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Listening Strategies
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Types of Listening Strategies

As you prepare students for listening activities, provide them with some listening strategies so they will better comprehend the oral text.  Whenever I incorporate listening activities, students seem to get bogged down with words they don't understand and sometimes get overwhelmed during the activity.  That's why I always include the following strategies in my own classroom:
  1. Since I like to use authentic oral texts, I teach students to concentrate on words they do know instead of fixating on unfamiliar words.
  2. I give a focus so students know what to listen for and why they are listening for that particular word, phrase, or grammar point.
  3. Inevitably students will come across unfamiliar words that they must be able to understand. As a result, I teach students how to figure out the meaning from context clues in the oral text.
  4. Because I like for students to think actively during listening activities, I incorporate a listening strategy called TQLR. Not only does it improve students' listening comprehension skills by forcing them to listen carefully and make sense out of what they are hearing, it also helps them remember vocabulary and facts from the text.

 

Introducing Listening Strategies
Whenever I first introduce listening activities, I also introduce listening strategies that will help students understand. Here are some tips for introducing listening strategies:
  • Teach one strategy at a time.
  • Tell what the strategy is.
  • Explain how the strategy pertains to the activity, how it will help students and why.
  • Keep the explanation simple and succinct.
  • Review strategies students should employ before each listening activity and teach new ones as needed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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