The English Listening Lounge
http://www.englishlistening.com

Peter Lutes, Mitsui Engineering & Ship Building Co., Ltd.

Introduction
The English Listening Lounge (ELL) is by its own definition "devoted to practicing English listening." ELL is a small site, purportedly with more to come. The site offers monologues by native or close to native speakers of English which the visitor can listen to using Real Audio Player.

There are three levels of listening: New Listeners, Regular Listeners, and Advanced Listeners. The site offers thirty short recorded monologues with text scripts of the monologue and a some comprehension questions with sample answers. The site also features some tips on how to best use the site to improve one's listening skills.

On the Bright Side
The monologues are prepared by recording native speakers doing an impromptu monologue, so in that sense they could be considered authentic texts. Natural pauses and interjections are included in the texts. The speakers also tend to jump from point to point which is perhaps more representative of authentic language than might be found in ESL textbooks. In spite of this, the speakers speak very clearly. Also given are the listener statistics on the listening passage: length, number of words, number of words per minute, and kind of accent.

The site is very plain, which is a good point in that the authors do not waste the visitors' download time with flashy pictures or graphics. Therefore the pages open and load very quickly. The visitor can easily maneuver and find the desired listening. The sound quality is very good. Background noise has been filtered out. The authors obviously had access to good recording equipment and facilities. Although some of the advanced passages offer more variety than might be found in typical ESL texts, some of them may prove to be too difficult for many advanced students who lack background in the topic being discussed. Even an "Advanced Listener" would have trouble with this passage without having read Crime and Punishment.

Transcript of Advanced Listening: Dostoevski's Crime and Punishment

I recently read Dostoevski's `Crime and Punishment'. And I found it to be a very interesting ... reading. One or two things about the book, first is that I like the unique style of detection that's embedded in the whole story... the way ... the way the police officer gets Raskolnikov, the main character in the story, to confess in the end. This kind of detection, essentially psychological, is very different from the Sherlock Holmes kind of thing where you go with lens looking around for dust and foot prints. It's interesting to read that style of detection. And the other aspect of the book, of course, which is the main theme of the book, is ... that ... what happens to a person who chooses to commit a crime for the greater good ... is it OK to basically kill somebody if you know that this person is useless for the society and by killing him you get a lot of people lead a better life. Is it good for an individual to take upon in his hands to, you know, really behave like God. So Dostoevski, of course, gives a clear verdict that you shouldn't do it, that you'll mess up your life if you do that. It's interesting to see that he thought of that and put it in a story like form for everyone to read it. The other aspect of the book, of course, is his writing style that he brings out lot of what goes on in Raskolnikov's mind on papers. This is a very rare thing to .. that ... a writer can write so much about what goes on in someone's head without much happening on the external world. And of course the story has a lot of interesting characters, well developed characterizations, Raskolnikov, his friend, his brother... And it's a very interesting book for people to read and enjoy.

Question 1: How does the speaker think the style of detection differs from that in Sherlock Holmes?

Our Answer: In Crime and Punishment the detection is essentially psychological.

Question 2: According to the speaker, what's Dostoevski's main point?

Our Answer: That people should not commit crimes, even though they think it will be for the overall social good.

Question 3: What does the speaker think is a rare thing in Crime and Punishment?

Our Answer: That a writer can write so much about what goes on in a person's head, without relating much about what's happening in the outside world.

On The Dark Side
Though the Advanced Listeners section offers some topics that might not appear in ESL texts, such as a young man's problems in getting a pilot's license, the other listening sections do not. One example from the "New Listeners" section:

Hi, my name is Colleen, and I'm a first year college student. I'm going to tell you a little bit about my family. My mum's name is Sharon, and she works at an engineering company. My father's name is Bob and he works as a manager at a welding company. I also have a brother named Brian. He is 16 years old and a junior at high school. He plays football and baseball and he works part time at a grocery store.

Question 1: What does Colleen do?

Our Answer: She's a college student.

Question 2: What's her father's name?

Our Answer: His name's Bob.

Question 3: What does her brother like to do?

Our Answer: He likes to play football and baseball.

Similar listening passages can be found in almost any ESL textbook. The selection of topics is not particularly motivating or interesting. Internet publishing really offers a chance to the authors to take on some for off the wall topics, or to deal with current issues and events, but unfortunately, this site does not take full advantage of this opportunity. In fairness, the authors state the site will be expanded and we may see some more variety in the topics that take advantage of internet publishing ability to be up to date.

The site includes a study guide, which offers simplistic tips, some simplified "theory" (using language that "New Listeners" and "Regular Listeners" would certainly struggle with) is summed up with this advice:

Listen to lots of realistic passages, with different speakers, different accents, and different topics, and try to understand what the speaker means. Which is exactly what you can do here, on our site.

The care that when into the recordings is clearly absent in the comprehension exercises shown above. There are several spelling mistakes in the monologue texts (some obviously the work an overzealous spell checker).

The site does not actually promise anything except that it is "is devoted to practicing English listening." However, the site would be more appealing if it were a little more interactive and had a variety of exercises. Some nice additions would be links to vocabulary definitions, cloze dictation exercises, and better comprehension exercises.

Minimum: 90MHz Intel Pentium processor or equivalent, 16MB of RAM, 14.4Kbps, 16-bit sound card and speakers, 65,000-color video display card (video),Windows 95 operating system, Internet connection and web browser

Recommended: 120MHz Intel Pentium processor or better, 32MB or more of RAM, .8Kbps or better modem, 16-bit or better sound card and speakers, 65,000-color or better video display card, Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3, Internet connection and web browser

System Requirements
68040 with FPU, , 16MB of RAM, 14.4Kbps modem

I visited this on three configurations:

1) Mac PPC 601, 90 Mhz, 96 MB RAM, 28.8Kbps modem OS Mac 8.5

2) Power Computing PPC 604, 120 Mhz, 144 MB RAM, 33.4Kbps modem OS Mac 8.5

3) Power Computing PPC 604, 130 Mhz, 112 MB RAM, 64Kbps ISDN OS Mac 8.5

With the first configuration, the sound came in short bursts. A phrase of about 6-10 words, then a pause, and then another short burst. With the second and third configurations, the sound came in smoothly and clearly.

After visiting this site, I felt that there was nothing here that had not been done better with a tape and workbook. The site does little to interest, motivate or challenge the visitor. If you have a few minutes to spare and like the novelty of using the Internet, you could use this site. However, if you are more interested in serious study, you could better spend your time with more traditional methods of listening practice.

Peter Lutes has been teaching ESL in Japan since 1987. He has been focusing on teaching communicative skills for business people with an emphasis on listening skills and is developing a CALL Program at MES.