1. Introduction:
As we all know, listening comprehension is the basic language skill in language learning. However, students always think it is difficult and feel insecure and uncomfortable during listening activities. Therefore it’s very important for us, as teachers, to try and find better ways to help our students to become active listeners and to improve their overall listening comprehension skills. To foster the students’ listening comprehension skills and prepare them as active listeners in language learning is a big challenge. Scholars and researchers have done a lot of research to help students acquire the skills. However, apart from the methodologies, we also need to know that we face individual student differences: their learning styles, their backgrounds, and their cultures in teaching. In different classrooms, teachers have to adopt different teaching techniques to reach their students. Action research offers an opportunity for classroom teachers to do the research by themselves, improve their teaching, and make adjustments when necessary.
This paper intends to propose an action research plan and attempts to inquire into individual and creative ways we use to prepare our Basic 1 students for listening activities. This plan focuses on real beginners (Basic 1) and the main objective is for the teacher to conduct this action research in his classroom in order to make changes in his teaching, if necessary.
2. Research questions
How does the teacher introduce the activity?
What constraints does he find?
What pre-listening strategies and/or techniques does he use?
What are the students’ reactions towards the teacher’s strategies and/or techniques?
3. Research Plan
In order to collect data, the teachers were asked to watch other teachers’ classes and/or record their own paying special attention to pre-listening strategies adopted to prepare the students for the activities. Afterwards, they answered a set of questions previously developed for this assignment.
A few teachers’ meetings were dedicated to the discussion on the material collected, comparing what we had learned and drawing conclusions about what we thought the data meant in order to write this paper. We watched/recorded nine classes that included Basic 1listening activities. Some teachers had to record and analyze their own classes due to of lack of time and teacher availability, as well as lack of room in some classes.
4. Collected Data
In most situations, students seemed to have fewer problems due to the vocabulary review. Because we were dealing with real beginners, the techniques were used to prepare students to listen with the sole purpose of getting the correct answers to a set of prearranged questions in the hope that they would get as many correct answers as possible. Pre-teaching all possible unknown vocabulary and checking whether or not the students understood the context of the listening activity were the techniques that produced the best results. In 90% of the cases, results were very good, even if less skilled students needed to listen to the recording more than two or three times before they were able to get the answers to all the questions. Most of the time, the problem lay in the concentration and motivation levels presented by students. We were able to realize that, besides concentration, students’ attitude is an important factor in their performance. Most students are not interested in doing listening activities because it depends on individual work and it requires a high level of concentration. Thus, for students who have a lower level of confidence and suffer from short attention span, it is more likely that they will want to “finish” the tasks than to “achieve” better results. Most of the time, when the students were well prepared for the listening activity, they all participated in a very relaxed way. In our opinion this strategy—reviewing given vocabulary—helps to make them feel secure and motivated to participate in the task. In all groups where teachers helped students to understand the context, they reacted very well and faced the activity naturally. Teacher’s reports presenting data according to the order of collection can be found below.
5. Conclusion
Language is constantly developing. When we listen to our native language, we still hear words that are new to us or that we may not fully understand. This doesn't necessarily mean that we should check lists of unknown words in dictionaries before we listen. We can deduce the meaning of new words from their context. This is a process we also need to develop in our students. We need to help students to contextualize the listening activity and access their existing knowledge and expectations to help them understand the text. We should bear in mind that we are not checking their ability to pass tests at this time. If we listen to a flight departure announcement, for example, we make sure we know the airline, time, flight number, gate number, etc. By constantly pre-teaching and preparing students, we are undermining the development of this process. Students need to be challenged and to find meaning by themselves, with our guidance and support, in order to develop this ability.
TEACHER’S REPORTS
Report 1
By KHALED SAMMY IDIRI
Basic 1 Class watched on July 21st, 2009 at 6:30 p.m.
Teacher: Juliana
Number of students: 5
Listening Activity: U6 (page 125)
Main Objective: Identify polite sentences in service encounters
Introduction:
I was asked by our coordinator Cecilia to watch the first class to find out the technique used by Juliana to prepare her students for listening activities in Basic 1.
I really enjoyed watching it because I have never given a Basic class and I don’t usually have a chance to see the reaction of basic students.
The process used by Juliana:
The following steps were followed by Juliana to do the listening activity:
1) She informed the students that they were about to listen to three dialogues.
2) She explained to them that they had to identify the missing expressions.
3) She told them to listen to the dialogues trying to understand the context.
4) After the second listening, she asked the students to fill in the blanks with suitable expressions.
5) Then she asked them to share their answers. The majority of them got 50% of the answers correct.
Dialogue 1: the students managed to get the right expressions;
Dialogue 2: They did not get the expression and “brown” (difficulty to hear colors); they also had difficulty to determine the right cost of the shoes ($228)
Dialogue 3: They could not get the following expression: “it’s after six”.
6) Juliana decided to play dialogues 2 and 3 for the third time;
Result: the students managed to get the following expressions: “it’s after six” and “the black and brown”. But they were still having difficulty determining the right cost of the shoes. In order to solve the problem, the teacher decided to play it for the fourth time, which really helped the students to get the right answer.
Suggested Strategies:
Basic 1 Class watched on July 23rd, 2009 at 7 a.m.
There are several strategies that teachers can use to prepare students for listening activities:
Teachers should write the most difficult words and expressions on the board and provide their meanings. Teaching the students some key vocabulary before they start a listening activity is a very helpful strategy. Students should be asked to be attentive and should be ready to take notes.
Report 2
By CECILIA MARIA BAETA ROCHA
Basic 1 Class watched on July 22nd, 2009 at 8:10 p.m.
Teacher: Kelly
Number of students: 11
Listening Activity: U6 - Dialogues (page 125)
Main Objective: Improve students’ listening skills and identify polite sentences.
Teacher’s strategies:
1) First, Kelly explained to the students that they were about to listen to three dialogues and what kind of information they were supposed to listen for. Then she kept the class in U-shape and started playing the dialogues, stopping after each one to check students’ answers.
2) Students had difficulty understanding and completing the expression “the black or the brown ones”, because, although they know the colors, they’re not used to seeing “ones” replacing previous ideas. So she had to play this part again, checking it out with the group until they got it.
3) They had other problematic gaps, and, to solve them, she played the dialogues again, this time exploring the context. For instance, numbers are a little harder for them to get on the first try (three digits), so she played it once more and when they continued having problems, she wrote three options on the board and asked them to choose one (like a. $228 b. 220 or c. 208). Then they were able to choose the right one.
4) Another moment was when they couldn’t recognize “after” in “It’s after six”. This time, she called their attention to the fact that the shop assistant said “We’re closed” and then they came up with the preposition “after”.
It was a very nice class and the teacher used strategies that, in my opinion, are related to the method to solve problems and help her students accomplish the task without feeling lost or insecure.
Report 3
By KARLA PENA GAMBINI
Basic 1 Class watched on July 23rd, 2009 at 7 a.m.
Teacher: Liza
Number of students: 6
Listening Activity: C6 – Phonological Awareness (page 130)
Main Objective: Identify Information (airport announcements).
Strategies used by the teacher:
Before starting the listening activity, Liza asked the students a few questions, such as: “How often do you travel?” or “Which means of transportation do you use?” etc. She had a chat with the students for a while. Then she announced the listening activity and asked students to do it in pairs (Picture 14). She played the first part once and stopped to check students’ understanding and everybody was able to get the right answer. Next she played the second part once, stopped and checked answers. She played it again as some students didn’t have the right answers. The whole activity lasted about ten minutes.
Report 4
By CECILIA BAETA ROCHA
Basic 1 Class watched on July 29th,2009 at 6:30 p.m.
Teacher: Glaucia
Number of students: 9
Listening Activity: Review 5/6 – Activity 3
Main Objective: Identify numbers and information.
Strategies used by the teacher:
1) Before starting the activity, Glaucia explained to the students what they were about to listen to and that they shouldn’t worry about getting every single word of the announcement, but they should identify some elements.
2) Then, she kept the class in U-shape (picture 15) and asked them to pay close attention because the information they were supposed to complete was not in order in the announcements.
3) She had a quick chat with them about traveling by plane and usual information needed at airports.
4) Then she played the recording three times, stopping at each and checking students’ answers by asking questions to specific students. Everybody was able to participate. They didn’t get stuck, but when someone had doubts or the wrong answer, she used group correction and they were able to work together and get the right one. The whole activity ran smoothly and lasted around ten minutes.
Report 5
By WESLEY DE OLIVEIRA FARIA
Basic 1 Class watched on August 10th,2009 at 8:10 p.m.
Teacher: Glaucia
Number of students: 11
Listening Activity: C1 – Activity 3 – Cultural Awareness
Main Objective: Call students’ attention to different greetings used in different contexts.
Strategies used by the teacher:
1) Answer to question # 1
She started the activity working on the vocabulary they would use during the listening activity, such as, greetings, introductions, etc.
2) Answer to question # 2
Due to the vocabulary review done before the beginning of the listening activity, students had no difficulty spotting the expressions.
3) Answer to question # 3
She used group correction most of the time, which was very helpful in order to get students to think of the best answer together. Sometimes she used self-correction as well.
4) Answer to question # 4
The students seemed to have few problems due to the vocabulary review. When the time came for the second dialogue, they had difficulty spotting the introduction markers, but after self-correction, they got it right. The teacher talked to them at the closing in order to get them to calm down. She told them not to be afraid of this kind of exercise, and also that they may find it difficult because they are not used to it yet. She told them that listening is part of their learning process; therefore, they should try to practice this skill outside the classroom. She said: “The more you practice, the more you will learn”. Another issue she brought up during the closing was the fact that listening is a skill which we tend to avoid even in our own mother tongue, since we live in a visual world where internet and television are the main vehicles of information. After this conversation they seemed to be more relaxed. The whole activity lasted eighteen minutes.
Report 6
By LIZA VALÉRIA PACHECO FRANÇA
Basic 1 Class recorded on August 11th,2009 at 7 a.m.
Teacher: Liza
Number of students: 12
Listening Activity: C1 – Activity 3 – Cultural Awareness
Main Objective: Make students perceive that different contexts request different greetings.
Strategies used by the teacher:
1) Answer to question # 1
Before the activity, the book presents the students with many different tasks dealing with “Greetings/Introduction” vocabulary. Lesson 1 has plenty of activities that deal with “Greetings”, “How do they introduce themselves?” and “How they introduce friends”. Therefore I didn’t have any difficulty in asking them to identify the possible ones to complete the dialogues. As usual, I played each dialogue two to three times, stopping after each one to check their performance.
2) Answer to question # 2
One of the dialogues (Number 2) doesn’t present a question marker. For that reason, it was necessary to pay a little more attention to that part. I explained to them that, in some cases, an introduction marker is not necessary.
3) Answer to question # 3
I used group correction most of the time and when I felt it was necessary to apply self-correction, I did it in a very soft way, never doing it on the spot. The correction technique indicated by the book is, in my opinion, the most appropriate for this task.
4) Answer to question # 4
The students were well prepared for the listening activity and they all participated in a very relaxed way
Report 7
By GLAUCIA FONSECA CHEBLE DE ANDRADE
Basic 1 Class recorded on September 14th, 2009 at 8:10 p.m.
Teacher: Glaucia
Number of students: 12
Listening Activity: Review 3-4 – Activity 4
Main Objective: Improve students’ listening skills – introducing, opening, closing conversations.
Strategies used by the teacher:
1) I started the activity by saying that they were going to listen to two dialogues and that they were supposed to listen and fill in the blanks with the expressions.
2) The recording was played once, students started to complain about the rhythm, “Fast, teacher” – one of the students said. So, in order to let them fill in the blanks, I decided to stop right after the answer, which helped them to grasp the correct answers.
3) Correction: Students got 100% of the first dialogue; all the answers were correct. In order to check spelling I wrote the answers on the board. The second dialogue was a little bit harder, due to the fact that they were not familiar with such expressions as “Do you want anything else?” The assimilation presented in this expression is quite difficult for them to grasp. When nobody was able to answer just by listening to the second dialogue, I explored the context. I tried to elicit from them what kind of question would fit in that gap since the clients had ordered just two Cokes. This service encounter, at the restaurant, was explored in Unit 4 and, in Discourse Project, I explored some of these dialogue expressions in this activity in which they were supposed to create a dialogue, so it was easier for them to remember.
Report 8
By JULIANA SIQUEIRA COSTA
Basic 1 Class recorded on September 15th, 2009 at 7 a.m.
Teacher: Juliana
Number of students: 9
Listening Activity: Review 3-4
Main Objective: Students have to develop a general understanding of some types of expressions in dialogues.
Introduction
As we were moving on to the listeningactivity I told students that they would listen to two dialogues and they had to fill in the blanks with the words and expressions that they had to listen to.
The process I used:
· At first, I told them to listen and try to understand the whole dialogue.
· Next, I told them to write what they had heard (I stopped at the end of each sentence for them to have time to write) and I asked them for the answers as we were going over the activity.
· Lastly, I played the whole recording for them to check their answers (I stopped in between sentences).
Result
Students were able to get the answers without a problem.
Report 9
By RAFAEL DUARTE CABOCLO
Basic 1 Class recorded on August 25th, 2009 at 6:30 p.m.
Teacher: Rafael
Number of students: 12
Listening Activity: Lesson 3 – Act 3 (page 61)
Main Objective: Identify structural elements within a context.
Strategies used:
1ST step:
I started the activity by telling the students the main objective of this listening exercise. Then, as I always like to do, I asked my students questions related to the listening activity or to the listening exercise. For example: in this listening activity students needed to perceive if the underlined words were Imperatives or Simple Present. So I asked a student if he liked to dance. This question has to do with the previous exercise, which has to do with Simple Present questions so it would keep the flow of the class going. Then I told him: now dance! Then I wrote these sentences on the board and asked them to tell me if they were Simple Present or Imperative forms.
2ND Step:
I explained the listening exercise to my students – what they were supposed to do. I also reminded them, with board support, that the Simple Present has to do with routines, habits, facts, states; and Imperative forms have to do with commands.
3RD step:
I played the recording once, nonstop.
4TH step:
I played the first dialogue again and stopped, asking the students to classify the underlined words. They didn’t face difficulties; the only thing they asked me was the meaning of the expression “hold on a second,” which I explained by giving examples. Afterwards, I played the second and the third dialogue, stopping after each dialogue to check students’ answers. The only problem was that students didn’t understand the verb “to enjoy’’ so I had to explain it to them. Other than that, they were able to come up with the right answers.
5TH step:
After the students gave me all the answers, I finished up this listening activity by asking them to repeat the sentences connecting the words in a more natural way. I called their attention to the fact that this is the way natives talk.
Correction techniques: Group correction