1.1.3. Text types
Beaugrande (1981:182 ff) as referred in Dirven and Oakeshott-Taylor (1985:3)
makes a distinction between descriptive, argumentative, and narrative texts according
to their function. Texts that belong to the same type share common grammatical
features. This is very important as, according to Burgess (1996, unit 2, p.13):
‘grammatical
features
give
uniformity
and
recognisability
to
types
of
communication.’
Although in real life texts do not belong exclusively to one text type, the
ability of the learner to recognize text types helps her activate relevant scripts (see
2.2.2 below) and facilitates comprehension.
1. 2. How we listen
While hearing is a passive skill, listening comprehension is an active process
which relies heavily on the listener’s ability to go through a number of processes in
order to create meaning. .According to Underwood (1989:1): ‘what the speaker means
lies only partly in the words spoken and the listener must recognize the other factors
which are used to convey the message.’
The factors that affect listening comprehension and the processes that are
involved in listening are analyzed below.
1.2.1 Factors that affect listening comprehension
Burgess (1996, unit 2) distinguishes between external factors that do not relate
to the actual words of the discourse and internal factors which relate to the way our
brain processes incoming information.
External factors
Malinowsky (1923) stresses that: ‘a statement spoken in real life is never
detached from the situation in which it has been uttered’ and he coined the term
‘context of situation’ to refer to factors outside the spoken text which affect
comprehension.
According to Burgess (1996, unit 2, p.5) efficient understanding relies heavily
on the ability of the listener to make adjustments to context .Under context he
categorizes four main factors. These are the co-text (what has been spoken before the
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