Advancing Listening Comprehension in English Learners

Course Description:

This course offers rigorous, practical strategies to enhance listening comprehension in English language learners by building on students' strengths through asset-based approaches that value their cultural knowledge, multilingual abilities, and life experiences. It emphasizes listening as foundational to expressive and receptive language development, supporting growth in speaking, reading, and writing. Educators will learn to design engaging, level-appropriate listening lessons while addressing both internal and external factors that impact learning. A key component focuses on developing equitable, reliable, and culturally responsive listening assessments that accurately reflect students’ abilities. Teachers will also learn how to use assessment data to tailor listening instruction and meet the diverse needs of students. Whether you are new to ELL instruction or seeking to refine your practices, this course provides adaptable frameworks and practical tools to help educators promote effective listening comprehension skills and foster language development across any teaching context.

Objectives:

• By the end of this course, learners will:
• Review the terms “deficit-based” and “asset-based” thinking.
• Identify ways to implement an asset-based lens in the classroom. 
• Review the four language domains of English language development.
• Examine the differences between Expressive and Receptive language.
• Review the Stages of Language Acquisition.
• Define listening comprehension.
• Explore the importance of listening comprehension in English language development.
• Describe a variety of purposes for listening
• Outline various types of listening
• Outline the listening process of EL students
• Examine various listening comprehension activities aligned with each type of listening
• Describe the differences between an approach, method, and technique
• Outline the factors affecting listening comprehension
• Explore the internal barriers to listening comprehension for EL students
• Examine the external factors affecting listening comprehension for EL students
• Review a variety of ways of reducing barriers to listening
• Describe goal-driven listening activities for students at the beginning (or emerging) stage of language proficiency
• Explore goal-oriented listening activities for intermediate-leveled (or developing) language learners
• Detail focused listening exercises tailored for students at advanced (or expanding) levels of language proficiency
• Explain the importance of including culturally relevant content in lessons to foster engagement and support comprehension
• Discuss the importance of assessments in the development of listening comprehension
• Outline the key attributes of effective assessments (valid, reliable, rigorous, and equitable)
• Describe a variety of listening assessments and their purpose
• Explore the differences between collaborative and non-collaborative assessments
• Evaluate the characteristics of both discrete-point assessments and integrative assessments