Listening teaching

Listening: Problems and Solutions
In teaching listening comprehension we must be careful not to go to extremes, either by being concerned too exclusively with theories without thinking about their application to teaching, or by obstinately following frozen routines-opening the textbook and explaining new words, playing the tape recorder, and asking/answering questions. It is essential for a teacher to have an overall understanding of what listening is, why it is difficult for foreign-language learners, and what some solutions may be. The vital question is how to bridge the gap between an analysis of listening and actual classroom teaching.
What is 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 (Howatt and Dakin 1974). An able listener is capable of doing these four things simultaneously. Willis (1981:134) lists a series of micro-skills of listening, which she calls enabling skills. They are:
• predicting what people are going to talk about
• guessing at unknown words or phrases without panicking
• using one’s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand
• identifying relevant points; rejecting irrelevant information
• retaining relevant points (note-taking, summarizing)
• recognizing discourse markers, e.g., Well; Oh, another thing is; Now, finally; etc.
• recognizing cohesive devices, e.g., such as and which, including link words, pronouns, references, etc.
• understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress, etc., which give clues to meaning and social setting
• understanding inferred information, e.g., speakers’ attitude or intentions
What are some listening problems?
The evidence that shows why listening is difficult comes mainly from four sources: the message to be listened to, the speaker, the listener, and the physical setting.
The Message
Content. Many learners