Second Language Learning and Language Teaching

Memory processes and cognition
Listening relies on much the same memory processes discussed in Section 7.1. 
All comprehension depends on the storing and processing of information by 
the mind. Call (1985), for instance, found that sheer memory for digits was 
less important to comprehension than memory for sentences. The extent of the
memory restriction in a second language depends on how close the task is to lan-
guage. Hence getting the students to perform tasks that are not concerned with
language may have less influence on their learning than language-related tasks.
For example, comprehension activities using maps and diagrams may improve
the learners’ problem-solving abilities with maps and diagrams, but may be less
successful at improving those aspects of the learners’ mental processes that
depend on language.
A further point that applies to listening as much as to reading is that vital aspects
of the process are contributed by the listener. At the lowest level, the actual ‘p’
sounds of speech have to be worked out by the mind. While the sounds in ‘pit’,
‘spit’ and ‘top’ differ in terms of VOT, as seen in Chapter 4, the English person nev-
ertheless hears a /
p/ in each of them, that is, recognizes a phoneme; the listener’s
ear somehow imposes the idea of a /
p/ on the sound waves it hears. The meaning
of words such as ‘bus’ and ‘breakfast’ is not present in the sentence itself, but is
retrieved from the listener’s mental dictionary to match the sequence of sounds
that is heard. The sentence also has to be actively parsed by the listener to discover
the phrases and constructions involved. As with reading, the listener’s knowledge
of the context of situation and background knowledge of the culture and society
are crucial to listening comprehension. I once asked British students to fill in a
chart showing what listening they were doing at different times of day; I was sur-
prised when the 9.30 a.m. slot was left blank by most of them, the explanation
they gave me being that none of them was actually awake at that hour except
when they had a lecture.
The scripts and schemas discussed in relation to reading are equally involved in
listening. Our mental pictures of restaurants and stations come into play as soon as
the appropriate situation is invoked. Any sentence listeners hear is matched against
their mental scripts and schemas. If the models of speaker and listener differ too
much, they have problems in comprehending each other. O’Malley et al. (1989)
found that effective listeners helped themselves by drawing on their knowledge of
the world, or on their personal experiences, or by asking questions of themselves.
Listening and reading processes