Selective listening pros and cons how to#
Selective listening pros and cons full#

For example, in a podcast on the Royal Family, we might expect to hear words like duke and duchess.

Before listening, think of the topic and think about what kind of vocabulary you may hear.

Short podcasts or YouTube videos are great for this.

Pick a short listening clip of three to five minutes.

Not true! You can certainly practise intensive listening on your own. The way I described intensive listening sounds like you need a teacher to guide you. How can you practise intensive listening outside of class? It’s hard work, but you will learn a lot. You can see that intensive listening is analytical and focused. We’ll follow up by trying to use the new vocabulary or by discussing the ideas mentioned in the audio clip. In intensive listening practice, you can listen as many times as you like, as long as you are learning something each time. We may listen a third time, for vocabulary or pronunciation practice. Next we listen once all the way through, picking out the main ideas.Īfter we get the main ideas, we listen again to try to pick out the details. Will it be in favour or against the Royal Family? Let’s say the topic is the British Royal Family.įirst, we discuss the topic and try to predict what will be in the clip. Usually, a short listening passage is used for this.įor example, in my classes, we might spend an entire 45-minute lesson on a 5-minute audio clip. It simply means carefully analysing the language used in a listening clip. If you had a good English teacher at school, you should already know something about intensive listening.

So let’s look at both methods of listening in detail and learn how we can use them effectively. Many learners focus on one, while ignoring the other. It’s also a shame that most learners don’t know the two main ways to practise listening: intensive listening and extensive listening. There are so many great resources available!

Selective listening pros and cons full#

And that’s a shame, because we live in a connected world full of satellite TV, Spotify, YouTube and podcasts.

Selective listening pros and cons how to#

It’s clear from these conversations that many learners are not aware how to practise listening. Me: Are the subtitles in English or in your language? Student 2: My language. Me: But do you listen or just read the subtitles? Student 2: Well… I read the subtitles. Me: Do you practise listening to English outside of class? Student 2: I watch English movies. What type of music? Student 1: Death metal! Me: Death metal? But can you actually hear what they’re singing? Student 1: No. Here are some typical conversations I have with some of my students: Me: Do you practise listening to English outside of class? Student 1: I listen to English music.