Listening With Elllo

Of the four English skills, listening requires more efforts from both learners and teachers. There are many ways for teachers and students to teach and learn English listening skill. However, the cheapest and still efficient way is to teach and learn through online for free. The website of the day which focuses on the development of English listening skill is Elllo.

 

Link: http://www.elllo.org/

General Description

Elllo stands for English Listening Lesson Library Online. The website provides a collection of over 1000 listening activities that users can view for free via the internet.  Most listening activities come with a downloadable MP3 audio file, transcript, and interactive quiz. What make this listening resource unique are the speakers of these listening activities that come from all over the world with different accents. Elllo offers a variety of listening activities that covers different topics and each target a specific listening skill, needs, or interest. There are 8 sections provided on the website:

      

• Views: This section consists of more than 1000 conversations in which people communicate their views on a variety of topics, and this involves speakers from many countries. It is supplemented with transcript, audio slide show, mini lesson on vocabulary, and quizzes (comprehension questions and vocabulary focus).

             

• Mixer: These are several short audio clips, usually from 6 people giving their opinion on the same topic. Knowing the topic aids in comprehension. As with other activities, mixers have quizzes and transcripts. Users can even click on certain terms in the transcript to open up mini lessons on new words. There are also audio slide show and audio notes.

            

• Videos: These video interviews are a fun way to practice listening. Each video has its own transcript and quiz. They also have closed captioning and a search option to start the video at a specific word in the transcript.

            

• News: These clips are set up like a news program (animated newscast) and give learners a chance to listen to academic English, take a quiz, compare what they hear with the transcript, answer comprehension questions, and enhance vocabulary skill.

            

• Talking points: These are listening clips which help the learners practice listening comprehension of academic English. The listening activity is a mini-lecture or presentation divided into six sections. They are designed to be short talks to help students on standardized tests like TOEFL.

            

• Games: In these games, the learner has to listen to the clip and choose the correct photo. It’s a fun way to practice listening and learn a little too. This section also supplemented with quizzes (vocabulary focus and comprehension questions), and transcript.

            

• Scenes: This section provides users with lots of conversations that happen in many situations such as job offers, meeting, interview, etc. Hence, learners would be able to listen to the functional language that is used for particular situation. There are also quizzes and transcripts.

            

• Songs: As the students listen, the words are displayed on the screen so students can catch the lyrics as well as work on grammar, pronunciation, reading speed, reading by chunks and common slang and idioms.

            

How To Use Elllo For Classroom Use?

Besides using the prepared activities on the website and solely for the purpose of listening skill enhancement, there are other ways of utilizing Elllo for developing other language skills. For example:

1. Writing activity: Teacher can have students listen to the audio in ‘views’ and ‘mixer’ sections. While listening, students need to scribble down the gist or main ideas from the conversation. After that, they will have to make a brief summary about the topic discussed in the video. 
2. Speaking activity: Teacher asks students to listen to the audio on ‘news’ section. They can jot down the main ideas from the news. After that, in groups, they have to discuss the issue brought in the news.
3. Language focus: Teacher prints out the transcript and distribute to each of the students. Then, they are instructed to analyze particular language form that is used in the conversation. After they have finished, teacher will lead a whole class discussion with regards to the task.

Evaluation

Advantages:

1. The website uses authentic listening text by providing real conversation that is not designed for teaching purposes. Hence the language used is real and it carries a real message. This provides learners with preparation for real life listening. 
2. The quizzes that come together with the audio serve as a purpose for learners to listen carefully to the audio. To make listening more effective and efficient, learners need a purpose to listen so that they can focus and employ appropriate strategies while listening.
3. It provides a variety of English accents. This can help learners to make comparison between accents and pronunciation. This can help them to improve their pronunciation skills. 
4. It provides the language use in context. It helps learners to listen to the appropriate way using language for particular contexts. This will help learner to acquire language easily as the acquiring process happens in an unconscious way by focusing on meaning.
5. Personalisation: The topics used are global and familiar to the students. Hence, students can engage with the listening process and compare their current knowledge with the new knowledge. 
6. Learner autonomy: The website provides a platform for students to become independent in their learning process. They can use the listening activities provided on the website to practice at home.
7. Elllo provides a variety of listening input. It does not only provide the conversation between speakers, but also news, videos, songs, and presentation. This will create interest among students and motivate then to enhance their listening skill. 
8. Features such as ‘games’ and ‘video responses’ provide students with an interactive learning environment. They can utilize the features to acquire the language or content.
9. It appeals to the students’ multiple skills. The availability of audios, videos, news, pictures, slide shows, games, and songs support students’ differences in learning styles. 
10. The listening activities serve a platform for students to reflect on their learning process. Based on their achievement over the listening activities, they can ‘see’ how well they have acquired the language, and then make decisions for further improvement.
11. It helps students to develop multiple language skills: listening, pronunciation, and vocabulary. Other skills such as speaking and writing can also be enhanced by adapting the listening resources provided on the website.

Disadvantages:

1. Some of the audios cannot be downloaded. Therefore, the listening process will be distracted if the internet connection is not available. 
2. The topics used in each section are not categorized into groups such as culture, social problems, sports, etc. Hence, it is difficult to search for interested topic to listen to.