TEFL Language Skills: Listening and Speaking 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is 'bottom-up listening' processing?
- Listening for general gist first
- Decoding sounds, words, and grammar to build meaning from individual language units (Correct answer)
- Using background knowledge to predict content
- Listening while reading a transcript
Correct answer: Decoding sounds, words, and grammar to build meaning from individual language units
Bottom-up processing works from sounds and words upward to meaning, relying on linguistic knowledge rather than context.
Question 2: What is 'top-down listening' processing?
- Listening to the end of a recording first
- Using prior knowledge, context, and prediction to understand meaning before decoding every word (Correct answer)
- Decoding each phoneme individually
- Listening only to the main speaker in a dialogue
Correct answer: Using prior knowledge, context, and prediction to understand meaning before decoding every word
Top-down processing uses schemata and contextual cues to construct meaning, which is how fluent listeners naturally operate.
Question 3: What is 'listening for gist'?
- Listening for specific details such as dates and names
- Listening to get a general understanding of the overall meaning or topic (Correct answer)
- Listening and transcribing every word
- Listening while completing a grammar exercise
Correct answer: Listening to get a general understanding of the overall meaning or topic
Listening for gist (global listening) aims at the general message rather than specific details — typically the first listening pass.
Question 4: Which activity best develops speaking fluency rather than accuracy?
- Drilling a fixed dialogue
- A timed role-play where students must keep speaking without stopping (Correct answer)
- Completing a gap-fill grammar exercise
- Reading aloud from a textbook
Correct answer: A timed role-play where students must keep speaking without stopping
Fluency tasks prioritize continuous communication; stopping to monitor accuracy undermines the development of natural speech flow.
Question 5: What does 'scaffolded speaking' provide students before a speaking task?
- A grammar test to check readiness
- Language support such as key phrases, sentence starters, or vocabulary to enable successful performance (Correct answer)
- Written scripts to read aloud
- Silent reading time
Correct answer: Language support such as key phrases, sentence starters, or vocabulary to enable successful performance
Scaffolding before speaking tasks reduces anxiety and equips students with the language tools they need to communicate successfully.
Question 6: What is a 'discussion question' frame used for in a TEFL speaking lesson?
- To test grammar accuracy in writing
- To give students a structured prompt that stimulates genuine spoken interaction and opinion exchange (Correct answer)
- To assign individual homework
- To introduce new vocabulary silently
Correct answer: To give students a structured prompt that stimulates genuine spoken interaction and opinion exchange
Discussion question frames provide a clear communicative goal that motivates natural speaking while allowing students to use target language.
TEFL Language Skills: Listening and Speaking 1
What is 'bottom-up listening' processing?