Page 78 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom

Listening and Speaking

Figure 4.2
A Listen-and-Match/Write
Activity (Bratož et al., 2019,
p. 57

sive listening which usually involves listening for some specific information.
A useful strategy is to give instructions which are not predictable (such as
colouring the roof of a house yellow instead of red) and thus make the task
more challenging. With older learners, listening can also be used for a more
detailed analysis of some language points. On the other hand, extensive lis-
tening ‘allows learners to receive a lot of comprehensible and enjoyable lis-
tening input’ (Renandya & Farrell, 2011, p. 56), such as when listening to the
teacher read a story aloud or watching a cartoon for pleasure. Just like with
extensive reading, several researchers have started recognizing the benefits
of extensive listening for the acquisition of listening skills in an FL. A num-
ber of activities can be carried out in the YLs’ classroom based on extensive
listening, such as teacher read-alouds or listening while reading.
Avaluablesourcefor developing extensivelistening skills are also animated
cartoons which can be used as authentic language material. One of the most
important advantages of using cartoons in the classroom is that they are fun
and learners are usually highly motivated to follow them, especially if they
are already familiar with them outside school. Cartoons, such as ‘Peppa Pig,’
‘Martha Speaks’ or ‘Postman Pat’ have become favourite shows of children
around the world. Several studies (Krishnan & Yunus, 2018) have shown that
usingcartoonsin theclassroomenablesthelearnersto contextualisethelan-
guage learnt more efficiently, develop vocabulary using a variety of context
clues provided in the cartoon (the characters’ facial expressions, body lan-
guage, visual support, etc.) and develop strategies for guessing from context.
Cartoons are often based on everyday social interactions giving the learners
the opportunity to hear real-world conversations. An important characteris-
tic of cartoons is also that the language used is typically repetitive – words,
phrases, or whole communication patterns are often repeated which can be
effectively used for language development.

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