In this section, we explore the design of listening activities in language teaching and propose exercise types that correspond to top-down and bottom-up processing. These can then be integrated into a cycle of activities.

5.3.1 Tasks for top-down processing
5.3.2 Tasks for bottom-up processing
5.3.3 A cycle of listening activities

From our discussion so far, we can identify the following principles to guide the exploitation of audio and video recordings.

1. Purpose: learners should always listen with a purpose.
   Otherwise, learners may assume their purpose is to understand every word, which is often too demanding a task. The purpose is defined by the task, which implies the engagement of various listening strategies. The purpose provides the motivation for the task.
   
   
2. Task: listening tasks can be adjusted to suit the nature of the input, the level of learners and their likely background knowledge.
   Some (eg Nunan, 1991) have argued that listening tasks should be as realistic as possible, thus replicating the demands which non-native speakers may face in the target-language country. Others (eg Field, 1998) have argued that learners need to engage in a variety of tasks which practise discrete skills (particularly bottom-up skills) as well as the integration of skills.
   
   
3. Avoid overload: tasks need to feel 'achievable'.
   Once we recognize that there are different levels of comprehension, learners can be set a sequence of tasks, generally moving from gist listening through to intensive listening for details, words and expressions. Learners should be able to answer gist listening tasks through 'normal' listening after one or two hearings based on their existing knowledge of language and their background knowledge.
   
   
4. Active listening: learners need to be actively engaged in meaning making and meaning checking.
   Learners need to regard listening comprehension rather like detective work, using all available clues to try to make sense of what is being said. In this way, they will work towards the integration of bottom-up and top-down processes.