International TEFL InstitutePre-recorded material for the TEFL Listening Lesson
1. Advantages of using pre-recorded material
i. Students are exposed to a variety of speakers. Students can listen to:
– both male and female voices
– a variety of accents
– native English speakers. Particularly useful for overseas schools, where students rarely, if ever, hear native English speakers.
ii. Realistic dialogues/conversations involving two or more speakers.
iii. Outside situations can be brought into the classroom.
iv. Introduces a variety of teaching media and activities:
– students listen with the teacher instead of to teacher
– listening practice without semiotics: students must concentrate on listening as they cannot rely on the teacher’s facial expressions etc.
– a psychological fascination with listening to a tape recorder.
v. Repetition of materials:
– pre-recorded material can be repeated without becoming boring.
– repetition can be bloc or in short segments, whichever is necessary.
– intonation and stress remain constant.
vi. Students may buy their own recordings and work with them at home.
2. Choosing and using a Recording/Clip
A. Choosing
- Is the material suitable for the age/ cultural background/needs of your students?
- Is the structural and vocabulary content of the Recording/Clip appropriate to the class?
- Are the situations and voices realistic?
- Is the stress and intonation correct?
- Is the speed of the recording/clip appropriate for the class?
- Is the CD/clip useful? What purpose does it serve? A dialogue from a coursebook can be used for many different purposes, for example:
i. further practice of structural material previously taught in a different situation.
ii. further practise of vocabulary and idioms previously taught in a different situation.
iii. with intermediate to advanced classes, as a basis for teaching structural or lexical material.
iv. for listening comprehension practice.
v. for pronunciation practice.
vi. most often, for a combination of any of these purposes.
B. Using
Having decided which recording/clip you are going to use and for what purpose, you then need to decide how to use it. Some suggested ‘routines’ for using a recorded dialogue are outlined below:
1. For comprehension
i. Set the situation/scene!
ii. FIRST PLAY
iii. Ask general comprehension questions or staged questions.
iv. SECOND PLAY
v. Ask more detailed comprehension questions.
vi. THIRD PLAY
vii. Ask open-ended questions leading to a discussion.
2. For further practice
i. Set the situation/scene
ii. FIRST PLAY
iii. Ask general and detailed comprehension questions
iv. SECOND PLAY
v. Stopping recording/clip where necessary to focus on and repeat items of structure and vocabulary
vi. THIRD PLAY
vii. Ask open-ended questions about content.
The number of replays is optional and should be varied according to the recording/clip and the class. During the second or successive replays, students could follow in their books. This is entirely up to the teacher.
3. For pronunciation
It is generally advisable to select a manageable section of the dialogue rather than attempt to deal with the complete dialogue.
i. FIRST PLAY
ii. Elicit attitudes of the speakers
iii. SECOND PLAY
iv. Elicit important words on Nuclei
v. THIRD PLAY
vi. Repeat and practise difficult sounds – especially consonant clusters
vii. Treat as a short dialogue, using the recording/clip as a listening drill until the students can reproduce the dialogue
4. For self-correction
Using the computer/recording device for recording. If there is no language learning centre available, the students’ own pronunciation can be recorded in class in order to encourage self-correction. With post-intermediate students, projects can incorporate the use of the computer/recording device. e.g. production of radio programmes: the news, interviews etc.
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