Listening and Speaking Skills Course Evaluation

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Introduction

All forms of human interaction involve communication, which means transferring and receiving of information between the involved parties. The process involves a sender, a receiver and a message, which is transferred from the sender to receiver through different media, which facilitate the transfer of the purpose or reason underlying the message; but mere communication is not enough. The communication between involved parties should be effective, as this ensures the achievement of the purpose of communication and in absence of an effective communication, there are chances that the message will not convey its intended purpose or might be interpreted wrongly by the receiver. Communication may be verbal or non verbal but in either case, effectiveness is important. In the effective communication process, when verbal, two important constituents may be listening and speaking; speaking is concerned mostly with the sender listening is concerned with the receiver. But in the process of listening and speaking, there might be different communication barriers involved that may prevent the transferring of message and for this reason, it is important to teach people how to listen and speak effectively when communicating with each other.

Due to the importance of listening and speaking in the process of effective communication, there are courses that have been designed to improve these skills. This report deals with different aspects of listening and speaking, its importance in the communication process and criteria for evaluating its effectiveness. Besides, it also discusses ways of teaching students to enhance their listening and speaking skills, based on different strategies and methodologies.

Background of learning skills

Listening and speaking are both important part of communication process but more than often, it so happens that people consider speaking important but do not give sufficient attention to listening. This thought was more prevalent in earlier days when listening as well as speaking were taken as natural tendencies and it was thought that people only require teaching of reading and writing (Nunan, 1997).

But this thought changed onwards specially after 1950s. every once in a while the emphasis shifted on listening like in 1960s, the prominence of oral language increased the importance of listening but then it again faded and came back in 1980s with the increased importance on comprehensible input ideas by Krashen, which was later further supported by Asher’s methodology of effective learning, which drew its provisions from Krashen’s work. Learning also gained value from work of people like Gillian Brown who demonstrated the vitality of both listening and speaking abilities (Nunan, 1997).

Currently, the emphasis on listening skills has been increased because of its greater value in foreign language classrooms. The reason behind the growing popularity is that listening supplies input to the learner, which if not understood at the right level, makes learning an impossible task; this makes listening the basis for speaking. The underlying reason behind the recognition of listening is true not only in case of foreign language learning but also in case of every other form of learning (Nunan, 1997).

Models of listening

Over the last twenty years, there are two views of listening that have been dominating the language pedagogy, namely, the bottom-up processing view and the top-down interpretation view (Nunan, 1997).

According to the bottom-up processing model, listening is assumed to be the process of linearly decoding the sounds that are heard which means decoding ‘from the smallest meaningful units (phonemes) to complete texts’. This model stipulated that the building blocks of speech are phonemic units which are decoded and joint to form words. What follows further is a chain of words to form phrases, chain of phrases to yield utterances and finally blocks of utterances linked with each other to produce complete meaningful texts. In this linear decoding, the last step is the derivation of meaning from the speech (Nunan, 1997).

The top-down model puts forward the theory that with the help of clues, which are the incoming sounds, the actual meaning of the message is reconstructed by the speaker. If prior knowledge of the context and situation is available, it is used by the listener in order to derive meaning from what is heard. Prior knowledge may include things such as before hand knowledge of what is being spoken, acquaintance with the speaker(s) and the relationship of speaker to different variables (Nunan, 1997).

The decision of which theory is better is not really easy to make as both theories work hand in hand with each other, therefore it is important to apply and make use of both the theories in learning processes. For instance it is important to teach learners to identify smaller units as in bottom up approach but at the same time, it is equally important to teach them how to use their prior knowledge to decipher what they listen to which is a top down approach (Nunan, 1997).

These models are supplemented by three main modern views of listening. The first one reflects the change in perspective which considers listening skills more important than the particulars of language content. The second perspective aims at linking the teaching of listening skills in classroom to what is actually applicable in real life situations. The third and the last view lays stress on the vitality of equipping the listeners with motivation and a focus for listening (Field, 1997).

Types of listening

Listening may be classified with respect to different variables. The important variable that may be used for classification include the reason for listening, the part of the listener in the communication and the nature of message that is being listened to. The strategy that the listener adopts will vary according to the variable that is being used to classify listening (Nunan, 1997).

The purpose of listening and the nature of the message that is being communicated are often related to each other. For instance if the type of message is informative like a news broadcast, the purpose of listening is important to be considered as the purpose might be just to obtain a general idea of the day or to elicit specific information from within. In both cases, the types of message is the same but the purpose is different and therefore considering them both as a part of single unit is important to determine the required strategy on the part of the listener. The different types of messages themselves required different strategies like listening to instructions to operate a computer software requires different listening skills than listening to a short story. The part that a listener plays in learning is also important. A listener may be required to stay silent or to participate in the interaction. When the listener is required to participate, this is called reciprocal listening and when he/she is not required to do so, it is called non-reciprocal listening. In a listening classroom, the normal role of a listener is non reciprocal (Nunan, 1997).

Teaching flexibility in learning strategies

The type of listening may vary every time in learning according to the different variables, as mentioned before, therefore it is important to teach how to adjust listening strategies according to the involved variables. This flexibility can be taught by considering a single message or text and making learners listen to it but according to different purposes. For instance learners may be made to listen to international news first for general idea, then to match events and their countries of origin and finally for details (Nunan, 1997).

Barriers to listening

Removing obstructs that make listening ineffective is important because listening is a simple way to improve communication patterns. Following are some of the barriers to learning listening skills:

Incomplete listening: a listener thinks that he already knows what the speaker intends to say even before she is done with it. Some people may try to cut off the speaker’s conversation or complete the sentences (Webb, 2006).
Finding solutions: this means that a listener is not paying attention to what is being said as he is unintentionally thinking of the solutions to the perceived problem being discussed by the speaker (Webb, 2006).
Ulterior motives: in this case, the listener is not really listening for the purpose of listening but is actually listening for some other ulterior motives and therefore he is not paying complete attention to the speaker (Webb, 2006).
Comprehending the language: there are no absolute meanings in words themselves and therefore the listeners must use language to comprehend the intended meaning of the speaker. Having faith in the literal meaning of words can create misunderstandings (Webb, 2006).
Confusing the forest and the trees: the forest refers to context of a situation whereas the trees refer to the minute details. This barrier arises when people pay close attention to details and as a result, miss out on the meaning of the speech (Webb, 2006).
Splitters and lumpers: splitters are those who pay more attention on difference between things whereas lumpers tend to look for similarities. There may be confusion or misunderstandings when the speaker is a splitter and the listener is a lumper or vice versa. This confusion can be reduced if the listener loudly clarifies what he thinks the speaker is saying, consequently the conversational noise can be reduced (Webb, 2006).

Recommendations to enhance listening skills

In order to enhance the listening skills, some of the following recommendations may be used:

Teachers should try to integrate listening with production of active speech as learners mostly listen in this context.
students should be enlightened about the nature and process of listening as this provides them to understand the method of their learning skills, besides, teachers may also provide students with a vague idea of the difficulties and problems that they may come across and recommend ways to deal with these.
Availability and frequent use of listening texts should be promoted.
If there are native speakers of the language being taught are present, then they may be asked to help the teacher with teaching listening comprehension as opportunities to contact native speakers should be provided to foreign students.
Audio and visual aids should be used simultaneously in listening activities and texts.
Listening skills should be assessed in individual listening tests as well as through variety of other tests which involve different variety of questions and progressive levels of difficulty (Danaher, 2005).

It is important to enable teachers to distinguish specific behavorial patterns of listening apparent in weak listeners and to supply students with exercises that may help in endorsing better behavorial patterns of listening. Attention must be paid to the part of the listener and the interplay between the listener, text, and context as it may create difficulties for the listener. Equally vital is the to monitor the ways in which the behavorial patterns differ for successful and unsuccessful listeners (Brown, n.d.).

Speaking skills

The communication process is two ways, this means that it is dependant on speaking and listening both. Speech is a form of transferring or conveying message to other and it has to be effective so that the listener may easily comprehend it, for this reason, the messages have to be coherent, clear, simple and adapted to the listeners. The speaking process consists of topic selection, information gathering, organization of ideas or thoughts, analysis of listener’s characteristics and consideration of other different aspects of the speech.

Speaking is essential to the communication process as it determines our pattern of interaction with the environment and manner of expressing ideas. Just like listening, speaking doesn’t come naturally and has to be learned to achieve competence and thus communicate effectively.

Characteristics of an effective speaker

Speaking effectively is an art; therefore, there are some important characteristics that must be inculcated while teaching speaking skills. These characteristics include:

Ability to comprehend the connection between different aspects of the speaking process.
Identification and implementation of suitable strategies for formal and informal speaking as deemed appropriate across various situations.
Use of clear, simple and persuasive language that respect the background of the listeners.
Ability to ease communication anxiety and hesitation (NATCOM).

Essentials of speaking

There are three areas that speakers need to emphasize upon in order to produce effective speech:

Mechanics: this consists of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary of the speech. It is important for the speaker to use the appropriate words and pronunciation.
Functions: the transaction and interaction involved in the communication process is called function. A speaker should know how to bring clarity to message when essential and to sort unnecessary information as required.
Social and cultural rules and norms: an understanding of the listener, the context, the purpose and the topic is vital to produce effective speech (NCLRC, 2004).

In relation to mechanics, it should be noted that instructions for spoken language should not employ the rules of written language description alone as it will lay down an unsteady methodological foundation for building the base of starting an argument, it may also result in ‘ideological confusion’. When it comes to speaking, the features of grammar that are evident in most of the daily conversations are simply “wrong1, and are corruptions of and lapses from the standards enshrined in the scholarly grammars” (Carter & McCarthy, 2004).

Enhancing Speaking Skills

There are different strategies that may be taught to students to enhance their speaking skills. Some of the important strategies include:

Use of minimal responses: teaching students to use minimal responses at the very basic stage of the learning process helps them participate in the oral interaction. Such responses allow the learner to focus on the speech of others without diverting attention to plan their own response to it.
Use of scripts: scripts are ‘predictable set of spoken exchanges’ that are associated with a situation. Scripts are often helpful to anticipate the order of speaking amongst the communicators and their responses; as a result speakers know when their turn to speak is and what they are supposed to speak.
Using language for clarity: students have to be encouraged to speak and assured that misunderstandings are a part of the communication process. Therefore, the strategy is to encourage students to clarify speech when needed by using clarity phrases and comprehension checks (NCLRC, 2004).

Assessing learning

One of the most critical tasks for language teachers is to determine how much skills the students have learnt in the course. Assessments, when carefully designed and implemented can provide input about the understanding that students have attained and whether it is helpful to achieve the goals of the course. To assess the level of understanding that the learners have obtained of the skills, following are some forms evaluation that may be used: (NCLRC, 2004).

Traditional tests: these are pencil-and-paper tests that require students to study or listen to a range of different topics and then answer questions related to them. Students might also be asked to create or opt for a right grammatical form or vocabulary item. The knowledge that students have gained of language forms and the listening and speaking skills that they have developed can be assessed through such tests (NCLRC, 2004).

Alternative assessment: these forms of assessments are different from traditional assessment in both their method and their grading, such assessments consist of activities that focus on the strength of students to analyze how much skills they have learnt. These assessments are not paper pencil tests but actually involve performance to judge that students can successfully use learned skills to communicate (NCLRC, 2004).

Peer and self assessment: another way of making assessments is to make students evaluate their peers’ work; this localizes within the students- features of quality work. The teacher must tell the students when evaluating what to look for, how to provide feedback and what is it that people expect them to fulfill when making assessment of their peers (NCLRC, 2004).

Conclusion

To carry out an effective communication, speaking and listening effectively are very important skills to learn. Even though, both these abilities are gifted at the time of birth but making their effective use has to be learned. There are two models to approach listening, namely bottom up and top down. Students should be taught to consider the different variables that are involved and to adapt the strategies accordingly, also important is the identification of the barriers that hinder listening and strategies to overcome them and enhance listening.

Speaking also has to be practiced to accomplish perfection, required characteristics have to be developed that ensure clarity and effectiveness of the speech; students should also be equipped with the basic strategies to enhance speaking.

Finally, it is important for teachers to assess how much the students have learned from the listening and speaking course and whether the course objectives are being accomplished.

Thus, students and teachers both should work and co operate with each other to excel in listening and speaking skills so as to excel the art of communication, which is vital to the success of all forms of human interaction in different spheres of life.

References

Danaher, M. 1994, ‘Summary report of a study investigating issues of concern to the effective teaching of listening skills to beginning students of Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL)’, QJER, Vol 10, 2008. Web.

NATCOM, ‘Speaking, Listening, and Media Literacy Standards for K Through 12 Education’, 2008. Web.

NCLRC 2004, ‘Assessing Learning’, 2008. Web.

Nunan, D. 1997, ‘Listening in language learning’, The Language Teacher, [online]. 2008. Web.

Webb, M. 2006, ‘Eight barriers to effective listening’, 2008. Web.

Carter, R. and McCarthy, M. 1994, ‘Grammar and the Spoken Language’, 2008.

Brown, G. n.d., ‘Investigating Listening Comprehension in Context’, 2008.

Field, J. 1997, ‘Skills and strategies: towards a new methodology for listening’, 2008.

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