Teaching and Learning Centers (TLC)
Listening Strategies

Recognition of oral cognates

Listening is an essential communication skill. With good listening skills and basic speaking skills, you will be able to participate in many types of conversational situations in Spanish. One of the most basic of listening strategies is recognition or oral cognates. When using this strategy, you should focus on recognizable words – known vocabulary as well as cognates – and try to formulate a meaning based on your own experience with the topic. Generally speaking, written cognates are a little easier to recognize than oral cognates because of the differences between the Spanish and English sound systems. As your ear becomes more attuned to the sounds of Spanish, however, you will recognize oral cognates more easily.

It is important that you try to stay relaxed and not freeze up when you hear unfamiliar words and phrases. In a face-to-face conversation, you can always ask for clarification. Hers are some easy ways to ask:

Disculpe. No entiendo,...
¿Qué significa...?

Diferencias

As you listen, what different formats, voice types, background noises, and background music help you determine the kind of program? How can you immediately tell the difference between a rock DJ and a weather report or between a sports announcer at a football game and a local talk show? As you listen to a radio program, try to pick out the distinct types of "aural" cues present.

Skimming

Listening is a very complex skill. When you listen to the English language, you probably do not realize the processing that is taking place in your brain, because your listening skills are so advanced that they allow you to operate on "automatic pilot." When you begin to learn a foreign language, however, your listening skills are not developed enough for subconscious processing. You need to pay attention to a lot of information at one time. Under these circumstances, it probably will not be possible for you to understand everything, so you must "go with the flow" and not let yourself get hung up on a single word or phrase.

One way of speeding up your comprehension processes is to skim the passage to determine the main idea of the selection. First, listen for a statement about a general topic; this usually occurs at the beginning of a monologue or conversation. In the case of an oral presentation, you can use the titles of the talk as a clue, or any accompanying visuals such as charts, diagrams, or graphs. When viewing a video, the visual cues are much more useful because they will help establish not only the setting but also the attitude of the speaker of speakers. Now, formulate one or two hypotheses about what type of information you think will be provided based upon your background knowledge. For example, if the topic is financial aid, you would expect to hear about specific ways of obtaining grants and loans and eligibility; in a computer advertisement, you would expect to hear the name, component parts, price, and a few of the qualities of the machine. Once you have determined what you believe to be the main idea, listen for cognates and other familiar words and phrases that you have learned. Do these words and phrases support your theory? Did you successfully predict some of the information? Remember, successful listeners are able to report the gist of the message even if they do not recognize or understand all of the information.

Scanning for specific information

Scanning for information involves going through a text in search of a specific bit of information. When applied to oral texts, the scanning strategy might be used to listen for a telephone number or an address in a television or radio commercial. Listening for a refrain of a popular song on a CD is another example of scanning. Before you scan an oral text, you must think about the information you want to find and the form that information will take. For example, an address or telephone number will obviously consist of numbers. The refrain of a song might be signaled by a change of tempo or voices. This advance preparation will help you zero in on the information you are seeking.

Guessing from context

Context refers to the parts of a spoken (or written) message that surround a given word or phrase. Context can provide cues to the meaning of unknown words and phrases. Guessing from context helps the listener (or reader) understand in situations when it would be either impossible or extremely time consuming to refer to a dictionary. When you hear a spoken message, guessing from context requires that you listen for familiar words and not get distracted by unknown words or phrases and that pay attention to the surrounding information or "context" in which the conversation is taking place.

Visual cues

As you listen to the radio or watch television the media assumes the listening audience has familiarity with the topics, such as awareness of relevant local issues or political events. You can learn to compensate for this lack of background knowledge by learning to rely on the visual or auditory cues. By paying attention to maps, charts, photographs, illustrations, or the background noises you will be able to interpret the verbal messages more successfully and draw logical conclusions. Before you listen to passages about the different types of instruments in the orchestra and also sample different types of typical rhythms from Argentina, Mexico, and Spain, study the titles and visuals that accompany the activities.

Word order

You have probably already noticed that, in Spanish, simple statements and questions fit into several patterns:

Subject	Verb	Object
STATEMENT
La industria automovilística	no ve	un futuro muy bueno para los años 2000.

Verb	Object	Subject
QUESTION
¿Cuándo va a presentar	el nuevo presupuesto nacional	el Ministerio de Economía?

Subject	IO/DO	Verb
SUBJECT WITH OBJECT PRONOUN
También muchas compañías	se lo	van a ofrecer a sus ejecutivos.

Redundancy of the language provides many clues to help you locate the subject of the sentence. In the first example (subject, verb, object) notice that the subject of the sentence is preceded by an article and followed by an adjective. You have already learned that adjectives and pronouns referring to the subject or to another noun must agree in number and gender. As you listen, practice segmenting the sentences into meaningful units by paying attention to these word groupings. Remember that the subject of a sentence can never belong to a prepositional phrase because this kind of phrase usually functions as an adverb or adjective.

Also, pay particular attention to the verb in each sentence. In Spanish, the verb and its related words convey important information and form the nucleus of the sentence. In fact, the subject may be indicated only by the verb suffix. In the second example (verb, object, subject), the form of the verb conveys to the listener two facts: who does the action (by its person-number ending) and when the action happens (by the tense).

You may use these same grouping skills to identify referents of direct and indirect object pronouns as well as other terms that refer to items previously mentioned.

Using grammatical cues

Now that you have practiced recognizing the overall structure of sentences, it is important to sharpen your focus and concentrate on the individual elements. While it is possible to understand the general content of an oral passage by skimming and scanning, that may not be enough. For example, you may recognize a message on your answering machine. It is a reminder from the dentist, but that in itself will not be very useful if you are unable to determine whom the message is for, or the time of the appointment. By focusing on specific grammatical cues and their interrelationship, it is possible to comprehend an oral text in more detail.

First it is necessary to concentrate on the verb. The verb is the grammatical core of a sentence. It expresses an action or a state, and if the subject is understood, the verb may be the only element necessary to form a complete utterance. Next listen for the subject of the sentence. The subject of the sentence may contain articles, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and prepositional phrases, or the subject may be explicit only through the verb form. The first four elements, if they are related, all agree in number and gender, so by listening for these redundant cues, it is possible to determine whether the subject is singular or plural, masculine or feminine. Once you have identified the subject ant the verb, it is necessary to listen for objects of the sentence to determine who or what is receiving the action of the verb (direct object) or who is receiving the direct object or is affected in some way by the action of the verb (indirect object). Remember, determining the placement of the objects will also provide additional clues. Is the sentence a negative or an affirmative command? Can you separate the object from the subject pronouns? Although more elements may be present, these are the ones you will most frequently find in my oral exchanges and messages.

Identifying the main idea

Locating the main idea while you are listening to someone speak requires that you pay very close attention not only to what the person is saying, but also to what phrases or words are being stressed or repeated. When you practiced identifying the main idea in ¡Desafía la altura! you learned that the topic sentence was not always at the beginning of the paragraph. The same may be said for oral messages. In a conversation, the speaker may be interrupted, respond to a question, change the topic briefly, or restate an opinion several times, so it is very important to try and pick out the main topic as soon as possible so you will not be distracted by unrelated comments. The first time you listen to the CD you will listen for the general gist and for any specific items that will support what you think the overall topic is. Once you have identified the topic, you are ready to listen again and try to find out what the speaker wishes to communicate to the listeners. For example, if you hear someone discussing soccer and the attitude of the spectators, you should try to determine if that person is offering a positive or negative view of soccer fans and then listen for the supporting points. In this case you would pay particular attention to the choice of words the speaker uses to describe the event, and then the tone in which the sport is described. You might even try to anticipate some of the word choices or statements. As you listen to the CD a second time, listen for the words such as Creo que..., En mi opinión..., Estoy seguro(a) de que..., as you try to pick out the sentences that specifically indicate the message the speaker wishes to convey.

Listening for details

When preparing to listen to a presentation, conference, or narration, look at the title and ask yourself an organizing question. For example, the title of the Primer paso is Limpiezas que matan. Some responses to the question ¿Cuáles son las limpiezas que matan? could relate to these cleaning products to toxic fumes, accidental ingestion or contact with food products, or their negative effects on the environment. Play the CD through completely and try to determine if one of these responses is appropriate. Then, replay the CD and focus on the details that will support your hypothesis. Pausing the CD and asking Who? What? When? Where? and Why? will help you identify the important details.

Recognizing the function of a text

When you read an article, you can determine the purpose for which the text was written by considering the source of the item and its title. If it was written as en editorial, you could assume that it could be an opinion, commentary or a criticism. An article from the sports page is probably going to report some factual information, and a movie review will provide a critique. You should use the same contextual information if it is provided and also consider the title in each of the listening segments.

Monitoring comprehension

When you are involved in a conversation or are listening to a speaker it is common to verbally or mentally ask questions, reaffirm what was stated, or request clarification of an idea. You might say, ¿Quieres decir que...? or ¿Podrías darme un ejemplo? Usually, such queries may come during a pause in the discussion or when there is a change of topic or theme. These small "interruptions" serve not only to let the speaker know that you are involved in the conversation, but also help you to refocus on the message and monitor your comprehension. As you listen, use any questions provided as guide to pause and reflect upon what was said. Try to reaffirm what the speaker said by rephrasing the comments in your own words before going on to the next question.

Making inferences

Before you begin to listen, first consider the format or purpose of a presentation. Is it a news report? a lecture or speech? a conversation? a commentary?

A news report will cover the major points of the event, present the details to clarify or explain the actions that occurred, and give the outcome.
A lecture or speech may be intended to persuade or to argue a particular point of view with the hope of producing a a favorable response from the listener.
A commentary requires the listener to reflect upon, draw inferences, and evaluate the logic of the arguments being offered.
A conversation may include elements of all of these formats.

Generally the speaker expects that you will share some common assumptions, so before listening to the passage, it is important that you activate your background knowledge by reflecting on the purpose of the presentation and the topic.

Identifying the organization of a text

Many things we listen to everyday follow a familiar organization. For example, a radio commercial often features a single accompanied by a description of the product and exhortations to buy it. Local newscasts focus on the local news, sometimes preceded or followed by national and international highlights; then comes the weather forecast, and then sports. Many listening texts are typically organized as follows:

Chronological. Chronological texts provide information arranged according to the order of time. Instructions, recipes, stories, and jokes usually follow a chronological organization. Indicators such as primero, después, and finalmente may organize the chronology.
Categorized. Categorization lends itself to many types of content. Information may be categorized visually, verbally, or graphically by means of charts, graphs, and headings, all of which indicate the key content.
Argumentative. Arguments may be presented in favor of (a favor de) or against (en contra de) a given position. Recognizing the type of argument is an invaluable aid to comprehending an argumentative text.
Descriptive. Descriptive texts are sometimes hard to identify because description is often combined with narration, argumentation, analysis, and other techniques. Description enables the listener to imagine characters, scenes, and action, as well as interior characteristics such as personality and emotions.

The radio commercial is organized argumentatively, the local news is organized categorically. Other texts may be organized chronologically, such as an anecdote, or descriptively, such as a film preview. By quickly identifying the organization of a text, the listener can focus on content and anticipate the types of information to follow.

Recognizing the speaker's intent

Recognizing the intent of the speaker is another helpful listening strategy. For example, in a radio commentary, the speaker may criticize the effects of secondhand smoke or may comment on the efforts to ban cigarettes in public buildings. During the "critic's corner," a film reviewer may offer an opinion about a recent box-office hit or may critique the latest Broadway production. When listening to a speaker or speakers, one needs first to identify the form of the discourse: a free exchange (spontaneous free speech between two or more people), deliberate free speech (interviews and discussions), an oral presentation of a written text (newscasts and lectures), or an oral presentation of a fixed script (plays or films). Once you have placed what you hear in the proper context, you can then begin to focus on the tone or topic for cues that will help you predict the oral message.

Here are some typical classifications to help you identify the speakers intent:

para persuadir	para ofrecer una opinión	para dar información
para defender	para explicar	para entretener
para advertir	para enseñar	para...

Using information from the text

You have already learned and practiced the strategy of guessing from context. Now you will learn more about using textual information to comprehend a listening or reading text. Note these types of information that may be incorporated into a text:

Definitions of unfamiliar terms
Problems and solutions
Causes and effects
Comparisons and contrasts

DEFINITIONS OF UNFAMILIAR TERMS. There are various ways to define new terms:

Some speakers like to define by using illustrations.

Gabriela Mistral, Miguel Ángel Asturias, Pablo Neruda y Octavio Paz son ganadores hispanoamericanos del Premio Nóbel de literatura.

Synonms are also useful clues to definition. They are presented with the verbs ser, significar, and querer decir.

Guisar es cocinar.

Definition by class is another way in which speakers convey new ideas to their listeners.

El durazno es una fruta que se parece al albaricoque.

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS. When a speaker has set forth a problem, usually a solution – or at least a recommendation – follows. Some key words that signal solutions and recommendations are shown below.

*Problems and solutions*
componer	to repair	resolución	resolution
propuesta	proposal	resolver(ue)	to resolve
recomendación	recommendation	solución	solution
remediar	to remedy	solucionar	to solve
remedio	remedy	sugerencia	suggestion
reparar	to repair

CAUSES AND EFFECTS. Speakers often present cause-and-effect relationships when relating news events. Study the following words and phrases that express cause and effect.

Cause and effect
a causa de	on account of
así que	thus, therefore
causar	to cause
como consecuencia/resultado	as a consequence/as a result
por	because of, due to, owing to
porque	because
responsabilizar	to make someone responsible
resultar de/en	to result in

COMPARISONS AND CONTRASTS. Both comparisons and contrasts are often used to illustrate a spoken text. Comparisons highlight the similarities between topics. While contrasts highlight the differences. Comparisons and contrasts may be organized in two ways: a global presentation of one topic is given in its entirety and then the second topic is given in its entirety, or the two topics are compared one aspect at a time. The following chart provides words and phrases commonly used in making comparisons and contrasts.

*Comparisons and contrasts*
a direrencia de	unlike	al igual que	like
al contrario de	unlike	de la misma manera	in the same way
en cambio/por otro lado	on the other hand	parecerse a	to be similar, to be link
más/menos que	more/less than	tan(to)...como	as...as

Identifying narrative strategies

The word narrative refers to the telling of a story. A narrative may be factual or fictional. Anecdotes and reports are factual narratives; short stories, novels, plays, and even jokes are fictional. Here are some narrative strategies to consider:

Narrator. The narrator is the storyteller but not necessarily the author. He/She may be a character in the story or an outside entity. An omniscient narrator tells not only the actions of the characters, but also their thoughts and feelings. A limited narrator describes only the characters' actions. After you have identified the narrator, it is important to remember that the events are being reported though the filter of his or her persona, which makes them subjective.
Time. Narrators do not always tell a story in chronological order. In modern fictions, it is not unusual to find that the events have been scrambled. Flashbacks are especially common.
Setting. Setting refers to the environment in which the actions occur. A novel may nave many settings, while shorter works typically have only one.

Interpreting figurative language

Monologues, dialogues, announcements, narratives, and commentaries have helped you to understand spoken messages in Spanish. In fact, the vocabulary and language structures you have acquired will now enable you to enjoy and appreciate words in which authors use words as artists use paint: to create images. Whenever you hear a Spanish text, listen not only for what a word or phrase denotes (how the dictionary defines it) but also for what it connotes (what its secondary or associated meaning is). And remember that even though you may recognize all the words in a sentence, the meanings of those words may be unexpected. Whenever you encounter a word or phrase that does not seem to fit the context, check the figurative, colloquial or idiomatic uses in your Spanish dictionary.

Three common examples of figurative language are metaphors, similes, and personification. These language devices appear most often in poetry, but they are common in other literary forms as well. Even advertisements rely heavily on lenguaje figurativo.

A metaphor equates two unlike objects:

Nuestras vidas son los ríos
que van a dar en el mar
que es el morir.
Jorge Manrique, Copas por la muerte de su padre

Cerró su boca de ballena del piano.
Pablo Neruda, "Oda al piano", de Navegación y regresos

Ariel es blancura.
Anuncio: detergente "Ariel"

A simile compares two unlike objects using like or as to point out the similarities. In Spanish, these words como, tal, así parecido a, and semejante a are used to form these comparisons.

...y le hice sentir el hierro
y ya salió como el perro
cuando le pisan la cola.
José Hernández, Martín Fierro

Es tan natural como la naturaleza.
Anuncio: Yogurt Dannon

Personification attributes human qualities to inanimate objects.

Empieza el llanto de la guitarra...
Llora monótono como llora el agua,
como llora el viento
sobre la nevada.
Frederico García Lorca, Poema del cante jondo

Eurocard, la tarjeta que dice mucho.
Anuncio: Eurocard

Developing cultural understanding

You already know that having background knowledge of a particular culture can help you understand better what you read or hear. As you listen or view descriptions of different types of celebrations, try to compare and contrast these behaviors and traditions with your own. You might also seek other visual information or written materials from a variety of sources. In an effort to help people understand a culture, simple travel guide books in your local bookstore or information from the Embassy or Tourist Bureau from Spanish-speaking countries can provide a wealth of information about popular customs and traditions. You should also take advantage of opportunities outside the classroom to find out all you can about Spanish speaking countries. For example, consider reading current newspapers on the World Wide Web, watching films in Spanish, or becoming involved in your local Hispanic student association

A road map for listening

You have probably invested many hours in Spanish classes working on your language skills. You should continue to develop your language proficiency in order not to lose the language skills that you have acquired. Is that possible if you choose not to enroll in additional language, literature, or culture classes? Of course! But where can one find Spanish materials to listen to? First of all, check the university or public library for stories, plays, songs, or speeches in Spanish. Perhaps the Public Broadcasting Channel on the local radio station dedicates a few hours a week to language programs or music from Spanish speaking countries. The World Wide Web also offers exciting opportunities to listen to the news, music, and even interviews. Another good alternative is the foreign film section where you rent videos. If you have access to a satellite dish, or the all-Spanish networks Telemundo and Univisión, tape a few Spanish soap operas or variety shows to watch when you have spare time. Listening to authentic materials in Spanish can also help you develop your communication skills with people in face-to-face situations and will help you to retain the skills you have worked so hard to gain!

Teaching and Learning Centers (TLC) Listening Strategies