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What's the best way to learn receptive skills?

Miranda Hamilton

July 26, 2021

We often think of speaking and writing as the most challenging of the four language skills but what about the receptive skills? With reading, learners have time to think, but listening in another language presents a very different set of challenges for the learner. How often have we heard learners complain ‘it’s too fast, teacher!’? So how can you help?

Some guides are designed to help teachers understand the subskills of listening, with activities, tips and strategies to help you develop your learners’ listening skills as they prepare for their exams.

Here are just a few of the ideas from the guides for you to try with your learners. They will work at all levels.

How many words?

This micro listening is a great activity to try towards the end of your listening lesson, when learners have already heard the recording, so they know the speakers’ voices and the topic.

1. Select a short phrase, of around 10 words, from the listening you have just completed. Set up the audio so you are ready to press ‘Play’.
2. Tell the learners to listen and count the number of words they hear. You will need to play the audio several times. Pairs discuss. Take a range of answers from the class, but don’t tell them the answer just yet.
3. Write the phrase on the board and count the number of words with the class. Who was the closest?
4. Now ask them to listen and read the phrase at the same time. This time they have to decide which words they hear most clearly, in other words, you want them to notice the stressed words. Ask why they think they heard these words most clearly. Explain that stressed words carry the key information.

This micro listening activity helps raise learners’ awareness of sounds, helping them notice the stressed words and preparing them to listen for key information.

Support every learner

In mixed-ability classes, put a few simple strategies in place so the whole class can listen to the same recording, and take part in the same activity. This means that no learner feels lost or left behind.

1. Make the gap-fill or sentence-completion task more achievable and supply the first letter of the missing word. Alternatively supply the first and the final letter and indicate how many letters the missing word has.
2. Provide an additional layer of support for weaker learners by giving them the audio script. They can read the script as they listen and use it to help them find the correct answers.

Prepare to listen, prepare to understand

Don’t be in too much of a hurry to hand out the listening task and press ‘Play’. Time spent in class before listening means learners are better prepared to understand.

1. Before you listen, have a class discussion around the topic of the listening. This gives learners the opportunity not only to practice their speaking, but also to practice listening to one another. A good discussion will make them think about the main ideas they might hear when they listen.
2. Useful vocabulary always comes out of a class discussion, creating a very natural way to pre-teach vocabulary before they listen. Useful language linked to a discussion is easier to learn because learners have a context, which makes it easier to remember than pre-teaching vocabulary from a wordlist.
3. Take your time to discuss the task and check understanding. Encourage the class to reflect on their discussion and predict the answers. Remember to write their predictions on the board. Did they guess correctly? It doesn’t matter if they did or not, what matters is that they are prepared and ready to listen to see if they were right.

Feeling prepared to listen means learners feel confident and ready to understand, both in the classroom and in their exam.

Adapted from: https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/blog/whats-the-best-way-to-

learn-receptive-skills