Listening: A New Way to Go

“A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song”.

Maya Angelou

I have observed many English classes in which teachers use songs for teaching listening comprehension or pronunciation. They just played songs and students listened to them without learning the target language. I even remember my pronunciation classes. There we just listened to songs and we had to sing; but again, without any learning objective. Most exercises were filling in the blanks. It is a shame that teachers do not know how to take advantage of music, video clips, or even sitcoms to teach listening. There are many activities and aspects of the language that can be taught by using a single song or video.

When using songs or videos, educators need to think about a pre-, during, and post activity. Then, they have to consider whether or not they would need to teach some of the vocabulary from the materials used. It is also necessary to point out that filling in the blanks is not the only exercise that can be done. Jigsaw activities, spotting the mistakes, group discussions, representing the song by drawings, and much more activities can be created. All of them, if well planned, allow learners to acquire the language easily by having fun.

Even every educator must remember that any source of listening should be as much as possible a real source of authentic language that can make students to notice the native language pronunciation, culture, grammar usage, vocabulary in context, and so on. Songs and authentic videos then have to be carefully chosen since they have to be useful language-wise. Not every source of listening can be used.

But is that all with what learners can be provided? Is that all what teachers must do and know? What about letting students the chance to choose what they want and like to listen to. Is there a time to reflect on one’s own listening process? Are students conscious of what they can be able to understand and how is that possible or easier for them to do so?

Teachers should also help their students to become mindful about their listening skill in regards to the target language as well as to understand their cognitive, linguistic and social demands of L2 listening. Therefore, students need to be taught how to listen more than focusing on what they are listening to. For that purpose, the leaners have to comprehend cognitive, affective, and social domains. They need to know what strategy works better for them during listening, to be aware of their feelings when listening, and to share their listening comprehension and feelings. Teachers should ask students to reflect and analyze what is what they need to understand spoken English by also pointing out the importance of practicing outside the classroom. Asking students about how much they listen to the target language outside the classroom is essential. What type of English programs, videos, or music do you like to listen to? How much do you understand? How can you understand? They are also some of the questions that can be addressed.

Finally, it would be great to have students preparing their own listening activities by using the source of listening they prefer. Considering students’ likes and giving them the chance to have control over their own listening process and class allows them to increase their interested in listening to the target language as well as to reflect on their listening process.