Which of the following is an appropriate ICT tool for teaching listening…

Concept — ICT (Information and Communication Technology) tools are electronic or digital media used to deliver instructional content. In language teaching, each of the four skills is built through the sensory channel that carries it: listening is trained by spoken input received through the ear, while reading and writing are trained by written text received through the eye. An aid is therefore appropriate for a particular skill only when the medium itself delivers that skill’s input.

Application — The stem asks for an ICT tool for listening in English at the primary level. Audio stories and rhymes are recorded speech played back on a computer, mobile phone, speaker or smart board — a digital audio medium. The medium is electronic, so it qualifies as ICT, and it delivers connected English speech with its pronunciation, stress, rhythm and intonation straight to the learner’s ear. Rhymes add repetition and a musical pattern that a young child can follow, which is exactly the input a primary-level listening lesson needs.

Cross-check — Test the other choices on the same two requirements — an electronic (ICT) medium, and input delivered to the ear:

• Blackboard explanations: chalk written live on a classroom board. It is a traditional non-projected aid rather than an electronic medium, and its input is visual.

• Grammar rule charts: pre-printed tables displayed in the classroom. Again a traditional visual display, and it targets the form of sentences rather than heard speech.

• Printed worksheets: paper task sheets. A print medium used for written practice, read with the eye.

Only a recorded-audio resource satisfies both requirements, so the appropriate ICT tool for teaching listening skills in English at the primary level is audio stories and rhymes.