Week 8- Comprehension Questions for Chapter 7
Maftoon, Kargozari & Azarnoosh — “Some Guidelines for Developing Listening Materials”
A. Understanding Key Concepts
1. Why has listening traditionally been considered the “Cinderella skill” in second language
contexts according to Nunan (1999, 2002)?
2. How did the Comprehension Approach and the Natural Approach change the status of
listening in language learning?
3. What does Nord (1980) mean by saying that language learning is “learning to build a
mental map of meaning”?
B. Types of Listening Practice
4. How do Nation & Newton (2009) differentiate between one-way listening and two-way
listening? Provide examples of each.
5. Compare Brown’s (2001) six classroom listening types with Rost’s (2011) classification.
What similarities and differences do you notice?
6. Define intensive listening. What linguistic elements does it focus on, and what activities
does Rost (2011) suggest for it?
7. What is the main purpose of selective listening, and what kinds of information are learners
expected to extract during this activity?
8. How does interactive listening promote negotiation of meaning and collaborative
conversation?
9. What distinguishes extensive listening from the other listening types, and what are some
examples of extensive listening activities?
10. How is autonomous listening defined in the chapter, and what role does learner control
play in it?
C. Listening Processes
11. Explain bottom-up processing in listening. What linguistic units does it involve?
12. Explain top-down processing and the role of background knowledge and schema in it.
13. Why do Flowerdew & Miller (2005) support an interactive model of listening combining
both bottom-up and top-down processes?
D. Characteristics of Effective Listening Materials
14. According to Baleghizadeh (2012), what are the four essential features of effective
listening materials?
15. Why must listening materials provide exposure to a variety of listening types such as
intensive, selective, and extensive?
16. What does the chapter emphasize about the purpose of listening materials in relation to
comprehension vs. testing?
E. Authentic Materials
17. How do Underwood (1989) and Morrow (1977) define authentic listening materials, and
why are they considered important in listening instruction?
18. What examples of authentic one-way listening sources do Vandergrift & Goh (2012) list?
19. How do the authors differentiate between spontaneous and controlled authentic
recordings? Provide examples.
F. Listening Activity Types
20. What are the ACTFL “five Cs,” and how do they inform the design of listening activities?
21. Describe the difference between interpersonal and interpretive listening modes.
22. List and briefly explain the seven listening activity types proposed by Van Olphen et al.
(2011).
(Conversation, teacher’s prompts, broadcast, poem/song, audio recording, presentation,
story)
23. What technological tools does the chapter recommend to support each listening activity
type? Give two examples.
G. Application and Reflection
24. Based on the chapter, what are the major shortcomings of traditional listening materials,
and how do new technologies help address them?
25. If you were designing listening materials for a B1 EFL class, which listening types and
technologies from this chapter would you combine, and why?
(Application questions are based on all previous sections.)