Teaching Listening in the EFL Classroom

Basic Concepts:

Listening skills are tied to speaking and pronunciation skills.  Most likely if a student can correctly pronounce something and speak it in a natural and common way - she will understand it when she hears it spoken.  When you have the opportunity to teach pronunciation and listening together - you will see many similarities in the content that you are covering.

Once again you will be teaching students about reductions, linking, stress, and rhythm in natural speech.  But you will also - as in teaching reading (listening and reading are "receptive skills") - be teaching students to listen for main ideas and details.  And like pre-reading - you also set the stage with pre-listening activities to set the context for listening.

Teaching listening skills is rewarding as students can often make good gains rather quickly - with proper instruction.

Expanded Concepts:

Read the following links for discussions about teaching listening skills

The British Council Listening Page - Read the sub-pages too. This is one of the best sections about listening on the Internet.

Listening Comprehension - Concepts and Exercises

Teaching Listening Skills - an EXCELLENT page, read the sub-pages too.