4.5.4.1 Reflection
Think of a language lesson that you have recently taught where the students listened to spoken language.

• Who were they listening to?
• Was it live or recorded?
• Was it spontaneous, natural speech, or scripted?
• If scripted, was it authentic (eg a newsreader reading an autoprompt) or specially written for teaching purposes? · What did the students have to do? · How successful were the listening activities? · Why were they (un)successful? · What do you think the students gained from doing the activities?

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4.5.4.2 Belief check

• What do you think are the most useful ways to help learners develop their listening skills in a second language?
• Are there any approaches to listening in the language classroom that you believe are not helpful?
• Are there any specific techniques that you especially (dis)like?
• Why do you feel this?
• What do you think listening in a second language can contribute to a learner's overall language development?

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4.5.4.3 Sources of listening material and task types
You will recall that we began to consider how listening activities fit into a task-based approach in activity cycle 3 (see 4.3). In that unit, we considered how and when you could use recordings of fluent speakers doing the tasks that students have just completed. But there are many other more conventional sources of listening material that can be used: tapes that come with coursebooks, recordings from the radio or TV, songs, even recordings of spontaneous speech that you or the students have made. These can be exploited in very similar ways to those suggested for reading. Look back at the six task design types that can be used with a written text (the list you made in section 4.5.3.7) and decide which could be also be used for listening.

For feedback, see Commentary 4.5.4.

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4.5.4.4 Task-based listening lessons
Just as for a task-based lesson built around a reading text, students need to start with an introductory, pre-task stage before moving on to the task cycle itself.

So far, the sequence and types of activities are likely to be very similar, or the same as, those you would use in a 'listening skills' lesson (see Module 5). It is after the listening task that the lesson begins to look different. At this point the students will move on to a planning stage, as they would after a speaking task, to prepare for the report stage. Normally, as you will recall, this is done collaboratively by students working in pairs or small groups. However, if the report is to be made in writing (see below), it is possible (but not essential) for students to plan their reports individually in the first instance.

In addition, because of the need to listen to (or read) the text more than once, you might have as many as three or four mini task-plan-report cycles with each one requiring more intensive, detailed processing of the text. Once the task cycle has been completed, you can move on to language focus work based on the text as described in activity cycle 4.4.

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4.5.4.5 Optional reading
You may now like to do some follow-up reading on 'Listening' (see 4.5.8, Recommended reading 2).

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