Listening and Understanding

English as an Additional Language

Listening and Understanding

Stages & Approaches

Peta Ullmann June 2017

Introduction

We know that it takes EAL learners between one to two years to develop basic conversational skills in English and a further five to eight years to develop cognitive academic language proficiency in the language. In the very early stages, children are highly dependent on visual clues to interpret meaning and they spend a lot of time standing back, watching and copying. Some pupils develop coping strategies over a longer period of time- they only ‘listen’ when language is repeated, they look for visual cues constantly, they always follow the actions of their peers without focusing on what language was used and they continue to ‘listen’ for only short bursts of time.

DfE Stages of English as an Additional Language Acquisition

1.Primary

Stage A – New to English

• Can follow and identify objects, images, figures and people from oral statements or questions with contextual support (e.g. ‘which one is a rock?’)
• Can copy/repeat some words and/or phrases with teacher/peer modelling in curriculum activities
• Can follow and join in routine classroom activities willingly
• Can show comprehension through action and gesture rather than words
• Can understand a basic, limited range of vocabulary in everyday talk in the classroom
• Can understand simple instructions and curriculum content-related expressions if delivered in clear, slow and repeated speech by a sympathetic speaker
• Can begin to use limited awareness of grammar to make sense of talk by teachers and peers (e.g. ‘went’ for past time)
• Can sort pictures or objects according to oral instructions
• Can engage in face-to-face interactions, responding to key words and phrases (e.g. responds to everyday greetings)

Stage B – Early Acquisition

• Can understand single words or short phrases in familiar contexts
• Can understand everyday expressions aimed at the satisfaction of simple needs of a concrete type, delivered directly to him/her in clear, slow and repeated speech by a sympathetic speaker
• Can respond to simply phrased factual questions (e.g. ‘which things use electricity?’)
• Can attend for short periods to simple stories and songs with visual scaffolds
• Can follow day-to-day social communication in English
• Can follow narrative/accounts with visual support
• Can follow instructions where the context is obvious and recognise familiar words in spoken texts
• Can respond to simply phrased factual questions about lesson content, (e.g. ‘is the leaflet about animals or about shops?’)
• Can attend actively to the conversations of other English speakers on familiar classroom topics
• Can use contextual clues to gain meaning from age-level text read orally
• Can understand familiar, simple and repetitive spoken English supported by the immediate context, including simple instructions relying on key words and context (e.g. ‘Come to the mat’)

Stage C – Developing Competence

Can follow oral instructions and compare with visual or non-verbal models (e.g. draw a circle under the line)

Is acquiring topic/subject-specific vocabulary

Can get the gist of unfamiliar English in predictable social and learning situations (e.g. language of playground games, common phrases used by the teacher 'do your best'; 'check your work')

Can understand common, everyday vocabulary, knows that some words can have more than one meaning, and demonstrates a tentative understanding of vocabulary beyond immediate personal and school experiences

Can use intonation and stress on words to gain meaning from spoken English (e.g. hear approval or displeasure, or distinguish between a question and a command)

Can respond appropriately in most unplanned exchanges

• Is developing understanding of sentence types (e.g. questions) through word order rather than intonation alone
• May use first language knowledge of the world to interpret spoken texts and may use other first language speakers effectively to confirm understanding
• Is beginning to respond to different registers (e.g. formal and informal) and understand the importance of listening for different purposes
• Can attend actively to the conversations of other English speakers on familiar topics when the speech is clear and the pace is regular

Stage D – Competent

• Can understand an unfamiliar speaker on a familiar topic
• Can understand most spoken and audio-visual texts, and can identify specific information if questions are given beforehand
• Can participate confidently in shared texts, such as songs and poetry
• Can interpret meaning and feelings from intonation, volume, stress, repetition and pacing
• Has access to a wide vocabulary including abstract nouns (e.g. hunger; happiness) and a growing bank of subject-specific words related to curriculum tasks
• Can distinguish and follow different types of spoken language (e.g. teacher-fronted content talk, plays, poems, stories)
• Can follow spoken language used in school events and activities (e.g. assemblies) confidently but some vocabulary and grammatical gaps still apparent
• May ask for clarification and need extra time when participating in complex listening tasks, group performances or class discussions
• Can try to follow talk on unfamiliar topics and give appropriate responses in a classroom and school contexts
• Is beginning to correctly interpret intonation, stress and other culturally-specific non-verbal communication

Stage E – Fluent

• Can meet the language demands of group activities and class discussions without support for EAL
• Can select key information for a purpose, rejecting irrelevant and unimportant information
• Can draw on a range of discourse markers (e.g. expressions like right; okay; anyway; as I said) to help make meaning
• Can understand humorous references if not culturally laden
• Can understand most of the content when teachers speak clearly at a normal pace
• Can follow most audio and video materials
• Has a range of vocabulary, including subject-specific vocabulary, colloquialisms and idioms
• Can recognise a wide range of idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms, appreciating shifts in style and register
• Can deal with the language demands of all routines and common situations in school
• Can respond to different registers appropriately (e.g. match a formal response to a formal request)

Reference: Bell Foundation EAL Assessment Framework, February 2017

DfE Stages of English as an Additional Language Acquisition

2.Secondary

Stage A – New to English

• Can understand everyday expressions aimed at the satisfaction of simple needs of a concrete type, delivered directly to him/her in clear, slow and repeated speech by a sympathetic speaker
• Can understand questions about topics learned in class
• Can understand a small range of words, and, with help, is quickly acquiring a practical basic vocabulary
• Can understand what people say about everyday things if they speak slowly and clearly and are helpful
• Can understand and follow directions, (e.g. how to get somewhere)
• Can understand a limited amount of frequently used vocabulary and language expressions across different subject areas (particularly the academic register)
• Can ask a speaker to repeat or explain words in order to understand more of the message (particularly when in supportive situations)
• Can listen for longer, and understand new words and phrases when content is delivered with enough contextual support
• Can understand questions about topics learned in class
• Appears to be increasingly confident, engaged and independent in tasks requiring speaking and listening

Stage B – Early Acquisition

• Can understand and respond to longer questions and instructions
• Can understand the main points of clear standard speech on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure etc., including short narratives
• Is becoming aware of levels in the lesson beyond the most concrete or simple
• Is beginning to engage with abstract or complex content, including concepts that cannot be illustrated easily
• May ask for clarification and extra time when participating in complex listening tasks, group performances or class discussions
• Is acquiring a range of vocabulary across different learning areas
• Is beginning to correctly interpret intonation, stress and other culturally-specific non-verbal communication
• Can follow reasoning, discussion or argument in English, providing speakers are clear and unambiguous
• Can understand and use, independently, many of the support systems and scaffolds that operate within lessons (e.g. a note-taking framework to jot down facts or ideas while listening)
• Can understand the information content of the majority of recorded or broadcast audio material on topics of personal interest delivered in clear standard speech

Stage C – Developing Competence

• Can understand the main points of radio news bulletins and simpler recorded material about familiar subjects delivered relatively slowly and clearly
• Can follow and negotiate with other pupils during group work
• Can understand some idiomatic or figurative expressions, but may require explanation
• Can generally follow group discussion and ask for help and repetition where necessary
• Can follow directions in classroom tasks, paying attention to details
• Can follow and understand specialised or subject-specific terminology if it has previously been introduced
• Can respond appropriately in most unplanned classroom exchanges
• Can understand the gist of most spoken and audio-visual texts, and can identify specific information if questions are given beforehand
• Can sustain listening efforts to a level approaching that of most peers
• Can begin to interpret meaning and feelings from intonation, volume, stress, repetition and pacing, particularly when working with familiar topics

Stage D – Competent

• Can begin to follow some culturally-specific practices when listening to English (e.g. eye contact, distance, gesture)
• Can follow and identify a range of vocabulary across different learning areas
• Is beginning to correctly interpret intonation, stress and other culturally-specific non-verbal communication
• Can follow and participate in group conversations, especially on familiar topics in informal English
• Can follow reasoning and argument in the same way as most peers
• Can understand audio-visual recordings in standard dialect likely to be encountered in social and learning contexts and can identify speaker viewpoints and attitudes as well as the information content
• Can communicate in familiar formal and informal registers, interpreting spoken English mainly at a literal level and organising language and ideas drawn from different sources
• Can understand an unfamiliar speaker on a familiar topic
• Can record and organise spoken information to set guidelines (e.g. use diagrams, graphs, tables)
• Can follow and communicate in a variety of social and learning contexts, understanding ideas and information on a range of familiar topics and issues.

Stage E – Fluent

• Can define the nature and purpose of information being sought before listening or viewing
• Can follow extended speech even when it is not clearly structured and when relationships are only implied and not signalled explicitly
• Can demonstrate understanding of well-known idioms in context
• Can select key information for a purpose, rejecting irrelevant and unimportant information
• Can follow the gist and some detail of a spoken text on a new topic at normal speed (e.g. on the media, visiting speakers)
• Can order information gained from spoken language, choosing a suitable organising format
• Can evaluate the quality and validity of information gained from spoken communication
• Can follow a complex argument on familiar topics or themes and ask appropriate and relevant questions
• Can identify the effects of devices such as rhythm, metaphor and repetition
• Can identify implied meanings from spoken language (e.g. innuendo, racist attitudes)

Reference: Bell Foundation EAL Assessment Framework, February 2017

The Importance of Listening

There is a range of situations in which we listen. We listen for a variety of purposes and in no way is the skill of listening a passive one. For EAL learners focused listening tasks and activities are essential at each stage of their development.

EAL learners who are not given sufficient opportunities to listen to good models of English:

Develop poor speech habits, e.g. their speech is unclear because of poor pronunciation and inappropriate stress and intonation patterns and they are slow to master basic sounds of English.

Tend to use a very limited vocabulary and find it difficult to go into details when describing people and situations.

Continue to make a number of significant syntactic errors beyond the beginner and intermediate stages of EAL acquisition, e.g. incorrect use of tense forms, muddled word order, word omissions, poor use of sentence connectives.

Depend on the example set by peers to follow instructions.

Constantly need to refer to concrete examples and visual clues to understand narrative and descriptive language.

Have difficulty developing a range of basic reading skills at a phonological and syntactic level, e.g. they have poor word attack skills and find it difficult to recognise and guess words with reference to syntactic clues.

Cannot listen in a large group situation for sustained periods of time and begin to develop the habit of frequently ‘switching off’.

Use a limited range of sentence forms in speech and in writing.

Find working independently difficult- watch, wait and copy from their peers.

Listening Situations

Most listening occurs in the course of conversation. Each participant in a conversation switches role and becomes alternately speaker and listener. Other listening situations will include:

1. Listening to live conversations in which one takes no part.E.g. listening to conversations on a bus, a train, in the classroom, etc. The person may find themselves listening because something in what is being said attracts their attention. They are not in a position to intervene and have to sort out the message without being able to seek clarification or repetition of any of the points.

1. Listening to announcements. E.g. listening in assembly. The person is interested in extracting/and/or confirming the relevant information and may ignore the rest of the utterance. They may keep the acquired information in mind, or may repeat the information to someone else or they may make note later.

1. Listening to the news, weather forecast, etc. through audio devices. The person has no visual clues- they may listen to all or part of the information depending on their purpose for listening. The information they hear may affect their actions, plans, choices or mood.

1. Listening to the news, weather forecast, etc. through audio with visual support. The visual support helps the listener to absorb information and may help to sustain their concentration and attention. The information is presented both visually and with words- The listener may therefore remember the information as an image or set of images and/or a verbal description of events/situations.

1. Listening for pleasure, e.g. listening to jokes, amusing/interesting stories, etc. The listener gains pleasure through listening when they can appreciate and enjoy what is said. Concentration and attention levels will be good and often the listener will be motivated to repeat what they have heard.

1. Following a lesson. The listener needs to grasp concepts and to distinguish between main and subsidiary ideas. They may be called upon to respond by summarising key points, answering questions (written/oral), drawing conclusions, contributing to a debate, making notes, taking forms of action, using new information to complete diagrams, expressing a personal opinion, retaining information, demonstrating their understanding after a lesson through a homework task, etc.

1. Following instructions. Possibly visual support may be provided, e.g. in PE/science lessons for practical tasks. The listener may have to listen to a set of instructions which are broken down into small segments. They may ask for clarification and for repetition in some circumstances. Additionally, the oral instructions may be produced in the written form (words/diagrams) on whiteboards, in books, in charts and in pamphlets.

1. Listening to a play or a story. The listener has to follow a chain of events and establish an understanding of the characters involved. They may have to make judgements about events and characterisation and to draw inferences. An appreciation of a range of registers and styles is often necessary as well as an understanding of figurative and literary forms of the language. An understanding of different cultural contexts and references may also be required.

Obviously, there are many situations where a person may listen out for certain types of information and listen selectively. E.g. listening out for their names and listening for instructions and details which are relevant to their particular situation.

Listening Activities

The additional task for EAL learners as listeners is that they often have to listen intensively to develop their awareness of how differences in sound, structure, and lexical choice can affect meaning.

General Points for EAL Learners in the Early Stages (see DfE Stages)

Position key instructions

Be consistent in your use of instructional language

Give pupils a sign/gesture to encourage them to listen

Support spoken language with visual aids

Demonstrate and illustrate what is required

Encourage pupils to ask for clarification or repetition

Use other pupils to support and demonstrate what is to be done. Group EAL pupils with pupils who can present good language and behaviour role models

Re-engage pupils’ attention through the use of their names, through active participation, through questions and through the supportive use of gestures and visual clues.

When asking questions, repeat and model responses either personally or through other peers in small group/large group situations.

Repeat key points and be prepared to recast what has been said into smaller chunks of information avoiding idiomatic uses of language.

Monitor understanding throughthe pupil’s actions as well as oral responses.

NB. Ad hoc explanations of language do not mean that the pupil will be able to remember particular terms or to use specific language forms unless such language is reinforced, recycled and relevant.