What to Do About Comprehension Hot Spots

1. Provide contextualized help

The listener needs to have access to information relevant to the hot spot at them moment of listening breakdown. My learners used Sony View system laser disk player that used an on-screen control panel. A modified control panel was created to include context-dependent help. This meant that if a student was having difficulty with a word or phrase, he or she could stop the disk and click the right-hand mouse button. On the screen some hint or a partial gloss of the dialogue at that spot would appear. A low-tech alternative would be to include a partial transcript of the scene for reference in a study guide or textbook. The learners could even fill in a cloze exercise based on the transcript to draw their attention to the trouble spot. Because learners sometimes can make out the initial sound of a problematic word, it can be helpful to provide a short alphabetized list of words to listen for in the scene. This list can be compiled by the instructor, based on his or her hunch of possible hard to hear spots or based on actual student log keeping. Student logs are the best way but they take time to collect and then compile.

2. Pre-teach foreign words, technical language, idioms and colloquialisms

The teacher should go through the script and look for vocabulary items that are not likely to be known and that have relevance to the story. Many movies have screenplays available, both commercially and on the internet. A caption decoder can be used to print out dialogue in closed captioned movie versions. If no script is available, the teacher may need to make his or her own transcript or at least become very familiar with the scenes to detect potential troublesome words and phrases. Once these items have been compiled there are many ways to pre-teach. Some examples include, matching activities, cross words, and cloze exercises. Matching activities include word-definition matches both in L2 and L1, picture-sentence matches, idiom-definition or idiom-synonym matches.

3. Sensitize learners to varieties of spoken English

It is sometimes hard for even skilled English listeners to understand speakers that of an uncommon variety of English, or speakers who have foreign accents. However, since there are often regularities in the ways these speakers differ from so-called "standard" English, these should be pointed out. For example, a stereotypical French character may use "z" instead of "th". A Spanish character may use /iy/ in the place of /i/ and will appear to say "sheep" instead of "ship". The point is that foreign or stereotyped non-standard English speakers are quite predictable if the learners are given a de-coding key ahead of time. A de-coding key could be a short list of words that are likely to be mispronounced by the character. In one column the English word with the standard pronunciation could be listed. In the next column the character's version of the word could be listed.

4. Encourage observation of the situation and other contextual cues that may assist comprehension

This is perhaps the most important tool for the learner. Before viewing a scene, it is valuable for the learners to activate their own knowledge of the situations that will be coming. This can be done without giving away the point of the scene. For instance, in The Graduate, the main character checks into a Hotel. The scene is supposed to be funny but if the learner is over taxed with trying to understand all that is being said, there is not much processing capacity left for catching or even understanding the inanity of some of Ben's actions. My approach is to get the students to construct the possible interaction between a guest and a front clerk. When the students have done this, they are ready to watch and enjoy the scene. The deviance from what one expects is what makes the scene funny.

When comprehension breaks down, often the answers are right in front of the viewer's eyes. Ask the "who, what, where, when and why" questions and then treat the comprehension problem as something to solve like a mystery rather than an obstacle. For example, one student could not understand what Mrs. Robinson meant when she said, "Did you get us a room?" even after he was able to correctly identify all of the words. I asked him to consider where Ben and Mrs. Robinson were having their drink (a Hotel) and then to think about what plans they might have for afterwards. When all of the pieces clicked into place, the student and I shared a good laugh.