CC BY
0LINGUISTIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF TEACHING LISTENING IN JOURNALISM
Kuchimova P.T.
Lecture at Journalism and Mass Communications University of Uzbekistan (JMCUU) https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11086728
Abstract. This article examines the linguistic and psychological aspects of listening in journalism. Listening skills play an important role in journalism, because journalists regularly have to listen and understand the oral statements of different people, conduct interviews, work with audio recordings and video materials.
Keywords: listening skills, linguistic aspects, psychological aspects, listening strategies.
Listening is the process of understanding oral speech in a foreign language. This skill plays an important role in communication and everyday life when learning a foreign language. This skill allows you to understand the interlocutor or information from various sources (audio recordings, videos, interviews, etc.) and participate in the dialogue. We listen to different things, for example, the interlocutor during a conversation, what someone says face to face or on the phone, informational announcements at the airport or railway station, radio, music, lectures on various topics, etc.
In recent years, there has been more interest in teaching listening skills than before. University entrance exams, school-leaving and other exams now include a listening component, indicating that listening skills are a key component of second language learning.
Listening plays an important role not only in everyday life, but also in the classroom. Anderson and Lynch state, "We don't know what amazing listening achievements we can make when we listen to a foreign language" [1].
Brown advocates for interactive and communicative language learning environments. Listening activities that involve interaction, such as pair or group discussions, role-plays, and information-gap tasks, allow learners to engage actively with spoken language and develop their listening skills in meaningful contexts[2].
Flowerdew Miller's work on listening, particularly his influential model known as "The Four Processing Stages of Listening," provides valuable insights into the cognitive processes involved in effective listening. Here's an overview of his model and its significance:
1. Receiving: The first stage involves physically receiving auditory stimuli through the ears. This process is automatic but crucial, as it forms the basis for further cognitive processing. However, mere reception does not guarantee comprehension.
2. Understanding: Once the auditory input is received, the listener begins to interpret and make sense of the message. This stage involves decoding the linguistic content, identifying key words, and grasping the overall meaning of the message. Understanding is influenced by various factors such as language proficiency, background knowledge, and context.
3. Remembering: After understanding the message, the listener engages in memory processes to retain key information. This stage involves storing relevant details in short-term or long-term memory for future retrieval. Effective remembering relies on attention, rehearsal, and mnemonic strategies.
4. Responding: The final stage of listening involves responding to the message, either verbally or non-verbally. This may include asking questions, providing feedback, or taking appropriate actions based on the information received. Active engagement in the listening process enhances comprehension and facilitates effective communication.
Miller's model highlights the dynamic nature of listening, emphasizing that it is not simply a passive activity but an active process involving cognitive effort and engagement. Understanding these processing stages can help educators and learners alike in developing strategies to improve listening skills and optimize communication outcomes [3].
Most people think that knowing how to write and speak a second foreign language means they know the language, but they cannot communicate effectively if they do not have effective listening skills. That is, listening is the main skill in language learning, and more than 50% of the time students spend learning a foreign language is devoted to listening [4].
M. Rost explains the importance of listening in the language classroom as follows:
1. It is important to learn listening in special language rooms. Because when you start learning a foreign language, you cannot start without understanding it.
2. Spoken language provides a means of interaction for the student. Because they need to communicate in order to acquire such skills. The role of foreign language speakers is very important. In addition, the fact that students do not understand the language they hear is not an obstacle to learning, but a motivation.
3. Listening exercises provide language learners with the means to focus on new forms of language (vocabulary, grammar, new forms of interaction) [5].
Buck identifies two different listening strategies:
Cognitive strategies: mental activity related to understanding and storing input information in long-term memory for later retrieval;
• Comprehension processes: related to linguistic and non-linguistic information processing;
• Storage and memory processes: related to the storage of linguistic and non-linguistic information in long-term memory;
• Access and retrieval processes: related to memory access;
Metacognitive strategies: conscious or unconscious mental activity that performs an executive function in managing cognitive strategies;
Situational assessment: considering the circumstances surrounding the language task by assessing one's own knowledge and available internal and external resources prior to the task.
• Monitoring: determining one's own or another's efficiency;
• Self-evaluation: determining the effectiveness of one's own or someone else's activity after engaging in an activity;
• Self-testing: self-testing to determine the effectiveness or lack thereof in using one's own language [6].
Teaching listening in journalism is also based on linguistic and psychological foundations that have specific characteristics in this field. Let's take a look at some of them:
Linguistic aspects:
Professional terminology: journalists should be familiar with the professional terminology of their field in order to understand and correctly interpret the information received during the listening process, as well as to communicate it competently to the audience.
Stylistics and genres of journalism: different journalistic genres have their own stylistic features, which are manifested in oral speech. When teaching listening in journalism, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of journalistic styles and genres in order to successfully understand audio statements.
Means of speech expression: knowing and understanding the means of speech expression, such as metaphors, rhetorical devices, etc., will help journalists to reveal the deeper meaning of spoken statements, as well as to create high-quality speech.
Understanding Language Structure: Journalists need to comprehend the nuances of language, including vocabulary, grammar, and syntax, to accurately interpret spoken information.
Cultural Context: Teaching listening skills should incorporate an understanding of cultural references, idiomatic expressions, and regional accents that may be present in journalistic content.
Discourse Analysis: Analyzing spoken discourse helps students identify key points, implicit meanings, and rhetorical strategies used in journalistic interviews, reports, and podcasts.
Psychological aspects:
Emotional strain: Journalists often have to deal with audio statements on emotionally charged topics. Listening training in journalism should include the development of emotional control skills and the ability to analyze information without disturbing the emotional state.
Working with sources: An important component of learning to listen in journalism is developing the skills to work with various sources of information. It is important for journalists to be able to critically evaluate the information received during the listening process and to be able to use it correctly in their work.
Adherence to ethical principles: The psychological aspect of teaching listening in journalism involves understanding and adhering to ethical standards and principles of professional practice. It helps journalists not only to effectively understand the information obtained from oral speech, but also to use it correctly, taking into account ethical aspects.
Active Listening: Teaching active listening techniques helps students engage with spoken content more effectively by focusing on the speaker's message, tone, and non-verbal cues.
Critical Thinking: Encouraging students to critically evaluate and analyze spoken information enhances their ability to assess the credibility, bias, and accuracy of journalistic sources.
Empathy and Perspective-Taking: Developing empathy towards diverse perspectives presented in journalistic content fosters a deeper understanding of complex issues and promotes ethical reporting practices.
Pedagogical aspects:
Authentic Materials: Using authentic journalistic materials such as interviews, news reports, and podcasts exposes students to real-world listening contexts and enhances their comprehension skills.
Interactive Activities: Incorporating group discussions, role-plays, and listening comprehension tasks encourages active participation and improves students' retention of information.
Feedback and Reflection: Providing constructive feedback on listening exercises helps students identify areas for improvement and promotes self-reflection on their listening strategies.
Teaching listening in journalism requires a comprehensive approach that takes into account both linguistic and psychological aspects of journalistic activity. To ensure high-quality and
professional journalism, it is important to develop the skills to understand spoken language,
analyze data and work with various sources.
REFERENCES
1. Anderson, A. & Lynch, T. Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. - P. 3.
2. Brown, G., & Yule, G. (1983). Teaching the Spoken Language. Cambridge University Press.
3. Flowerdew, J., & Miller, L. (2005). Second Language Listening: Theory and Practice. Cambridge University Press.
4. Nunan D. Approaches to teaching listening in language classroom. - 1998.
5. Rost M. Introducing listening. London: Penguin books, 1994. - P. 141-142.
6. Buck, G. (2001). Assessing listening. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. - 2001.
7. Khasanova, G. K. (2024). ASSESSMENT CRITERIA OF ORGANIZATIONAL-MANAGEMENT COMPETENCES OF MASTER'S STUDENTS. Science and innovation, 3(Special Issue 19), 204-209.
8. Джураев, Д., & Уралов, М. (2023). Talimda pedagogik faoliyatni psixologik modellashtirish jarayonida otm professor-o 'qituvchilarini kasbiy saralashning psixologik diagnostikasi ahamiyati. Цифровизация современного образования: проблема и решение, 1(1).
9. Джураев, Д. У., & Шамшетова, А. К. (2022). СОЦИАЛЬНО-ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ СОВРЕМЕННОЙ МОЛОДЕЖИ В КОНТЕКСТЕ СОЦИАЛЬНОЙ СРЕДЫ. In ПСИХОЛОГИЯ В СИСТЕМЕ СОЦИАЛЬНО-ПРОИЗВОДСТВЕННЫХ ОТНОШЕНИЙ (pp. 81-84).
