An Interactive Approach to Effective Listening Strategies

At Hakodate University, students are required to take a variety of English language classes from first year in the International Department of the Faculty of Commerce. There are English writing, reading, speaking and listening classes, among others. These classes focus on individual skills for the most part, however skills are often integrated. Traditionally, reading and writing are taught as two sides of the same coin and speaking and listening are as well. For example, in order to develop and produce good writing skills, students are required to read essays and compositions. It follows that to further speaking skills, the development of good listening abilities is necessary. The ability to understand spoken language allows students to interact with speakers of English. Nevertheless, developing strong listening skills in English can be a challenge as students are not familiar with many listening strategies to assist with listening. When students’ English listening skills are low, they have difficulties performing well in tests, such as the TOEIC test (Test of English for International Communication) and the Japanese Step Test. Speaking activities also become more challenging. In order to increase students’ awareness of listening strategies and assist them with improving their listening skills, a variety to activities were presented to a first year University class in the Fall 2019 academic year.