Stage 3 guidelines for listening: Appropriate varieties

Here are some objectives for learning appropriate varieties for listening in Stage 3:

To understand colloquial speech, including idioms and differences in register and dialect

• To understand what people of the culture consider aesthetically pleasing style

Here are some strategies for learning appropriate varieties for listening in Stage 3:

Analysis Find out the limits of standard speech, also colloquial versus formal speech, and when each is appropriate. Make a chart of speech varieties, their domains, and some key points for you to remember for usage. Record a variety of events and then listen, especially to notice the various registers used for specific types of discourse. Practice Consciously practice noticing the switch between colloquial and formal speech. Clarify the different situations in which each is acceptable. Selective attention Expand your listening comprehension to people who speak more regionalized language, not just "the norm."

Here are some techniques for for learning appropriate varieties for listening in Stage 3:

Keep a notebook of idioms and colloquial expressions you hear used, and go over them with a language associate (LA). Ask about the connotations of each: what mood or feeling does it convey? (Find out which colloquialisms you should not learn to say!)

• The Dialogue Variations technique
• The Participant Observation technique

Here are some activities for learning appropriate varieties for listening in Stage 3:

The Social Visiting activity

• The Join in the Work activity
• The Telling Jokes activity
• The Telephone Procedures activity
• The Eating Out activity

• Listen to and watch media such as radio, TV, and films if available

  • Find contexts in which you can listen to speeches, lectures, and conversations
  • Get as much exposure as possible to the language used in a variety of communication situations

• Generic module: Stage 3 guidelines for listening: Appropriate vari...
• In overview module: Stage 3: Listening modules
• In modular book: Guidelines for a Language and Culture Learning Program, by Carol J. Orwig
• In document collection: Other Resources
• In bookshelf: Language Learning

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 3.5, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 8 December 1998

© 1999 SIL International