOU CANT FIND A SYNONYM

Replace the original word with a definition. The stallion was content with the mare. The male horse was happy with the female horse.

CHANGE WORD FORMS

Use an adverb instead of an adjective Use a verb to replace a noun.

GROG is an accurate typist. GROG types accurately.

COMBINE TECHNIQUES CHANGE TO A PHRASE & ADD SYNONYMS

OR DEFINITIONS
After he ate lunch, Mike took a nap. After eating lunch, Mike slept a little.

CHANGE TO A PHRASE & ADD SYNONYMS

DEFINITIONS

OR

The house that is across the street is old. The house across the street is old. The house on the other side of the street is old. The dwelling on the other side of the road is ancient.

INTERPRET MEANING.IDENTIFY THE

UNDERLYING MEANING OF A STATEMENT

The wolf said, I am ready for lunch. The sheep looked very worried. The wolf complained about being hungry which made the sheep extremely anxious.

I am ready for Lunch

CHANGE TRANSITIONS

Although it was raining, Bob walked to work. It was raining, but Bob walked to work. It was raining; however, Bob walked to work.

 AND CHANGE WORD FORMS

Although it was raining, Bob walked to work. It was raining, but Bob walked to work. It was raining; however, Bob walked to work. Despite the rain, Bob went to work on foot.

YOUR TURN PARAPHRASE THE FOLLOWING:

Today, people are worried about internet security. Advocates of internet tracking believe that it helps marketers to understand what people want. People who oppose internet tracking believe that it is an invasion of privacy. This information age will cause more and more people to become concerned with the level of personal detail that can be found from the internet.

SUMMARISING A summary is a condensed or shortened but precise version of something you have heard or read, stated in your own words. The main aim of a summary is to express the important ideas of another person in fewer words of your own. Firstly, a condensed but precise version means that the listener must not only be brief in a summary but must also maintain the integrity of the original version. It is important to remember that although one should be brief, one should not distort or change the ideas, views, and attitudes of the original text.

SUMMARISING (CONT)

Secondly, a summary is something you tell in your own words. A summary requires one to paraphrase. To paraphrase is to recast the original passages using different words and to change the sentence structure, without changing the sense or meaning. From the explanation, it is clear that to take out phrases and sentences here and there and string them together will never make a good summary.

 

To be able to produce a good summary, one must have the following skills:Ability to identify the main ideas; Ability to shorten the way of expressing these ideas; and Ability to put these ideas together in a complete manner, in ones own words.

INFERENCING Inference is the technique of finding answers from clues and from prior knowledge rather than directly. Making an inference involves using what you know to make a guess about what you dont know. That is, in the case of listening comprehension, an inference is an interpretation or a conclusion based on the information that we hear. Making inferences is a critical skill because not all important information is clearly or explicitly stated; therefore, even if we understand all the words in a listening segment, we still may not have complete comprehension.

Examples: 1. The baby was asleep upstairs in his bed. Suddenly, I heard a loud, "THUMP!" and he began crying hysterically. I ran upstairs because I inferred that he fell out of bed. 2. In third grade, you cannot be promoted to fourth grade unless you pass the final exam. My classmate said she was going back to third grade again. I know she's got o.k. grades, so inferred that she failed her final exam. 3. Just because the famous actor was seen in a jewelry store, all the tabloids inferred he's going to ask his singer girlfriend to marry him.

PREDICTING

When someone speaks to you, your brain automatically goes through a series of predictions. What will this person say? Who is he/she? Why might they be talking to me? Based on this information, your brain lays out a limited number of choices and then narrows the field as new information comes in.

For example: You are climbing out of a broken school window, at ten oclock at night, carrying a computer. A nearby policeman shouts something at you, but because he is eating a donut, you cant quite understand what he is saying. So, your brain lays out a multiple choice sample like this. A. He is asking you something about the effects of antioxidants on the body. B. He is curious why bad things happen to good people. C. He is confronting you about stealing a computer. You dont need him to repeat himself in order to know what he wants or at least what subject he is speaking about.

PREDICT THE ANSWER

1. What year did Henry VIII die? A. 1945 B. Last Wednesday C. 1547 2. When was Abraham Lincoln killed? A. Blue B. Russel Crow C. 1865 3. Who was the commander of Sky-Lab 2? A. New York City B. Charles Conrad, Jr C. 1437

DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
CONCLUSIONS ABOUT WHO, WHAT AND WHERE It is common for you to be asked to draw one of the following conclusion in Listening: WHO is probably talking? WHAT will she/he probably do next? WHERE does the conversation probably take place?

Example: on the recording, you hear: (woman) :Can you tell me what assignments I missed when I was absent from your class? (man) :You missed one homework assignment and a quiz. (Narrator) :Who is the man? (A) A newspaper editor (B) A police officer (C) A teacher (D) A student

Analysis: The clues are homework and quiz. It tells that the man is probably a teacher. Therefore the correct answer is (A).

Example: on the recording, you hear: (woman) : Have you deposited your paycheck yet? (man) : No, but that's next on my list of errands. (narrator) : What will the man probably do? (A) Earn his paycheck (B) Write a check for a deposit on an apartment (C) Go to a bank (D) Make a list of errands to run

Analysis: The clues are paycheck and errands. It tells you that the man will probably go to a bank next. So, the best answer is (C).

Example: On the recording, you hear: (woman) :Are you going into the water, or are you just going to lie down on the sand? (man) :I think I need to put on some suntan lotion (woman) :Where down this conversation probably take place? (A) At a beauty salon (B) At the beach (C) In a sandbox (D) At an outdoor restaurant Analysis: From the conversation, the clues are water, sand and suntan lotion. It tells you that the conversation probably takes place at the beach. Therefore the correct answer is (B).

LISTENING CRITICALLY
Critical listening is listening in order to evaluate and judge, forming opinion about what is being said. Judgment includes assessing strengths and weaknesses, agreement and approval. This form of listening requires significant realtime cognitive effort as the listener analyzes what is being said, relating it to existing knowledge and rules, whilst simultaneously listening to the ongoing words from the speaker.

SPEAKING SKILLS

RULES FOR SENTENCE STRESS IN ENGLISH

The basic rules of sentence stress are: content words are stressed structure words are unstressed

The following tables can help you decide which words are content words and which words are structure words: Content words - stressed

Words carrying the meaning MAIN VERBS Example SELL, GIVE, EMPLOY

NOUNS

CAR, MUSIC, MARY

ADJECTIVES

RED, BIG, INTERESTING

ADVERBS

QUICKLY, LOUDLY, NEVER

NEGATIVE AUXILIARIES

DON'T, AREN'T, CAN'T

Content words - stressed

Words for correct grammar PRONOUNS PREPOSITIONS ARTICLES CONJUNCTIONS AUXILIARY VERBS Example HE, WE, THEY ON, AT, INTO A, AN, THE AND, BUT, BECAUSE DO, BE, HAVE, CAN, MUST

TIPS

Practise where you can, when you can. Any practice is good whether you speak to someone who is a native English speaker or not. It's important to build your confidence. If possible, use simple English sentence structure that you know is correct, so that you can concentrate on getting your message across. Try to experiment with the English you know. Use words and phrases you know in new situations. Native English speakers are more likely to correct you if you use the wrong word than if you use the wrong grammar. Experimenting with vocabulary is a really good way of getting feedback. Try to respond to what people say to you. You can often get clues to what people think by looking at their body language. Respond to them in a natural way. Try NOT to translate into and from your own language. This takes too much time and will make you more hesitant.

If you forget a word, do what native English speakers do all the time, and say things that 'fill' the conversation. This is better than keeping completely silent. Try using um, or er, if you forget the word. Don't speak too fast! It's important to use a natural rhythm when speaking English, but if you speak too fast it will be difficult for people to understand you. Try to relax when you speak you'll find your mouth does most of the pronunciation work for you. When you speak English at normal speed, you'll discover that many of the pronunciation skills, such as linking between words, will happen automatically.

Remember, when speaking English Try to become less hesitant and more confident. Don't be shy to speak the more you do it, the more confident you'll become. Remember to be polite use "please" and "thank you" if you ask someone to do something for you.

JUST REMEMBER!!

The first rule of speaking English is to learn to speak clearly and concisely and remember you won't just be speaking to native speakers

THE END