
Randall Davis
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Matthias Maunsell
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What have you learned about teaching listening or perhaps reaching learners in general from managing your various websites over the years?
It was at the end of 1997 when I started with my websites, and people were not using much audio and video content online. I realized early on that no amount of technology could ever compensate for poor pedagogical approaches in teaching. I've always thought that technology is often light years ahead of sound pedagogical use. I use the analogy that back around 1820, there was an English merchant named Peter Durand who invented or patented the actual iron can. It was lined with tin, but the only instructions given to open the can was to use a hammer or chisel or rifle fire. It was so thick, and it wasn't until around 1858 that someone came up with the idea or the ability to create a can opener, so the idea of the iron can was light years ahead of approaches to make the best use of it. And I think we see that today. In other words, sometimes technologies are trying to do too much, and they become inherently more unusable. It is like instead of advancing language learning, they actually set us back. I always tell people to only choose what you need and also not to abandon useful technologies because those are the ones that really support people now and into the future.
How has your own listening teaching philosophy evolved over time?
The first thing I realized is teaching listening is not the same as testing it, and vice versa. So if teachers create a multiple choice task e.g., listen to this passage and select A, B or C, that's really a language assessment task. It's not teaching the actual listening process. The other thing I learned is that listening and speaking are reciprocal skills. You cannot divorce one from the other. If you have some type of listening activity, it's going to be coupled with some type of speaking activity like a pre-listening warm up activity or a post-listening activity. The other thing is to recognize the actual factors that impact comprehensibility whether it’s idiomatic expressions e. g., pay through the nose or grammar e.g., past obligation she should have gone versus present advice should go. Also, I think understanding acoustic blur and teaching word reductions is really critical, so if I say to students, “Hey, jeet yet?” “No, ju?” They cannot process that they just heard a word reduction for did+you+eat yet? No, did you? Finally, the last thing to consider is culture. So, for example, if I were to say I live in an apartment, in one culture that might invoke the idea of living in a very tiny apartment on the twelfth story with your futon draped over the balcony. But to someone else in a different culture, the same words might conjure up a different image.
What advice do you have for teachers to make the most of their online classes?
I think number one would be…Look in your camera! I tell teachers to look at the camera because it creates that connection with the audience. I also think using people's names is critical to that connection even if you have many students. If I say, “That's a good point, Matthias,” or just those small little things, it makes a huge difference as we try to connect through Zoom or whatever it might be.
Another thing is making sure that you understand the different features of the particular platform that you use. It doesn't mean that you need to know all 22,475 features. It just means that you need to know the most relevant ones. For example, right now we are using Zoom, so you can do cloud recording or use the annotation features or breakout rooms. One of the features that I think is very underutilized in Zoom is the poll function, for example, creating exit polls, so it is important to maximize the platform features. Often people tell me, “Well, my students don't turn on their cameras.” My feeling is to give them a reason to turn on the cameras. Then probably the most important thing about online classes, especially during the COVID pandemic, is to have deep and radical compassion for your students, teachers and colleagues, parents, and administrators during this very difficult time. When a student has their camera turned off, maybe they have a family member in the hospital struggling with illness or there has been a death or any of those things.
What technological tools or tips can you share with teachers to help improve their learners’ listening skills?
Students and teachers may want to show video from Netflix, YouTube or YouGlish but often have a challenge in trying to slow down the playback speed. However, there are extensions within Google Chrome. One is called the Video Speed Controller in the Google Chrome Web Store. This allows you to control the playback of almost any video content on the web whether you’re watching Netflix or YouTube and so forth. You can slow it incrementally like 96% or 94% with little audio distortion.
There are other new resources out there. One is called LyricsTraining. It's a wonderful website in which people can listen to YouTube videos and actually do language learning activities along with that. Flipgrid is actually a really popular tool right now. It was acquired by Microsoft a couple of years ago which to me indicates lasting power. It’s a tool mainly for recording videos and sharing videos. And the last thing I would probably suggest whether you use any of the things I have just mentioned, is to determine your needs first and then acquire the technology that you need. You have probably seen this many times where the purchase of equipment in schools is often a top-down decision. The feeling is we have this money, and we have to spend it before the end of the year, so let's buy something. Then, when teachers don’t use it, they're often blamed for not using technology or being technophobic. The reality instead is that they didn't need what you bought. For example, a few years ago I was at a conference where the presenter was talking about their school district spending $60,000 on iPads and then they realized that many of the teachers weren't using them because all that the teachers needed were just simple recorders.
Would you describe one of your favorite activities for teaching listening? Why is this your favorite?
A very simple activity I do is try to bring the content within the linguistic reach of my students. If I'm doing a listening passage, and I realize that the information is just a little bit beyond what they can do, besides doing warm-up activities, I might give students five key words that come out of that listening passage that would stimulate students’ prediction skills . If that can bring it within their linguistic reach, I don't have to play it 25 times. I can play the listening activity a reasonable number of times, so they can feel confident in what they're doing. So again, a simple task, but I think simplicity should come before complexity.
What are some key strategies you recommend for teaching listening?
It goes back to what factors affect comprehensibility. You may need to slow down the audio if processing speed is an issue, or you may need to build up vocabulary around a particular topic, especially at lower levels. Also, compensation strategies are critical. So, for example, one of the first expressions that I learned in Japanese when we went to Japan was “I don’t understand.” That was probably the most useless expression to learn because if you're speaking with a native speaker or any speaker and they're speaking for about 10 minutes and then you say, “I don't understand,” they have no idea if you're talking about the first part, the middle part, or two minutes ago. So, one of the things I would probably teach students, in conjunction to improving their listening in face-to-face conversations, are these compensation expressions: “Could you repeat that last part for me?” or “I didn't catch that last idea or that first idea?” Perhaps this relates more to the speaking process but I do think compensation strategies are underutilized or not being emphasized as much. Forget “I don't understand.” Forget, “Read one more time please.” Compensation strategies are really critical to pinpoint the parts that you didn't understand. And I think these can also be taught in the classroom.
How do you see current and future trends in listening teaching?
I think we're going to see a continuation of some of the tried-and-true ideas of content schemata, building background knowledge on what students already know and emphasizing cultural awareness. Greater cultural awareness in our use of the language and our listening skills is becoming more critical. One of the things I've been doing this past year, especially in light of the pandemic is building communities with my YouTube channel and Facebook and connecting teachers with other teachers. For example, coming up soon I'm going to be doing a broadcast with students and their teacher from Tunisia. I've done a live broadcast with a teacher from Costa Rica. Now you can build these online communities where we can actually connect, especially through Zoom. You can actually bring in these voices into your own classroom. So, while many of the techniques of teaching listening are maturing, I also think the technologies are allowing us to extend into different areas, such as communicating face-to-face in ways that we really didn't have in the past.
Find the entire recorded interview, with more content and helpful examples, here.
Randall Davis teaches at the English Language Institute at the University of Utah and develops a number of educational Web sites including Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab.
Matthias Maunsell is a PhD candidate in Educational Studies in Diverse Populations in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His research interests relate to TESOL and Special Education.
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