Listening Tasks and Language Acquisition

Although it is not always apparent, our key decisions about teaching are grounded in our theory of language acquisition. What we decide to do in the classroom is influenced by our beliefs about the nature of second language acquisition (SLA), our theories about feedback, our views of teacher and student roles, and so on. Whatever theory we subscribe to, it entails assumptions about (1) the psychological nature of the acquisition process, (2) the relative position of the role and importance of input and interaction, and (3) a view concerning the learners’ own capacity to influence their own success in acquisition of the language. When translated into concrete decisions about classroom instruction, these principles clearly affect our selection of input that learners see and hear, our choice of the types of activities we ask learners to engage in, and the kind of feedback we feel we should give to our students.