Bottom up listening refers to speech processing skills for detecting sound: identifying phonemes, rhythm, cadence, stress, word recognition. Our first language (L1) teaches us the “possible sounds” of a language by an early age, so when we acquire a second language (unless it’s done simultaneously with the L1) we need to deliberately reform our auditory processing system.
Here are some Deliberate Practice methods for working on L2 sound processing.
Area of Practice | Form of Practice/ Repetition |
Learner Shift During Practice |
Lower level skills | ||
speech processing: minimal pairs | series of pairs of phonological phrases that are identical or “minimally different” (e.g. Do you repair clocks? Do you repair clogs?); students listen and say “same” or “different”. | improved ability to detect minimally different words |
speech processing: noticing assimilations | series of very short (5-7 seconds) bursts of speech, with recognition practice (such as T/F questions or fill in blanks) for problematic sequences (such as phrases with assimilated sounds) | improved ability to listen to fast speech, improved ability to decode assimilated phrases; improved interest in hearing spoken language variations |
speech processing: word stress | series of phrases, delivered orally;students repeat or indicate the stressed syllables; or students do “word spotting”, writing down any words they have heard | improved ability to attend to stress, pick out target words; improved ability to distinguish word boundaries |
speech processing: detecting sentence stress | series of sentences (or “idea units”); students indicate the most stressed word in each | improved ability to identify words in the stream of speech |
speech processing: parsing grammatical structures | series of short comprehensible sentences (or “idea units”) with complex grammar, slightly above students’ productive ability; students choose correct written form of utterance, or write/fill in blanks | improved ability to segment speech into component words; improved ability to make grammatical sentences from words recognized in speech |
Vocabulary recognition: picking out words in a stream of speech | series of short extracts (25 words) with m/c or blank fills in for identifying which target words were uttered | improved ability to recognize words; improved ability to identify boundaries of “unknown words” |
Grammatical parsing: making sense of phonological strings | series of short extracts (25 words) with target grammatical structures blanked out; listeners attempt to fill in missing parts | improved ability to understand unsimplified/natural speed speech; improved ability to construct grammatical sentences in speech and writing |
Higher level skills | ||
Memory Building:Questions about reconstructing a story | series of short stories, involving multiple actions and sequences | improved attention span, improved recall |
Recognizing Literal Meaning:Questions about facts, details, or information explicitly stated in the audio story | series of short extracts (25-50 words) with questions or T/F paraphrases about literal meaning (what was explicitly stated vs. inferable) | increased awareness of literal vs. implied meaning |
Understanding Vocabulary: Questions about the meanings of words as they are used in the context of the extract | series of short extracts (10-25 words) with questions (synonyms, rephrasings) about specific vocabulary items | increase in receptive vocabulary |
Making Inferences:Questions asking students to make inferences as they listen to audio stories, interpreting what is said by going beyond the literal meaning | series of short statements (10-25 words) with questions about what can be inferred from what was spoken | improved ability to listen “actively”, making inferences while listening |
Identifying Main Idea:Questions asking students to identify the main idea or gist of an audio story | series of short extracts (30-60 seconds) with questions (T/F) or m/c or open-ended about the main idea | improved ability to listen selectively for most important information |
Summarizing Content:Questions asking students to summarize the content of an audio story | series of short extracts (20 seconds, 100 words); students work alone or in pairs to create short (10-20 word) summaries | improved ability to focus on main ideas, ability to formulate coherent short summaries |
Determining Point of View:Questions asking students to determine a speaker’s point of view or perspective in an audio story | series of short extracts (30-60 seconds), such as movie scenes (in audio only or video formats), in which the characters have identifiable perspectives or emotional states. | improved ability to discern differences of emotional states in characters |
Analyzing Reasoning:Questions asking students to analyze a speaker’s reasoning or draw conclusions based on an audio extract | series of short extracts, personal opinions about a topic or issue | improved reasoning ability; tolerance for differing viewpoints |
Finding Evidence:Questions asking students to identify statements or details in an audio story that provide evidence to support inferences, interpretations, or conclusions | series of short stories (2-3 minutes), involving problem-solution structure | improved critical thinking while listening |