ENGLISH LISTENING

STRATEGIES
PARADOX ►
► techniques or activities that contribute directly to the
comprehension and recall of listening input
► a statement that may seem contradictory but can be ► can be classified by how the listener process the input
true (or at least make sense)
► makes them stand out and play an important role in
literature
► can be simply be entertaining brain teasers
TOP-DOWN
► require using previous knowledge and experiences to

— “Less is more.”
⤿ something less complicated is often more appreciated
— “I desire to perish, and yet I ask health”
⤿ how can one want to die also want to be healthy?
allow the listeners to relate to the listening text and to
make connections that will help in identifying main ideas,
summarizing information, making inferences and
predictions, discerning problems & solution, making
judgements, etc.

Example: thought-provoking paradox

- Save money by spending it.
BOTTOM-UP
► requires paying attention to cues (word stress, pause,
- If I know one thing, it’s that I know nothing.
- This is the beginning of the end. and repetition) in order to identify specific details and key
ideas in a listening text
Example: paradox with a witty bent
- Here are the rules: Ignore all rules. ✓ WHY IS LISTENING IMPORTANT?
- The second sentence is false. The first sentence ► it should be not difficult to realize the importance of
is true. listening, when we consider that it occupies about 45% of
- I only message those who do not message. the time adults spend in communication
⤿ this is significantly more than speaking, which
accounts for 30%, and reading and writing, which makes up
PURPOSEFUL PARADOX 16% and 9% respectively
► Paradoxes have important implications in the world
of literature. They take aim at the overall theme.
⤿ Take George Orwell, for example. Animal Farm
was all about class distinctions and inequalities. With
one paradoxical line, he highlighted what was true for
him.
 ► a pair or set of words may be pronounced in a connected,
USING PROSODIC sliding manner while another may be marked by pauses
Example:
FEAUTURES OF - Ice / cream I / scream
- That / stuff That’s / tough
SPEECH CORRECTLY - A / name An / aim

↻ INTONATION
PROSODIC FEATURES rise and fall of the voice in speech depends on the
►
meaning of speaker intends to make
► features that appear when we put sounds together in
connected speech — Falling intonation
⤿ it is as important to teach learners prosodic features ⤿ used when simply stating a fact or when
as successful communication depends as much on asking a question not answerable by yes or no
intonation, stress and rhythm as on the correct Example:
pronunciation of sounds - Folly is a bad quality.
- Why is folly a bad quality?
— Rising intonation
↻ STRESS
⤿ may signal an exclamation or a yes-no
► in the following pair of words, note how shifting the
question
stress (‘) from one syllable to another changes the
Example:
meaning of a word
- Folly is a bad quality!
Example: - Folly is a bad quality?
- Récord (noun)
- Recórd (verb)

↻ PITCH
► high or low pitch can indicate shifts in the emotional
tone of a spoken message
— High pitch
⤿ may indicate anger, excitement, or other strong
emotions
— Low pitch
⤿ may indicate sadness or disinterest
Example:
- Anime is not the same as cartoons! (the change
in pitch may suggest a strong objection to the
misconception that anime and cartoons are the same)
- Anime is not the same as cartoons. (the absence
of pitch change may indicate that the statement is
merely stating the fact that anime and cartoons are
two different genres)

SPOKEN TEXT
↻ JUNCTURE
► pauses in speech, or they absence, indicate theSPOKEN LANGUAGE
relationship of sounds units between words ► different from written language for many reasons
 ⤿ one important reason is that it usually has to be
understood immediately whereas written language can
be read many times

✓ WETHER IT IS ORDINARY EVERYDAY

COVERSATION, IN SPEECHES OR IN OTHER
SPEAKING SITUATIONS, PEOPLE SPEAK FOR
DIFFERENT REASONS INCLUDING THE
FOLLOWING:
a. To inform – to relay information, provide
knowledge, or give instruction to the listeners or
audience
b. To entertain – to amuse and engage the listeners
or audience, through the use of humor and wit
c. To inspire – to motivate or to stimulate good and
positive feelings in the listeners to audience
d. To persuade – to convince the listeners or
audience to accept a fact or opinion or to take
particular course of action

⇨ To be effective, a spoken text must be able to

achieve the purpose of its speaker who may employ a
variety of techniques.

⇨ Aristotle also argued that there are three

primary ways to make a persuasive appeal. These three
rhetorical appeals are at the heart of communication.
a. eTHOS (appeal to ethics) – used as a means of
convincing an audience via the authority or
credibility of the persuader, be it a notable or
experienced figure in the field or even a popular
celebrity
b. PATHOS (appeal to emotion) – way of
convincing an audience of an argument by creating
an emotional response to an impassioned plea or
convincing story
c. logos (appeal to logic) – way of persuading an
audience with reason, using facts and figures