In a first language, listening is the first skill which learners usually develop: they listen to an utterance, then they repeat it, later they learn to read it, and finally they learn to write it. This natural sequence does not always apply to the learning of languages other than the first, where the graphic skills (reading and writing) often precede the aural/oral skills, perhaps because students are learning in an environment where aural input is not always readily available. This frequently results in listening skills being underdeveloped and undermines students' confidence regarding their target language competence.

Good listeners

The first thing to point out about good listeners is that understanding the language of a spoken text is only one part of what they need to be able to do. Effective listeners need to operate a number of skills simultaneously as they receive a spoken message (Anderson and Lynch, 1988; Lynch, 1998). They need to refer to three different areas of knowledge (schematic, contextual and linguistic) in order to make sense of the message. As far as linguistic knowledge is concerned, listeners need to perceive the incoming sounds and store them in working memory, while beginning some processing of the stored language by separating it into manageable segments. They also scan the incoming message in order to sample bits of language which may hold the key to the meaning of the message, and parse words and phrases by matching them with representations already stored in long-term memory.