1. +
Listening to Learn or
Learning to Listen?
Larry Vandergift
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics
Andrea Derr and Kaitlyn Hinze

2. +
“Listening is probably the least
explicit of the four language skills,
making it the most difficult skill to
learn” p. 3

3. + Cognitive Processes in
Listening Comprehension
 Listening instruction has changed, beginning with the “listening to
repeat” approach in the audio-lingual approach, developing into the
“question-answer” comprehension approach, and now we use the
real-life listening in real time, with communicative tasks and
interactions with native speakers. (p. 3)
 Listeners use top-down processes when they use context and prior
knowledge clues. Listeners use bottom-up processes when they
develop meaning by using accretion (gradually combining
increasingly larger units of meaning). Listeners use different
processes determined by the purpose of listening. Research
suggests that L2 learners need to learn to use both processes.

4. + Cognitive Processes in Listening
Comprehension (continued!)
 Native language listeners carry out processes
automatically with little attention to individual words (p. 4).
L2 listeners have limited language knowledge as
beginning-level learners, so little of what they hear can be
automatically processed. They are focused more on the
details of what they hear.
 Research suggests that listening instruction has favored
the development of top-down processes, sometimes
hindering development of bottom-down processes.

5. +
Empirical Studies on Listening
Instruction
 Context visuals prepare listeners for text or verbal
exchanges. Content visuals support the text. Content
visuals do slightly enhance the comprehension of mini-
talks, but context visuals decrease comprehension.
These visuals require processing, which consumes
memory and attention that would be needed to attend to
listening comprehension.
 Beginning level ELLs are limited by working memory
constraints. Advance organizers to help listeners focus on
desired information are most effective for processing. (p.
6)

6. +
Empirical Studies on Listening
Instruction
 In regards to DVDs with captions, students acquire more
vocabulary and recall passages better with the help of
both pictorial and written annotations.
 Efficient and effective use of bottom-up skills in
comprehension appears to be related to the degree to
which word recognition skills are automatized. (p. 8)
 Studies highlight the importance of the effective use of
metacognitive strategies for successful listening
comprehension. Four strategies have proven most
effective: total metacognitive strategy use,
comprehension monitoring, questioning elaboration, and
online translation.

7. + Instructional Observations
 Limitations of working memory prove that supports provided to the
listener should relate directly to the text and the listening task (p.
9).
 Captions, annotations, and computer programs to slow speech
may prove useful for developing word recognition and
vocabulary, but their value in teaching students how to listen has
been deemed questionable.
 Visual supports natural to the listening situation can provide
important context clues to assist the listener.
 Context is important to listening, as listeners use any relevant
information at their disposal to interpret.
 A strategies-based approach with beginner-level listeners builds
confidence, raises awareness of the listening process, and helps
listeners learn to use effective combinations of metacognitive and
cognitive strategies to understand texts in real time (p. 10)

8. +
Teaching Students How to Listen
 To help listeners develop strategies, teachers need to understand
how listeners arrived at answers, especially when incorrect.
 Recent literature indicates a greater interest in raising student
awareness of the process of listening, so a process approach can
help listeners learn HOW to listen, guiding them through the
stages in real-life listening.
 Stages of Listening Instruction (and related metacognitive
strategies)
 Planning/ Predicting Stage (planning and directed attention)
 First Verification Stage (monitoring, planning, and selective attention)
 Second Verification Stage (monitoring, problem solving, evaluation)
 Final Verification Stage (selective attention and monitoring)
 Reflection Stage (evaluation)

9. +
*Listening comprehension involves two
types of processes that interact with
each other freely to help listeners
construct a meaningful interpretation of
what they hear; therefore, teaching
listeners how to use the processes will
need to balance a top-down, strategies-
based approach with remedial, bottom-
up training (p. 14)

10. +
Different Types of Listening
 Academic Listening (lectures, note taking,
etc.)
 Bidirectional Listening (collaborative
listening)
 Narrow Listening (repeated listening)
 Listening to train the ear

11. + Sociolinguistic Dimensions of
Listening Instruction
 Understanding nonverbal elements and nonverbal
paralinguistic elements are important
 Illustrative
gestures corresponding to L2 words can
facilitate word recognition and provide important
clues for interpreting.

12. + Sociolinguistic Dimensions of
Listening Instruction (continued!)
 Research and literature on listening has been minimal,
and the authors outline needs for future research:
 Investigate pedagogic approaches that do not short-circuit the
strategic dimension of L2 listening
 Continue to investigate the relative contribution of top-down and
bottom-up processing at different proficiency levels for different
tasks
 Investigate conditions needed for technology-enhanced language
learning to exert a beneficial influence on the learners’ listening
comprehension strategy development
 Further research on teaching listeners in classroom settings how to
negotiate meaning, clarify misunderstandings, and contribute to the
conversation
 Research into the components of L2 listening to help teachers
better understand what needs to be emphasized in listening
instruction.

13. +
Questions!
 1.) Read the following quote, then decide whether or not you
agree or disagree with it. Explain your answer!
“Listening is probably the least explicit of the four language skills
(Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening), making it the most
difficult skill to learn”
 2.) Take a look back at the four types of listening: Academic,
Bidirectional, Narrow, and Listening to Train the Ear. Which of
these four types do you think you will incorporate most in your
future ESL classroom. Which one do you think creates the best
& most successful listeners?

14. +
Article
 Vandergift, L. (2004). Listening to learn or learning to
listen? Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 24, 3-25.