Abstract
Most students report that their listening skills are poor and that listening activities make them anxious. It is necessary to develop a work plan to improve their attitude towards such activities. This contribution tries to highlight the importance of enhancing the listening skills of education students in order to improve their results in compulsory English courses and reduce their fear of listening activities. Such fear is due to their lack of training in these skills. Increasing the exposure of students to real input in an anxiety-free environment can gradually improve their listening skills. I propose a one-semester parallel extensive listening programme in which students are given instructions to follow. This programme considerably improves students’ listening strategies and also leads to significant changes in students’ attitudes toward listening activities. Self-confidence reduces students’ fear and anxiety, leading to better results. The activity is part of students’ compulsory TEFL course; students record their progress in an online diary on the course platform that is discussed with the teacher in a personal interview.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
There is a bilingual group in the primary education degree whose characteristics regarding the English language are not comparable to those of the other groups.
- 2.
Levels are established according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
- 3.
- 4.
It is easy to recall the days when on of the only opportunities to listen to ‘real English’ in Spain was to buy magazines such as Speak Up. Later, DVDs provided the opportunity to watch films in their original language with or without subtitles. Today, the web allows FL teachers to find an unlimited amount of listening materials about a broad range of topics that are suitable for all types of lessons.
- 5.
For a more academic classification of podcasts according to their origin and use, see Ramos and Cortina (2010).
- 6.
At the beginning of the course entitled Lengua Extranjera y su Didáctica, students are administered a questionnaire on their expectations from the course and the teacher and their personal needs regarding the English language. This is complemented by a self-evaluation according to CEFR levels and skills. Results show that students are much more confident in reading and writing than in listening and speaking and that their average level is A2.
References
Field, J. (2011). Into the mind of the academic listener. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 10, 102–112.
Garelli, P., & Betti, S. (2010). Nuove tecnologie e isegnamento delle lingue straniere. Milano: Franco Angeli.
Graham, S. (2011). Self-efficacy and academic listening. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 10, 113–117.
Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and learning in the language classroom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Helgesen, M. (1998). Learning to listen. ESL Magazine, 1–4, 24–25. Retrieved on January 20, 2014, from http://www.mgu.ac.jp/~ic/helgesen/marc.article2.htm
Jordan, R. R. (1997). English for academic purposes. A guide and resource book for teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kirkpatrick, A. (2007). World englishes. Implications for international communication and english language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lord, G. (2008). Podcasting communities and second language pronunciation. Foreign Language Annals, 41(2), 364–379.
Lynch, T. (2011). Academic listening in the 21st century: Reviewing a decade of research. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 10, 79–88.
Madrid, D., & McLaren, N. (1995). Didactic procedures for TEFL. Valladolid: La Calesa.
Meng, P. (2005). Podcasting and vodcasting: A white paper, definitions, discussions and implications. University of Missouri IAT services. Available from http://www.tfaoi.com/cm/3cm/3cm310.pdf
Ramos García, A. M., & Caurcel, M. J. (2011). Los podcasts como herramienta de enseñanza-aprendizaje en la universidad. Profesorado. Revista de currículum y formación del profesorado, 15(1), 151–162.
Ramos García, A. M., & Cortina, B. (2010). Immersed in the digital age: Podcasts as a tool for the development of listening comprehension in the foreign language classroom. In M. Cal Varela, M. F. J. Fernández Polo, L. Gómez García, & I. Palacios Martínez (Eds.), Current issues in language teaching and learning: An international perspective (pp. 161–172). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Read, J. (2002). The use of interactive input in EAP listening assessment. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 1, 105–119.
Rosell-Aguilar, F. (2007). Top of the pods: In search of a podcasting “Podagogy” for language learning. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 20(5), 471–492. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588220701746047.
Rosell-Aguilar, F. (2009). Podcasting for language learning: Re-examining the potential. In L. Lomicka & G. Lord (Eds.), The next generation: Social networking and online collaboration in foreign language learning (pp. 13–34). San Marcos: CALICO.
Skehan, P. (2003). Focus on form, tasks, and technology. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 16(5), 391–411.
Ur, P. (2001). Teaching listening comprehension. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix
Appendix
Examples of materials provided to students:
-
1.
Podcasts to improve listening and/or speaking
-
Eleven English podcasts every English learner should listen to http://www.fluentu.com/english/blog/esl-english-podcasts/
-
Five-Minute English: http://www.5minuteenglish.com/listening.htm
-
5-Minute TOPs: Learn English with Quotes and Song Lyrics
-
BBC podcasts: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts
-
British Council: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/elementary-podcasts
-
English A+
-
English as a Second Language Podcast. Learn English Online (ESLPod)
-
English Conversations
-
English Through Stories
-
English to Go
-
ESL Lab: http://www.esl-lab.com
-
Learn conversational English for everyday use https://culips.com/
-
Podcasts in English: https://www.podcastsinenglish.com/
-
The English We Speak
-
‘Your English’ Podcasts: http://www.qualitytime-esl.com/spip.php?rubrique24 (free English lessons with oral drills)
-
-
2.
Audio books
-
Librivox: http://librivox.org
-
Best Free Audio Books Online (some of them are podcasts): http://www.learnoutloud.com/content/blog/archives/2009/04/best_free_audio.html
-
-
3.
Online exercises and MP3
-
British Council: http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-central-listening-downloads-articles.htm
-
BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/downloads.shtml
-
Learning English Online: http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/
-
Oxford Headway Online: https://elt.oup.com/student/headway/?cc=usandselLanguage=enandmode=hub
-
English grammar help and podcasts.
-
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ramos-García, A.M. (2018). English for Academic Purposes: A Proposal to Improve Listening Skills of Education Students. In: Muñoz-Luna, R., Taillefer, L. (eds) Integrating Information and Communication Technologies in English for Specific Purposes. English Language Education, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68926-5_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68926-5_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-68925-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-68926-5
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)