English as an Additional Language: Listening

Learn strategies to help improve your listening skills.

Listening is a key skill you will need to master for university and beyond. To listen well, you must practice active listening. Active listening is a two-way interaction between the speaker and listener. Thus, you as the listener, listen not only to hear, but also to sense the mood, thoughts and feelings of the speaker and conversation. There are many barriers to active listening.

Some barriers to active listening are:

• Intent for listening (e.g., listening only to respond),
• Information overload/too much information to listen to,
• Inability to recall what was heard,
• Limited vocabulary,
• Speech volume and speed,
• Personal feelings toward the speaker,
• Emotions and distracting thoughts,
• External noises and other distractions.

Active listening is both affective and behavioural. As an active listener, you will be required to be empathetic with the speaker while displaying positive body language that encourages the conversation.

 Listen to the speaker below. What do you learn about listening?

Review the following active listening strategies. How many so you currently use?

• Pay attention to the speaker. Show your attention by noting the speaker’s verbal and non-verbal cues. For instance, in North American contexts, eye contact is one way to demonstrate your interest in who is speaking.
• Listen for the essence of the speaker’s thoughts. Consider how you might summarize what they have said by noting the major ideas, details, and meaning of what they are saying.
• Ask questions for clarification and to show interest. 
• Paraphrase to confirm what you have heard. 

Listening to a lecture has unique expectations and requires you to use techniques and practices that differ from those expected in a conversation. For one, listening to a lecture is more prolonged and it is often more challenging to maintain attention, for multiple reasons. Ultimately, you will be listening to learn and understand what is being taught by your professor, lecturer or TA. Listening to lectures also helps you when preparing for exams. 

 Listen to BBC Learning English as they talk about listening to lectures. 

Even if you are a native English speaker, you could struggle with listening and understanding as you communicate with students, professors and other staff in the university. To improve your listening and understanding, especially during lectures, try using the 3Ps (Preparation, Participation, and (Re)Production).