Using Unscripted Spoken Texts in the Teaching of Second Language Listening

Abstract

Most spoken texts that are used in second language (L2) listening classroom activities are scripted texts, where the text is written, revised, polished, and then read aloud with artificially clear enunciation and slow rate of speech. This article explores the field's overreliance on these scripted texts, at the expense of including unscripted spoken texts that have very different textual and phonological characteristics. It describes how scripted and unscripted texts differ and examines why textbook publishers might avoid using unscripted spoken texts. The article concludes with a number of suggestions for incorporating unscripted spoken texts into the teaching of L2 listening comprehension, with the goals of making learners aware of the textual and phonological characteristics of unscripted texts, preparing L2 learners to be able to comprehend real-world spoken language, and promoting learners' communicative competence.