EFS 693B - STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Advanced Listening and Vocabulary
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EFS 693B
Notes: Week 3
I. Opening: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I24bSteJpw; discussion of vocabulary tests and Week 2 reports
II. 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:
III. Homework: "The importance of selective information," Carly Fiorina: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1716, and other material from her talk.
Discuss the following questions in small groups:
A. What did you do to prepare for listening to this?
B. What was the difference between your first and second listening? Did you go straight through both times? Did you pause--if so when? Did you ever rewind?
C. When you did the dictation, how did you do it? What errors did you notice? (spelling, grammar, getting the right words, etc.)
D. What did you think of Fiorina's speaking style. What made her easy or difficult to understand?
E. Did you put the transcript into the vocabulary profiler at http://www.lextutor.ca/vp/bnc/? Did that help you recognize words you didn't know?
F. How did you watch the other five clips from Fiorina's talk? How well did you understand them?
IV. Suggestions for how to do your Independent Project: example from http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2236. Link what you do to general objectives (A, B, and C below). Note that this is just one of many possible procedures: you don't have to work on all three objectives with everything you listen to..
A. Listen for meaning
1. Pre-listening: Preview the topic and think about it before listening; predict what you might hear
2. While listening: Use the pause and rewind when needed
3. Post-listening: Write or record a quick summary of what you remember--this is like a self quiz
4. Determine what you understood and missed the first time (if possible): focus on figuring out missed parts
5. Repeat, starting at #2--turn on the subtitles if needed
6. Watch a final time without subtitles or pausing, but with focused concentration
7. Think about what you learned here and how you might use the ideas
B. Improve processing: transcription (dictation)
1. Listen again to the first 30 seconds or so--pause.
2. Do a transcription of the next 20-30 seconds or so. Try to listen to a short piece (2-3 seconds), pause, and then write what you heard.
Note that you don't have to do a whole sentence at a time. Don't repeat until the end of the 30-second segment.
3. After 2-3 times through, check your answer against the script. Pay close attention to what you're missing. Especially, note linkings, reduced forms (see IV, below), and grammar errors.
4. Listen to the next 30 seconds or so without transcribing, then start another transcription segment if you want. Don't do too much of t his--it can get tiresome.
C. Increase language knowledge: build vocabulary
1. Look through the text without listening and underline every word or phrase that you aren't sure of. Double underline any that look particularly interesting or important
2. Listen again while you read. Pause when you come to an underlined word and try to guess the meaning from the context. Move on quickly if you can't.
3. Use an online dictionary to look up all the double underlined words; use Google to look for other examples and definitions of phrases/idioms (note: you may not find all of them--that's OK).
4. Keep the new words/phrases in a list--note, if you have identified a lot of words, go to www.lextutor.ca/vp/bnc/ to help you select which ones to study.
The list should include the word, one or more definitions, its translation (optional), and the sentence in which it occurred (this will help you remember the context you encountered it in).
5. Study them regularly
IV. The English sound system - an overview
A. Basic sounds (phonemes): http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#
B. Rhythm: http://languageinstinct.blogspot.com/2006/10/stress-timed-rhythm-of-english.html
C. Stress: www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/word-stress.htm
D. Intonation: www.americanaccent.com/intonation.html
E. Linking: www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/linking.htm
F. Reduced forms: www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/ReducedForms.html
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Homework: Unless otherwise stated (e.g., the independent project) you should complete this material in time to discuss it in the following class. Be sure to bring notes if requested. This homework is for two weeks.
1) Check the preceding websites: make sure you understand how processing the sound can affect your comprehension. Note that these websites can help you with your pronunciation as well.
2) Be sure to do this before (3). Listen to www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv99WA0xyNk, which continues the topic of information overload. Write a one paragraph summary of Ted Koppel's main points and your reaction to them. Include that summary with your independent project report.
3) Listen to www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHGcvj3JiGA, a Google tech talk on information overload titled "No Time to Think" by David Levy. Note that this is about a 50-minute lecture, so be sure to save enough time to listen to it while pausing and rewinding as needed You do not have to listen to the question session at the end but may if you wish. Do the following:
1. Prepare for listening by reading the abstract and bio of the speaker. Listen to the introduction of the speaker as well. Predict what you might hear him say.
2. Listen closely as you would to a lecture and take good notes. Pause every few minutes and try to summarize what you heard without looking at your notes.
3. Make a note of any section that is confusing (check the time stamp) and return to it for a second viewing.
4. Bring your notes to the next class: I will give you a quiz on the material and you may use your notes to help you answer.
4) Begin working on your independent project. Plan to do at least four 45-minute sessions this week on different days, for a total of three hours. Obviously, more is better if you can find the time. Your first report is due Monday, April 19. Use the report form here.
5) The following week, do your independent project again. I will try to get you feedback on your first one if I can. Once again, you need to do three hours, even though we do not have class that week. The report form for that is here (available soon).
NOTE: THERE IS NO CLASS NEXT WEEK. We will have our first individual meeting the following week to discuss your progress.