This week´s discussion on listening tools to introduce in our L2 classes was really appealing to me since I think it is really interesting to incorporate real world listening materials into our class. I learned a lot both by reading the articles for this week and also by listening to Samantha, who promoted a very good discussion on the topic. What was most important for me was to know that some podcasts like TedTalks offer the transcripts and discussion topics for free. In my experience with other podcasts in the past, people were asked to pay in order to get the transcript of them or get discussion materials or activities. Furthermore, lifestyle videos can also be very motivating and engaging for our L2 students. Nevertheless, it is important to keep in mind some strategies before choosing listening materials for our classes. Furthermore, just because we, instructors, like something does not mean that it is interesting or appropriate for our students. We need to considere some aspects before implementing audio materials in our classroom:
Select an appropriate authentic text
• Content and age appropriate. The objective is that they feel engaged.
• Language level appropriate. The students need to understand it to like it.
• Choose texts that offer more contextual support. Students need to infer.
Focus on literal and interpretive comprehension
- Think about how you can support inferencing.
- Think about the support learners will need.
- Consider whether commenting it aloud is necessary or helpful.
To Do things...
• lead productive/structured text-based discussions?
• Some tips/techniques?
• always introduce video/audio/readings in the context of a sequence of activities that
will lead you to a TASK
In the article by Yanguas, I found it really interesting that the author mentions ways of interacting among students that support the teaching methodology of TBI/TBLT. A good example of this is jigsaw tasks. They can also be used for listening activities or even speaking activities. What do you guys think?
This is a very thoughtful post, and I especially like your points about selecting appropriate authentic texts/podcasts/videocasts and on focusing on both literal and interpretative comprehension. Inferencing is an important yet potentially difficult task for L2 learners, and often support and scaffolding are needed, so this is definitely something that teachers need to consider when using authentic materials. I also very much like your recommendation to introduce (authentic) materials in the context of a sequence of activities that will lead to a task. Too often, we find a "cool" YouTube video, but show it as a stand-alone, in isolation. The more it can be integrated into a coherent set of activities that have an ultimate task goal, the better it might be processed and remembered.
ReplyDeleteDear Dr. Chun,
DeleteThank you so much for your comment. I agree with what you say and I look forward to implementing more audio activities in my Spanish class :)
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ReplyDeleteDear Alexandra,
DeleteI loved reading your post of this week. After reading your post, I can see that we agree in many aspects. I think for us it was a great discovery that TedTalks offer the transcripts and discussion topics for free.
I do not know if you know about https://www.practicaespanol.com/ I have used this website to practice audio activities with transcripts in my Spanish class. Maybe you will find it useful too. Also you can choose the audio by levels (A, B and C of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) and each audio comes with activities.
I also like that you post soon after the discussion :)
I hope to read more about your thoughts in the next post.
Best,
Samanta
Dear Samanta!
DeleteThank you for your post. I am going to check that webpage and use it for sure :)