I have two suggestions.  One is to do an activity specifically drawing attention to the need to listen for overall comprehension as opposed to all the tiny details, and the other is to provide several repetitions of listening with different levels of general to detailed tasks and to do this over several weeks worth of lessons.

The first is based on a common activity done with written texts where Ss read a text with some of the words replaced with nonsense words. 

The reading version usually goes like this.

A) Have a look at these questions, then find the answers by reading the text.

1.  

   1. Where is h?

   2. What time is it?

   3. What's the weather like? 

"It was a brumfand windy morning and the sun was hiding behind the dull kajhclouds.  I really didn't feel like yuwing up."

B) Have you seen the words brumf, kajh, and yuw before?
Did you understand the story even though you didn't know these words?

This kind of activity can help the Ss see the value of looking at the whole picture rather than concentrating on details, etc, in a very direct way.  To do it with listening you have three options:

• (If using cassettes) - Copy the audio onto a blank cassette.  Then choose several sections of the audio that you want to 'change'.  Record over each of those points with a 'sshhhcchhsshh' noise so it sounds like a radio losing signal briefly.
• (If using a CD player or computer) - Have your finger/the arrow over the fast-forward button as Ss are listening, when you get to the words you want to change, briefly press the forward button so that the word/s are blurred.
• Record yourself telling the story but with changed words.

The second is simply staging 

1. Super Gist - listening for extremely general points.
   Prepare one very general question like, "Where are they?", "What emotions are the characters feeling?" or "What is the relationship between the two people?"  and play just the first section of the clip (roughly a paragraph's worth is often enough).  Stop the audio, have Ss check in pairs, and get feedback.
2. Gist - listening for general points.
   Have similarly broad questions but this time two or three that can only be answered by listening to the whole clip.  Examples could include questions like, "What kind of food shop are they in?  a) a Chinese restaurant   b) a French cafe  c) a sandwich bar?" and/or  "Tom asked Linda on date.  How does Linda reply?  a) She agrees to go on a date.   b) She doesn't like him so she says no.  c) She likes him and wants to go but has to say no for some other reason."
3. Specific Details - listening for several small pieces of information that can be picked out a different points in the audio, but don't need absolute understanding of other points.
   Have about 6 or 7 questions with very short, simple, answers, like, "Linda was late.  How long was Tom waiting?" "Where did they first meet?", "Does Linda order the egg or fish sandwich?"
4. Language Focus - listening for key words.
   This can be with different aims - focus could be on pronunciation (Listen for these 5 new words and write down the phonemic script for each after you hear how the person says it), meaning (Here are 5 definitions, which word in the audio matches each definition?), how it fits into the sentence (Fill in the gaps), etc...
5. Read and listen.
   Hand out the script and give the Ss a chance to read as they listen to consolidate the differences between their hearing and the exact words and to help them notice points where words or sounds are swallowed or shortened.

This is obviously a lot more complicated and means:  more hard work for you in trying to choose effective questions; as well as Ss having to listen FIVE times, which will get boring if done too often or over too long a period of time; and I've left out other listening skills - like making inferences, and getting a really detailed understanding of the whole text.  But if done in 5 lessons over a period of 3 weeks it can help Ss grow into understanding that there are different skills involved in listening and that they need to be able to use them all in different ways at different times.  And once they do, you can drop to just 2 or 3 steps in later listening lessons.

Hope this helps.

Heath

 This is really an issue when you are teaching. I think this has happened to everybody and I think is important to say make yourself clear at the beginning of the task. I agree with all mentioned before and I want to add one thing. If your students still concentrates in the pronunciation try to have two different exercises E.g.

In this listening exercises we will focus in the comprehension and in the pronunciation.First listen to the conversation and answer these questions. Then lets concentrate in the pronunciation of some important words.

 Always, try to change the exercises and also focus in the pronunciation. Don't forget to make yourself clear since the begining of the exercise and feel free to tell your students your concern. 

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Liliana Rodriguez Vega

"I think luck is the sense to recognize an opportunity and the ability to take advantage of it... The man who can smile at his breaks and grab his chances gets on."
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