Problem in Teaching Listening

MERY ARIANSYAH

Fourth Semester of English Departement

1235511179

Summary of The Third Meeting on April 3, 2014

Problem in Teaching 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. According to Yagang, the problems in listening were accompanied with the four following factors: the message, the speaker, the listener and the physical setting.

1.      The Message

Content. The listening material may deal with almost any area of life. It might include street gossip, proverbs, new products, and situations unfamiliar to the student. Also, in a spontaneous conversation speakers frequently change topics. The content is usually not well organized. Linguistic Features. Liaison (the linking of words in speech when the second word begins with a vowel, e.g., an orange /@nOrIndZ/) and elision (leaving out a sound or sounds, e.g., suppose may be pronounced /sp@uz/ in rapid speech) are common phenomena that make it difficult for students to distinguish or recognize individual words in the stream of speech.

2.      The Speaker

Usually in listening activities the students find some hard things to understand that use other accents (when use a native speakers). It may make it more difficult for beginners to understand what the speaker is saying; on the other hand, it may give advanced students more time to “tune in” to the speaker’s voice and speech style.

3.      The Listener

The first problem students have is they cannot predicting what the speaker is going to say correctly. The second problem is the limitation of vocabulary power. The third problem is recognizing the main points in listening comprehension.

4.      Physical Setting

The students are distracted by the noise. No matter how hard they try to focus on the task. This interrupts the students from hearing and focusing on the task. The problem also comes from the poor quality of the tapes or disks.

Not all the problems described above can be overcome. But this does not mean that the teacher can do nothing about them. Here are a few helpful ideas:

The Message:

o   Grade listening materials according to the students’ level.

o   Design task-oriented exercises to engage the students’ interest and help them learn listening skills subconsciously.

o   Provide students with different kinds of input, such as lectures, radio, news, etc.

The Speaker:

o   Give practice in liaisons and elisions in order to help students get used to the acoustic forms of rapid natural speech.

o   Make students aware of different native-speaker accents.

The Listener:

o   Provide background knowledge and linguistic knowledge, such as complex sentence structures and colloquial words and expressions, as needed.

o   Give, and try to get, as much feedback as possible.

There are some keys to be better listener in listening activity. They are:

Understand what makes us hard to understand

The great number of vowels and diphtongs in English. Some of them are similar to each other . e.g           Boat    –             Bought

Improve Pronunciation

o   Decide what kind of accent you would like to speak with

o   Learn the IPA and the individual sounds of English

o   When you learn a new word, learn how to pronounce it correctly

Learn primarily with your ears not your eyes

o   Listening to the radio / video as much as possible.

Modern methods of teaching listening skills :

o          Interpersonal Activities

One effective and nonthreatening way for students to develop stronger listening skills is through interpersonal activities, such as mock interviews and storytelling.

o          Group Activities

Larger group activities also serve as a helpful method for teaching listening skills to students.

o          Audio Segments

You can also teach listening skills through audio segments of radio programs, online podcasts, instructional lectures and other audio messages.

o          Video Segments

Another helpful resource for teaching listening skills are video segments, including short sketches, news programs, documentary films, interview segments, and dramatic and comedic material.

o          Instructional Tips

One, keep your expectations simple, as even the most experienced listener would be unable to completely and accurately recall the entirety of a message. Two, keep your directions accessible and build in opportunities for students not only to ask clarifying questions, but also to make mistakes. Three, help students navigate their communication anxiety by developing activities appropriate to their skill and confidence level, and then strengthen their confidence by celebrating the ways in which they do improve, no matter how small.