How to improve your listening skills

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR LISTENING SKILLS
Real Life Listening


Do we always need to understand 100%?
In real life we don’t normally need to understand every word. We can focus on the information we need to get from listening. We usually catch meaningful words (nouns, verbs, adjectives etc.) and build meaning from them.


Tips on listening in real life

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  Prepare for the topic (if possible).
  
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  Try to relax when listening.
  
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  Don’t panic if you don’t understand at first, give yourself time to adjust to the accent.
  
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  Listen in for the clues to help you understand.
  
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  Listen in for signposts (for example, so, anyway etc).
  
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  Ask for repetition or clarification to make sure you understood the speaker.
  

Types of speech

Greenhouse	We often learn words in isolation, they are like plants in separate pots in a greenhouse. That’s how they are recorded in a dictionary. Example: what did you say /wɒt dɪd juː seɪ/ Each word is spoken very carefully, and each sound is very clear. There is a pause between each word.
Garden	Words rarely occur on their own; they ‘touch each other gently’ in a sentence like flowers carefully arranged in a garden. Example: what di jew say /wɒt dɪ ʤuː seɪ/ The words run smoothly into each other, without a pause between them.
Jungle	In real life spoken speech is often like a messy, unruly jungle; it’s difficult to understand where one word ends and the other one starts. It is often difficult to tell whether a word has been said at all. Example: wha chew she /wɒ ʧuː seɪ/ It is this type of speech that we need to be familiar and comfortable with in order to be good listeners.

How to practise listening

Approach	a. You listen from the general idea to the detail.	b. You listen for every word.
Practice algorithm
Online tools	British Council ESL Cyber Listening Lab Breaking News English BBC 6-minute English	TubeQuizard lyricstraining YouGlish
Video resources: films, TV shows, YouTube channels	ororo.tv Talks at Google Skillopedia Stanford School of Business The Graham Norton show Jimmy KimmelLive Luke’s ENGLISH Podcast

There are two main and effective ways to practise and improve your listening.

Regular listening practice is the key to success.

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  Incorporate regular practice in your day/week.
  
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  It doesn’t take much time (one-minute abstract, spend about 20 minutes).
  
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  Set up a period of time, e.g. for one month every day or for 2 months 3 times a week.
  

Happy listening! 😊

How to Improve Your Listening Skills