Listening Skills

Introduction

Along with reading, writing, and speaking, it is one of the four primary language learning skills. Therefore, the first stage in learning a language is to develop listening abilities, which are also crucial.

Receiving and comprehending are basic steps of active listening. It is also the capacity to take in, grasp, examine, and interpret the thoughts and messages spoken by others. For instance, attentive listening includes viewing the news and listening to the lecture in class.

Understanding a person's accent, sound pitch, intonation, and body language allows us to listen to them.

Definition of Listening Skills by Scholars

Here are a few fundamental definitions offered by the thinkers. i.e.

1. Dr Rachel Naomi Remen

His perspective of view on listening skills is as follows:

"The most fundamental and effective approach to connect to another person is to listen. Listen only. Our attention is arguably the most significant gift we ever give to one another.

2. Dumont and Lennon

They define listening as "the intricate and selective process of receiving, focusing, deciphering, accepting, and storing," according to their theory on the subject.

Components of Listening Skills

Since successful communication skills include listening, Therefore, the notion of the elements of listening is derived from the very fundamental query. Specifically, can listening skills be taught?

Yes, practising and exercising your listening skills will help you become a better listener. However, you can explain a few things to your class that will help them grasp how to listen, what to listen for, and why an error might be made.

As a result, listening might be challenging for English language learners. Due to the different components that make listening challenging to understand, there are many reasons for improving our listening skills.

The elements listed below can help every ESL (English as Second Language) learner understand language structure more precisely by focusing on them.

1. Layers of Sound

Rather than reading, students are given a single text to follow. However, as we listen, we frequently experience frequent interruptions and hear others at varying levels and speeds. Therefore, to listen effectively, we must pay attention to every little detail of what others are saying or doing.

2. Stress

When a phrase is stressed, some words are highlighted and the overall meaning is altered. Therefore, every ESL learner may accurately perceive language by listening to emphasized words and phrases. As stated in the examples below, the bolded words in these statements correspond to the stressed area, and you will hear many interpretations.

He speaks English. (In this instance,the primary focus is on the person who speaks not anyone else)

He speaks English. (In this example,the stress is on the capability of the person to speak/ That is he speaks the language but possibly he can’t read or write it)

He speaks English. (Here the primary concernis on the language that person speaks/ That is he speaks English but not any other language)

3. Accent

Since written English is essentially the same around the world. However, there are several variations in spoken English because of accents, which can make it extra harder for ESL learners to follow a discussion. Thus, the accent is yet another factor that influences our hearing abilities.

4. Intonation

A sentence's intonation determines how it sounds. Every English speaker changes the pitch of their words throughout a conversation rather than speaking in a monotone. In this approach, the listener is in charge of how he or she interprets the speaker's tone. The most frequent instance is when we ask a straightforward/simple question.

With a falling intonation, this is a simple statement.

Øit’s time to say goodbye ↓

However, with a rising intonation, it refersto a question.

Øit’s time to say goodbye↑

Consequently, we might think about how intonation affects our listening abilities, particularly for ESL learners.

Methods of Listening Skills

Interactive exercises and multimedia materials are both parts of effective contemporary listening skill instruction. The best ways to learn listening skills are through straightforward, interesting activities that emphasise the learning process above the finished output. Any of the following examples can be used to create your strategies for teaching students to listen effectively, regardless of whether you are working with a big or small group of students.

1. Interpersonal Activities

Through interpersonal exercises like role-playing interviews or mock interviews and storytelling, students can improve their listening abilities safely and effectively. Place the kids in groups of two or three, and then give each group a specific listening task to do. You might, for instance, have one student interview another for a position with a business or a newspaper piece. Students can practise active listening skills by asking each other questions as part of any storytelling activity, such as one that responds to the inquiry, "What was your favourite movie from last year?"

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