Listening tasks
The choice of possible comprehension exercises for listening will depend on:
- the nature of the listening situation (public or private, listening for particular or general information);
- the style of listening (ie how the students have to listen), either selective, detailed or global;
- the type of understanding the tutor wishes to assess (general, specific, limited, partial or complete).
Consider the following table:
|
Listening
situation
|
Listening
style
|
Target
understanding
|
| Interested in particular information (eg in weather forecast, whether it is going to rain where you are) | Selective | Limited and partial |
| Want to understand all aspects of a TV programme on a topic you are currently studying | Detailed | Specific and complete |
| General interest in topic, want to grasp main ideas only in a radio report | Global | General |
(Based on an idea in Bolton, 1996:158)
Activity 19
Now use the abbreviations introduced in 14.4.1.1
(GR, OE, MC, TF and OM) to indicate in the following table which exercise
type each of the tasks described belongs to:
|
Test
format
|
Student
task
|
Exercise
type
|
| Spoken text and clock faces | Enter times heard onto clockface | |
| Picture and oral statements about it | Decide whether each statement is correct | |
| Spoken text and map with key to symbols | Put symbols on map in relation to what you hear | |
| Several pictures and one oral statement | Tick the appropriate picture | |
| Spoken text and written L1 statements | Decide whether each statement is correct | |
| Spoken questions and several written answers on each | Tick the appropriate answers | |
| Spoken text and written key words relating to it | Tick which of the ideas occurs in the text | |
| Spoken text and L1 questionnaire | Write in L1 words on questionnaire | |
| Spoken text and street map | Transfer data to street map | |
| Spoken text and several oral statements | Tick the appropriate statement | |
| Pictures and oral statements | Decide which pictures go with which statements | |
| Spoken text | Draw an object described in the text | |
| Spoken text and oral statements about it | Decide whether each statement is correct | |
| Spoken text and jumbled pictures | Put pictures in correct sequence | |
| Spoken text and several written L1 statements | Tick the appropriate statement | |
| Spoken numbers or dates | Write down figures |
(Based on typology in Doyé, 1988, and task in Bolton, 1996: 59-61)
Click on 'Commentary' for the completed table.
Space does not allow us to consider each of these activities in detail, but readers are referred to Hughes (1989: 134-40), and Weir (1990: 43-51) for further discussion of approaches to listening assessment and test types.
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