Are you learning English and looking to improve your listening skills? Practicing your listening abilities is an essential part of your language journey to fluency. Listening carefully helps you understand the true meanings behind what people are saying, start conversations with more confidence, and pick up on slang used in different dialects.
Developing effective listening skills can help you become more proficient in English and strengthen your overall communication abilities. If you can master the skill of hearing what is being said, then understanding becomes much easier! Here are our top 5 tips to help you develop your listening abilities:
Tips for Listening Skills
Tip #1 Study natural English pronunciation
To improve your ability to understand spoken English, you need to study the sounds of English as it is actually spoken. This includes learning about contractions, reduced forms, sentence stress, and intonation. Real spoken English isn’t always what you expect, so it’s essential to recognise and pay attention to these elements.
Tip #2 Practice your active listening skills
Active listening means engaging with what you’re listening to actively. Instead of just letting the words wash over you, try to understand what is being said. Ask yourself questions, summarise what you’ve heard, or repeat what you’ve heard in your own words.
Tip #3 Surround yourself with different accents and voices
English is an international language with speakers from around the globe. It’s important to get used to listening to different voices, accents, and paces of speech by talking to people in different contexts and different countries. When someone speaks differently, acknowledge it, and ask them to repeat what they said. Repeat it back to them to ensure you understand correctly.
Tip #4 Record yourself
Recording yourself speaking English and listening back to it will help you identify areas where you need to improve and become more aware of your own pronunciation. This also serves as practice for your active listening abilities.
Tip #5 Watch without subtitles
While watching English videos or movies, try to turn off the subtitles. This will help you to focus on listening and understanding without relying on reading. It can be challenging at first, but it will improve your ability to understand spoken English.
By following these tips, you’ll be on your way to improving your listening skills in English. Remember, consistent practice and patience are key to achieving fluency in any language.
We encourage a holistic approach to language learning, that engages all your skills, despite the challenges you might face. Learning a language involves stepping out of your comfort zone and making mistakes regularly, especially in the areas you feel weakest in.
This is why at EC Live we have incorporates Pre-Lesson Tasks and Post-Lesson Tasks within each lesson for students to practice all four language skills within a certain number of lessons, ensuring you will practise all four skills throughout any course. Learn more about EC Lives Intensive lesson structure here.
If you take the Premium Course, you will have a task for each of the four language skills every week. If you take our Standard Course, you will have 4 tasks over 2 weeks.
Learn more about EC Live and book a free trial lesson or contact fionacox@ecenglish.com for more info.