[MUSIC] Welcome back to, Teach English Now! In our last video we demonstrated that there are a wide variety of skills and strategies that learners can use in order to improve their listening. Listening strategies, however, are somewhat difficult to discuss, because so many researchers have such differing opinions on what a strategy might be. Is a strategy something that is physically observable like note taking? Is a strategy something that happens in the mind, like inferring from context or predicting from background knowledge? Maybe a strategy is something that is sociocultural, like making friends or laughing at a joke. Maybe it is metacongnative, which is fancy way to say that some strategies help learners think about their own thinking. Like thinking out loud or reflecting on your own learning process. Okay. For purposes of this video, we are going to state that any of these definitions may apply as long as they help a learner overcome some of the challenges that make listening hard. In other words, for us a listening strategy is one that puts the learner in the driver's seat and gives the learner a better chance at acquiring language. Let's discuss some rather basic strategies that learners can use in order to improve their listening comprehension and, as a result, acquire more language. We won't talk about strategies that can and should be taught in a classroom just yet, so we want you think of yourselves as language learners more than language teachers in this particular video. Ready? Let's begin. First of all, strategies might be seen as a specific way of taking a generalized principle and putting it into action. For example, in our first course, we discussed the concept of risk, and that language learners require risk. We also stated that it means the willingness to look ridiculous. Now, there are a lot of things that might be drawn from that concept. But in strategy form, it can often boil down to what you do when you don't understand something. Someone told a joke, someone gave you directions, someone used a word that you don't understand. Now, what strategy do you use? There are several strategies, and they all require risk and the potential for being embarrassed, but what are you going to do. Well you might choose a request for clarification. A request for clarification is rather simple and often means you say things like, excuse me I didn't understand what you meant there. Or the common phrase, could you say that again. Or, say that slower please. These kinds of requests involve risk because they often mean you need to use another strategy, or pseudostrategy, you need to interrupt. A similar strategy is found in a request for elaboration. Here, however, you aren't asking for someone to repeat, but asking for someone to explain further, give more details. You know, expand on the information they have already given you. What do you mean by that, you might ask. Or, I would love to know more about that. This strategy involves a bit less risk because it may look conveniently like you are simply interested in the topic and are dying to know more. Another strategy is to wait until another time to seek clarification. This can be done by taking notes, either mental notes or actual written notes. Many students, for example, will wait until the end of a lecture before they raise their hand. When the teacher calls on them, they use their notes, mental or otherwise, to request clarification or elaboration. This technique can be useful because it doesn't interrupt the flow of conversation. And as you know, sometimes the questions you have are actually given just a short time later in the lecture or presentation itself. That is why so many presenters say please hold all questions until the end. While it may not seem like it, suspending or holding off on interrupting is sometimes a useful language learning strategy. Another set of strategies involve very deliberate attempts to slow things down so you can learn at your own pace. Since language learners often keep up with the pace of a native language speaker, it is important to find ways to slow down the information presented. Some learners do this through repeated viewings or recordings. This can be done a lot of ways, first, you can certainly record a lecture of your teacher yourself. And I've had several language learners do just that in my classroom. Second, you can watch pre-recorded lectures or talks. I have quite a number of learners who swear that they learned English by watching TED talks multiple times on the Internet. Similarly, other learners have told me that they learned English by watching Friends, a popular American TV show. They said, they loved going back and watching their favorite scenes again and again. Often paying greater attention to something new, and focusing their attention on a particular linguistic feature they didn't notice before. This concept focused attention or increased attention is a very nebulous one. But some researchers are certain that a narrowed undistracted focus is one of the best things a language learner can do. Whether a learner focuses on grammar, vocabulary, gist, details, an intense focus, one in which everything melts away seems to be a very likely key to language growth. Think of it as a mental or cognitive approach towards slowing things down. How do you slow things down when you have a listening activity? And a listening activity that is particularly tough? I bet you even have strategies as you are watching these videos. Think about it for a second. How do you slow down the more difficult sections of these videos? Do you watch certain sections again? Do you use different strategies on a second or third viewing? Slow things down, speed things up, it's something to think about. All right, now let's talk about deliberate attempts to connect listening to reading and writing. Cognitive load theorists suggest that you have two channels for receiving information, an audio channel and a visual one. And when it comes to note taking, theorists suggest that taking notes helps you visually see the words you are hearing, and thus can reinforce the message your brain is receiving. That is a fancy way of saying, taking notes helps you remember stuff. The Cornell method is particularly effective because it uses not only the typical note taking strategy of writing stuff down during a lecture or a presentation, but an additional strategy, a metacognitive strategy, after you have taken notes. This more complete note taking method invites you to divide your paper into three parts. With a larger box to the left, a smaller box to the right, and then a box underneath them both. While taking notes, the larger box to the left is where you write all of your ideas in real time. After the lecture or presentation is over, you are invited to write the key points in the box on the right. Finally, you are asked to summarize the lecture in the final box below. In conclusion, listening strategies can certainly help to make the listening experience easier. Requests for clarification and elaboration, waiting to respond and taking mental notes, focusing your attention through repeat viewings, watching online talks or television shows, and using Cornell notes are just a few examples of ways that learners can put themselves in charge of their own learning experience. But, how about the teacher? What can the teacher do to help learners choose correct strategies and to improve their listening? Well, looks like we have more ideas to share. See you soon [MUSIC].
