TEACHING LISTENING AND SPEAKING Rochelle A.

Macadangdang Courses in listening and speaking skills have a prominent place in language programs around the world today. Ever-growing needs for fluency in English around the world as a consequence of the role of English as the worlds international language have given priority to finding more effective ways to teach English. I. Teaching Listening Teaching listening skills is one of the most difficult tasks for any ESL teacher. This is because successful listening skills are acquired over time and with lots of practice. It's frustrating for students because there are no rules as in grammar teaching. A. LISTENING Listening is the ability to identify and understand what others are saying. This involves understanding a speaker's accent or pronunciation, his grammar and his vocabulary, and grasping his meaning (Howatt and Dakin). An able listener is capable of doing these four things simultaneously. Willis (1981:134) lists a series of micro-skills of listening, which she calls enabling skills. 1.Enabling skills o o o o o o predicting what people are going to talk about guessing at unknown words or phrases without panic using one's own knowledge of the subject to help one understand identifying relevant points; rejecting irrelevant information retaining relevant points (note-taking, summarizing) recognizing discourse markers, e. g. , Well; Oh, another thing is; Now, finally; etc. o recognizing cohesive devices, e. g. , such as and which, o including linking words, pronouns, references, etc. o understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress, etc. , which give clues to meaning and social setting 2.Reasons for Using Integrating Activities o To practice and extend the learners' use of a certain language structure or function. o To develop the learners' ability in the use of two or more of the skills within real

contexts and communicative frame work. 3.What are the Objectives of Listening Courses? o Exposing students to a range of listening experiences o Making listening purposeful for the students o Helping students understand what listening entails and how they might approach it o Building up students confidence in their own listening ability 4.What is the Role of the Teacher in a Listening Class? o To teach means to facilitate learning. o The role of the teacher is the support and guidance of learners controller or tester. 5.What do we teach when we teach Listening? o When we teach listening we need to teach not only English, but we also need to teach how it is used. We need to teach both: o 1. the language system, (our knowledge of language: grammar and vocabulary etc.) and o 2. the use of the language system, (the skills of language use) 6.What Should be Taught in Listening Class? o o o o o o o o o Component skills for listening: Discriminating between sounds Recognizing words Identifying stressed words and grouping of words Identifying functions in a conversation Using background knowledge and context to predict and then to confirm meaning Recalling important words, topics, ideas Giving appropriate feedback to the speaker Reformulating what the speaker has said. instead of

7.How should Listening be Taught? o o o o Provide a wide range of listening situations and tasks. Listening exercises are constructed round a task. Classroom action is centered on the learner, not the teacher. Task should be success-oriented.

B.THE LISTENING SKILLS o Listening skills are often divided into two groups: o bottom up listening skills and o top down listening skills 1.Theory called the "Noticing Hypothesis o States that learners have to notice something before they can learn it. o And as such, we need to help our students notice language points. o Teachers need to teach. 2.Four Levels Existing in Listening Level 1. This mood is listening. Level 2. Here the purpose is relaxation, escape, getting your mind off something rather than on it. Level 3. On this level, answers are sought as a key to action. Level 4. This is the stage of analytical and critical listening. 3. Stages of the Listening Process o Pre-listening (purpose must be given at this stage), o During (in-while) listening, o Post -listening (speaking). 4 .How To improve our Learners Listening Skills o o o o o o o o Adopt a positive attitude. Be responsive. Shut out distractions. Listen for the speaker's purpose. Look for the signals of what is to come. Look for summaries of what has gone before. Evaluate the supporting materials. Look for non-verbal clues.

5.Good Listening Teachers Guidelines o Learner-centered rather than teacher centered o Process rather than product

II.Teaching Speaking o The mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for many second or foreign language learners. o Learners consequently often evaluate their success in language learning as well as the effectiveness of their English course on the basis of how well they feel they have improved in their spoken language proficiency. Why should we teach speaking skills in the classroom? Why Speaking is Fundamental to Human Communication? How to deal with common arguments against teaching speaking skills in the classroom o Students won't talk or say anything. o One way to tackle this problem is to find the root of the problem and start from there. Is the activity or task pitched at the right level for the students? Are all the students actively involved and is the activity interesting? Was the timing of the activity good?

Conclusion o The challenge for teachers and materials developers is to find strategies that help learners develop fluency, accuracy, as well as appropriateness of language use. o That is knowing how to use English appropriately for a range of different communicative purposes particularly social purposes, educationally-related purposes and work-related purposes. o The most important question in teaching speaking skills is: o How can we help learners move beyond the level of linguistic competence (mastery of the linguistic system), to achieve communicative competence?