summary
Summary: “ Teacher, the tape is too fast!”. Extensive listening in ELT.
The research is discussing about extensive listening for ineffective listeners instead of using listen strategies that places a heavy burden on teachers and students.
Firstly, the author talks about listening problems of EFL learners. Listening is the most difficult skill for them. The reason is that they are not able to catch the sounds or the words and miss the gist or important details of the spoken text. They find it hard to complete the teacher-prepared follow-up tasks and worksheets. Therefore, the author suggests that the teacher should consider why students in low efficiency levels have difficulty in comprehending listening input. There are four reasons for these problems. The first one is the fast rate of speech. For example, for EFL, a spoken text at normal speed, even low speed, is too fast for them to get the words. Another one is the variety of speech. It seems to be difficult for these students to recognize the words since they sound different from when they are pronounced isolation. The third reason is that they cannot perceive the boundary between words. And if the speech rate is too fast and they fail to catch the words, they will naturally get distracted and be unable to continue to process the information.
Due to the EFL learners’ perception problems, some researchers have given some listening strategies used by good listeners. Then they are taught to ineffective ones. In order to have beneficial effects, the teachers have devoted a lot of effort; however, this may be hard for many of them to handle. There is also no use in applying the strategies to increase students’ listening comprehension as what the students need most is knowledge of how to access the word meaning and add it quickly and efficiently to their developing interpretation.
Some researchers have recommended another effective way to get what they want is through extensive listening.
The research is discussing about extensive listening for ineffective listeners instead of using listen strategies that places a heavy burden on teachers and students.
Firstly, the author talks about listening problems of EFL learners. Listening is the most difficult skill for them. The reason is that they are not able to catch the sounds or the words and miss the gist or important details of the spoken text. They find it hard to complete the teacher-prepared follow-up tasks and worksheets. Therefore, the author suggests that the teacher should consider why students in low efficiency levels have difficulty in comprehending listening input. There are four reasons for these problems. The first one is the fast rate of speech. For example, for EFL, a spoken text at normal speed, even low speed, is too fast for them to get the words. Another one is the variety of speech. It seems to be difficult for these students to recognize the words since they sound different from when they are pronounced isolation. The third reason is that they cannot perceive the boundary between words. And if the speech rate is too fast and they fail to catch the words, they will naturally get distracted and be unable to continue to process the information.
Due to the EFL learners’ perception problems, some researchers have given some listening strategies used by good listeners. Then they are taught to ineffective ones. In order to have beneficial effects, the teachers have devoted a lot of effort; however, this may be hard for many of them to handle. There is also no use in applying the strategies to increase students’ listening comprehension as what the students need most is knowledge of how to access the word meaning and add it quickly and efficiently to their developing interpretation.
Some researchers have recommended another effective way to get what they want is through extensive listening.