receiving needs thinking and thinking needs memory.
c. Types of Communicative Listening Activities
There are three stages in listening activities for language learners: pre- listening, while-listening, and post-listening, which will be discussed in detail in
this section. 1 Pre-Listening Activities
According to Goh 2002: 28, pre-listening activities can be differentiated into two main categories, which are language-oriented and knowledge-oriented.
Language-oriented of pre-listening aims to introduce the students about the type of language including the specific words and pronunciation that are used in the
while-listening activities later. This is to facilitate the perception and parsing phases of comprehension Goh, 2002: 28. Knowledge-oriented, on the other
hand, prepares the students by encouraging them to activate or acquire relevant types of their general knowledge. This will facilitate top-down processing Goh,
2002: 28. According to Goh 2002: 28, there are several examples of types of activities in pre-listening section that will be discussed by the writer as follows.
The first example of activities in pre-listening is called brainstorming. In this method, the students are asked by the teacher to call out words or phrases that
are related to the topic to be put on the board or OHP. It is conducted to all of students in that class. Brainstorming is very important to either activate students’
general knowledge related to the topic or prepare the students about the language that will be used in the listening passage.
The second is called Mind-mapping. To recall the students’ world knowledge about related topic and to recognize the language use in the listening,
mind mapping is doing well. It can cover the both categories language-oriented and knowledge oriented of pre-listening activities. In this method, the teacher asks
the students to write down words or draw simple pictures in a web individually. Discussion is going to be the third types of pre-listening activities. It’s
usually conducted by students in a group or in pairs. The students are asked to discuss similar or related issues based on prompt questions or pictures. This
method contains both aspects of language-oriented and knowledge-oriented that will be beneficial for the students’ comprehension to the listening passages.
The fourth type of activities in the pre-listening section is games. Both language-oriented and knowledge oriented exist in this method. There are a lot of
games to be conducted for the students, and they depend on the creativity of the teacher to fit with the topic. It is usually simple word or information-gap games.
The game can be conducted in pairs, in group or whole class. Picturesdiagrams also can be used as the media of pre-listening activities.
The students are asked to complete illustrations with simple drawing or words, for example. This method can be implemented in pairs or individually in listening
class. It is important to activate students’ general knowledge related to the topic or prepare the students about the language that will be used in the listening passage
later. The sixth type is prediction. The students can be asked to predict the
contents, characters, or setting dealing with the listening passage played in the
while-listening activities later. It can be conducted in pairs or individually by the students. Language-oriented and knowledge oriented aspect are included in this
prediction method. The last type is skimming. In this method, the students individually read a
related short text for gist that has been prepared by the teacher. This will help the students to understand more about the listening passage that will be played in the
while-listening activities. Recognizing the language, specific words and pronunciation will be the aim in this activity. Moreover, the students will activate
their world knowledge related to the topic. 2 While-Listening Activities
There are many different kinds of tasks for students to do while they are listening to a passage. The while-listening stage is the most difficult for the
teacher to control, because this is where the student needs to pay attention and process the information actively. However, if the teacher provides a reason, goal,
or task for the learner, this can encourage and help the listener to focus. Below are just a few examples of type of activities cited from swust.net.cn 2009.
The first is called No specific responses. Many researchers in the education field recently research about listening activities in the classroom. It has
shown that by not giving students any task the first time they listen to a passage, it can take the anxiety out of listening. The teacher can make encouraging activities
for the students, such as with stories or with any kind of material that is interesting, humorous, or dramatic, because learners are likely to pay attention and
try to understand in order to enjoy it.
The second is listen and sequence. In this type, the students are asked by the teacher to find out the order of things based on what they hear in the listening
passage. Through this activity, the students will learn to complete a task even when they do not understand every word they hear. This will builds up their
ability to comprehend something by understand, not by memorize it. It will also help them to prepare for the real world where they certainly will not be able to
memorize everything they hear, but understand it. The third is listen and act. It is just like total physical response, which
concentrates on learning language by listening and responding physically to commands or directions. There are many variations of how this can be carried out
in a classroom, depends on the teacher’s creativity to manage the class. The fourth is listen and draw. In this type of activities, the students are
asked to draw pictures, diagrams, etc. on paper based on what they have listened in the recording. It works very well as an information gap activity between pairs
of students. The fifth is listen and fill. This is a kind of activity that teachers are
probably very familiar with. The students read along while they listen to something and fill in the blanks with the words that they hear. It is easy to design
this type of tasks. All teacher needs to do is to decide which words to take out and replace with blanks. Note that it is important not to overdo this type of tasks, since
it gives students the impression that they need to understand every word and it will bore them.
The sixth is listen and guess. For example, the teacher or the student can
provide real descriptions of a person, place, thing, action, etc. Learners write down what they think it is. Games can be implemented in this type of activity,
such as the students listen to the descriptions of something, and then they guess it and write down what they think is being described.
The advantage of doing these types of listening activities in the while- listening section is that it personalizes the lesson so the students are more
interested in listening, especially if a game element is involved where the class can be divided into teams. Competition in the class activity increases the students’
motivation. This type of activity also integrates listening skill with the other skills, especially speaking. Therefore, it helps prepare students for listening situations in
real life where often several skills need to be used simultaneously. 3 Post-Listening Activities
In the post-listening stage the teacher can determine how well the students have understood what they listen. “Post-listening activities should be an extension
of communicative outcomes and listening materials” Goh, 2002: 29. However, it is important to design the tasks well.
One important point to keep in mind is whether the teachers are testing the students’ listening comprehension or their memory as mentioned in the
“Principles for teaching listening” section. If the listening text is too long or complicated, students can forget what they have heard even in their native
language. It is also possible for the students to remember and repeat things they heard, even if they did not understand them. But, it is more common for people to
understand more than they can remember exactly what words were said.
In her book, Goh 2002: 29 writes about the aims that can be achieved in the post-listening activities. These aims include helping the students to practice
other language skills Speaking, reading and writing using the same themetopic. Post-listening activities also can help the students to examine and reinforce
language points e.g. grammar, vocabulary, useful expression. Moreover, it can help the students to personalize the contents of the listening material e.g. literary
texts. The last aim is to help the students in acquiring further content knowledge related to the themetopic of the listening material.
There are several types of activities in this post-listening activity, as mentioned in the Goh’s book 2002: 30:
1. Short written texts individual -Write letters, postcards, messages, diaries, dialogues, poems based on the
listening text or to extend it. 2. Summaries individualpair
-Summarizes the whole text or a pre-selected part orally or in writing. 3. Oral presentation Individualpairwhole class
-Short informal presentations or listening outcomes. 4. Dramatization pairgroup
-Dramatize the whole texts or a portion of it. 5. Role play grouppair
-Continue the story or situation by assuming the roles of people in the text. 6. Language analysis pairwhole class
-Examine grammatical feature or language used in the text type; examine
selected phonological modifications in the listening materials. 7. Language work Individual
-Modify the listening text by transforming tenses of verbs, changing nouns and pronouns from singular to plural forms, or male to female, or vice versa.
8. Vocabulary work individualpair -use selected vocabulary items in further writing or speaking tasks.
9. Recording pairgroup -Make an audio or video recording based on listening outcomes or as an
extension of the listening text. 10. Group sharing grouppair
-One member of each group circulates among other groups to share listening outcomes.
11. Publication group -The findings from simulation and discussion tasks on contemporary issues are
published in print or on-line. 12. Reading individualpair
-Read related texts for comprehension and further information. 13. Oral practice individualpair
-Use the listening text e.g. poem, transcripts of dialogues to practice pronunciation reading aloud.
The writer combined all the explanations about the nature of teaching listening, principles for teaching listening and types of communicative listening
activities to support the making of listening instructional design later. Those theories above are used by the writer in order to achieve the most effective
teaching and learning activities when it is applied in the classroom. Moreover, by following the theories, the writer wishes to complete the objectives of the lesson
and also can encourage the students’ motivation through attractive communicative listening activities.
3. Communicative Language Teaching
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