‘Listening Assistance’ EAL Strategy: Explanation and Rationale

Listening can be a strenuous business.

There is the matter of decoding meaning, of sustaining attention, and of assessing the value of what is being said.

You must also try to gauge the speaker’s intentions, identify whether what they are saying coheres with how they are saying it (including their body language), and ascertain whether it connects with what you already know.

In the case of a learner for whom English is an additional language, juggling all these tasks can be difficult.

Given that a speaker has the express intention of getting their meaning across to those who are listening, it is reasonable to assume that they will be prepared to make certain adaptations that will assist their listeners.

Sometimes these are unconscious, for example when someone leans forward involuntarily to emphasise a point.

At other times they are contrived, or even scripted, like when a politician uses gestures in accordance with the findings of a psychological study.

Either way, the speaker is taking steps to assist the listener.

Taking the latter approach – consciously adapting your voice and body while speaking – can be helpful in the classroom.

If whoever is speaking, be it teacher or learner, thinks about how they might assist the listener, then the communication of meaning becomes easier.

There are many ways in which speakers can assist listeners.

Here are some examples you can use and that you can talk about with your learners.

Listening Assistance: Example One

Look at learners when you are talking to them and make sure they are looking at you.

It sounds obvious.

It is obvious!

Yet, with all the potential distractions that can come our way while we are teaching, it is quite possible that we will continue talking to a learner while turned away from them.

It is much easier to listen to someone if they are looking at you.

You can observe the movements of their lips, as well their expressions.

For EAL learners who are still getting to grips with English, having a speaker look directly at them can be a major help in their efforts to try and understand what is being said.

Conversely, if the speaker turns away from an EAL learner while they are speaking, a huge amount can be lost, making life more challenging for them.

Listening Assistance: Example Two

Use your body to supplement your speech.

For example, if you say a size, mirror that size with your hands. Spread your palms wide to indicate ‘big’ or squeeze your thumb and forefinger close together to signify ‘small’.

Another example is to emphasise points by stepping forward or pointing your hands in the direction of the audience (as if to say ‘this is the important bit’).

Try to work such gestures into your performance so that they appear natural.

If you feel uncomfortable with them, you will probably appear stilted and lack the certainty that a strong gesture should possess.

These supplemental gestures give all learners, including your EAL learners, additional information they can use to make sense of what you are saying.

One way we use this kind of information is as a form of triangulation.

This sees us using the body language we observe to check that what we think we have understood is what was intended by the speaker.

Listening Assistance: Example Three

Ensure what you say is interesting, useful and relevant (or, ideally, all three).

This assists the learners who are listening to you in three ways.

First, it gives them a reason to listen. This increases motivation because learners feel there is something in it for them.

Second, it requires you to think about what you are going to say in advance of saying it.

This means what you say is likely to be clear and considered. Listeners can therefore spend less energy trying to decode it.

Third, it relates to things that the learner already knows.

This helps them contextualise your speech by connecting it to their existing understanding.

I’ve written these three examples with the teacher in mind.

They also apply to the speaking that learners do.

When speaking to learners, highlight different aspects of what you are doing. Show them how you are assisting them as listeners.

They can then try to copy your example when they speak.

This trickle-down approach has the potential to get all members of your class thinking about how they can assist people who are listening to them.

The benefits for all learners, including those learning English as an additional language, will soon follow.