Background knowledge
Learning to listen – Using your background knowledge
An important part of listening is using your knowledge of the situation to help you understand what is being said. Most conversations, news reports, lectures or any other kind of listening are highly predictable. Good listeners know what the speaker is talking about, what kind of words will be used (depending on the topic) and what direction the speaker will take. If a speaker doesn’t follow a predictable pattern, it sounds confusing, for example:
A: What are you doing tomorrow?
B: Sally is sick.
This short dialogue doesn’t make sense because the answer is unexpected. However, if we know that Sally is the speaker’s daughter, we can use this knowledge to understand that he means he is staying at home to take care of her.
Listeners instinctively use this background knowledge to help them understand what is being said.
Making predictions
One way of activating knowledge is by making predictions.
You are going to listen to a lecture about the differences between spoken and written language.
Before you listen and take a look at the statements below. What do you know about the differences between spoken and written language? Try and predict what the speaker will say, write your answers in the space, then listen and check your answers.
Discussion point
What kind of knowledge do listeners have of the following kinds of communication.
* Weather report
* Crime drama on television
* A conversation between a customer and a clerk in a bank
* An argument between a girl and a boy
* A political broadcast.
For example, a Scottish weather report will probably say it’s raining and it’s windy. The speaker will apologise for runing your weekend.
