listening for academic purposes. active listening, vocabulary, main and supporting ideas, inferences and predictions

1. MODULE 1
WEEK 2: LISTENING SKILLS
TOPIC 4: LISTENING FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES
• Active Listening
• Vocabulary,
• Main & Supporting Ideas,
• Inferences & Predictions,

2. LESSON OBJECTIVES
• By the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
1. Apply active listening skills in various listening contexts
2. Use contextual cues to decode spoken messages with unfamiliar
vocabulary
3. Identify main and supporting ideas in listening situations
4. Identify and inference and prediction in spoken language
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3. LISTENING FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES
• At university, you are likely to require good listening skills in
the following contexts, for academic purposes.
Lectures
Tutorials and small group discussions
Classroom Discussion
• Apart from these formal contexts, you are also likely to
require listening skills in informal contexts as you interact
conversationally within an academic setting.
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4. ACTIVE LISTENING
• Active listening focuses attention on the speaker in order to achieve
maximum comprehension. Learning at university requires a lot of
active listening
• It entails combining positive cognitive listening practices with
outwardly positive listening behaviour.
• It is opposed to passive listening, which is characterised by light
attention and surface understanding.
• Active listening is characterised by deep attention and leads to
greater understanding.
• The following are some skills and techniques that promote active
listening. Use them selectively in the appropriate listening context.
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5. CONT…
• Use non-verbal cues to demonstrate engagement e.g. nodding, eye
contact, upright posture
• Pay attention to speaker’s non-verbal cues to aid interpretation of
message
• Use verbal affirmation, where appropriate, e.g. “I see…”
• Paraphrase to demonstrate understanding
• Ask specific, open-ended questions
• Request clarification
• Do not interrupt
• Be supportive of the speaker
• Take notes
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6. LECTURES
• A lecture is a talk giving information
about a subject to an audience or class
as part of a teaching programme.
• A lecture may be delivered face to face
or at a distance, via various channels of
communication.
A lecture highlights important issues and
guides students towards further study of
the target content.
A lecture may include important
information, experiences and insights
that have not yet been published.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
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7. TUTORIALS
• A tutorial is a period of study involving
a tutor and student or a small group of
students.
• Tutorials may occur in face to face or
distance learning environments, via
various channels of communication.
A tutorial can help complement a lecture
by creating deeper understanding of
taught content.
It can facilitate self-learning in the
individual or group.
A tutorial can enhance participation and
collaboration in learning.
It enables learners develop skills in
presenting their ideas and opinions.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC
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8. CLASSROOM DISCUSSION
• Whole class discussion involves
the instructor and learners sharing
views on a topic
It increases students attention and
engagement
It helps students learn form one
another
It develops listening and speaking
skills
It highlights areas that are not well
understood for emphasis or review This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
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9. LISTENING TO LECTURES
• Listening attentively for extended periods of time requires
one to be purposeful about listening.
• Listening during lectures is supported by effective listening
strategies, complemented by a wide range of study activities
that occur before, during and after the lecture.
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10. CONT…
BEFORE THE LECTURE
Make a mental decision to appreciate the subject.
Review assigned material.
Identify the topic and sub topics to be covered from the
course outline.
Formulate questions based on the topic and sub-topics.
Engage in pre-reading activities on the identified topic
and sub-topics.
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11. CONT…
DURING THE LECTURE
Be present on time
Deliberately choose to concentrate on the message, not the
instructor’s appearance and delivery
Be attentive; minimise distractions and remain focused
Listen for words and phrases that are stressed
Listen for words and phrases that are repeated
Listen for emphatic pauses
Listen for words or phrases that distinguish main from supporting
ideas and examples
Do not “switch off” when you disagree with something; keep
listening as you record it for reflection and follow-up.
Take notes
Ask specific questions
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12. CONT…
AFTER THE LECTURE
Integrate pre-lecture and lecture notes
Note down concerns which require your further attention.
Expand notes regularly.
Note down references carefully for easy retrieval.
Create revision summary notes,
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13. LISTENING DURING TUTORIALS AND GROUP WORK
•Tutorial sessions often involve small group activity
and presentations.
•Listening in the context of small groups therefore
requires effective listening skills and interpersonal
communication skills.
•Though there are different ways of creating groups,
you may find yourself in a random group in Year 1.
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14. CONT…
• Here are some tips on working in small groups:
Appoint a group leader and secretary
Set group guidelines
Share contact information
Arrive at a shared understanding of the task early on
Avoid group domination by one individual; encourage
participation by all
Shared responsibility: allocate specific tasks to specific
individuals or sub-groups
Set deadlines
Share information
Adopt active listening skills
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15. CONT…
• Listening in a group is beneficial because:
It provides room for reflection and interpretation of messages.
Offers diverse perspectives and interaction.
• Listening in a group is challenging because:
It requires greater energy and concentration than listening to an
individual; be committed to controlling distractions.
You may not know the members of the group well; put in effort to
understand their perspective.
You need to make extra effort to distinguish key ideas from
supporting, repeated or irrelevant points.
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16. LISTENING DURING WHOLE CLASS DISCUSSION
• Listen carefully to your instructor’s directions on how the discussion
will proceed and adhere to them. Methods may include:
Instructor lectures, but students have space for input of
questions, opinions, examples
Think-pair-share: Working in pairs and then sharing with the class
Fishbowl: A small group sits in the inner circle; other students in
the outer circle listen and take notes
Philosophical chairs: students either agree or disagree with a
statement and then each group gets together to defend their
position
• Do not focus on what you intend to say at the expense of listening to
your peers.
• Adopt active listening strategies.
• Do not forget to take notes.
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17. CONVERSATION SKILLS
• Ideas and opinions are commonly exchanged formally through
lectures, tutorials and class discussion.
• They are also exchanged through conversation.
• Conversation is talk, especially informal, which involves the exchange
of ideas and opinions among people.
• Conversation requires good listening skills in combination with other
communication skills:
Be friendly and polite
Share appropriate information
Respond to what the speaker has said
Achieve a balance between talking and listening
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18. CONT…
• In conversation, remember to be an active listener:
Stay focused and genuinely attentive to what the other
speaker says.
Use body language to show that you are listening.
Pay attention to the speaker’s non-verbal cues to help
you interpret the message accurately.
Be patient – do not plan your response in your mind
without waiting for the speaker to complete their
message.
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19. HANDLING UNFAMILIAR VOCABULARY
• Most words are learnt incidentally, not actively. However, there are ways of
improving our familiarity with vocabulary as part of listening skills.
Using context – use other words in the same sentence or paragraph to
arrive at the meaning e.g. this orchid blooms once a year. Knowledge
that flowers bloom suggests that an orchid is a flower.
Using prior knowledge – e.g. reading about an unfamiliar fruit such as
kiwi activates knowledge about other fruits, nutritive value etc.
Using root, prefix or suffix – the root is the main part of the word that
carries meaning e.g. happy. Prefixes occur before roots e.g. unhappy
and suffixes occur after e.g. happiness. Such knowledge can help us
understand a potentially unfamiliar word e.g. unhappiness.
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20. HANDLING UNFAMILIAR VOCABULARY (CONT…)
Recognize when the speaker offers a definition or an explanation
of an unknown word.
Pay attention to speaker’s body language, which may illustrate
word meaning.
Build your vocabulary through extensive reading
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21. INFERENCES AND PREDICTIONS
• Inferences and predictions refer to conclusions based on fact, observation
or experience. They are not directly stated.
• When a future event is involved, we talk of a prediction e.g. dark clouds =
it will rain soon.
• Accuracy of inferences and predictions can be improved as follows:
Use prior knowledge of the speaker and topic make inferences.
Pay attention to the speaker’s tone of voice and his/her expressions,
posture, or gestures
Pay attention to the situation or context.
Pay attention to word choices. Many words have similar meanings but
not the exact, same meaning e.g. big/large; taxi/cab. What are the
differences?
Reflect on the inferences you’ve made as you listen. Confirm, change,
or disregard inferences as you get more information.
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22. EVALUATING INFERENCES
• Q 1. Paul says,” I studied all night and got a ‘D’ on the first test-I am not going to
do any better on this one”. Identify the inference and evaluate it.
• Q2. Read the following story once. Then evaluate each witness’s statement on the
following slide as either F (fact) or I (inference).
“Two people came hurrying out of a bank with several large bundles, hopped into
a long black car, and sped away. Seconds later, a man rushed out of the bank,
waving his arms and looking quite upset”.
You listen to two people discuss what they saw, as follows:
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23. EVALUATING INFERENCES (CONT…)
a. ‘The bank has been robbed’_______
b. ‘Yes indeed-I saw the robbers hurry out of the bank, hop into a car, and
speed away’______
c. ‘It was a long black car’_________
d. ‘The men were carrying several large bundles’______
e. ‘Seconds later they left, a man came out of the bank after them-but he
was too late, they’d already escaped’_______
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24. LISTENING FOR MAIN IDEAS
• Main ideas may be stated directly or implied. It is important to
identify the main idea, especially in the context of academic listening.
How?
Identify discourse markers (organizational cues, transitions, signposts).
Discourse markers are words or a phrases that manage the flow and
structure of spoken or written language e.g. The purpose of this lecture…The
point is…First…Second…Next…
Notice use of rhetorical questions to signal main ideas. These are questions
that the speaker asks out loud, and that the speaker plans to answer in
his/her presentation.
Pay attention to repeated words and phrases.
Notice speaker’s pace. Main ideas will often be articulated slowly and
carefully.
Pay attention to highlighted areas on visual aids that the speaker may be
using.
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25. RECOGNISING SUPPORTING IDEAS
• Main ideas are supported and expanded in various ways: facts,
examples, testimonies
• Such supporting details help clarify, illuminate, explain, expand and
exemplify the main idea
• Example
My favourite restaurant is Mama’s Kitchen because their food is
clean, healthy, traditional, and reasonably priced.
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26. RECAP
• Active listening skills help you achieve deeper understanding of the
message.
• Lectures, tutorials, small group and class discussions are some of the
listening contexts in the university
• Good conversation skills require listening skills and such skills are
required within and outside university.
• Effective listening requires that we handle unfamiliar vocabulary,
distinguish main and supporting ideas, make inferences and
predictions.
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