This event has completed.

8/19/2022
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM PST

Presenter: Marnie Reed, Boston University

Listening pedagogy has much to benefit by adopting lessons learned from reading instruction: teach preliterate Students from Limited or Interrupted Formal Education how to decode orthographic input before testing reading comprehension. For listening, this requires that we shift classroom instruction from its historic focus on testing the accuracy of learners’ listening comprehension (Mendelsohn, 2006) to teaching learners how to process aural input. Nation & Newton (2009), describe listening as “the least understood and most overlooked of the four skills in the language classroom” (p. 37). While textbooks and teachers increasingly use authentic materials, Rost (1994) notes that learners struggle to understand the spoken language as native speakers actually use it (p. 142). This webinar shares insights to address two documented listening challenges: segmenting speech that is continuous, i.e., “without robust or reliable boundary signals” (Cutler, 2012, p. 170) - the “Everybody speaks too fast” phenomenon - and ability to use intonation to “infer the speaker’s intention” (Vandergrift & Goh, 2012, p. 25). Specifically, in this webinar we demystify connected speech processes and address implicational intonation, by which “a speaker implies something without necessarily putting it into words” (Wells, 2006, p. 27). 

Sources:

Cutler, A. (2012). Native listening: The flexibility dimension. Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(2), 169-187.

Mendelsohn, D. (2006). Learning how to listen using learning strategies. In P. Gordon (Ed.), Current trends in the development and teaching of the four language skills (pp. 75-89). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Nation, P., & Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL listening and speaking. New York: Routledge.
Rost, M. (1994). Introducing Listening. London: Penguin.
Vandergrift, L., & Goh, C. (2012). Vandergrift, L. & Goh, C. (2012). Teaching and learning second language listening: Metacognition in action. NY: Routledge.
Wells, J. (2006). English intonation: An introduction.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cost

Members: Free
Non-members: $5

TOP-IG Hosts

Marsha Chan and Randy Rightmire, Co-coordinators
Patryk Mrozek, Assistant Coordinator