| There are four principal venues that are frequently | | | | • |
| used in order to develop listening comprehension skills | | | | • |
| in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. By | | | | Online Audio and Video |
| integrating these resources, the EFL teaching | | | | Increasingly, institutes of higher learning are making |
| professional can effectively aid learners not only in | | | | integrated online materials available to learners. These |
| listening comprehension skills development but also in | | | | may consist of spoken dialogues, video dialogues, short |
| multiple aspects of connected speech production. | | | | stories, interactive games, poems, rhymes and riddles, |
| Understanding a listening passage can be made all the | | | | spoken grammar, connected speech examples, movie |
| more difficult by four key influence factors including: the | | | | clips, interviews, documentaries and even pronunciation |
| number of speakers in the passage, the technical | | | | lists. Learners can log into the website at their institution |
| difficulty and level of the spoken material in the | | | | to receive extended practice materials to complement |
| passage, the speed of the speech and the accent(s) | | | | in-class learning. Many large, well-established |
| of the speakers in the passage and whether or not | | | | universities, institutes and ELT materials publishers are |
| there is any external support provided for the listening | | | | making such materials available online to both clients |
| passage. (i.e., photos, illustrations, graphics, vocabulary | | | | and the general public. In addition, specialized websites |
| review or pre-listening activities, etc.) ref. Brown and | | | | for English language teaching have cropped up in |
| Yule, 1983 | | | | abundance and offer a plethora of materials and |
| Speech and Language Modeling by the Teacher | | | | didactic assistance for the ELT professional. |
| If the EFL teacher is a native or near native English | | | | Some examples of available materials online include: |
| speaker, then the dialogues can be modeled in addition | | | | • Penguin - |
| to modeling pronunciation and connected speech | | | | • Pearson – Longman |
| examples. If the EFL or ESL teacher is not a native (or | | | | • Heinemann - |
| near native) English speaker, and this teacher does not | | | | • Oxford University - Press |
| have sufficient speech and pronunciation in English to | | | | • Cambridge University Press - [ |
| model these aspects for the learners, then other | | | | • Heinle and Heinle - |
| English speech modeling and input sources can be | | | | • McGraw – Hill - educational resources |
| used. Besides, we must not limit learners by thinking | | | | • Harvard University – Open Courseware |
| they can only learn and improve in a particular way. (M. | | | | A web search using “online English language |
| Spratt, 2005) | | | | teaching materials” will yield a virtual bonanza of |
| Audio-Visual Resources | | | | materials, planning and resources for the time-strapped |
| A valuable audio-visual aspect is provided to English as | | | | English teacher. |
| a Foreign Language (EFL) learners by | | | | Although listening comprehension skills of themselves |
| native-speaker-produced CDs and DVDs. Speech and | | | | cannot be “taught”, the English (EFL) |
| cultural elements can be illustrated or demonstrated | | | | teacher can guide the learner’s practice in |
| using authentic audio-visual materials such as movie | | | | listening and increment their intensity of study and |
| clips and documentaries, student-produced recordings | | | | practice to aid in the development of listening |
| and TV programs or commercials, among many | | | | comprehension skills in EFL learners. This can be |
| others. | | | | especially effective when the learners live in one Braj |
| Audio cassettes or CD – ROMs | | | | Kashru’s “outer circle” countries (B. |
| A wide range of CDs and DVDs exist to provide | | | | Kashru, 1980) where there may well be a quite limited |
| native speech modeling of different speaking, | | | | exposure to spoken English available for the English |
| pronunciation, national and regional English accents. | | | | language learners. English teachers should be |
| Multiple varieties of English are commonly used | | | | resourceful in identifying and acquiring materials to |
| throughout the world and having examples of these by | | | | augment their classes in proving as broad a variety of |
| which learners can be exposed to the differences in | | | | listening comprehension materials as possible for their |
| spoken English will be helpful in demonstrating | | | | classes. Thus, by integrating any and all available |
| pronunciation variables. Online, over-the-air and cable | | | | resources, any English language teaching professional |
| radio broadcasts can be especially effective and are | | | | can effectively aid learners not only in developing their |
| readily available in much of the world. | | | | listening comprehension skills but also in the |
| Three examples of excellent online radio broadcast | | | | demonstration of multiple aspects of connected |
| sites are: | | | | speech in worldwide Englishes. |
| • | | | | |