Learners themselves often place particular emphasis on the difficulties caused by speed of delivery, but this may be because many intuitively see their task as the complete deciphering of the listening passage.

Of course, in reciprocal listening, we can 'control' the speaker's speed by asking him or her to slow down. In non-reciprocal tasks, speed of delivery can be a problem. Thus, in using recordings in the classroom, it is important to consider ways to counteract the problem of speech rate.

This can be done by

• manipulating the recording, eg by playing it more times or by pausing longer and more frequently (see below);
• manipulating the task, eg by requiring learners to focus only on very specific pieces of information, or by ensuring that they are familiar with some of the content before listening.

Speed itself may not in fact be so important as where pauses come in the speech. For example, Rost (2002: 234) reports research which suggests that increased pausing at natural pause points (ie units of meaning) can increase comprehension of academic lectures.

From a slightly different perspective, Pica (1994) reports that when teachers give students more 'wait-time' to answer questions or respond to instructions, then their comprehension seems to increase.

While we may feel it is important that students practise coping with 'real-life' type listening situations, ie being able to listen to a whole dialogue, we need to remember that, in fact, listening to a recording of a dialogue is not like real life where speaker and hearer can influence each other to ensure understanding.

Therefore, we need to be sensitive to students' needs for time to comprehend, while on occasions putting their listening skills under pressure with longer, faster passages. This means varying the ways in which listening tasks are practised: allow students to control recordings themselves for some activities (particularly those requiring close attention to language), or control recordings yourself, but ensure you allow pauses and opportunities for replay.