Innovation in Language Learning

Traditional comprehension-based listening instruction tends to evaluate the final product — the correct or incorrect answer — but reveals little about the learner’s actual listening process. This session offers a practical, evidence-informed alternative. Drawing on cognitive models of listening (Anderson, 2010; Vandergrift, 2007) and the work of Field (2008) on diagnostic and remedial teaching, the presentation focuses on how teachers can identify and address specific learner difficulties with decoding, parsing, and meaning construction. Participants will explore a set of targeted listening tasks — from reconstructing phrases with reduced grammatical features to predicting discourse endings and reflecting on inference processes. The session also touches on strategies for working with anxious or habit-driven learners (e.g., those who aim to decode every word), offering ways to reduce cognitive overload and improve processing efficiency. Through the use of small-scale, intensive listening activities, teachers can help learners build confidence and develop essential bottom-up and top-down skills. The presentation will be highly practical and interactive, including classroom-tested examples and adaptable formats. It will demonstrate how short, focused interventions can transform listening into a skill that is teachable, observable, and less intimidating for students at different proficiency levels.