ASSESSMENT OF LISTENING

ASSESSMENT OF LISTENING
Helen Huntley
Senior English Language Fellow
MOET, Hanoi, Vietnam

The Reading/Listening Connection

How is the assessment of listening different from the assessment of reading??
How is it similar??
Micro-skills for Listening

discriminate among the distinctive sounds of English
retain chunks of language in short-term memory
recognize English stress patterns, rhythm, intonation
recognize reduced forms of words
distinguish word boundaries
interpret word order patterns
process speech at different rates of delivery
process speech containing pauses, errors, corrections
recognize grammatical word forms, patterns, rules
recognize cohesive devices
recognize meaning expressed through different grammatical patterns

Macro-skills for Listening

recognize the communicative function of utterances
identify main ideas from supporting details
make inferences using real-world knowledge
predict outcomes and infer connections
distinguish between literal and implied meanings
use non-verbal clues to assist comprehension
use listening strategies (guessing vocabulary, signaling comprehension etc.)

Listening Assessment Tips
Make sure students have enough contextualization to understand the listening text
Provide a communicative purpose for the listening
Focus on assessing the listening skills, not spelling, grammar etc.
Include both detail questions and meaning questions
Don’t expect full comprehension
Consider integrating skills in the types of questions: discrimination of phonemes, paraphrase recognition, short answers, cloze, dictation, information transfer tasks, note-taking

Test Content
Test specifications for Listening might include the following:
Text types (narrative, descriptive etc.)
Speech types (dialogues, monologues)
Mode of listening: audio, video, reader
Varieties of English
Scripted or unscripted
Length of listening, number of exchanges in dialogues
Paraphrase Recognition
Steven nailed his presentation this morning.

Steven used nails at work today.
Steven’s presentation was very successful.
Steven injured himself after his presentation today.
Objective Format #1
The newly-weds took a much-needed break at a resort last weekend.

True/False
The couple got married last weekend.
Objective Format #2
What would you like to do next weekend?

Yes, I would.
B. Just relax.
About two days.
In five minutes.
Short-Answer Questions
Two years ago I spent a week hiking in Colorado. It was one of the most energetic vacations I’ve ever had. Every day, we walked for five hours, then we set up camp. At the campsite, we read for a few hours, then made dinner over a campfire.

How many hours a day did he walk? _________
What did he do before dinner? _____________
Listening Cloze
Two years ago I _____ a week hiking in Colorado. It was _____ of the most energetic _____ I’ve ever had. Every day, we walked for _____ hours, then we set _____ camp. At the campsite, we read for a _____ hours, then _____ dinner over a campfire.
Dictation

First reading: natural speed, no pauses
Second reading: breaks after chunks of 4/5 connected words; read at a slower speed
Third reading: normal speed, no pauses
Information Transfer
Listening Tasks for Testing Understanding
Read through the different types of activities for Listening assessment in your handout. Discuss with a partner.

Which activities have you used in your classes or for tests?
Which activities do you want to try out?
ASSESS THE LISTENING TEST

Assess the Listening test in your handout.
What are the strengths of this test?
What are the weaknesses?
How would you design a test using this listening script?