What Should Listening Teachers Know and Do

Listening class often makes teachers and learners bored and frustrated. It happens because they do not recognize the nature of listening and do not know what should be done while listening English. In this article, the writer attempts to get the way out of the problem. Firstly, he explains the meaning of listening. Listening really means ‘listening and understanding what we hear at the same time’. So, two concurrent actions are demanded to take place in this process. Listening is more a process than a product which instantly shapes the understanding and utterances of the learners. After that, the writer describes the listening process and strategies. Vandergrift (2002) mentioned two distinct processes involved in listening comprehension. Listeners use ‘top-down’ processes when they use prior knowledge to understand the meaning of a message. On the other hand, listeners also use ‘bottom-up’ processes when they use linguistic knowledge to understand the meaning of a message. The degree to which listeners use the one process will depend on their knowledge of the language, familiarity with the topic or the purpose for listening. Knowing the listening process should be followed by practicing listening skills. Teachers should be aware of the three phases of listening strategies and traing students to run the phases; pre-listening, during listening, and post-listening.