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Graduate students,
Academic researchers, Pre/in-service teacher training
This book challenges the orthodox approach to the teaching of second
language listening, which is based upon the asking and answering of
comprehension questions. It critically examines the practices and
assumptions associated with this approach, and suggests ways of
revising them.
The book’s central argument is that a preoccupation with the notion
of 'comprehension' has led teachers to focus upon the product of
listening, in the form of answers to questions, ignoring the
listening process itself. The author provides an informed account of
the psychological processes which make up the skill of listening,
and analyses the characteristics of the speech signal from which
listeners have to construct a message. Drawing upon this
information, the book proposes a radical alternative to the
comprehension approach and provides for intensive small-scale
practice in aspects of listening that are perceptually or
cognitively demanding for the learner. |
