A comparison between the second language learner and the native language learner provides the primary argument for the importance of listening without having to produce a response immediately. The fact that children listen to their native language for at least 8 hours a day implies that students need to spend more time in listening activities. In addition to growth in listening skills, there is a psychological benefit to listening activities; they are less threatening than activities in the other language skill areas. In addition to teacher-directed activities, peer-learning can take place in small group listening activities. In these groups students take responsibility for their own learning as well as for that of others in their group. Students get personal attention, they are more motivated to pay attention, and they experience a more natural range of listening experiences. Success of the small group process depends on good preparation, students' orientation to the importance of the task, and the format of the listening material. Some suggested formats that work well for small groups are picture matching; manipulatives, or objects and sentences to be matched; commands; situations; logical thinking problems; true-false statements; and paragraphs followed by true-false statements. (AMH)