Correlation between Listening and Pronunciation

LISTENING
I. DEFINITIONS

1. Rankin (1952) in Thanajaro (2000: 11) defines listening as “… the ability

to understand spoken language”.
2. Shipley (2010: 25) states that listening is deliberate act that requires a
conscious commitment from the listener.
3. Johnson (1951) states that listening is an ability to understand and
respond effectively to oral communication.
4. Vilmante Liubiniene (2009) says that listening is a language skill that can
be developed through practice.
5. Donna Valiaris (2009) argues that listening is a skill that improves
through conscious effort and practice.

II. CONSTRUCT
Listening is a language skill acted by a listener to understand and respond
oral communication effectively.

III. ELEMENTS
1. Ross (1991: 95) mentions that listening is a coordination of the
perception skills, analysis skills, and synthesis skills.
2. Rice (1998: 26) defines that listening is complex and learned. It involves
caring, hearing, interpreting, evaluating, and responding to oral
messages to gain a shared understanding.
3. Richards (1983: 228-229) judges that the micro skills required for
conversational listening areas are as follows:
 ability to retain chunks of language of different lengths for short
periods
 ability to discriminate among the distinctive sounds of the target
language
 ability to recognize the stress patterns of words
 ability to recognize the rhythmic structure of English
 ability to recognize the functions of stress and intonation to signal
the information structure of utterances
 ability to identify words in stressed and unstressed position
 ability to recognize reduced forms of words
 ability to distinguish word boundaries
 ability to recognize typical word order patterns in the target
language
 ability to recognize vocabulary used in core conversational topics
 ability to detect key words (i.e., those which identify topics and
propositions)
 ability to guess the meanings of words from the contexts in which
they occur
 ability to recognize grammatical word classes (part of speech)
 ability to recognize major synthetic patterns and devices
 ability to recognize cohesive devices in spoken discourse
 ability to recognize elliptical forms of grammatical units and
sentences
 ability to detect sentence constituents
 ability to distinguish between major and minor constituents
 ability to detect meanings expressed in differing grammatical
forms/sentences types (i.e., that a particular meaning may be
expressed in different ways)
 ability to recognize the communicative functions of utterances,
according to situations, participants, goals
 ability to reconstruct or infer situations, goals, participant,
procedures
 ability to use real world knowledge and experience to work out
purposes, goals, settings, procedures
 ability to predict outcomes from events described
 ability to infer links and connection between events
 ability to deduce causes and effects from events
 ability to distinguish between literal and implied meanings
 ability to identify and reconstruct topics and coherent structure
from ongoing discourse involving two or more speakers
 ability to recognize markers of coherence in discourse, and to detect
such relations as main idea, supporting idea, given information, new
information, generalization, exemplification
 ability to process speech at different rates
  ability to process speech containing pause, errors, corrections
 ability to make use of facial, paralinguistic, and other clues to work
out meanings
 ability to adjust listening strategies to different kinds of listener
purposes or goals
 ability to signal comprehension or lack of comprehension, verbally
and non-verbally

4. Rost (1994: 142) proposes a partial list of components of listening

proficiency as follows:

“… 1) Discrimination between sounds. 2) Recognizing words. 3)

Identifying stressed words and grouping of words. 4) Identifying
functions (such as apologizing) in conversation. 5) Connecting linguistic
cues to paralinguistic cues (intonation and stress) and to non linguistic
cues (gestures and relevant objects in the situation) in order to
construct meaning. 6) Using background knowledge (what we are
already know about the content and the form) and context (what has
already been said) to predict and then to confirm meaning. 7) Recalling
important words, topics and ideas. 8) Giving appropriate feedback to
the speaker. 9) Reformulating what the speaker has said”.

IV. MICRO AND MACRO SKILLS

Micro skills

a. Discriminate among the distinctive sounds of English.

b. Retain chunks of language of different lengths in short term memory.
c. Recognize English stress patterns, words in stressed and unstressed
positions, rhythmic structures, intonation contours, and their roles in
signaling information.
d. Recognize reduced forms of words.
e. Distinguish word boundaries, recognize a core of words, and interpret word
order patterns and their significance.
f. Process speech at different rate of delivery.
g. Process speech containing pauses, errors, corrections, and other
performance variables.
h. Recognize grammatical word classes (nouns, verb etc.) systems (e.g. tense,
agreement, pluralisation), patterns, rules, and elliptical forms.
i. Detect sentence constituents and distinguish between major and minor
constituents.
j. Recognize that a particular meaning may be expressed in different
grammatical forms.
k. Recognize cohesive devices in spoken discourse.
 Macro skills

l. Recognize the communicative functions of utterance according to situations,

participants, goals.
m. Infer situations, participants, goals using real-word knowledge.
n. From events, ideas, and so on, describes, predict outcomes, infer links and
connections between events, deduce causes and effects, and detect such
relations as main idea, supporting idea, new information, given information,
generalization, and exemplification.
o. Distinguish between literal and implied meanings.
p. Use facial, kinetic, body language, and other nonverbal clues to decipher
meanings.
q. Develop and use a battery of listening strategies, such as detecting key
words, guessing the meaning of words from context, appealing for help, and
signalling comprehension or lack thereof.

Rice Ross Richards Rost

perception skills
analysis skills
synthesis skills
complex
learned
caring
hearing
interpreting
evaluating
responding to oral
messages
discrimination between
sounds
recognizing words
identifying stressed
words and grouping of
words
identifying functions
(such as apologizing) in
conversation
connecting linguistic cues
to paralinguistic cues
(intonation and stress)
and to non linguistic cues
(gestures and relevant
objects in the situation)
 in order to construct
meaning
using background
knowledge (what we are
already know about the
content and the form)
and context (what has
already been said) to
predict and then to
confirm meaning
recalling important
words, topics and ideas
giving appropriate
feedback to the speaker
reformulating what the
speaker has said
ability to retain chunks of
language of different
lengths for short periods

ability to discriminate
among the distinctive
sounds of the target
language

ability to recognize the

stress patterns of words
ability to recognize the
rhythmic structure of
English

ability to recognize the

functions of stress and
intonation to signal the
information structure of
utterances

ability to identify words in

stressed and unstressed
position

ability to recognize
reduced forms of words
ability to distinguish word
boundaries

ability to recognize typical

word order patterns in the
target language

ability to recognize
vocabulary used in core
conversational topics

ability to detect key words

(i.e., those which identify
topics and propositions)

ability to guess the

meanings of words from
the contexts in which they
occur
ability to recognize
grammatical word classes
(part of speech)

ability to recognize major

synthetic patterns and
devices

ability to recognize
cohesive devices in
spoken discourse
ability to recognize
elliptical forms of
grammatical units and
sentences

ability to detect sentence

constituents
ability to distinguish
between major and minor
constituents

ability to detect meanings

expressed in differing
grammatical
forms/sentences types
(i.e., that a particular
meaning may be
expressed in different
ways)

ability to recognize the

communicative functions
of utterances, according
to situations, participants,
goals

ability to reconstruct or
infer situations, goals,
participant, procedures

ability to use real world

knowledge and
experience to work out
purposes, goals, settings,
procedures

ability to predict
outcomes from events
described
ability to infer links and
connection between
events

ability to deduce causes

and effects from events
ability to distinguish
between literal and
implied meanings

ability to identify and

reconstruct topics and
coherent structure from
ongoing discourse
involving two or more
speakers

ability to recognize
markers of coherence in
discourse, and to detect
such relations as main
idea, supporting idea,
given information, new
information,
generalization,
exemplification

ability to process speech

at different rates
 ability to process speech
containing pause, errors,
corrections

ability to make use of

facial, paralinguistic, and
other clues to work out
meanings

ability to adjust listening

strategies to different
kinds of listener purposes
or goals

ability to signal
comprehension or lack of
comprehension, verbally
and non-verbally

V. CONSTRUCT 2
Listening is a language skill acted by a listener to understand and respond
oral communication effectively which includes perception skills, analytical skill,
and synthesis skills.

VI. SCORING RUBRIC FOR LSITENING