{"id":2747,"date":"2016-01-26T09:29:12","date_gmt":"2016-01-26T17:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=2747"},"modified":"2016-01-26T09:29:44","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T17:29:44","slug":"toefl-tuesday-how-to-improve-english-listening-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/toefl-tuesday-how-to-improve-english-listening-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"TOEFL Tuesday: How to Improve English Listening Skills"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The advice below is for improving listening skills in English in general\u2014not just the TOEFL. So if you\u2019re studying English, watch this week\u2019s video!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"TOEFL Tuesday: How to Improve English Listening Skills\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4AjZa1Ltjh4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1. Experience<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This advice is simple and obvious, but it\u2019s extremely important, so I need to include it. You can\u2019t improve your listening just by reading, learning vocabulary, and studying grammar. And you can\u2019t improve by only listening to fake conversations from an English learning textbook. You need to listen to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">real <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">English conversations when you\u2019re at an advanced English level.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Movies, radio, and any other conversations between natives you hear are all helpful\u2014maybe even on the street! Listen as often as you can, for as long as you can. Listen to English radio if you\u2019re in a car, bus, or subway. Watch English videos on your phone or computer when you\u2019re at home. Any time you <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">can<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> focus your attention on listening to English, consider doing some practice. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2. Listen 3 times<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have a video, this is especially helpful. Your goal should be to understand about 75% of what you hear the first time. Don\u2019t stop and replay anything\u2014you will listen again twice more. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And if you understand everything the first time, then the video or audio isn\u2019t difficult enough; find something harder!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you listen the next two times, you\u2019ll get the extra information you need to to learn new words and phrases so you can understand more than that original 75%.<\/span><\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3. Read while you listen<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second time you listen, if it\u2019s possible, you should read what the person is saying at the same time. Again, online videos can be very good for this, as can movies or TV that have subtitles. I often recommend TED.com because they have so many interesting talks in English with subtitles. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>The second time you listen, you can focus more on the words and phrases you didn\u2019t understand the first time. Seeing them in text helps you to remember them and follow a bit better.<\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4. Listen and repeat<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The third time you listen, after those difficult or new phrases, stop the video or audio. Your goal is to learn how they\u2019re said, and you will do this by imitating the person who spoke. \u00a0If you learn to say it the same way, you will understand it well when you hear it again later. This is great pronunciation practice to improve your speaking, by the way. Try to sound <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">exactly<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> like the original speaker, using the same speed, rhythm, and sounds. Slow down at first, focusing on the difficult sounds, then speed up to get the rhythm and speed. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You almost definitely won\u2019t have perfect accent, and that\u2019s okay. But the more you practice sounding the same as a native speaker, the easier it will be to understand native accents. <\/span><\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5. Context<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remember that it\u2019s okay if some words or phrases are unclear, especially the first time you listen to something. There <\/span><b>should<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> be some things you don\u2019t understand; as I said, 25% should be confusing. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s partly because you want to understand the <\/span><b>big<\/b> <b>picture <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">first. In other words, focus on the main ideas. In real life, if you don\u2019t understand some phrases, it\u2019s okay. If you understand the intention, then you can communicate. Focus on what the person speaking acts like, what they probably want, and what key words give you hints about the big meanings. Only focusing on those smaller parts in your second or third listen. So if you can only hear it once (like on TOEFL listening), don\u2019t get stuck thinking about those small part. The main ideas are more important!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The advice below is for improving listening skills in English in general\u2014not just the TOEFL. So if you\u2019re studying English, watch this week\u2019s video! 1. Experience This advice is simple and obvious, but it\u2019s extremely important, so I need to include it. You can\u2019t improve your listening just by reading, learning vocabulary, and studying grammar. 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