TESL-0120 - Unit Three Reflection
Wilson (2008) argues that students are not always able to use the same
listening strategies that they use with their L1 to develop their L2 and that
teaching strategies to students can help them when they are challenged with
tasks that are above their language level (Wilson, p. 34). This reflection will
expand on the use of listening strategies with English language learners. It
will focus on my volunteer experience with improving students’ listening skills
and which strategies have been most helpful, as well as my own experience as a
student taking a Spanish learning class and the strategies that were used for
listening activities.
My experience with listening activities in an ESL classroom has centred
on listening for phonemes to pronounce words and to recognize vocabulary in different
types of learning activities. One of the favourite class activities that involves
recognizing vocabulary is bingo. Students associate words with the images on
cards and listen to the teacher as he calls them out. It can be difficult to
tell whether students are using cognitive strategies, like using information
from their L1 to complete these kinds of tasks. This is because we are not
familiar with their languages and the students are unable to answer questions that
require detailed answers. However, students do use socio-affective strategies when
they check with other students who share their L1 to confirm their level of understanding.
Sometimes the teacher will ask about words that he hears when students are
conversing with each other to encourage students to remember words by
associating them with words in their L1. In addition, it can be hard to tell if
students are using metacognitive tasks to expand on what they learn in the
classroom since we do not know what they are doing outside the class to enhance
their learning.
The Wilson reading also helped me recognize how my Spanish teacher tried
to encourage my class to use learning strategies to improve our listening
skills. The lessons that the teacher provided us with were in English and
Spanish, so we could associate Spanish words and phrases with those we were already
familiar with in English. Much of the listening activities centred on listening
to recordings of vocabulary words and questions that we had to record our
answers to. We also had to listen to lectures and recognize the aspects of language
that changed with verb tense. Then we had to use what we observed in the
listening exercises to both correct sentences we were given and also in group activities.
As such, we primarily focused on using cognitive strategies to complete
immediate tasks and socio-affective strategies to check our understanding with
classmates and practice using Spanish to encourage our feelings of competency. In
addition, the teacher urged us to use additional studying methods outside of
class that could be categorized as metacognitive strategies, like watching tv
shows and movies in Spanish that had subtitles.
This unit has helped me understand the role of listening skills in the
acquisition of a new language. Based on my experiences as a student and volunteer
teaching assistant, I have realized that it can be difficult to teach these
types of skills in English to people with different L1s. For the most part, English
language learners must develop and use strategies up to a certain level before
they can understand instructions from English language teachers on additional
methods. This is a bit discouraging to me. However, it is important not to overlook
capabilities of English language learners and the strategies that they use. Everyone
has utilized some kinds of strategies when they learned their first language
and many students can learn from example without necessarily needing explicit
verbal instructions about how to improve their skills.
References
Wilson, J. J. (2008), Chapter 2: Listening Texts and Listening Strategies.
In Wilson, J. J. (Ed.). How to teach listening (pp. 25-39). Harlow,
Essex: Pearson Education Ltd.
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