Listening Comprehension in a First-Year Spanish Comprehension Course: Background and Activities

The importance of the role of listening comprehension in the study and teaching of a foreign language has received ever more attention during the past decade. This essay expresses one new teacher s preliminary views on encorporating some of the beneficial facets of a comprehension-based approach to classroom teaching. It draws on previous exploratory work done by others n developing and using listening comprehension tasks in varied settings. The major part of the paper is devoted to a recounting of a number of activities used during the internship period and a discussion of the focuses of the given tasks, the responses required of those undertaking the tasks, as well as the listening strategies needed and the results of the students\u27 performance