Listening as a Language Skill
Consuela Popa, Romania
Consuela Popa is an English teacher. In the past she used to teach English and French. She has taught in state schools, high schools and secondary schools, at all levels, and different profiles. She is interested in linguistic research, cultural studies and writing in English and in the study of other languages: French, Spanish. Christian theology, sociology, psychology are her other fields of interest. She cherishes a lot the opportunity of writing for HLT, since the attitudes and values discovered this way help grow and feed the spirit. As artists, linguists should be aware of the fact that interdisciplinary aspects are unavoidable and that we should touch a variety of fields through our writing.
E-mail: konskris2001@yahoo.com
“In the beginning was the Word”, stands not only in terms of a biblical and religious principle, but also in terms of a general statement regarding the importance of the uttered “word” or communicated verbal message (words, sentences, etc), upon the audience or recipients. This is a valid principle, and the most important one, in linguistics and in the realm of language teaching methodology as well. We should say, more precisely, that in language learning and methodology, “in the beginning there was the heard word”.
And if we are to extend the sphere of its applicability in all the other domains, we shall discover that one factor of extreme importance stands out boldly: the uttered, the communicated message, that we listen to first, and its decoding, its comprehension, interpretation, usage, etc, by the listeners, is one factor that lies not only at the beginning of communication and interaction, but one factor that generates the whole chain of logical and scientific, or field specific, links and ideas, that are to be explored, exploited and transformed, later on, by the audience and all those involved in interaction.
Listening to these uttered or communicated messages, shorter or longer, generates language (and field specific) production. Listening is the cause of production, whether it is the most rudimentary form of production, when we repeat the message in an interrogatory manner, or when we ask again, indifferent ways, what we have just heard for clarification or for reinforcement of the heard message in and order for this message to be better interpreted by us.
Of course, listening as the cause of production stands in linguistics and in language (including mother tongue), research, as within the primordial situation of mother tongue, and foreign tongue alike, acquisition and development/learning, based upon the initial principle and fundamental of linguistics, which is exposure to language.
Because all heard messages are thereupon decoded and transformed by listeners, during the complex process of acquisition, listening is the cause of production in language acquisition and learning, but this does not mean that production cannot be, in its different forms and hypostasis, also issued independently from the previous listening to a verbal message. We can issue language production also when, on our own, or in silence, we decide to write our own ideas, we create written messages about one topic or another, we create stories, articles, research papers, letters, poems, and all sorts of written message. This written message is addressed to recipients who will later on, in their turn, upon reading our production, react to it in their own manner, they will decode that, interpret it, use it for further interaction, etc.
In these different and genuine circumstances, it is not necessary for us to be listening to a certain message sending within an interaction (session) that we are part of, for we can draw the information to be interpreted and dwelled upon for our own, subsequent, production, also from the silent reading of a text or message that we are interested in, for instance. Or we can issue production, in a certain circumstance, based exclusively upon our spur or incentive, which comes from the (previous) schemata we have on the topics that we then create our own opinions of. We reflect upon something that is of interest, and we can draw out our own production, without being necessary that we should listen to something about that first. That is, better said, without either listening to, or reading about, a certain subject just before that we should get involved in our written production. However, when we are usually involved in papers, tasks, research or work to do on our own, we should also read, as an imperative for our work, or listen to interesting messages/communication during our production, (from important bibliographical resource books or the web, media, CD`s, tapes, recorded messages, etc) in order for our creation to be better informed and alimented with information to be worked upon.
But the fascinating cycle comprehensible input-comprehensible output eventually becomes a ruling principle. We do not only get information, when we listen to something, or when we get exposed to something, but we also decode it, interpret it, and we use it for further production which again, will be destined to be used by others in the wonderful cycle of language interaction, communication, message sending, language production. Everything has a purpose, and while it has been argued that written texts, destined to an invisible public, are not communicative in nature, because the authors of written texts and their readers do not synchronize in terms of their production, respectively reception of message/information, we can, and should also argue that the written text, and especially academic text such as literature, is the element which is most prone to enhance language competence, literacy, fluency, at more advanced, academic levels. Due to the exposure to elevated and versatile written language productions, (when we get exposed to read, not only to heard, input) our comprehension, text structure and lexical absorption are enhanced. Whenever our spoken or written, later on, production, is done, it will be influenced to a large extent by what we have been exposed to (and how we have been exposed to that, as well!).Everything we write or we say, everything we create, is later on rendered to, or introduced within, the cycle input-output.
Reception of verbal messages is achieved by us as listeners, in different ways and with different degrees of maturity, starting from the age of early infancy, when we get exposed to our mother language, and continuing with later on stages, when we get exposed to foreign languages and choose to absorb and study these languages in depth. Of course, early infancy exposure has, in its turn, different facets, since we can speak about different situations in which a child could get exposed to it: it can be either exclusively in a family atmosphere, from the most “cuddled” and simple verbal mother tongue interventions and caressing, to more complicated messages, when parents and family wish to get the child exposed to their cognitive and linguistic world, but it can also be in more genuine and special environments. These environments that I refer to could be multicultural ones, when the child, sooner or later, will be exposed to more than one language, either bilingual, in those countries and families where such cases abound, either trilingual, or even more than that, multilingual in general. Listening to messages with different and varied, rich, linguistic and emotional weight, also listening to messages and communication in different languages and with different phonetic particularities, will get the future language speakers and learners exposed to a wide range of linguistic influences and circumstances and will shape the personality of language speakers in an overwhelming way.
In the methodology of English language teaching, in foreign language teaching in general, as teachers and researchers, we are aware of the fact that listening as a language skill comes first, as this principle has been enounced so many times before. Exposure to language through listening, not writing, firsthand, has, however, been a principle that was overlooked, in practice, in certain countries and in certain circumstances and periods. It was overlooked because of the excessive use of some teaching practices and strategies that have suffocated exposure to language, (to target language exclusively), listening and speaking, thus, in favor of language study or learning through overly scholastic, conformist and narrow minded, imposed practices. (And I would add that the term “imposed” is an understatement already, since such past practices would moreover go together with “restrictive, constrictive and disabled, mutilated, distorted”, as adjective key words).
Thus, in isolated regimes, ex-communist countries, etc, and within school systems that have perpetrated misunderstood methods or that were ignorant of the fundamentals which lie at the grounds of language acquisition and learning, language teaching and learning were and still are, following the tracks of old rooted mentalities, conceived and perceived, unfortunately, as the submission to a set of principles which included rules learning, the prevailing of writing as an (incipient) practice over language exposure and thinking, reflection, debate, verbalization, free expression, self-expression, communication. Language learning was perceived quantitatively (often, through the amount of words, copied words and language study pages in the pupils` notebooks), and not qualitatively, by means of rooting attitudes and values and by means of providing opportunities for language exposure, listening practice as a main ingredient, and later on, academic language learning and mastery through the acknowledging of such notions as creativity, communicativeness but also literacy, and highly cultivated approach to a great extent (reading, literature, varied practice means, exercises, etc).
Listening to fluent and meaningful language provides, as a receptive skill, an excellent opportunity for language acquisition. If listening is well used, along with all the other skills, reading as another receptive skill, and along with the productive skills, speaking and writing, then, language learning will give its best results, we will not only have good and fluent speakers, but also proficient academic users and accomplished linguists.
One important feature that comes along with respect to the use of listening in language acquisition and learning is the extensive listening and intensive listening practice, more precisely, we ask what is the difference between the two, how and when is best to use them. Also, the range of topics that we can be listening to can be another element, since we can get exposed, through listening, not only to different types of language, register, specialized vocabulary, etc, but also to varied literature, a multitude of cultural topics and interdisciplinary information that can enrich us infinitely and not only from a linguistic point of view.
Through extensive listening, just like in the case of extensive reading, language level is most likely to improve in the best possible way, because subjects do this kind of listening and reading in a pleasurable way. Thus, we have listening for pleasure, not only reading for pleasure. Students and language learners in general can choose, for instance, to practice and improve their language by selecting a range of pleasurable broadcasts, radio or television, tapes, MP3`s, etc, and get to hear in this way, authentic language as much as possible. They can listen not only to their favorite radio and television broadcasts, but due to the newest technology, they can download from the internet movies, debates, interesting subjects of all types that they can listen to and watch either at home or in a language laboratory or library.
Especially at home, the television has a wide range of topics which can draw our attention. Many people have learnt languages by viewing their most favorite television broadcasts, movies, serials, (especially those that have subtitles) and thus, they have become fluent speakers by getting exposed to authentic language and cultural topics. It is true, television or theatre in general, live performance, etc, provide us with opportunities not only for listening for pleasure, but also with occasions to get into the atmosphere that we watch, thus getting immersed within the energy of the things that we watch and listen to.
Drama, movies, make up a whole world, a complex one, and we can get enriched through more than one sense. The use of drama in language learning has already got its well established importance, and exploring drama with all its techniques, implications, not only from a methodological and hence, strategy-based point of view, but also from the varied perspective of psychological, social, literary, cultural approaches, drives our learners towards becoming aware of the world around them, towards being able to deal with and make us of reactions as an important tool in their maturity process as humans, language learners and communicators. Drama makes us whole, complete, it makes us, just like history, draw our energy, experience and knowledgeability from the multitude and wealth of its situations, experiences, circumstances.
Drama does not only represent a tool for language acquisition and learning, but it transposes reality, it makes us mix linguistics and language experience with a higher form of art, that can shift closer or farther away from the linguistic experience, making us transcend reality, become sensitive and kinaesthetic.
In this respect, live performance, on the stage, (real stage or improvised), makes us aware, as teachers, as pedagogues, who instruct and help stage the performances, about our students` characters and learner types. This awareness is achieved through the observation that is supposed to take place, of the learning types of our students, of the characters and vibrations, reactions of our audience. At the same time, our students can learn how to be natural in the best way, how to abandon themselves to the sacred world of drama, how to control their state and feelings and how to best render them. They learn how to control their negative emotions and how to suppress this negativity, thus, learning how to deal, from an emotional and intellectual point of view, from the affect-side of their language learning experience, with the linguistic flow and with the structures of the verbal messages that are being heard and transmitted as well.
Language learning can be favored through music, and learning language through music has been an interesting topic within the range of teaching methodologies. Given the well-known varied typology of learners, with different dominant intelligence (linguistic auditory, spatial, logical-mathematical, musical, kinaesthetic), our ability for learning languages, for acquisition to be more correct, is greatly increased if we are provided with the necessary conditions in order to project our other skills and passions towards the process of language learning.
Listening a language skill, when understood and practiced well, means that through exposure to language, we get the maximum and ideal target language amount. We can listen to a variety of sources, like mentioned before. For instance, when being exposed to media broadcasts, we infuse ourselves, consciously and less consciously, with varied and rich language. It may be that we listen carefully to the message that is being transmitted, to the flow of language, or we might be involved in other activity, or we might have our attention distracted and drawn towards other things, not particularly focusing upon the transmitted message, but our brain will nevertheless capture the flow of language, more or less consciously. When spending time and working in such environment, having the target language in the background, we actually increase our language awareness abilities. We discover that, instantly or slowly, words and messages do not seem dry to us anymore, and that fresh language and vocabulary start “pouring” onto us, and we get immersed into a new universe whose pulsation and energy can be felt and differentiated from the mother tongue; yet, in this miraculous process, little by little, as the process goes on, we get totally absorbed into the flow of language and forget about mother tongue, the intensity with which we are “propelled” towards the driving engine of the foreign tongue, target language tongue, depending upon the individual talent, level, interest, previous schemata (cultural and linguistic). As for myself, and I am sure this is applicable to any person who is passionate enough about one language and fluent enough also, I am simply drawn deeper and deeper, into the language flow. I can say we are, thus, as language acquirers, when we listen to the target language or when we get exposed to it, “becoming one” with the target language flow, we are “fusing” with the language flow. It is not only mentally, it is like a spirit and energy driven “flow”, much more complex than just some simple neuronal and logical links, associations of words, and more or less mathematical enumeration of notions and elements. For anyone who would look at language as just some “lexical chunks” enumeration and chaining and mathematical like syntax, unfortunately, language is much more than that. Language is the experience of getting immersed into the miraculous “flow” and thus, of becoming aware of the existence of affect as an important element in language acquisition and development. These facts prove to us, that however skeptical, pragmatic, uninterested in exploring the miracle of language and dry in explanations, should we be, language is a gift of the Holy Spirit, since symbolic facts such as the linguistic immersion or fusion, by native speakers of other languages, into the target language(s), as well as the empathy of the non native language acquirer with the target language until his/her identification and fusion with it remain just as miraculous and rich in connotations as the Biblical pouring of the Spirit.
Intensive listening, on the other hand, is meant to improve listening skills, and often, it can comprise topics and selected materials that do not particularly represent the students` choices and preferences in the first place. Teachers can, of course, adopt as a strategy, within their teaching program, to jointly negotiate with students what they would most like to hear, what are the topics they prefer, in order to include also, except for the listening materials they already have, things that they know that their students will enjoy. Language materials and tests for language certificates, (like the IELTS, for instance), can provide for us a wide variety of listening tests, multiple choice exercises, checking our listening comprehension level.
Practicing all language skills judiciously, not only listening, is meant to turn us into fluent communicators, but also into academic language users. Listening and speaking, as enforced skills, can certainly ensure that we understand well and that we are efficient/fluent communicators, but reading provides us with excellent opportunities for deeper mastery of the linguistic structures and equips us with academic language input. Writing is the seen “product” issued by us, and not only standard and specialized target language can prove that we are passionate and competent language users, but also creative writing or free writing, that comes from different corners of our imagination, can shape us and reconfigure us from a linguistic and artistic point of view, opening up more than just one universe.
References
Krashen, Stephen, D. Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. Prentice-Hall International, 1988
Krashen, S (1985). The Input Hypothesis: issues and implications. Longman, New York
Harmer, Jeremy, The Practice of English Language Teaching, Pearson Longman, fourth edition
Please check the Teaching English with Drama course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Pronunciation course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Literature course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Methodology and Language for Secondary Teachers course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Teaching Advanced Students course at Pilgrims website.
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