Choosing strategies for listening to speech
Recognise gist and detail as listening goals. Use written situations to choose replay, clarification and checking strategies. These questions assess strategy knowledge, not understanding an audio clip in a new language.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Recognise features of everyday speech and distinguish gist from detail as listening goals
- Choose a replay or clarification strategy for an information gap described in writing
- Recognise phrase meanings and distinguish clues, confirmed information and uncertainty in written examples
1 · Read
A weekly practice plan can include listening tasks. Everyday speech varies in speed, and speakers may join sounds. Short clips on familiar topics can help you practise. Here, written questions check your choice of listening strategies. They do not measure what you understand from audio; that needs a separate listening task.
On the first listen, aim for the gist: the main point of the message. Familiar words and phrases can help you work out what is happening. Afterwards, try one sentence about the main point. If it is unclear, listen again or ask for help.
Choose one detail for the second listen. If you know which sentence contains it, pause and replay that part. During a first listen, keep following if a missed word is not needed for the main point. If missing information matters, replay it or ask for clarification. You do not have to keep guessing.
Recognising a familiar phrase can help you follow its meaning without translating each word separately. When talking about supplies, 'out of' can mean there is none left. For example, 'out of milk' means there is no milk left. Use the whole phrase and its context. Practise useful phrases with your teacher.
In a video, the setting and people's actions may give clues. A gesture can help, but it does not have one fixed meaning in every situation. Check a guess against the speech or ask for help. Audio-only clips have no pictures to use as clues.
Before listening again, choose a question such as 'Where will they meet?' Afterwards, report the main point and the detail you found. If the place is uncertain, say so. Check with a transcript, supplied answer or teacher. A retell can show some understanding without proving that every part was understood.
Listen for the main point, choose a detail for the next listen, and replay or ask for help when information is unclear.
Original lesson, questions and flashcards about choosing listening and checking strategies, written for this learning dataset.
Three original readings and six flashcards about listening strategies, written for this learning dataset.
More to read
Choose a listening target
Ask your teacher to help choose a short clip about a familiar subject. For the first listen, ask what the message is mainly about. Try explaining that main point afterwards. Another listen or some support may be needed.
Choose a smaller question for the next listen. You might want a destination or a starting time. Listen for that information and check it with a transcript, supplied answer or teacher. If you are uncertain, say which detail still needs checking. A likely answer is not the same as an answer you have confirmed.
Locate the part you need
An announcement describes a club meeting. You understand its main point but cannot hear the room number near the end. Replay the part containing the number, with 'Which room?' as your question.
Sometimes you do not know where the answer occurs. Another whole listen may help locate it. You can pause, replay or ask for clarification when information matters. During a first listen for gist, a missed word that does not block the main point can wait. Choose your next action from the information you need.
Check what a clue suggests
Practise familiar phrases in the language you are learning. When you recognise a phrase, you may understand its meaning without translating each word separately. Ask your teacher for examples you can hear and use.
A video offers clues from its setting and actions too. These can suggest a meaning, but they do not confirm every spoken detail. Gestures vary with the situation. Compare your guess with the speech, replay the part you need or ask for help. When explaining the clip, distinguish confirmed information from a guess.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
Learn first
Optional connections
This opens up
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.