There may be different reasons why you listen to any given audio or video text. For instance, I often listen to be informed, to reflect, to be entertained, and sometimes to be intrigued. Depending on what’s in it for me, I adjust my level of attention and desire to understand what is said on a deeper level or more on a surface level. Then, according to those needs, I use different strategies. In this type of listening I do not interact with anyone to negotiate meaning. In terms of language learning, we refer to it as “interpretive communication mode." In this PRR we will focus mostly on interpretive listening skills, which could also help you when you interact with people to negotiate meaning (interpersonal communication mode).
Here are some golden rules I always share with my students when we work on listening skills to begin with:
Determine why you listen to what.
Pick a text (audio or video) that is appropriate for your needs and preferably an enjoyable one.
Prepare yourself mentally for not being able to understand every single word you hear. It’s ok!
Also be ok with listening to the same text multiple times. Each round you can either have a different focus or deepen your understanding of one or more aspects of the language. Some of the things you can focus on can be pronunciation, the use of certain words or expressions in a given context, the use of a particular grammatical structure, the natural pauses and filling words you hear in a conversation, etc.
Finally, decide what you can do with it when the listening process is a successful one for you.
When you have all of this in place, we can divide the listening process into different phases. 1) Pre-listening; 2) During listening; 3) Post listening.
In the pre-listening phase, we usually take stock of what we may already know about the topic. For instance, if I will be listening to a conversation that takes place in a restaurant, I may bring back to my mind some typical menu items I know, some expressions about getting people’s attention, the verb “to want," etc. This helps me orient my mind and focus my attention on what is being said more selectively.
During listening, if listeners set out with the goal to understand everything, it could bring a sense of failure. To avoid this negative feeling, I encourage everyone to listen calmly and notice all the words that they can recognize. Therefore, I take either mental or, mostly, written notes of those words and expressions as I listen, and, if needed, I listen to the same text multiple times. When I have all the words, I can construct a general meaning of what I have heard. These methods may be enough for me already, but if there are parts I would like to have a better understanding of, then I use other strategies. It may take the form of internally verifying or revising what I hear, inferring meaning, and spotting keywords that help me understand the text better, inferring meaning, spotting keywords that will help me understand the text better, making a mental or physical picture of what was said and/or retelling the story, acting out the situation, etc. As you can see, it takes some time and patience to do this kind of layered active listening, but when you practice it long enough, it starts to become second nature, and the time you spend on understanding the message gets shorter and shorter.
What always seals it all for me, though, as a language learner, is doing something with what I just learned. So, I often use what I listened to as a model to tell my own story or opinions about it, create an imaginary dialog in my head (sometimes act it out in front of a mirror), record it as learning evidence, etc. Personalizing what I learn in this manner also helps me build up the courage to use the language when I interact with others both in spoken and written forms
Notes by: Harinder Khlasa, Teaching Professor of Italian and Self-Study Language Program Coordinator