Week 8: Listening

This Thursday's readings dealt with the topic of the importance of listening in L2 learning.  Several writers in Section 10 of the Anthology present their views on how listening should be incorporated into L2 instruction.  

The three articles (by David Nunan, John Field, and Wendy Y.K. Lam, respectively) demonstrate different facets of listening learning in L2 instruction.  Nunan's views focus on more of a need for using listening as a means to build proficiency after other more schematic strategies have been implemented, listening should be done for specific purposes, and must be individualized according to each specific learner.  Field's article poses a design for using listening with three distinct sections--pre-listening, listening, and post-listening. Pre-listening consists of vocabulary, grammar, cultural topics, etc.  Listening consists of intensive/extensive distinction, questions about what is being listened to, tasks to do while listening, etc.  Post-listening is comprised of meaning making for words that are being taught.  He also focuses on some of the problems that need to be remedied with listening--such as teaching it rather than testing it.  Finally, Lam's article draws attention to the importance of using other materials (spoken and written) in teaching listening.

In thinking of the articles, I like most of Nunan's ideas, but I think that perhaps it may be a bit difficult if dealing with a large number of students to personalize listening instruction.   Field has some valuable points to consider in his essay, and I like how he describes how to go about teaching listening skills.  I agree with him that oftentimes students are tested rather than taught how to listen to their target language.  Lam's article I thought, sort of had similar ideas to that of Nunan and Field, but made them more concise and better to understand.