Reading and Listening problems

These are the problems that my colleagues came up with from around the globe.

Feel free to write solutions in the comment section below.

• Students often try to understand every single word, or try to translate the text into their own language
• Students don't always read the instructions carefully and so don't understand what they are listening for
• They get lost so easily, try to understand every word or complain the speakers are going to quickly.
• Students equate reading with misery, school and tests, they don’t even read in their own language
• In tests the wording of each item can cause problems: weaker students tend to focus on the exact words they see in the question, and are confused when they don't find them.
• This sound bite generation… anything longer than a couple of paragraphs and they lose interest
• I don’t have a lot of time in class, so I skip the listening or find it easier to read the text to the students
• They don't get it when there is cultural info in the text...because they generally focus on form and literal meaning.
• It’s so difficult to pay attention to a voice coming out of a box in the corner of the room, you can see them looking out of the window.
• Students fail to register discourse markers. so rely on keywords which can skew meaning