Some suggestions to improve listening sub skills for the third year students at faculty of english, HOU

Some suggestions to improve listening sub-skills for the third-year students at Faculty of English,HOU

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

CODE: 29

FACULTY OF ENGLISH

GRADUATION PAPER
B.A DEGREE IN ENGLISH

Some suggestions to improve listening sub-skills for
the third-year students at Faculty of English,HOU

Supervisor

: Nguyễn Thanh Bình M.A

Student

: Nguyễn Mạnh Trung

Date of birth : 17-01-1993
Class

: K18A1 (2011-1015)

Ha Noi – 2015
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Some suggestions to improve listening sub-skills for the third-year students at Faculty of English,HOU

DECLARATION
Title: Some suggestions to improve listening sub-skills for the third-

year students at faculty of English,HOU
(Graduation Paper submitted in Partial Fulfillment for B.A Degree in
English)
I certify that no part of the above report has been copied or reproduced by me
from any other person’s work without acknowledgement and that the report is
originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor.
Hanoi, May 4th , 2015

Student
Signature

Nguyễn Mạnh Trung

Supervisor
Signature

Nguyễn Thanh Bình, M.A

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Some suggestions to improve listening sub-skills for the third-year students at Faculty of English,HOU

ACKNOWLEDEGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my profound gratitude and indebtedness
to my supervisor- Mrs Nguyễn Thanh Bình, M.A, the lecture of English faculty,
Hanoi Open University for her careful instructions, valuable advice, and supervision
during the course of writing.
I also would to express my special thanks to all teachers of Faculty of
English, who have provided my with not only knowledge but also the study
condition during my student life, as well as their useful advice in this graduation
paper.
I would also like to extend my thanks to 100 students of third-year students
of Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University for their aid in implementing survey.
I would like to acknowledge my thanks to all the authors of the books and
materials listed in the reference part for their ideas that have been reflected and
developed in the study.
Finally yet importantly, I am indebted to my family and friends who have
encouraged and supported me so much in the completion of this paper. If there had
not been great help from the above people, the study could not been fulfilled.

Hanoi, May 4th 2015
Nguyen Manh Trung

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Some suggestions to improve listening sub-skills for the third-year students at Faculty of English,HOU

ABBREVIATION
Etc : Et cetera

HOU: Hanoi Open University
ESL: English as the Second Language
VOA: Voice of America
BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation

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Some suggestions to improve listening sub-skills for the third-year students at Faculty of English,HOU

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART A: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ 1
1.Rationale .............................................................................................................. 1
2.Aims and objectives of the study .......................................................................... 1
3. Research questions……………………………………………………..........……2
4.Scope of the study ................................................................................................ 2
5.Methods of the study ............................................................................................ 2
6.Design of the study ............................................................................................... 2
PART B: DEVELOPMENT ................................................................................. 4
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................. 4
1.The definitions of listening............................................................................. 4
2.The importance of listening ............................................................................ 6
3.What makes listening difficult........................................................................ 9
4.The listening skills ....................................................................................... 11
4.1.The definitions of listening sub-skills..................................................... 11
4.2.The classification of listening sub-skills ................................................. 12
4.2.1.Listening for stresses ....................................................................... 12
4.2.2.Skimming ........................................................................................ 13
4.2.3.Scanning .......................................................................................... 14

4.2.4.Listening and note-taking ................................................................ 14
4.2.5.Guessing meaning of words or context ............................................ 15
4.2.6.Listening for total comprehension .................................................... 15
4.2.7.

Predicting .................................................................................... 16

4.2.8.

Inferencing .................................................................................. 16

4.2.9.

Critical listening .......................................................................... 17

5.Summary..................................................................................................... 18

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Some suggestions to improve listening sub-skills for the third-year students at Faculty of English,HOU

CHAPTER II: FINDINGS,INTERPRETATIONS AND ANALYSES…….....20
1.Subject of the study ...................................................................................... 20
2.Data collection method ................................................................................ 20
3.Data analysis and comments ........................................................................ 20
4.Summary of the chapter ............................................................................... 31
CHAPTER III:SOME SUGESSTIONS TO IMPROVE LISTENING SKILLS
FOR THE THIRD YEAR STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF ENGLISH, H.O.U

.............................................................................................................................. 33
1.Strategies for learning listening .................................................................... 33
1.1.Pre-listening activities ............................................................................ 33
1.2.While-listening activities ....................................................................... 34
1.3.Post-listening activities .......................................................................... 36
2.Applying listening sub-skills ........................................................................ 37
2.1.Improving pronunciation by using sound-crimination, sensing
styles,intonation and stress........................................................................... 37
2.2.Improving Skimming sub-skill............................................................... 40
2.3.Improving Scanning sub-skill ................................................................ 41
2.4.Improving Note-taking sub-skill ............................................................ 43
2.5.Improving Listening Total Comprehension sub-skill.............................. 46
2.6.Improving Predicting sub-skill ............................................................... 48
2.7.Improving Inferences sub-skill............................................................... 50
2.8.Improving Critical listening sub-skill ..................................................... 51
3.Summary ..................................................................................................... 53
PART C: CONCLUSION ................................................................................... 54
REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 55
APPENDIX .......................................................................................................... 57

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Some suggestions to improve listening sub-skills for the third-year students at Faculty of English,HOU

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Over the years, English has become that sort of language – an international
language in communication. In some countries it is used as the mother tongue while

in other countries, people learn it as second language in schools. Nowadays, more
and more people using English are increasing all over the world.
As we know, learning English has used four basic language skills. There are
follows: speaking, reading, writing, and especially listening. It is the fact that no one
can deny the role of listening. Listening is not only hearing but also understanding
what is being said. Learners must receive and decode the information from what
they hear and then, react to it. Listening also paves the way for conversation to set
the foundation for human beings’ communication.
Teaching listening skills is one of the most difficult tasks for any ESL teacher.
In general, listening is a complicated process for learners. It demands many subskills along with and so hard to have specific methods for each particular learner. So
that is the reason why not few Vietnamese students of English, in general, an one at
Faculty of English and Modern Languages , HOU in particular consider listening
skills as their top challenges when they fail to understand what are being said in
English in such an high pace. In addition, they do not know how to lift up their
skills and use it effectively.
As a student of English who have been trained nearly 4 years in Faculty of
English, HOU, I would like to present the next generations my experience of
learning English listening sub-skills and help them improve it. Therefore, I decided
to choose the topic “How to improve listening sub-skills for third-year students at
Hanoi Open University” as the subject for my graduation paper.

2. Aims and objectives of the study
This study aims at finding exactly meaning, finding problems and
understanding all of situations related to teaching and learning listening sub-skills of

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Some suggestions to improve listening sub-skills for the third-year students at Faculty of English,HOU

third year students at HOU as well as recommending some suggestions and some
applications could be used inside and outside classroom to improve their listening
skills and extend their abilities to listen effectively in a variety of situations for
different purposes.
As mentioned above, the study aims to recommend some suggestions for the
3rd year students at Hanoi Open University, Faculty of English to improve their
listening sub-skills, so it is a must to identify current situation and problems of
students while listening.

3. Research questions
The survey has been carried based on 2 questions:
- What difficulties do the third year students face in listening skills?
- What are some suggestions for students to improve their listening skills?

4. Scope of the study
Through the graduation paper, the study only focuses on issues involved in
third year students at Faculty of English, HOU. They have been taught English
listening sub-skills for a considerable time and must have had knowledge some of
typical sub-skills to some extent.

5. Methods of the study
The main method used in this paper is studying books related. In addition, the
paper also refers to experienced teachers’ points of view and comments on the vital
role of improving listening skills for foreign language students. Furthermore, it is
useful for the paper to use the survey questionnaire in order to collect specific or
data for the study. Finally, the paper will mention some suggestions some games
concerning the improvement of listening sub-skills for students.

6. Design of the study

The graduation paper is divided into three parts (and three chapters).

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Part A: Introduction (Background of the research)
This part includes rational, aims, research questions, scope, methods and design
of the study

Part B: Development
This part contains three main parts:

Chapter 1 :Literature review / Theoretical background
Chapter 2 :Findings, interpretations and analyses
Chapter 3 :Some suggestions to improve listening skills for the third- year
students at Faculty of English,HOU(Application; Contributions and
Solutions)

Part C: Conclusion
This final part is to summarize or restate main points of the graduation paper.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
“Listening looks easy, but it’s not simple. Every head is a world.”
Cuban proverb
The importance of listening in communication is enormous. When you are not
listening, you are not learning. When you are not listening, you are preventing
opportunity. The fact that you do not listen reveals the reality that your mind is
closed. When you are not listening, you are preventing intelligence. When you are
not listening there is nothing new, there are only your reactions. If you wish to live
life to its fullest, then listening is vital.
Listening is the most used language skill in daily communication and
educational process. It is really a meaning gift, to listen to someone, and plays a
vital role in our society.
For almost learners of foreign languages, listening skill is considered the most
difficult one. It brings many problems through our student life. In order to solve the
problems, this study would provide an overview of listening issues to help students
be aware of the listening sub-skills more clearly.
1.The definitions of listening
People can easily find many definitions of listening skills on Internet or books.
Although there are many definitions of listening in different ways, they have the
same point of view about listening. In general, listening is an invisible mental
process, making it difficult to describe. Listening is the process of making sense out
of what we hear. Listening is an active process of receiving, processing, and
interpreting aural stimuli. Besides, listening involves taking in meaningful sounds
and noises and in some ways, retaining and using them. Just as we speak for
different purposes, we also listen for different purposes. We listen for enjoyment,
information, and evaluation.
Listening is a skill in a sense that it is a related but distinct process than

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hearing which involves merely perceiving sound in a passive way while listening
occupies an active and immediate analysis of the streams of sounds.
Communicating well isn’t just about talking, but listening –really trying to hear
what the other person is saying. Communication is a continuous process of taking
time to hear each other.
According to the website (www.ccsf.edu) ,“Listening is the absorption of the
meanings of words and sentences by the brain. Listening leads to the understanding
of facts and ideas, but listening takes attention or sticking to the task at hand in
spite of distraction. It requires concentration, which is the focusing of your thoughts
upon one particular problem.” How well you listen has a major impact on your job
effectiveness, and on the quality of your relationships with others.
Furthermore, it is said that:
“Listening is a part of the transactional process of communication. The
receiver's responses have a direct impact on the direction of the conversation. The
key is to become active listeners rather than passive ones. Active listening involves
providing feedback that clarifies and extends a speaker's message. Effective
listening relies as much on attitudes as well as knowledge and skill. Listening is a
habit that requires knowledge, skills and desires. Knowledge plays a role similar to
that of methods and theories by describing what to do and why to do it. Skills
represent how to do it” ()
From the point of view of Lesley Baker, listening skills are essential in the
workplace, the family and the community at large. Careers in communications,
management, planning, sales, and fund raising, to name a few, rely on good
listening skills. Listening, however, is more than just being able to hear and
understand what someone else says. Listening skills involve etiquette, asking for

clarification, showing empathy and providing an appropriateresponse.
In addition to the above concepts, Peter Senge (2002) added: “To listen fully
means to pay close attention to what is being said beneath the words. You listen not
only to the “music”, but to the essence of the person speaking. You listening not

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only for what someone knows, but you what he or she is, Ears operate at the speed
of sound, which is far slower than the speed of light the eyes take in. Generative
listening is the art of developing deeper silences in yourself, so you can slow our
mind’s hearing to your ears’ natural speed, and hear beneath the words to the
meaning.” So listening means you’re paying attention to what you are hearing.
Listening means you paid attention and understood what was said, even being
motivated by what you hear.
Furthermore, it is said that :
“Listening is about letting you talk, really talk. It is about providing you with the
opportunity to understand your thoughts and feelings and to come up with your own
solutions. Taking, and being listened to, can itself be helpful. Listening is simpler
than counseling, and is therefore undertaken by trained lay people; this simplicity
belies the remarkable effectiveness of good listening”. (www.linc-listen.org.uk)
Listening is the first language mode that learners acquire. It provides a
foundation for all aspects of language and cognitive development, and it plays a
life-long role in the processes of learning and communication essential to
productive participation in life.
2.The importance of listening
In this paper, the importance of listening is considered in two aspects:

communication, in general, and studying language in particular (English). In term of
communication, listening plays an important role.
According to Staiano(2006),the importance of listening in communication is
enormous. People often focus on their speaking ability believing that good speaking
equals good communication. The ability to speak well is a necessary component to
successful communication. The ability to listen is equally as important.The
importance of listening in communication is often well illustrated when we analyze
our listening skills with those closest to us. This is actually quite common and yet
we think we are good communicators. In order to communicate effectively we have

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to be able to hear what the other person is saying. Not just hear because the
acoustics are good or because the other person is speaking in a loud enough tone. It
is important that we hear what the person is saying because we have taken the time
to actively listen.Listening takes work and when it comes to improving our
communication, there is no getting around that. When we are listening to music or
watching T.V. we can certainly let our minds wander. If we want our
communication skills to get stronger it is important that we not day dream in a
conversation but instead concentrate fully on what the other person is saying.No
doubt this can be difficult. Not every conversation we are in is particularly
interesting. The importance of listening in communication is something worthwhile
to consider. Good listeners are often some of the best speakers because they have
taken the time to find out what people are truly interested in. If you understand what
is important to people than you understand how to teach them.
As for Paul. T. Rankin, nearly half of an adult’s communication time was

listening. A study by Wilt (1950), which found that people listen 45 percent of the
time they spend communicating, is still widely cited ( e.g., Martin, 1987;Strother,
1987). Wilt found that 30 percent of communication time was spent speaking, 16
percent reading, and 9 percent writing. That finding confirmed what Rankin had
found in 1928. In the past, however, there was misconception that listening did not
make any contribution in communication.
To “communicate” defined by English Cambridge Dictionary is “to share
information with others by speaking, writing, moving your body or using signals”.
Obviously, listening does not direct attend sharing information in
communication activities, so that is the reason why people often ignore this little
skill. Many claimed we were born with listening and there was no need to “learn
how to listen”. Very often they did not realize the secret role of listening, which
helps people understand one another, but viewed it superficially.
As mentioned above, listening is not just” hearing what is being said” but
understand or interpret what is being said”. In other word, listening, a receptive skill

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makes great contribution into conveying the information. A fail in listening will
lead to a fail in understanding the message in the speech. Moreover, this will result
in interruption of communication or the end of communication.
In term of studying a language, listening.
Four skills exist in completely learning a language: speaking, reading, writing
and listening. Listening requires extensive concentration and practice. Babies listen
for a couple years before they are able to effectively communicate their language.
Listening is one of the most important skills you can possess in developing full

English comprehension. Throughout your learning experience, it`s important to
remember why you are learning English. This will increase your drive to succeed
and improve your listening skills. In term of studying a language, listening makes a
great contribution. Traditionally, Vietnamese education is believed to put much
weigh on theory, so up to now grammar has been taking a key part in teaching and
studying English. Luckily, when the society is changing faster and faster with the
global integration and international cooperation, more importance has been attached
to practical skills like listening and speaking. Yet painfully, listening is often ranked
second after speaking.
“Listening is the Cinderella skill in second language learning. All too often it
has been overlooked by its elder sister: speaking” (Nunan, 1997, p.42)
Paul. T. Rankin also once claimed that: “There are 4 arts in language learning.
The two expressional ones are speaking and writing. The two understanding ones
are listening and reading. Listening or the ability to understand spoken language is
the most frequently used of the 4 language arts.”
As one of the so-called receptive skill, listening can prove to be rather difficult
or even stressful for students of language. A reader may have a chance to read many
times a text to clarify its meaning. In writing, the author also is able to edit his
sentences, words or the organization of the composition. Speakers when making
speech or conversation, they are allowed to have redundancy, hesitation. Listeners,
however, rarely have so many chances to listen again what is said, especially in

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most listening contexts like TV programs, meetings, lectures when repeating only
once is acceptable. To make it worse, listeners often deal with problem right from

speakers who can make mispronunciation, repetitions, which could lead them to
seriously misunderstand. Listeners are likely refineries to extract contents and let
off all irrelevant trifles. In addition, through listening, learners can have not only the
message hiding in the speech but also know ledge and experience.
Do not worried if your listening skill is not good because effective communication
can be taught, practiced and improved.
3.What makes listening difficult
Communication and language acquisition heavily depend on listening skills.
Just think: With poor listening ability, you can't participate or continue a
conversation. You can't follow instructions correctly. Success at work, in a
classroom, and elsewhere would be significantly more difficult to achieve.
Unfortunately, it's easier to ask the question than to answer it. A lot of
research actually comes from native language development, as opposed to second
language acquisition. But we can still apply many of the findings to ESL EFL
learning. For example, spoken language contains colloquialisms and reduced forms
like "donchya" for "don't you" in English. There are steps that a listener goes
through too, such as receiving the information, breaking it down, and identifying its
purpose. The listener's interest in the topic, the content, and any visual support (or
lack of it) similarly affects listening. These points are universally true for any
spoken language.The first reason stems from the fact that the pace, choice of
vocabulary, phrases, and grammar, and the inflection or intonation is completely
determined by the speaker. The listener has only one chance to catch the meaning of
a word or phrase. This is quite similar to reading, as the writer similarly determines
the language.
In a series of experiments, Anderson and Lynch found that the difficulty of
listening tasks was particularly by the following:

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1. The organization of information ( text in which the order in which the
information was presented matched its chronological sequence in real life were
easier than texts in which the information was presented out of sequence)
2. The familiarity of the topic
3. The explicitness and sufficiency of the information
4. The type of referring expressions used (for example, use of pronouns rather
than complete noun phrase referents made texts more difficult).
5. Whether the text described “static” relationship (for example, geometric,
figures) or dynamic relationship (for example, a road accident).
The way these features were manipulated to produce texts which were similar
generically but which were graded for difficulty can be illustrated by the task of
“trace the route”. In the task, students listen to a description of the journey, route or
tour and have to trace this route on a map. The task designers systematically varied
the type of map, the completeness of information, whether the start or end is given,
the number of features and the congruence or otherwise of the information
presented in the text and that displayed on the map. These variations changed the
difficult level of the task. It was found that maps which were laid out in a
rectangular fashion with all roads marked were easier than those in which the roads
and paths were irregular; these were in turn easier than maps consisting of natural
landmarks. In terms of completeness of information, task became increasingly
difficult according to the number of items mentioned in the text which were missing
from the map. Those in which the start and end of the route were indicated on the
map were easier than those in which they were omitted. As the number of features
(buildings, natural marks, etc.) increased, so too did the difficulty. Lastly, in terms
of referring expressions, it was found that reiterations were easier than synonyms.
The most difficult tasks were those in which there was contradictory information in
the text and on the map. In the next section we look in detail at the construction of a

listening task which exploits these features.

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4.The listening skills
4.1The definitions of listening sub-skills
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). 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: (1) predicting
what people are going to talk about, (2) guessing at unknown words or phrases
without panic, (3) using one's own knowledge of the subject to help one understand,
(4) identifying relevant points; rejecting irrelevant information, (5)

retaining

relevant points (note-taking, summarizing), (6) recognizing discourse markers, e. g.,
Well; Oh, another thing is; Now, finally; etc., (7) recognizing cohesive devices, e.g.,
such as and which, including linking words, pronouns, references, etc., (8)
understanding different intonation patterns and uses of stress, etc., which give clues
to meaning and social setting, (9) understanding inferred information, e. g. ,
speakers' attitude or intentions.
Edurne Scott (2008) also points out that the sub-skills that can be emphasized
in a listening lesson include: (1) listening for specific information, (2) following
topic shifts, (3) predicting, (4) recognizing transitions and sequence markers, (5)

recognizing word boundaries, (6) identifying key words, (7) and taking notes.
According to Austin Shrope (1970), it is listening on the fourth level that
primarily concerns us in our teaching. Such listening may add an emotional and
dramatic quality. Radio and recordings highlight the importance of listening.
Listening is as active as speaking (the other productive skill), and in some ways
even more difficult. It well requires attention, thought, interpretation, and
imagination. To improve our learners' listening skills, they should be allowed to: (1)
adopt a positive attitude, (2) be responsive, (3) shut out distractions, (4) listen for
the speaker's purpose, (5) look for the signals of what is to come, (6) look for

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summaries of what has gone before, (7) evaluate the supporting materials, (8) and
look for non-verbal clues.
Richards, J. C. (2005) also provides such skills taxonomy for developing
students' listening skills as presented in Appendix P.xix
To sum up, as the focus of language teaching and learning has moved from teachercentered approaches to more learner-centered ones, the focus of listening teaching
and learning has also changed a lot. That's why listening is now recognized as an
active receptive skill (Anderson and Lynch: 1988) in which the listener activates
previous or existing knowledge to integrate new knowledge.
4.2 The classification of listening sub-skills
When students listen to foreign language, they should listen in a variety of
ways. Some of the skills involved in listening can help students overcome
difficulties and improve there listening comprehension.
4.2.1 Listening for stresses
English is considered a stressed language while many other languages are

considered syllabic. What does that mean? It means that, in English, we give stress
to certain words while other words are quickly spoken (some students say eaten!).
In other languages, such as French or Italian, each syllable receives equal
importance (there is stress, but each syllable has its own length).
Many speakers of syllabic languages don't understand why we quickly speak,
or swallow, a number of words in a sentence. In syllabic languages each syllable
has equal importance, and therefore equal time is needed. English however, spends
more time on specific stressed words while quickly gliding over the other, less
important, words.
The same debates as mentioned above exists on whether languages really can
be divided into stress and syllable timed ones, but again we can at least say without
any doubt that for teaching purposes this is a useful concept. For example, Brazilian
Portuguese is traditionally put into the syllable timed category of ratatat ratatat

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ratatat languages along with Italian, whereas in Portugal the rhythm is more like the
daDA dadiDAdaDAdadidadiDA rap-like rhythm of English, and this is reflected in
the greater problems Brazilian students have with listening comprehension and
pronunciation in English. This is also one of the reasons some people find Indian
English especially difficult to understand, as unlike most varieties of English it can
be classified as syllable timed. Of course, for native speakers it is not difficult- in
fact, stress actually helps native speakers understand each other. So it is very
important.
4.2.2. Skimming
When listening, a person rarely needs to understand every word they hear.

But, it is important that they understand general understanding of the whole
listening the main idea. This skill is called skimming. We skim when we are
listening to a news broadcast and we only want to know the main events of the day.
When skimming, a listener asks, “What is the main idea of what I am hearing?”
When you listen to the English language, you probably do not realize the
processing that is taking place in your brain, because your listening skills are so
advanced that they allow you to operate on "automatic pilot." When you begin to
learn a foreign language, however, your listening skills are not developed enough
for subconscious processing. You need to pay attention to a lot of information at
one time. Under these circumstances, it probably will not be possible for you to
understand everything, so you must "go with the flow" and not let yourself get hung
up on a single word or phrase.One way of speeding up your comprehension
processes is to skim the passage to determine the main idea of the selection. First,
listen for a statement about a general topic; this usually occurs at the beginning of a
monologue or conversation. In the case of an oral presentation, you can use the
titles of the talk as a clue, or any accompanying visuals such as charts, diagrams, or
graphs. When viewing a video, the visual cues are much more useful because they
will help establish not only the setting but also the attitude of the speaker of

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speakers. Now, formulate one or two hypotheses about what type of information
you think will be provided based upon your background knowledge. For example, if
the topic is financial aid, you would expect to hear about specific ways of obtaining
grants and loans and eligibility; in a computer advertisement, you would expect to
hear the name, component parts, price, and a few of the qualities of the machine.

Once you have determined what you believe to be the main idea, listen for cognates
and other familiar words and phrases that you have learned. Do these words and
phrases support your theory? Did you successfully predict some of the information?
Remember, successful listeners are able to report the gist of the message even if
they do not recognize or understand all of the information.
4.2.3. Scanning
Sometimes in listening, the main idea is not even important. The listeners may
only need to look for specific information. This skill is called scanning. In a news
broadcast, the weather man may discuss the temperatures for all of Asia. But the
Vietnamese listener would only scan for the temperatures of Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh
City. Or, if a teacher is calling of a list of names, a listener will only listen for his or
her own name. It is not necessary to always comprehend every word or sentences
when scanning.
In general, you should scan for information, so that you can succeed in
answering the questions. Some questions depend on your general understanding of
the text, and those are the ones you have probably answered in the first listening.
4.2.4. Listening and note-taking
Information presented in class often contains the central concepts of the course
and the material most likely to be included on exams. Yet, students frequently do
not realize the importance of note-taking and listening.
Learning to take notes is an important skill to master. When taking notes,
make sure the main idea and important details are written down. Notes don't need to
have small words like a, an, the and it. The notes should be short, succinct, and
easily understood days and weeks later. To keep notes more organized the Cornell

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method is an excellent choice and can help make studying the notes later on much
easier.
Taking notes is an important part of the life of every student. There are two
main reasons why note-taking is important:
When you are reading or listening, taking notes helps you concentrate. In
order to take notes - to write something sensible - you must understand the text. As
listening and reading are interactive tasks, taking notes help you make sense of the
text. Taking notes does not mean writing down every word you hear; you need to
actively decide what is important and how is related to what you have already
written.
Notes help you to maintain a permanent record of what you have read or
listened to. This is useful when revising in the future for examinations or other
reasons.
Good notes should be accurate, clear and concise. They should show the
organization of the text, and this should show the relationship between the ideas.
4.2.5. Guessing meaning of words or context
Context refers to the parts of a spoken (or written) message that surround a
given word or phrase. Context can provide clues to the meaning of unknown words
and phrases. Guessing from context helps the listeners (or reader) understands in
situations when it would be either impossible or extremely time consuming to refer
to a dictionary. When you hear a spoken message, guessing from context requires
that you listen for familiar words and not get distracted by unknown words or
phrases and that pay attention to the surrounding information or "context" in which
the conversation is taking place.
4.2.6. Listening for total comprehension
At certain times, it is important to listen for total comprehension. Assume you
are a visitor in town and you want to find the train situation before your train leaves
in half an hour. You ask a kind man for directions and you listen carefully to what
he says. If you do not understand something, you ask for clarification. If you do not

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understand everything he says. You may go to the wrong place and miss your train.
In this situation, you must listen for total comprehension.
Listening for total comprehension is the traditional way of thinking about the
nature of listening. Indeed, in most methodology manuals listening and listening
comprehension are synonymous. This view of listening is based on the assumption
that the main function of listening in second language learning is to facilitate
understanding of spoken discourse. We will examine this view of listening in some
detail before considering a complementary view of listening – listening as
acquisition. This latter view of listening considers how listening can provide input
that triggers the further development of second-language proficiency.
4.2.7. Predicting
Many times a listener predicts what a speaker will say next. For instance, a
listener must predict when the speaker will talk about something important, in order
to listen more carefully. As a student listens to a lecture, he or she must predict
when a new point is being introduced so that he or she can listen more carefully and
take proper notes. Also, on the street, a listener must be able to predict what a
stranger wants to talk about. If an unknown man walks up and says, “Will you come
into this bar I want to ask you something important”. The listener will try to predict
what the man wants, perhaps to sell something or ask a favor. The skill of predicting
helps a listener listen more carefully and respond more quickly
4.2.8. Inferencing
Inference is an important skill, but one that's often left out of elementarylevel
textbooks since it is considered a higher level of comprehension. Thisis unfortunate

because learners really do need to be able to "listen betweenthe lines" from the very
beginning. Indeed, beginners who lack extensivevocabularies and knowledge of
language functions and grammar often needto infer a lot, just to compensate for
what they don't understand. Inference is neither magic nor pure imagination. It is
hearing meaning that is there, even when the words aren't.How do we let students
know about the different listening types?Exercises like the one at the beginning of

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this article (which is based on onefrom Active Listening from Cambridge
University Press) are useful to create awareness. By regularly pointing out the task
types, teachers encourage learners to notice of their own listening goals.As useful as
these three types of listening are both for learner awareness and as a checklist for
teachers planning classes, it's important to remember that the skills are rarely used
in isolation. At times, a specific word or two will give the clues that help learners
understand the gist. In some cases, global knowledge of a topic makes it easier to
focus on specific information or to infer meaning. The important thing is that
students have experience with a variety of listening types and tasks.As important as
these listening types are, they need to be considered within the overall framework
the learners are using to make sense of what they hear.
4.2.9. Critical listening
Critical listening is a form of listening that if usually not mentioned, since it
involves analysis, critical thinking and judgment. Making judgments during
listening is often considered as a barrier to understand a person, and there's a lot of
truth in that. However, critical listening occurs when you still want to understand
what the other person is saying, but also have some reasons or responsibility to

evaluate what is being said to you and how it is being said. (New York: Viking
Penguin, 1992)
When seeking to do critical listening, it can help to understand the person and
their context. Many arguments do not stand alone and understanding why the person
is saying what they are saying can help in the understanding and consequently
evaluation of their message.
Especially for more advanced listeners, the skill of critical listening should be
practiced and developed. In this skill, the listener must decide whether what he or
she is hearing is true or whether or not he/she agrees with what is being said.
Critical listening is more than understanding words and sentences; it is

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deciding whether they are true. The listener must make a judgment of the text.While
experts on learning and communication almost universally demean the importance
and value of critical listening, when it comes to real life, listening critically is used
every day.
Summarizing
Similar to skimming is the skill of summarizing. We summarize when we
repeat the main ideas of a text. When summarizing, the listener will try to repeat or
reduce the main points into fewer words. We might use this skill when reporting the
main points of the news to a friend.
Summarizing brings what was said together to find a main idea or key points.
This is how you show that you understand what the speaker was talking about, and
what was important in what was said.Summarizing, or re-stating what the
questioner said, aids the listening process by making sure there were no

misunderstandings between what the questioner meant and what the listener heard.
Since all communication between people has to be interpreted (we can't download
exact meanings to each other), misunderstandings are common. Re-stating can help
avoid misunderstanding and allow the questioner time to clarify.
5. Summary
Listening is an active skill that includes the use of many sub-skills. Listening
sub-skills are effective tools used to effectively understand opinions, suggestions
and ideas. Emphasizing the listening sub-skills helps students develop a sense of
why they listen and which skill to use to listen better. Our learners’ success at
understanding the content of what they hear largely depends on their expertise in
their use of listening sub-skills.
In conclusion, this chapter is designed to help learners to have
generalknowledge on listening skill and now, the writer turns to chapter II for

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analyzing survey learning listening of the third year students at Faculty of English,
Hanoi Open University.

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