During Listening There are several things students can be encouraged to do:     They can run a mental commentary on it; they can doubt it, talk back to it, or extend it. They can rehearse it in order to remember it; that is, they repeat  interesting points back to themselves. They can formulate questions to ask the speaker ... jot down key words or key phrases ... They can wonder if what they  are listening to is true, or what motives the speaker has in saying it, or whether  the speaker is revealing personal feelings rather than objective assessments.                                                                                                                                (Temple and Gillet, 1989, p. 55) This kind of mental activity is what effective listeners do during listening. Effective listeners:      connect: make connections with people, places, situations, and ideas they know      find meaning: determine what the speaker is saying about people, places, and ideas      question: pay attention to those words and ideas that are unclear      make and confirm predictions: try to determine what will be said next      make inferences: determine speaker's intent by "listening between the lines"; infer what the speaker does not actually say      reflect and evaluate: respond to what has been heard and pass judgement. Several strategies such as the following have been developed to help teachers guide students through the listening process. Teachers can use the Directed-Listening Thinking Activity (Stauffer, 1980). A description of this activity follows.      Choose a story with clear episodes and action. Plan your stops just before important events.      Two to four stops is plenty.      At each stop, elicit summaries of what happened so far, and predictions of "what might happen next".      Accept all predictions as equally probable.      Ask the students to explain why they made particular predictions and to use previous story nformation for justification.      Avoid "right" or "wrong"; use terms like "might happen", "possible", or "likely".      After reading a section, review previous predictions and let the students change their ideas.      Focus on predictions, not on who offered them.      Involve everyone by letting the students show hands or take sides with others on predictions.      Keep up the pace! Do not let discussions drag; get back to the story quickly (Temple &  Gillett, 1989, p. 101). Teachers can create listening guides to focus students' attention on the content, organization, or devices used by a speaker. The following is an example:                 Sample Listening Guide                 Name of student: ______________________________                 Nature of spoken presentation: ___________________                 Where heard: ________________________________                 Name of speaker: _____________________________                  Speaker's expressed purpose:                  Qualifications of speaker:                  Main Idea(s) presented:                  Noteworthy features of presentation:                  In what ways was the talk effective? Ineffective? Why? "Comprehension is enormously improved when the speaker's schema or organizational pattern is perceived by the listener" (Devine, 1982, p. 22). Teach students the various structures (e.g., short story, essay, poetry, play), organizational patterns (e.g., logical, chronological, spatial), and transitional devices. Effective listeners can follow spoken discourse when they recognize key signal expressions such as the following:     Example words: for example, for instance, thus, in other words, as an illustration      Usually found in: generalization plus example (but may be found in enumeration and argumentation)      Time word: first, second, third, meanwhile, next, finally, at last, today, tomorrow, soon      Usually found in: narration, chronological patterns, directions (and whenever events or examples are presented in a time sequence)      Addition words: in addition, also, furthermore, moreover, another example      Usually found in: Enumeration, description, and sometimes in generalization plus example      Result words: as a result, so, accordingly, therefore, thus      Usually found in: Cause and effect    Contrast words: however, but, in contrast, on the other hand, nevertheless      Usually found in: comparison and contrast Although listeners need not capture on paper everything they hear, there are times that students need to focus on the message and need to record certain words and phrases. Such notemaking ("listening with pen in hand") forces students to attend to the message. Devine (1982) suggests strategies such as the following:      Give questions in advance and remind listeners to listen for possible answers.      Provide a rough outline, map, chart, or graph for students to complete as they follow the      lecture.      Have students jot down "new-to-me" items (simple lists of facts or insights that the listener  has not heard before).      Use a formal notetaking system (p. 48). Transcribing or writing down live or recorded speech can sharpen students' listening, spelling, and punctuation skills.      Teacher selects an interesting piece of writing.      The selection is read aloud to the class (and perhaps discussed).      The teacher then dictates the passage slowly to the class. The students transcribe the form      and conventions (i.e., spelling, punctuation, and capitalization) as accurately as possible.      Students compare their transcription with distributed copies of the original. After Listening Students need to act upon what they have heard to clarify meaning and extend their thinking. Well-planned post-listening activities are just as important as those before and during. Some examples follow.      *To begin with, students can ask questions of themselves and the speaker to clarify their understanding and confirm their assumptions.           *Students should talk about what the speaker said, question statements of opinion, amplify certain remarks, and identify parallel incidents from life and literature.      *Students can summarize a speaker's presentation orally, in writing, or as an outline. In addition to the traditional outline format, students could use time lines, flow charts, ladders,circles, diagrams, webs, or maps.      *Students can review their notes and add information that they did not have an opportunity to record during the speech.      *Students can analyze and evaluate critically what they have heard.           *Students can be given opportunities to engage in activities that build on and develop concepts acquired during an oral presentation. These may include writing (e.g., response journal, learning log, or composition), reading (e.g., further research on a topic or a contradictory viewpoint), art or drama (e.g., designing a cover jacket after a book talk or developing a mock trial concerning the topic through drama in role).