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EFS 693B - STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Advanced Listening and Vocabulary Development

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EFS 693B

Notes: Week 5

 

 

I.  Another interesting website, http://lingual.net: video clips: some with subtitles, transcripts, and comprehension quizzes Their old site has a more consistent interface: www.lingual.net/lingualproductitems/details.php.

 

II. Any questions about the English sound system - an overview?

            A. Basic sounds (phonemes): http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#; see also http://www.manythings.org/pp/ for practice with difficult sound distinctions

            B. Rhythm: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_timing

            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/linguistics issues/ReducedForms.html.

Review handout on Reduced Forms

 

III. Quiz on "No Time to Think" (15 minutes)

        

IV. Reminder: We've talked about three types of listening activities: practice for comprehending more effectively, practice for building language knowledge, and practice for improving language processing. This week we'll focus on practice for comprehending more effectively.

 

Most of the time you listen, your goal is to understand. However, depending on the situation, you may need to understand very well or just get the basic idea. Sometimes you are listening for specific information (for example, listening to a weather report if you're planning an outdoor activity the next day), sometimes you're trying to pick out key ideas and the information that supports them (as in a lecture), sometimes you're trying to be entertained (listening to a TV show or movie), and there are many other situations, each with their own objectives. And once you understand something at whatever the desired level is, how much of that understanding do you need to retain in some form so that you can make use of it later? And how do you interpret that information and integrate it into what you already know? In most cases you're trying to do one or more of the following:

-  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)

You can improve in each of these areas by doing listening activities that focus on them.

 

Getting the basic meaning. We've already seen that preparing for listening is an important first step, so most of the time when you're listening to improve comprehension, you want to prepare appropriately, activating background information and making predictions about what you might hear. If you practice pre-listening regularly, you're more likely to transfer that valuable strategy to your everyday life. Preparing also makes it more likely that you will pay attention to the context, including visual information, and make use of that information to help you keep track of what you're hearing. Other problems with getting the basic meaning include keeping up with the speed of the speaker, staying focused (not letting your mind wander), and linking the specifics of what you're hearing to the "bigger picture" so that you are able to distinguish the main points from the details, the facts from the opinions, and so on. Finally, if you get lost or distracted, you need to be able to return without losing too much of the information. During listening practice, you can focus your attention on these needs. For example. Pausing recorded material at regular intervals or anytime you feel yourself losing concentration or getting lost is a good way to get back on track.

 

Retaining important points. As you listen and build your understanding of a spoken text  (lecture, presentation, conversation, story, or whatever), it's important to be able to retain and recall key parts of it that will help you remember the rest. It doesn't help to say you "understood everything" if you don't remember it a few minutes later. In academic or professional settings, taking notes is often the most effective way of doing this. Taking notes is not a natural activity for humans, but an acquired skill. This is especially true in a second language because it's especially hard to interpret and write down ideas while trying to stay focused on what the speaker is saying. Like all skills, you get better if you practice it, so take notes--good notes--whenever you can. Another good skill to develop is to quickly summarize material as soon s you've heard it, using your short term memory to help you internalize the information before you lose it. This is especially important in situations where taking notes is impossible or might be considered impolite (such as at a social gathering). A good practice activity for this is to listen to a clip or a part of a longer text (less than five minutes) and pause and summarize it orally or in writing before continuing. This also gives some good practice in producing English. Interestingly, if you know you're going to have to do this, you seem to pay closer attention, so it's a good motivator too.

 

Interpreting and integrating. We are not just tape recorders. When we listen even in our native languages, we are constantly judging what we hear, deciding how true or convincing it is, how interesting or useful it is, how it connects with what we already know. When listening in a second language, it's sometimes difficult to do this effectively, and as a result, what is heard is only remembered partially if at all. Although it's hard to do this when you're listening to live material, with recorded material it's easier to gain the time to reflect. Use the pause button regularly, not just to be sure you understand, but to savor and critically evaluate what is coming in.

 

Cognitive resource limitations. In addition to the preceding, an important concept to be aware of as you practice is your cognitive resource limitations. Basically, this refers to the increasingly well-documented observation that the human brain is not good at focusing attention on more than one or two things at a time. In your native language, processing is automatic, so it's easier to notice a single new word or phrase, to interpret, and to recall details. Not so in a second language: when new words or idioms are encountered, or the speed or accent make it difficult to process what you hear rapidly, or the information itself is new or abstract, your brain takes longer to process the information and even with more time may do it incorrectly. Current learning theory suggests trying to avoid cognitive overload. That means taking advantage of comprehension tools when needed (text support, slower speed, pausing, etc.), selecting material for practice that is usually not too far beyond your ability to understand easily, and working with familiar topics of interest so that you can bring in your existing knowledge to aid comprehension. It also means building up the other areas we'll be discussing over the next two weeks--language knowledge (especially vocabulary) and processing ability--so that these become more unconscious and automatic over time as they are in your native language. If you're having trouble understanding well, especially the second or third time through a piece, it may be because you're just asking your brain to do more than it reasonably can.

 

V. Go to the Online News Hour: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/. We'll look at both today's shows and the archive: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/newshour_index.html.

 

VI. Technical training: how to get more control of the media player (in a PC). Go to a site that has Windows media player as an option, like http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1524. 

  1. Load  the video using the Windows Media Player download option

  2. Save it to your desktop, then open with Windows Media Player.

  3. Open the file using Windows Media Player, giving you the full playbar and allowing access to speed control and the graphic equalizer (set to speech). Note that these are accessible by right-clicking on the top bar and selecting View > Enhancements

 

VII. Option: using the VLC media player: go to www.videolan.org/vlc/ to download player or use the machines in the Meyer Lab (second floor): See detailed instructions here. Note: for some reason the VLC player doesn't handle the sound in ecorner videos well. You can use it for esl-lab though

  1. Load  the video into the VLC Player, using the Media menu. Use "Open Network Stream" if you have a URL for it.

  2. If you don't have the URL handy, right click on the video screen and select "properties" to find it; alternatively, for Flash videos you may be able to get it by using View > source and searching for "flv". Sometimes, you just can't find it.

  3. Note that the speed control is on top: you can also jump back two seconds using Shift- <-- and one minute using Ctrl - <-- (use the same with forward-arrow to jump forward)

 

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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.
 
1) Continue working on your independent project. Remember to incorporate any suggestions made in the individual meetings. Plan to do some combination of 3-6 sessions for a total of at least three hours. Try to have a mixture of objectives that includes not only comprehension, but also building language knowledge and improving processing. Be sure you are doing something about reviewing your vocabulary. Get the report form here
 
2) Read (IV) above and think about what it means to both your everyday listening and especially your independent project work. This should only take about 10 minutes, but it's a very important 10 minutes. Come to class next week with any questions you might have after going through it.

 

3) Go to the Online News Hour: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/. You can either pick a story from the current program or look at the archives under "recent programs" http://www.pbs.org/newshour/newshour_index.html and find one there. Use the following listening lesson procedure through at least one story: (note, if you're already using this for your independent study, do this anyway--it shouldn't count as part of your three hours)

    A. Pre-listening: Read about the story. Think about what you already know of the topic and predict what you might hear. If you don't know much about the topic, go to http://news.google.com and search for a recent article to read before listening.
    B. While listening: The first time through, pause occasionally (more often if you're having trouble) and try to recall what you know up to that point; jot down a note of the time for interesting or difficult parts. This is called a "punctuated presentation."
    C. Post-listening: What do you remember? What should you do next?
        - Listen again to the full story for comprehension, or listen to selected parts for comprehension
        - Look at the transcript for comprehension help; look up key words that you don't understand--don't worry about others.

        - Listen straight through one more time

Bring your notes to the next class and come prepared to discuss your experience.

4) Ecorner with Marissa Mayer: trying different speeds:

A. Go to http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1524. Follow the instructions in VI to set the graphic equalizer to speech and activate the play speed control. Prepare for listening by reading Mayer's bio and looking at the description. Listen to the clip first at slow speed (70 or 80%) and then again at normal speed. Did slowing it down seem to help your comprehension? Were you able to notice new words, reductions and linking, more easily?

 

B. Try the next clip http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1525. For this one, listen first at normal speed and then again at slow speed (70-80). Did you notice a difference in your comprehension?

 

C. Try the third clip http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1526. For this one, start at normal speed and then pause and change the speed as needed. Go through two times using this method.

Describe your experience briefly on your next report. Does the slower speed seem to help or hinder your comprehension? Which of the three options (A, B, or C) do you think would work best for you when listening to fast speech?
 
5) Prepare to discuss your individual project with other students in the class (bring a copy of your report to help you remember)
       1) What material are you using?
       2) Why did you pick that? What are your objectives?
       3) Give an example of an effective procedure you're using. Why do you think it's effective?
       4) What is the most useful thing you've learned so far from the project?
       5) What is your main problem in doing the project?

 

Last modified: April 26, 2010, by Phil Hubbard