Editorial
This paper, "Designing a Listening Activity: From the Known to the Unknown," was first presented and published at “The International Conference on Empowering the English Language Learner – Materials, Methods and Testing,” organized by The Department of English, Anna University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, from 23 Mar to 25 March 2017, pp 71-77

Designing a Listening Activity: From the Known to the Unknown

Divya John, India

Divya John, PhD, is an Asst. Prof, Dept. of English at SSN College of Engineering, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. She has published articles in Modern English Teacher, TESOL-SPAIN Newsletter, Voices, the IATEFL Newsletter, The IATEFL ESP SIG Journal, MEXTESOL Journal, ARTESOL ESP Journal, Teaching English with Technology, The Journal of English Language Teaching [India], The English Classroom, and Fortell. E-mail: johndivya@yahoo.com

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Abstract
Introduction
Literature review
The activity
Discussion
Guidelines for a listening activity
Conclusion
References

Abstract

Teachers are uneasy about taking a video material to the class for they fear whether it would get across to the students. This study, conducted in a regional-medium class of 24 students, during 6 periods, recounts a well-accepted activity based on an Indian-English Movie, Bride and Prejudice. The paper enumerates the pre-listening, listening and post-listening activities and stipulates the guidelines for designing an activity. The teacher-researcher puts forth a ‘Conscious input-output theory’ as a prerequisite for language acquisition, a theory whereby students receive the necessary input by listening and involving themselves in speaking activities to emerge with a functional output.

Introduction

Teachers often rack their brains to decide what they should choose as listening material for an English class of regional-medium students. This study deals with one such class wherein the students were introduced to an activity based on the Indian English movie. The study is conducted at SSN College of Engineering for a batch of 24 regional-medium students. At SSN College, from 2008-2009 onwards, the government-school toppers who are of low economic background, are admitted yearly and given a bridge course of 20 days just before the regular classes begin. In 2015-2016, this teacher-researcher designed six activities based on Bride and Prejudice. The students responded wholeheartedly to the movie screened, and subsequently took part in the activities enthusiastically which indicated that they understood the content and could convey their message in English at the functional level. It needs to be noted here that these regional-medium toppers on admission are gifted with a laptop each by the management; they are also given free hostel accommodation and have access to Wi-fi connection.

Literature review

Using video materials in language teaching to enhance LSRW skills is a method, decades old. Listening to movies provides the input that the language learner needs, and it plays a major role in learning a language, for words can be learned in particular contexts. The input is significant for it is not textbook English but the spoken form that the learner requires. Students’ interest in movies can be further capitalized to develop interest in the English language. Stephen Krashen focuses on the need for a “comprehensible input” for second language acquisition. For a long time, language learning was focussed on acquiring the structures and forms first, and then the meaning. The “input hypothesis” says the opposite, that is, the meaning is first and then the form is acquired (Krashen 1982 pp 21). Moreover, the input hypothesis relates to the acquisition of language naturally, and not by learning. Ellis (2005) improves upon the thought saying that the teacher should create an atmosphere for students to receive the input outside the classroom – as an extensive input. Theorists have stressed the importance of output too in language learning. Long emphasizes the interactional hypothesis, which means that proficiency in a language is developed by face to face interaction and communication along with a comprehensible input (Long 1982). Loschky (1994) confirms that both input and interaction are indispensable for learner comprehension. That is, the input is not enough; output also is needed.

As a natural conclusion, this teacher-researcher puts forth a ‘Conscious input-output theory’ as a prerequisite for language acquisition, a theory that includes listening and reading simultaneously. The activity designed for the regional-medium students is in keeping with the teacher-researcher’s theory whereby students receive the necessary input to emerge with a functional output. For the input, the students were shown the Indian-English movie, Bride and Prejudice, and for the output, speaking activities were planned. It was not possible to start the activities with speaking tasks for they needed a prior input for language immersion. The CD of the movie was given to the students so that they could watch it if they wanted to. The students were encouraged to view the movie several times at leisure until they could find out its substance. This movie was chosen because the students were already familiar with Bollywood films packed with interesting episodes, songs and humour, and acquainted with the films of Aishwarya Rai of “Enthiran” fame. It was like starting with the known and then moving on to the unknown.

There are teachers who ask the question: Aren’t the students wasting their time while watching movies in the name of language learning? Richards agrees that it gives an exposure to the language and argues that it is all about ‘balance’ but suggests TV serials because they are of shorter duration than movies. However, this teacher-researcher feels that movies impart sufficient language input to equip them to develop a working knowledge of the target language. Properly selected movies can sustain the interest of students and provide them with two hours of language immersion, which would enable them to become life-long learners.

The activity

1. Pre-listening Activities

The teacher-researcher explained to the students how language is fostered through the LSRW skills, and the advantage of approaching a language in that order. The importance of listening was emphasized, and the need to listen to English songs, movies, TV serials, news channels, lectures and language learning websites that would increase their input and consequently the output of their language production. Gradually, the film Pride and Prejudice was introduced as an adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel with the same name. The story and the names of the characters of Pride and Prejudice were introduced:

• Mr & Mrs Bennet
• Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Catherine & Lydia
• Mr Bingley & his sister
• Mr Darcy and his sister
• Mr Collins
• Mr Wickham

Then the teacher gave a brief outline of the film Pride and Prejudice and showed the students six shots from the film, Bride and Prejudice, and asked them to guess their counterparts in Pride and Prejudice. The task was made enjoyable with prompts like “What does the picture say?” “What is the scene about?” “Why are they so happy?” etc.

2. The Listening Activity: The Movie

1. The movie was screened with the subtitles in English.
2. During the screening, the movie was paused for some time and the handouts of the three songs were given so that they could follow the written word:
   • “A marriage has come to town”
   • “No life without wife”
   • “Take me to love.”
3. After screening the film, a handout of the plot of the movie was given to the students.
4. As already mentioned, the CD of the movie was also given as an extensive listening activity.

3. Post-listening Activities

The post-listening activities took place during three periods, the next day. The first four activities are adapted from the teacher-researcher’s article, “Training the Dragon,” published in IATEFL’s Voices. The students were divided into 6 groups of 4 each. After the discussion, one student from each group was expected to speak on the following aspects:

1. The Plot Narrate the story in your own words.
2. Characterization Describe the physical features, the personality type, the behaviour, and the kind of interaction between any one of the following pairs: (Each group chooses a pair)
   • Mr & Mrs Bakshi
   • Jaya & Lalita
   • Maya & Lakhi
   • Will Darcy & Johnny Wickham
   • Mr Balraj & Kiran
   • Mr Kholi & Chandra
3. Themes Recollect an incident that hints at any one of the themes: (Each group chooses a theme)
   • Pride & prejudice
   • Love & marriage
   • Misunderstandings
   • Wealth & status
   • The significance of women
   • Cultural intolerance & tolerance
4. The Preferred Scene Comment on your favourite scene.
5. Songs Which song do you like best? Why?
6. Follow-up Activity

Watch the film, Pride and Prejudice and compare and contrast its story and characters with Bride and Prejudice.

Discussion

Prior to the screening of the film

As already mentioned, before screening Bride and Prejudice, the story of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was narrated to the students. Then, as a test dose, they were shown 6 photographs of Bride and Prejudice and asked to identify the characters. It was surprising to note that they could identify them without much difficulty.

During the screening of the film

While the movie was played, the students responded enthusiastically. During the comic scenes, especially whenever Mr Kohli entered, they laughed to their hearts’ content. Another point noted was about the handouts of the three songs given to them in two pages. They were closely tracking the words of the song, and when they reached the end of the first page, all of them turned over the leaf indicating that they were following the words correctly.

After the screening of the film

It needs to be noted here, that a few years back, this teacher-researcher did a similar activity based on Walt Disney’s Snow White. After screening the movie, the teacher distributed a printout of the story from Wikipedia, and the students were expected to narrate the plot, the next day. As they struggled to grasp the sentences in it, they narrated the story as per what they had seen on the screen. This year, the teacher-researcher prepared the story in simplified English and gave it to the students in advance to help them out. The next day, they studied the script by heart and narrated it exactly as given in the handout. Thus, the thoughtful attempt of the teacher-researcher proved futile.

The students participated actively in the other post-activities though with the smattering vocabulary they already had and what they picked up from the film. The activity on “characterization” mirrored their typical innocent observations. The activity on “themes” seemed a little difficult, yet they tried to figure out something with the help of the group mates. They were no doubt articulate when they voiced their opinion on the favourite scene. They responded enthusiastically to the “song activity” but the teacher-researcher did not encourage them to sing for fear they would get stuck with the Indian-English phrases. These regional-medium students were too naïve for it. Finally, when asked if they would like to view the English film Pride and Prejudice as a follow-up activity in the next class, they agreed, but the teacher-researcher did not dare to screen it for obvious reasons. So, the last activity had to be skipped.

Guidelines for a listening activity

In order to design a listening activity, a teacher should be aware of the students’ language efficiency, intellectual standard, capacity to respond emotionally, and their cultural nuances. In accordance with the teacher-researcher’s ‘Conscious input-output theory’ a few guidelines for designing an activity are given below: (1) Prepare the students by giving them the background of the movie to be viewed (2) Choose a movie that is related to their experience to help them start from the known and move on to the unknown. (3) Encourage them to listen to the movie outside the class, as part of extensive listening. (4) Conduct post-listening speaking activities so that they can use the words and the sentences learned during the listening sessions (5) Motivate equal participation in the speaking sessions.

Conclusion

Teachers are anxious about choosing a listening material for the class as they are not sure whether the students would accept it adequately. This study discusses such an activity conducted during 3 periods each on two days for a class of 24 regional-medium students, the toppers at the rural government schools. This activity is in accordance with the teacher-researcher’s ‘Conscious input-output theory’ whereby students receive the required input to develop a reasonably practical output. As for the input, the students were shown the Indian-English movie, Bride and Prejudice, and for the output, speaking activities were planned based on the movie. The students were requested to watch the movie many times until they could understand it, as part of extensive listening. The paper gives the details of the pre-listening, listening and post-listening activities and suggests the guidelines for designing a video activity for students. The students responded to the movie and the activities heartily and took part in them, an indication that they enjoyed its content and attained the language at the functional level.

References

Ellis, R. (2005). “Principles of Instructed Language Learning.” Asian EFL Journal, Volume 7, Issue3. Retrieved from

John Divya, “Training the Dragon,” Voices, IATEFL 50th Anniversary Issue 1, May-June 2016 Issue 250, pp 3.

Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon.

Long, M. (1996). The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In

W. Ritchie & T. Bhatia (Eds), Handbook of second language acquisition. San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 413-468.

Loschky, Lester. (1994). Comprehensible Input and Second Language Acquisition, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 16, pp. 303–323.

Richards, O. “Are you wasting your time watching foreign language Movies?” I will teach you a language.

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