Yesterday I wrote a post about using real-life audio to expose more advanced learners to actual native speakers in everyday situations. This is great for the learner and way more entertaining for you, the foreign language teacher. Today I want to clarify the previous post a bit and so I’m going to talk about the “theory” behind this.*
First, when selecting an audio clip in the target language, you should always choose one that is appropriate for the level of your students. If you have students in, say, Spanish 101, then you probably aren’t going to be throwing an actual Spanish language news audio clip at them, at least not with the expectations that they will understand everything the broadcaster says. In fact, I would argue that doing so could even be counterproductive, as students may become frustrated, lose interest, and stop paying attention. This is the last thing you want, mostly because students have very limited exposure to the target language and you want the little input they do receive to be good.**
So we want an audio clip that is appropriate for the leaners’ comprehension abilities. We also want something interesting. Please, for the love of all that is decent, we (and the students) want something interesting. Listening to Don Pancho talk about his imaginary plans with his imaginary students is really not interesting. I mean, you can make it interesting if it’s all you have to work with, and if you make it interesting the students will appreciate you for it. But typically the book materials aren’t the only ones you have to work with (see this little known website for more sources of audio). With a wealth of audio out there, engage the learner with something that will not bore him/her to tears, and in fact might actually stimulate his/her interest in the language.
So to this point, we have interesting, level-appropriate input. The next step is deciding what the students need to do with that input. Having them sit back passively is another good way to get them to zone out, which is the opposite of what they should be doing while practicing their listening. If they just have to answer true or false questions, then it might be a good idea to pick a slightly harder audio at a faster speed (i.e., the native speaker who talks a bit faster). If they have to answer an open ended question based on what they hear, then it might be a good idea make the clip be a little bit easier and be at a slower pace. But again, this can also vary based on the level of the students with whom you are working.
Finally, the decision on which audio clip you should use will also depend greatly on the situation. If your lesson goal is to stretch the learners, then a harder audio makes sense. If the goal is to test their comprehension on vocabulary from the lesson, then it makes more sense to find audio that fits that requirement. Maybe in this case it would be better to use the dreaded*** book audio clips, ones that are already designed to match what the students are learning.
Put all these things together, and you can begin to figure out what kinds of audio your students need at a given point in time. We should select interesting, level-appropriate clips that help us accomplish the language learning goals we have for our students.
*I don’t know if this is actual pedagogical theory or not, but it makes good, logical sense so I’m gonna roll with it.
**Good input is any exposure to the language that is both comprehensible to the listener and meaning-bearing.
***I dread them.