Unless you are deaf, you would have learned your own language by listening. Everyone did! Even books, when they were introduced to you, were read out aloud. We’re all hard-wired, in stereo, to our ears. Listening is important.
So why is it at school, when we’re asked to learn another language, that listening is so de-emphasized? Why is it that we, and our teachers, are so uncomfortable using that medium? I mean, it’s true, isn’t it? I’m right, aren’t I? Or have things changed from when I remember?
I suppose it's that writing feels safer. You can stare at it. You can refer back to it. You can keep it pinned to the page. You can see how it is formed. All those things are hard to do with the spoken word. No sooner does it appear . . . than it’s gone. You can’t show off to the teacher how much you’ve done.
Yes, it takes some doing to get used to listening. It took me quite a time to manage it, even after I had decided on its value, and that I ought to. I taught a one-year English course fairly recently during which I urged people to start listening, but for the duration of that course I couldn’t bring myself to follow my own advice.
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