Abstract
The significant role listening plays in second language acquisition is now well-established. However, despite changes in the perception of second language (L2) listening, it remains an under-researched skill. Listening is the most challenging of the four language skills in terms of both learning and teaching. This calls for more research to tackle issues with the teaching and learning of L2 listening. Expertise is thought to be the end result of engaging in extensive amounts of deliberate practice. However, metacognitive instruction and deliberate practice done separately are rarely enough to achieve L2 listening expertise. Thus, this article proposes a new approach to L2 listening, in which metacognitive instruction is an essential element, but not an end in itself. This new approach to L2 listening integrates both metacognitive instruction and deliberate practice to gain benefits and overcome the shortcomings in the two approaches. Therefore, the combining of metacognitive instruction with deliberate practice challenges the current approach to teaching L2 listening.
Highlights
The commonly held views and the approach to L2 Listening are changing (Vandergrift, 2004)
It was that applied linguists started to realize the significant role listening plays in facilitating access to the L2, and that it was listening, rather than any of the other language skills, which served as the trigger for language acquisition (Rost, 2001)
Despite the fact that the term deliberate practice has been mentioned in the area of SLA (Ortega, 2009), few if any attempts have been made to apply this concept to the language classroom
Summary
The commonly held views and the approach to L2 Listening are changing (Vandergrift, 2004). The status of listening comprehension in language learning and teaching was “one of neglect” up to the end of the 1960s (Lynch, 2006) This had a negative effect on the way listening was viewed and the role it played in language learning. Field (2008a) states that a significant amount of evidence from brain imaging indicating that a vast number of interrelated processes support listening already exists, and that the areas responsible for these processes are widely distributed throughout the brain. This means that a sub-skills approach to teaching listening is not a very effective one. The article attempts to review current approaches to teaching L2 listening and add to the existing body of knowledge by proposing the deliberate practice approach to L2 listening
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of English Language Education
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
