week 4-1) Discussion Questions 4

• Explain the two listening techniques: top-down vs. bottom-up and tell us when you employ each technique for what purpose.

 Just like reading, in listening, there are also two simultaneous and complementary ways of processing a text. In top-down processing, learners use their prior knowledge to make predictions about the text. In bottom-up processing, learners rely on their linguistic knowledge to recognize linguistic elements -- vowels, consonants, words, sentences to do the construction of meaning.

Second-language listeners often revert to their knowledge of the topic and situation when faced with unfamiliar vocabulary or structures, so using top-down processing to compensate for difficulties in bottom-up processing. On the other hand, if a listener is unable to understand anything of what she hears, she will not even be able to establish the topic of conversation, so top-down processing will also be very limited.

I usually employ top-down techniques-Listening news, weather forecast, sports report, announcement, etc. on the radio/ Attending a lesson or seminar. I use bottom-up-processing Receiving instructions on how to do something, get somewhere/ Chatting at a party or other social gathering

• What type of listening materials do you think good for top-down or bottom-up strategies? Review the listening materials and select some for each.

I think 'Listening to the News' is a good activity for top-down listening. A very useful starting point when students are developing listening skills for academic study is with the news. It could be Radios or the BBC World Service, but it could also be another radio station. The BBC provides excellent online news programmes, for example http://news.bbc.co.uk/ and http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/categories/news.There is also a really good website which contains interactive exercises on recent news stories at http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com.  in these websites, students can listen various news or lessons and get opportunities for live interaction.

If students try to start by making their listening to the news into a routine, they can improve their English listening skills. - listen to the same broadcast each and every day, at the same time. Just listen to a few minutes at first, and gradually extend listening as students feel they are getting better and more experienced.

• What is podcasting? Discuss the benefits of doing podcasting for L2 learners.

 A podcast is a type of digital media consisting of an episodic series of audio, video, PDF, or ePub files subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication or streamed online to a computer or mobile device. The word is a neologism derived from "broadcast" and "pod" from the success of the iPod, as podcasts are often listened to on portable media players.
There are some benefits of doing podcasting for L2 learners.Teachers can provide more various interesting and authentic materials.(not only from the textbook). Also students who are in more higher level can use more difficult materials, or additional tasks using podcasting.