Listening in Language Learning

Examines listening as both a means of achieving understanding and as a teachable skill. The underlying theme of the volume is that an integration of cognitive, social, and educational perspectives is necessary in order to characterise effectively what listening ability is and how it may develop. It introduces listening from a cognitive perspective, and presents a detailed investigation of listening in social and educational contexts. The study concludes with an analysis of how listening development can be incorporated effectively into curriculum design.

1. Listening in verbal communication: comprehension or interpretation 2. Auditory perception and linguistic processing 3. Listener inference 4. Listening in collaborative discourse: displays of understanding; listening in collaborative discourse 5. Listening in transactional discourse: listener understanding in transactional discourse 6. Development of listening ability 7. Assessing listening ability: assessment and sampling 8. Listening in the language curriculum: approaches to curriculum design