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Theoretical Perspectives on Listening

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2010

Tony Lynch
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Extract

Research into listening over the past three decades has, above all, highlighted the fundamental intricacy of the processes involved. In order to make sense of spoken messages, listeners may need to integrate information from a range of sources: phonetic, phonological, prosodic, lexical, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic. The fact that we achieve all this in real time as the message unfolds makes listening “complex, dynamic, and fragile” (Celce-Murcia 1995:366). In this review I consider research into four aspects of these complexities: processes (e.g., speech recognition, discourse comprehension, and memory); the role of context; factors influencing listening; and the relationship of listening with other language skills. Finally I suggest likely directions for future research into listening.

Type
Theoretical Perspectives on the Four Language Skills
Information
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics , Volume 18 , March 1998 , pp. 3 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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