EFS 693B - STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Advanced Listening and Vocabulary Development
EFS 693B - STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Advanced Listening and Vocabulary
Development
EFS 693B
Notes: Week 2
CLASS OBJECTIVES
Finish review of Tesla's life
Review notion of word frequency and learning high frequency words
Discuss how to identify and select vocabulary to learn
Learn a simple model for listening practice
Reflect on problems you're having with listening
Begin preparing for independent project
I. Opening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90YsTGklRqA&feature=related; note value of 1) being familiar with the material; 2) having captions/subtitles; listening to music, with its natural patterns of repetition.
II. Review homework
1. General Service List and vocabulary learning: Plan to learn the words on your lists as quickly as possible (Note: I may test you at our first meeting)
a. www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r21270/levels/: a set of tests at various levels (see Homework).
b. To define identified words use
Babylon: www.babylon.com;
Google definitions--look for the "definition" link at the top right of the search page or use the "define: " command
Longman Learner's Dictionary www.ldoceonline.com,
www.dictionary.com or another dictionary of your choosing.
Note that for listening, you need to connect to the sounds, not just the spelling.c. Keep a word/phrase list and review it: here's one possible procedure for doing so
i) note unknown words/phrases that 1) you've seen before, 2) that seem important:
ii) decide whether to take time to learn them (e.g., for words, check frequencies at http://www.lextutor.ca/vp/bnc/
set a reasonable target, e.g., everything below 9K level)
iii) get the word, its definition, and a sentence from the context you saw it in if possible - record them in your list
click here for a sample word list template
iv) collect in groups of 10-20 and review regularly (till you know them quickly)
v) try actively to notice these words in other contexts, and use Google to find more examples2. Listen to http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=448493458864593229 again. Try to find as many new words or phrases as you can (at least 5). If you are unable to hear/spell the word clearly enough to look it up, write down the phrase or sentence it occurs in.
a. Go over word lists together
b. Do gap filler exercise
c. Review vocabulary: How do you know which ones to learn? Again, see http://www.lextutor.ca/vp/bnc, do a Google count (> 1-2M), or just decide it's interesting and useful
d. Lesson learned: try to find material with a transcript to support vocabulary development
3. Watch the first few minutes of http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3211083609505219709&ei=MGfQSdB1oNqoA8uf2PoD. How easy was it to understand after watching the previous videos?
4. Lesson learned: value of "narrow listening," where you listen to several video/audio texts about the same topic. See http://esl-advices.blogspot.com/2006/08/narrow-listening-effective-method-of.html for a simple description and rationale. See http://www.sdkrashen.com/articles/eta_paper/07.html for a more academic view.
III. Three types of dedicated listening practice (in addition to listening in everyday settings for learning and entertainment)
A. Practice in comprehending more effectively
- Getting the basic meaning (preparing, using context, maintaining focus, dealing with lapses)
- Retaining important points (note taking & short-term memory)
- Interpreting and integrating (reflecting, judging, linking to existing knowledge and understanding)
B. Improving processing of language forms (sounds, words phrases, sentences) in conjunction with meaning
- Comprehending faster speech
- Comprehending a range of accents
- Making processing more automatic: improving accuracy, speed, and capacity
C. Increasing language knowledge
- Sound system (phonology): individual sounds, sound clusters and syllables, linking, reduction, rhythm, and intonation
- Vocabulary (words and phrases), including recognizing pronunciation of known items
- Grammar: recognizing the meaning in grammatical endings (like -ing), words (like prepositions and modal auxiliary verbs such as can), and structures (like passive or present perfect)
- Discourse: typical organizational structures of lectures, newscasts, discussions, etc.; how speakers introduce and shift topics and comments
IV. In groups, discuss the problems you are having in listening:
1) Situations/settings
2) Type of content
3) Particular speakers
Consider these for planning and for independent projects:
V. Discussion of independent projects: spend three hours
or more per week with media/materials that will help you improve.
Examples: