Sheila M. Thorn is an experienced ELT teacher, teacher trainer, materials writer and examination writer with a special interest in authentic listening. She has worked as a listening paper item writer for Cambridge ESOL (First, Advanced), Trinity (ISE) and Helbling (Austria and Germany - listening papers for 18 and 19-year-olds) since 2011. She founded The Listening Business in 1998 and is the author of the Real Lives, Real Listening series (Collins) - a series of books featuring authentic recordings and listening training materials for students from elementary to advanced level. Sheila regularly speaks at national and international conferences on various aspects of authentic listening training and testing and has written a number of significant articles in this field for Modern English Teacher, and other publications.

Select Guide Rating

• IntroductionPart 1: TheoryExploring listening in the ELT classroomCommon misconceptions and contentious issuesA critique of the current approach to 'teaching' listeningMyth versus realityTeaching listening: The challenges of connected speechThe characteristics of formal public spoken EnglishThe characteristics of informal spontaneous spoken EnglishL1 and L2 listening processes: Decoding challenges for L2 learnersMeaning building challenges for L2 learnersPart 2: PracticeGuiding principles behind the integrated approachFirm foundations: Teaching learners about listeningListening goalsPractising listening using written comprehension tasksPractising meaning building with the teacher as a facilitatorPractising decoding and increasing automaticityFurther uses of authentic recordingsUsing International English recordingsRationale for using authentic recordings in high-stakes international examinationsAppendices

Sheila M. Thorn is an experienced ELT teacher, teacher trainer, materials writer and examination writer with a special interest in authentic listening. She has worked as a listening paper item writer for Cambridge ESOL (First, Advanced), Trinity (ISE) and Helbling (Austria and Germany - listening papers for 18 and 19-year-olds) since 2011. She founded The Listening Business in 1998 and is the author of the Real Lives, Real Listening series (Collins) - a series of books featuring authentic recordings and listening training materials for students from elementary to advanced level. Sheila regularly speaks at national and international conferences on various aspects of authentic listening training and testing and has written a number of significant articles in this field for Modern English Teacher, and other publications.

Select Guide Rating

• IntroductionPart 1: TheoryExploring listening in the ELT classroomCommon misconceptions and contentious issuesA critique of the current approach to 'teaching' listeningMyth versus realityTeaching listening: The challenges of connected speechThe characteristics of formal public spoken EnglishThe characteristics of informal spontaneous spoken EnglishL1 and L2 listening processes: Decoding challenges for L2 learnersMeaning building challenges for L2 learnersPart 2: PracticeGuiding principles behind the integrated approachFirm foundations: Teaching learners about listeningListening goalsPractising listening using written comprehension tasksPractising meaning building with the teacher as a facilitatorPractising decoding and increasing automaticityFurther uses of authentic recordingsUsing International English recordingsRationale for using authentic recordings in high-stakes international examinationsAppendices