A Proficiency-Oriented

Approach to Listening
and Reading
In the last chapter we saw that comprehension, both in listening and in
reading, is an active process involving at least three interrelated factors: (1)
the individual's knowledge of the linguistic code, (2) cognitive skills of
various types, and (3) the individual's knowledge of the world. We saw
how relevant contextual information can play an important role in com¬
prehension, especially at lower levels of proficiency, where extra-linguistic
cues and advance organizers can activate appropriate schemata to close
the gaps in comprehension caused by an imperfect knowledge of the code.
This chapter explores practical issues relating to the teaching of listen¬
ing and reading. The questions addressed are the following: Why should
these skills be actively taught? How are listening and reading skills simi¬
lar? How are they different? How can authentic materials be used in teach¬
ing comprehension skills in the lower proficiency ranges? What specific
strategies can be used for teaching listening and reading, particularly at
the Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced proficiency ranges?

A Rationale for Teaching Listening and Reading

When audiolingual methodologies became popular in the early 1960s,
many second language programs and materials began to place primary
emphasis on the development of oral proficiency, a reversal of the trend in
the grammar-translation era that emphasized reading as the primary goal
of language study. In the years that followed, oral communication contin¬
ued to receive high priority in many second language classrooms. Yet an
increasing number of educators today are recognizing the need to achieve
a balance in program goals through the reintroduction of comprehension-
based activities and materials into the curriculum.
Attitudes about the importance of comprehension skills in language
acquisition have been influenced, in large part, by developments in sec¬
ond language acquisition theory. Certainly Krashen's (1982) views about
the need for comprehensible input in language acquisition have sparked
interest in comprehension-based methodologies and materials. As we saw
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 163

in Chapter 2, most recent language acquisition theories recognize the

important role that input plays in the development of proficiency in all
skill modalities, and an increasing number of scholars and practitioners
believe that comprehension processes and strategies need to be taught
actively in second language classrooms.
Barnett (1989) maintains that reading has always held an important
place in foreign and second language programs, with the possible excep¬
tion of the period when audiolingual methodology dominated in
American classrooms. But she adds that reading is now seen in a different
light, namely "as communication, as a mental process, as the reader's
active participation in the creation of meaning, as a manipulation of strate¬
gies, as a re&ptiue rather than as a passm skill" (p. 2). She cites Byrnes
(1985), who refers to both reading and listening as receptive skills in which
readers and listeners actively "produce understanding" (Byrnes 1985, p. 78;
Barnett 1989, p. 2). As a source of "comprehensible input," reading
becomes valued in the communicative classroom, especially when authen¬
tic materials can serve the dual purpose of developing reading skills and
of fostering cultural insights and understanding. Barnett goes on to list
other reasons for including reading skill development as a vital part of the
second language curriculum: (1) reading is still essential in the teaching of
literature, which remains an important goal in many programs; (2) it is a
skill that can be maintained after students complete formal language
study; (3) it fosters the development and refinement of literacy skills.
Indeed, second language reading research may have a significant impact
on our understanding of this larger issue of literacy, which is of national
concern.
Although most of the research studies involving the development of
foreign language receptive skills have been devoted to understanding the
reading process (Lund 1991), there is a very strong interest in the language
teaching community today to increase students' listening comprehension
skills as well. James (1986) advocates the direct teaching of listening skills
for motivational reasons. He cites research by Lowe (1985), who found
that, in terms of the ILR Proficiency scale, English-speaking learners per¬
formed better in listening comprehension tasks than in speaking activities
47 percent of the time in French, and 76 percent of the time in Spanish, as
averaged over all levels of proficiency (p. 37). In Spanish, the listening
comprehension advantage tended to be strongest at ILR levels 2 through
4+. At levels 1+ and lower, the listening and speaking scores tended to be
equal (p. 37). In French, the offset in listening and speaking began sooner,
and the comprehension advantage was measurable at the 0+/1 border (p.
40). However, Lowe cautions that a greater facility in listening than in speak¬
ing may not hold across different languages, and there may in fact be a nega¬
tive offset for some languages (i.e., where listening proves more difficult
164 • Teaching Language in Context

than speaking). James' (1986) point, in reviewing Lowe's data, is that if

there is indeed a comprehension advantage, then introducing more listen¬
ing activities early into the learning process will be motivating to learners
and allow them to experience success.
Long (1986) argues that teaching oral skills is only teaching half of the
process of communication, and adds that students gain a sense of confi¬
dence with the language when their listening abilities are well developed.
Feyton (1991) further comments that the field of language teaching has
moved from a "response-oriented paradigm to one of input, or stimulus-
oriented learning" (p. 175), and adds that listening should not be thought
of as an "activity," but taught directly as a skill in its own right.
Joiner (1986) cites four trends that have brought more attention to the
development of listening skills in recent years: (1) comprehension-based
approaches, which advocate a pre-speaking or "silent period" and which
maintain that listening is the foundation skill for all language develop¬
ment; (2) emphasis on the receptive skills in general, which has been growing
since the early 1980s; (3) the prevalence of functional-notional approaches and
concepts, with their emphasis on oral communication; and (4) the develop¬
ment of the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, fostering an interest in the use of
authentic materials for listening and reading and emphasizing commu¬
nicative skill development (pp. 45-46).
Swaffar, Arens, and Byrnes (1991) argue forcefully for the inclusion of
more reading, listening, and writing activities in a communicative curricu¬
lum to allow students to use their higher-order cognitive skills. Authentic
reading and listening materials, as well as writing activities that involve
analysis and interaction with texts give adult learners more of an opportunity
to engage in challenging tasks appropriate to their level of cognitive maturity.
Rivers (1975) has pointed out another important reason for developing
both listening and reading skills, citing research that shows that adults
spend 45 percent of their time listening and 11 to 16 percent of their time
reading (Rankin 1962, in Rivers 1975, p. 58). She adds that "these data are
from a pre-television, pre-talking picture, pre-dictaphone era," which
would lead one to believe that in this age of heavy media saturation, the
percentages are probably even higher, especially for listening. When we
realize that more than three-fifths of all communicative interaction
involves comprehension skills, the importance of focusing on effective
strategies for enhancing those skills becomes even more apparent.
In the 1960s and 1970s, there seemed to be very few published materi¬
als for the systematic teaching of listening and reading, partly because
comprehension processes were still not well understood and partly
because teachers often assumed that students would somehow develop
comprehension skills "naturally" (see Snow and Perkins 1979 on this point
with regard to listening). In the past decade, there has been a growing inter¬
est in designing materials to teach comprehension more actively, especially
through the use of culturally authentic texts, videotaped materials, and
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 165

computer-assisted instruction that allows for greater interaction between

the learner and the text. Teachers need more access to listening and read¬
ing materials based on natural disourse along with appropriate compre¬
hension activities that teach the process of comprehension so that skills are
transferable to other situations and texts. Publishers of foreign and second
language instructional materials are recognizing this need, and there is an
increasing number of high-quality texts and ancillaries designed especially
for this purpose.
In addition to new and better materials, teachers need ideas for struc¬
turing and sequencing instruction so that a classroom plan for teaching lis¬
tening and reading comprehension can be devised. Effective ways to
integrate comprehension and productive skills with the teaching of culture
are also needed. Some specific ideas for planning instruction of this type
are provided in this and subsequent chapters. First, however, it would be
useful to look at some of the similarities and differences in listening and
reading tasks, many of which derive from the relationship between speech
and writing.

• *•••••••••* Similarities in Listening and Reading

We have already seen that listening and reading comprehension are both
highly complex processes that draw on knowledge of the linguistic code,
cognitive processing skills, schema-based understanding, and contextual
cues both within and outside the text. Both skills can be characterized as
problem-solving activities involving the formation of hypotheses, the
drawing of inferences, and the resolution of ambiguities and uncertainties
in the input in order to assign meaning. Stevick (1984) refers to the process
/ of assigning meaning as the generation of images. An image is a set of items
j (sensory, emotional, temporal, relational, purposive, or verbal in nature)
v that travel together in memory. When one item comes into consciousness,
it tends to bring other items associated with it in the mental image of
which it is a part. Stevick maintains that in listening and reading compre¬
hension, images are generated (either accurately or inaccurately) from a
small sample of items that were in the original image. That is, even if the
comprehender does not recognize or understand all of the items in the
input, some of the items that are understood may serve to generate the
image well enough to ensure global comprehension. For example, a stu¬
dent listening to a passage or reading a text may get the meaning of
unknown words from context or can report the gist of the message, even
though he or she may not be able to account for all of the details. The goal
of both reading and listening comprehension, in Stevick's view, is to gener¬
ate the intended image from the input and react appropriately. This reac¬
tion may be physical, emotional, or intellectual in nature.
Bernhardt and James (1987) use the metaphor of the jigsaw puzzle to
describe the comprehension process. The reader/listener begins constructing
166® Teaching Language in Context

the puzzle by selecting pieces, very slowly at first, until a hypothesis about
the whole picture can be formed. Once this initial hypothesis is made, the
image of the whole can guide further selection and interpretation of the
parts. Of course, if the initial hypothesis is wrong, problems in comprehen¬
sion will arise, and the process of building the puzzle can break down or
become frustrating, "especially when the puzzle constructor is convinced
that some of the pieces are either missing or were even cut wrong" (p. 66).
Although the goals and some of the global processes in listening and
reading comprehension are often similar, the nature of the input (speech or
writing) and the way in which that input is processed are quite different.

• Differences between Spoken and Written Discourse

Richards (1983) has outlined several ways in which speech differs from
writing. These differences, summarized below, offer us insights into the
nature of listening and reading tasks, especially when students are listen¬
ing to or reading authentic, unedited discourse.

1. The organizational unit of discourse varies in speech and in writing.

Written discourse is normally constructed in sentences, whereas the
major constituent in the planning and delivery ot^spoken discourse
is the clause.
2. The observance of grammatical conventions also differs in speech
and in writing. Whereas written discourse typically consists of well-
formed sentences, spoken discourse can often include ungrammati¬
cal or reduced forms, dropped words, and sentences without
subjects, verbs, auxiliaries, and other parts of speech.
3. In well-written discourse, sentences flow in logical sequence and
there is evidence of planning of thought. In spoken conversational
discourse, pauses, hesitations, false starts, and corrections make up
between 30 and 50 percent of what is said. In addition, speakers
tend to use fillers and silent pauses to "buy time" as they plan what
they want to say next.
4. Coherence in written discourse is created differently than in speech,
since writing tends to be more planned and tightly organized. A
written text is usually produced by one person, allowing the dis¬
course to flow logically as the topic is developed. Conversational
speech, on the other hand, is generally not planned and therefore
not as organized as written discourse. Often there are topic shifts,
since the development of the topic of conversation is cooperatively
constructed.
5. Because conversations are interactive, relying on both verbal and
nonverbal signals, meanings are negotiated between conversational
partners. Many things may be left unsaid because both parties
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 167

assume some common knowledge. In many types of written dis¬

course, however, the person communicating the message may
be addressing it to a wide and essentially anonymous audience
and therefore cannot negotiate meaning directly with the reader.
Common knowledge cannot always be assumed: more background
information may be needed in order to communicate clearly (pp.
224-26).

Stevick (1984) points out that the way in which the communication is orga¬
nized for delivery also differs in speech and in writing. Whereas spoken
language moves along a time axis, written language is visually presented,
and its overall duration and organization can be seen at a glance. He
hypothesizes that aural comprehension may be more difficult than reading
for this reason. Lund (1991) found this to be the case in a study involving
beginning and intermediate students of German, where their reading com¬
prehension was superior to their comprehension in listening. This reading
advantage appeared to diminish somewhat by the time students reached
the third semester, however. Lund concluded that although there may be
an initial advantage for listening in the case of children who are learning to
read in their native language, the opposite appears to be true for adults
engaged in second language learning. 'There may be in many situations
an initial advantage to readers for unfamiliar and authentic texts, but this
conclusion may not hold for noncognate languages or where diverse writ¬
ing systems are involved" (p. 201).
I Lund also found that having a text presented twice, either in reading
for listening, significantly benefitted students at all levels in the study.
However, the study clearly indicated that for beginning students, reading
and rereading resulted in superior comprehension to listening and relis¬
tening. This may be due, in part, to the fact that listeners cannot control the
pace of presentation of the text, and often appear to be "grasping at
words" (p. 201). This relates to what Stevick (1984) calls the "accessibility"
of the text, which differs in the two modalities. In reading, one can look
back at what was read before and also look ahead to get an idea of what is
coming. The listener, however, cannot do this, and any inattention to what
is being said at the moment may easily cause him or her to lose an impor¬
tant part of the message, or even all of it.
The contrasts between oral and written language become more com¬
plex when one considers the range and variety of text types that can be
encountered. In discussing the nature of oral language, Byrnes (1984), fol¬
lowing Beile (1980), identifies four basic modes of speech:

1. Spontaneous free speech, characterized by the interactiveness and pro¬

duction constraints reviewed above;
2. Deliberate free speech, such as that which is characteristic of inter¬
views and discussions;
168® Teaching Language in Context

3. Oral presentation of a written text, as in newscasts, more formal com¬

mentaries, and lectures; and
4. Oral presentation of a fixed script, such as that produced on stage or in
a film (p. 319).

Written discourse also has a variety of text types. Grellet (1981) identifies
some of the kinds of texts readers might encounter in the target language.
A summary of her comprehensive list, regrouped into categories, is given
below:

1. Literary texts, such as novels, short stories, plays, poems, essays,

and the like;
2. Specialized or technical texts, such as reports, reviews, textbooks,
handbooks, statistical data, diagrams, flow charts, etc.;
3. Correspondence, such as personal or business letters, postcards,
notes, or telegrams;
4. Journalistic literature, such as articles from newspapers and maga¬
zines, editorials, headlines, classified ads, weather reports, televi¬
sion listings;
5. Informational texts, such as dictionaries, guidebooks, phrase
books, phonebooks, timetables, maps, signs, price lists, etc.;
6. Miscellaneous Realia of various kinds, such as tickets, menus,
recipes, advertisements, etc. (Based on Grellet 1981, pp. 3-4.)

When one considers the variety of text types and modes of speech, it
becomes clear that "successful comprehension" will depend on the pur¬
poses for which the individual is listening or reading. "Understanding a
written [or orall text means extracting the required information from it as
efficiently as possible" (Grellet 1981, p. 3). "Extracting the required infor¬
mation" may mean in one instance that the listener or reader simply scans
the input to find some detail of interest, such as listening to a series of
sports scores or scanning a television log to find an interesting program. In
another situation, certain main ideas and a few supporting details may be
required to ensure successful comprehension (such as listening to direc¬
tions to get to someone's house). In still another situation, the listener or
reader might need to get all of the finer details of the message in order to
understand it well enough to carry out some specific purpose or function
(such as reading a set of directions to build or make something). The
design of appropriate comprehension tasks for oral or written discourse,
then, becomes a function of text type, the purpose for which the compre-
hender is listening and reading, and the information and skills the listen¬
er/ reader brings to the text. Bernhardt and James (1987) add that "the road
to effective instruction must lie in acknowledging individual differences in
readers and texts" (p. 71). The importance of these considerations will
become apparent in the next sections, where suggestions for listening and
reading activities for various proficiency levels are given.
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading #169

*#««##••##»# Teaching Listening Comprehension

Some Processes and Skills Involved in Listening

Comprehension
Because very little data exist to enlighten us about the processes involved
in second language listening comprehension, it is necessary to turn to
native language research for some insights. According to Richards (1983),
studies indicate that listeners take in raw speech and hold an image of it in
short-term memory They then try to organize that image into its con¬
stituents, identifying both their content and their function or purpose.
These constituents are then grouped together to form a coherent message,
which is held in long-term memory as a reconstructed meaning rather than

and the goals and purposes. This interactional view of meaning stresses the
role of inference in comprehension. The listener's interpretation of the
message constitutes the creative dimension of the listening process (pp.
221-222).
Richards (1983) proposes a tentative model of the listening process
involving the following steps:

1. The type of interactional act or speech event is determined (e.g., a

lecture, a speech, a conversation, a debate).
2. Scripts (schemata) relevant to the particular situation are retrieved
from long-term memory.
3. The goals of the speaker are inferred through references to the actu¬
al situational context as well as to the script(s).
4. A literal meaning is determined for the utterance.
5. An intended meaning is assigned to the message.
6. This information (Stevick's image) is retained and acted upon, and
the actual form of the original message is deleted (p. 223).

Given this model of listening comprehension, Richards proposes a list

of 33 microskills that are needed in listening to conversational discourse,
and adds 18 more that are used in academic listening (pp. 228-229). These
skills range from very discrete tasks, such as discriminating among indi¬
vidual sounds, recognizing syntactic patterns, and identifying key words
to more global tasks, such as extracting main ideas and understanding the
relationships among the parts of the discourse. Different listening activities
can be devised to help learners develop these various microskills at each
level of proficiency. Some specific suggestions for designing listening tasks
are given in the next section.
170* Teaching Language in Context

Planning Instruction for the Development of Listening

Proficiency
How can teachers determine which types of materials and tasks to use for
listening instruction for their students? There are some indications in the
recent literature on comprehension that may help. First, most scholars
agree that at the lowest proficiency levels, listening materials that present
very familiar and/or predictable content and that are relevant to students'
interests will be best, given that students will be able to use their knowl¬
edge of the world to aid them in comprehension when their linguistic
skills are deficient. Videotaped materials can be especially useful at the
lower ranges of proficiency because of the visual contextual support they
provide, as long as students know that they are not expected to under¬
stand every word. As teachers design the tasks to be accomplished with
various listening materials, they should keep in mind the normal or natur¬
al purposes for which someone might listen to a given text. The tasks need
to be geared to such purposes but also to the overall level of competence of
the students. One can expect, in general, that students will be able to
understand the gist and/or a few main ideas in familiar passages at the
lower levels of proficiency, and eventually extract more and more precise
information of a detailed nature from a given listening text as their profi¬
ciency develops. Beginning and intermediate students will need prglisteru
ing activities to help them anticipate and predict the relevant content in the
passage. Preliminary research indicates that multiple opportunities to lis¬
ten for a variety of different purposes will also be helpful in increasing stu¬
dents' understanding (Lund 1991).
Lund (1990) describes a plan for designing listening instruction, based
partly on Richards (1983) and partly on the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines
for listening. He constructs a taxonomic framework for listening com¬
prised of two basic elements: (1) listener function, which relates to what the
learner attempts to process from the message and (2) listening response,
which corresponds to the way in which the listener shows comprehension
of the message. Illustration 5.1 presents Lund's taxonomy for teaching sec¬
ond language listening. He suggests that this matrix be used to design
instruction so that the full range of competencies in listening is practiced.
The sample tasks given for purposes of illustration all relate to listening to
an authentic text type: radio advertisements.
The six functions, listed across the top of the taxonomic framework,
refer to what the listener is trying to attend to in the message. Each func¬
tion thus represents a potential goal of listening comprehension. Listener
function, in Lund's view, is perhaps the most important consideration in
designing instruction in listening, since it provides listeners with a pur¬
pose for listening, and thus defines how they need to approach the task.
The six functions are described briefly below (Lund 1990, pp. 107-109):
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 171

^\Function
Main Idea Detail Full
Identification Orientation Replication
Response^^ Comprehension Comprehension Comprehension

Pantomime
Doing
the product

Match ads
Choosing Select best ad
and pictures

List Write List the

Transferring
adjectives magazine ad selling points

What goods
What kind
Answering are
of text?
advertized?

Write close-
Condensing
caption text

Extending Second ad
in campaign

Duplicating Transcribe
the text

Modeling Create
own ad

Conversing "Talk back"

to the ad

illustration 5.1 Source: Lund, Randall J. "A Taxonomy for Teaching Second Language Listening." Foreign
Lund's Function- Language Annals 23, ii (1990), p. 111. Reprinted by permission.
Response Matrix for
Listening
(Advertisement
Example) 1. identification: recognition or discrimination of aspects of the message
rather than attention to the overall message content. This category
might include identification of words, word categories, phonemic dis¬
tinctions, morphological distinctions, or semantic cues to meaning.
2. orientation: identification of important facts about the text, such as
the participants, the situation, the general topic, the tone, the text
type, and the like. "Orientation is essentially Tuning in' to or prepar¬
ing to process the information" (p. 108). Lund considers this function
as especially important for Novice listeners, who need advance
organizers and/or script activators to enhance comprehension.
3. main idea comprehension: understanding of the higher-order ideas in
the listening passage. An example drawn from advertisements is
understanding what product is being promoted. Lund, following the
172# Teaching Language in Context

ACTFL Guidelines descriptions, states that this function "typically

-#■# distinguishes the intermediate listener from the novice" (p. 108).
His 1991 study of Novice and Intermediate German students indi¬
cates that listeners seem to rely more on top-down (schema-based)
understanding than they do when they are reading an equivalent
text. Listeners seemed to report more main ideas, but also made
more erroneous assumptions that were based on the wrong choice
of schema (Lund 1991, p. 200).
detail comprehension: understanding of more specific information.

// "The amount of detail one can understand typically distinguishes

the advanced listener from the intermediate" (p. 108). In his study
with first, second, and third-semester German students, Lund
(1991) found corroboration for this assertion for both listening and
reading. Memory for details in both modalities improved as course
level increased. Understanding of detail was also improved with a
second listening of the text.
full comprehension: understanding of both the main ideas and sup¬
portive detail. Lund maintains that this level of comprehension is
the goal of instruction in listening proficiency. Although one does
not need or want to listen to every message with full comprehen¬
sion, the ability to do so when desired marks a superior level of lis¬
tening proficiency.
replication: ability to reproduce the message in either the same
modality (through repetition of the content) or in a different mod¬
ality (such as transcription or dictation). Lund explains that rep¬
lication does not imply a higher level of proficiency than full
comprehension, but represents a different purpose and thus a
different way of attending to the message.

These six listener functions are combined with the nine listening
responses (listed vertically on the taxonomy) and a particular text to
define listening tasks. The nine responses are derived in part from a list
of common task types provided by Richards (1983): matching or distin¬
guishing, transferring, transcribing, scanning, extending, condensing, answer¬
ing, and predicting (p. 235). Lund's list of tasks is described briefly as
follows:

1. doing, which implies a physical response of some sort, such as in

TPR methodology;
2. choosing, which involves activities such as putting pictures in order
or matching a product to an advertisement;
3. transferring, which might involve drawing, tracing a route, filling in
a graph, or other kinds of transferring of information from one
modality to another;
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading #173

4. answering, such as completing a set of questions asking for specific

information in the text;
5. condensing, involving such activities as preparing an outline, taking
notes, or preparing captions for pictures based on the listening pas¬
sage;
6. extending, which implies going beyond the text to create an ending,
complete a partial transcript, change the text, or embellish it in
some way;
7. duplicating, which provides evidence that the function of replication
has been accomplished;
8. modeling, which involves imitation of features of the text or of the
text as a whole; and
9. conversing, implying some kind of interaction with the text, either in
a face-to-face conversation or in using interactive video programs.

Lund maintains that growth in listening proficiency can be understood

in terms of progressing through these listening functions, learning to do
new functions with familiar texts or performing lower-level functions with
more difficult texts. This suggests that texts should be used recurrently.
'Learners can be led to orient themselves to a text, then to process main
ideas, then to fill in details. ... Texts can be reused over greater time spans
or in different levels of instruction" (p. 112).
Like the proficiency guidelines descriptions, Lund's taxonomy is not
meant to suggest a linear progression, but a cyclical one. "The proficiency
guidelines appear as a linear scale only because they identify the highest
function that can be performed on the wide and unselected range of texts
that can be expected in the target culture" (Lund 1990, p. 112). Lund adds
that many of the microskills that Richards (1983) lists can be integrated
into the various cells of his taxonomy.
Some scholars discussing the incorporation of listening tasks into the
curricular sequence suggest that it is not the text that should be graded,
but rather the task itself (see for example Byrnes 1985; Joiner 1986; Bacon
1989; Lund, 1990). Various techniques that may be appropriate for learners
at different levels of proficiency are suggested in Illustration 5.2. Several of
the techniques included at the lower two levels (Novice/Intermediate)
include extralinguistic support, such as pictures, graphic materials, or
physical activity to help students whose listening skills are relatively
weak. At the higher levels of proficiency, tasks require the fuller compre¬
hension of the text, including more detail and an understanding of
nuances.
Many of these task types are illustrated in the next sections. Before
discussing specific techniques, however, we need to consider the type of
materials that might be used in the classroom for building listening
skills.
174® Teaching Language in Context

Illustration 5.2
Listening tasks Suggested Tasks for Building Listening Proficiency
Novice/Intermediate
Prelistening activities
Listening for the gist
Listening with visuals
Graphic fill-ins
Matching descriptions to pictures
Dictation and variations (familiar content, simple structures)
Clue searching (listening for cues to meaning, such as key words, syntactic
features, actor/action/object, etc.)
Distinguishing registers (formal/informal style)
Kinesics/Physical response
Recursive listening (multiple sequenced tasks)
Inferential listening (drawing inferences not presented overtly in the text)
Paraphrase in native language
Completion of native language summary
Comprehension checks (various formats)
Remembering responses of others

Advanced/Superior
Dictation and variations (may include unfamiliar content, more complex structures)
Completing target language summary
Paraphrasing (target language)
Note taking/outlining
Summarizing (Native language/target language)
Recursive listening (multiple tasks)
Inferential listening (drawing inferences, conclusions not presented overtly in the text)
Identifying sociolinguistic factors
Style shifting
Reaction/analysis activities
Creative elaboration activities

Using Authentic Materials for Listening and Reading Instruction

In Chapter 3, it was recommended that authentic materials be used in
instruction whenever possible (see, for example, the discussion relating
to Corollary 4, p. 82). As Geddes and White (1978) have noted, this move
towards authenticity in language instruction reflects the increased inter¬
est in recent years in the communicative functions of language. Yet using
only unedited, nonpedagogical materials in the classroom would seem to
create more problems than it would solve, since materials are often diffi¬
cult to select, obtain, or sequence for learners at lower proficiency levels.
Unmodified authentic discourse is often random in respect to vocabu¬
lary, structure, functions, content, situation, and length, making some of
it impractical for classroom teachers to integrate successfully into the
curriculum on a frequent basis (p. 137). Some scholars have suggested that
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading #175

authentic listening materials may be very frustrating for beginners (Ur

1984; Dunkel 1986) and listening to material that is beyond the learner's
comprehension can be anxiety-producing (Meyer 1984; Byrnes 1984; Joiner
1986). Other scholars have advocated the use of authentic materials early
in instruction, provided that texts are chosen that can be related to the
learners' experience, the text length is not too great, and advance organiz¬
ers, orientation activities, and schema-based prelistening techniques are
used (James 1986; Long 1986; Bacon 1989; Lund 1990, among many others.)
Appropriate listening strategies also need to be actively taught, especially
to low-proficiency learners. In arguing for the use of authentic texts in lis¬
tening, Bacon (1989) states that while we are "protecting our students from
the frustration of extended speech,. . . we might also be denying them the
satisfaction of being exposed to and understanding real speech." She adds
that real language must be "intelligible, informative, truthful, relevant, and
sociolinguistically appropriate" (p. 545).
The term "authentic material" can have a variety of meanings in the
literature on listening and reading comprehension. Rogers and Medley
(1988) refer to authentic materials as "language samples, either oral or
written, that reflect a naturalness of form and an appropriateness of cultur¬
al and situational context that would be found in the language as used by
native speakers" (p. 468). They group materials into video, audio, and
print media resources, and provide a very useful list of resources in French
and Spanish that teachers of these languages would do well to consult.
Geddes and White (1978) distinguish between two types of authentic dis¬
course: (1) unmodified authentic discourse, which refers to language that
occurred originally as a genuine act of communication, and (2) simulated
authentic discourse, which refers to language produced for pedagogical pur¬
poses, but which exhibits features that have a high probability of occur¬
rence in genuine acts of communication (p. 137).
As Geddes and White (1978) have pointed out, the difficulties students
face when encountering unmodified authentic speech are well known to
most teachers: often students tend to panic when they hear native speakers in
conversations, radio broadcasts, films, or other natural contexts. Learners
typically try to focus their attention equally on every part of the discourse.
Because they cannot possibly attend successfully to everything heard with
equal intensity, students often give up, even when it would have been possi¬
ble for them to get the gist or understand a few of the important details.
Teachers can help students overcome these problems by using controlled and
guided activities for listening such as those illustrated in the next few pages.
"Teacher talk," or "caretaker speech," is another type of listening mate¬
rial that contributes to the acquisition of the language. According to
Krashen, Terrell, Ehrman, and Herzog (1984), it tends to consist of a simpli¬
fied code, characterized by slower, more careful articulation, the more
frequent use of known vocabulary items, and attempts to ensure compre¬
hension via restatements, paraphrases, and nonverbal aids to understanding.
176 • Teaching Language in Context

Yet "teacher talk" can sound quite authentic since it is generally not planned
or scripted. Rather, it flows naturally as the teacher develops a given theme
or topic and often involves interactive exchanges with students. These
exchanges, when not contrived or overly structured, have the flavor of a real
conversation.
"Teacher talk" might also include the recounting of personal anecdotes
relating to the instructor's own experiences in the target culture. (Some
sample reading activities based on teacher anecdotes are given later in this
chapter.) Native-speaker visitors can also provide comprehensible input,
especially if they are aware of the level of listening ability of the students
and gear their comments to that level. Students might be asked to prepare
questions in advance of the visit and thereby have some control over the
conversational topics.
A good way to incorporate simulated authentic discourse into the class¬
room is through the use of semiscripts (Geddes and White 1978). A semi¬
script is a set of notes or a simple outline that is provided to native speakers
for the purpose of generating a monologue or conversation that sounds
authentic. The notes might include specific vocabulary or structures that
should be incorporated in the speech sample, or simply indicate the general
ideas to be mentioned or discussed. The discourse that is created from the
semiscript can be recorded on audio or videotape for use in the classroom.
An example of a semiscript for a videotaped conversation in French is
given below, followed by the actual unrehearsed dialogue that resulted.
This dialogue was transcribed from the sound track and is completely
unedited, which gives it its authentic flavor. The videotape, produced at
the University of Illinois, consists of a split-screen telephone conversation
in which a student calls to rent a room in response to a want ad.

Semiscript The caller:

How to Rent an 1. Telephone call to Madame Riviere (42.57.18.80 in Paris) to inquire about a want
Apartment (Comment ad for a student room.
louer un appartement) 2. Ask for particulars—location, amenities, etc.
3. Make an appointment to see the apartment.
The landlady:
1. Small apartment with a kitchenette and shower, not far from metro Saint-Maur.
2. Third floor, phone in the corridor.
3. Free to show apartment tomorrow afternoon, about 2:30.
With this semiscript in hand, the two native speakers making the videotape car¬
ried out the following unrehearsed conversation in French:
La Proprietaire: Alio?
LTtudiante: Alio. C'est le 42.57.18.80 a Paris?
La Proprietaire: Oui, certainement.
L'Etudiante: Je voudrais parler a Madame Riviere.
La Proprietaire: Oui, c'est elle-meme.
LTtudiante: Ah, Madame Riviere, c'est au sujet de la petite annonce.
La Proprietaire: Oh, oui, oui.
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading #177

L'Etudiante: Euh, vous avez une chambre d'etudiant, n'est-ce pas?

La Proprietaire: Oui, c'est une chambre d'etudiant, oui.
L'Etudiante: Est-ce que je pourrais avoir des details?
La Proprietaire: Alors, euh, c'est une piece independante. Vous avez un coin cui¬
sine et puis un coin douche.
L'Etudiante: Ah, est-ce que c'est loin du Quartier Latin?
La Proprietaire: Oh, une demi-heure en metro, par la.
L'Etudiante: Oui, c'est quel metro?
La Proprietaire: Metro Saint-Maur.
L'Etudiante: Oui, je connais. Euh, est-ce que c'est a I'etage?
La Proprietaire: Oui, c'est au deuxieme etage.
L'Etudiante: Pas d'ascenseur, bien sur.
La Proprietaire: Ah non.
L'Etudiante: Ah, c'est dommage. Euh, est-ce que vous avez le telephone?
La Proprietaire: Euh. Pas dans la chambre, non. Euh, si vous voulez I'usage du tele¬
phone, alors ce serait dans le couloir.
L'Etudiante: Oh, c'est ennuyeux <;a.
La Proprietaire: Oh, mais c'est tres pratique. C'est tout pres de votre chambre.
Ilya pas de problemes et il y a pas grand monde chez moi.
L'Etudiante: Bon, enfin, est-ce que je pourrais venir voir cette chambre?
La Proprietaire: Oui, certainement, quand vous voulez.
L'Etudiante: Je suis libre I'apres-midi d'habitude.
La Proprietaire: Bon, ben, ga tombe bien parce que le matin je ne suis pas libre et
puis, vous pensiez venir demain?
L'Etudiante: Oui, demain apres-midi si vous voulez.
La Proprietaire: Bon, parce que, attendez, demain, euh, j'ai quelqu'un a dejeuner,
alors, vers deux heures trente.
L'Etudiante: Oui, vers deux heures trente, ga va.
La Proprietaire: Bon, c'est parfait. Est-ce que je peux avoir votre nom?
L'Etudiante: Oui, c'est Mademoiselle Fran^oise Coulont.
La Proprietaire: Bien, mademoiselle, et bien, je vous attendrai demain alors.
L'Etudiante: D'accord.
La Proprietaire: Au revoir.
L'Etudiante: Au revoir, a demain.

Landlady: Hello?
Student: Hello. Is this 42-57-18-80 in Paris?
Landlady: Yes, certainly.
Student: I'd like to speak to Madame Riviere.
Landlady: Yes, this is she.
Student: Madame Riviere, I'm calling in reference to the ad in the paper.
Landlady: Oh, yes?
Student: Uh, you have a student room, don't you?
Landlady: Yes, it's a student room, uh-huh.
Student: Could I have some information about it?
Landlady: Well, uh, it's a single room. You have a little kitchenette and a shower.
Student: Oh, is it far from the Latin Quarter?
Landlady: Oh, a half-hour by metro, or thereabout.
Student: Uh huh, which metro stop is it?
178 • Teaching Language in Context

Landlady: The Saint-Maur stop.

Student: Oh yes, I know where that is. Uh, is it on an upper floor?
Landlady: Yes, it's on the third floor.
Student: No elevator, of course.
Landlady: Oh no.
Student: Oh, that's too bad. Uh, is there a phone?
Landlady: Uh, not in the room. Uh, if you want to use the phone, then you'd use
the one in the hallway.
Student: Oh, that's inconvenient. . .
Landlady: Oh, it's no trouble. It's right close to your room. It's not a bother and there
aren't a lot of tenants.
Student: All right, so could I come to see the room?
Landlady: Yes, certainly, when you like.
Student: I'm usually free in the afternoon.
Landlady: Good, well, that'll be good because I'm not free in the morning, and
so . . . you were thinking of coming tomorrow?
Student: Yes, tomorrow afternoon, if that's OK.
Landlady: Good, because, wait. . . tomorrow, uh, I have someone coming for
lunch, so . . . about 2:30?
Student: Yes, about 2:30, that's good.
Landlady: Good, that's perfect. Could I have your name?
Student: Yes, it's Mademoiselle Frangoise Coulont.
Landlady: Fine, mademoiselle, well, I'll look for you tomorrow, then.
Student: OK.
Landlady: Goodbye.
Student: Goodbye. I'll see you tomorrow.

Source: The Random House/University of Illinois Video Program in French 1986,

pp. 105-106. Reprinted with permission.

Activities using simulated authentic exchanges such as this are

explored in the next section, along with other ideas for teaching listening
comprehension.

Sample Formats for Listening Comprehension

Listening for the Gist Sample 1 (Novice)

Objective Students listen to a phone conversation and choose the best general
description of its content from four options provided in English.

Text The phone conversation (pp. 176-78) between a student and a landlord
about an apartment advertised in the classified section of the paper.

Student Task Listen to the following phone conversation and choose the best description
of its contents.

a. two friends discussing problems one of them is having with her

landlord
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 179

b. a woman calling to ask her landlord about making repairs in her

new apartment
c. a woman inquiring about an apartment she is interested in renting
d. two friends talking about the new apartment one of them has just
rented.

Follow-up Students discuss their choices and their rationale for making them (i.e.,
words or expressions they heard that gave them cues to meaning, knowl¬
edge of the world, etc.) They then listen to the dialogue a second time to
confirm or refine their hypothesis, with teacher guidance.

Sample 2 (Novice)

Objective Students identify products that are being advertised by matching pictures
of the products to the passages heard. (See Lund's Taxonomy p. 171)

Text Various radio commercials are recorded from a target-language station.

Student Task Drawings of the products (or pictures, if available) are marked with a letter
(A, B, C, etc.) and placed in the front of the classroom. Students listen to
the recorded advertisements one at a time. As they listen, they try to iden¬
tify which product is being described by writing down the appropriate let¬
ter of the visual that matches the description.

Recursive Listening In recursive listening activities, students listen to the same text several
^tirnes, each time with a different listening purpose. In the following sam¬
i ples, pre-listening activities and organizers are illustrated as well as the
specific listening tasks themselves.

Sample 1 (Novice/Intermediate)

Objective Students listen to a passage that includes announcements on board an air¬

plane interspersed with conversation between two passengers. On the first
listening, they attempt to distinguish between the formal register of the
announcements and the informal register of conversation. On the second
listening they will fill out a form with some pertinent flight information.

Prelistening The teacher orients the students to the passage by telling them that it takes
Activities place on an international flight. She explains that the passage includes
both formal and informal speech, and asks the students to listen the first
time for differences in tone of voice, speech overlap, and delivery. They are
instructed to raise their hands each time they hear the register shift.
Passage VIASA jDonde el tiempo pasa volando!9
Capitan: Senores pasajeros, a nombre del comandante, quien les habla,
Pedro Lange Churion, y de la tripulacion de VIASA, Venezolana Inter-
nacional de Aviacion, donde el tiempo pasa volando quisieramos darles la
bienvenida al vuelo 804 con destino a Nueva York. Vamos a volar a una
180® Teaching Language in Context

altura de 20.000 pies y a una velocidad de 900 KM por hora. Aterrizaremos

en el aeropuerto Kennedy a la una de la tarde, hora de Nueva York. Los dejo
en manos de la tripulacion que estara encantada de atenderles en este viaje.
Azafata: Buenos dfas. .jQue desea tomar?
Viajera: Buenos dfas. Bueno, este, . . . e . . . ^Que tiene?
Azafata: De todo . . . depende . . . bebidas, vino, tragos . . .
Viajera: iQue bebidas tiene?
Azafata: Usted tiene . . . Coca Cola . . . limon . . . jugo de naranja . . .
Viajera: Ah, bueno, deme un jugo de naranja, sin hielo.
Azafata: ^Sin hielo? Esta bien. Y para comer. . . <>Que prefiere, polio
o . . . o . . . pescado?
Viajera: Este . . . polio, por favor.
Azafata: Muy bien. ^Algo mas?
Viajera: Eh . . . ^Que periodicos tiene?
Azafata: Tenemos El. . . Tiempo, eh ... el New York Times ... El
Nacional. . .
Viajera: El Tiempo, El Tiempo.
Azafata: jEl Tiempo! Bueno. Muy bien. Ahora mismo se lo traigo, senorita.
[bip . . . bipj
Capitan: Senores pasajeros, en este momento estamos a punto de ater-
rizar. Favor de abrocharse los cinturones de seguridad y de poner el
respaldo ... el respaldo de su asiento en posicion vertical.
Azafata: Por favor, suba la mesita, abroche su cinturon. Gracias.

Second Listening Students fill out the form below as they listen to the passage a second time,
this time attending to some important details.

COMPREHENSION EXERCISE

"VIASA jDonde el tiempo pasa volando!"

You are about to embark on an adventure in flying. Supply

the missing information.

Nombre del piloto:_Lange-Churion

Nacionalidad de la aerolfnea:_

Numero del vuelo:___

Destino: ___

Altura: _pies; Velocidad:_ KM/hora

Aeropuerto:_; Hora de llegada:_

Una bebida que se ofrece: ____

Una comida que se ofrece: _

Un periodico que se ofrece:

Source: Bacon 1989. Passage and exercise reprinted by permission from ''Listening for Real
in the Foreign Language Classroom/' Foreign Language Annals, vol. 22, no. 6,1989, p. 548.
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 181

Sample 2 (Novice/Intermediate)

Objective Students watch a videotaped telephone conversation between a student

and a potential landlord who has offered a room for rent. As they watch
the video the first time, they listen for vocabulary related to lodging. On
the second viewing, they attempt to summarize the phone call by writing
down in English all that they understood. On the third viewing, more
detailed information is sought to supplement their recall. The overall
objective is (1) to be able to summarize the telephone conversation and (2)
have a general idea about how to go about renting a student room in
Paris.

Prelistening Activity Before viewing the video, certain relevant vocabulary is elicited through a
cloze passage that summarizes the general theme of the passage. The pas¬
sage, which serves as a script activator, is given below:

Completez le passage suivant.

Frangoise cherche une chambre. El le regarde_

dans le journal. El le veut une chambre pres de I'universite

parce qu'elle est _. El le veut aussi une

chambre pres du _parce qu'elle n'aime

pas marcher. Un _dans la chambre est

une necessity parce qu'elle aime appeler ses amis. El le va voir

un petit studio a 3h15 de _ aujourd'hui.

Le studio est au cinquieme etage et il n'y pas d'ascenseur. Alors

el le doit monter a pied.

Passage The video segment is the one developed from the semiscript found on pp.
176-78.

First Viewing Students watch the video and jot down any vocabulary they hear that
relates to lodging. The vocabulary is then pooled from class members and
put on the board.

Second Viewing Students write an English-language summary of all they remember from
the phone conversation. Students' recollections are then pooled, and the
class constructs a general summary of the story.

Third Viewing Students listen and attempt to supplement their original synopsis of the
video with more details. They listen for such things as the phone number,
details about the room and the location, and information about the
appointment made. These supplementary details will depend, of course,
on what students were able to extract from the second viewing.
182® Teaching Language in Context

Follow-Up Tasks The following activities are designed to offer practice with the vocabulary and lan¬
guage functions presented in the video.
i. Guided writing: Use this hypothetical situation as the subject of a short composi¬
tion:
Vous venez de recevoir une bourse pour etudier a la Sorbonne I'annee prochaine.
Un de vos professeurs aux Etats-Unis vous donne le nom et Tadresse cTun
Monsieur Huret qui travaille a une agence immobiliere a Paris. Cette agence pro¬
pose des appartements a loyer modere pour etudiants. Ecrivez une lettre a M.
Huret. Precisez la sorte de iogement que vous cherchez.
ii. Find a copy of a French newspaper like Le Matin and ask students to look through
the classified ads for their dream house. If no paper is available the instructor can
invent a few ads or have students write ads for their present house or apartment or
for a house or apartment they would like to rent.
The following models may be useful:
La Grande Motte. Residence ecartee. 6 pieces, vue sur
mer. cuisine ultra-moderne, piscine, jardins, terrain de
tennis. 8500f Bureau de vente Ezzine Agence Beausoleil
40611 Montpellier
Vieille Maison avec terrasse, au centre de Paris. 4 pieces
lumineuses au 7eme etage. 13 rue Levecq 06801 Meudon
Source: Prelistening and follow-up tasks are found in K. Hagen The Random House/University
of Illinois Video Program for French: Instructor's Guide. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois, 1986.
Reprinted with permission.

Sample 3 (Intermediate)

Objective Students listen to a brief news report about an official order given to
inspect aircraft that transport military personnel. They listen first to extract
pertinent vocabulary in order to focus on the topic. The second cycle asks
students to listen for the basic story line in the news report. A third and
fourth hearing focus on supporting details.

Passage La secretaria de transporte de los Estados Unidos, E.D., ordend una intensa
inspeccion de las compamas de aviacion con vuelos de alquiler especialmente esas
empresas que rentan sus aviones para vuelos militares. Esta es la cuarta inspec-
cion ordenada despues del accidente de AeroAir en que murieron doscientos
cuarenta y ocho soldados.
First Listening The instructor tells students that the news report they will hear deals with
flying and asks them to write down some words they hear that deal with
this topic.

Second Listening The instructor probes the students' knowledge of the world to see if they
can anticipate the general theme of the article. Students are asked to think
of a recent airline disaster and see if the news story talks about it.

Third Listening Students listen for reactions to the events and write down words associat¬
ed with these reactions.
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading #183

Illustration 5.3
Drawing of student
room for Novice-level
listening activity with
visuals (Sample 1)

Fourth Listening More detail is now elicited so that full comprehension of the news report is
achieved.
Source: Weissenrieder, Maureen. "Listening to the News in Spanish." The Modern Language
Journal 71, i (1987): 18-27. Reprinted with permission.

Listening with In this kind of activity, students listen to material that corresponds to a
Visuals visual aid of some kind and either identify a picture being described, iden¬
tify objects within the picture, follow a map or diagram, or draw a simple
sketch.

Sample 1 (Novice)

Objective Students listen to a passage to identify and draw common objects in a

room and show comprehension of expressions of location.

Prelistening Activity Students activate relevant background knowledge by thinking of vocabu¬

lary for objects in their rooms or by identifying common objects in a pic¬
ture or drawing of a student room.

Passage A native-speaking exchange student provides a simple sketch of his/her

bedroom with most of the furniture missing, but with a few items desig¬
nated in the sketch and labelled. The student either describes the room on
tape or comes to the class as a visitor and provides the description orally.

Student Task See Illustration 5.3 for a sample sketch (in German). Students complete the
sketch as they listen. They may ask the visitor questions for clarification.
184# Teaching Language in Context

Illustration 5.4 Gruppenarbeit. Before you listen to the audio texts, look at the menu from the
Menu (Sample 2) restaurant Heuandres in Bad Ditzenbach. Work with your group to answer the
questions and complete the tasks.

Gasthaus HEUANDRES Pension

7341 Bad Dietzenbach • Telefon (07334)5320

Hirnsuppe - 3.50
\
1/2 Hahnchen
Salate - 14.90

Schweinekotelett
Salate _ 15.90

Schweinekotelett, gegrillt
Blumenkohl
Pommes frites- 16.90

Schweinebraten
Sauerkraut
Salzkartoffeln - 15.90

Rindsbraten
Reis
Salate - 17.90

Kalbsbraten
Spatzle
Salate - 16.90

Pfeffer steak
Reis
Salate _ 19.50

Hirschkalbbraten
Spatzle
Salate - 24.50

Entenviertel
Blaukraut
Semmelknodel _ 18.50
_J
Bedienungsgeld und Mehrwertsteuer sind in den Preisen inbegriffen.

Source: Arendt et al. Kreise: Erstes Jahr Deutsch im Kontext. Boston: Heinle & Heinle
Publishers, 1992, p.97.
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading #185

Textarbeit Text work (English Translation)

1. Szene 1: Wer bekommt was? Kreuzen Sie die 1. Scene 1: Who gets what? Mark the appropriate
passende Spalte an. column.

Mann Frau Kind Man Woman Child

Exportbier Export Beer
Wein Wine
Cola Cola
Suppe Soup
Rindsbraten Roast Beef
Entenviertel Duck
Hahnchen Chicken

2. Szene 2: Was bestelIt der Mann, was besteiIt die 2. Scene 2: What does the man order, what does the
Frau? Filllen Sie die Tabelle aus. woman order? Fill out the chart.

Hauptgericht Beilage Getrank Main dish Side dish Drink

Frau Woman
Mann Man

Illustration 5.5 Source: Arendt et al. 1992, p. 98.

Forms used in German
listening activity with
visuals (Sample 2)
Sample 2 (Novice/Intermediate)

Objective Students listen to a series of conversations about choosing food from a

restaurant menu provided in their textbook. They attempt to understand
various aspects of these conversations, including the attitudes of the
speakers toward the choice of food, the selections they make, and the
prices they pay.

Prelistening Before listening to the audiotaped conversations, students study the menu
in Illustration 5.4 in small groups and answer various questions about the
foods. The textbook includes a chart with food groups and students are
asked to place the menu items under the appropriate category.

Listening Tasks Students listen to a series of mini-conversations on audiotape.

1. Students listen to a conversation between two customers discussing

the menu. They then answer questions about one of the customer's
impressions of the fare.
2. Students listen to two exchanges between a waitress and her cus¬
tomers. They fill out forms, such as the ones in Illustration 5.5, as
they listen.
186® Teaching Language in Context

3. Students hear two more conversations between a waitress and her

customers to determine what they ate, drank, and paid for the meal.
They enter this information onto a form provided in the text.
Source: J. Arendt, C. Baumann, G. Peters, and R. Wakefield. Kreise: Erstes jahr Deutsch im
Kontext. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers, 1992, pp. 97-99.

Sample 3 (Intermediate/Advanced)

Objective Students listen to a weather report presented on an interactive videodisc

and attempt to extract enough information to be able to (1) understand the
general forecast; (2) distinguish between two weather maps and choose
the one that is relevant to the text; and (3) reproduce a simple weather map
by moving weather symbols onto the map on the computer screen.

Prelistening Students review various weather expressions through a series of exercises

on the computer screen.

Passage The following passage is heard as students watch a videotape about

preparing for a party. In the scene in which this forecast is heard, two
young women are selecting clothing for a party. The radio is on, and the
passage represents a portion of the broadcast. For this particular set of
activities, students can suppress the dialogue between the two women and
listen selectively to the radio program:

Bonsoir. Sortez vos impermeables ou bien alors restez chez vous car ce
weekend sera frisquet et humide. En effet, une vague de pluie traversera
la France durant les trois prochains jours, touchant d'abord les regions
du Nord-ouest, du Pas-de-Calais et de la Bretagne dans la nuit de ven-
dredi a samedi. Elle atteindra Paris dans la matinee de samedi pour aller
ensuite arroser les regions de I'Est jusqu'a Lyons.
Les temperatures baisseront sensiblement par rapport a cette semaine: 10
degres a Paris demain soir, 8 a Lyons, 6 a Strasbourg, 9 a Lilies. Le Sud
sera epargne par cette fraicheur: il sera 14 a Bordeaux, 16 a Toulouse, 18
a Marseille, le record du jour etant 20 a Ajaccio en Corse.
Sur I'agenda: demain c'est la Sainte Carine, alors bonne fete a toutes les
Carines! Le soleil sa levera a 6h.39 et se couchera a 7h.29, soit une
minute de moins qu'aujourd'hui. II me reste a vous souhaiter une tres
bonne soiree a I'ecoute de France-lnter. Bonsoir!
Sample 3 Translation:
Good evening. Get out your umbrellas or else stay at home because this
weekend will be chilly and wet. As a matter of fact, a wave of rain will
cross France in the next three days, hitting first the northwestern regions,
Pas-de-Calais and Brittany between Friday night and Saturday. The rains
will reach Paris Saturday morning and then move on to dampen the east¬
ern regions as far as Lyon.
Temperatures will be noticeably lower compared to this week: 10
degrees in Paris tomorrow night, 8 in Lyon, 6 in Strasbourg, 9 in Lilies.
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 187

The south will be spared this cold snap: it will be 14 in Bordeaux; 16 in

Toulouse, 18 in Marseille, and the day's high will be 20 in Ajaccio in
Corsica.

Tor the datebook: tomorrow is Saint Catherine's day, so happy holiday

for all you Catherines! The sun will rise at 6:39 a.m. and will set at 7:29
—
p.m. that's one minute earlier than today. All that's left for me to do is
to wish you a good evening to all you listeners of Trance-Inter. Good
night!

First Listening Students choose among multiple-choice options the best synopsis of the
weather forecast provided on the screen.

Second Listening Students see two maps on the computer screen and indicate which map
replicates the facts as heard in the weather forecast.

Third Listening Students use a mouse to move weather symbols onto the map depicted on
their screen as they listen to an extended version of the weather report
including Friday's and Saturday's forecasts.

Source: Text and ideas for activities excerpted from Qu'est-ce qu'on attend pour faire la fete!, an
interactive video project of the University of Illinois Language Learning Laboratory, created
by Ulric Chung, 1993. Weather report written by Catherine Gamier and Ulric Chung.

Other ways in which visuals or pictures can be used for Novice and
Intermediate level listening comprehension include:

1. Map Activities. Students are provided with a simple map of a ficti¬

tious city, campus, or street with boxes denoting houses, stores, etc.
After a prelistening activity in which appropriate vocabulary for
place names and prepositions of place have been reviewed, stu¬
dents are given a set of directions. As they listen, they follow the
directions by (a) filling in names of places on the map or (b) draw¬
ing a pathway on the map according to the directions given.
2. Ordering or Sequencing Pictures. Students look at a series of pictures
or drawings that are in scrambled sequence. As they listen to a sim¬
ple set of descriptions of the actions, objects, or people depicted,
they indicate the order of the pictures by placing a number next to
each one (i.e., 1 next to the picture in the first simple description, 2
next to the second description, and so on). It is best to use descrip¬
tions that form continuous discourse. When the pictures, sequenced
appropriately, form a simple narrative or dialogue, students hear
language in contexts beyond the sentence level and have a better
opportunity to develop comprehension skills that will be trans¬
ferable to natural settings.
3. Choosing the Correct Picture from a Description. In this activity, stu¬
dents are given a set of similar pictures with one or two details
differing in each one. For example, the same person can be de¬
picted wearing slightly different clothing in a series of three or
188 • Teaching Language in Context

four visuals. As students listen to a passage in which clothing is

described, they choose the most appropriate visual to match the
information provided.
4. Drawing Sketches from a Description. A simple description of
objects, people, or actions can be read several times while students
attempt to draw what is being described. For the Novice level, the
descriptions should involve vocabulary that is very familiar and
sentence structure should be quite simple. This same technique
can be used in more complex descriptions for the Intermediate
or Advanced level, and may also be combined with a production
task by having students provide the descriptions from a drawing
themselves.

Graphic Fill-Ins Graphic fill-ins consist of incomplete forms, diagrams, or other graphic
material that can be completed as students listen to a passage, either with
native-language words or with words or short phrases in the target lan¬
guage. Items might also be circled or underlined to complete the printed
form. (See Illustration 5.5 as well as those that follow.)

Sample 1 (Intermediate)

Objective Students listen to telephone messages and note down the key information
so they could then transmit it to a friend.

Directions Explain that two students, Tom and Kenji, have a telephone-answering
machine. When they aren't home it records telephone calls for them.

Instruct students to listen to the messages on the machine. These may be

recorded or read by the teacher. Students are asked to characterize the
callers by answering questions such as: Are they friends, classmates, par¬
ents? What do they call about? Ask students to complete the forms for
each message with the important information.

Passages 1. Tom, this is Nancy from your English class. Remember me? I'm call¬
ing to find out about this week's assignment. I'm still not feeling
well and will probably not be back until Monday. So can you call
me at 657-4940 anytime until 11 p.m.? Thanks.
2. I'm Mrs. Henry from the foreign student office returning Kenji
Suzuki's call. I'm sorry but we still don't have your transcripts.
Sometimes the mail is very slow, so wait a couple of weeks before
you fill out another request form. And call me at extension 4745 if
you have more questions.

(Additional passages are played in different speech styles and registers,

some informal and others more formal.)

Student Task See Illustration 5.6.

 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 189

Illustration 5.6
Telephone message Listen to the messages on Tom and
To.
form for Intermediate- Kenji's answering machine. Fill out
level graphic fill-in Date Time.
a message slip for each message,
activity (Sample 1) using a form such as the one shown. WHILE YOU WERE OUT

Be sure to note down all the M.

important information on the form of.
for each call. Then decide whether
Phone
the callers are (1) friends, (2)
TELEPHONED PLEASE CALL
classmates, (3) parents, or (4)
school personnel. CALLED TO SEE YOU WILL CALL AGAIN

WANTS TO SEE YOU RUSH

Message

Operator

Source: Passages and Illustration 5.6 adapted from J. Tanka and P. Most, Interactions I:
A Listening/Speaking Skills Book. Random House, 1985. Reprinted by permission of
McGraw-Hill.

Sample 2 (Intermediate)

Objective Students listen to a series of excerpts from letters written by French-speak¬

ing penpals. As they listen, students fill in the table given in Illustration 5.7
with biographical details about the letter-writers.

Prelistening An advance organizer in the form of a one-sentence description of the lis¬

tening passages and a set of key vocabulary items is given to students,
who are told to look at the table they are to fill out in English before they
hear the excerpts. The advance organizer, in French, and the graphic fill-in
are given in Illustration 5.7.

Passage Students hear three excerpts from letters with natural-language self¬
descriptions by two young women and a young man. Three speakers talk
about their native countries, describe themselves, and discuss their
favorite hobbies and pastimes. One sample passage is given below:

Cher Jean-Pierre,

Notre professeur nous a donne le nom de correspondants

frangais. Nous avons tire au sort et c'est ton nom que j'ai tire. Je
m'appelle Andre Delcourt et j'habite a Trois-Rivieres dans la
province de Quebec. Je suis assez grand, blond et muscle. Je
190 • Teaching Language in Context

Illustration 5.7
Graphic fill-in Vous allez entendre trois extraits de lettres ecrites par des correspondants etrangers.
(Sample 2) Ecoutez-les et remplissez le tableau ci-dessous. Vous allez entendre deux fois les
extraits. Mais d'abord, void quelques mots utiles.
classe de terminale equivalent of senior year in high school
citoyenne citizen
fana (fanatique) fan
roux red-headed
frises curly
mouton sheep
tirer au sort to draw (a name)
Prenez quelques secondes pour regarder le tableau suivant.
Maintenant, ecoutez le premier extrait, et remplissez le tableau selon ce que vous
entendez.

Physical
Native country Age Hobbies
description

Mamisoa

Marie-Louise

Andre

vais feter mon dix-neuvieme anniversaire la semaine prochaine.

J'adore les sports. Je fais du hockey sur glace et du ski de fond
en hiver et du canoe-kayak en ete ...

(Dear Jean-Pierre,

Our teacher gave us the name of French penpals. We chose names

at random and I picked yours. My name is Andre Delcourt and I live
in Trois-Rivieres in the Province of Quebec. I'm kind of tall, blond and
athletic. I'm going to be nineteen next week. I love sports. I play ice
hockey and do cross-country skiing in the winter and canoeing in the
summer...)
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 191

Postlistening Students choose a person from the three described and write a letter to that
Activity person, describing themselves in a similar manner.

Alternate Activity If teachers have access to a list of real-life penpals, students can choose to
write to one of them instead. An interesting alternative to this listening
activity would be based on students' own penpals who have been asked to
send a cassette tape describing themselves and their interests. Students
could then respond with a cassette of their own in the target language,
which they might prepare first in writing and peer-edit with teacher help.
This activity adds a written and spoken component to the listening exer¬
cise, all of which is potentially rich in cultural information.
Source: Illustration 5.7 and passage are from F. Coulont-Henderson, E. McKee, and A.
Omaggio, Kaleidoscope: Cahier d'exercices oraux et ecrits, 2nd. ed., New York. Random House,
1988, p. 3-4 (workbook/tapescript). Reprinted by permission of McGraw-Hill.

Comprehension Teachers have often used comprehension questions of various sorts to test
Checks students' understanding of a listening passage. Such questions have often
required students to extract somewhat detailed factual information from
the passage, regardless of its relative value in enabling the listener to
accomplish some communicative purpose. When using comprehension
checks such as those described below, teachers should consider (1) the pur¬
pose of the listening activity and (2) the type of information that would be
needed to accomplish that purpose in an authentic situation. These consid¬
erations can then help teachers decide on the quantity and specificity of
information required as they design the comprehension task.
A variety of comprehension checks are typically used with listening
material, including open-ended questions on the content, true/false ques¬
tions, multiple-choice alternatives, completions, and summaries. When
using comprehension checks, two considerations should be kept in mind
to ensure more effective listening strategies on the part of the learners:
1. Consider providing the questions, completions, or other type of
comprehension check before students hear the passage. This gives
students an idea of the passage content, thus serving as an advance
organizer and providing a "schema" for comprehension.
2. Have students try to do some of the comprehension exercises while
listening to the passage rather than after it has been read or played.
This helps students focus on relevant features of the discourse as
they are being heard rather than requiring them to retrieve a set of
facts from memory.

Sample 1 (Novice)
Using Student Compositions

Objective Students listen for the main ideas and some supporting detail in very
simple familiar material produced by other students in composition
assignments.
192® Teaching Language in Context

Prelistening Activity Students have written compositions on very familiar topics for another
assignment. Before listening to a sample of these compositions, they
review the theme(s) of the compositions briefly.

Directions Instruct students to take notes (in English or in the target language) on the
information they will hear as various compositions are read, noting down
as many details as they can.

Student Task The teacher or the student author of the composition reads the corrected
version to classmates. After the first reading, students are asked to share
what details they heard with other class members. A second reading may
be made for further information if necessary.

Sample 2 (Intermediate)
Completion of an English-Language Summary

Objective Students listen for the main ideas and some supporting detail in an inter¬
view with a French university student about vacations.

Prelistening Activity In the target language, students talk about their vacation plans or about
typical American vacations. They discuss where people typically go, the
amount of time and money they spend, and the best vacation spots in their
own view or in the view of many Americans. The teacher might begin to
point out some of the similarities and differences in the French attitude
towards vacations in preparation for the listening passage or he/she may
choose instead to allow students to detect these attitudes themselves as
part of the comprehension check.

Passage The listening passage is a recorded interview made in France with a uni¬
versity student. The interview is unrehearsed and unedited, making it an
example of unmodified authentic discourse.

Directions Give students a copy of an incomplete summary of the interview in

English, such as the one illustrated below. (The summary could be in
French, making the task a listening/writing exercise. This example is a
pure listening comprehension check, however, since no production is
required in the target language.) Have students complete the summary in
their own words, according to the facts in the interview.

Student Task Complete the passage below in your own words, based on the information
in the recorded interview you heard.

1. According to Denis, this year (1983) was an unusual one for French

travelers because _.

2. In theory, French vacationers go to countries such as _,

_, and _because_.
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 193

3. The best vacation spots in France are typically _and_

although lately there has been more tourism in_(etc.)

Source: A. Omaggio, E. McKee, and F. Coulont-Henderson. Kaleidoscope: Cahier d'exercices
oraux et ecrits. Random House, 1984, p. 15. Reprinted with permission of McGraw-Hill.

listening/Writing A combination of listening and writing tasks that resembles the real-world
Formats skill of note-taking can be used to build comprehension skills at all levels
of proficiency. Intergrative formats such as dictations, variations on dicta¬
tion, and other kinds of gap-filling exercises are especially useful.
One advantage of dictation as an exercise in listening and writing is
that it can combine many discrete points of structure and vocabulary in
natural language contexts. Teachers may construct their own dictations
(For Novice through Advanced levels) or use authentic discourse as the
source of the dictated material (Advanced and Superior levels).
Among the listening/writing formats that may be used from the
Novice through Superior levels are:

1. Dictation of Questions in the Target Language. Students first write

down the questions dictated by the teacher. They then write
answers in the target language to those questions. Questions should
either follow one another in logical sequence, or relate to a given
theme.
2. Partial, or Spot, Dictations. Students fill in gaps on their written copy
of a passage.
3. Dictation of Sentences in Random Order. All sentences, when re¬
arranged, form a logical paragraph or conversation. Students first
write the dictated material and then rearrange it.
4 Dictation of Directions for Arriving at a Destination. Students first
write a set of directions dictated by the teacher. They then follow
the directions on an accompanying map.
5. Dictation of a Description. Students write the dictated material and
then, from a set of alternatives, choose the picture that matches the
description they have written down.
6. Full Dictation of a Passage. Students might be asked to answer
comprehension questions on a passage after they have written it
down. They might also be asked to circle items of a certain lexical or
grammatical category (such as all the verbs in the future tense) to
draw their attention to a topic that is being emphasized in a particu¬
lar lesson.

A note-taking activity that has potential for developing cultural awareness

is given below. This activity combines listening, speaking, reading, and
writing in an integrative fashion as the students engage in the process of
completing its various steps.
194 • Teaching Language in Context

Sample (Advanced)

Objective Students sharpen their listening skills through a note-taking exercise with
a series of associated production tasks in writing and speaking.

Prelistening Activity Students are told they will be listening to an interview recorded with an
exchange student from the target country They are asked to fill out a form
with the information they hear in the recorded interview, writing in the
target language. They are also told that not all of the information requested
on the form will be given in the interview. They will therefore have to
design appropriate questions to elicit the needed information after they
have heard the passage twice.

Text The instructor records an interview with an exchange student from the tar¬
get culture, eliciting information about his or her interests, family life, etc.
The instructor then prepares a short form such as the one below. The
example is given in English for purposes of illustration, but the form can
be in the target language to include writing practice:

Student Fill in the information requested on this form as you listen to the interview.
You will hear the passage twice. There are some items on your form for
which no information is given. After you have filled in all the facts you hear,
design appropriate questions to get the rest of the information you need.

Interviewee's name__

Occupation __

Home country ___

Town where born __

Reason for visiting the United States__

Preferred leisure activities

Impressions of this university

Similarities noticed between United States and native country

Cultural differences noticed

 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 195

Future plans

Etc.

If possible, the teacher invites the exchange student to visit the class the
next class period and students use their questions to continue the inter¬
view.
The suggestions in this chapter for teaching listening comprehension
skills, though certainly not exhaustive, represent some of the techniques
that are available to teachers who are dealing mostly with students at the
Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced levels. It has been stressed that lis¬
tening comprehension should not be assumed to develop "naturally,"
without any guidance from the teacher: the processes involved in lan¬
guage comprehension need to be activelylaught iLslndents are going to
attam optimal levels of proficiency. The same can be said about reading
comprehension, discussed next.

Teaching Reading Comprehension

Some Processes and Skills Involved in Reading Comprehension

As we saw in Chapter 4 in the general discussion of comprehension
processes, both visual and nonvisual information is involved in compre¬
hension. The reader's preexisting knowledge about the linguistic code as
well as his or her knowledge of the world can be as important as the actual
words of the text. In fact, it seems that the more nonvisual information the
reader possesses, the less visual information is needed (Phillips 1984).
Various models of reading comprehension have been developed in
association with first-language reading research, and a few of these were
referred to in Chapter 4. A very comprehensive and helpful review of
many reading models in both first and second language reading can be
found in Barnett (1989). She categorizes these models into three basic
types. The first type is comprised of bottom-up models, which are essentially
"text-driven": the reader begins essentially by trying to decode letters,
words, phrases, and sentences and "builds up" comprehension in a some¬
what linear fashion from this incoming data. The second type includes top-
down models, which can be thought of as "reader-driven," where schemata
that the reader brings to the text drive comprehension. The third group of
models are considered interactive in nature. Such models posit an interac¬
tion between reader and text: high-level decoding and sampling from the
textual features happen simultaneously and in a cyclical fashion. A recent
variation on this third type of model in native language reading is Pearson
and Tierney's (1984) "composing model" of reading, which "views com¬
prehension as the act of composing a new version of the text for an inner
196 Teaching Language in Context

reader" (Barnett 1989, p. 31). Barnett classifies this type of conceptualiza¬

tion as a reading/writing model, since it takes into consideration similarities
in the reading and writing processes. In many of the native-language read¬
ing models described in Barnett's review, it is the reader rather than the
text that is primary in the comprehension process.
Swaffar, Arens, and Byrnes (1991) have developed a "procedural
model for integrative reading" (pp. 73-91) that synthesizes text and read¬
er-based features. Their model is "procedural" in that it is meant to guide
reading behavior rather than predict reader processing. It assumes that
there are two parallel sets of interactive top-down and bottom-up process¬
es, with one set relating to the reader and the other relating to the text (p.
74). Thus the message of the text interacts with the perceptions, knowledge
background, and skills of the reader. The Swaffar et al. model is designed
to deal with the practical issues surrounding second language reading,
although it is derived in part from theoretical perspectives in first-lan¬
guage reading.
It is clear that native-language reading models cannot be applied
directly to second language reading, especially for adult learners who are
already literate in their native language. However, many of the insights
from native-language reading research can and have been used to gain an
understanding of L2 reading processes. For second language readers, espe¬
cially in beginning levels, the reading task often becomes a laborious "bot¬
tom-up" decoding process, mainly because readers lack knowledge of the
code, as well as knowledge of the cultural context of the reading material.
Bernhardt (1986) reviews research in second language reading in which
bottom-up (text-dependent) models have been applied. She concludes that
in general, second language readers become more efficient at gathering
information from the text as their proficiency develops (p. 97). This is con¬
sistent with Lund's (1991) research on reading in German, reported earlier
(seep. 172).
Second language reading research within the framework of top-
down or schema-based models was reviewed to some extent in Chapter
4. Bernhardt, in summarizing some of the L2 research done within this
framework suggests that comprehension of discourse seems to be influ¬
enced more by conceptual factors than by linguistic factors. In a study
a she conducted with German students reading literary texts, for example,
she found that the reader's ability to visualize the passage content and
relate to it personally was more important in predicting comprehension
^ than was his or her linguistic competence and conversational proficiency
(p. 99). Yet no one model or type of model is sufficient in itself to explain
what happens when language learners try to comprehend written texts.
Bernhardt argues for an approach that reconciles the strengths of all the
different types of models and acknowledges their different insights. "It is
clear from all the models that the comprehender is an active participant
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 197

in the comprehension process who perceives and selects features of text

and features of the world at large for processing and for synthesizing"
(p. 99).
The importance of considering our students as individuals who
approach a text with differing background knowledge, interests, motiva¬
tions, skills, and strategies becomes clear when one considers the interac¬
tive nature of reading. In order to help students become more efficient and
successful readers, teachers need to keep such individual factors in mind.
They also need to think about both the purposes for which students might
be reading and the reading skills, strategies, and processes involved in
achieving these purposes.
According to Phillips (1984), reading purposes have often'been dicho¬
tomized into reading for information or reading for pleasure. She cautions that
the lines between these types of reading are not really rigid, and in fact both
objectives can be facets of a single reading assignment. The determination
of the purpose(s) for reading a given passage should have implications for
the way in which the reading task is designed and comprehension is
assessed. For example, when a student is reading for specific information,
it makes sense to consider the accuracy with which details are understood
as well as the amount of detail reported relating to that information. When
students are reading something for pleasure, evidence of comprehension
might be assessed differently. In a similar manner, the stages or sequenced
steps a reader will go through when approaching a passage will also be a
function of the reader's own purposes or objectives. An individual might
skim the table of contents of a target-language magazine to get a global
view of the type of topics covered, and then read an article of particular
interest more intensively.
Phillips (1984) reviews work by Munby (1979) and Grellet (1981) who
have analyzed various reader purposes and processes in second language
reading.
Munby's (1979) model of reading instruction divides types of reading
into two categories, according to purpose: he characterizes reading as
being either intensive or extensive. In intensive reading, often for information,
students need to understand linguistic as well as semantic detail and pay
close attention to the text. Four types of understanding are specified for
training in intensive reading: (1) understanding the plain sense, or factual,
.exact surface meanings in the text, (2) understanding implications, which
p/^nvolves making inferences and being sensitive to emotional tone and fig-
^ yurative language, (3) understanding the relationship of ideas in the read¬
ying passage, including intersentential relationships and linkages between
Subparagraphs, and (4) being able to relate the reading material to one's own
\ knowledge and experience (p. 144).
In extensive reading, often for pleasure, students need not necessarily
j) comprehend all the details of the text. Rather, speed and skill in getting the
198® Teaching Language in Context

gist are the most important criteria for training in this type of reading task.
Understanding in a general way the author's intent, getting the main
ideas, and reacting to the material personally are also reading goals when
reading extensively (Phillips 1984).
Grellet (1981) discusses four main ways that one can read a given text.
These are (1) skimming, or quickly running one's eyes over the text to get
the gist, (2) scanning, or quickly searching for some particular piece of
information in the text, (3) extensive reading, and (4) intensive reading. She
points out that these different ways to approach reading are not mutually
exclusive, but may in fact be done in succession when approaching a given
text.
In teaching reading comprehension, we need to design tasks that
correspond to all of these purposes and processes in reading. Grellet
(1981) proposes that activities designed to check comprehension relate
to both the content of the passage and its discourse structure, or orga¬
nization. Questions or tasks can be designed to clarify the passage's
function, its general argumentative organization, its rhetorical struc¬
**< ture, the use of cohesive devices, and the understanding of intersen-
tential relationships. To help students understand the content of the
passage, tasks can relate to understanding the plain facts, the implica¬
tions, the suppositions, and evaluation of the text (Grellet 1981;
Phillips 1984).

Using Authentic Materials

The same rationale for the use of authentic materials relates to reading as
well as listening comprehension practice. Reading specialists point out
that simplifying texts reduces their natural redundancy, which might
actually make them more difficult to read. Authentic written materials
should also be presented, if possible, in their original form to allow stu¬
dents to use nonlinguistic cues to interpret meaning (Grellet 1981).
Although one needs to select texts for the lowest levels of proficiency
that deal with familiar, interesting topics or present cultural information
(including realia) in a fairly straightforward fashion, a wide variety of
text types can be used, as long as the tasks are geared to the students'
capabilities in reading. Some tasks that might be appropriate for different
levels of reading proficiency are presented in Illustration 5.8. As in the
case of the listening task types presented earlier in the chapter, the diffi¬
culty of the task will vary depending on the nature of the text, its level of
familiarity and interest, the precision of detail that is necessary in carry¬
ing out the task, and the knowledge and competence that the student
brings to the reading material. Thus, the lists in Illustration 5.8 should be
interpreted as a set of suggestions and not as rigid prescriptions for
developing learning activities.
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading #199

Illustration 5.8
Reading tasks Suggested Tasks for Building Reading Proficiency
Novice/Intermediate Advanced/Superior
Anticipation/Prediction activities Skimming/Scanning
Prereading activities (various) Comprehension checks (various)
Skimming Contextual guessing
Gisting Making inferences
Detecting functions of texts Extracting specific detail
Scanning Paraphrasing (target language)
Extracting specific information Resume (native or target language)
Contextual guessing Note-taki ng/Outl i n i ng
Simple cloze (multiple-choice) Identifying sociolinguistic features
Filling out forms Understanding idioms
Comprehension checks (various) Understanding discouse structure
Clue searching Understanding intentions
Making inferences Analysis and evaluative activities
Scrambled stories Creative elaboration
Resume (native language)
Passage completion
Identifying sociolinguistic features
Identifying discourse structure
Identifying link words/Referents

Techniques for Teaching Reading Skills

This section illustrates how various reading comprehension formats can be
used with Novice-, Intermediate-, Advanced-, and Superior-level learners.
Some activity types are more appropriate to one level of proficiency; many
of them, however, can be used at various levels. To adapt a given sample
activity format to a particular level of proficiency, a teacher can simply
choose an appropriate topic, create task demands that are congruent with
reading purposes at that level, and adjust his or her expectations for accu¬
racy in comprehension accordingly.
Any of the activities listed here can be used in isolation, but Phillips
(1984) points out that a whole range of practice activities might be used in
concert to integrate individual skills so that higher levels of proficiency
might be achieved. She has developed a five-stage plan for reading
instruction that can be used either in the classroom, in individualized
instructional settings, or in computer-adaptive instruction. The five stages
she identifies are:

1. Preteaching/Preparation Stage. This important first step helps develop

skills in anticipation and prediction for the reading of graphic mate¬
rial. Phillips points out that students need to build expectancies for
the material that they are about to read. This assertion is supported
200 • Teaching Language in Context

by the research reviewed in Chapter 4, where we saw how impor¬

tant advance organizers and contextual cues are in helping readers
build and/or retrieve from memory appropriate schemata to help
them comprehend. Some activities Phillips recommends for this
first stage of reading include:

a. Brainstorming to generate ideas that have a high probability of

occurrence in the text
b. Looking at visuals, headlines, titles, charts, or other contextual
aids that are provided with the text
c. Predicting or hypothesizing on the basis of the title or first line
of a text what significance it might have or what might come
next (pp. 289-90).
2. Skimming/Scanning Stages. Both of these steps are distinct processes
involving, as we saw earlier, getting the gist (skimming) and locat¬
ing specific information (scanning). Phillips points out that skilled
readers do some scanning while attempting to skim a text; however,
she feels that practice is needed in each skill for second language
students. Some of the practice activities needed for this stage
include:
a. Getting the gist of short readings, paragraphs, or other graphic
material
b. Identifying topic sentences and main ideas
c. Selecting the best paraphrase from multiple-choice options of
the main idea of a text or of the conclusion
d. Matching subtitles with paragraphs
e. Filling in charts or forms with key concepts
f. Creating titles or headlines for passages
g. Making global judgments or reacting in some global fashion to a
reading passage (p. 290).

Swaffar (1983) proposes that teachers have students move direct¬

ly from skimming to scanning with any reading task. First stu¬
dents skim the passage to determine what general category fits
the content of the passage (i.e., is it about a problem, people or
organizations, events, or ideas?). Then students scan the text
more carefully to locate a few of the main ideas relating to this
global category.

3. Decoding/Intensive Reading Stage. Phillips maintains that this stage is

most necessary when students are "learning to read" rather than
"reading to learn." Decoding involves guessing from content the
meaning of unknown words or phrases and may be needed at the
word, intrasentential, intersentential, or discourse level. Readers
need to be taught not only how to guess the meaning of content
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 201

words, but also how to interpret the force of connectors, determine

the relationships among sentences or sentence elements, and the
like. Again, the extent of decoding that will go on in this stage will
depend on the purpose for reading a given passage. As Phillips
states, "In the final analysis, conscious, detailed decoding is not a
common goal of reading" (p. 293). Rather, fluency and rapid under¬
standing are the most common objectives in reading, and it is only
when comprehension is impeded by unknown words, complex
structures, or very unfamiliar concepts that skilled readers resort to
decoding.

4. Comprehension Stage. In this step, comprehension checks of various

sorts are made to determine if students have achieved their reading
purpose(s). Phillips feels that reading comprehension exercises should
(a) not confound the reading skill with other skills, such as writing,
listening, or speaking if they are to be considered pure tests of reading
comprehension, and (b) reading comprehension checks should project
the reader through several phases of the reading process.

5. Transferable/Integrating Skills. In this final stage of teaching reading,

Phillips maintains that exercises should be used that help students
go beyond the confines of the specific passage to enhance reading
skills and effective reading strategies per se. Exercises that encour¬
age contextual guessing, selective reading for main ideas, appropri¬
ate dictionary usage, and effective rereading strategies to confirm
hypotheses are among those identified as especially helpful in this
stage (pp. 294-95).

The next section explores some of the possible formats that address the
development of skills for these various stages. Additional samples using
these and other task formats can be found in Grellet (1981) and Phillips
(1984).

Sample Formats for Reading Comprehension

Anticipation/ Sample (Novice/Intermediate)
Prediction
Objective Students anticipate the content of personal ads in Spanish and then scan
the ads to find information about the various people who wrote them.
Prereading Activity Students are presented with the list below consisting of types of personal
information. They mark the items they would expect to find in personal ads:
a. age f. number of credit cards
b. race g. physical description
c. annual income h. astrological sign
d. occupation i. telephone number
e. religion j. marital status
202 • Teaching Language in Context

After marking their choices, students look over the text in Illustration 5.9
and try to determine the format of a typical Mexican ad. They then list the
types of information they find and match that list to the items they marked
above. They then discuss whether or not their expectations were met and
what aspects of the ads they did not anticipate.

Text See Illustration 5.9.

Cultural Comment Students read a cultural commentary about Mexican personal ads that
explains their typical format and the type of information they might con¬
tain. Students can then compare and contrast ads in Mexican and
American newspapers and magazines.
Scanning Students then scan the ads in Illustration 5.9 to see if they can find various
individuals described, as in the activity below.

Use cognates and other cues to match the advertisers with the descriptions provid¬
ed in their ads. Fill in the blank in number 6 with the person who fits the extra
description.

1. Margarita Capdepont a. wants to share her joys and sorrows

with penpals of any age
2. M. Esperanza
b. a young woman of 17 who wants to
3. Jose Alfredo Aguilar trade objects of all kinds
c. a 34-year old single man who wants
4. Apolonio de la Cruz
to cultivate a deep relationship with
5. Octavio Arreola someone kind
d. a high-school student (a young girl)
6.
who wants penpals from around the
world
e. a young man of 25 who wants to
correspond with women between 16
and 28
f. a young man who says he is serious
and sentimental and wants to meet a
young woman a few years younger
than himself.

Source: Laura Martin, Entre Uneas, 2nd ed, Heinle & Heinle, 1991. Illustration 5.9 from page
67. Activity ideas adapted from pages 66-68. Text from Rutas de Parion, no. 599 (6 junio 1983)
Editorial Mex-Ameris, S.A.

Skimming/Getting Sample 1 (Novice)

the Gist
Objective Students skim various French documents to identify their function. In this
case, the documents are tickets of various kinds.
Text/Task See Illustration 5.10.
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 203

Illustration 5.9
Anticipation / Scanning
Activity in Spanish

gTe gusta coleccionarpostales, llaueros, posters, etc.

Y tambien objetos de paises lejanos?
Aqui encontrards los nombres y direcciones de muchos
jovenes que comparten tu ideal.

HIDALGO Rosa M. O.- Av. 21 de Marzo, Sur No.

107, Tulancingo, Hgo.- "Odontdloga de 50
afios, dulce, carjfiosa, de buenas costumbres,
Apolonio dm la Cruz.- 62 B.1, Zimapan, sencilla, hogarefia y sin problemas. Desea le
Hgo.— "Tango 25 a nos. soy un joven deoente. escriba Caballero honesto de cualquier nacio-
sin vicios ni problemas familiares. Deseo tener nalidad con fines matrimoniales, foto".
correspondencia con dannitas de 16 a 28 afios
con fines amistosos o sentimentales. Prometo
eontestar y enviar fotograf ia". CHIAPAS
Lucy y emigas.- Argentina No. 102-A, Margarita Capdepont.- Av. 20 de Nov.
Col. Maestranza 42060, Pachuca, Hgo.— "So- No. 36, Palenque, Chis.— "Nifia alegre, sim-
mos tres chicas de 14 y 15 afios, simp6ticas y patica y de buenos sentimientos, de 15 afios,
no mal parecidas. Quisi6ramos que nos escri- estudiante de secundaria. Quisiera conocer a
bieran chioos de todo et mundo, con fines chicos y chicas de todo el mundo, con fines
amistosos o sentimentales. Los esperamos, amistosos, no se arrepentiran”.
foto”.
Ariel Alfaro.— Apdo. Postal No. 365, Tux-
M. Esparanza.— Lista de Correos, Progreso tla, Chis.— "Soy un chico Aries de 16 afios,
de O. Hgo.— "Deseo me escriban chicas y chi- estudiante, alegre y simpatico. Me gustarfa
cos de todo el mundo, para iniciar una linda conocer a jovenes de ambos sexos, de todo el
amistad y poder intercambiar todo tipo de mundo, con fines amistosos y para intercam¬
objetos, no importa raza, religidn ni nada. Soy biar todo lo que quieran".
una chica estudiante de 17 afios".
Tera Garcia.— Lista de Correos, Tuxtla,
Yat son Valencia.— Lista de Correos, Villa Chis.— "Deseo me escriban muchachas y mu¬
de Tezontepec, Hgo.— Desea tener correspon¬ chachos de cualquier lugar del mundo, para
dencia con chicas del Edo. de Hidalgo con intercambiar postales, timbres y fotograf ias
fines amistosos o sentimentales, enviar foto- e iniciar una solida amistad, en la que reine
graffa Seriedad". la sencillez, confjanza, etc".
R.V.T.— Leona Vicario No. 105, Pachuca,
Hgo.— "Dama de 48 afios, deoente, sin hijos, Jos6 Alfredo Aguilar.— 2a. Calle Sur Po-
divorciada, de buenos sentimientos. Desea te¬ niente. No. 69, Comitan, Chis.- "Con fines
ner correspondencia con Caballero de edad sentimentales deseo conocer a sefiorita de 18
fipropiada a la suya con fines matrimoniales a 20 afios, profesionista, de 1.70 m. de esta-
en corto plazo. Enviar fotografia". tura. Soy un Caballero profesionista de 23
afios. Seriedad y foto".

Liliana Jim4nez.— Sec. Tollan, Tula de Octavio Arreola.— 5a. Norte y 2a. Ponien-
Allende, Hgo.— “Quisiera iniciar una bonita te S/N Pijijiapan, Chis.— 'Tengo 34 afios, soy
amistad con muchachos y muchachas de todo una persona que se siente muy sola y necesita
el mundo, sin importar edad ni nada, podre- de gente buena que le quiera, sin pensar en
mos hablar de nuestras alegn'as y penas e in¬ los defectos fisicos. Busco amistad sincera,
tercambiar todo lo que quieran. Te espero". prometo contestarles".
Ignacio V.— Estacidn de Ferrocarriies, Gabriela Dominguez.— 9a. Pte. Sur No.
Apulco, Hgo.— "Soltero de 42 afios, sin vi¬ 543, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chis.- "Me gustarfa
cios, trabajador y responsable. Desea encon- entablar una bonita amistad por correspon¬
trar a dam it a carifiosa, sincere y hogareha, pa¬ dencia con jovenes mexicanos y de todo el
ra formar un hogar estable en corto plazo, e mundo, para poder conversar sobre politica,
iniciar una vida de felicidad. Foto". literatura, etc. tengo 16 afios".
204 • Teaching Language in Context

Illustration 5.10 QUELS SONT CES DOCUMENTS? Choose from the descriptions below the one that
Matching a text to its matches each of the four documents pictured. Place the number of the description
function (Sample 1) next to the letter for each document (A, B, C, or D).

1. A parking ticket with a fine of eight

francs.
2. A ticket for full-price admission to a
historical site.
3. A permit for parking for a full day in a
designated lot.
4. A discount-price ticket to a historic
site.
5. A ticket for parking good until 3 p.m.

*
MI

ii r i
D_
HI

mm
Reading Goal: Scanning for mm
details /Matching text to its I8.V.
function.
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 205

Sample 2 (Novice)

Objective Students match English-language synopses to descriptions of excursions

in French to show comprehension of the gist of the text.

Sample 2 (Intermediate)

For intermediate readers, the synopses are in French and students name
the excursion, describe and give details about departure /return times,
price, day of the week, etc.

Text See Illustration 5.11.

Student The Novice level task is given below:

Task EXCURSIONS EN PROVENCE. Several American students studying in
Provence are writing postcards and letters home telling of sights they have
seen in the south of France. Match the excerpts from their correspondence
to the descriptions in the travel brochure to discover which of the six
excursions they took. Place the number next to each excursion in the blank
next to the excerpt that matches it.

1- _ .We spent the whole day touring the ancient cities of the
region. It seems so hard to believe that I saw a real Roman arena_"
2. _ " .. • You'll never believe this, Mom, but I had the best dinner
last night—a kind offish soup that was really delicious!"
3. _ " ... and last Thursday we went on this beautiful tour around a
nearby mountain, with about six stops along the way to see the sights ..."
4. _ "... I saw the neatest castle last weekend—built on some cliffs
that were kind of a golden color. We saw this rustic little village too ...."
Source: Brochure distributed by the Office du Tourisme et Tylene Transports Tourisme,
Residence de Galice D Square Dr. Henri Bianchi 13090 Aix-en-Provence. Illustration by
Michel Palmi.

Skimming/Scanning Sample 1 (Intermediate)

Getting the Main
Idea
Objective Students skim and scan descriptions of short stays in the country in France
and match them to French-language descriptions of types of trips students
want to make.

Text See Illustration 5.12.

Student Task SEJOURS A LA CAMPAGNE. Trouvez le sejour qui correspond le mieux

aux besoins suivants:

1. _ Vous voulez rester dans un petit village du terroir limou-

sin et faire des randonnees guidees.
206 • Teaching Language in Context

o C X CD X * 0 X
c a u g«3
£ OT 8Tg
2 to .(0
O XI 3 p
CO B^ ~
_3 G,
O') S BSg c
5 0)
CX-0 o
c
O 3 oO®»
4—C
K O XI w g — co
|
'co
X? £
0 o C J 0)
■a <d -a 5
ffl * o
U >“» 0 G
xs (D 0) 3 >
XI Q. >
"^ - co
a>.£ 3
a> 5 2, 2 XI CO a) 2 <0 3 )-,
>-1 Tj O' 0 C CO •0
0 0 G ^
-0 c
XI - •CD
C+-. gas .
'(OD 23 o
(0
u >S^
M UiS >H
§St>.§
G co CD <D 0
(0 CO 3 O . co a o -<d
aj p m 3 O £S
4=: 0 CX cd a ° CO
3 3
3 a) 4S o CO '®2ac a G c pq 0 m O 03
CO —.
CO 0) CD (D >-H
a ^ O CO
03 3 0
2 <0 ,-s o
® h id'P “3 1/5
0
. . £ CO 2 x co 8i
3§
X3 CO
'CO > u
T3
M 2. 3 p CO G
a) O
_ CD CD
S g-° a-ca >
05 s £
Im
d G x x o 0“
CO
M H-< 0 C
0 G ^ co co 2 X © 0
S 3 (A CO
2 T3 << as §■# » Ol-o
N c3 ■5^1 3 J3 * 3 << 2
w
3 X XI ,<o > ~ x o Ox CJ _ ;L=S co >
as CD (D CD 1=1 -as ..
1 3 m b
m 3
iS m E ® SlJ
-CD 3 *Z Xt3
0 .<D a) -cd
oix ~ is x as 3
3b X
tn c’ a2
as ’3 b "2 co ■< co ®„ C « 3 a° M
'0 CD o Q, re p ^ m PS
o §
Q > Q os a. CQ E-> PS J <U^ 0) S
p as O 3 0
> C T3 > b
-0 0
Q PS CL
0
*

W CO

0 •. co
0 X 0 as
T5 0 0
- §5-o c a-o ~ 0
co
o 2 u .y 2O
c 3 X Cl, 03 _
_
0 £>
-
0 a, „ 0u
0 1L, "O iS B 0^5 3^
D H) 0r -0
a)2,S> B —. M •5
O 3 0 3
0

„ 3Q 3
CO
CQ
g 0 0 0 t 0
3f, C
w
co
>u 0) tD
CD
.9 5 B-o^ C/D -G
111 I o
0 d) 0
SB >"
^ *=-• G a -C g -a 3 co
g id x:
2
O 0 CD o **-t. XJ
co
O > • 0 0 oo
CO CO u x Eo O 0 0
O (D • X ^ CO
0
2-h 0
0 G
0 ^<S
4^ —
a, 3
0 co ' O 0 * cr
-3 o --1 >-H
<p .3
0-1 as * 0 w
3 '0
Jh
0 ^
_ B o'o '0 >
^ a
(m j»
XI 0 0
0 CO .CD .—
■X •—i CO .3 x u> Oioo _ (jJ X X o 0

CO co 0
0 T3 jlj
<■< 2 O 00
_„- 0
, 0
CO 03 J2 Ex
< <
o
0
0

■••S
'0 , T3.'0 XI .0 >
®3 ®* § x)
3
cu G^
- o M ^ M
U +: X 0 0 3 Q § 0 m 0 O) 0 b
■0 0 ~ as a 3 5 a 0
O-, 2 M ftO
G ^ -3 0 M 0
3 3 3 S 0 f O c § 0 04=: -0 0 PS;! 0
>o § p pi it O 0 tncq u Q os CL > *

CO

(4
o-
e
3

V)

CN 2
IX
O) O 00
J3
!o y} as
os b X3
CO
co
>-<
6»g M 0
'CO > u.
w £
S X o
a> Kh 00
Jh <: <
u XI ^0
3
0 tn b
b u B 3
a2
5 g C/3
.2 o £ -0 0
Q PS
tt
a.
G 0 n3
w a -x
* ^
Lh r—H
+-> O)

S § CS]
= £
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 207

Illustration 5.12 Vacations in the country (Sample 1)

SEJOUR PEDESTRE SR 23-87. Service de reservation Loisirs- CAMPS, carte 110.

Accueil Creuse, Haute-Vienne en Limousin, Sejour cyclo 1 semaine.
n° 87-7904. C.C.I., 16, place Jourdan, Toute I'annee.
BELLEGARDE-EN-MARCHE, carte K4.
87000 Limoges, tel. (55) 34.70.11. Entre les vallees de la Cere et de la
Sejour pedestre 1 semaine en Haute
Marche et Combraille. Dordogne, a proximite des mines de Merle :
Du 7 juillet au 1er septembre, sauf semaine SAINT-GEN IEZ-O-MERLE, carte J9. itineraires et circuits etablis suivant les
du 75 aout. Week-end « decouverte de la Xaintrie ». possibilites de chacun; bicyclettes fournies.
Randonnees en etoile, a la decouverte du Toute I'annee sauf juillet et aout. Hebergement : en hotel-restaurant, 5 cham¬
pays. Un accompagnateur, M. Guy Couturier, Accueil de groupes de 12 a 32 personnes, bres ou en camping a quelques pas du plan
avec accompagnement. d'eau.
de Bellegarde, vous fera decouvrir des
A travers la Xaintrie, pays fait de croupes Prix, en pension complete :
chemins presque oublies dont d'anciennes
voies gallo-romaines; acces par train direct vallonnees, insere entre les gorges pro- 1 semaine, du samedi ou dimanche 18 h,
Paris-Auzances. fondes de la Maronne et de la Dordogne, au samedi ou dimanche 18 h :
35 km de sentiers vous feront apprecier Hotel, 2 personnes,
Hebergement : rustique, dans une vieille
cette region si paisible, pleine de charme et Chambre double . 750 F
maison; feu de cheminee, veillees .. .
de nuances, decouvrir ses precieux vestiges Hotel, 1 personne.1050 F
Prix, par personne, en pension complete :
d'un passe riche d'histoire, le mur vitrifie de Camping, 1 personne. 550 F
Du samedi 11 h 30 au samedi 16 h. 800 F
Informations et reservation : Sermus, I'eglise du Vieux Bourg, la Croix Informations et reservation :
M. Guy Couturier, M. et Mme Solignac,
Percee de Rouzeyrol et les prestigieuses
tours et mines de Merle. le bourg de Camps, 19430 Mercoeur,
23190 Bellegarde-en-Marche,
tel. (55) 28.51.83.
tel. (55) 67.68.79. Hebergement: capacity totale 32 personnes;
bungalows au lieu-dit « Moulin de
Lacombe », gTte d'etape ; repas et petits
BERSAC-SUR-RIVALIER, carte F3. DUN-LE-PALESTEL, carte H2.
dejeuners en auberge rurale, un repas gas-
Week-end pedestre. Week-end ou 1 semaine, sejour velo et car¬
tronomique compose exclusivement de
Petites vacances scolaires et week-ends. riole
specialites regionales.
Randonnees accompagnees par un jeune Ouvert toute I'annee sauf 3e semaine
Prix, par personne en pension complete :
berger. d'octobre.
Week-end du samedi 8 h au dimanche
Hebergement: en maison familiale de Sejours composant des promenades autour
20 h. 230 F
vacances. de Dun-le-Palestel, en velo et en carriole et
Journee supplementaire . 80 F
Prix, par personne, en pension complete : la possibility de pratiquer le tennis et la
Informations et reservation :
Du vendredi 18 h au dimanche 18 h : 110 F peche. Mise a disposition du velo pendant
Mairie de Saint-Geniez-O-Merle,
Journee supplementaire .55 F toute la semaine.
service du tourisme,
Informations et reservation : Hebergement : en hotel 1 etoile, dans le
19220 Saint-Privat, tel. (55) 28.21.86.
Vacances en Limousin, bourg, chambres individuelles ou doubles
Bersac-sur-Rivalier, dans cette maison rustique.
87370 Saint-Sulpice-Lauriere, Prix, en pension complete :
tel. (55) 71.43.69.
SEJOUR BICYCLETTE 1 semaine, du lundi 18 h au dimanche 18 h :
1 personne . 999 F
COMPREIGNAC, carte E4.
2 personnes .1665 F
CUSSAC, carte C5. 1 semaine le Haut-Limousin a velo.
Week-end, du vendredi 18 h au dimanche
Week-end ou 1 semaine a pied au pays des Toute I'annee.
18 h :
Feuillardiers. Circuit du lac de Saint-Pardoux a la Basse-
1 personne . 333 F
Ouvert toute I'annee. Marche par les etangs, et les monts de
2 personnes . 555 F
Sejour dans un petit village caracteristique Blond; itineraire au profil vallonne mais sans
Informations et reservation :
de ce terroir limousin : Fayollas, situe a 2 difficulty majeure, alternant une journee de
SR 23-87 Service de reservation
km du bourg de Cussac. Le proprietaire du transfer! d'hebergement et une journee de
Loisirs-Accueil, Creuse, Hte-Vienne
gite se propose de vous guider par les libre randonnee autour du gite. Sans
en Limousin, n° LF 23-8,
chemins du pays des feuillardiers pour vous accompagnement, bicyclettes et documen¬
C.C.I., 16, place Jourdan, 87000 Limoges,
en faire decouvrir la vie et les traditions. tation fournies au depart.
tel. (55) 34.70.11.
Hebergement : gite pour 4 personnes; Hebergement : en gites-chambres d'hote a
sejour avec coin cuisine et cheminee; 2 la ferme ou au village ; dejeuner libre.
chambres, 1 lit 2 places, 2 I its simples, avec Prix, par personne en demi-pension :
draps et couverture; salle d'eau; wc, 1 semaine, du samedi 18 h au samedi 10 h :
chauffage. Velo compris. 560 F
Prix, forfait-gite pour 4 personnes, repas non Sans location de velo. 500 F
compris. Informations et reservation :
1 semaine, SR 23-87 Service de reservation.
Du samedi 16 h au samedi 10 h : 500 F Loisirs Accueil, Creuse, Haute-Vienne
Week-end sauf juillet et aout, en Limousin, n° 87-3901,
Du vendredi 18 h au dimanche 18 h : 167 F C.C.I., 16, place Jourdan, 87000 Limoges,
Informations et reservation : tel. (55) 34.70.11.
208 • Teaching Language in Context

2. _ Vous voulez voyager a bicyclette dans une region ou il y

a de beaux paysages, des lacs et des vallons, mais vous n'etes pas
prepare(e) pour des chemins montagneux ou difficiles.
3. _ Votre reve c'est de faire un sejour dans une vieille mai-
son rustique, et de faire des promenades romantiques a l'etoile.. . .
4. _ Vous n'avez qu'un weekend libre, mais vous avez l'occa-
sion de le passer dans une maison de vacances et de faire des prom¬
enades guidees avec un berger! etc.
VISITS TO THE COUNTRY. Find the visit that corresponds best to the fol¬
lowing requirements:

1. _ You want to stay in a little village in the Limousin area and

take guided hikes.
2. _ You want to go biking in a region where there are beautiful
vistas, lakes, and valleys, but you aren't ready to take on mountainous or
difficult paths.
3. _ Your dream is to take a short vacation and stay in an old rustic
house, with romantic walks under the stars. . .
4. _ You only have one free weekend, but you have the chance to
stay in a vacation home and take guided walks with a shepherd! etc.
Follow-up Students indicate which excursion appeals to them the most and say why
They may also discuss the various options in small groups and then come
to a group consensus about which excursion they will take together.
Source: Brochure distributed by the Comite Regional de Tourisme du Limousin, 1980.

Sample 2 (Intermediate)
Objective Students skim a set of suggestions for having a successful farmstay in
France in order to get the main ideas and make appropriate inferences.
Students then paraphrase these main ideas in French for the comprehen¬
sion exercise.

Text The text consists of short 2-3 sentence paragraphs indicating the kinds of
things one should do when staying on a private farm, including calling
ahead, respecting the schedule and property of the hosts, offering to help
with small chores, making your own bed, etc.
Task Students complete the activity below to show comprehension of the main
points of the text.

QUELQUES CONSEILS POUR UN SEJOUR PROFITABLE DANS UNE

CHAMBRE D'HOTE EN FRANCE. Lisez le texte suivant qui vous
donne de bons conseils pour profiter des vacances a la campagne. Puis
choisissez les deux conseils les plus importants pour chaque categorie
ci-dessous et reecrivez-les en utilisant vos propres mots.
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 209

Pour choisir la meilleure ferme:

1. ___
2.

Pour faire une reservation:

1. __
2._
Pour vous integrer a la vie de la ferme:
1 .
2.

Pour obtenir le meilleur prix:

1. ___
2.____

SOME ADVICE FOR A PROFITABLE STAY IN A BED & BREAKFAST

IN FRANCE. Read the following text which gives you good advice about how
to profit from a farmstay in the country. Then choose the two most important
pieces of advice for each of the categories below and write them in your own
words in French.

To choose the best farm:

1.
2._

To make a reservation:
1. __
2.

To integrate into the life of the farm:

1 ._
2. ___
To get the best price:

1. _
2 . _
Source: Original activity based on a text from M. Smith, Vacances et Weekends a la ferme. Paris:
Editions Balland, 1988.
210 • Teaching Language in Context

Sample 3 (Intermediate)

Objective Students read for the main ideas in a text that gives advice about what
NOT to do on a farmstay in France.

Text The text is similar to the one in Sample 2, but this time advises travellers
about what not to do during a visit to a farm in France. See Illustration
5.13.
Student Task Students complete the following activity that asks them to match the letter
of the paragraph in the text to a paraphrase of the main idea expressed.
The example is given in English, but can also be done in French since the
ideas are paraphrased.

WHAT YOU SHOULD AVOID IF YOU SPEND YOUR VACATION IN

A BED AND BREAKFAST Here are a few pieces of advice for you if you
want to stay with farmers during your vacation in France. Find the letter of
the paragraph in the text that corresponds to each of the ideas below:

1. _It's a bad idea to arrive at a farm without having made a reser¬

vation in advance.
2. _Farmers get up very early in the morning. So don't spend the
whole evening chatting.
3. _A stay at a farm is not the same thing as a stay in a hotel in
town.
4. _There are "false" farms that you should avoid because they are
too commercialized.
5. _There are some subjects of discussion that you should avoid if
you want to enjoy your stay with your hosts.
6. _It's a good idea to ask permission from your hosts before you go
off exploring the property.

Follow-up Students complete the following task with the same text above, but this
time try to infer how certain problems arose because the visitors did NOT
read the advice in the text.

PROBLEMES DE LOGEMENT. The travellers cited below apparently

experienced some problems last summer because they did not read
the bed-and-breakfast guidebook. Match the problems cited with the
letter corresponding to the paragraph of the text that they should have
read.

1. _"We really didn't have much luck getting a reservation

for a farm vacation last summer. We were in France for the first two
weeks of August and we could hardly find a place to stay!"
2. _"I don't know why the farmer at our last chambre d'hote
wouldn't let little Jenny ride on the tractor. I thought that's what
farmstays were all about!"
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 211

Illustration 5.13
Advice for travellers. A ne pas faire
Getting the main idea
N'attendez pas des agriculteurs qu'ils professionnels du tourisme. Ils souhait-
(Sample 3)
vous offrent les memes services qu'un ent vous accueillir en amis et vous
hotel. Vous etes, avant tout, chez des faire partager tous les bienfaits de la
particuliers qui ne sont en rien des campagne.

Ne troublez pas la vie de la ferme. II Ne soyez pas trop envahissant lors

faut eviter de marcher dans les cul¬ d'un long sejour. Pensez que les
tures, de deteriorer les arbres fruitiers, G agriculteurs, eux aussi, ont besoin de
d'effrayer les animaux, de gaspiller les mener leur vie sans etre trop deranges.
B recoltes (par exemple en arrachant une
grappe de raisin pour n'en manger N'allez pas systematiquement dans
qu'un seul grain). Evitez de pincer les une ferme pendant les jours de fetes
fruits pour voir s'ils sont murs, d'ouvrir ou durant les mois de juillet et
les barrieres des pres, sans les refermer d'aout. Sachez que, hors saison ainsi
derriere vous. H que pendant les jours de semaine,
vous profiterez mieux de I'hospitalite
N'essayez pas de vouloir conduire, a des agriculteurs.
tout prix, le tracteur. Dans la plupart
C des fermes, cela vous sera refuse en Ne restez pas plus d'une journee
raison des problemes d'assurances et (pas plus d'une heure si possible)
des risques que cela comporte. I dans ces fermes trop commerciales
qui commencent malheureusement
N'arrivez pas a I'improviste, si non a fleurir dans certaines regions de
[) vous risquez de trouver les chambres France. Elies portent prejudice aux
occupees par d'autres personnes. vrais agriculteurs dont la seule ambi¬
tion est de vous faire partager et de
Ne discutez pas trop politique. C'est vous faire decouvrir leur vie. Alors,
£ un terrain epineux qui risque fort de evitez les « fermes restaurants » ou
gacher vos vacances. « fermes hotels » ou autres etablisse-
ments douteux avec parking, sal les
Ne retenez pas trop tard les agricul¬ pour banquets, grands panneaux
teurs, le soir a la veillee, car le lende- publicitaires, bars, dancing, etc. Si
main matin, pendant que vous som- vous tombez dans le piege d'une de
F meillerez tranquillement au fond de ces fausses fermes depourvues de
votre lit de grand-mere, ils seront caractere et de simplicity, ecrivez-
depuis longtemps au travail dans les nous pour nous le signaler.
champs ou a I'etable.

3. _"I was sure we could get a room at that last farm without
calling ahead. It seemed so out of the way and this is the off¬
season. . ."
4. _"I wonder why no one made the bed this morning. Do
you suppose we're supposed to make it ourselves?"
Source Text from M. Smith, Vacances et Weekends a la ferme. Paris: Balland, 1988.
212 • Teaching Language in Context

Scanning/Extracting Sample 1 (Intermediate)

Specific
Information
Objective Students scan a set of descriptions of four farms in order to identify which
one corresponds to the particulars given in the exercise. Details relate to
the kinds of information important in making a decision about choosing
lodging.

Text See Illustration 5.14.

Student Task Students answer the questions below by choosing the letter corresponding
to the farm being described.

a. Les Berzellieres
b. Les Chaliers
c. La Butte
d. Le Tot
e. None of the above.

1. _Which farm is the most expensive for two people staying

one night and having only breakfast?

2. _____ Which farm does not offer an evening meal?

3. _Which farm does not allow dogs?

4. _Where would you stay if you wanted to see race horses?

5. __Which farm is closest to Mont-Saint-Michel?

6. _Which farm is the largest?

Follow-up Students in small groups decide which farm appeals to them the most.
They may then be asked to compose a letter in French asking for a reserva¬
tion. Teachers will need to supply students with an appropriate format
and formulae for correspondence for this task.
Source: Text from M. Smith, Vacances et Weekends a la ferme. Paris: Balland, 1988.

Sample 2 (Novice/Intermediate)

Objective Students scan restaurant ads in order to extract important details to com¬
plete a given task or set of tasks.

Text See Illustration 5.15.

Student Task Students complete the comprehension tasks given in the following set of
activities in German. Novice level students can complete the activities in
English; Intermediate level students can do the comprehension task in
German.
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 213

Illustration 5.14
Extracting specific
information (Sample 1)

LA FERME LA FERME
Camille et Jeanne vivent dans une Une belle propriete de 36 ha ou les
maison typique. Ils elevent un trou- Dugueperoux elevent des bovins et des
peau de vaches laitieres sur 15 ha de chevaux de course. Ils possedent aussi
bocage. un camping a la ferme et un gite ru¬
ral.
LES DISTRACTIONS
Tennis a 2 km. Piscine a 3 km. L’ab- LES DISTRACTIONS
baye d’Hambye n’est pas loin ainsi Le Mont-Saint-Michel est a 10 km.
que Villedieu-les-Poeles. Centre eques- Les ports de Cancale et de Saint-Malo
tre a 4 km et peche a 3 km. a 35 km. Peche, chasse et equitation
aux alentours.
LES CHAMBRES
Deux chambres a l’etage avec lavabo. LES CHAMBRES
Salle d’eau et w.c. communs. Chauf- Trois chambres dont deux dans un gite
fage electrique. rural, ideal pour une famille. Salle de
LES REPAS bains et w.c. communs. Chauffage
central.
Petit dejeuner. Repas du soir pris a la
table familiale, devant la grande che- LES REPAS
minee. Cidre tire du fut et poulet fer- Petit dejeuner. Vente de cidre et de
mier. calvados fermiers.
LES PRIX LES PRIX
Environ 94 F la nuit pour deux per- 130 F la nuit pour un couple avec le
sonnes avec le petit dejeuner. 110 F petit dejeuner.
par jour et par personne en demi-pen-
sion.

Adresse
Camille ANDRE Adresse
« Les Berzellieres », Adolphe DUGUEPEROUX
Route de PAbbaye, « Les Chaliers », Macey
50410 PERCY 50170 PONTORSON
Tel. 33.61.23.75 Tel. 33.60.01.27
214 • Teaching Language in Context

Illustration 5.14
Continued

LA FERME LA FERME
Confortable et accueillante, la maison Janine s’occupe d’un elevage de vaches
des Trincot, qui elevent des bovins sur laitieres et de jeunes bovins. Elle
20 ha, est a 500 m de la route Avran- cultive aussi des carottes. La propriete
ches-Rennes. couvre une vingtaine d’hectares.
LES DISTRACTIONS LES DISTRACTIONS
Peche a proximite. Tennis a 1 km. Pis¬ La plage est a 2 km : ecole de voile,
cine et equitation a 16 km. Le Mont- club equestre et tennis.
Saint-Michel est a 11 km. Cancale et
Saint-Malo a 38 km. LES CHAMBRES
Cinq chambres avec lavabo amenagees
LES CHAMBRES
dans les combles. Salles d’eau et w.c.
Deux chambres, chacune avec lavabo. communs. Chauffage electrique. Les
Salle de bains et w.c. communs. chiens ne sont pas acceptes.
Chauffage electrique.
LES REPAS
LES REPAS
Petit dejeuner. Repas du soir pour de-
Petit dejeuner. Repas du soir possible. panner.
LES PRIX LES PRIX
118 F la nuit pour un couple, petit de¬ 118 F la nuit pour deux personnes, pe¬
jeuner compris. 90 F par jour et par tit dejeuner compris.
personne en demi-pension.

Adresse Adresse
Francois TRINCOT Janine GIRARD
« La Butte », Vessey « Le Tot », Annoville
50170 PONTORSON 50660 QUETTREVILLE
Tel. 33.60.20.32 Tel. 33.47.50.99
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading #215

Illustration 5.15 Scanning restaurant ads (Sample 2)

GAZINO + TOrklsche Spezlalltifeten

RESTAURANT Spezialkiiche mit Koch aus der
Tiirkei.
Edle tu ridsche Landweine
mohr mis 100 verschfodene
Gerichte
Geoffnet von 10.00 - 1.00 Uhr
Fr + Sa + Feiertage bis 3.00 Uhr
Ristorante
Kein Ruhetag, durchgehend Ein Lokal fur die ganze Familie
warme Kiiche Die Famibe Rossi wUnscht ihren neuen und alten Glisten
Jeden Abend Bauchtanz und Life-Musik ein heizliches Wllkommen
Wlr bieten Fhnen in unserem neuen Lokal
8 Munchen 21, ElsenheimerstraBe 61
eine gemutliche Atmosphere
Tel. 5 70 62 85 u. 5 70 63 18
TSgbch neue Spezialitaten zu gvinstigen Prelsen
Unser kaftes Buffet gibt Ihnen die Mbglichkelt, selbst einen feinen
Teller zusammenzustellen zum Preis von DM 7 50
Pina ab DM 6 - fur 1 Pets., ab DM 10.50 fUr 2 Pers ,
Fleischgerichte ab DM 11 50.
Gtofle Auswahl itallenischer Welne, speziell aus der Toscana
Jedes Gerkbt mdGetrtnUiudi zum Mitnehmen.

11-14 JO Uhr e 17 JO bis 24.00 Uhr. Kein Ruhelsg

r. 21 sMOnchen-Lsim* V5704110

Pachter: Kurt V6lkl

Neben unseren bekannt guten bayrischen Spezialitdten haben wir
ab 15. Junl was Neues

Essen vom heiBen Stein

Es wird serviert mit pikanten Saucen und tranz. WeiBbrot r>er TrefT <
for FeinschmeckerF
Friedenheimer StraBe 27 - 8000 MUNCHEN 21
Telefon 089/575926 Griechisches
Spezialitaten-Restaurant j

ATHEN
Restaurant im Biirgerbrau
In unserem schonen Biergarten unter alten Kastanien haben Sie fur
ein gemiitliches Zusammensein viel Platz, ca. 160 Platze gedeckte taglich geoffnet
Tiscne, ca. 100 Platze fur Brotzeitmitbringer. von 12- 14.30/
17.30 - 24, Sa.
• Lowenbrau Bierausschank frisch vom Faft. 17.30-24 Uhr,
• Bayrische Brotzeitschmankerl. durchgehend
warme Kiiche
• Kroatische/internationale Kiiche. Bei schonem
LOWENBRAU • Nebenzimmer fiir Festlichkeiten. _ _
Wetter
servieren wir
Die Familie PRKA, seit iiber einem Jahr Ihre Wirtsleute, freuen sich auf Ihren Besuch. fiir SIE
Agricolastr. 16, 8 Munchen 21, Tel. 089/564906 auf unserer
Gartenterrasse
Parkplatz
vor dem
Haus
U4+5 Westendstr.,
2 Min. zu uns
€£€\ Westendstr. 223
Nahe
Zulassungsstelle
j »577886
/
Wiedereroffnung seit 31. Mai 89
In den alten Rdumen des Hahnhofes entstand ein kompiett neu eingerichtetes

bayrisches Spezialitaten-Restaurant
Hlsr 1st der Gast noch Kdnlg. Gaststatte ZwickI
Das auBergewohnliche Restaurant fiir iedes Alter. Altaubing, Marzellgasse 1, Telefon 8 71 2541
Zum Ausschank gibt es bei uns alle Kaltenberg Biere - Konig Ludwig frisch vom Fafl.
# Gemutliche Atmosphare
Gemutliche Atmosphere! • Gutbayrische Kiiche
Prelswerte Menus zum Mittagstisch. • Nebenzimmer geeignel fur Familien- und Betriebsfeiern
Werktags Menu I 8,80, Menii I112,80
Fiir Familienfeiern stehen Ihnen schone Nebenraume zur Verfiigung. Kleiner, gemiitlicher
Tel. Platzreservierungen sind moglich. Biergarten
Jetzt neu ganztftglg gebffnet von 10 00 - i .00 nachts
Einen angenehmen Aufenthalt wunschen Ihnen die Wirtsleute Familie MSrkl Auf Ihren Besuch freuen sich die Wirtsleut!
Agnee-Bemauer-StraBe 51, 8000 Munchen-Lalm Telefon 089/562087 Familie Groll
216 • Teaching Language in Context

1. Students scan the restaurant ads to complete a table giving the

name, type of food, hours, phone number, and attractions of each
restaurant listed.
2. A list of criteria is given for various situations and students find a
restaurant that matches those criteria (for example, one is looking
for a place that can accommodate a large group, serves a certain
kind of food, or is open at certain hours).
Source: Text and activities from J. Arendt, C. Baumann, G. Peters and R. Wakefield, Kreise:
Erstes Jahr Deutsch im Kontext. Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 1992, pp. 111-12.

Intensive Sample 1 (Novice/Intermediate/Advanced)

Reading/Guessing
from Context
Objective Students learn to guess at the meaning of unknown words by using con¬
textual cues in the passage.

Student Task Students read a short passage and underline any words or expressions
they do not know. The whole class then considers each unknown word
and tries to see how much they can guess about it. For Novice-level read¬
ers, the text can be another student's composition, a pedagogically pre¬
pared text with recombined material and a few new words, a set of signs
or simple labels, etc. For Intermediate and Advanced readers, texts can
be taken from authentic sources, such as journalistic literature or short
stories.

Reading Strategies Teachers can help students become better contextual guessers by teaching
them to approach unknown words or expressions with specific strategies,
such as:

a. Figuring out what part of speech the word must be, using the sur¬
rounding context or the morphology as cues
b. Seeing if the word is used elsewhere in the context or if a contrast or
analogy is implied that can help derive meaning
c. Using one's knowledge of the world or of the specific context of the
reading to deduce possible meanings for the word
Source: Grellet 1981, p. 42.

Sample 2 (Intermediate/Advanced)

Objective Students guess the meaning of an unknown word that is repeated several
times within a paragraph by using contextual guessing strategies.
Student Task In the travel brochure excerpt below, guess the meaning of the word "gite"
from its context. Explain your rationale for the guess you make.
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 217

SEJOUR PEDESTRE
CUSSAC, carte C5.
Week-end ou 1 semaine a pied au pays des FeuiIlardiers.
Ouvert toute I'an nee
Sejour dans un petit village caracteristique de ce terroir limousin :
Fayollas, situe a 2 km du bourg de Cussac. Le proprietaire du gite se pro¬
pose de vous guider par les chemins du pays des feuillardiers pour vous
en faire decouvrir la vie et les traditions.
Hebergement : gite pour 4 personnes; sejour avec coin cuisine et chem-
inee; 2 chambres, 1 lit 2 places, 2 lits simples, avec draps et couverture;
sal le d'eau; wc, chauffage.
Prix, forfait-gite pour 4 personnes, repas non compris.
1 semaine,
Du samedi 16 h au samedi 10 h : 500 F
Week-end sauf juillet et aout,
Du vendredi 18 h au dimanche 18 h : 167 F
Informations et reservation :
SR 23-87. Service de reservation Loisirs-Accuei! Creuse, Haute-Vienne
en Limousin, n° 87-7904. C.C.I., 16, place Jourdan, 87000 Limoges, tel.
(55)34.70.11.

Source: Comite Regional de Tourisme du Limousin, 1980. Technique adapted from Grellet
1981.

Intensive Reading/ Sample (Intermediate)

Understanding
Discourse Structure
Objective Students show understanding of the main structure of a passage.

Task Students complete a schematic diagram that shows the main idea, sup¬
porting ideas, and details in relationship to one another within the text
they are reading.

Passage See Illustrations 5.16 and 5.17.

Intensive Reading/ Sample 1 (Intermediate)

Understanding
Link Words and
Referents
Objective Students develop skill in understanding the relationship between pro¬
nouns and referents in a text.

Student Task Students read a short anecdote in Spanish. They then are given a few sen¬
tences extracted from the reading in which pronouns are used. From a set
of multiple-choice alternatives, they identify the appropriate referent for
the pronouns.
218 • Teaching Language in Context

Illustration 5.16
Correctly completed Schematic Activity
Intermediate-level Lesen Sie den folgenden Paragraphen und fallen Sie das Diagramm aus!
reading activity— In Deutschland wachst die Anzahl von SchnellimbiBgaststatten. McDonalds's,
intensive reading/ Wendy's und Kentucky Fried Chicken haben Kettenrestaurants in vielen Stadten des
understanding Landes. Naturlich mangelt es nicht an traditionelleren Imbiftstatten, wo man schnell
discourse structure essen und ein Bier trinken kann. Hier hat man die Wahl unter Imbiftstuben, wo man
(German) sich hinsetzen kann, dem StehimbiB einer italienischen Pizzeria oder einem
Wurstchenstand an der StraBenecke.

Schnellimbifigaststatten
in Deutschland

Kettenrestaurants T raditionellere
Imbifistatten

Kentucky
McDonald’s Wendy’s Fried ImbiSstube StehimbiC WUrstchenstand
Chicken

Source: Adapted from Basic Instructor Training Workshop, Defense Language Institute

Passage Les voy a contar lo que nos paso una vez cuando eramos ninos. Estabamos
de vacaciones en Santa Cruz, y a mi papa se le ocurrio llevarnos a un
restaurante muy elegante. A mi hermanito le sirvieron todos los platos,
igual que a los demas, pero el comia muy lentamente. El mesero trato de
quitarle el plato,... y jmi hermanito lo ataco con el tenedor!

Translation:
I'm going to tell you what happened to us once when we were children. We
,
were on vacation in Santa Cruz and my father got it into his head to take us to a
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading #219

Illustration 5.17
Correctly completed Schematic Activity
Intermediate-level Read the passage and fill out the following diagram.
reading activity— There is a growing number of fast-food restaurants in Germany. McDonalds's,
intensive reading/ Wendy's and Kentucky Fried Chicken have franchises in cities all over the country.
understanding Of course, there is no lack of more traditional establishments where you can get a
discourse structure quick bite to eat and a beer to wash it down with. These establishments range from
(English) snack bars where you can sit down, to the take-out window of an Italian restaurant
selling pizza, to a lunch wagon on the street.

Fast Food Restaurants

in Germany

s
Co,
jr-

Franchises More Traditional

Establishments

^i
Kentucky
McDonald's Wendy's Take-out
Fried Snack Bars Lunch Wagons
Windows
Chicken

Source: Adapted from Basic Instructor Training Workshop, Defense Language Institute

very elegant restaurant. They served all the courses to my little brother, just like
the rest of us, but he ate very slowly. The waiter tried to take his plate,. . . and my
brother attacked him with his fork!

Task .
1 Les voy a contar lo que nos paso una vez cuando eramos ninos.
"Les" refers to...

a. you (the readers)

b. the children
c. the story
220 • Teaching Language in Context

2. Estabamos de vacaciones en Santa Cruz, y a mi papa se le ocurrio

llevarnos a un restaurante muy elegante.
"le" refers to ...

a. the vacation
b. Santa Cruz
c. my father

3. El mesero trato de quitarle el plato,.. .

"le" refers to ...

a. the waiter
b. my brother
c. the plate etc.

Source:Reading passage adapted from jlmagi'nate!, 2nd ed. by Kenneth Chaistain and Gail
Guntermann, Heinle & Heinle, 1991. Idea adapted from Grellet 1981.

Sample 2 (Intermediate/Advanced)

Objective Students learn to recognize and use connectors in narration by substituting

synonyms for italicized words in a brief story.

Student Task Students read a passage in which there are temporal expressions in italics
that indicate the order of events in the narrative. They then find a synony¬
mous expression in the list below and substitute it for each of the italicized
words.

Passage This anecdote has been provided by Gail Guntermann, Arizona State
University, and illustrates how a teacher's own story can serve as source
material for a personalized and thus "authentic" text.

. . . Aquel domingo mi amiga y yo fuimos en taxi al Panecillo, una co-

lina que queda en el centro de Quito, para desde al I f tomar fotos de la
ciudad colonial localizada al fondo de dicha colina. Luego decidimos
bajar a pie, por las escalinatas y sendas de la pendiente. Despues de un
rato nos empezaron a temblar las piernas y nos sentimos un poco debiles.
Mientras caminabamos por un sitio en construccion, yo no miraba por
donde iba, y de pronto meti el pie en un agujero, di una vuelta y me cat,
oyendo el sonido "jCrac! jCrac! jCrac!" Al principio pense que solo
habia dislocado el tobillo, pero mucho mas tarde, en el hospital, me di
cuenta de que me habia roto tres huesos . . .

Sinonimos posibles: primero, despues, enseguida, antes, cuando, a

medida que, poco despues, en cuanto, tan pronto como, por ultimo, de
repente, aquella manana, entonces, mucho despues.

...
That Sunday my friend and I went in a taxi to the Panecillo, a hill
that is in the center of Quito, to take pictures of the colonial city locat¬
ed at the foot of that hill. Then we decided to climb back down on foot,
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading #221

by the stairways and paths of the steep hillside. After a while our legs
began to tremble and we felt a little weak. While we were walking
through a construction site, I wasn't watching where I was going, and
suddenly I stuck my foot in a hole, pivoted around, and fell, hearing
the sound of "Crack! Crack! Crack!" At first I thought that I had only
dislocated my ankle, but much later, in the hospital, I realized that I
had broken three bones ...

Possible synonyms: first, then, right away, before, when, while, a

little later, as soon as, in the end, suddenly, that morning, then, much
later.
Source: Anecdote by Gail Guntermann. Idea adapted from Grellet 1981.

Transferable Skills: Hosenfeld, Arnold, Kirchofer, Laciura, and Wilson (1981) suggest a
Teaching Reading sequence of seven steps to help students develop successful reading strate¬
Strategies gies when approaching any text.

Diagnosis 1. Teach students to self-report while reading. Hosenfeld et al. describe the
self-report procedure as one in which students are encouraged to
"think aloud" as they try to attach meaning to a second language
text. (For an extensive description of this procedure, see Hosenfeld
1979). As students report their thinking processes, the teacher has
an opportunity to diagnose reading difficulties and identify specific
reading strategies.

2. Identify students' reading strategies. Using a checklist of successful

reading strategies (such as contextual guessing, the identification of
grammatical categories of words, the recognition of cognates, the
use of cues from illustrations and glosses, and the like), the teacher
records whether a given individual's use of such strategies is satis¬
factory, unsatisfactory, or nonexistent. This checklist then serves as a
diagnostic tool in helping students improve their reading tech¬
niques.

Creation of Class 3. Help students to understand the concept of strategy and to recognize that
Climate some strategies are successful, some unsuccessful, and others only moder¬
ately successful. In this step, Hosenfeld et al. suggest that teachers
help students compare and contrast the various problem-solving
strategies that they are using and identify those strategies that are
most successful. One possibility is to ask several students to think
aloud as they read a short paragraph. Class members then discuss
the strategies used by these students and their effectiveness in
understanding the discourse.

Introduction 4. Help students to identify successful strategies used when reading in their
native language. Beginning with a cloze passage in the native lan¬
guage or with a passage containing nonsense words, students talk
about ways in which they can identify the missing words or the
222 • Teaching Language in Context

meaning of the nonwords in the passage. Students' guessing strate¬

gies can be listed on the board for further discussion.

5. Help students identify successful strategics for reading text in the second lan¬
guage. Using a similar type of activity to that described in Step 4, the
teacher helps students identify decoding and word-solving strate¬
gies in the second language that parallel those they used in their
native language.

6. Provide instruction and practice for specific reading strategies. Instruc¬

tion in contextual guessing and other successful reading strategies
can be given with a variety of short texts so that students can see
their wide applicability across reading tasks. Students can talk about
their problem-solving strategies with several types of practice texts:
they might work together on a series of cloze passages, use texts
with new vocabulary that has been italicized but not glossed, or sim¬
ply underline any words, expressions, or sentences in a passage that
they do not understand and share those problems with other class
members. Students who have resolved those problems can explain
how they arrived at their conclusions; several students can share
problem-solving strategies that worked so that the group can see the
variety of techniques available to achieve comprehension.

7. Repeat Step 2: Identify students' reading strategies. In this final step in

the reading sequence, Hosenfeld et al. suggest that strategies be
recorded again on the checklist and matched against those used
before the reading instruction sequence began. However, they cau¬
tion against using this comparison as a basis for assigning a grade
in reading, since the interview procedure and the checklist are
meant as diagnostic, rather then evaluative, tools for the improve¬
ment of reading strategies.

The exercises and teaching suggestions offered in this section are only a
few of the many possible reading comprehension and development activi¬
ties that can be used in a proficiency-oriented approach. For many more
ideas and innovative formats for teaching reading in a second language, see
(Hosenfeld 1979), Hosenfeld et al. (1981), Grellet (1981), and Phillips (1984).

. ... Summary: A proficiency-oriented Approach to

Listening and Reading
In this chapter we have explored various ways to teach more actively the
receptive skills of listening and reading. We have seen that both of these
skills, though similar in some ways, involve somewhat different processes.
In addition, the structures and types of discourse involved in listening and
 A Proficiency-Oriented Approach to Listening and Reading • 223

reading are quite different in nature. Comprehension is not a static concept

to be assessed in the same fashion at all times; rather, we should think of
comprehension in terms of the purpose of the listening or reading activity,
the type of text or input that is being processed, and the characteristics of
the readers themselves.
The classroom plan for reading instruction provided by Phillips (1984)
and summarized in this chapter can be adapted for listening instruction as
well (see, for example, Glisan 1988). Swaffer, Arens, and Byrnes (1991) have
also developed a pragmatic approach to reading instruction for students
whose skills are somewhat more advanced. Teachers using such plans
should find that proficiency goals in listening and reading will be reached
more easily and more rapidly by second language students, and that the
valuable skills students learn in their language classes will transfer to other
areas of the curriculum. Such skills should also be of value in learning to
speak and write more clearly and coherently—skills that are addressed in
the next two chapters.

Activities for Review and Discussion

1. As a foreign or second language learner, what difficulties did you

experience with listening and reading comprehension? What strate¬
gies did you use that you think would be helpful for your students?
What strategies did you use that you would not recommend?
Imagine that you would like to create a monologue or dialogue on a
given theme to provide listening practice for students in your class.
You want the text to sound as authentic and unrehearsed as possi¬
ble. You have access to videotaping facilities and have located sev¬
eral native speakers who are willing to play the roles you designate.
Design a semiscript that will provide direction for them as they
record the scene.
3. Design a listening activity that includes a visual aid or a graphic of
some kind.
4. Using Lund's Function-Response Matrix for Listening on p. 171,
describe briefly five or more activities you could do with the same lis¬
tening material. Choose the listening material from an authentic
source, your own textbook materials, or create a passage of your own.
(y Review the five stages of reading that Phillips has identified. Then,
using a reading passages from your textbook, supplementary read¬
er, or an authentic source, explain how you would design activities
that correspond to each of these reading stages.
6. In your view, what considerations are important in choosing
"authentic materials" for either listening or reading comprehen¬
sion? What potential problems might there be in using certain texts
224 • Teaching Language in Context

(for example, negative stereotypes, images or language that might

be offensive, etc.)? What type of cultural lessons would you incor¬
porate when using the authentic texts you chose in the activities
above?

• • References
Arendt, J., C. Baumann, G. Peters, and R. Wakefield. Kreise: Erstes Jahr Deutsch im
Kontext. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers, 1992.
Bacon, Susan. "Listening for Real in the Foreign Language Classroom," Foreign
Language Annals 22, vi (1989): 543-51.
Barnett, Marva A. More than Meets the Eye: Foreign Language Reading. Language in
Education: Theory and Practice, no. 73. CAL /ERIC Series on Languages and
Linguistics. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1989.
Basic Instructor Training Workshop. (Workshop materials prepared by the Defense
Language Institute Foreign Language Center.) Monterey, CA: Defense
Language Institute.
Beile, Werner. "Methodische Uberlegungen zur Entwicklung der Horverstehens-
fahigkeit." Zielsprache Deutsch 2 (1980): 7-15. [Cited in Byrnes, 1984.]
Bernhardt, Elizabeth. "Reading in the Foreign Language." Pp. 93-115 in B. Wing,
ed.. Listening, Reading, and Writing: Analysis and Application. Reports of the
Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Middlebury, VT:
Northeast Conference, 1986.
Bernhardt, Elizabeth and Charles James. "The Teaching and Testing of
Comprehension in Foreign Language Learning." Chapter 5 (pp. 65-81) in D.
Birckbichler, ed.. Proficiency, Policy and Professionalism in Foreign Language
Education. Report of the Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign
Languages. Lincoln wood, IL: National Textbook Company, 1987.
Birckbichler, Diane W., ed. Proficiency, Policy and Professionalism in Foreign Language
Education. Report of the Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign
Languages. Lincoln wood, IL: National Textbook Company, 1987.
Born, Warren, ed. The Foreign Language Learner in Today's Classroom Environment.
Reports of the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
Middlebury, VT: Northeast Conference, 1979.
Byrnes, Heidi. "The Role of Listening Comprehension: A Theoretical Base." Foreign
Language Annals 17 (1984): 317-34.
_• "Teaching toward Proficiency: The Receptive Skills." Pp. 77-107 in Alice C.
Omaggio, ed.. Proficiency, Curriculum, Articulation: The Ties that Bind. Reports of
the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Middlebury,
VT: Northeast Conference, 1985.
Chung, Ulric. Personal communication, 1992.
Clark, Herbert H. and Eve V. Clark. Psychology and Language. New York: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, 1977.
Coulont-Henderson, Franqoise, Elaine McKee, and Alice Omaggio. Kaleidoscope:
Cahier d'exercices oraux et ecrits, 2nd ed. New York: Random House, 1988.