THE PRACTICE: Teachers include listening as an integral part of reading and writing instruction.
Content Presented By:
The Education Alliance at Brown University

What Is It?
Implications for ELLs
Strategies for Supporting ELLs
Glimpse of the Classroom
Questions to Think About

What Is It?

When listening to teachers read books aloud, students hear good models of fluent and phrased reading. In addition, teachers can demonstrate to students how to make connections between books and their lives. When teachers read aloud and comment on connections, students learn how to use their prior experiences and mental images to help them understand what they hear. Personal feelings, attitudes, ideas, information, and instructions all play vital roles in reading comprehension.

Many commonly used literacy strategies encourage students to become better listeners. Teachers often use listening activities to help students predict events in a story. Or, teachers may ask students to visualize a particularly vivid scene in a story. Sometimes, teachers have students "play with language" after listening to something that is read. For example, the teacher asks the students how they might describe a scene or event by using different words than the author. After listening to a chapter, older students can summarize what they have heard.

As students become more fluent writers, they may sit in the "author's chair" and read their writing to other students. After listening to a writer read his or her work, other students can ask questions, say what they liked about a piece, or offer constructive feedback. In both reading and writing, listening skills play an important role in clarifying the meaning of the text.

Implications for ELLs

Teachers' talk is a primary source of information and language input for ELLs. It not only conveys ideas about the topics being discussed but models how to use language, serving as the input or data which learners internalize and use to express their own meanings. The qualities of the teacher's talk are of great importance. Effective teachers often adapt their speech to facilitate language learning. These adaptations may include speaking slowly, using short sentences, paraphrasing the same message several different ways, and explaining word meanings. Teachers also use gestures, pictures, and props to make the meaning more clear.

ELLs learn from listening to read-alouds, songs, poems, and chants. Listening to the sounds, rhymes, and rhythms of English provides ELLs with the auditory experiences they need to pronounce and read English. Beginning ELLs benefit greatly from listening to read-alouds of picture books. Effective teachers use the illustrations to develop vocabulary and to make story meaning clear.

Many ELLs go through a "silent period," during which they listen and observe more than they speak. During this silent period, ELLs benefit from opportunities to participate and interact with others in activities that use gesture, physical movement, art, experiential activities, and single words or short phrases. Effective teachers are aware that ELLs who are quiet in class may be hard at work listening and comprehending. ELLs may take longer to answer a question or volunteer a comment because they need more time to process the meaning and to formulate an appropriate response.

Strategies for Supporting ELLs

Effective teachers monitor students' listening comprehension. This can be especially useful when English language learners (ELLs) are in their "silent period," during which they listen and observe more than they speak.

Effective teachers say things like:

• Show me the dog.
• Show me the dog house.
• Point to the clouds in the sky.
• Where is the mouse in the picture?
• In the story Annie is very sad. Show me a sad face.
• At the end of the story they all shook hands.
• Victor, Shake hands with Tommy now.
• Look everybody, Victor and Tommy are shaking hands, just like the people in the story.

As ELLs become more proficient in English, teachers begin to read from chapter books and other age-appropriate materials. In this way, they continue to build and monitor students' vocabulary development and listening comprehension.

Effective teachers say things like:

• We heard that the witch was very wicked.
• What's another word for wicked?
• What does wicked mean?
• The witch was not nice at all. She was very...?
• Would you rather have a teacher who is kind or a teacher who is wicked?
• I read that the boy lived in a log cabin in the forest.
• Is a cabin a big house or a little house?
• Was the cabin made of wood or of plastic?
• What's the word that means little pieces of a tree?

To foster reading comprehension, teachers model how readers make explicit comparisons between the text and their own lives.
Effective teachers say things like:

• In the story, Annie is very sad because her dog is lost.
• That makes me think about my dog.
• It makes me sad to think about my dog getting lost.
• Who else here has a dog?
• Did your dog ever get lost?
• Did you ever lose something or somebody else?
• Did you feel sad like Annie?
• Are there other things that make you sad?

Glimpse of the Classroom

Mrs. D. sits in front of the 17 students gathered at her feet. They are in the Reading Corner of the classroom.
"Today, boys and girls, we are going to read chapter 3 from My Name Is Maria Isabel entitled, 'Recess.'"
"What do we remember from what we've read so far?" she asks the class.
Danny raises his hand and says, "Maria had her name changed to Mary when she came to America, and she doesn't like it."
Someone else says, "She doesn't feel like it's really her!"
Another student calls out, "Just like you, Mrs. D., when you came to this country, and your name was changed and YOU didn't like it."
"Why did the teacher change Maria's name?" Mrs. D. asks.
"Because there was already a Maria in the class," a petite girl responds.
Mrs. D. retorts, "Well, there are four Daniels in our class but did we change any of their names?"
"NOOOOO!" the class cries out in unison.

To continue the reading, Mrs. D. reminds the children where they left off in the text. Suddenly, one of the children sings out a phrase from a song.
"Where did you get that?" Mrs. D. asks.
"From the book Molly's Pilgrim!" comes the response.
"Ohhh...you've made a text-to-text connection," she suggests. "What else do you remember?"
"In Molly's Pilgrim," says Daniel, "they made fun of Molly and sang 'Jolly Molly.' Maybe they'll make fun of Maria and sing 'Jolly Maria.'"

Mrs. D. starts to read from chapter 3. She speaks with inflection, and her reading mesmerizes the students. Periodically, she stops to ask students what certain words may mean or what their predictions might be. The class sits cross-legged, hanging on every word, eyes glued to Mrs. D.
As she reads, she engages the students with a series of strategically placed questions and comments about how all readers need to make "pictures in their head."
When she says the word plaid, someone asks what the word means. Mrs. D. stops and points to a student who is wearing a plaid shirt.

She reads, "...feeling the coolness of the clear water beneath the hot sun."
The class sits motionless, enthralled by her reading.
She breaks and says, "Oh, what beautiful language the author is using. Listen. Let me read it again: feeling the coolness of the clear water."
Kenny volunteers, "Mrs. D., this story has voice."
A classmate offers, "Juliana always has voice when she writes stories."
"Yes," Mrs. D. responds. "So do Glacie and others of you."

She finishes the rest of the chapter.
"Is there anything more you wonder about?" she asks.
The class raises several "I Wonder" questions, and students generate tentative answers as the read-aloud begins to wind down.
"The next chapter is entitled, 'Mary Lopez.' What do you think will happen next?" asks Mrs. D.
As the class predicts several possible outcomes, a spirited discussion concludes the lesson for the day.

Questions to Think About

1. How does effective listening instruction change from grade to grade?
2. Given the fact that reading and writing instruction often play a more dominant role in literacy instruction, what types of listening activities can best be integrated into the school day?
3. How can teachers support and check listening comprehension of class discussions and of the stories read aloud--for English language learners (ELLs) and for students who are reluctant to speak publicly?
4. How should teacher support for listening comprehension change as English language learners (ELLs) and other students develop greater English proficiency?

This resource is developed and maintained by The Education Alliance at Brown University. Seed funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Send comments to: loom@alliance.brown.edu