Songs for Teaching Listening Comprehension Vladimir Tumanov

The method I consider in my paper is based on the use of songs by Bulat Okud&zhachek;ava for improving the student's aural comprehension ability. An argument is made that, with respect to intermediate-advanced students, Krashen's notion of comprehensible input can be adjusted and expanded. The key contention is that i+1 can be turned into i+2,3,4 &ellipsis; without compromising comprehensible input. This is based on the idea that a student, if given sufficient support in the task of decoding the aural linguistic material, can turn authentic input into intake even if the material in question might first appear to be too difficult. A theoretical pedagogical introduction on the role of task assignment during aural comprehension exercises is followed by a discussion of music and poetry as comprehension- and retention-enhancing tools. Subsequently, I present a detailed description of the proposed methodology. The conclusion deals with the implications of the methodology and compares it to some other similar approaches.