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Listening comprehension is among the least understood and least researched of language skills. For many years, listening has been neglected as part of language arts curricula (Pearson & Fielding, 1982). A review of 30 years of listening comprehension research has indicated that most researchers considered it a passive skill, one that would develop without assistance (Osada, 2004). As contributors to this Perspectives issue have noted, listening comprehension has been regarded as a Cinderella stepsister educationally, secondary to speaking, reading, and writing (Nunan, 1997).
Recent educational trends have helped bring listening comprehension back into focus as an important instructional objective of its own as well as a strong partner in the development of other language skills. Scientific study of the important role of listening comprehension in reading comprehension (Cain & Oakhill, 1999; Catts, Herrera, Nielsen & Bridges, 2015; Cutting, Materek, Cole, Levine & Mahone, 2009) has helped increase attention to the powerful synergy between spoken and written language comprehension.
The rapidly increasing number of students in our schools who are English language learners has also sparked greater interest in teaching listening comprehension. This population's instructional needs across speaking, reading, and writing have showcased active listening as a foundational skill (see Cárdenas-Hagan, this issue; Rubin, 1995).
Finally, Common Core State Standards (CCSS, National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief School Officers, 2010) include Speaking and Listening Standards as an expectation for the classroom. This display of prominence alongside reading, writing, and math reinforces that listening comprehension deserves equal instructional attention.
Challenges Confronting Listening Comprehension Instruction
Despite its increase in popularity, listening poses challenges to teachers eager to provide good instruction. Listening remains hard to define and diagnose (see Farrall, this issue).
Is it listening to directions or stories? Is it the basis for good note taking during complex lectures involving expository text like in biology or Russian history? Is it the framework for social learning and being able to pick up nuances of pitch, tone, and volume? Is it a function of our vocabularies or background knowledge? Such questions highlight the dilemma of how we can be expected to teach a skill that is so difficult to explain and identify.
Another problem confronting the provision of good instruction is that students experiencing...