Listening skills

Nursing Department
Faculty of Medicine
University of Brawijaya
2010

Contents
Factors related to listening comprehension
General ways to improve your listening
skills
Tips towards better listening
Tips during listening test

Factors related to
listening comprehension

Factors related to listening

comprehension
The speaker
The listener
What is being said or the actual content
Visual and realia support of the listening
material
The quality of the location acoustics and
sound quality

The speaker

Speakers vary greatly in their manner of speech

This can be especially true with native speakers
of languages like English or Spanish
Their clarity of speech and velocity of the
delivery of their words can hugely impact
listeners ability to understand what is being
said
If the speaker has an unfamiliar accent, speech
impediment of some kind or poor enunciation,
listeners can suffer from a general lack of
listening comprehension

The listener
The better your general listeningcomprehension
skillsthe more you will generally understand
when others speak in English
Your basic listeningcomprehension skillsin
English should be developed to the greatest
extent possible for maximum listening
comprehension success
This can be especially true, as mentioned earlier,
when the speakers have an accent or regional
English pronunciation with which you are
unfamiliar

What is being said or the actual

content

If the spoken material is highly technical or

is filled with specialized vocabulary,
listening comprehension can be seriously
impaired

Visual and realia support of the

listening material
It can certainly be a tremendous aid to
successful listening comprehension
Support can be knowledge of the situation,
images or related video and include
physical objects of various types

The quality of the location

acoustics and sound quality
If you are in a place such as an auditorium,
large hall or empty building, echoes will be
bouncing all over the place making listening
comprehension difficult to say the least
The sound from speakers, radio or TV can
also be distorted making listening
comprehension much more of a problem
than normal

General ways to improve

your listening skills

General ways to improve your

listening skills

Listen Lots!!

Music/songs
Movie
Watching international television
Recording radio programs
TV and radio commercials
Online learning

Music/songs and Movie

Listen to something you enjoy
You can choose what you would like to listen
to and how many and times you would like
to listen to it. By listening to something you
enjoy, you are also likely to know a lot more
of the vocabulary required
Songs in English can help you get a better
feeling for the rhythm of the language
Turn on English subtitles when you watch a
DVD in English

Watching international
television
Watching television can be used practice
vocabulary, expressions and slang used in
the area
For even better results, record a few shows
then watch and imitate the language used
in them repeatedly for faster improvement
Youll know youre improving when you
begin to understand more and more of what
is being said at normal conversational
speed

Recording radio programs

Radio programs such as short stories, talk
shows, commercials and even the news,
then replay and mimic the announcers and
voices
Sports commentary during a game doesnt
usually make for effective English listening
skills improvement practice. Why? Its
because announcers are almost always
speaking at the fastest speed they can to
keep up with the action

TV and radio commercials

TV and radio commercials can be an especially

rich source of English listening skills
improvement
Since they are typically short: under one minute,
use active, locally understood vocabulary,
idioms and expressions, a good base in listening
comprehension can often be formed quickly
Using commercials is such an effective listening
comprehension improvement technique that
there are actually university language courses
based on this method

Online learning
Online, over-the-air and cable radio
broadcasts can be especially effective and
are readily available in much of the world.
Three examples of excellent online radio
broadcast sites are:

http://www.live365.com
http://www.archive.org
http://www.multilingualbooks.com/online-radio.htm
l

Online learning
Increasingly, institutes of higher learning are making integrated
online materials available to learners
These may consist of spoken dialogues, video dialogues, short
stories, interactive games, poems, rhymes and riddles, spoken
grammar, connected speech examples, movie clips, interviews,
documentaries and even pronunciation lists
Some examples of available materials online include:

Penguin -http://www.penguinenglish.com
Pearson Longman http://www.longman.com
Heinemann -http://www.heinemann.com/
Oxford University - Presshttp://www.oup.com
Cambridge University Press - http://www.cup.org
Heinle and Heinle -http://www.heinle.com/esl_d/
McGraw Hill - educational resourceshttp://mcgraw-hill.co.uk/kingscourt/
Harvard University Open Courseware
http://oedb.org/library/features/236-open-courseware-collections

Tips towards better

listening

Tips towards better

listening
Pre-listening tips
Tips while listening
Post-listening tips

Pre-listening tips
Define Your Purpose
Acquire Some Background Information
Predict, Then Monitor

Define Your Purpose

If you start by listening with a goal in mind, the listening
task may be easier. Before listening to something, ask
yourself, "What do I need to learn? The general gist or
some specific information?"
If getting the general gist is your goal, focus on the ideas
which seem to be repeated most often, most loudly, and at
the beginning and end of a speech segment Main ideas
generally appear there
If your goal is to obtain specific information, listen for
"trigger words" and consider what the speaker is likely to
say just before that information appears. For example, if
you want to buy a car, words such as "price", "cost", or
"dollars" signal some key information will occur or has just
occurred

Acquire Some Background

Information
Getting a basic knowledge about topics
before they are discussed generally makes
listening easier
Returning to the example of purchasing a
car, understanding concepts about
horsepower, mileage, and financing in your
native language may help you deal with a
car sales rep in a foreign language better.
Once you have the basic concepts down,
detailed information is easier to listen for

Predict, Then Monitor

Often it's good to imagine what those you'll

listen to will say before you hear them
If you predict the key points of a speech
segment before it happens, you'll have less new
information to listen for
Most conversations and speeches follow a fairly
predictable pattern
When listening, try to monitor what's being said
and see how closely it matches your predictions
Remember just the parts that differ from your
guesses the other parts you know already

Tips while listening

Which Words Are Emphasized?
Listen for Non-Verbal Cues
Confirm Your Understanding

Which Words Are Emphasized?

Key words are stressed. They are louder, longer, and
higher pitched than other words. When listening, pay
attention to the loudest and slowest words..
These stressed words usually contain valuable
information
Less important words are usually spoken quickly and
softly
In a sentence such as, "And the price of that car is a real
bargain," you'll probably find the words "price" or
"bargain" emphasized
If you don't understand something right away, don't give
up. Keep listening. The speaker might say something
later that will help you understand the main idea

Which Words Are

Emphasized?
Don't worry about hearing every word. Often,
English words are linked together or shortened
so you cannot hear every word clearly. For
example, speakers often use contractions (can't
instead of cannot) and reductions (wanna instead
of want to). Try to focus on the most important
words and you will understand the main idea
Listen for organization words such as first, then,
next, after that, and finally. These words can tell
you that a speaker is explaining something in
chronological order

Listen for Non-Verbal Cues

A speaker's body language can offer clues about what's

being said
Even if you don't understand any verbal cues, you can
read much from his/her body language, gestures, and
facial expressions
What are a speaker's gestures saying? Boredom?
Tension? Interest? Learn to "listen with your eyes" as
well as your ears
If you are listening to a speech or conversation with
many others, notice how other listeners also respond
When do they smile? At what times do they seem
bored? Observing their reactions can help you "fill in the
gaps" to understand what is happening better

Confirm Your Understanding

While listening in a conversation, give brief periodic

responses to let the speaker(s) know you're actively
listening
Short phrases such as "Indeed", "I see", or "Is that so?" will
assure speaker(s) you are following the conversation
Conversely, if you don't understand what's going on, repeat
the unknown word(s) with a rising tone or stop the
conversation to request clarification
If you're listening to a speech, jot down the area where you
got lost and try to ask for clarification when the speech is
over
Check your understanding by asking the speaker questions.
For example, use expressions like, "Could you repeat that?"
or "I'm sorry, I didn't catch

Post-listening tips
Rephrase Key Sections
Critically Evaluate Key Points

Rephrase Key Sections

Too many English learners say, "OK" or "I see" at the
end of a talk without specifying what they think is
OK or what they have seen
To confirm whether or not what you've heard is
correct, summarize it using patterns such as, "So
what [you] said was . . . .?
If you don't have a chance to confirm your
understanding directly to the speaker(s), summarize
what you've heard to other listener(s)
Another option is to write a summary of what was
said. This is useful in that it forces you to
paraphrase and bring diverse ideas together

Critically Evaluate Key Points

A final post-listening activity is to think critically about
what was said and relate it to your own experience
Sometimes proficient speakerssoundgood in front of
people, but when you pause to consider what they
actually said, you might discover flaws in logic or gaps in
their statements
If you notice such flaws or places where the content
seems questionable, try to politely challenge the speaker
Real listening should not be a one-way activity: it should
be a two- (or multi-) way communication process
It is good to switch roles and make the speaker(s) listen
to you. To be a good listener, you also have to believe in
your voice as a speaker

Tips during listening

test

Tips during listening test

Time
Start Off Strong
Listen and Answer
Guess: if you have to or it is your only
option
Psycho-status
Practice, practice, practice! Improving your
real ability is the key

Time

Time limits are the number one enemy of most students.

Thus try to avoid falling into the "time traps" built into the
test and to use the allotted time for each section wisely
Don't spend too much time on any single question. You
should spend only seconds on the easiest questions, and
hesitate to spend more than 1/2 minute on even the
hardest ones
Familiarize yourself with how to use the computer and the
types of materials, questions, and directions that are in
the test. Become familiar with the formats and
requirements of each section of the test
Learn the section directions now. Use the time saved
during the test to work on questions

Start Off Strong

Successful answers to the earliest questions in
computer adaptive versions of the test will lead to
higher scores.
The test puts much more value on the earlier
questions than the later questions. The computer
has to make large jumps in the estimation of your
score for each of the first few questions. The later
questions are used to fine-tune your score. To get
the best possible score, focus more time on the
earlier questions than the later questions
A good start can help to improve your psychological
factor and overcome your nervousness

Listen and Answer

Listen carefully. You have only one chance to listen to
each question or conversation. It's very important to
concentrate on the computer. Do not let yourself start
thinking about other things
Before answering a question, determine exactly what is
being asked
Read each question carefully and thoroughly. Always
read and understand all possible answers. If you do
not, you may miss the important information
In the computer adaptive section, you cannot skip any
question and you cannot go back after you've
confirmed your answer. Double check your work and
answer before you click on CONFIRM

Guess: if you have to or it is

your only option
Guess if you don't know the answer. There
isn't a penalty for a wrong answer on the
TOEFL
Make educated guesses. Just try to
eliminate one or more choices that you
know are wrong before guessing
Learn why, when, and how to guess to your
advantage through our insights. They are
proven methods

Psycho-status
Develop your stamina and learn how to sit
still. Keep in mind the TOEFL is a long exam.
You'll need to concentrate for three hours.
There are no rests or breaks between
sections. Even if you're tired, don't let
things distract you. Taking practice tests
can help build stamina
Reconcentrate and overcome your
nervousness when you find something
unexpected

Listening preparation
tips

Listening preparation tips

In the early days of preparation
In the middle days of the preparation
In the late days of the preparation

In the early days of preparation

From Monday to Friday

Extensive listening: Use 80% of your time to listen to a wide
range of materials, TV, Movie, Radio, Computer, Tape, etc. Try to
be familiar with American accent and form stronger IMPRESSION
of natural English in your brain
Practice listening: Spend the remaining time with English Master
to get familiar with the special style of TOEFL listening items

On Saturday and Sunday

Take one and just one full long listening test with English Master
to see how many incorrect answers you have. Don't be
frustrated or mad or disappointed if the result is terrible. Just
remember the number of wrong answers
Try to get a good rest and relax. If you still have mood, do some
listening activities as you did in the weekdays

In the middle days of the

preparation
Spend only 10% of your time on extensive
listening of various non-test-related
materials
Spend 50% of your time on extensive
listening of test items
Write down your weak point and repeated
errors
Take at least one full-length listening test
every other day

In the late days of the

preparation
Study our TOEFL listening insights and our TOEFL
listening tips carefully. Try to understand everything
they talk about. Remember the ones you think may
work for you and try to apply them to your listening
practice
Practice test items with all skills you learn. Find out
your weak links
Spend some time on your weak points. For instance,
you can't find out the main idea of a long discussion or
lecture. So practice more on longer sections
Test full-length test more often. Because that kind of
"authentic" tests can help you overcome the nervous in
the real test

..Thank
you..