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The Language Teacher | |
In the July TLT, Richard Cauldwell (1998, p. 7) quoted my co-authors and I in his article on listening comprehension: "Activities that encourage bottom-up processing, that require learners to attend to the substance of speech, have become tabu. For example, some authors deprive learners of the opportunity to look at the tapescripts for fear that it 'reinforces the myth that learners can't understand meaning without catching everything they hear'" (Helgesen, Brown, & Smith, 1997, p. xii). Given the reality of yakudoku (see Hino, 1992), the version of grammar translation standard in Japan in which learners wrestle meaning from English via word and sentence level processing, ours is hardly bad advice. Cauldwell seems to have overlooked both the point and the placement of the quotation. The section he quotes actually begins, "Generally, [my emphasis] don't give students the tapescript. It reinforces word and sentence level (bottom-up) processing and reinforces the myth.... " (Helgesen, Brown, & Smith, 1997, p. xii). Generally, of course, indicates that there are exceptions. On the tapescript pages where we give permission to copy the script for the students, we encourage teachers to do so only occasionally and to do so purposefully. For example, we suggest having learners, after having done the listening task in the book, look at the script and listen again, picking out examples of particular grammar points. This bottom-up exercise is an example of how we can use grammar in context to help learners notice and focus on form, a very promising current concept in second language acquisition (See, for example, Doughty & Williams, 1998). Another example we give is for additional support when a listening passage is particularly difficult. We point out that reading the script silently as students listen can increase reading speed and combine skills to increase understanding. When I said above that I thought Cauldwell also missed the placement, I was referring to the location of the quote, which was part of a list of listening tips at the end of the introduction. Prior to that was a detailed discussion of "How students learn how to listen," in which we pointed out the need, not to replace bottom-up processing with top-down processing, but rather "to help students integrate bottom-up and top-down processing..." to "activate their previous knowledge of the topic as well as relevant grammar and vocabulary" (Helgesen, Brown, & Smith, 1997, pp. x-xi). We also pointed out the need for learners to engage in a wide range of listening tasks and listening types including listening for specific information, gist and inference. This range of experiences gives learners the skills to become aware of their purpose, and focus on listening successfully. There's no question that students need to process in both directions and particularly in Japan, that means moving learners away from an over dependence on one direction of processing. Life, after all, doesn't come with a tapescript. Students who use English will be exposed to situations in real life were their listening comprehension will not be supported by something in writing. Teachers therefore need to help students develop the necessary skills and the confidence to deal with them.
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