Is everybody listening?

Abstract

Listening for gist This skill is listener-based. It allows the listener to ‘tune in’ to what they are listening to and make predictions as to what they may encounter next. Before any language is heard, sound effects, in particular, help listeners to place the piece in a particular context, in terms of both location and atmosphere. For example: A crash of thunder cuts the howl of the wind in two. A clock strikes 12 in the distance and the echo of footsteps on a cold cobbled floor grow ever louder. Before a word is even uttered, the listener is transported, both physically and emotionally, to a time and place that is tinged with an edge of uncertainty and possible danger. Drawing on previous experiences, the listener is able to make reasonable predictions as to where they are and what may happen next. Accompanying music can, quite literally, underscore such feelings and helps enlighten the listener. It plays a vital role in conveying a strong sense of mood that may otherwise be left unnoticed. An ambassador to the human state, the power music has to impact upon our consciousness should never be underestimated. Let us also not forget the greatest musical instrument of them all – the human voice! It, too, plays an important role in listening comprehension. The tone, pace and inflection of the speaker’s voice can reflect not only how characters within the text are feeling, but also how we, the listener, should be feeling too. Asking children how a character’s voice should be heard is a great first step in exploring how a particular character is feeling and what they may be thinking at any given time. Many children will be able to act out a deep giant’s voice in a literal sense, but the giant we find at the top of Jack’s beanstalk owns a very different voice from that of Roald Dahl’s BFG. Thinking carefully about how and why this is may require a much higher order listening skill and highlights beautifully a deeper understanding, not simply of each character, but of inferences within the text, and the author’s intentions too. Contrast Jack’s booming giant with the soft tones and gentle pace of the words ‘Once upon a time...’. On one level, the narrator is simply heralding the start of a fairytale and allowing the listener to predict what type of story they are about to listen to. However, the manner in which these four words are spoken helps cradle the listener in the arms of the narrator as they ready themselves to embark on a journey that will, undoubtedly, be scary – cue the cackling of a witch, the hooting of an owl and the deep ominous notes of a double bass. Here the narrator is verbally holding the listener’s hand and providing them with the necessary parent-like security they need to undertake their journey into the unknown. In this sense, the storyteller plays a vital role, not simply as the teller of tales but as a guide who helps the listener make sense of what they are listening to and feel safe enough to explore each new world in which they find themselves. All this combines to give a powerful sense of the structure and meaning of a piece. It gives the listener a setting, both in terms of time and place, but also in terms of genre. It allows us to make subtle judgements and predictions as regards content on the page and issues raised beyond it, enabling us to consider wider aspects, such as who the piece has been written for (audience) and why it has been written (purpose), all of which combine to give us a satisfying and wellrounded view of what we have just heard.