Purpose
1.1 identify the purpose of a wide range of listening
tasks and set goals for specific tasks (e.g.,
prepare counterarguments during a debate;1
record important ideas and supporting details
during a class lecture; understand how to complete
the online university, college, and OSAP
applications after a presentation on the topic)
Teacher prompt: “What listening strategies
help you to identify and record the main
ideas in a lecture? Which strategy works best
for you? How does this change in different
situations?”
Using Active Listening Strategies
1.2 select and use the most appropriate active listening
strategies when participating in a wide
range of situations (e.g., pose questions to a
student presenter that require the presenter to
justify and extend his/her beliefs;2 understand
and acknowledge a dissenting opinion in a
small-group discussion3)
Teacher prompt: “When you disagree with the
ideas of a classmate, how do you respectfully
communicate your position?”
Using Listening Comprehension Strategies
1.3 select and use the most appropriate listening
comprehension strategies before, during, and
after listening to understand oral texts, including
complex and challenging texts (e.g., read
and prepare a written response to an assigned
text before an in-class discussion on the text; use
a student-generated checklist to assess a student
presentation; deconstruct a speech in order to
understand it)
Teacher prompts: “What effect does familiarizing
yourself with the subject have on your
ability to understand the documentary?” “What
listening skills do you use to understand
popular texts?”
Demonstrating Understanding of Content
1.4 identify the important information and ideas
in oral texts, including complex and challenging
texts, in a variety of ways (e.g., prepare a
summary of a lecture, a televised address, or the
plotline of a play watched as a class; listen to a
segment of audio from a Shakespeare play and
create an image that represents the scene)
Teacher prompts: “What insights about the
book’s main ideas did you gain as a participant
in the book club?” “What was the main
evidence on each side of the debate?”
Interpreting Texts
1.5 develop and explain interpretations of oral
texts, including complex and challenging texts,
using evidence from the text and the oral and
visual cues used in it insightfully to supportused dramatic conventions to strengthen their performance
of the poem; listen to two different versions
of a Shakespearean soliloquy and compare
the nuances of each actor’s performance; compare
two versions of the same song or speech, one in
audio form and one in video form, to examine
how the meaning is conveyed in each)
Teacher prompts: “How has the speaker used
visual cues to support his message?” “How
has the actor used silences and pauses to
convey meaning?”
Extending Understanding of Texts
1.6 extend understanding of oral texts, including
complex and challenging texts, by making
insightful connections between the ideas in them
and personal knowledge, experience, and
insights; other texts; and the world around them
(e.g., actively listen to arguments in a debate in
order to refute others’ interpretations; listen to
an advertising campaign in order to detect any
flawed logic;4 compare two oral biographies
on the same celebrity to modify any personal
preconceptions)
Teacher prompts: “To what extent have the
ideas in the group presentation changed your
ideas about the novel?” “What similarities
and differences are there between the two
biographies? What explanation might there
be for any discrepancies?”
Analysing Texts
1.7 analyse oral texts, including complex and challenging
texts, focusing on the ways in which
they communicate information, ideas, issues,
and themes and influence the listener’s/viewer’s
response (e.g., evaluate how the participants in
an expert panel discussion establish authority and
credibility; debate how successful the panel was
in informing its audience about the topic discussed;
listen to two similar speeches and compare the
organization and effectiveness of information,
entertaining qualities, and persuasive techniques)
Teacher prompts: “What techniques has the
presenter used to establish her authority on
the subject?” “To what extent have the entertaining
qualities of the presentation enriched
your understanding of the subject?”
Critical Literacy
1.8 identify and analyse in detail the perspectives
and/or biases evident in oral texts, including
complex and challenging texts, commenting
with understanding and increasing insight on
any questions they may raise about beliefs,
values, identity, and power (e.g., compare and
analyse the meaning in the songs of several hiphop
artists; analyse the perspectives of various
participants on an expert panel about global
warming)
Teacher prompts: “How subjective is this oral
text? How does the text attempt to demonstrate
objectivity?” “Is subjectivity valid as
long as it is transparent to the audience?
Why or why not?”
Understanding Presentation Strategies
1.9 evaluate the effectiveness of a wide variety
of presentation strategies used in oral texts,
including complex and challenging texts, and
suggest other strategies that could be used
effectively (e.g., analyse the way in which tone,
vocabulary, and rhetorical patterns are used in
a formal speech; analyse the use of various choral
reading techniques to communicate complex themes
in a readers’ theatre presentation; evaluate the
importance of fluent and rehearsed reading of
text excerpts in oral presentations in supporting
the presenter’s argument)
Teacher prompt: “How did the use of readers’
theatre in the presentation help to reveal the
complex themes in the novel?“
