Exploiting advanced level listening texts

 As Steve Glover and I research and begin to draft our book on teaching A-level modern languages, here is a sneek peek at an early draft section on teaching aural texts. A general point we shall want to make is that listening is at the heart of A-level teaching, as it is at any level. If comprehensible input and communication are the foundation of language learning, then working with listening texts, as well as all the interpersonal listening that goes on between teachers and students (and between students), need to be a major priority for A-level success.

A second fundamental point to stress is the need to work intensively on aural texts. By that, I mean to design activities which recycle vocabulary and grammar over and over again through all the four skills. The alternative risks being a superficial coverage of listening texts - typically: hearing a text two or three times while answering some questions in English or a true/false exercise. This makes it less likely that language will be assimilated for future comprehension and production.

So below is a list of some of the many activities you can do when working with aural texts - read aloud by the teacher, from audio and from video. How many do you do? Do you ensure that the text is worked intensively?

The list below is divided broadly into pre-listening, while-listening and post-listening tasks. You don't have to stick to this model all the time, but it's a useful way of thinking about how to design a listening lesson.

Pre-listening

Whetting the appetite. To prepare students for the text they are going to read, ask a few questions or give a brief introduction to the topic. Have students guess which points might be covered in the text. This will arouse interest in or provide knowledge about the content of the text. 

Paired discussion. Ask students to talk to each other about the topic area covered in the text. 

Guess the topic. Put some words on the board from the text, placed at random, and elicit from the students what they think the text might be about. This could lead to the next point.

Vocabulary brainstorming. Do a vocabulary brainstorm around the class, but with the proviso that words must relate to the topic area covered by the text. With some groups, allow students  to intervene if they think the word is not relevant. Students should not repeat a word they have already heard. Words and phrases can be written on the board. Some could then be erased or partially before students attempt to retrieve them from memory. Or else students could be asked to put them in a short sentence.

 

While-listening

·    True/false/not mentioned. ‘Not mentioned’ need only be included if you need to provide three options for assessment purposes. (True/false does not furnish reliable grades.) True/false is often a useful initial exercise. Its nature provides a good deal of scaffolding to assist students. If true/false is used, it should be followed up by exercises which need more intensive, thorough processing of language. True/false alone is a relatively superficial task which does not generate the repetition we seek, even tough true/false may be designed to require quite subtle interpretation of the text. 

·     Note-taking. This demands no preparation on the part of the teacher. Students take notes in English or the target language. Both approaches have merits. When taking notes in English, the focus is on comprehension and mental translation. When note-taking in the target language, students will be both comprehending, transcribing and reformulating what they have heard. This presents a greater challenge, so decide which is better depending on the class and the text. A useful idea is to have students take notes in English first (focus on comprehension), then put the ideas into the target language, either through sharing orally with a partner or by writing the ideas down 

·    Gap-filling. This can take various forms.

• Standard gap-fill with individual words, e.g. chosen with a focus on aspects of grammar or vocabulary.
• Using chunks, not words – this can encourage deeper processing of vocabulary, since the focus is not merely on the meaning of a word, but its relationship with other words (collocations).
• Gap-fill with no gaps provided.
• Gap-fill with options at the bottom or top of the exercise.
• Multi-choice gaps, e.g. with options in brackets after the gap or at the bottom of the page, with gaps numbered.
• Gap-fill with two options in brackets or one above the other.
• Gap-fill with missing letters, e.g. vowels or consonants.
• Gaps with number of letters indicated with dashes or hyphens.
• Gap-fill with missing inflections (e.g. verb endings or adjective agreements).
• Gap-fill with first letter of each word provided.
• Gap-fill with first syllable given. (The first syllable is a more powerful mental clue to a word or phrase.)
• Gaps followed by a synonym in brackets (to enrich vocabulary knowledge).
• Gap followed by antonym in brackets.
• Gaps with varied gap  length or same line length (the former gives more of a clue).
• Random partial word gaps (e.g. lay narrow strips if paper across original text before photocopying it - tell the class there was a problem with the photocopier!).

 

·     Correcting a faulty transcript. These are easy to produce and can be either read aloud or be done based on a published recording or a text generated by a text-to-speech app or AI. The students hear a text, but the transcript they have in front of them has a number of differences. Students must identify the differences and write in what they hear. The focus may be on vocabulary choices or grammatical issues (if you change a whole phrase instead of single words).

·     Correct false statements. Provide a list of statements which are all false. Students must correct them while listening. The statements could be in English or the target language language. The target language provides even more input, so may be preferable.

·     Lecture format. On an occasional basis consider simple giving a talk on an aspect of a sub-theme, where the emphasis is on factual information. Always keep in mind that students need to build up their fund of knowledge for AO4 marks. As you read aloud, students take notes as described earlier.

·     Questions in the target language. As students listen they respond on paper to target language questions. Note-form answers may be suitable in this case, rather than full sentence answers. When eliciting answers to target language questions, encourage students to expand on their responses by asking follow-up questions. Use the full range of questions styles, including either/or and open-ended questions. 

·     Questions in English. These may be most suitable for harder texts, so that students are not overloaded by having to formulate target language answers while they are listening. As when note-taking, students could always translate their English answers at a later time.

·     Bilingual glossary completion. While listening, have students complete a list of new vocabulary they encounter.

·    Filling in tables. A grid or table of information can be designed which students have to fill in to show understanding of factual information (see the example later in this chapter).

·     Matching vocabulary to definitions. Provide a few definitions of new words students will meet in the text. Students must identify the new words.

·     Multiple-choice questions. These take the form of a question with three answers or a sentence start with three different completions. An AI tool such as (at the time of writing) Chat GPT, produces multiple choice questions on a text in an instant. Just check that the options are at a suitable level for your class, preferably with all options ‘in play’, i.e. plausible.

·     Ticking correct statements. Provide a list of statements, only some of which are correct. Students identify the correct ones.

·     Completing sentence starters. Provide as much scaffolding as the class requires.

 

Post-listening

·     Making up questions in the target language. Students can practise their question structures by doing this. To do it well they have to decipher meaning carefully. They can then use the questions with a partner or the teacher for oral practice.

·    Give false statements. Make up false statements about the text which the class must correct. Answers may be given orally or on paper.

·     Matching tasks. Typically, this will take the form of starts and ends of sentences which students have to match up to show they have grasped meaning. The same can be done with questions and answers. The starts and ends can be designed to focus on aspects of grammar (see Chapter…).

·     Completing sentences. Once the aural text has been studied intensively students may complete orally or in writing sentences to which you give them the start. This can allow for some creativity and amusement if you give them just a short phrase or even just a word. As an alternative, supply the ends of sentences to which students supply possible starts.

·     Summarising from memory. Students summarise the main points to the whole group or to a partner. This could be rehearsed in English first.

·     Written summary in the target language. Students must show good comprehension and they get a chance to use written language creatively, mainly using paraphrase. Written summary would normally follow note-taking.