Learning to learn and learning to listen.

Abstract

The Centre de Recherches et d'Applications Pedagogiques en Langues (CRAPEL) has a long history of research in learning to learn, learner autonomy, the use of authentic documents, the discrete skills approach, and ICT, among others. These interests come together in a set of multimedia resources called Ecouter Pour Comprendre (EPCO), or “listening to understand”—a series of 6 DVD-ROMs and internet sites designed to help French speakers to approach oral comprehension of Polish, Czech and Hungarian, as well as for speakers of these languages to understand spoken French. Each DVD-ROM contains over an hour of authentic videos in the target language which can be accessed in a number of different ways; subtitles and printable texts are available in both languages. Unlike most learner materials today, there are no “exercises” based on these documents; rather, the learner is encouraged to create his or her own activities according to personal needs, interests and learning styles. Such an approach clearly requires a high degree of autonomy, which cannot be taken for granted. The main part of the tool is therefore geared towards learner training, drawing on the CRAPEL's 30 years' experience of counselling/advising. This module is divided into six sections covering learning styles and preferences, specificities of listening, planning the learning and creating activities, criteria for finding and choosing documents, self-evaluation, and potential problems. This methodological interface is in the learner's L1 and allows the learner to decide which sections to select according to individual needs. The series is accompanied by websites which serve both to publicise the DVD-ROMs and to increase interactivity: web links can be updated, and learners can request advice on-line or communicate via the forum. The materials are based on the premise that receptive skills can be acquired more quickly than productive skills, in line with the European Union's approach to intercomprehension. A new project adapts this and takes it one step further, into plurilingualism. English being widely-known in the European Union, we use this as the working language for native and non-native speakers alike in learning to improve receptive skills (oral and written) in French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Understanding Romance Languages (URL) exploits linguistic similarities with English, particularly shared lexical bases, so that learners may simultaneously learn how better to understand more than one language from different family. In this paper, we shall develop the underlying rationale to our approach, present the methodological sections of EPCO, and go on to describe URL in more detail.