How To Learn Listening Skill?

Here is the resume about our weaknesses and its solution that had been discussed in the Listening class.

A. The things that we don’t like about listening:

1. The accent is different and difficult to understand what the native speaker say.

To improve this part, we have to make our hearing become sensitive in listening many different accent. It is better if we listen northern island accent, American accent, british, etc. Because we cannot always listen only one English accent in this world. So many accent that we have to understand.

2. Different context

Sometimes formal and informal context of the speakers make us confuse to listen, because a type of vocabulary is different. So, to improve our knowledge about it, we should listen more about many topics. By using this way, we try to learn new word from different context. We should download BBC, CNN or TuneIn in our smartphone.

B. The things that we don’t like about TOEFL listening

1. a sound that speaker says is the same with a vocab in its multiple choise.

The solution is avoid similiar sound when you answer the question.

2. Too many topics that we don’t familiar with.

Tune the radio and television news, interviews and debates. Listen several academic lectures, conferences, documentaries and educational.

3. Try to expand our vocabulary. Books such as Barron’s essential words for the TOEFL Longman and North Star series, capacity building for the TOEFL iBT are particularly useful.

4. Not focus.

Try to practice TOEFL listening for an hour a day.

C. Problem in listening IELTS

1. Pronunciation, intonation, stressing, rhythm.

By knowing this weaknesses, try to listen to something every day. Keep it short and listen to the way things are said as well as overall content. 

2. Try to make note as you listen. This is a useful skill in the test if you miss a question. Try to make notes about what you listen and then come back at the end and see if you can work out the answer. Some of these sites also provide transcripts and you can check your notes with the transcript after you have finished listening.

D. Method for listening

1. For those who is the beginner, you can listen to the music and print out the text and fill in the blank for some vocabularies.

2. Try to communicate with foreigner, but before that we should have a friend from another country who speaks English. We can use video call via WhatsApp or Line.

3. Watch movie and video without using subtitle first, then you match it with subtitle.

The reflection about listening class:

In this semester, I am taking listening course with my lecturer, Husnul Khatimah. In this class, I learn more about tips and tricks about how to master listening skill. We have been discussed so many things about how to improve listening skill. One of them is try to watch some movies without subtitle. But in some cases, this way is not effective because of course we focus and try to understand the story of the movie. What an actor said in the movie is not our listening but it is just hearing because we don’t pay attention on it.

In the listening class, I can improve my religion knowledge by listening islamic speech. So here, not only learn how to listen but also I learn other subject. My lecturer said that it gives us a good benefit. I am so lucky to be taught by Mrs. Husnul in listening course :)

My reflection in learning listening:

Learning English is not the easiest thing without practice. I know it is hard but I always practice to listen about everything I like. For example, I listen the video on YouTube channel. You can go to Youtube and find The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Haha it is my favorite channel because it can make me laugh. Sometimes I don’t understand what host and guests say, but I replay it again to avoid missunderstand.

Another channel is Skinnyfabs and Adam Saleh Vlog. His vlog gives me a very nice information about life. Hehe. Go on the next level, I watch TEDx or BBC on YouTube. In these 2 channels provide a speaker with many topics. About love is also available there, hahah. Moreover on BBC channel, I can learn grammar and writing there.

I suggest you to attend an international seminar or conference. You will meet an English native speaker and you can ask a question to him/her, so it is better for you because you will be able to listen he/she speaks directly. I used to meet Mr. Derk Anderson from German whose experience in teaching voluteering in Africa. Been honoured to discuss with him. I got new knowledge about how to teach well because he is very inspiring people.

There are also many references that have been provided in the internet. The more you learn English, the better you will become and it’s never been easier than now with the internet.

Chances favour prepared mind! Keep learning. Good luck for us :)




SIM Int. Airport, November 15th 2017.
Waiting for flight to Padang, West Sumatera.