Monday, July 03, 2023

Identifying Reference Words in the Listening

Sample Activity: slides, pub

I mentioned this at the end of the previous post, but I think it's worth also highlighting here as a separate activity, because this one can be used by itself.

The idea is simply.  Give students a reference word from the listening text (e.g. "it", "this"), play a section of the listening text, and students have to tell you what the word refers to.

Below is an example of this activity from Reflect Listening & Speaking 5, No Time to Choke p.136-140.  


The time stamps at the top are for my reference (so I know where to skip to in the recording.)  I play the audio at the time stamp, and ask the students what the reference word on the slide refers to.  

As I mentioned in the previous post, I did this in my class as a follow up activity to the transcript activity student editors.  But it could also be used independently.  In which case, I think, it would work best as a post-listening activity (i.e. after the students have already processed the listening text for gist and for detail.)
It's a useful activity for aiding students in general listening comprehension.
It's also useful for exam prep courses, since IELTS exam style questions often test whether students can identify the meaning of reference words in a text.

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