Improve English Listening
English listening and speaking are both essential for verbal English communication. Listening to native English speakers will improve your English speaking.
“75% of the students said that listening ability affected their speaking performance. 80% of the teachers thought that listening ability had influences on students’ speaking performance.” (Asian Journal of Educational Research, 2015)
Listening is how we start learning our native language before grammar, reading, writing, or speaking. It is natural for us to learn from listening. However, research shows English speaking and listening skills are the biggest problems for most ESL students. Excellent listening skills can help improve your English pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and speaking skills.
Ways to Improve your English listening
- Focus on oral English communication. You will learn by listening that native English speakers focus on communication, not grammar.
- Stop translating. Translation between languages is often complicated, and the actual meaning is often incorrect. Individual English words can have a different definition when used in colloquial English and phrasal verbs.
- Focus on listening. Listening is essential because you cannot go back and replay the speaker. Speaking is often spontaneous, and you can ask them to repeat everything, but it will not be the same. When repeating, the speaker will usually respond with a summary or change the vocabulary, tone, grammar, stress, or content. Having to repeat thoughts can be frustrating. It is important to focus and listen.
- Watch movies and television without subtitles. It is possible to become an excellent English speaker by watching and repeating English in movies and television.
- Listen to English music. Listening to music is relaxing and stress-free. Sing along with your favorite songs. Repeating English will improve your English skills.
- Learn English speaking skills. Learning pronunciation and intonation skills and rules will improve your listening and understanding. If you learn to speak like a native English speaker with correct intonation, your listening will improve.
Learning English intonation is not only essential for fluent English speaking but can drastically improve listening skills. Native English speakers will often speak with intonation, and if you know the English intonation rules, listening will be much easier. English intonation skills are essential to English speaking and listening.
Oral communication includes speaking and listening and together makes English easier to learn.
“To listen well is as powerful a means of influence as to talk well, and is as essential to all true conversation.” – Proverb
