write and essay on listening skills

Essay on Listening Skills

Students are often asked to write an essay on Listening Skills in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Listening Skills

Importance of listening skills.

Listening skills are vital in all aspects of life. They help us understand others, learn new things, and build strong relationships.

Types of Listening

There are different types of listening: active, passive, and empathetic. Each type is useful in different situations.

Improving Listening Skills

To improve your listening skills, pay attention, avoid distractions, and show empathy. Practice also plays a key role in enhancing these skills.

Benefits of Good Listening

Good listeners are successful in personal and professional life. They can solve problems, make better decisions, and foster positive connections.

250 Words Essay on Listening Skills

Introduction.

Listening skills are an integral part of effective communication that often goes unappreciated despite their significant role in our personal and professional lives. They involve not just hearing the words spoken, but also comprehending and interpreting them to understand the underlying message.

The Importance of Listening Skills

In an academic setting, students with good listening skills tend to excel as they can understand and retain information more effectively. In professional environments, these skills help in building strong relationships, solving problems, and making informed decisions. They are crucial in team collaboration, as they foster understanding and mutual respect among team members.

Improving listening skills requires conscious effort. It begins with giving undivided attention to the speaker, avoiding distractions, and being genuinely interested in the conversation. It also involves practicing patience, not interrupting the speaker, and providing feedback to ensure understanding.

Active Listening

Active listening is a step further. It involves showing empathy, asking relevant questions, and paraphrasing to confirm comprehension. This not only enhances understanding but also makes the speaker feel valued and heard, strengthening the relationship.

In conclusion, listening skills are an essential part of effective communication. They play a crucial role in academic achievement, professional success, and personal relationships. By practicing active listening, we can enhance these skills and improve our interactions with others.

500 Words Essay on Listening Skills

Listening is an integral part of communication, a skill often overlooked in our fast-paced, technology-driven world. It is more than just hearing the words spoken by another person; it involves understanding and interpreting these words in a meaningful way.

Listening skills are crucial for effective communication and are a fundamental requirement in many professional environments. They can enhance our relationships, improve our understanding of the world, and foster effective problem-solving and decision-making. By actively listening, we can better comprehend others’ perspectives, ideas, and emotions, leading to more empathetic, meaningful interactions.

The Art of Active Listening

Active listening is a more involved form of listening where the listener not only hears the words but also understands and interprets them. It involves giving feedback, such as nodding or paraphrasing, to show understanding. This kind of listening also requires one to avoid distractions, maintain eye contact, and show empathy towards the speaker. Active listening can lead to better understanding, improved relationships, and more effective communication.

Barriers to Effective Listening

Several barriers can hinder effective listening. These include physical distractions, such as noise or discomfort, and psychological distractions, like preconceived notions or emotional bias. Additionally, cultural differences can also pose a challenge, as they can lead to misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the speaker’s words. Overcoming these barriers requires conscious effort and practice.

Improving listening skills is a continuous process that involves practicing active listening, being aware of and overcoming barriers, and developing empathy. Here are a few strategies:

1. Practice mindfulness: Mindfulness helps us focus on the present moment, making it easier to concentrate on the speaker’s words without being distracted. 2. Provide feedback: Giving feedback, such as nodding or paraphrasing, can show the speaker that you are actively engaged in the conversation. 3. Ask questions: Asking questions not only shows your interest but also helps to clarify any misunderstandings. 4. Respect cultural differences: Understanding and respecting cultural differences can help avoid misinterpretation and foster better communication.

In conclusion, listening skills are a vital part of effective communication. They require active engagement, understanding, and empathy. By practicing active listening and overcoming the barriers to effective listening, we can improve our communication skills, enhance our relationships, and better understand the world around us. Indeed, the art of listening is a skill that, when mastered, can open a world of possibilities and deeper connections.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Interview Skills
• Essay on Interpersonal Skills
• Essay on Importance of Soft Skills

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

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• INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
• Communication Skills

Listening Skills

Search SkillsYouNeed:

The SkillsYouNeed Guide to Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal Skills:

• A - Z List of Interpersonal Skills
• Interpersonal Skills Self-Assessment
• What is Communication?
• Interpersonal Communication Skills
• Tips for Effective Interpersonal Communication
• Principles of Communication
• Barriers to Effective Communication
• Avoiding Common Communication Mistakes
• Social Skills
• Getting Social Online
• Giving and Receiving Feedback
• Improving Communication
• Interview Skills
• Telephone Interviews
• Interviewing Skills
• Business Language Skills
• The Ladder of Inference
• Top Tips for Effective Listening
• The 10 Principles of Listening
• Effective Listening Skills

Barriers to Effective Listening

• Types of Listening
• Active Listening
• Mindful Listening
• Empathic Listening
• Listening Misconceptions
• Non-Verbal Communication
• Personal Appearance
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• Non-Verbal Communication: Face and Voice
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Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process.

Listening is key to all effective communication. Without the ability to listen effectively, messages are easily misunderstood. As a result, communication breaks down and the sender of the message can easily become frustrated or irritated.

If there is one communication skill you should aim to master, then listening is it.

Listening is so important that many top employers provide listening skills training for their employees. This is not surprising when you consider that good listening skills can lead to better customer satisfaction, greater productivity with fewer mistakes, and increased sharing of information that in turn can lead to more creative and innovative work.

Many successful leaders and entrepreneurs credit their success to effective listening skills. Richard Branson frequently quotes listening as one of the main factors behind the success of Virgin.

Effective listening is a skill that underpins all positive human relationships.

Spend some time thinking about and developing your listening skills – they are the building blocks of success.

See our pages: Employability Skills and Customer Service Skills for more examples of the importance of listening in the workplace.

Good listening skills also have benefits in our personal lives, including:

A greater number of friends and social networks, improved self-esteem and confidence, higher grades at school and in academic work, and even better health and general well-being.

Studies have shown that, whereas speaking raises blood pressure, attentive listening can bring it down.

Listening is Not the Same as Hearing

Hearing refers to the sounds that enter your ears. It is a physical process that, provided you do not have any hearing problems, happens automatically.

Listening, however, requires more than that: it requires focus and concentrated effort, both mental and sometimes physical as well.  

Listening means paying attention not only to the story, but how it is told, the use of language and voice, and how the other person uses his or her body. In other words, it means being aware of both verbal and non-verbal messages. Your ability to listen effectively depends on the degree to which you perceive and understand these messages.

Listening is not a passive process. In fact, the listener can, and should, be at least as engaged in the process as the speaker. The phrase ‘ active listening ’ is used to describe this process of being fully involved.

See our pages: Active Listening and Types of Listening for more information.

The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen.  Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention.

Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen

We Spend a lot of Time Listening

Adults spend an average of 70% of their time engaged in some sort of communication.

Of this, research shows that an average of 45% is spent listening compared to 30% speaking, 16% reading and 9% writing. (Adler, R. et al. 2001). That is, by any standards, a lot of time listening. It is worthwhile, therefore, taking a bit of extra time to ensure that you listen effectively.

Based on the research of: Adler, R., Rosenfeld, L. and Proctor, R. (2001) Interplay: the process of interpersonal communicating (8th edn), Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt .

The Purpose of Listening

There is no doubt that effective listening is an extremely important life skill. Why is listening so important?

Listening serves a number of possible purposes, and the purpose of listening will depend on the situation and the nature of the communication.

To specifically focus on the messages being communicated, avoiding distractions and preconceptions.

To gain a full and accurate understanding into the speakers point of view and ideas.

To critically assess what is being said. (See our page on Critical Thinking for more).

To observe the non-verbal signals accompanying what is being said to enhance understanding.

To show interest, concern and concentration.

To encourage the speaker to communicate fully, openly and honestly.

To develop an selflessness approach, putting the speaker first.

To arrive at a shared and agreed understanding and acceptance of both sides views.

Often our main concern while listening is to formulate ways to respond. This is not a function of listening. We should try to focus fully on what is being said and how it's being said in order to more fully understand the speaker.

Effective listening requires concentration and the use of your other senses - not just hearing the words spoken.

Listening is not the same as hearing and in order to listen effectively you need to use more than just your ears.

See our page: The Ten Principles of Listening .

Further Reading from Skills You Need

Our Communication Skills eBooks

Learn more about the key communication skills you need to be a more effective communicator.

Our eBooks are ideal for anyone who wants to learn about or develop their interpersonal skills and are full of easy-to-follow, practical information.

To improve the process of effective listening, it can be helpful to turn the problem on its head and look at barriers to effective listening, or ineffective listening.

For example, one common problem is that instead of listening closely to what someone is saying, we often get distracted after a sentence or two and instead start to think about what we are going to say in reply or think about unrelated things. This means that we do not fully listen to the rest of the speaker’s message.

This problem is attributed, in part, to the difference between average speech rate and average processing rate. Average speech rates are between 125 and 175 words a minute whereas we can process on average between 400 and 800 words a minute. It is a common habit for the listener to use the spare time while listening to daydream or think about other things, rather than focusing on what the speaker is saying.

Of course the clarity of what the speaker is saying can also affect how well we listen. Generally we find it easier to focus if the speaker is fluent in their speech, has a familiar accent, and speaks at an appropriate loudness for the situation. It is more difficult, for example, to focus on somebody who is speaking very fast and very quietly, especially if they are conveying complex information.

We may also get distracted by the speaker’s personal appearance or by what someone else is saying, which sounds more interesting.

These issues not only affect you, but you are likely to show your lack of attention in your body language.

Generally, we find it much harder to control our body language, and you are likely to show your distraction and/or lack of interest by lack of eye contact, or posture. The speaker will detect the problem, and probably stop talking at best. At worse, they may be very offended or upset.

Our page on Barriers to Effective Listening explains more about common listening problems, and our page Listening Misconceptions details some of the common myths and misconceptions about listening.

Finally, it is important not to jump to conclusions about what you see and hear. You should always seek clarification to ensure that your understanding is correct.

See our pages: Clarification and Reflection for more information.

How well do you listen? Take the: Interpersonal Skills Self-Assessment

More on listening, continue to: Mindful Listening | The 10 Principles of Listening Effective Listening Skills | Barriers to Effective Listening

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7 Active Listening Techniques For Better Communication

It's time to start having more intentional conversations

Arlin Cuncic, MA, is the author of The Anxiety Workbook and founder of the website About Social Anxiety. She has a Master's degree in clinical psychology.

Amy Morin, LCSW, is a psychotherapist and international bestselling author. Her books, including "13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do," have been translated into more than 40 languages. Her TEDx talk,  "The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong," is one of the most viewed talks of all time.

• How to Improve

Active listening is a communication skill that involves going beyond simply hearing the words that another person speaks. It's about actively processing and seeking to understand the meaning and intent behind them. It requires being a mindful and focused participant in the communication process.

Active listening techniques include:

• Being fully present in the conversation
• Showing interest by practicing good eye contact
• Noticing (and using) non-verbal cues
• Asking open-ended questions to encourage further responses
• Paraphrasing and reflecting back what has been said
• Listening to understand rather than to respond
• Withholding judgment and advice

Sabrina Romanoff, PsyD explains, "Active listening requires de-centering from one’s fixed position to be fully present with another. It helps people feel more understood and strengthens relationships as it signals a willingness to sit with the other’s perspective and empathy for their situation instead of singular focus on oneself."

MStudioImages / Getty Images

In communication, active listening is important because it keeps you engaged with your conversation partner in a positive way. It also makes the other person feel heard and valued. This skill is the foundation of a successful conversation in any setting—whether at work, at home, or in social situations.

Romanoff continues, "Ultimately, it shows respect and value for the other person’s needs, concerns, and ideas as the listener is actively signaling the other person matters to them."

When you practice active listening, you are fully engaged and immersed in what the other person is saying.

7 Active Listening Techniques

The word "active" implies that you are taking some type of action when listening to others. This involves the use of certain strategies or techniques. Here are seven active listening techniques to consider.

1. Be Fully Present

Active listening requires being fully present in the conversation. This enables you to concentrate on what is being said. Being present involves listening with all your senses (sight, sound, etc.) and giving your full attention to the speaker.

"Being fully present involves the skill of tuning into the other person’s inner world while stepping away from your own. This is a power skill in deeply connecting and sitting with another’s emotions," says Romanoff.

To use this active listening technique effectively, put away your cell phone, ignore distractions, avoid daydreaming, and shut down your internal dialogue. Place your focus on your conversation partner and let everything else slip away.

2. Pay Attention to Non-Verbal Cues

As much as 65% of a person's communication is unspoken. Paying attention to these nonverbal cues can tell you a lot about the person and what they are trying to say. If they talk fast, for instance, this could be a sign that they are nervous or anxious. If they talk slowly, they may be tired or trying to carefully choose their words.

During active listening, your non-verbal behaviors are just as important. To show the person you're truly tuned in, use open, non-threatening body language. This involves not folding your arms, smiling while listening, leaning in, and nodding at key junctures.

It can also be helpful to pay attention to your facial expressions when active listening so that you don't convey any type of negative response.

3. Keep Good Eye Contact

When engaged in active listening, making eye contact is especially important. This tells the other person that you are present and listening to what they say. It also shows that you aren't distracted by anything else around you.

At the same time, you don't want to use so much eye contact that the conversation feels weird. To keep this from happening, follow the 50/70 rule. This involves maintaining eye contact for 50% to 70% of the time spent listening, holding the contact for four to five seconds before briefly looking away.

4. Ask Open-Ended Questions

Asking "yes or no" questions often produce dead-end answers. This isn't helpful during active listening as it keeps the conversation from flowing. It also makes it difficult to truly listen to the other person because there isn't much you can gain from a short, non-descriptive response.

Instead, ask open-ended questions to show that you are interested in the conversation and the other person. Examples of open-ended questions you may use when active listening include:

• Can you tell me a bit more about that?
• What did you think about that?
• What do you think is the best path moving forward?
• How do you think you could have responded differently?

The key to open-ended questions is to have a framework of curiosity about the other person. It signals genuine interest – making the other person feel valued and enables you to better understand them," adds Romanoff.

Open-ended questions encourage thoughtful, expansive responses, which is why they are often used by mental health therapists.

5. Reflect What You Hear

After the person has spoken, tell them what you heard. This active listening technique ensures that you've captured their thoughts, ideas, and/or emotions accurately. It also helps the other person feel validated and understood while keeping any potential miscommunications to a minimum.

One way to reflect what you've heard is to paraphrase. For example, you might say, "In other words, what you are saying is that you're frustrated" or "I'm hearing that you're frustrated about this situation." Summarize what you've heard and give the person the opportunity to say whether you've captured their meaning or intent.

If you'd like to better understand something the person has said, ask for clarification. But don't focus so much on insignificant details that you miss the big picture.

6, Be Patient

Patience is an important active listening technique because it allows the other person to speak without interruption. It also gives them the time to say what they are thinking without having to try to finish their sentences for them.

Being patient involves not trying to fill periods of silence with your own thoughts or stories. It also requires listening to understand, not to respond. That is, don't prepare a reply while the other person is still speaking. Also, don't change the subject too abruptly as this conveys boredom and impatience.

During active listening, you are there to act as a sounding board rather than to jump in with your own ideas and opinions about what is being said.

7, Withhold Judgment

Remaining neutral and non-judgmental in your responses enables the other person to feel comfortable with sharing their thoughts. It makes the conversation to a safe zone where they can trust that they won't be shamed, criticized, blamed, or otherwise negatively received.

Ways to be less judgmental when listening include:

• Expressing empathy for the person or their situation
• Learning more about different people and cultures
• Practicing acceptance of others
• Recognizing when you may be judging the other person, then stopping those thoughts

Active Listening Example

What does active listening look like? Here is an example of a conversation in which several different active listening techniques are used.

Lisa : I'm sorry to dump this on you, but I had a fight with my sister, and we haven't spoken since. I'm upset and don't know who to talk to.

Jodie : No problem! Tell me more about what happened. (open-ended question)

Lisa : Well, we were arguing about what to do for our parents' anniversary. I'm still so angry.

Jodie : Oh that's tough. You sound upset that you're not speaking because of it. (reflecting what was heard)

Lisa : Yes, she just makes me so angry. She assumed I would help her plan this elaborate party—I don't have time! It's like she couldn't see things from my perspective at all.

Jodie : Wow, that's too bad. How did that make you feel? (another open-ended question)

Lisa: Frustrated. Angry. Maybe a bit guilty that she had all these plans, and I was the one holding them back. Finally, I told her to do it without me. But that's not right, either.

Jodie : Sounds complicated. I bet you need some time to sort out how you feel about it. (withholding judgment)

Lisa : Yes, I guess I do. Thanks for listening—I just needed to vent.

Why Active Listening Is Important

Getting into the habit of active listening can have positive impacts in many key areas of your life. It can affect your relationships, your work, and your social interactions.

In Relationships

Active listening helps you better understand another person's point of view and respond with empathy. This is important in all types of healthy relationships , whether with a spouse, parent, child, another family member, or friend.

Being an active listener in your relationships involves recognizing that the conversation is more about the other person than about you. This is especially important when the other person is emotionally distressed.

Your ability to listen actively to a family member or friend who is going through a difficult time is a valuable communication skill. It helps keep you from offering opinions and solutions when the other person really just wants to be heard.

Active listening at work is particularly important if you are in a supervisory position or interact frequently with colleagues. It helps you understand problems and collaborate to develop solutions . It also showcases your patience, a valuable asset in the workplace.

In some cases, active listening while on the job can help improve workplace safety. For instance, if you are in the healthcare field, engaging in active listening can help reduce medical errors and prevent unintentional patient harm.

During Social Situations

Active listening techniques such as reflecting, asking open-ended questions, seeking clarification, and watching body language help you develop relationships when meeting new people . People who are active and empathic listeners are good at initiating and maintaining conversations.

Active listening helps others feel more emotionally supported. This can be beneficial when interacting with a person who has social anxiety . According to research, emotional support impacts the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of the brain, resulting in decreased feelings of distress for socially anxious individuals.

Press Play for Advice on Active Listening

Hosted by therapist Amy Morin, LCSW, this episode of The Verywell Mind Podcast shares the value of listening to others, featuring psychiatrist Mark Goulston.

Follow Now :  Apple Podcasts  /  Spotify  /  Google Podcasts  

Ways to Improve Active Listening

We've all been in situations where our "listeners" were distracted or disinterested. Or maybe you want to improve your own active listening skills so you don't do this to others.

Here are a few ways to be a better active listener yourself, or to encourage others to do the same:

• Encourage your own curiosity . The more curious you are about something, the easier it becomes to want to know more. This naturally causes you to ask more questions and to seek to understand, which are two of the core foundations of active listening in communication.
• Find a topic that interests you both . This works particularly well when engaging in small talk as you get to know one another. If you both have passion for the topic, it becomes easier to stay fully engaged in the conversation.
• Practice your active listening skills . Like with any skill, being good at active listening takes some practice. Be patient with yourself as you go through the learning process . Continuing to practice these skills may just inspire the person you're conversing with to do the same. By seeing you demonstrate active listening, they might become a better listener too.
• Understand when exiting the conversation is best . If you're talking with another person and they are clearly uninterested in the conversation, it may be best to end that conversation respectfully. This can help keep you from feeling annoyed and unheard.

If you find that you are having trouble with listening, you might benefit from professional treatment. Other options include engaging in social skills training or reading self-help books on interpersonal skills.

Keep in Mind

Active listening is an important social skill that has value in many different settings. Practice its many techniques often and it will become second nature. You'll start to ask open-ended questions and reflect what you've heard in your conversations without much (if any) thought.

"Ultimately, active listening helps the speaker feel more understood and heard—and helps the listener have more information and understanding. On both ends of active listening—people feel more connected and collaborative which is why it is such a vital tool when it comes to communication," says Romanoff.

If you find active listening techniques difficult, consider what might be getting in your way. Are you experiencing social anxiety during conversations or do you struggle with attention ? Getting help for these types of issues can help you improve your active listening skills, making you a better listener overall.

Frequently Asked Questions

Active listening helps you build trust and understand other people's situations and feelings. In turn, this empowers you to offer support and empathy. Unlike critical listening, active listening seeks to understand rather than reply. The goal is for the other person to be heard, validated, and inspired to solve their problems.

The three A's of active listening are attention, attitude, and adjustment. Attention entails being fully tuned in to the speaker's words and gestures. The proper attitude is one of positivity and open-mindedness. Adjustment is the ability to change your gestures, body language, and reactions as the speaker's story unfolds.

Reflection is the active listening technique that demonstrates that you understand and empathize with the person's feelings. In mirroring and summarizing what they've said, they feel heard and understood.

There are numerous ways to improve your active listening skills. One is to watch skilled interviewers on talk and news shows. Another is to research active listening techniques online and try them often in your everyday conversations, noting the speakers' reactions and looking for areas that need improvement.

Topornycky J, Golparian S. Balancing openness and interpretation in active listening . Collect Essays Learn Teach. 2016;9:175-184.

Pennsylvania Department of Health. Unit 6: Effective oral communication . FEMA Effective Communication .

Schulz J. Eye contact: Don't make these mistakes . Michigan State University, MSU Extension.

Dean M, Street Jr RL. A 3-stage model of patient-centered communication for addressing cancer patients' emotional distress . Patient Educ Counsel . 2014;94(2):143-148. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2013.09.025

Jahromi VK, Tabatabaee SS, Abdar ZE, Rajabi M. Active listening: The key of successful communication in hospital managers . Electron Physician . 2016;8(3):2123-2128. doi:10.19082/2123

Jones SM, Bodie GD, Hughes S. The impact of mindfulness on empathy, active listening, and perceived provisions of emotional support . Communic Res . 2016;46(6):838-865. doi:10.1177/0093650215626983

Nishiyama Y, Okamoto Y, Kunisato Y, et al. fMRI study of social anxiety during social ostracism with and without emotional support . PLoS One . 2015;10(5):e0127426. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0127426

Colorado State University Global. What is active listening? 4 tips for improving communication skills .

Pennsylvania State University. Active listening . 

University of California, Berkeley. Active listening . Greater Good Science Center.

By Arlin Cuncic, MA Arlin Cuncic, MA, is the author of The Anxiety Workbook and founder of the website About Social Anxiety. She has a Master's degree in clinical psychology.

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How to Become a Better Listener

• Robin Abrahams
• Boris Groysberg

Sharpen these seven skills.

Listening is a skill that’s vitally important, sadly undertaught, and physically and mentally taxing. In the aftermath of Covid-19, particularly with the shift to remote work and the red-hot job market, it’s never been more important — or more difficult — for leaders to be good listeners. This article offers nine tips to help leaders become more active listeners, and a breakdown of the subskills involved in listening and how you can improve in them.

It’s never been more important — or more difficult — for leaders to be good listeners. Job switching is rampant, and remote work means we don’t get the nonverbal cues we’d pick up from an in-person conversation. Employers who fail to listen and thoughtfully respond to their people’s concerns will see greater turnover. And given that the highest rates of turnover are among top performers who can take clients and projects with them, and the frontline employees responsible for the customer experience, the risk is clear.

• Robin Abrahams is a research associate at Harvard Business School.
• BG Boris Groysberg is a professor of business administration in the Organizational Behavior unit at Harvard Business School and a faculty affiliate at the school’s Race, Gender & Equity Initiative. He is the coauthor, with Colleen Ammerman, of Glass Half-Broken: Shattering the Barriers That Still Hold Women Back at Work (Harvard Business Review Press, 2021). bgroysberg

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How to Improve Listening Skills in English

If you want to get better at English listening, you have to… well, listen to English !

The best way to improve your English listening skills is a combination of immersion and active and passive listening, plus finding the right exercises (like shadowing, dictation, using the right material, etc.) for you.

This post will show you how to improve your English listening skills quickly using 31 tips.  

How to Improve Listening Skills in English On Your Own

1. start with a positive mindset., 2. study a little bit at a time., 3. try different types of content., 4. sing along to english songs., 5. listen to the same content every day for a week., 6. listen to english conversations., 7. take advantage of “white noise.”, 8. listen intensively., 9. listen for the big ideas., 10. listen for the details., 11. listen and read., 12. listen and speak., 13. listen and write., 14. predict audio content., 15. experiment with different accents., 16. play esl listening games online., 17. listen as you sleep., 18. listen to yourself., 19. listen from mid-sentence., 20. listen to the verbs., 21. listen to the articles., 22. use different audio speeds., 23. join a conversation group., 24. prepare your conversations before they happen., 25. guess the meaning from context first., how to improve english listening in a classroom setting, 26. record class activities on your cell phone., 27. have a list of words to listen for in class., 28. ask your classmates for help., how to improve english listening in one-on-one classes, 29. listen to your teacher for intonation., 30. listen to your teacher for stress., 31. have a conversation with someone who isn’t a native english speaker., 6 resources to practice listening to english, breaking news english, the british council, and one more thing....

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

I know English listening can be very difficult, especially with speakers who have a strong accent or who talk really fast.

But you’ve actually done it before!

You learned how to listen, understand and speak a language when you were a baby. Why should it be any different now that you’re an adult?

If you don’t believe that you can listen and understand what people are saying, in the words of Jedi Master Yoda from “Star Wars”: “That is why you fail.”

Having a hard time? Focus on actively listening.

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When people are talking, don’t focus on what you’re going to reply, don’t try to translate what they’re saying, don’t analyze the grammar structure of the sentences… just listen.

Only have a few minutes per day to study? Perfect.

There are a lot of scientific studies that prove that learning for 15 to 30 minutes every day is much better than trying to memorize hundreds of new words and grammar rules in one day.

This is called microlearning .

Simply speaking, microlearning is dividing your task into very small tasks that can be done in about five minutes.

For example, if you’re trying to listen to a podcast, you can break it up and focus on one minute at a time, taking the time to learn the vocabulary and understand what’s being said.

• Interactive subtitles: click any word to see detailed examples and explanations
• Slow down or loop the tricky parts
• Show or hide subtitles
• Review words with our powerful learning engine

This is just an example. You can divide your task the way you want, always trying to remember that every individual task should last five minutes at most.

There are so many different formats for studying. Find the one that works for you, or switch between content types depending on the situation.

For instance, you can listen to podcasts, audiobooks and radio shows while you’re on the go.

When you have time to sit and do more active studying, you can turn on a YouTube channel or read along with your audiobook.

There are benefits for studying with each type of content:

• Podcasts : You can hear natural conversational English on many podcasts, especially when they don’t have a script. This can help you understand people’s speaking habits, and hear the way real native English speakers have conversations, add pauses to their speech, etc. 
• Radio : The radio has a huge variety of listening practice. You can listen to music, talk shows and news broadcasts—just to name a few. Radio is great for passive listening (listening in the background as you do other things). You can choose different radio shows and focus on listening to different dialects and accents from English speakers around the world.
• Audiobooks : An audiobook is basically a recording of someone reading a book. Audiobooks can be a great source of vocabulary since they use a wider range of words than common speech. You can also get a physical or digital copy of the book and read along as you listen. Doing so, you’ll find it easy to concentrate solely on the words. You can practice pronunciation by reading out loud and trying to match what you just heard.
• YouTube : There’s truly no end to what you can watch on YouTube. Many YouTube videos have captions available. Though these aren’t always accurate, they can help support your listening until you feel more comfortable with just using your ears. A good place to start is with this video from the FluentU English YouTube channel , which tests your listening comprehension level:

Learning English by listening to songs is a fun and effective way to improve your listening skills.

You can write out the lyrics, sing along (karaoke night, anyone?) or you can even skip the lyrics and see how much you know by heart!

• Learn words in the context of sentences
• Swipe left or right to see more examples from other videos
• Go beyond just a superficial understanding

Turn on English music as you do other things and sing along as you wash dishes or drive to work, for instance.

For a challenge, try listening and singing along to rap songs.

The speed and rhythm of these songs can make them difficult to shadow, which makes them perfect for active listening practice.

Find a bit of content that you enjoy, like a podcast or a YouTube channel. Choose just one brief episode or video to listen to every day for a week.

Pick out words or phrases that are difficult to understand and look them up on the first and second days.

Don’t forget to hit “pause” and listen again.

After a couple of days, you should be able to listen for these words and understand them.

• FluentU builds you up, so you can build sentences on your own
• Start with multiple-choice questions and advance through sentence building to producing your own output
• Go from understanding to speaking in a natural progression.

Try speaking along with your audio source. You can even record yourself and listen for the differences between yourself and the speaker.

By the last day, you’ll find that you can understand much more than on the first day.

As your ear adjusts to hearing this English podcast episode, it’ll be easier to listen to new audio in English.

If you’re living somewhere English is spoken, take an afternoon to hunt for an English conversation.

You can search for English conversation on a bus, in a cafe or at a park.

Or, if eavesdropping on random strangers makes you uncomfortable, you can search for casual street vlogs on YouTube. 

• Images, examples, video examples, and tips
• Covering all the tricky edge cases, eg.: phrases, idioms, collocations, and separable verbs
• No reliance on volunteers or open source dictionaries
• 100,000+ hours spent by FluentU's team to create and maintain

At first, you probably won’t know what they’re talking about since you’ll probably start listening in the middle of the conversation. This will make it even more challenging to understand, but also more fun.

Try and pick out words that you’ve learned or are trying to learn.

How much can you understand? Could you write a summary of the conversation?

Take note of how people pronounce things when they have different emotions. Something that’s said in anger and something that’s said in passing (quickly, casually) can sound very different.

White noise is an ongoing, usually repetitive sound that goes on in the background while you do something else.

We’re practicing passive listening when we use English white noise.

Play a podcast, an audiobook or an English series in the background while you clean your flat or iron your clothes (or do any other chore).

Don’t pay special attention to it, just let it play and go on with your activities.

You might think that you’re not learning anything if you’re not paying attention, but the truth is that your brain is registering everything that’s happening in the background!

This practice is also useful for familiarizing yourself with the sounds and rhythm of the English language. Don’t stress out about missing some information or not understanding something—that’s not the purpose of this exercise.

Find a quiet place and set aside 15 minutes free of disruptions.

Play an audio file and focus on catching the words as well as their use and the overall meaning of the audio.

Take notes about everything you find important, such as when a speaker raises her voice to imply her anger or when you think a speaker is being sarcastic  (means the opposite of what they say).

Are there any words you don’t understand completely or are unsure how to spell?

Write them down as well so you can check later.

Listen to the speed, too. Are there any places where the speaker pauses, slows down or speeds up? What do you think these moments mean?

This exercise focuses on taking your listening skills to the next level.

It trains your ability to focus your attention on the words being spoken and is beneficial whether you’re entering an English-speaking university, workplace or just an everyday conversation.

At first, you should resist the impulse to try to understand every single word people are saying. It’s more important to keep up with the conversation and try to understand the main ideas.

Listen out for certain words that give you a hint of the sequence or topic of conversation.

For example, when you saw the words “for example” in this sentence, you knew that an example was coming up!

Or, if your friend is talking about a new movie that they watched, you can listen out for positive and negative words to understand if they liked the movie (“great,” “exciting”) or not (“bad,” “boring”).

Focus on keywords like these to grasp the most relevant parts of a conversation.

Once you relax and make it a priority to understand the main idea, you’ll have the freedom to complete your comprehension with the details and clear the air later by asking questions.

Once you feel comfortable figuring out the main ideas of different conversation topics, you can start to listen in for the details.

For example, if you’re interested in knowing the age of a person, pay attention to any words related to age like “old,” “years,” “born in” or even a number, which could be that person’s age.

An excellent way to practice listening for details is to decide what kind of detailed information you want to practice listening for and then listen to radio shows where you would get this information.

Let’s say, for example, that you want to practice listening for details about the weather. You could listen to a weather report and focus on the names of cities and the temperatures in every one of them.

You can also focus on other kinds of details, like word intonation or stress.

Another way to improve your listening skills is to use two sources of information at the same time.

The easiest way to do this is by watching an English video with English subtitles .

This way, you’ll be listening to and reading the words, which will make it easier to understand everything and will help you remember more.

Many podcasts include a transcript of what the speaker’s saying, so once again you get to listen to and read the same information at the same time.

You can also print the transcript before listening. That way, when you find something interesting, you can stop the audio and make notes on the printed transcript.

And, as I mentioned earlier, you can listen to audiobooks while you read along with the written work.

Listen to a sentence over and over. Repeat the words immediately after the speaker says them. This is called shadowing.

Keep practicing until your speed and intonation match those of the speaker.

Shadowing an audio file is one of the best exercises to improve your listening and speaking skills at the same time. You’ll not only polish your pronunciation but also acquire the natural rhythm and speed of the English language.

For an added challenge, turn off the audio and try to say the sentence on your own.

Record yourself and see how similar your version is to the audio file.

Writing what you hear forces you to decode individual sounds.

Transcribing (“writing what you hear”) gives you a surprisingly fun way to improve your listening skills. Through writing, you can learn new words or discover that certain words are pronounced very differently than you thought.

Some websites let you listen to short audio recordings and write down every word that you hear.

Make sure to keep going back and playing each sentence again and again until you’ve transcribed the whole thing.

Pay close attention to your spelling, as well.

One of the most challenging things about English writing is that the way something sounds is not always how it’s written!

Imagine that you’re listening to the radio. You hear a helicopter in the background and a speaker is mentioning the names of streets, roads and avenues and talking about how many vehicles are currently on these roads.

What do you think he’s talking about? Most likely, you’re listening to a traffic report.

You can then expect to hear other words like “bottleneck,” “traffic jam” and “rush hour.” You’ll probably also hear the imperative (command form of verbs): “Don’t take the highway” or “Avoid 4th Avenue.”

Next time you’re watching or listening to an English TV show or the radio, pause after every few sentences.

Try to predict what’s going to happen or what the speaker might say next.

Based on the context, you can often predict the words and even style of language you will hear.

A powerful way to practice this is by creating mind maps: Whenever you learn new words, try to group them with other words used in a similar context.

You might have trouble understanding some English accents the first few times you listen to them. This is normal! Even native English speakers can have trouble understanding different English accents.

Remember that practice makes perfect.

If you think a specific English accent is more difficult to understand for you, all you have to do is keep practicing your listening skills with audio from that accent.

For example, if American English is challenging for you, try watching American series, movies, the news or listening to American podcasts for a month.

At the end of these 30 days, your ears will have gotten used to the accent, and it’ll be much easier for you to understand.

English listening games provide a fun, interactive experience if you’re looking to improve your listening skills.

A few great ESL listening game sites include:

• ESL Kids Lab : This site is filled with simple listening exercises for beginners. Practice understanding basic vocabulary for school, jobs, everyday objects and more.

• TeachThis : These games are designed for English classrooms, but if you have a group of friends to practice English with you can try them, too!

• Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab :  This site is an absolute goldmine of English listening tests and quizzes. They’re organized by level, with something for everyone from beginner to advanced.

Listening games also give you an incentive to “win”—you’ll stay motivated and want to keep practicing English listening.

No, I haven’t gone crazy. It’s actually possible to practice your English while you sleep .

While you can’t actually learn new content, sleep learning has been shown to improve your memory of vocabulary that you’ve already started learning.

If you want to give this a try, you’ll find lots of posts, articles and studies that talk about this topic (like this one ).

They normally focus on learning vocabulary, but you can use these resources to improve your listening skills, as well.

If you’re having a conversation with yourself in front of the mirror or in your head, you’re already listening to yourself. Use your own voice to improve your English listening skills!

Talk to yourself in English when you go for a run, take a shower or any other time when your mind isn’t occupied by something else.

You can even pretend to be two different people and play out a conversation in English in your head. You can even try using different accents! 

Another way to improve your listening through speaking is by mimicking English-language shows .

Watch an episode (or part of one) and try to imitate the accent in front of a mirror.

Look at the actors’ faces and listen to them say specific words and phrases as many times as you need until you have the correct pronunciation.

Fast forward to a random place in the audio and start listening in the middle of a sentence.

Try to figure out the topic as quickly as possible.

Can you also guess the emotion? Does it sound like a friendly chat or a heated discussion? The intonation and stress are your clues.

This is the perfect exercise to prepare you for real-life conversations.

In workplaces, schools and other social settings, it can be easy to miss a part of a conversation due to noise from the environment. This exercise will prevent confusion and help you catch up even if you don’t hear (or don’t understand) something.

Listen to about a minute of an audio file and write down every verb you hear.

Pause the audio and immediately try to rewrite all the sentences based on your list of verbs. Do this quickly while your memory is fresh.

Listen again, this time pausing after each sentence. If your audio comes with subtitles, compare them to your sentences.

How similar was your version to the actual one?

This high-level listening practice with audio enhances your ability to catch vital information while listening.

It’s useful for attending classes in English-speaking countries or working in an English-speaking environment since it helps you focus on the key points of each sentence.

As you write, pay attention to the role of action verbs, such as “to drink” or “to run,” compared with linking verbs like “to be.”

Writing out the sentences from memory is a great way to practice, and will affect your choice of words when you speak and write yourself.

Despite having no real meaning, articles are an essential part of the English language .

With this exercise, you focus on recognizing unstressed sounds. 

Pick a video with subtitles or an audio file with a transcript. Listen to it once without looking at the written text, and once again with the text.

Pay attention to the articles: “a,” “an” and “the.”

As you listen the second time, circle or highlight every article.

How many times is each article used? Which articles are used in which sentences? How is the meaning of the sentence affected by the type of article used?

This is as simple as it sounds: Pick a video on YouTube (or any platform that allows you to change the speed of the audio/video).

The first time you watch, do it at normal speed. You’ll probably miss information, but that happens to all of us.

During your second listening, choose the 0.75 speed.

This will play the video slower, and you’ll be able to understand many more words or expressions than the first time.

When you think you’re ready for a challenge, do the opposite.

Choose 1.25 or even 1.5 and watch the video at a faster speed. (Don’t go over 1.75—that’s a challenge even for native speakers!)

One great way to practice listening to real people is to join a group of English learners who are looking to do the same.

Conversation groups usually meet regularly, but it’s not a class. You don’t have to come every week—the purpose is simply to talk in English.

Meetup is a great place to look for English conversation groups. (If you can’t find a group near you, start your own!)

Meeting with other learners is a great way to listen to English with a variety of accents and voices. If you’re nervous about speaking English, remind yourself that you’re going to listen—and this is totally okay.

You can even tell the other speakers this if it makes you more comfortable.

You could say something like: “Hi, I’m Rebecca. I’m going to focus on listening tonight, so I might not say very much!”

Besides listening and speaking practice, joining a conversation group can be a fantastic way to make new friends who can help push you to keep learning.

Every conversation includes a speaker and a listener. This means that when you’re having a conversation, you’re also practicing your listening skills.

This can be intimidating if you struggle to understand spoken English. The solution? Prepare for conversations before they happen!

Of course, you can’t always know how a certain conversation will go.

But certain situations, like going to the doctor or buying groceries, often repeat vocabulary words, phrases and sentences.

Prepare for a conversation by figuring out what questions you might be asked or need to ask, and how you can respond.

Pay special attention to key words you expect to hear and practice listening to them so you know how to recognize them in conversation (you can record yourself saying them).

When having an English conversation or listening to English audio , try to pick out key words that you know.

You can use these to get a basic idea of what someone is trying to convey and figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word.

You can pay attention to the tone of voice (is the speaker happy, confused, serious or laughing?), body language and your surroundings.

For example, if someone is trying to communicate with you and is pointing at a map while asking a question, there’s a good chance that they need directions.

Record the lessons if you have trouble understanding every spoken English word during your classes.

Later, you can listen to the class again and hear any of the words you might have missed the first time.

These recordings will also help you become familiar with the sound of your teacher and classmates while they speak.

You should listen for the tone and intonation (the rise and fall of a voice’s tone) of their words.

This will help you pronounce difficult words more clearly and easily. Eventually, you’ll find it easier to understand everything that’s being said during classes.

Most smartphones come with a voice recorder, but if yours doesn’t have one, here’s one for Android and here’s one for iOS .

Using a recording, write a list of the words you hear most often in class .

Then, bring this list with you to class and listen for those words.

Whenever you hear a word on your list, place a check next to it. Which words do you hear the most often?

When making your list, you can also add words that you think you might hear in class.

For example, if you’re starting a unit on traveling, add some English words for travel to your list.

Listen for the context or how the words are used in sentences.

This active listening exercise will help you understand when and why certain words are used. Once you’re comfortable with the words you hear all the time, you can focus on the words from your list with fewer checkmarks.

While you can learn a lot from your teacher, it can also be helpful to learn from your classmates.

Find someone in your class who wants to learn with you. You can agree on a certain podcast, speech, song or other audio and listen together.

Then, quiz each other on what certain words or sentences mean.

Your classmate will probably understand words that you don’t, and vice versa.

In addition to the listening practice, this will let you get to know your classmates better, which can make you more comfortable in class.

Intonation is the change in pitch — how high or low a sound is—when someone speaks.

The two main patterns of English intonation are falling (lowering your pitch to make a statement) and rising (raising your pitch to ask a question or express disbelief).

During a session, try to listen to your conversation partner or teacher only for intonation.

If you can notice intonation, this will make it easier to hear the difference between a statement and a question.

So pick a day, and instead of listening for the words your teacher uses, listen for the emotion and meaning behind the words—based on the intonation.

You can ask your teacher to say the same phrase or sentence with different emotions (angry, excited, sad, etc.) so you can listen for the difference.

You can even turn this into a game: Guess the emotion that your teacher’s using based on their intonation.

Listen for word  stress, which can be recognized by the louder volume, higher pitch or extended length of a vowel in a particular syllable.

(For example, in the word “ centipede ,” the stress is on the cen .)

Phrases and sentences also have stressed words.

For example, in the question “What did you say?”, the biggest stress will be on “what” and “say.” The middle words “did you” are said more quickly, since they’re not as important.

Learning to listen for the stress in a native speaker’s voice will help you find the key terms in each sentence, as they’re usually the ones that are stressed.

To practice listening for stress, try to make an impression of how your teacher speaks and sounds.

Listen carefully, think about stress and intonation, and then give it a try!

If you’re not comfortable doing this in front of your teacher or partner, record part of your lesson and then try it at home. You can make this a really fun exercise!

If you can, have a session with someone whose first language isn’t English (a non-native speaker).

This will give you a chance to listen to the differences between how native speakers and non-native speakers sound.

If you can hear the differences, it will actually make it easier to listen to native English speakers. To find a non-native English speaker online, try an online language exchange or online private tutor.

You can find both options on italki .

This resource is free, printable and interactive, and it accommodates many levels.

It’s full of short audio tracks about current events, weird news and worldwide issues.

Each news clip is presented in several different difficulties so you can use the one that suits your current skill level.

With more than 3,000 lessons, you can do word-fill activities, vocabulary exercises, true or false questions and multiple-choice quizzes along with other activities that prompt conversation and critical thinking.

Then you can check your answers.

You can get some additional help with this by using the subtitled immersion program, FluentU . The program teaches with authentic videos, which are videos made by and for native speakers—the kind that English speakers actually watch.

That means that the content library is full of useful videos like movie trailers, clips from TV shows, commercials, news segments, music videos and many others. And since it can be difficult to understand real English speech, FluentU lets you filter all the videos by skill level, topic and format to make it easier to find something fitting for your study needs.

You can turn off the subtitles to really test your ears. Or, turn the subtitles back on and click or move your mouse over any of the words to check their definition and usage. Every word comes with an in-context definition, image, audio and multiple example sentences, which you can view by clicking on it in the subtitles of a video. From here, you can even see how it’s used in other videos across the site.

When you finish watching the video, test yourself using the quiz that follows.

This site offers a wide range of speeches on as many different subjects as you can think of, all for free.

You can even find talks with subtitles in 105 languages.

This means that you can watch videos in your native language to help you follow along. (Once you’ve done that, try it with English subtitles!)

You can also find an interactive transcript or a printable one that you can read along with the talk.

TED is ideal for advanced learners, but there are plenty of talks for all skill levels.

English Listening Lesson Library Online, also known as “elllo,” has over 3,000 free listening lessons for various levels.

It offers a large variety of exercises and accents.

You can get news, situational dialogues, video blogs from other English learners around the world, audio tracks called “mixers” where six different speakers respond to the same question and other helpful audio.

All of these come with transcripts.

It’s especially fun and interesting because the content is made by people from all over the world, with different accents and cultures. You can connect with other learners, and if you want, you can upgrade your account for more language exercises.

The British Council offers some great audio and four different levels.

They also provide questions and gap fills that you can do as you listen to the audio track.

If you want to study it even further, they have PDF downloads with more exercises.

Below the online exercises, there’s an active chat board where you can answer a question posed by a moderator and vote on other people’s responses.

Whether you’re attending an English-speaking university, preparing to attend one or simply want to improve your listening skills in an academic field, this solution is for you.

The edX website provides lectures from some of the greatest universities in the world, available for free to anyone who wants to learn.

University lectures use specific vocabulary about academic subjects, depending on your interests or the profession you’re interested in.

Learning this specialized vocabulary can be challenging, but it’s a great opportunity for you to practice and improve your listening skills.

You’ll increase your chances of success in university courses while improving your listening comprehension skills. You’ll practice listening to class lectures. You’ll also improve in common college tasks, such as class discussions and presentations.

And all without burying yourself in debt!

Whether you learn best in a classroom, one-on-one with a teacher or by yourself at home, practice English listening the way that’s best for you.

These tips and resources will help you improve even faster than before. Good luck!

If you like learning English through movies and online media, you should also check out FluentU. FluentU lets you learn English from popular talk shows, catchy music videos and funny commercials , as you can see here:

If you want to watch it, the FluentU app has probably got it.

The FluentU app and website makes it really easy to watch English videos. There are captions that are interactive. That means you can tap on any word to see an image, definition, and useful examples.

FluentU lets you learn engaging content with world famous celebrities.

For example, when you tap on the word "searching," you see this:

FluentU lets you tap to look up any word.

Learn all the vocabulary in any video with quizzes. Swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you’re learning.

FluentU helps you learn fast with useful questions and multiple examples. Learn more.

The best part? FluentU remembers the vocabulary that you’re learning. It gives you extra practice with difficult words—and reminds you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You have a truly personalized experience.

Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)

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Home — Essay Samples — Education — Listening — The Art of Active Listening

The Art of Active Listening

• Categories: Listening Perception Skills

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Words: 469 |

Published: Jan 29, 2019

Words: 469 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

• Comprehensive (Informational) Listening:- Students listen for the content of the message.
• Critical (Evaluative) Listening:- Students judge the message.
• Appreciative (Aesthetic) Listening:- Students listen for enjoyment.
• Therapeutic (Empathetic) Listening:-Students listen to support others but not judge them.

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British Council

Five essential listening skills for english learners, by raphael ahmed, 18 june 2015 - 16:08.

Jamie Johnson for British Council 

How can learners improve their listening comprehension? Teacher Raphael Ahmed shares some useful strategies in one of our top five articles of all time, illustrated by artist Jamie Johnson.

Why listening is important

It should not be difficult to realise the importance of listening when we consider that it occupies about  45 per cent  of the time adults spend in communication. This is significantly more than speaking, which accounts for 30 per cent, and reading and writing, which make up 16 per cent and nine per cent respectively.

Yet, for all its importance, students (and even teachers) often fail to give listening the attention it needs. This is all the more remarkable as learners often say that listening is the most challenging of all the skills in English.

Listening challenges for English language learners

There are many difficulties an individual may face in understanding a talk, lecture or conversation in a second language (and sometimes even in their first language). The speaker, the situation and the listener can all be the cause of these difficulties.

Contributing factors include the speaker talking quickly, background noise, a lack of visual clues (such as on the telephone), the listener’s limited vocabulary, a lack of knowledge of the topic, and an inability to distinguish individual sounds.

While the challenges posed by the speaker or the situation may be out of the listener’s hands, there are a few skills or 'strategies' that English learners can use to help them along.

1. Predicting content

Imagine you've just turned on your TV. You see a man in a suit standing in front of a large map with the symbols of a sun, clouds and thunder. What do you imagine he is about to tell you? Most likely, this is going to be a weather forecast. You can expect to hear words like 'sunny', 'windy' and 'overcast'. You'll probably hear the use of the future tense: 'It'll be a cold start to the day'; 'there'll be showers in the afternoon', etc.

Depending on the context – a news report, a university lecture, an exchange in a supermarket – you can often predict the kind of words and style of language the speaker will use. Our knowledge of the world helps us anticipate the kind of information we are likely to hear. Moreover, when we predict the topic of a talk or a conversation, all the related vocabulary stored in our brains is 'activated' to help us better understand what we're listening to.

Practise predicting content:

Watch or listen to a recorded TV programme or clip from YouTube. Pause after every few sentences. Try to predict what is going to happen or what the speaker might say next.

If you are taking a listening test, skim through the questions first and try to predict what kind of information you need to listen out for. A question beginning 'How many..?', for example, will probably require you to listen for a specific number or quantity of something.

2. Listening for gist

Imagine you are a superhero flying in the sky. From that height, it is possible to see what the entire area is like, how densely populated it is, the kind of houses in each area.

When listening, it is also possible to get the ‘whole picture’ but with one crucial difference: information comes in a sequence. And in that sequence of information, there are  content words  (the nouns, adjectives and verbs) that can help you form that picture. We often call this listening for gist.

For example, the words 'food', 'friends', 'fun', 'park' and 'sunny day' have their own meanings, but when you hear the words in sequence, they help form the context of a picnic.

Practise listening for gist:

Find a short video with subtitles on a topic that interests you. Use the title to help you predict the content and then listen out for the  content words . Go back, and listen again with the subtitles. How much did you understand the first time? Return to the video a week later and try again.

When you learn new words, try to group them with other words used in a similar context.  Mind maps  are good for this.

3. Detecting signposts

Just like the traffic lights on roads, there are signposts in language that help us follow what we're listening to. These words, which link ideas, help us to understand what the speaker is talking about and where they are taking us. They're particularly important in presentations and lectures.

For example, if a university lecturer says: 'I am going to talk about three factors affecting global warming…' then later on you might hear the phrases 'first of all', 'moving on to' and 'in summary' to indicate the next part of the talk. Other words and phrases can function in a similar way. For instance, to clarify ('in other words', 'to put it another way'); to give examples ('to illustrate this', 'for example'), and so on. Take a look at this  list of phrases  for more examples.

Practise detecting signpost language:

Most course books for learners of English come with a CD and audio script. Find an example of a business presentation or lecture and see how many signpost phrases you can identify (listen more than once, if necessary). Then check your notes with the audio script.

In your notebook, group signpost phrases according to their functions, and continue to add new expressions as you come across them.

4. Listening for details

Imagine you are a detective taking a closer look at those buildings you saw earlier on as a superhero. This time, rather than taking in the big picture, you're looking for something specific and rejecting anything that does not match what's on your list.

Similarly, when listening for details, you are interested in a specific kind of information – perhaps a number, name or object. You can ignore anything that does not sound relevant. In this way, you are able to narrow down your search and get the detail you need.

In a listening test, if you are asked to write down the age of a person, listen for the words related to age ('old', 'young', 'years', 'date of birth', etc.) or a number that could represent that person's age. If it is a conversation, you might wait to hear someone beginning a question with 'How old…?'

Practise listening for details:

Decide on a type of detailed information you want to practise listening for and watch programmes where you would expect to get that information. For example, you could listen to a weather report to get details about the weather, or you could follow the sports news to find out the latest results.

If you are taking a test, as soon as you get the question paper, skim through the questions, underline the important words and decide what kind of detail you need to identify in the listening text.

5. Inferring meaning

Imagine you are a tourist in a country whose language you do not speak. In a restaurant, you hand over a credit card to pay for the bill, but the server seems to say something apologetic in response. Even though you don't understand his words, you can probably conclude that the restaurant doesn't take credit cards, and you need to pay with cash instead.

This is the technique of inferring meaning: using clues and prior knowledge about a situation to work out the meaning of what we hear.

Similarly, we can infer the relationship between people from the words they use, without having to find out directly. Take the following conversation:

A: Tom, did you do your homework? B: I did, sir, but the dog ate it. A: That's a terrible excuse. You'll never pass your exams if you don't work harder.

We can infer from the use of the words 'homework' and 'exams' that this is a conversation between a student and his teacher. By using contextual clues and our knowledge of the world, we can work out what's being said, who is speaking and what's taking place.

Practise inferring meaning:

Find a YouTube clip from a popular television show, for example  Friends . Now, rather than watch it, just listen to the dialogue. How much can you infer about what is taking place, who is talking and what their relationship is? Now listen to the clip a second time but watch it too. Were your conclusions correct?

The next time you hear a word you don't understand, try to guess its meaning using the context or situation to help you. But don't worry if you don't get it the first time. As with everything in life, the more you practise, the better you will get.

These strategies are not stand-alone. While prediction is mostly a pre-listening skill, others need to be used simultaneously to get the best result when listening.

Teachers, visit our  TeachingEnglish  website for more lesson plans and activities, and find out how you can become a  TeachingEnglish blogger .

This article is one of our top five most-read of all time. 

Raphael Ahmed is still a teacher of English, and currently interested in AI and its implications on assessment. He got into teaching English in 2011, to make himself more internationally mobile; he heard that he could ‘go places’ if he did the Cambridge CELTA. Apart from learning, teaching and travelling, he’s interested in woodworking, painting, cooking, writing and coding.

Jamie Johnson  is an artist and illustrator based in Glasgow, Scotland. He works in painting, collage, drawing and various digital media techniques. Jamie has exhibited his work in galleries around the UK, Europe and North America, most recently as a solo show at Chopping Block Gallery in London. He continues to work with a wide variety of clients as an illustrator and designer, alongside a personal interest in community-based projects. 

You might also be interested in:

• How can film help you teach or learn English?
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Importance of Listening Skills

Listening is an essential skill for daily conversations and for conducting interviews. There are six main strategies required for effective listening during any interview: concentrating on the conversation, avoiding judgment, reflecting, clarifying questions, using a summary, and sharing one’s ideas (Agarwal, 2019). Active listening during interviews is a valuable technique that helps build rapport with the people being interviewed, understand their ideas and feelings, and encourage them to elaborate on their thoughts. Active listening helps to extract the necessary information from the interview. The first reason why listening is essential during an interview is to create a rapport with the interviewee. Building a rapport is critical for establishing a trusting environment during the conversation (Agarwal, 2019). Second, understanding the other person’s thoughts and feelings about the subject is challenging without proper listening. Since an interview’s goal is to understand the interviewee’s ideas, being an attentive listener prevents missing important details (Agarwal, 2019). Third, active listening is needed to encourage people to expand their feelings and thoughts (Agarwal, 2019). Reflection on the person’s emotions and clarifying provided information demonstrates the interviewer listens and understands the other person. Attentive listening is a valuable strategy to create a trusting environment for the interview to encourage interviewees to share their thoughts and feelings freely. Understanding that listening is an essential part of an interview, I started to evaluate my listening skills. There are three listening skills that I use during conversations. First, I always listen to what the other person says about a specific question. Second, it is easy for me to reflect on other person’s ideas. Third, I ask open-ended questions to clarify the information provided. I consider myself strong in these three listening techniques because it has always been easy to memorize information during a conversation. However, I need to improve three other listening skills to become an effective interviewer: withholding judgment, summarizing the information, and sharing my thoughts. To improve these three listening skills, I need to practice interviewing in a standardized setting to receive detailed feedback after each session. Overall, listening skills are essential for conducting an interview effectively. Being non-judgemental and sharing one’s own experience about the subject helps to build a rapport with an interviewee. Listening is necessary for understanding people’s thoughts and feeling about the questions asked. Lastly, reflecting on their emotions, asking clarifying questions, and summarizing the conversation encourage people to elaborate on their ideas and provide more information for the interviewer.

Agarwal, U. A. (2019). Qualitative interviewing. In S. Mishra & R. N. Subudhi (Eds.), Methodological Issues in Management Research: Advances, Challenges, and the Way Ahead (pp. 79–91). Emerald Publishing Limited. Web.

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Communication Strategies: Good Listening Skills Essay

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Every person is a social being. Human beings should improve their communication skills and competencies. This practice will make them successful. I recently encountered a challenging situation in my organization. Our team was unable to achieve most of its goals.

The team was facing a major communication breakdown. The employees were also facing different challenges. For example, most of the employees did not interact with one another. This situation made the working environment unbearable. A new conflict emerged, thus affecting the team’s performance.

How Listening to Styles Influence Emotions

I decided to deal with the above challenges to make our team successful. The first strategy was to have a meeting. I requested every teammate to attend the meeting. I used this opportunity to understand the challenges and problems affecting our team. I was happy because every member of our team attended the meeting.

The next step was to implement a powerful decision-making process. Every participant was part of the problem-solving process. This meeting made it easier for me to understand the challenges affecting our team. I also encouraged every teammate to present his or her grievances.

This exercise allowed me to improve my listening skills. I listened attentively to understand the issues affecting every employee. Every successful manager possesses the best listening skills. Such skills make it easier for the manager to understand the issues affecting his or her organization.

I also established the best relationships with the targeted employees. Every teammate was willing to be part of the exercise. Some employees were unhappy with most of our managers. Such managers did not support their needs. I also realized that some employees were abusing their junior workmates. This situation affected the performance of our team. The malpractice made it impossible for the firm to achieve most of its goals.

The responses obtained from these individuals influenced my emotions. A person’s listening style will determine the quality of information obtained from different speakers. This style made it easier for me to understand the major challenges affecting my team. I was also unhappy with the situation.

The above malpractices resulted in different emotional responses. I used my listening skills to analyze the situation. This approach made it easier for me to understand the challenges affecting our team. This conflict also discouraged more individuals from supporting the team’s goals.

Dealing with the Conflict

I used my emotions to deal with the targeted situation. I encouraged my employees to work as a team. I also encouraged my teammates to embrace the best communication skills. I used my emotions to mentor every victimized employee. I encouraged every junior employee to report different forms of abuse. This approach would make it easier for our team to achieve its goals. This listening style equipped me with the best ideas. I will always use this knowledge to address the major obstacles affecting my teammates.

This exercise produced positive results. Majority of the targeted employees were ready to support one another. This new practice made it easier for the team to achieve its goals. This discussion explains why Team Leaders (TLs) should develop the best listening styles. Such leaders will use their skills to deal with every emotional challenge. The practice will deal with different organizational conflicts and disagreements.

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