Using listening classroom activities in primary schools

As known, by developing learners’ ability to listen, we develop our pupils’ ability to become more independent learners, as by hearing accurately they are much more likely to be able to reproduce accurately, refine their understanding of grammar and develop their own vocabulary even in primary schools.

In fact, I believe in that if you fail to plan you plan to fail. However, planning any lesson in such a way is, with no doubt, going not only to motivate pupils, but to engage them as well. All what pupils need is something new and funny. When we teach then through songs, games, storytelling, etc. They really like it because it is something that attracts them on learning English.

According to some researchers’ works, we have analyzed some new ideas for practicing listening comprehension in EFL classes on learning process in primary schools. In order to have good skills in listening comprehension in English, a learner should practice listening to audio and video aids in English, as short dialogues, thematic interesting texts and sometimes narrative stories as fairy tales. It is preferable to have English transcripts of audio and video material. I have suggested that learners practice listening comprehension with subsequent speaking on a variety of topics and with materials for all levels on a regular long-term basis in the following sequence:

1. Listen to each sentence several times.

2. Make sure you understand everything clearly in each sentence in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary.

3. Without looking into the transcript, try to repeat each sentence, as say it aloud, exactly as you have heard it.

4. Listen to that particular conversation or text or story in short paragraphs or chunks, say each paragraph aloud, and compare to the transcript.

5. Listen to the whole conversation or story without interruption several times. [1]

When practicing listening comprehension in English, it is expedient to record one’s speech on audio to compare it with the original audio or video recording containing listening material. As for me, I believed that for practicing listening comprehension in English it is a good idea to include various practical topics for potential needs of learners with comprehensive vocabulary on each topic. Thematic short dialogues, funny questions and answers on conversation topics, fixed phrases and idioms can be used in practicing listening comprehension in English. It is effective to practice English listening comprehension and also speaking using transcripts, books, audio and video aids even on one’s own as I described above to provide additional solid practice and to accelerate mastering of English.

As long as the teacher becomes familiar with the relevant teaching activities, she or he can use one activity a day. According to my experiences, I hope that EFL teachers will have a better map of how to teach listening in class and demonstrating these activities and EFL pupils can become more effective listeners in their future.

To conclude I can say that one of the most important pedagogical implications is that the use of listening activities holds great potential in EFL learning context, but it should be conducted carefully by English teachers and in consultation with experts.

Used literature:

1. Brown G. Dimensions of difficulty in listening comprehension. New York: 1995.
2. Brown H.D. Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy, second edition. New York: Longman. 2001.
3. Goh C. C. A cognitive perspective on language learners’ listening comprehension problems. System, 2000.
4. Nunan D. Listening in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1997.
5. Purdy Michael and Deborah Borisoff, eds. Listening in Everyday Life: A Personal and Professional Approach. University Press of America. 1997.