Listening skills and young
learners
Listening is the receptive use of
language, and since the goal is to make
sense of the speech, the focus is on
meaning rather than language (Cameron
2001). Sarıçoban (1999) states E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u m | N u m b e r 3 2 0 1 2 11
that listening is the ability to identify and
understand what others are saying. For learners,
listening is how spoken language becomes
input (i.e., it is the first stage of learning a
new language). In the classroom, this happens
by listening to the teacher, a CD, or other
learners. It is the process of interpreting messages—
what people say.
Two theories of speech perception portray
listeners as having very different roles. In the
first view, listeners play a passive role and
simply recognize and decode sounds, and in
the second view, listeners play an active role
and perceive sounds by accessing internal
articulation rules to decode speech (Crystal
1997). Whether speech perception is active
or passive, or a combination of both, Phillips
(1993) says that listening tasks are extremely
important in the primary school setting,
providing a rich source of language data from
which children begin to build up their own
ideas of how the foreign language works. This
knowledge is a rich source that YLs draw on
to produce language.
Listening is the initial stage in first and
second language acquisition. According to
Sharpe (2001), the promotion of children’s
speaking and listening skills lies at the heart
of effective learning in all subjects of the primary
curriculum. Therefore, ESL/EFL teachers
have to make the development of children’s
listening skills a key aim of primary teaching
and equip them with the best strategies for
effective listening.
Linse (2005) also considers the teaching
of listening skills as foundational to the
development of other language skills. We
should, however, be aware that any kind of
listening comprehension activity needs to be
well guided with clear aims. To this end, Ur
(1996) argues that a listening purpose should
be provided in the definition of a pre-set task.
The definition of a purpose (a defined goal, as
in the “wake up” example) enables the listener
to listen selectively for significant information.
Providing the students with some idea of
what they are going to hear and what they are
asked to do with it helps them to succeed in
the task; it also raises motivation and interest.
The fact that learners are active during the listening,
rather than waiting until the end to do
something, keeps the learners busy and helps
prevent boredom.