Mastering English listening skills is a common problem for most learners. Listening can be challenging for many reasons such as – quick speaking partners, background noise, and less knowledge of a conversing topic.
However, the importance of improving listening skills is extensive. It is a basic lingual skill that is deeply connected to speaking. You have to struggle a lot later if you have a weakness in listening. In contrast, this skill will make it easier to achieve other lingual skills like speaking, writing, and reading.
So, many learners are joining to online English course on reliable online tutor platform for improving their English listening skills.
These five realistic tips will be helpful for improving your English listening skills.
1. Build a daily training routine
It is crucial to make and follow a daily practice routine while trying to improve your English listening skills.
A routine will help to achieve your goal and keep you on the right track. At this point, you may need to combine multiple things for a better result. You have to decide how much dedication you can put in and set a SMART goal based on it.
For instance, your English listening routine should include a specific and dedicated time for daily practicing.
You also need to have quality learning materials like a list of podcasts or audiobooks for practicing. Sometimes, you can revise and change a few things in your routine if needed. But, you strictly follow the daily practice routine anyhow. You also should monitor your listening skill progress.
2. Get used to different accents
We are usually familiar with 2 or 3 common accents of English. But, did you know that there are 160 separate English dialects spoken around the world?
Though most of them are unusual and used by regional speakers, they still carry an importance. As a learner, you also should get used to different accents along with British and American accents.
This might look very challenging but it is not! Rather, it will make you more confident while talking to an English speaker from a different region. So, a wise learner will never limit his learning to a few English accents.
3. Listen to Podcasts and TED talks
You have to listen to a lot of audio content to improve your English listening skills. Now the question is – what should you listen to? To tell you the truth, you can listen to anything you want.
But, listening to high-quality content will improve both your knowledge and listening skills. Podcasts are highly recommended to learners for becoming better listeners. Listening to podcasts forces your brain functions to pay the highest attention to the topic of content.
Thus, you can grow mental imagery that helps learners with active listening. Along with listening to podcasts on different topics, you should listen to TED talks. They will provide you with reliable information about global affairs and teach you many critical skills.
4. Take notes when listening
It does not matter how many podcasts you listen to every day. Instead, active listening is the key to improving English listening skills.
Unfortunately, we lose attention too soon when listening to someone. According to a journal of Physiology.org, most people can pay attention to a speaker for a maximum of 18 minutes.
While listening to someone, we need to divert our concentration for a short time to a different thing to get our attention back.
One of the proven methods to keep your listening concentration is to take notes during a lecture. The technique helps remember the topic of a lecture and increase your understanding.
If you are struggling with a short attention span, you can try this technique to improve your English listening skills.
5. Have conversations with non-native speakers
Nearly all language instructors suggest talking to native speakers to improve your English. Though it is helpful for your overall English skills, talking to natives can be tougher for beginners.
Native speakers usually speak faster and use slang and idioms in their speeches. So, chances are they will make the conversation more complex unintentionally because they don’t need to think like an English learner.
On the other hand, non-native speakers are always careful about what they say. They are also attentive to if their conversation partners can understand the speaking. So, having conversations with non-natives can be very helpful for beginners to improve their English listening skills.
Frequently Asked Questions about improving English listening:
Can I learn English just by listening to audio content?
Listening is a crucial part of learning a language. However, you may not be able to learn English completely just by listening. Listening is the first lingual skill that children achieve and learn in their mother tongue. However, they also try uttering the sounds that they hear. Similarly, an English learner has to listen to different kinds of words, phrases, and sentence structures repeatedly and speak them too for learning the language.
How long should I practice listening every day?
There is no compulsory timeframe to follow for practicing your English listening every day. It totally depends on how long you can keep your concentration. Unfortunately, most people have a short attention span. That’s why experts suggest starting listening for a few minutes. Remember that active listening is crucial rather than the listening duration.
Do English songs help improve listening?
Listening to English songs is an entertaining way to improve your listening skills. Lyrics of English songs are usually written for native listeners. Along with listening skills, they will also improve your practical vocabulary and language tone which are rarely taught in language classes. So, listening to English songs will be similar to killing two birds with one stone.
Final words
Improving your English listening skills should not be complex. Free resources around you are sufficient to get started. Don’t worry if you are just starting, AmazingTalker provides 1-on-1 native tutors with various levels of courses for all ages. The platform offers distinct online course for each language. It means you can learn Japanese with a native Japanese Tutor. Moreover, learners can schedule their classes according to their convenience.
