Speaking and listening go hand in hand. You can’t have a conversation with someone without listening to what they have to say, understanding it, and responding appropriately. That’s why improving your listening skills are vital to improving your conversational English, and overall English level.
Why am I not improving?
You may do a lot of listening practice such as listening to podcasts or watching TV shows and films in English, yet you are not seeing progress or improving. This is because you aren’t actively listening.
Active listening involves listening for something specific or engaging with what you’re listening to. At home, active listening practise could involve listening to exercises and answering questions about what you heard, or writing a summary of what you’ve heard.
It is essential to practise active listening, because it mimics how you listen in conversations: You ask a question, listen to the response, and ask follow-up questions or react to what you’re hearing in some way. You wouldn’t have a conversation and walk away to do something else whilst the person is still talking to you, unless you’re rude, or you excuse yourself politely. Therefore, you won’t see improvement if you put on a podcast or listen to the radio in the background whilst you’re doing something else.
I know what you’re thinking. Your teacher recommended listening to podcasts or watching TV shows and films as a great way to improve your English, and I myself recommend it too. I’m not saying you should stop listening to podcasts or watching TV shows and films in English, but remember that this is only one tool you can use out of many, to help improve your listening skills. It is also how you listen to these podcasts and TV shows that is important: Listen actively rather than passively.
How can I put active listening into practise?
You can take advantage of websites such as:
which have questions to answer whilst you’re listening (so you’re listening for specific information), as well as transcripts so you can check anything you missed.
These websites are also good as they are level specific: You can select listening exercises for your level. Listening at your English level will help you to improve your English, as you will understand the gist or majority of what is being said, with some more difficult vocabulary to test your knowledge, so that you’ll learn something new.
You can also try watching a TV show in English, and writing a summary of what happened, to ensure you were actively listening whilst watching it. Alternatively, you can watch it with a friend and talk about what just happened, an even better way to improve your conversational English and listening abilities.
Try changing up your listening practise with exercises like this, and see how you get on.
Olivia
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