TSL 3105 Teaching of Listening and Speaking Skills

in the Primary ESL classroom

TOPIC 2
DEVELOPING LISTENING & SPEAKING
SKILLS
2.1 SYNOPSIS
This topic aims to help course participants to identify and relate listening
and speaking skillls in the Malaysian primary school syllabus, enhance
their knowledge on developing listening and speaking skills and explore
the techniques in the teaching of listening and speaking skills. It consists
of information on listening and speaking skills and some reflect and
review sections. Some exercises are included for further reinforcement on
the topic. Some suggested useful websites addresses are provided at the
end of the module to give additional support to course participants.
2.2 LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of Topic 2, you will be able to:

A. Identify and interpret listening and speaking skills in the primary

school syllabus

B. Integrate and develop listening and speaking skills

C. Engage the techniques for teaching listening and speaking skills

2.3 CONTENT
A. IDENTIFYING AND INTERPRETING LISTENING AND SPEAKING
SKILLS IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL SYLLABUS
Introduction
Learning to speak is the first form of language most of us learn, but
we are probably unaware of how we learnt it, or the level and types
of skills we possess. When we speak, our mind would be processing
lots of information, and this happens in great speed and agility. The
processes are dynamic and constantly change as new meanings arise in
a conversation. This is largely unconscious and we rarely reflect on what it
involves.
lgp/wsl/kj 2012
TSL 3105 Teaching of Listening and Speaking Skills
in the Primary ESL classroom
This process is the main challenge in teaching speaking and listening.
However, we can all improve our speaking and listening, and developing
greater self-awareness is the key to improving our ability in this area.
Explicit teaching of speaking and listening provides an opportunity to use
interesting and innovative approaches that learners will enjoy.
Let us look at a comparison between the KBSR and KSSR to identify and
understand the role of Listening and Speaking in our Primary school syllabus.
A comparison of KBSR and KSSR
KBSR KSSR
Aims The syllabus for primary
school aims to equip
learners with basic skills and
knowledge of the subjects
so as to enable them to
communicate, both orally
and in writing, in and out of
school.
The English Language
Curriculum for Primary
Schools aims to equip
pupils with basic language
skills to enable them to
communicate effectively in
a variety of contexts that is
appropriate to the pupils
level of development.
Main focus 3M : Reading,
Writing, Counting
Skills : speak, listen,
read, write & basic
numerical skills (add,
subtract, multiply,
divide)
Values : Islamic
Studies & Moral
Education

The new curriculum

emphasises on
holistic development
of the students
which encompasses
new elements
such as grooming
of creativity
and innovation,
entrepreneurship,
and integration of
Information and
Communication
Technology (ICT).
Objectives By the end of the
primary school,
learners should be
able to
i. listen to and
understand simple
spoken English
in certain given
contexts;
By the end of the
primary school,
learners should be
able to
i. communicate with
peers and adults
confidently and
appropriately in
formal and informal
lgp/wsl/kj 2012
TSL 3105 Teaching of Listening and Speaking Skills
in the Primary ESL classroom
ii. ask and answer
questions, speak and
express themselves
clearly to others using
simple language;
iii. acquire good
reading habits
to understand,
enjoy and extract
information from a
variety of texts;
iv. write legibly and
express ideas in
simple language;
v. show an
awareness and
appreciation of moral
values as well as love
for the nation.
situations;
ii. Read and
comprehend a
range of English
texts for information
and enjoyment;
iii. Write a range
of texts using
appropriate
language, style
and form through a
variety of media;
iv. Appreciate
and demonstrate
understanding
of English
language literary or
creative works for
enjoyment; and
v. use correct and
appropriate rules of
grammar in speech
and writing.
Principles of
KBSR
Overall
development(JERIS)
Acquiring basic skills
Inculcation of good
moral values
Student-centred
teaching and learning
Flexible principle
General education
Lifelong education
The new curriculum
emphasises on
holistic development
of the students which
encompasses new
elements such as
grooming of creativity
and innovation,
entrepreneurship, and
integration of Information
and Communication
Technology (ICT).
KSSR: Curriculum content for Year 1,2 and 3
Presently, the Standard Documents by CDC unit of KPM (Kementerian
Pelajaran Malaysia) lays out the English language curriculum for Year 1,2
and 3. The curriculum content is organised in terms of Content Standards and
Learning Standards.
Content Standards specify the essential knowledge, skills, understandings
and strategies that pupils need to learn.
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TSL 3105 Teaching of Listening and Speaking Skills
in the Primary ESL classroom
Learning Standards describe in detail the degree or quality of proficiency
that pupils need to display in relation to the Content Standard for a particular
year.
In the initial stages of learning English, pupils will have the opportunity to
listen to meaningful English input, in the form of stories or oral descriptions
by teachers based on graphic texts. Through listening, pupils become familiar
with words that willl be introduced in their early reading and writing lessons.
The emphasis in the initial stages willl be on vocabulary acquisition.
Listening and Speaking Component
The curriculum content for Year 1,2 and 3 encompasses listening and
speaking, reading, writing, language arts, grammar and word list. In KSSR,
the listening and speaking component is taught simultaneously as one
component. Let us look into the details of this content in the listening and
speaking component.
By end of Year 2, the component on listening and speaking aims at
developing pupils ability to listen and respond to stimulus with guidance,
participate in daily conversations, listen and demonstrate understanding of
text, talk about stories heard; and listen and follow simple instructions. The
learning standards for listening and speaking range from the discrete sound,
word and phrase recognition to an understading of chunks of heard texts.
Listening and speaking are seen as core skills of early literacy. Pupils should
be taught how to listen carefully as well as feel encouraged to speak from the
basic level of sound, word, phrase and move on to structural sentences in
various situational contexts. At every stage, the stress, rhythm and intonation
patterns need to be used correctly. In addition pupils are also encouraged to
recognise, understand and use verbal and non-verbal communication. Oral
communcation practice by means of repeating, responding, understanding
and applying what pupils have heard sensitises their senses to be ready for
communiction.
Relationship are established through the ability to communicate by listening
first then speaking thoughts, ideas an feelings. It is hoped by the end
of primary school, pupils should become confident speakers who can
communicate clearly, appropriately and coherently in any given context.
Pupils need to listen carefully and respond to what others say and think about
the needs of their listeners. Social conventions in listening and speaking
such as turn taking, politeness and courtesy need to be observed. These are
crucial especially in group discussions where viewpoints and opinions are
exchanged. The use of various text types is recommended; ranging from
teacher stimulated texts to media broadcasts and authentic dialogues.
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TSL 3105 Teaching of Listening and Speaking Skills
in the Primary ESL classroom
Exercise 1
Analyse both the KBSR & KSSR syllabus items for
LISTENING & SPEAKING Skills.

Present your analysis in the form of a chart/ table.

Compare the syllabus items from Year 1- Year 6
to locate common traits pertaining to the KSSR
English Syllabus
Reflect & Review
Look through the KBSR and the KSSR English language Syllabus for Year
1 and Year 2.
Give your review based on the following questions:
a. What are the skills focused in the syllabus?
b. What do you think of the syllabus?
c. What method/approach is emphasized/ preferred? (look at the topic,
activity, and objectives)
d. If you are given a choice, which of the syllabus would you choose?
Compare your views and opinions with your coursemates.
B. INTEGRATE AND DEVELOP LISTENING AND SPEAKING SKILLS
Before we learn how to integrate listening and speaking skills in our teaching
and learning process in a Primary ESL classroom, it is essential to understand
how listening and speaking are developed in a child.

Reflect & Review

a. How are listening skills acquired in childhood?
b. How do babies participate in conversations with parents?
c. How do they learn to listen to their own class discussion?
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TSL 3105 Teaching of Listening and Speaking Skills
in the Primary ESL classroom
Exercise 2
Read the narrative below carefully and identify the top-down and
bottom-up processes in listening. Refer to Brown (2001) for more
exercises.
Sally first tried setting loose a team of gophers. The plan
backfired when a dog chased them away. She then entertained
a group of teenagers and was delighted when they brought their
motorcycles. Unfortunately, she failed to find a Peeping Tom
listed in the Yellow Pages. Furthermore, stereo system was not
loud enough. The crabgrass might have worked but she didnt
have a fan that was sufficiently powerful.
The obscene phone calls gave her hope until the
number was changed. She thought about calling a door-to-
door salesman but decided to hang up a clothesline instead. It
was the installation of blinking neon lights across the street that
did the trick. She eventually framed the ad from the classified
section.
Questions to ponder:

Was the narrative comprehensible? What happens when the

topic is given?
Getting rid of a troublesome neighbour.

What process do you think is involved when you read the above
passage? When do you use the top-down processing? When
do you use the bottom-up processing?
Read the definition of the top-down and bottom-up processing below.
Definition of Top-down and Bottom-up Process
What is meant by ...

Top-down processing ?
Refers to the use of background knowledge in understanding the meaning of
a message.
lgp/wsl/kj 2012
TSL 3105 Teaching of Listening and Speaking Skills
in the Primary ESL classroom

Bottom-up processing ?
Refers to the use of incoming data as a source of information about the
meaning of a message (decode)
(Richards, 1990)
Micro-skills of Listening Comprehension
Listening Strategies
Looking for key words
Looking for non-verbal cues to meaning
Predicting a speakers purpose by the context of the spoken discourse
Associating information with ones existing cognitive structure
(activating background knowledge)
Guessing at meanings
Seeking clarification
Listening for the general list
Various test-taking strategies for listening comprehension
C. TECHNIQUES FOR TEACHING LISTENING AND SPEAKING SKILLS
TEACHING OF LISTENING
Types of Listening Activities
Reference: Penny Ur (1996: p112-114)
i. No overt response: Students do not need to do anything in response to
the listening, however, facial expression and body language often show
if they are following or not.
- Stories
- Songs
- Entertainment: films, theatre, video
ii. Short responses
-Obeying instructions
-Ticking off items
-True/ False
-Detectiing mistakes
-Cloze
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TSL 3105 Teaching of Listening and Speaking Skills
in the Primary ESL classroom
-Guessing information
-Skimming and scanning
iii. Longer responses
-Answering questions
-Note-taking
-Paraphrasing and translating
-Summarizing
iv. Extended responses
-Problem-solving
-Interpretation
Criteria for selection of activities

Nature of listening task requirement

- Response- no overt response, short, long or extended response
- Blank interval in the case of cloze
- Difficulty level of task
- Vocabulary level

Nature of the recorded material

- Students proficiency level
- Students interest
- Authentic/ non-authentic
- Number of speakers
- Speed of delivery
- Content of reference
- Complexity of thought and ideas
- Style of utterance- formal, colloquial
- Accent and degree of disturbance
- Complexity of communication situation
Selection of teaching techniques
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TSL 3105 Teaching of Listening and Speaking Skills
in the Primary ESL classroom
The selection of teaching techniques and strategies in the classroom
used for beginners, intermediate and advanced students will highly
depend on the characteristics of the students. Teachers should be
aware of the employment of different teaching strategies for students
of different level, who differ in many aspects of learning. To enable
teachers to make the right decision in choosing the most appropriate
techniques in the teaching of listening and speaking skills, it is
essential to do a need analysis of pupils.
Let us look at the characteristics of the pupils in your class! Are they
beginners, intermediate or advance learners?
a. Beginners
Characteristics of pupils: They cannot distinguish English speech
sounds from noises in the environment or sounds of other languages.
Pupils have no idea of the rules of English pronunciation or grammar.
b. Intermediate
Characteristics of pupils: They have fairly good grasp of the phonemic
system but have difficulty with authentic texts. Pupils cannot handle
features eg hesitations,, false starts, noise etc. However, they can
remember longer phrases & sentences.
c. Advanced
Characteristics of pupils: They are very proficient in the language and
can process language. Pupils can pay attention to language content.
They have interpersonal relations with speakers and can engage in
intellectual discussion. They are also capable of using compensatory
strategies eg infer,predict etc.
Suggested teaching-learning strategies
Before you prepare either a listening lesson or a listening and speaking
lesson, you will need to consider the four main aspects as follows:
A. Length of input-( 1- 3 minutes maximum) for listening texts
B. Type of input- (use educated/ acceptable Malaysian variety)
C. Speed of delivery
D. Outcome of listening / listening and speaking
What kinds of listening tasks are appropriate?
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TSL 3105 Teaching of Listening and Speaking Skills
in the Primary ESL classroom
There are numerous activities to choose from for developing listening skills.
Lund (1990) has categorised them according to nine responses that can be
observed as comprehension checks:

Doing: the listener responds physically such as in Total

PhysicalResponse (TPR);

Choosing: the listener selects from alternatives such as pictures,

objects, texts, or actions;

Transferring: the listener transforms the message such as drawing a

route on map, or filling in a chart;

Answering: the listener answers questions about the text;

Condensing: the listener takes notes or makes an outline;

Extending: the listener goes beyond the text by continuing the story or
solving a problem;

Duplicating: the listener simply repeats or translates the message;

Modeling: the listener performs a similar task, e.g. gives instructions to

a coworker after listening to a model or;

Conversing: the listener is an active participant in a face-to-face

conversation.
(Carol Van Dozer, Center for Applied Linguistics)
Reflect and Review
Read the following activities and decide which of the following activities
are most suitable for beginners, intermediate and advanced students?
a. Interactive Activities
listening to a word and brainstorming related words, listening to a list
and categorizing the words, following directions
lgp/wsl/kj 2012
TSL 3105 Teaching of Listening and Speaking Skills
in the Primary ESL classroom
b. Top-down Activities
identifying emotions, understanding meaning of sentences, recognizing
the topic
c. Bottom-up Activities
discriminating between intonation contours, phonemes, or selective
listening for different morphological endings, word or sentence
recognition, listening for word order
Principles for Designing Listening techniques
Use techniques that are intrinsically motivating
Use authentic language and contexts
Carefully consider the form of listeners responses
Encourage the development of listening strategies
Include bottom-up and top-down listening techniques
Successful Listening Activities
Purpose for Listening
A form of response (doing, choosing, answering, transferring,
condensing, duplicating, extending, conversing)
Repetition depends on objectives and students level
A motivating listening text is authentic and relates to students interests
and needs
Have the skills integrated at the different stages of the lesson : Pre-task
While-task, Post-task
Listening Strategies
lgp/wsl/kj 2012
TSL 3105 Teaching of Listening and Speaking Skills
in the Primary ESL classroom
Teach student how to listen
Looking for keywords
Looking for nonverbal cues to meaning
Predicting a speakers purpose by the context of the spoken
discourse
Associating information with ones existing background
knowledge (activating schema)
Guessing meanings
Seeking clarification
Listening for the general gist
For tests of listening comprehension, various test-taking
strategies
a. Easy to plan Pre Listening Activity
Brainstorming
Think-Pair-Share
Mind Mapping
Team Interview
b. Easy to plan Listening Task
Agree or disagree (with explanation)
Create Venn diagrams
List characteristics, qualities, or features
Strip story (sequencing game)
Match speech to visuals
Compare and contrast to another speech or text
Give advice
Compare and contrast to your own experience
Create your own version of the missing section
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TSL 3105 Teaching of Listening and Speaking Skills
in the Primary ESL classroom
Plan a solution to the problem
Share reactions
Create a visual
Reenact your own version
c. Easy to plan Post Listening Activity
Guess the meaning of unknown vocabulary
Analyze the speakers intentions
List the number of people involved and their function in the script
Analyze the success of communication in the script
Brainstorm alternative ways of expression
TEACHING OF SPEAKING
a. What make speaking difficult?
Clustering
Redundancy
Reduced forms
Performance variables
Colloquial language
Rate of delivery
Stress, rhythm & intonation
Interaction
b. Tips for Teaching Speaking
Use a range of techniques
Capitalize on intrinsic motivation
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TSL 3105 Teaching of Listening and Speaking Skills
in the Primary ESL classroom
Use authentic language in meaningful contexts
Give feedback and be careful with corrections
Teach it in conjunction with listening
Allow students to initiate communication
Encourage speaking strategies
c. Principles of Teaching Speaking to
- beginners :
Provide something for the learners to talk about
Create opportunities for students to interact by using groupwork or
pairwork
Manipulate physical arrangements to promote speaking practice
- intermediate / advanced:
Plan speaking tasks that involve negotiation for meaning
Design both transactional and interpersonal speaking activities
Personalize the speaking activities whenever possible

d. Some examples of Tasks and Materials:

Conversations, guided conversations & interviews

Information gap & jigsaw activities

Scripted dialogues, drama, & role-play

Logic puzzles

Picture-based activities

Physical actions in speaking lessons

Extemporaneous speaking
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TSL 3105 Teaching of Listening and Speaking Skills
in the Primary ESL classroom
e. Communicative Tasks

Motivation is to achieve some outcome using the language

Activity takes place in real time

Achieving the outcome requires participants to interact

No restriction on language used

Some examples of communicative tasks are :
Information gaps
Jigsaw activities
Info gap race
Surveys
Guessing games
References
Brown, G., & Yule, G. (1983). Teaching the spoken language. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Brown, H.D. (1994). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to
language pedagogy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.
Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching english as a second or foreign language (2nd
ed.) (pp. 81-106). Boston: Heinle and Heinle.
Nunan, D., & Miller, L. (Eds.). (1995). New Ways in Teaching Listening.
Alexandria, VA:
Penny Ur. (1996) Teaching Listening Comprehension. Cambridge University
Press.
Further Readings
lgp/wsl/kj 2012
TSL 3105 Teaching of Listening and Speaking Skills
in the Primary ESL classroom
Websites
Click on the links below for more information:
Teaching of Speaking : http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/speaking/
developspeak.htm
Teaching of Listening: http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/listening/liindex.htm
Teaching of Listening and Speaking :
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk
http://skstt.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/02-year-1-guide-book.pdf
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