Activity 1

Listening for Differences in Communication Strategies

Assign your students to listen to a lecture in one of their other classes. Ask them to
analyze the lecture in light of the following questions:

1. Does the speaker meet your expectations in terms of the structure of the lecture?
What does the speaker do most effectively? What would you suggest to improve
the speaker’s lecture?

2. Did you have any difficulty following the speaker? If so, is the difficulty because
you had problems understanding the speaker or does the difficulty stem from the
structure or content of the lecture? Is there anything you can do to improve your
ability to keep track of the speaker’s ideas?

During a follow-up meeting with your students, discuss the following questions:

1. Did they notice rhetorical devices such as previewing main points in the
introduction, using connectives, or avoiding language that is inappropriate for the
audience?

2. Could they understand the speaker? If they could, was it due to the structure of the
lecture, the speaker’s language, or both? If they could not understand the speaker,
was it due to structure, language, or both?

3. What can they do to increase their comprehension of the speaker’s ideas?

Activity 2
Listening Behaviors for the Classroom
This exercise is designed to help students consider whether or not interactions between
native and nonnative speakers of English are the same as those that involve only native
speakers of English. It should help students see similarities and differences between these
two types of interactions. The discussion may also bring out students’ prejudices about
dealing with nonnative speakers. Some students may feel frustration or anger when
dealing with nonnative speakers, especially if the speaker is a teacher or teaching
assistant. On the other hand, nonnative speakers may express anxiety about speaking and
listening in such interactions. If nonnative speakers do not express the reasons for their
anxiety, the instructor can point out how difficult it is to communicate in another
language. For example, ESL students must not only work to follow the conversation, but
must also respond in an appropriate manner. They may have limited or no knowledge of
slang, or they may miss ideas due to the speaker’s rate of speech. Or they may take extra
time to formulate a response, which may lead to impatience on the part of the native
speaker.

Lead a discussion in which students develop a code of listening behavior (see

Activity 4) for their classroom in combination with that described in Chapter Three.
Students should give special attention to listening behaviors for situations in which
students are participants. Students should consider whether there are listening behaviors
that might be distinct for interactions between native speakers of English and ESL
speakers. If so, students should try to identify those behaviors.
Activity 3
Phrases and Expressions for Active Listening
Below are some useful phrases and expressions that may help your students become
active listeners. List them on a handout and then meet with your students as a group to
discuss appropriate usage. During the discussion, encourage your students to ask about
and/or to describe other expressions they may have heard.

Asking for Clarification Clarifying or Restating

“What do you mean?” “I mean . . .”

“I’m not sure what you mean.” “In other words . . .”

“Sorry, but I don’t understand.” “The point I’m trying to make is . . .”

“Could you explain what you mean by . . .?” “What I’m trying to say is . . .”

Paraphrasing Checking for Understanding

“What she means is . . .” “Do you see what I mean?”

“I believe his point is . . .” “Is that clear?”

“I think she feels . . . . Isn’t that right?” “So, you think that . . .”

To reinforce these phrases and expressions, give your students an optional

assignment in which they observe a class (either your public speaking class or another
class) and take note of the expressions that demonstrate active listening. You may want to
hold a follow-up meeting with your students in which you discuss their observations.

Another option might be to ask your students to participate in a class discussion

and then write a one-page paper in which they evaluate the extent to which they were
active listeners. In their papers, students should:

1. Describe the ways in which they actively listened.

2. Describe how they felt about their ability to actively listen.

3. Describe how they might have been a more active listener.

Activity 4
 Lead a class discussion in which students develop a code of listening behavior for their
speech classroom. The final product of this discussion will be a list entitled “Listening
Behavior for Our Speech Class.” By the end of the discussion, the entire class should not
only agree on the content of the list, but should also pledge themselves to follow it
throughout the term.

Discussion: This activity is especially helpful for relating general issues

about listening directly to the classroom situation. As students create their
listening code, encourage them to be specific in their criteria. For
example, rather than saying “Pay attention to what the speaker is saying,”
they should try to develop more precise statements such as “Write down
the speaker’s main points,” “Look attentive and interested while other
students are speaking,” and “Do not read the newspaper or work on other
assignments during speeches.”
This exercise works well when the class is divided into groups of 4 to
5 students. Give each group 10 to 15 minutes to come up with a list of 8 to
10 items to guide listening behavior in the class. Then, working from the
group lists, conduct a general discussion which eventuates in a listening
code that is agreed upon by the entire class. Another approach is to have
each student create her or his own list as part of a homework assignment.
You can then move immediately to a general class discussion rather than
first dividing the class into small groups.

Activity 5
Have one student step outside of the classroom with you. Give her or him a written copy
of the following message: “To get to Lou’s place, turn left at the first traffic light and go
two blocks until you see a yellow house.” Leaving the written copy with you, the student
should return to the classroom and whisper the message to the person in the next seat.
This person should then whisper the message to the person sitting next to him or her, and
so on until the message has been relayed through the entire class. Have the last student to
receive the message write it down on a sheet of paper and read it to the entire class. Then
have the student to whom you gave the original message read that message to the class.
There will almost always be an enormous variation between the original message and the
message received by the last student.

Discussion: This exercise takes only a few minutes to complete. It

illustrates dramatically—and often humorously—the great distortion that
can take place between what a speaker says and what a listener hears. You
can, of course, substitute any message you wish for that given in the
exercise.

(An alternative, extended version of this activity is provided at the end: “The Amazing Squirrel
Story.”)

Activity 6
Bring two short editorials to class. Read one of the editorials to your students. Have them
take notes and try to identify the main points and evidence of the editorial. Check the
 results in the class discussion, and give pointers for listening and taking notes more
effectively. Then read the second editorial and give students a chance to apply those
pointers. Again, check the results in a class discussion.

Discussion: Although this exercise takes much of a class session, it can

be very helpful because it prepares students for listening to speeches.
Because many students do poorly on the first editorial, the exercise also
serves the useful function of illustrating to students how poorly they listen
and how much they need to work to improve their note taking. For an
alternative, see the next Additional Exercise/ Activity.

Activity 7
Show your class one of the selections from the videotapes of student speeches that
accompany the text. Have them take notes in which they try to demarcate where the
introduction of the speech ends, to list the main points and subpoints in the body, and to
identify where the conclusion begins. Check the results in a class discussion and give
pointers for listening and taking notes more effectively. Then play another speech and see
if students do a better job of note taking. Again, check the results in a class discussion.

Discussion: Because student speeches on the videotapes are 6 to 8

minutes long, this activity takes a whole class session, but it is extremely
helpful for students. It can be made even more helpful by selecting
speeches for viewing that are connected with whatever speech assignment
is coming up in class. That is, if you use this exercise as students are
preparing the informative speech, show two informative speeches. Not
only will this help students with their listening skills, but it will give them
additional exposure to the principles of informative speaking.

Activity 8
For each round of speeches, assign students specific listening tasks. For example, you
might have a particular group of students (or all students) take notes on their classmates’
speeches in an effort to identify the speakers’ main points and evidence. After each
speech, make a quick check of two or three listeners to see what they recorded.

Discussion: This is one way to help students improve their listening and
note-taking skills throughout the course. An added benefit of the exercise
is that as students try to take notes on their classmates’ speeches, they
discover how helpful it is when the speaker follows a clear method of
organization, previews the main points at the end of the introduction, uses
connectives to help listeners keep track of main points, recaps the speech
in the conclusion, avoids distracting nonverbal mannerisms, and uses her
or his voice to emphasize ideas. This helps students learn what they need
to do as speakers to help listeners take good notes.
Activity 9
Have students keep a personal journal of their listening activities for a full day. The
journal should include brief descriptions of all the listening situations each student
experienced during that day. It should also include the student’s analysis of how well he
or she listened in each situation and of why he or she did (or did not) listen effectively in
each situation. Finally, the journal should conclude with the student’s honest assessment
of her or his strengths and weaknesses as a listener and an explanation of what specific
steps the student should take to become a better listener.

Discussion: This exercise is a way to get students to think about their

personal listening habits and how to improve them. Some teachers have
students complete a listening journal two or three times during the course,
as a way for students to keep track of their progress (or lack of progress)
in strengthening their listening skills.