Meaning-Focused Input: Making the Most of the Reading and Listening Content of VOICES 

In-Service Training Materials

Introduction: This blog contains content, activities, and support material for the Teacher Development In-Service Training Day at Centro Cultural Costarricense Norteamericano on November 21, 2025. 

Session Goals: 

• Understand the importance of meaning-focused input (MFI) in second language learning and its role in the instructional design of the Voices series.
• Connect key theoretical principles (MFI, interactive processing, and cognitive load management) with practical implications for planning receptive skills activities with the Pre-While-Post cycle.
• Explore a variety of activity options for each stage of the PWP cycle for reading, listening, and video activities. 
• Develop and share an outline for a receptive skills activity sequence following the PWP framework and justify your design choices. 

Guiding Questions: 

• What is MFI and how does it support students' language development?
• Where can we find opportunities for students to engage in MFI within the Voices unit cycle?
• How can we develop an effective and practical pedagogical sequence using the receptive skills materials in the Voices books?

Table of Contents

Click the links below to access the section of the blog you would like to see.

Warm Up: Case Study Analysis

Theory Input: Key Concepts in Receptive Skills Instruction

Exploring PWP: Activity Options for Designing Instruction

Hands-on: Develop your Lesson Outline

Wrap Up: Session Takeaways

Warm Up: Case Study Analysis

Click your assigned link below and follow the instructions in the document. 

• Case 1 - Jimena's Reading Lesson
• Case 2 - María's Listening Lesson
• Case 3 - Luis' Reading Lesson
• Case 4 - Francisco's Listening Lesson

Theory Input: Key Concepts in Receptive Skills Instruction

What is Meaning-Focused Input (MFI)?

MFI is "learning through listening and reading where the learner's attention is on the ideas and messages conveyed by the language" (Nation & Newton, 2009, p. 1). 

Where can we Find MFI in the Voices Unit Cycle?

MFI has a promenent place in the unit design of voices: 

• Intro: Nat Geo Explorer Video
• A: Reading and Critical Thinking Skills
• B: Grammar Point 1 through Listening or Reading
• C: Listening Skill and Grammar Point 2
• D: My Voice Video
• E: Reading for Writing

How does MFI Support Language Development?

• Comprehensible Input: "We acquire ... only when we understand language that contains structure that is 'a little beyond' where we are now" (Krashen, 1982, p. 21). 
• Develop Receptive Skills: (Voices A, C)
• Introduce New Language in Context: (Voices A, B, C)
• Model Appropriate Discourse: (Voices D, E)
• Build Schema & Promote Engagement: (Voices A, B, C, D, E)
• Stimulate Language Production: (Voices, A, B, C, D, E)

How do Learners Process Input?

In contrast to speaking and writing, which are productive skills, reading and listening are receptive skills. They are also sometimes erroneously referred to as passive skills, but this represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the complex mental processes involved in interpreting written and spoken input. What are these mental processes? Learners make use of both linguistic and non-linguistic knowledge in order to accurately process the meaning of messages they hear or read (Buck, 2001). The combination of bottom-up and top-down processing is known as interactive processing (Hegelsen, 2003).

• Bottom-Up Processing: We build understanding of what we read and hear by combining letters and sounds to form words, words to form phrases, phrases to form sentences, etc. In other words, we use our knowledge of the language to make sense of the input. 

• Top-Down Processing:We build understanding of what we read and hear by using background knowledge (schema) or assumptions about the situation or context, cultural information, purpose of the text, and others.

• Interactive Processing: In practice, input is understood through a combination of both kinds of processing. When contextual knowledge is limited, more information needs to be gathered from bottom-up processes. When top-down knowledge is greater, lesson focus on decoding the language in the input is needed to successfully anticipate and confirm the speaker or writer's message. Effective MFI instruction should account for and support both kinds of processing. 

What Makes L2 Listening and Reading Difficult?

A key concept in receptive skills instruction is the topic of cognitive load. One of the challenges of second language listening is that students’ cognitive processing capacities can easily become overwhelmed by factors such as speed, complexity, length, and accent of the recording, lack of sufficient context, as well as the nature of the tasks they are asked to complete. The Centre for Educational Statistics and Evaluation (2017) summarizes the work of Sweller (2010) on Cognitive Load Theory, which describes processing limitations of working memory.

• Intrinsic Load: This is the inherent processing difficulty of a particular concept to be learned or task to be completed by students. We can’t change the difficulty of a listening passage, but we can SIMPLIFY the intrinsic load by breaking the audio into discreet, more easily digestible chunks with specific processing tasks for each one.

• Extraneous Load: This is the unnecessary processing difficulties caused by the way information is presented to students that distracts their focus during the listening task. We can REDUCE the extraneous load by creating simple, easy to follow instructions for listening tasks and by ensuring that students understand what information they need to extract from the passage before they listen.  

• Germane Load: This is the optimal level of challenge or cognitive effort needed to learn a concept or make sense of a text. The idea of listening instruction is not to eliminate all effort required of students but to ENHANCE the germane cognitive load through the careful design of support materials and listening tasks that promote effective processing of the passage.

• Effective receptive skills instruction is cognitive load management. 

Exploring PWP: Activity Options for Designing Instruction

Pre-Reading-Listening-Watching: The purpose of these activities is to activate or build contextual knowledge needed to apply top-down strategies, clarify or “pre-teach” essential unfamiliar terms from the text to aid their bottom-up processing, and generate a personal connection with the topic and motivation to engage with the text in the next stage. The majority of a reading or listening lesson should involve students engaged in processing the text, so keep the Pre stage brief!

Vocabulary Practice: Clarify essential vocabulary from the text through a variety of activities. Keep this section short and avoid the temptation to teach every unknown word or you risk removing all the challenge. 

 

Dialect or Accent: Voices includes regional varieties of English as well as plenty of L2 English users with distinct accents. Identify a potentially challenging pronunciation feature and play a small clip as a preview to help students "calibrate their ears" before they listen to the full audio.

• Example: Notice how Federico pronounces the words in bold. Is it similar to how a native Spanish speaker might pronounce them? Why or why not?

• My health / and stay healthy / but when you add the hot water

Open-ended Q's: Activate background knowledge and stimulate a personal connection.

• Example: Discuss the questions with a partner. 

• When you travel, what do you usually do to stay healthy?
• Have you ever ignored your body's signals (like hunger, thirst, or tiredness)? What happened?
• What is the hottest or coldest place you've ever been? How did you take care of yourself there?

Agree / Disagree: Activate background knowledge and stimulate a personal connection. 

• Example: Read each statement. Decide if you agree, disagree, or it depends. Then tell your partner why. 

• I'm usually very healthy. 
• You should always force yourself to eat at mealtimes, even if you are busy. 
• Kids are easier to take care of than adults.
• Exercise has to be hard to be effective.
• People often forget to take care of themselves when they're working. 

Analyze an Image: Activate background knowledge and stimulate a personal connection. 

• Example: Look at the images and discuss the questions. Give reasons for your answers.

Rank / Classify: Have students rank or classify a list of items related to the theme of the text.

• Example: Rank the following habits from most important to least important for staying healthy while traveling or working long hours. 

• Drinking enough water
• Sleeping well
• Eating regularly
• Protecting yourself from the sun
• Taking breaks
• Exercising

Predicting and Previewing: Explore students' associations with the topic and help them predict both language and content they are likely to encounter. 

• Variation 1 - Words from Topic: We are going to hear a man describe what he does to stay healthy at work. Write words or phrases related to the topic that you predict you might hear in the audio. Write them in Spanish if you don't know the English word and we will translate them together. 

• Variation 2 - Topic from Words: Here are some phrases you will hear in the audio. What do you associate with them? What images come to your mind? What do you think the audio will be about? 

• Heatstroke, IV drip, staying healthy while traveling, magic drink, exercise habits; snakes, bears, crocodiles and spiders!

Digital Tools to Enhance Engagement: Anyone of the above strategies, and many others, can be made more engaging with the use of digital tools that promote collaboration, self-expression, and interaction. 

• Example 1 - Mentimeter: CLICK HERE

• Example 2 - Genial.ly: CLICK HERE

 

While-Reading-Listening-Watching: The purpose of these activities is to help students make sense of the text by giving them specific tasks to complete. This achieves several purposes. First, the tasks provide a purpose for reading or listening. If students know what they need to get from the text, you and they will know if they are successful. Second, it guides students to help them focus on important ideas and supports their processing of potentially challenging content. Finally, the tasks should require the students to read or listen to the text multiple times but for a different reason each time. These repeated interactions help students construct an adequate understanding of the text.

Listening Outlines: Students need support to process lengthy audio and video content and one way to do that is to divide the content into more manageable segments, each with their own processing tasks. 

• Example: CLICK HERE to see a listening outline developed for Voices Book 3, Unit 9, Lesson C. Part 1 Audio: CLICK HERE, Part 2 - Audio: CLICK HERE. 

• Recommended Flow: 

• Whole Class Preparation: Teacher and students read instructions for tasks in segment one. 
• Individual Listening and Response: Teacher plays the segment and students complete the tasks alone.
• Collaborative Sharing: Students compare and discuss their responses with a partner.
• While Class Checking: The teacher elicits responses from the class and determines whether a second playthough is necessary.

You are an English language teaching assistant helping me design a Listening Outline based on the transcript I will provide. The outline is for use during the WHILE-LISTENING stage of a lesson. Its purpose is to guide students’ comprehension by promoting active, meaningful processing, not by testing recall. Using the transcript I provide, create a draft of a Listening Outline as follows: 1. Divide the audio into two or three manageable parts based on natural topic shifts, changes in speaker focus, or logical sections of the text. Identify the end point of each part so the teacher knows where to pause the audio using a phrase quote in parentheses like (Teacher stop audio after “... very long days.”). 2. For each part, include two or three activity items chosen from the following item types, depending on what best fits the content: Keyword Notetaking – students take notes on key ideas or details. Paraphrase an Important Idea – a short, 3-option multiple-choice statement that paraphrases a key idea (no direct quotes). Direct Quote Gap-Fill – a short quote from the transcript with 1–3 missing words students already know (used to highlight complex or important language). Mentioned / Not Mentioned – a checklist of words or ideas; students mark those they hear. Sequencing – a short list of events or steps that students put in order. Predict and Check – students make a simple prediction before listening to a part, then confirm or revise it. Matching Ideas or Concepts – students match related ideas, people, or examples from the text. Identify Speaker’s Purpose or Attitude – students choose or describe the speaker’s reason for speaking or emotional tone. Cause and Effect – students note causes and effects presented in the text. Visual Organizer Completion – students complete a simple diagram (timeline, table, or chart) with missing information. 3. Write clear and simple instructions for each activity. Avoid comprehension-test wording (“What did he say?” or “Why?”) and focus on helping learners notice, follow, and organize ideas. Keep instructions and prompts short to avoid distracting students from the listening they have to do. 4. At the end of the outline, include an optional list of 2–3 open-ended post-listening discussion questions that invite personal reflection or connection to the topic. Examples: “Which of the speaker’s experiences can you relate to most?” “What advice would you give if you were in the same situation?” “Do you agree with the speaker’s point of view? Why or why not?” 5. Use a clean, teacher-friendly format like this: Listening Outline: [Insert title or topic] Part 1 – [Short description of section] (Teacher stop audio after …) Item Type 1: [Instructions] Item Type 2: [Instructions] Item Type 3 (if appropriate): [Instructions] Part 2 – [Short description of section] (Teacher stop audio after …) Item Type 1: [Instructions ] Item Type 2: [Instructions ] Part 3 (if needed) – [Short description of section] (Teacher stop audio after …) Item Type 1: [Instructions ] Item Type 2: [Instructions ] Optional Post-Listening Discussion Question 1: Question 2: Question 3 (optional): Answer key: Include a separate teacher answer key.

Interactive Listening: Another way to promote deeper processing in the While-Listening stage is to create interactive tasks where students all listen to the same text but are asked to identify different details. Then they mingle and share these details with other students in a brief speaking activity. 

• Example: CLICK HERE to access an interactive listening activity developed for Voices Book 3, Unit 5, Lesson X. 

• Variation 1: Create one jigsaw grid.  

• Variation 2: Create varied jigsaw listening tasks.

• Variation 3: Create a smaller jigsaw for one section of the listening.

Jigsaw Reading: Similar to the interactive listening, jigsaw readings make students responsible for reading a specific section of the text. Then they share the main ideas of their section in their own words with their peers in a brief speaking activity. 

• Suggested Speaking Tasks: 

• Share a summary of the main points in your own words.

• "Teach" 1-2 interesting words or phrases from your text.

• Identify similarities and differences between texts.

• Give your opinion or share an additional point, example, or detail not in the text. 

• Choose Appropriate Texts: Some texts from the book seem "ready made" for jigsaw activities because they have multiple parallel sections of similar length and format with different content.

Post-Reading-Listening-Watching: The purpose of these activities is to help students formulate a response to the text they just read or listened to in order to ensure the appropriate meanings have been constructed. Post activities can be of three types: response and evaluation, metacognitive reflection, and stimulus for production. Reading and listening in real life is not a quiz. We engage with texts to gain understanding for a specific purpose or for enjoyment. Students should be asked to react to and evaluate the ideas presented in the text. This empowers them as independent users of English and gives them a voice to express their opinions about the content of the lesson. They can also be asked to reflect on difficulties they experienced, strategies they used to complete the tasks, and how they may adjust those strategies in future listening or reading situations. Finally, the text can provide inspiration and motivation for a follow-up speaking or writing activity.

Hands-On: Develop your Lesson Outline

Pre-Reading-Listening-Watching: The purpose of these activities is to activate or build contextual knowledge needed to apply top-d

Wrap Up: Session Takeaways

Seven Principles for MFI Instruction: This session has reviewed theoretical support and practical ideas for developing meaning-focused receptive skills lessons. The following principles will help you continue exploring this topic in your classes. 

• 1) Development over Testing: Teaching and developing students' listening and reading skills is NOT the same as testing them. Tasks should encourage meaning-focused processing of and response to the ideas of the text, not simply surface level recall of ideas.

• 2) Task before Text: Always give students tasks to do while processing the text. Never have students read, listen, or watch before sharing and clarifying the specific task they must complete. 

• 3) Multiple Interactions: Help students construct the meaning of the text through multiple encounters, each with a different task. 

• 4) Time on Task: In a Pre-While-Post cycle, the While stage should get the most time. The Pre stage should be just long enough to provide necessary context, motivation, and expectations of the While and Post stages to come. Don't overdo it!

• 5) Alone and Together: Students should have the chance to process the input individually as well as through pair discussion and collaboration. 

• 6) Yeah, So What?: Students must be given the chance to react to and evaluate the ideas presented in the text to develop their "voice" as independent users of English.

• 7) Speaking through Listening and Reading: Receptive skills can be taught and practiced in a communicative way with plenty of opportunities for authentic communication before, during, and after. 

Minimum Standards: Because of time limitations, we do not always have the ability to develop extensive Pre-While-Post tasks for every listening, reading, and video we encounter in the textbook. Even if we must move quickly, the following checklist can ensure you are adequately supporting students. 

• Pre: Preparation for Engagement
• Activate background knowledge of the topic.
• Establish a personal connection.
• Address potential language and cultural issues (if necessary).

• While: Support for Engagement
• Include multiple interactions with the text.
• Each interaction has a separate task.
• Include both individual processing and collaboration.

• Post: Extension of Engagement 
• Express personal reaction or evaluation of ideas in the text.
• Text serves as a stimulus for production (speaking or writing).

References

Buck, G. (2001). Assessing Listening. Cambridge University Press. 

Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation. (2017). Cognitive Load Theory: Research that Teachers Really Need to Understand. NSW Department of Education.

Hegelsen, M. (2003). Listening. In D. Nunan (Ed.), Practical English Language Teaching (pp. 23-46). McGraw Hill.

Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Pergamon Press Inc. 

Nation, I.S.P. & Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. Routledge.

Sweller, J. (2010). Element interactivity and intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load. Educational Psychology Review, 22(2), 123–138. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-010-9128-5