Minor Details
Objectives
- Identify listening contexts that require an understanding of minor details
- Understand relevant minor details
Why do I need Minor Details?
Our ideas are typically structured as a main idea which is supported by major details. The major details are often the reasons, explanations, and points that the speaker makes. This information is usually the minimum requirement for understanding. If I'm going to complete a task based on the listening, I at least need to know the most important information the speaker shared.
Speakers often state the main idea near the beginning of their speaking and then repeat it multiple times. Listen for the verbal signposts on the left of the chart to help you identify main ideas. Use them when speaking to show others your main point.
Speakers often introduce important minor details, like explanation, descriptions, or examples with patterned words or phrases. Listen for the words or phrases on the left to help you discern important supporting details. Sometimes, the same word will start each sentence with an important detail.
Below is an example of a listening task. Watch the short video and answer the first question.
Example 1
Watch the video.
What is the main idea and the two supporting details?
Main Idea and Major Details
Main Idea: Biologists are working to create a balance between protecting coral reef ecosystems and allowing local people to continue their way of life.
Major Detail 1: One way to do this is by creating a system of protected areas instead of one large park.
If you only understood and remembered this information from the video, you would most likely be able to participate in a conversation about this general topic with some success.
However, there are times when you would be expected to remember more specific information after the speaker finishes. In fact, it's likely you remember some of that specific information even though you weren't asked to focus on it. Before you click on the next tab, think about what specific information you remember from the video without specifically trying to understand the minor details.
You are welcome to watch the video again before clicking to see the minor details.
Minor Details
Main Idea: Biologists are working to create a balance between protecting coral reef ecosystems and allowing local people to continue their way of life.
Major Detail 1: One way to do this is by creating a system of protected areas instead of one large park.
Minor Detail 1: You can protect a wider variety of habitats.
Minor Detail 2: There is still some access for traditional fishing grounds for local people.
Minor Detail 3: If something happens to one area, it can be repopulated from a nearby system.
In that example, we explored how the speech was structured generally and the information used to support that organization.
When we introduced the idea of Listening Comprehension: Major Details , we compared it to constructing a building. The main idea tells us that the building will be a house, the major details inform us of the size and placement of rooms. The minor details get more specific by telling us what each room needs. How do you recognize which room is a bedroom? It can just be labeled bedroom, but seeing specific details like a closet or windows, or something even more specific like a bed or other furniture would make the idea of a bedroom very clear.
In the lesson Speaking Strategy: Organization & Transitions, we discuss the use of transitional words and phrases to clearly mark how an idea is connected to a previous idea. Listening for those signposts can help you to quickly identify supporting information and be prepared for the types of minor details the speaker would include.
What Minor Details Should I Listen For?
This brings us to the big question of what to do as a listener. If the minor details are sometimes very important and sometimes not important at all, how do you know when to pay attention to them and what you should be listening for?
First of all, you need to think about your purpose as a listener. Is there a specific task you will need to accomplish after listening? Some examples of tasks are as follows:
- Participate in a debate on the topic
- Share your opinion in a social media post
- Answer quiz questions (multiple choice, fill in the blank types)
- Give a summary to someone
Knowing what you are expected to do after listening can help you decide what minor details would be most relevant based on your goal. For example, sharing my opinion will require me to listen for things I agree or disagree with and the specific details that I think were strongest in developing my opinion.
Combining an understanding of your purpose and the speaker's purpose makes it clear what minor details will be most important to understand and remember.
Let's look at an example from the previous section to explore this:
Minor details are often the most important when a speaker's purpose is to explain. For example, if the speaker is explaining a historical sequence of events, the names, places, and dates are important for understanding context.
Now, this situation would signal that there will be a lot of minor details. In order to listen for the minor details you really need, consider your task after listening. Here are two examples of how listening for minor details could look very different, even when the information and the speaker's purpose are the same.
Watching a documentary with friends: In this situation, it is very unlikely that your friends would expect you to remember dates and places. You can rely on the major details to help you talk about the documentary afterward. Names of people or events would be important to listen for to help you clearly state your thoughts about the documentary.
Quiz for university course: You need to understand and remember as many minor details as possible. At this point, there is no clear way to know what information will be on the quiz. You will need to have a note taking strategy to support your listening for specific details. Using your textbook, the professor's powerpoint slides, office hours, and asking the Teaching Assistant for help are great ways to reinforce your listening. You can also talk to your professor to get permission to record lectures to listen to later to check understanding.
Practice
Here are some videos from the week when we practice listening for major details. Look at the task, listen for minor details that would be most important.
Video 1: Wangari Maathai
Answer quiz questions about the information. Do not look at the questions before you watch the video.
Comprehension Questions
Answer these quiz questions about the video:
- What did Wangari Maathai do? (Main Idea)
- What is extra special about her Nobel Peace Prize award? (Minor Detail)
- How does she explain the connection between the environment and peace? (Major Detail)
- How did her movement work? (Minor Details)
- Where is she from? (Minor Detail)
Comprehension Answer Key
- She founded the Green Belt Movement to plant more trees in rural villages.
- Wangari Maathai is the first African woman to receive the prize. She is the first winner of the Peace Prize for work related to the environment.
- She explains that many of the world's conflicts are centered around resources and land. By improving the environment, she not only improves the lives of individuals in the rural villages but also promotes the economy and more effectively manages the resources available in these places. She also has to work with politicians to establish laws that benefit people and the environment.
- She worked with local women living in rural areas to plant trees. This provided income for those women while also alleviating some of the stress they experience (gathering food, firewood, good soil, building materials, etc).
- She is from Kenya, Africa.
Video 2: Sea Turtles
Watch the video and prepare for a discussion question about the topic.
Task
Here is your discussion question:
The speaker ends the recording by saying that of 1000 eggs laid, only 20 survive to breeding age without human interference. Explain some of the reasons the speaker presents to explain why survival of a sea turtle is difficult.
Answer Key
- About 20% of the eggs do not ever hatch
- Obstacles from nest to ocean: debris, pitfalls, crabs, gulls, raccoons
- Force of the waves, predators (fish, dolphins, sharks, sea birds, killer whales)
- Human interference: beach development, plastic, poaching, long lines, nets, chemical.
Exercise 1: Partner Activity - Video Summary
Watch the video below before class. This video has a very clear purpose and point of view.
- Your teacher will put you in a breakout room with a partner.
- What is the main idea? What did the story makers want you to think or feel with the story?
- Imagine you were going to speak on this topic and support it with information. What three major details would you use to support the main idea?
- For each of those three major details, think of at least 1 minor detail that emphasizes or explains the major detail.
- You and your partner should have 7 sentences by the time you finish this activity that you can share with the class.
Exercise 2: Group Activity - Listening with a Purpose
- Choose a Ted Ed video on a topic that is interesting to your group.
- Decide what the speaker's purpose is for the video. You can usually see this in the title and the short paragraph summary.
- Decide what the listener's purpose (task) should be.
- Watch the video and create the task for another group.
- Ex. A quiz should have 3 minor detail questions, and a discussion/opinion should have a question that they can use minor details to explain.
This content is provided to you freely by EdTech Books.
Access it online or download it at https://edtechbooks.org/advanced_mid_listening__speaking/minor_details.