It’s Anyone’s Guess: Developing Students’ Abilities to Make Accurate Guesses for Listening Comprehension

Abstract

Many teachers would react with horror to the idea that their pupils should be encouraged to guess in order to understand speech. “Surely”, they will say, “we should train students to listen accurately, to use their ears, to understand what is said, not to make wild guesses.” This reaction is understandable. At first sight, encouraging students to guess is dangerous — like inviting people to gamble before they can manage their household expenses. Other teachers will argue that their pupils cannot guess — that the most they can do is understand things literally. I will try and answer these fears and objections by suggesting that: