Developing Listening Skills for the Real Business World

Ian Badger, BMES , Bristol UK www.bmes.co.uk ian@bmes.co.uk

Business English UK Conference, 28.4.12

Current and recent projects

English for Erasmus Medical students in the UK(from Austria, Spain and France)

English for logistics process integration(Finland and Russia)

English for users of new global IT production/maintenance systems(Finland, Germany, France and Austria)

English for IT Helpdesk integration(Finland, Poland, China and India)

Content

Listening challenges

The value of using authentic recordings

Making your own recordings

Sample recordings

Helping the listener/Helping the speaker

Some references and resources

Today’s learners of English have to understand speakers from all over the world, many of whom do not speak with the pronunciation, grammar and clarity which have traditionally been taught in schools and colleges.

….but discovering a ready supply of 'authentic' business/professional listening material is not easy.

Most organisations — let alone individuals — would be reluctant to have their meetings, discussions, presentations, phone calls and social events recorded for classroom use by publishers, schools or teachers — and in any case most such recordings would be extremely difficult to use once devoid of context.

Simon Sweeney

Features of authentic (non-scripted) recordings for listening practice

Range of accentsFragmented sentences False startsStandard/non-standard grammarMistakes

Understanding the speakerUnderstanding the informationA springboard for discussion

• Electrical maintenance / union negotiations

• Working with the Turkish sales office

• Voicemails – Leaving a clear message? Who is clearer? The ‘native’ or the ‘non-native’? (from Collins English for Business: Listening)

• Catrina voicemail

• Jindee voicemail

• Nick voicemail

Further examples of authentic recordings (from Collins English for Life: Listening)

Adapting to local customs Tourist information

Booking a hotel room Directions to the hotel

New Zealand/Australia Tube announcements

Helping the listener

Don’t speak too fastGive people time to think/respondBe aware of who you are talking toAvoid unnecessary idiom and complex grammatical structureExplain acronyms and abbreviations when necessaryCheck others have understood your pointsDon’t overwhelm the listener with information

‘Active’ listeningAsk the speaker to clarify when you do not understand

Ask the speaker to slow down

Ask the speaker to speak up

Ask the speaker to be more specific

Be empathetic

Rephrase what the speaker says

Developing Listening Skills for the Real Business World: References and resources – Business English UK, 28.4.12 Ian Badger, www.bmes.co.uk

Badger, I ‘Listening’ in the Collins English for Life series, Harper Collins/Collins ELT 2012

Badger, I ‘Listening’ in the Collins English for Business series, Harper Collins/Collins ELT 2011 (+ App for I Pad and IPhone )

Badger, I and P. Menzies ‘English for Business Life’, Heinle Cengage 2007

Badger, I ‘Everyday Business English’, Pearson 2003

Dignen, B and I McMaster ‘Communicating internationally in English’ (pp31-42) York Associates/Business Spotlight

Sweeney, S. ‘Authentic materials’ in Business Issues, 2/2006

Walker, R. ‘Teaching the pronunciation of English as a Lingua Franca’, OUP 2010

Wilson, JJ. How to teach listening, Pearson 2008

www.collinselt.com/businesslistening - Further recordings of ‘Business Listening’ speakers

http://accent.gmu.edu – People from around the world recording the same paragraph in English

http://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects – Examples of regional UK accents and dialects

http://www.languagebyvideo.com - Video examples of English accents around the world